[CONTENTID1]Macchiatos and Maths [/CONTENTID1]

[CONTENTID2]"I didn't realise your interest went further than how to be as aggravating as possible."[/CONTENTID2]

[CONTENTID3]"Eunha asked how you were," Serin said, her gaze flicking up to Yeseul briefly as she swiped at her toe with electric red nail varnish. 

Yeseul's fingers froze over the keyboard, and she fixed the screen with a steely glare. "You talked to her?" 

"At work," Serin clarified, her voice careful. "Ordered her drink – and, by the way, she drinks hazelnut macchiatos, which is so predictable – and then asked how you were, all casual. I didn't even know what to say." 

"What did you say?" 

"That she had no right to ask after you, obviously." Yeseul spun around in her chair, her eyes wide and uncharacteristically vulnerable. Serin's smile was soft when their gazes met. "I'm your best friend, Yeseul. When your ex comes into my work and has the audacity to ask me how you are after what she did, you bet I'm not going to act nice. that." 

"Thank you," Yeseul sighed, the two words zapping all the energy out of her. 

"I'm not finished just yet." Serin waved the varnish brush in the air with authority. "She said she was worried about you, because somebody had told her you weren't yourself lately. Didn't say who it was. I'm guessing it was some in your course thinking he knew something when he didn't. Maybe that, what's his name, Kim Joonmyun?" 

Yeseul snorted. "Joonmyun doesn't know anything." 

"Well," Serin said. "Then after I'd said she should just keep her nose out of other people's business, she went and told me how ridiculous it was that you were cut up about the break-up at all, because you'd brought it about yourself. Personally, I always thought she was a , and now I know she drinks hazelnut macchiatos, so who even cares what she thinks." 

"Yeah," Yeseul said, though the argument could be made that the girl in question was a to everyone but Yeseul, just like Yeseul was a to everyone but her. It was why they had worked; for a little while, at least.

"I mean, she's super pretty, so I sort of see why you suddenly turned into a lesbian," Serin said flippantly, a grin curving her coral lips upward. 

"That," Yeseul scowled. "Is not how it works. I did not suddently turn into a lesbian because she was pretty." 

Serin raised an eyebrow. 

"Okay, so maybe that was part of it," Yeseul admitted. "Like, a tiny, almost microscopic part specifically pertaining to my being attracted to her in the first place. And you know I've been with girls before her!" 

"No, you've flirted with them. And before you say it, that girl in the summer after high school so doesn't count." Serin grinned, wider this time. 

"This conversation is over," Yeseul said with a huff, flying out of her chair and stomping out of the room. She wanted a cigarette, but the pack was back in her room, so she settled for tea instead. It struck her as she slammed through the cupboards how silly her anger was. 

Serin had always accepted Yeseul for who she was – and for who she liked – and that was far more important than a little bit of teasing. A few years before, when Yeseul had first noticed the same gender and realised that she was just as attracted to girls as she was to boys, Serin hadn't even batted an eyelash. When Yeseul couldn't talk to her parents about it, Serin had been there – and was, still, for her to open up to. Only having one person there for her for so long made it difficult for Yeseul to talk to her close friends, even though they'd accepted her just as quickly. 

Baekhyun was sprawled across the sofa, a bag of crisps spilling out on his stomach as he watched the football match on television. Yeseul wandered over as she waited for the kettle to boil, stealing one of the crips out of the bag. The coffee table was littered with papers, three different colours of highlighter, and four books left open. Baekhyun may have been lazy, but unlike Kyungsoo, he actually got his work done. 

"Chanyeol texted me," Baekhyun said, his speech hindered by the crisps in his mouth. "Said something about cooking dinner." 

"Here?" 

"Mmm," Baekhyun grabbed another crisp off his stomach and popped it into his mouth, then squinted at her from behind his glasses. "I think it was pasta. Or maybe some kind of pie? I don't know, he called me from the supermarket to ask if we have cream. We don't, if you were wondering." 

The fanciest thing Yeseul knew how to cook were poached eggs. If he wasn't the bane of her existence, then maybe she'd be overjoyed to have a friend who worked in a restaurant and liked using them as guinea pigs for all the new recipes he was learning. As it was, she settled for silently enjoying the food Chanyeol made for them and refusing to admit that he was actually a pretty fantastic cook. Baekhyun was very vocal about his appreciation for Chanyeol's culinary skills, so it evened out anyway. 

When the water had boiled and she'd fixed herself some tea, Yeseul padded down the hallway to her room. But the unmistakable sounds of Chanyeol banging around in the foyer as he took off his coat and shoes made her stop, breathe, and square her shoulders before taking another step. 

They ran into each other at the corner, Chanyeol's arms weighed down by bags from the supermarket, all sorts of things poking out of them, including leeks. Yeseul raised her eyebrows. "Isn't your kitchen bigger? Why don't you cook there?" 

"My kitchen smells like hash brownies," Chanyeol replied. 

She grinned. "Is that meant to be a bad thing?" 

Chanyeol sneered at her. Then, "Do you like cayenne?" 

It wasn't the response she was expecting. Her surprise made Chanyeol smile. "Um, yeah. Why?" 

"Recipe calls for it. I know Baekhyun can't handle his spice, so I thought I'd make it extra hot." 

"Are you ..." Yeseul narrowed her eyes at him. "Letting me in on your plan?" 

"Looks that way, doesn't it?" he said, eyes glinting. "You look ill, Seullie. Do you need to sit down?" 

The nickname knocked her out of the trance. " off Chanyeol." 

