[CONTENTID1]Dating and Drink Choices [/CONTENTID1]

[CONTENTID2] "Don't you want to be friends? Isn't that what we've been doing? Trying to figure out how to be friends?"[/CONTENTID2]

[CONTENTID3] Yeseul's favourite blue running tights were in the wash, so she had to settle for her plain black mesh ones. When she slid the closet door close and saw her monotone appearance (usually her slate grey trainers helped tone down the colour of her tights, but now they were just boring), Yeseul frowned. There was something about wearing bright clothes when the weather was so dreary that she liked. 

Lost in her own head, Yeseul yanked open her door and stepped out. Her shoulder collided with Chanyeol's chest and they both jumped back, him muttering an apology and her frowning even deeper. "Are you going to work?" she asked, balling the sleeves of her long sleeve into her fists. 

Chanyeol shook his head and moved into the foyer. She followed, leaning against the corner. "Day off," Chanyeol said. There was a duffle bag on the floor next to his feet. "I'm headed to the gym." 

"You could–" she stopped, frowning, unsure of why she'd started asking in the first place. This wasn't like her at all. 

"I could what?" Chanyeol prompted, pulling on his neon yellow trainers. She hated how much she liked them in comparison to her own, even though the colour was really the only difference. They probably wouldn't have been bothering her so much if she wasn't wearing her black tights instead of the blue or the pink. 

She stared at her laces. "Erm, come with me, if you like. For a run. It's nicer than a treadmill." 

"It's five degrees out there." 

"And?" Yeseul raised a challenging eyebrow at him. 

Chanyeol grinned, nodding at her. "You're not even wearing a jacket." 

Yeseul looked down at her top, a black, long-sleeved half-zip. It didn't look like much, but it was the warmest piece of atheltic wear she owned outside of an actual jacket. "This is meant for running in cold weather. Besides, it's not that bad out. You're the one in shorts." 

"Fine, whatever, let's go." 

"So you're coming now? What was all that complaining for?" 

"I know you love a good moan, Seullie," Chanyeol replied, kicking his bag to the side and standing up as she opened the door. "And how could I say no? If you're extending an olive branch, obviously I'll take it." 

"Alright, shut up about olive branches. It's just a run, for Christ's sake." 

"Well, this is exciting," Chanyeol drawled, when Yeseul paused outside the building to stretch. He stood next to her with loose limbs, not stretching at all, which he would regret later. But because she was already in a poor mood, Yeseul didn't tell him to prepare. 

"If you're going to be annoying, I'm putting my headphones in," she told him, adjusting the armband that held her phone. Her earbuds were tucked in so they wouldn't be flying all over the place. 

Chanyeol's eyes glinted. "Does conversation cound as annoying?" 

She stood up straight, hands on her hips. "Why don't we just try silence?" 

"Fine," Chanyeol said with a shrug. "Race you to the corner!" 

And then he took off. 

It turned out that Chanyeol was a terrible runner, putting far too much energy into it right away and getting winded too quickly. He was fast, sure, but that was mostly thanks to his long legs. There was no way he'd be able to keep up with Yeseul the whole time if he kept dashing ahead and then jogging backward so he could for being slow. 

"We'll see who's slow when you collapse in ten minutes," she said, when she finally made it across the street where he was waiting for her, having made a break for it when there was a pause in the early morning traffic. It was the only spot on her route where there were ever any vehicles so early in the morning, so she didn't mind the brief rest while she waited for the lights to change. Chanyeol, however, had nearly gotten clipped when he bolted across. 

"I'm not going to collapse!" Chanyeol protested, racing to catch up with her as she jogged easily past him standing stationary on the corner. 

"Yes, you are," she replied. "You don't breathe right, you have terrible posture, and your feet turn inward. It's no wonder you have a bad back." 

Chanyeol actually grinned, despite the fact she'd been criticising him. "You spent a lot of time looking at my back, Seullie?" 

"It's very obvious. Even Baekhyun's concerned, and he ignored his knee problems for months." 

She didn't tell him that the amount of time she spent staring at his back was starting to be cause of concern.

When she came to a halt, it was so suddent that Chanyeol ran several metres ahead before noticing. He spun around and strode back to her, breathing much heavier than she was. "What is it?" 

"You need to straighten your shoulders," she said. "I know you're tall, but that's no excuse to hunch over." 

"Health advice from a smoker?" 

"Running advice," she corrected. "I know smoking is unhealthy, I don't need to be told that. Stop hunching over and start breathing through your nose. Slow and even." 

Chanyeol quirked his head and stared at her curiously. "Why are you doing this?" 

"Because your bad posture is annoying me," she said, because it was. "We've been standing here too long. Come on." 

