“Take care.”

“Goodnight. Drive safe.”

I closed the door as Junmyeon and Hyejung disappeared out of the room. It was almost one in the morning by the time it was just Luhan and I left in his apartment room. I turned to see Luhan lying across his couch, TV remote in one hand.

He handed me the remote while he made some space for me on the couch because he took up most of the narrow piece of furniture. Luhan extended one of his arms out and I recognized his offer for me to use it as a pillow. Climbing onto the couch, I settled closely beside him. Thumb surfing through the channels and clicking at the buttons of the remote, it settled on the show that had already started five minutes ago. Luhan held me tight to keep me from tumbling off the couch and onto the hard floor. I put most of my attention to the TV while Luhan absently brushed along my forearm with a hand.

“You’re not allowed to kiss me?” he asked quietly.

He didn’t sound accusing or suspicious—rather more curious at Hyejung’s strange warning. “Apparently not.” I shrugged nonchalantly, thankful that he couldn’t see my expression at that moment.

I felt Luhan heave himself up with the weight suddenly shifting on the couch. His lips reached down to press at my jaw where he trailed feather light kisses all the way down to my neck. I squirmed and laughed because he was purposefully tickling me, yet at the same time endearingly showing affection.

“Are you even paying attention?” I questioned, only half trying to resist him..

“Mmhmm,” he hummed to confirm, though I highly doubted it.

His lips latched onto one area of my neck where he playfully nipped and . Luhan pulled away a moment after to blow cold air into the same spot, sending a shiver up and through my spine.

“Did you just give me a hickey?” I incredulously asked, not bothering to turn.

“We’ll see in a few minutes, won’t we?”

I was comfortable in my position and decided not to take any sort of revenge because of that. Luhan’s warmth made up for the lack of heating in his apartment room, the cold air just at the other side of the walls. The episode’s topic that night was on living dolls and I found it actually quite interesting.

Luhan seemed immersed in the show again as he commented on things more often than I did. My eyelids were slipping.

“...Jinah?”

I woke at the sound of my name, realizing Luhan was telling me something before I probably dozed off for a minute. “Sorry, what?”

He chuckled. “Do you want me to drive you home now?”

“It’s okay. Just watch the show.” With balance and careful precision, I succeeded in turning myself to face Luhan without falling from the couch. I stretched with a hand at his shoulder and planted a soft kiss against his pillowy lips.

Luhan was grinning at me. “I thought you weren’t allowed to kiss me.”

“Are you rejecting me then?”

“No way, I would never.” Encircling his arms over my form, he trapped me against his chest. I took in the scent of his familiar cologne coming off from his grey t-shirt. He rubbed soothing circles at my back to urge me to sleep. It wouldn’t be that hard to put me out since I was practically hanging by a thread to consciousness. “What did Hyejung mean by a deadline anyway?”

I squeezed my eyes shut and felt the wrenching at my gut. “It’s nothing.”

All I did was lie.

“Are you sure?”

I nodded weakly.

“Alright. You’d tell me if something was up anyway.”

All he did was trust me.

I couldn’t bring myself to say anything after that. Whenever I opened my mouth, more lies seemed to pour out to save myself and to keep others from the truth. I started to fear that the girl Luhan liked was the different from the person I actually was. There was so much he didn’t know.

Again, I fell asleep with a heavy heart.

The next morning, I slowly came out of my dreams at the lack of warmth beside me and the sound of hushed voices talking amongst themselves. My skin felt foreign fabric over it. It was a blanket that I hadn’t draped over myself that someone else must have done. The pillow under my head wasn’t there the night before either. I held completely still, wanting to get back to sleep.

“I can’t even drive. What do you mean get her breakfast?” It was Sehun’s voice. Was he back?

There was no mistaking that he was speaking with Luhan. “Just make sure she eats something, okay?”

“Why don’t you just carry her to work?” There was a thump followed by a shriek from Sehun. “Ow!”

“Stupid.”

“You two had a little sleepover? Cute.”

“She fell asleep.”

“Why didn’t you take her home?”

“She was so tired and drained. I just didn’t want to wake her.” Footsteps were shuffling. “Just make sure she eats breakfast.”

“Hyung, I’m not a babysitter.”

“Sehun, I’m in love with her. You gotta care too.”

My hand grasped at the blanket and I stirred.

“Shh!” There was pure silence for a moment while I settled back into an unmoving state.

Sehun broke the silence. “Wait, I have to vacuum.”

“Do it when she’s awake, dummy.”

“Just go to work. You’ll be late.”

“Okay, I’m leaving.”

A minute or two passed before there was the sound of the door opening and creaking to a close. Stirring slightly again, I was pulled back deeper into sleep.

I walked into my apartment room to meet Hyejung who was pointing an accusing finger at me by the living room where she was surrounding herself with books and papers. “Where were you?! You slept over at his place, didn’t you?”

“Listen, it’s nothing like that.” I held my hands in the air in surrender. “I fell asleep watching the show. Sehun was the one who got me breakfast and stood with me at the bus stop.”

Hyejung brought the mug of hot chocolate she had by her side to her lips and sipped while she regarded me silently, debating if she should believe me or not.

“Did Junmyeon bring you in safe?” I questioned, wanting to take the attention and the interrogation off of me.

“Yeah, Junmyeon’s great.” She beamed at that. “He was sad he couldn’t take me to see his collection again.”

