[CONTENTID1]Parked Cars and Physical Chemistry [/CONTENTID1]

[CONTENTID2]"I don't want some stupid kiss to ruin anything. You ... you matter to me, all right? I'm already miserable, I don't want you to be like this too."[/CONTENTID2]

[CONTENTID3] The relief Yeseul felt when her shift was over was complete, and she very nearly stepped out into the pelting rain/hail/snow disaster of a weather situation just to get the cherry slush she'd slipped on herself earlier out of her polo. It wasn't that she was particularly attached to the boxy blue material, but more that she couldn't remember where she'd left her spare one and really didn't want to go to work with a massive red stain on her front.

Working at a cinema wasn't always horrible. But on weekends, when a big movie had just opened, it was. The sooner Yeseul could find something better (or at least be able to qualify for it) she would, but for the time being, she was stuck with impatient customers and the nauseating smell of popcorn. It was quite ironic, really, how much she'd loved popcorn before she started working there.

She made sure her jacket was on properly and put up her hood, eyes narrowed at the road through the glass doors. There were other employees leaving at the same time, the janitors waiting for them to vacate so they could start cleaning the lobby. Yeseul glared at the weather, and was about to walk outside when her phone pinged loudly.

Are you at work?

If you're at work I can give you a lift

I'm nearby

So it wouldn't be out of the way really

Yeseul rolled her eyes. Apparently Chanyeol's newly acquired rambling trait had begun to manifest itself in text form.

just finished

Won't be long

I'll park next to something easily identifiable

I know what your car looks like Chanyeol

...

I had to wait to reply because I was driving

She rolled her eyes again.

I'm to the left of the cinema behind a red Range Rover

Why would somebody want a red Range Rover?

That just doesn't make sense.

Yeseul put away her mobile and went outside before Chanyeol could send any more pointless texts and turned left. She saw the Range Rover, and it did look very stupid, then she laid eyes on Chanyeol through the front window of his car and saw that he was still texting. She climbed into the passenger's sear and was about to dump her bag in the back when she saw the massive duffle bag there, taking up most of the backseat.

"What's that?"

Chanyeol, who'd put away his phone as soon as she slammed the door shut, glanced back. "Stuff from work. Have to wash my uniform. By the way, could I borrow some laundry detergent?"

"Borrow Baekhyun's."

"But yours smells nicer."

Yeseul dropped her bag in between her feet, looking sideways at Chanyeol with her eyebrows raised. She didn't have to ask how he knew what her detergent smelled like. "Use Baekhyun's."

"But–"

"Chanyeol."

"Fine."

They drove in stony silence all the way back to the flat. Yeseul considered telling him about her shift, or asking how he got bad stains out of his work clothes, or any number of things that weren't silence. The worst part was that he didn't even look uncomfortable. Perhaps he enjoyed her squirming, a prospect Yeseul did not enjoy, because if Chanyeol thought she needed to be uncomfortable to the point of screaming then she'd probably end up doing just that.

He parked across the street, killed the engine, and unbuckled his seatbelt. Before he opened the door there was a chance for her to say something, and she took it.

"Chanyeol," she said, staring pointedly forward so she wouldn't catch a glimpse of his expression. "Are we all right?"

There was a pause. "You mean after–"

"Obviously."

"I mean ... yeah. We're fine."

But the way he'd been acting over the past month – barely spending time at the apartment, frowning when she said something nice or supportive – suggested otherwise. "Just because I've barely seen you except when we go on our runs."

The corner of his mouth twitched when she said 'our' but he didn't smile properly. "I've been spending more time with you and Baekhyun than my actual housemates. After the trip to Seoul, I realised how much I missed living with them."

Yeseul hummed, not wanting to argue his point but not really believing him either. She couldn't help but feel like he was upset with her for acting the way she had and choosing to pretend like the kiss had never happened. A flash of curiosity had taken over her that night, and she wasn't going to let it happen again.