Much to her surprise, Chanyeol actually finished the run without collapsing. He did, however, complain about everything, from the weather to the pavement for being so hard on his feet. When they got back to the apartment, Yeseul made him copy her stretches in the lobby of their apartment building. Chanyeol didn't do his lunges properly, so she kicked his leg and made him fall over, partly to teach him a lesson, but really just because she wanted an excuse to kick him. 

"Hey," Chanyeol whined, rolling flat onto his back. "What was that for?" 

"How do you function on a daily basis?" she asked, standing over him with her hands on her hips. "You're going to develop some kind of muscle problem if you keep at this the way you are. How are you even in good shape if you don't know how to do a lunge?" 

"Think I'm in a good shape, Seullie?" Chanyeol inquired with a cheeky smirk, ignoring most of what she'd said, as per. 

Yeseul rolled her eyes, kicking his foot. "Your co-ordination is , too, but I'm sure you knew that. I might be dying of any number of things from smoking cigarettes, but you're going to die out of sheer idiocy." 

Chanyeol scrambled to his feet, suddenly much taller than he, but he was about as intimidating as a baby deer. Yeseul raised an eyebrow. "What are you getting at?" 

"That you don't know how to exercise properly, obviously." 

"And?" 

"That's it." 

"Don't want to – oh, I don't know," Chanyeol shrugged, folding his arms over his chest. "Teach me?" 

She blinked. "Why would I do that? I don't like you, and it would be detrimental to my own health to help you." 

Chanyeol tried to do a squat, and toppled backwards onto his . He gave her a hopeless look, holding his arms out wide. "I'm going to die without you, Yeseul." 

"Good. You deserve it." She strode toward the lift before the doors slid shut. "Come on, Seullie," he pleaded, continuing to stretch improperly. "You know you want to." 

"I want you to stop twisting your neck all the way round," she replied, leaving the lift as soon as the doors slid open on her floor. Chanyeol followed. "It's bad for you." 

"I knew you cared." 

"Get Baekhyun to teach you. He had to learn loads of proper stretches at physical therapy." 

"But I want you to teach me," Chanyeol said. 

"No." 

They got inside the apartment, and the lack of lights meant that Baekhyun was either asleep or not at home. Yeseul kicked off her shoes, remembering she'd promised to give her Mum a ring this morning. She would be up early for work, so Yeseul undid her armband and pulled out her phone, tossing the band through the open doorway of her bedroom. 

Chanyeol was right on her heels until they got to the living room, then went around and stood in front of her, preventing any forward progress. "Yeseul, I'm asking you to help me. I honestly didn't know I was doing anything improperly, and I'd like to make running a regular thing, and it would be really great if you'd help me out." 

Phone in hand and her Mum's number waiting to be dialled, Yeseul stared back at Chanyeol. He wasn't being cheeky anymore, which was a welcome change. "Fine. But I'm not going to train you or anything. You can run with me and do stretches and that, but I'm not going to the gym with you." 

"I don't expect you to." 

"All right." 

Chanyeol smiled. "Thanks, Seullie." 

"Are you going to move now?" 

"Sorry. Yeah." 

Yeseul shook her head as she went out onto the balcony, deciding to send Serin a quick text before she called her Mum, and invited her over for a study day. Then she tapped on 'Mum' and dropped onto the chair, stretching her legs out before her. 

"Yeseul!" 

"Hi, Mum." 

"It's quite early." 

"Yeah, I was out for a run." 

"Oh, that's wonderful!" She exclaimed, making Yeseul grimace at the building across the way. "I remember when you used to play tennis during high school. Do you remember that?" 

"Obviously. I was the one playing it." 

"You loved it," Miyoung continued. "Why did you ever stop?" 

"Because I didn't like it anymore." 

Miyoung sighed. "I see. Well, I'm happy to hear you're keeping up with your exercise. Are you still ... smoking?" 

"Yes, Mum." 

"Hmmm." 

"Look, this isn't what I rang to talk to you about." 

There was noise in the background on her Mum's end, and the distinct sound of mugs clinking together as she rummaged through the cupboard. "What would you like to talk about then?" 

"I don't know," Yeseul sighed. 

"Why don't you tell me what you've been up to?" 

"University. Work." 

"Anything else interesting happen?" 

Yeseul decided that telling her Mum she'd had a one night stand with a man that was several years older than her was a bad idea. "I, um, have a date on Friday." 

"Oh, that's wonderful? Is it ... what's their name?" 

Yeseul hugged one of her knees to her chest and stared at the floor. She appreciated the effort, even if her Mum still sounded uncomfortable. "His name's Seojun." 