“You should date him,” I almost absentmindedly said while I wandered to the fridge in the kitchen. I retrieved the pitcher of orange juice from inside and poured myself a glass.

“So you can have Luhan to yourself? I don’t think so,” Hyejung countered. “You don’t like him, do you?”

Shrugging, I turned away while I drank the juice in fear that the look on my face would betray me. Hyejung thankfully left it at that and lifted herself from the cushions to quickly dash in her room to maybe look for a pen or something.

My phone buzzed in my pocket. Reading over the caller ID, I picked up with an involuntary smile. “Hello?”

“Did you get home okay?” Luhan asked, speaking in what sounded like a hushed tone.

Sehun cut in before I could reply. “He had me in headlock. Jinah, you better tell him that I got you a nice breakfast and everything!”

“Don’t kill him. He did get me something to eat,” I confirmed to Luhan while I leaned by the sink to survey the number of dishes that were unattended to. “How are you calling me from work anyway?”

“The place isn’t too busy. No one’s looking.” I pictured Luhan probably huddled in some corner of the café with his apron on and Sehun at his other grip and in a headlock. “I ended up watching the entire episode. I mean that guy with all that surgery is… Wow. Who knew people did that? It’s... strange.”

“Hence why it’s called My Strange Addiction.”

There was a pause while he took in realization before he burst into abrupt laughter at his new-found knowledge. “You’re smart.”

I rolled my eyes as if he could see. “I’ll watch a whole episode with you next time.” Phone calls with Luhan were uncommon as we resulted in texting most of the time to communicate. My hand held tightly to my phone and kept it pressed to my ear, not quite wanting to allow him to get back to work just yet. “Do good in work. Stop sneaking out food for yourself.”

“Maybe. If you stop paying Yixing to spy on the professors, I will.”

“Maybe,” I repeated, mimicking him with a grin. “And, um...”

“Yeah?” He urged me to finish my sentence.

“I love you.” I recalled that morning before he left for work, picking up bits and pieces of the hazy memory slowly. What Luhan told Sehun... was that just part of my dream? I wanted to sit up off the couch and witness him say it—that he was in love with me—though sleep kept my eyelids heavy.

“I love you more,” Luhan countered teasingly. I heard the smile in his voice that mixed warmth at my face. “I’ll... text you when I get on break, okay?”

“Okay. Bye.”

“Bye.”

Hanging up, I stuffed my phone back in the comfort of my pocket and finished the remaining orange juice in my glass before setting it with the others in the sink.

“Was that your mom on the phone?”

I jumped at Hyejung’s voice. Turning slowly, she was back on the same spot in the living room within all her school things. She had spoken to me without lifting her gaze from a page on the book. I wondered how long she had been there. I didn’t notice her come back. How much did she hear? Hyejung briefly glanced my way when I took too long to answer.

“It was my mom just checking in on me.”

My voice came out smooth that time—not a sign of a hitch or a squeak that could detect a lie. I was getting better at lying, but I hated it. I rather would have dodged her question, though how exactly could I do that every time?

Watching Hyejung scribble down things on a notebook, I carefully spoke, half only wanting her to hear. “What if I liked him?”

Her hand immediately froze, stopping mid-sentence on the paper. I didn’t need to say his name. Hyejung knew who I was referring to. She lifted her head and stared at me directly. “What?”

“I’m just figuratively speaking,” I added quickly, suddenly feeling like she had me at the throat.

She seemed to calm at that. “Well, Luhan’s great. Who wouldn’t like him, right? I just hope he ends up with someone who deserved him.” Hyejung frowned at a thought. “That’s not me, but I’m just selfish like that.”

But I was the selfish one. I was the bad friend. She was right—he deserved someone wonderful. Not a liar. Hyejung was fit for him, wasn’t she? She was kind and thoughtful—the same person who makes sure she picks up food from outside when there’s any hint that I’m hungry. The same person who puts a blanket over me when I pass out on my bed surrounded by marked pages of work.

“But I think he likes you more than me,” Hyejung admitted to herself.

My brows crinkled and drew together that her comment. “What makes you say that?”

“I don’t know...” She shrugged, not making eye contact as she spoke and continued with some sentence she didn’t finish writing down. “Just the way he looks at you. He lights up whenever you turned to talk to him last night. I would kill for him to look at me like that.”

I couldn’t speak and reply to that. I couldn’t even open my mouth and assure her we were only good friends. Even I’ve had enough of my own lies.

“I was serious about the deadline, you know,” Hyejung said as she came to a halt at a stop sign in the road before proceeding safely to the right.

I was caught up with staring out the window and watching the patterns of frost over the window. “When’s the deadline for the bet then?”

“Well, I was thinking. Students taking the same major as him are going to this event—a convention of some sort. It’s like a job fair, but more formal. There will be a buffet and everything. It’s at the Maxwell Center.”

I glanced at her curiously because so far, her plan wasn’t making much sense. “What does the event have to do with the bet?”

“He should take a girl to the event. It’s that kind of occasion and Luhan should take someone.”

“Okay?” I said, urging her to continue.

“Rather than to make it a competition to see who can ask Luhan first, he has to say who himself. It’ll be fair that way, right?”

“Right.” Already my mind was conjuring ways to overcome her plan. Luhan would insist on bringing me, though would I have to tell him to pretend as if he wasn’t planning on taking anyone? If I were to