Yeseul and Chanyeol found Baekhyun sprawled out on the sofa eating biscuits and watching a political program. While Chanyeol went about chastising him for eating lying down on the sofa that Chanyeol slept on – "There will be crumbs, Baek! What were you thinking?" – Yeseul retreated back to her bedroom and shed her coat, turning toward her closet to examine the massive red stain in the mirrored doors.

With a frown, she tugged off the material, suddenly relieved that she hadn't worn a cami underneath because her skin was sticky and it definitely would have been ruined. She grabbed a t-shirt and didn't put it on, and crept out of her room.

Before she could sneak into the bathroom unnoticed, Baekhyun appeared at the other end of the corridor. "Woah, Yeseul!" he exclaimed, no doubt getting Chanyeol's attention. "I'd like to say this is the first time I've seen you without a top on, but that would be lying."

"WHAT?" Chanyeol shouted, and there was a thud before he showed up at Baekhyun's shoulder, his hair a mess and rubbing his arm. Yeseul had already lifted her t-shirt, shielding her mostly-bare torso from view. "There is a story here that I've never heard."

"Is that a new bra?" Baekhyun asked. "Speaking as a purely objective outside party, it's very nice and makes your–"

"Stop talking."

"I want to know what happened," Chanyeol said. "When was it? Where was I?"

"It's happened twice, Yeol," Baekhyun said.

Yeseul groaned and slammed the bathroom door shut behind her.

"Hey, Joonmyun!"

He was stood with a few of his friends that Yeseul didn't like, but he was the first person she spotted upon coming out of the lecture. Placing her cigarette back between her lips, she met him a few paces away from the group of grinning guys he'd been talking to.

Yeseul had no idea where she stood with Joonmyun. After their fight at the party – or rather, his disappointed, angry ranting – she'd only seen him once, leaving an exam hall. But if he'd come over, he'd either forgiven her or he was just being polite. By the way he was frowning, Yeseul suspected the latter. "Hi," she said, when he stopped in front of her.

It was freezing out and he only had on a pea coat and a thin scarf. But Joonmyun wore sweaters in summer, so she was used to seeing him dressed inappropriately for the weather. "Hey."

"How, um, how've you been?"

"Fine."

Yeseul hated that word.

"Listen, Joonmyun, I–"

"Are you doing that thing from that movie?" he interrupted, eyeing the unlit cigarette.

"What?"

"You know, the one all the girls like. With the cancer patients or something?"

"Oh, for god's sake, Joonmyun," Yeseul groaned.

He raised his eyebrows. "Shouldn't you be nice to me after what happened?"

"You mean me lying in order to get you to stop asking me out," she summarised, abandoning the niceness altogether.

"That's one way of putting it," he said. "You know I'm more frustrated that you didn't tell me you'd lied after nad kept letting me think you were, like, you know."

"A lesbian?"

"Yeah."

"If I say sorry, are we friends again?" she asked hopefully.

Joonmyun considered this. "You aren't a ...?"

"Lesbian?"

"Yeah."

"No. But I do like girls."

"Okay," he nodded. "Boys too, then?"

"Sometimes."

Joonmyun chuckled. "Okay. After you apologise, I'll consider being your friend again."

She took a breath. "I'm terribly sorry for lying to you and then not telling you I lied to you. I would like us to be friends because you're actually a very nice person and I don't hate you."

"That was better than I thought it would be."

"Excellent," Yeseul said, and they shared a smile. "I've got to go meet Serin, but I'll see you, okay?"

Joonmyun smiled, returning her wave as she headed in the direction of the off-campus Starbucks where Serin worked. It felt like a longer walk because of the cold, and after finishing a cigarette Yeseul wrapped her scarf up to her nose and stuck her hands in her pockets. According to a text she'd received during her lecture, Serin's break was due to start at any minute. She and Yeseul hadn't seen much of each other between exams and lectures starting and Serin apparently avoiding Baekhyun, aside from their Wednesday lunches, which always went forward (luckily neither of them had exams scheduled that day in January) as planned.

