The next morning, the banging of the door woke Aeri up from her slumber. She glanced at Baekhyun asleep beside her, his arms around her waist and his hair messy and flat on his forehead. A smile appeared on her face, a real one, that reached her eyes, when she remembered the night before. Jaekyung had been all but forgotten in her mind. Her heart knew it had been taken by another, not Jaekyung. She thought she loved him, but she knew her brain had tricked her heart, and that she was just waiting for the right person to come.

And he was here.

The knocking on the door came again, a lot more gentle this time. Carefully removing his arms from around her waist, she stood up out of bed and changed into some leggings and a top, before tiptoeing towards the door, hoping that she wouldn’t wake Baekhyun so she could go back beside him when she’d dealt with the person at the door. Before opening up, she looked through the little peephole that allowed her to see who it was before she let them in.

Her heart stopped.

He was here. He had the nerve to come here.

But she remembered that she wasn’t supposed to know, that he hadn’t seen her with Baekhyun-.

Baekhyun.

She ran to her room. Baekhyun was still asleep on the mattress, relaxed and happy. She hated to wake him up, she wished he could stay like that all day, but he couldn’t.

“Baekhyun, Baekhyun, wake up, please. I’m sorry just please wake up. You need to get dressed. Please,” she pleaded, shaking his shoulder not too harshly in order for him to open his eyes.

“Hm? Why?” He yawned.

“Just please, please. I’ll be back soon, just please get dressed.”

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, nothing,” she answered. “Just please get changed.”

“Okay.”

Practically sprinting back, she checked in the peephole to check if he was still there. He was, and very hesitantly, she unlocked the door and began opening it. She knew he wouldn’t go away, she’d tried ignoring him when he came back after an argument, it didn’t work out. He’d stayed outside banging on the door all night long. That was when he old neighbour had moved out, not being understanding enough to deal with it, which Aeri understood.

“Jaekyung,” she breathed, the door opening fully and revealing the man himself.

“Aeri,” he answered, stepping forward, ready to hug her and apologise like he had a million times before, expecting her to forgive him, like she had done a million times before.

But she stepped back. She stepped away from him, shaking her head.

“No. This- this can’t happen again,” she said.

“Aeri, I’m sorry, I really am-”

“Then why didn’t you say that weeks ago? You had plenty of chance, but I guess you were busy,” she answered bitterly, he memory of him and that girl kissing in front of her flashing in her mind.

“I couldn’t, I couldn’t bring myself to after what I’d done.” Bull.

“What’s that?”

She sighed. “What