"Oh," Miyoung said, and Yeseul could hear the happy relief in her voice. It didn't matter to Yeseul if Seojun was a guy, a girl, neither, both. She just needed to like them, but even that was negotiable if all they did was have . 

It was frustrating, to say the least. She didn't know what she wanted, all she could do is hope that she would when she found it. 

The balcony door, already hanging ajar when Yeseul had neglected to close it properly, creaked open. Chanyeol didn't come out onto the balcony entirely, his upper body hung through the doorway as he held out a cup of tea for her. He was shirtless, so she guessed he was going to use their shower. The last time he had, he'd used her rose and lemon body wash instead of Baekhyun's stupid man brand one. She'd sabotaged his cheesecake in retaliation, but Baekhyun still ate it, so it didn't feel like adequate payback. 

What concerned her more than the prospect of him stealing her stuff again was that he might've heard her talking to her Mum. Yeseul's family was not something she shared with her friends, except for Serin, and that was only because they'd grown up together and she knew it all already. If Yeseul were to talk about them, it would be on her terms. Not because someone had listened in on a private conversation. 

It hurt more when she thought about how she'd chosen to respect his privacy where the journal was concerned, and he might have been standing behind the door the whole time. 

She didn't take the tea, and didn't say thanks when he set down the mug on the ground and left, closing the door behind him. Maybe he hadn't been listening, but that didn't stop her from being suspicious. 

"Yeseul? Are you still there?" 

"Yeah, sorry." 

"So, tell me about Seojun." 

"Right, well, I don't really know anything about him. He works in an art gallery and speaks Vietnamese." 

Miyoung made a sound of approval. "That sounds nice." 

"Nice," Yeseul repeated. She was starting to hate the word, with the amount of times it had been thrown around (both in her head and out loud) lately. When she thought of Daeho, she thought of how nice he was, how nice their night had been, and how utterly boring it all was. She might be able to do it if she forced herself, but Yeseul was not one to pretend. The moment she realised she wasn't straight she decided that keeping up pretense for everyone else's sake was pointless, even if the alternative was going to be difficult. 

"Well, tell me how it goes," Miyoung said, when it was clear that Yeseul had nothing more to add. 

"Sure." 

"I suppose it's time for me to go. We'll talk soon?" 

"Sure." 

After her Mum clicked off, Yeseul took a tentative sip of the tea Chanyeol had left by the door. It had cooled down substantially from being outside in the chilly morning air, but wasn't unpalatable yet. When she got inside she could hear the shower running, and took a moment to consider the items in the room that she could throw at Chanyeol if he emerged smelling like her soap. 

Yeseul threw some cereal into a bowl and settled onto the sofa. She had one eye on the bathroom door as she ate, the television humming quietly in the background. There was a cushion resting against her knee that she planned to use as ammo, and his chest would present the perfect target when it came into view. The more she thought about it, Yeseul considered throwing the cushion at Chanyeol whether or not he'd used her body wash. He was Chanyeol, after all, and she'd been far too nice to him recently. 

He was in there for ages; only after she'd had a second bowl of cereal was fixing more tea did the door open. Yeseul, in the kitchen, promptly stopped what she was doing and bolted across the room, grabbing the cushion from the sofa. She held it over one shoulder, edging toward the corridor, ready to strike. 

When he emerged, towel slung low on his hips, she was hit first with the vulgar scent of Baekhyun's body wash, and then the sight of a semi- Chanyeol with wet hair. 

Yeseul froze, her brain trying to figure out why something she'd seen many times before (Chanyeol was not at all shameful of his body, and strolled around in his pants in the summer when it was hot in the apartment) was affecting her differently this time, making her stomach flutter instead of rile with nausea. 

"Can I help you?" Chanyeol asked, reaching up to push damp hair out of his face. 

She frowned at him, cushion still ready to throw. "You didn't use my body wash." 

"You don't like me using it," Chanyeol replied. He eyed the cushion. "Were you going to hit me with that?" 

"What makes you think I'm not still planning on it?" 

"Because you would've done it right away if you were," he said. She narrowed her eyes, slowly lowering the cushion. Chanyeol wasn't smiling, but his eyes were amused. "You're staring, Seullie." 

Yeseul made a face and spun around, throwing the cushion back onto the sofa before going to finish making her tea. When she'd put the milk back into the fridge, she spun around to find Chanyeol lingering in the doorway. She raised her eyebrows at him, waiting. 

"I, er, I think I'm gonna go home?" he said, like he wanted her to extend an offer to stay. She noticed the bag hanging off his shoulder, the one he'd had earlier when she asked him to go for a run with her instead of going to the gym. He'd probably been planning on going to his own house afterward, too, rather than coming back here for a shower. 

"Fine," she said, and returned to her seat on the sofa. 

"You don't–" Chanyeol p