It was nice to know that the damage she'd caused with Joonmyun wasn't permanent. Having someone in her course that she could talk to was nice, and she had found that he was a good study partner when he didn't show up hungover.

Yeseul's marginally brightened spirits were stamped out when she found Serin waiting for her outside Starbucks looking distressed. Ever since New Years and what had happened with Baekhyun, Serin hadn't been her usual chipper self (neither had Baekhyun). Instead, she was anxious and self-conscious, and it made Yeseul sad to see her best friend this way.

She wanted to help, but she didn't know how. And the questions both of them kept asking drove her crazy, despite her efforts to be cooperative.

"Oh, good," Serin said, when she spotted Yeseul. "I really want spicy tteokbokki."

"Okay."

They headed for the place down the street, the combination of the weather, traffic, and their hoods being up made it difficult to talk. But once they were safe inside the warm restaurant, Serin wouldn't keep shut.

"I should probably be over it by now because it really wasn't even anything to get in such a state about, but I just can't stop thinking about it and what an idiot I must have seemed like to him. You're probably so tired of hearing this ..." she went on, and Yeseul kept one of her ears at attention in case Serin said something she hadn't heard before. They got closer to the counter and Yeseul considered getting cheese with hers, but decided against it. She had Chanyeol's voice in her head saying how bad her diet was, along with smoking, and how she needed to eat more leafy greens.

"Has he mentioned me at all?"

"Sorry, what?"

"Were you listening to me just now?"

Yeseul thought about lying, then decided against it. "No."

"I asked if Baekhyun has mentioned me."

"Once or twice," Yeseul said, though the number was really in the double digits.

Serin ordered her food, and they found a small table at the back. "Do you think he's still thinking about it?"

"I expect he is."

"In a bad way or a good way?"

"In a confused way."

Serin looked worried. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"It means he's confused," Yeseul answered.

"Do you think you could tell him that–"

"No."

"You didn't even hear what I was going to say."

Yeseul folded her arms over her chest. "I refused to be a messenger in this scenario. You two are both adults, you can talk to each other like adults."

"What am I supposed to say to him, though?" Serin asked, leaning her chin on her palm. "'Oh, hey Baekhyun, sorry for running out on you like that. But you see, the thing is that I'm a and you've had with all the girls at uni and that's kind of intimidating and freaks me out."

Yeseul raised her eyebrows. "Sounds fine to me."

"God," the other girl lamented, dropping her forehead to the table. The lady called their order out a moment later, and Serin was being unresponsive so Yeseul went to get it.

"You know, he thinks he's done something wrong," she said, placing the plate in front of her friend. Serin promptly doused hers with more chilli powder, making Yeseul grimace. Serin popped one in and looked at Yeseul curiously. "He doesn't think you're weird or anything. I'm sure if you said you just had a bit of a panic and had to leave everything will be fine. Blame the alcohol, he'll understand."

Staring at her plate of food like it was the answer to everything, Serin considered this. "You think so?"

"He wants to know that you're all right."

Serin smiled dreamily, though what Yeseul had told her about Baekhyun was really only the reaction of a decent person. "Isn't he lovely?"

"Sure, he's a real catch."

After staring into space and probably thinking about Baekhyun for a few minutes, Serin snapped back to attention. "You know, we've spent so much time talking about how my New Years went that I don't think you've actually told me anything about yours."

"There's nothing to tell," Yeseul shrugged.

"That can't be true."

"It is. I had a very dull, uneventful night."

Keeping her expression neutral, Serin waved a chip around. "Aside from when you danced with Chanyeol."

Yeseul narrowed her eyes at the smirk on Serin's face, wondering how long she'd been holding that secret for. "How do you know about that?"

"Sehun told me."

"Since when do you talk to Sehun?"

"Oh, I talk to him all the time," Serin said. "He comes in for coffee at least four times