Yeseul shouldered past him as he chuckled, flitting off to make his leek, cream, and cayenne concoction. Back in her room, Serin was sprawled out on the bed, bright red toes dangling off the end, reading a memoir for one of her classes. Serin studied History, and was sometimes assigned novels and other things Yeseul had read, but mostly it was just long academic papers and dense textbooks that Yeseul couldn't begin to understand the appeal of. She was much happier reading things from poetry collections and plays to romantic novels and modern classics. 

They worked without conversation for a while, with one of the instrumental playlists Yeseul liked to study to playing in the background. Then Baekhyun let himself in – as he always did, without so much as a warning – and threw himself down on the bed next to Serin. Baekhyun often complained about Yeseul having a double bed when he was stuck with a single, but it was really his fault for letting her have the bigger room with the closet when they first moved in. Still, he often showed up in the middle of the night to sleep in there when the girl he had over was taking up too much room on his narrow mattress. Things got complicated whenever Yeseul's bed was occupied with two people already, which it had been for most of the summer. 

But after the first few times, they were used to Baekhyun sneaking in. He was always warm and kept to one side of the bed, so he wasn't really an inconvenience, aside from the soft snoring. When he'd slip into the room in the middle of the night, Yeseul was usually already awake, and they exchanged tired nods as he climbed under the blankets and promptly fell asleep. Stuck in the middle, as she always ended up being, Yeseul had to climb out over Baekhyun (since he was the heavier sleeper) to go make her late night cup of tea. 

Those had been happier times, Yeseul was certain of it. The three of them lying in bed and discussing Baekhyun's terrible date (terrible, despite the fact that they'd gone home together), giggling and whispering until they heard the girl leave. Then Baekhyun would get a scolding for being a jerk, yet again. 

"Is anyone going to ask me why I'm here?" 

"No," Yeseul answered, and Serin grinned behind her book. She shifted away from Baekhyun, leaning against the headboard, knees pulled to her chest and toes bright red against the beige comforter. 

"But I need your help!" 

Yeseul sighed, saving the assignment she was working on and swivelling around to face the bed. She met Serin's gaze over Baekhyun, and the dark-haired girl raised an eyebrow before snapping her book shut and setting it aside. "Alright, Baekhyun, what's wrong?" 

"I only came in here because Chanyeol was ignoring me, and besides, he knows nothing about girls. The guy hasn't gone on a date in a million years. I'm beginning to think he wants to die alone." Baekhyun shook his head, and Yeseul gave him a look that said: 'get on with it, already.' "Right, so, remember last week, when I went to see Thor Ragnarok with Jiyeon?" 

"I remember you shouting at me from across the cinema lobby," Yeseul recalled with still-simmering irritation. "Thanks again for that, by the way. Everyone at work still talks about how hilarious it is that the only friend of mine they know about is a crazy idiot." 

Baekhyun grinned, because this distinction didn't carry the same negative feeling as it did for Yeseul. "Well, anyway, Jiyeon just texted me just now and asked if i wanted to go out again." 

"And?"

"What should I do?" 

"Well, I don't know, Baekhyun! Do you want to see her again?" 

He shrugged, removing his glasses and wiping at the lenses with his not-so-clean shirt, then putting them back on. "I don't know. She was okay. Talked a lot." 

"So do you," Serin pointed out. 

"When you've got two people talking all the time it doesn't really work though, does it?" Baekhyun asked, tilting his face to the side to pout at Yeseul. "But she was gorgeous. And she did this thing with –" 

"Stop." Yeseul said firmly, kicking his foot where it dangled off the end of the bed. "I do not need to know any more about your life than I already do." 

"Why don't you make a pros and cons list?" Serin suggested. Baekhyun flipped over, putting his back to Yeseul. 

"Nice one, Serin. Thanks! Can I have a piece of paper, Yeseul? And a pen?" 

"Are you serious?" Yeseul asked, staring at him incredulously. 

Baekhyun clambered across the mattress until he was sat facing her, eyes wide and hopeful. "Come on, Yeseul, it's just a bit of paper!" 

"No, I'm talking about the pros and cons lists. That's ridiculous." 

"Well I think it's great." 

"That's because you're an idiot." 

"Hey!" Serin exclaimed, because it had been her idea in the first place. 

Yeseul rolled her eyes. "Sorry. But if you have to make a list to figure out whether or not you like this girl enough to take her out, then maybe you shouldn't take her out." 

"You're not being helpful," Baekhyun said, turning back to Serin. The two started talking about Jiyeon and all of her positive and negative qualities, creating a pros and cons list without the paper. Yeseul grabbed what was left of her tea, her pack of cigarettes, and a lighter, and left them to their conversation. 

On her way out to the balcony, she passed by Chanyeol in the kitchen area doing four things at once, unruly hair swept up by a headband and brow creased in concentration. Their balcony was small, with a dingy plastic chair, ashtray, and a leafy plant that Baekhyun had picked up to 'brighten up the place' but which he never remembered to water. Since Yeseul was the one who spent more time out here, she ended up being the one who cared for it. While she sat with a cigarette burning between her fingers, she picked off the dead leves and checked the soil to see if it needed watering. 

Yeseul tilted her chin up, blowing out a stream of smoke, as the balcony door cracked open and Chanyeol stuck his head out, nose wrinkling when a bit of smoke drifted his way. "Have you got any white wine?" 

"I don't know about white, but all the alcohol is in the bottom cupboard next to the fridge." 

"Thanks," he said, but didn't move. 

Yeseul took another drag of her cigarette, eyeing him. "What?" 

"I didn't know you smoked, like, on the regular." 

She flicked a bit of ash off the end. "Do you criticise Sehun or Kyungsoo for smoking a lot as well? They certainly do it more than me." 

"I wasn't criticising." 

"Please, Chanyeol, you're always criticising. I can see it on your face." 

"I only meant," he said, opening the door further so he could lean against the frame and gazed down at her seriously. "It's