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The kiss doesn't last more than a few seconds and all Seungwan can do is just stay frozen in her spot during that time. She's literally slept five hours last night, trying to catch up on her favourite shows until late and she's wearing an old, unappealing pyjamas. Heck, it's 7.14am.

Pardon, 7.22 now.

Bae Joohyun eventually leans away, staring the other woman right in the face as if she dares her to object, simultaneously making it seem like it's not that big of a deal at all. It kind of it, though; not that Seungwan is an exalted teenager, but a stranger violating your personal space this radically can really spur a surge or pure astonishment.

The radio host opens and closes several times, her hands appearing to do all the talking for her because her gestures are as wild as she is silent. When she thinks that the embarrassment has already passed, Joohyun says with a grimace,

'You have morning breath. Brush your teeth before you kiss me next time.' She moves away and takes a sip of her coffee. She then nonchalantly moves to take a seat on the available chair in Seungwan and Seulgi’s tiny kitchen.

The younger woman on the other hand, she's about to have a .

'What... just happened,' she only heaves out, extending her left arm to find perch before her legs give out under her. She manages to catch the corner of the low table standing against the inner wall, which doubles as the roomates' space to drop their keys and the post they receive. It slightly shakes under her weight.

Before I kiss you?

'I think you and I need to go out together, do something that will help us bond. We don't want anything to deter our efforts.' Joohyun stays calm, expectant even. The radio host suddenly sees it loud and clear – Bae Joohyun has a plan, she has it all figured out already. Whatever it is.

'You're ing insane,' Seungwan declares after a few more confusing seconds, turning on her heel and going back to her bedroom. If she's lucky, by noon all of this will seem like a nightmare conjured out of her general exhaustion. The older woman is quicker than her though. She follows the younger and slides into the room before Seungwan has a chance to shut the door on her.

'Where are you going-‘

‘Is this how you live?' There's clear judgement in her tone and any other day, the radio host would feel embarrassed of her clothes lying in piles and broadcast scripts discarded on the floor around the desk, but not today. It's way too early to be reasonable.

'Yes! This is how I live. I'm sloppy and untidy and quite frankly, I still don't understand what you're still doing here.' Joohyun looks at her strangely.

'I thought we understood each other,' she replies, looking as confused as she sounds impatient.

‘Clearly not, since you have chosen to ignore everything I’ve ever said to you.’

‘What do you mean?’ Joohyun tilts her head again, looking lost yet pensive at the same time.

'How did you even know my address?' Seungwan asks, giving up. She sighs.

'Sehun gave it to me,' comes the obvious answer and Seungwan nearly rolls her eyes.

Oh Sehun better not show up in front of me for the rest of the week, Seungwan curses mentally. Her colleague probably hoped for the best but he can be so gullible. His sister had him right in before he even realised her intentions.

‘Well, I’m going back to bed,’ Seungwan announces, diving straight into her bed sheets and pulling them over her head.

‘Well, alright then. But just so you know, this is why you don’t have a stable partner. You’re making it very hard for others to approach you. And you also smell kind of strange in the morning,’ Joohyun adds the afterthought as she closes the door to Seungwan’s bedroom.

Just in time to avoid a pillow thrown at her, accompanied by a loud groan.

This must really be a bad dream, Seungwan concludes when she re-emerges from her woman-cave some two hours later, showered and mildly more refreshed. It’s her turn to buy groceries, a chore she cannot avoid. However, she stops in her tracks as soon as crosses the threshold of her bedroom.

Bae Joohyun is seated at their table, only this time she is not alone. Seulgi is next to her, smiling at something they are both watching on her phone, while Jongdae is in front of the stove, cooking what smells like his famous breakfast beef congee clad in Seungwan’s pink apron that she got from Sooyoung as a joke since she never even stands less than five feet from a pot.

‘Ah, Wan-ah.’ Seulgi beacons at her to come closer. ‘We were just talking about you.’

‘You don’t say,’ Seungwan seethes through her teeth, sending her best friend an accusatory look. Et tu, Brutus? Seulgi pays no attention to her grumpy friend as she announces,

‘I was showing Joohyun the photos from our trip to Hong Kong last year. Your hair was so short back then, it really did look lovely.’

‘Oh yeah? And whose idea was that?’ Seungwan is boiling inside but she doesn’t have to look for answers anywhere far. It becomes clear mere seconds later.

‘Show her that video, too, you know, that one when the cable car to Lantau stopped and Seungwan looked like her soul was ready to leave her body,’ Jongdae chirps, looking away from the stove and right at his friend with a smile of a cunning Cheshire cat.

‘Literally, Jongdae, shut up and cook, that’s the only reason we still keep you around.’ Seungwan is not amused, but her comeback is so weak that it only earns her another grin in return and Jongdae begins stirring the pot furiously just to stick it to her.

Seungwan takes a heavily seat on the only chair between the two women. Why is she such a pushover, she’ll never know.

‘I thought I made it quite clear that I don’t want you here,’ Seungwan turns to Joohyun, completely exasperated. Joohyun shrugs – even her shrug seems light and elegant.

‘I was on my way out but Jongdae here invited me to stay. We drank the coffee I’d brought for you.’

‘This is not Jongdae’s house to invite people to,’ Seungwan sends the man her best, extremely annoyed smile.

‘Don’t be rude, Seungwan,’ Seulgi puts her hand on her friend’s shoulder in good faith. She is of a rather gentle character and rarely gets defensive.

‘Yeah, Seungwan, don’t be rude,’ Jongdae parrots, obviously barely containing his laughter. Seungwan closes her eyes, praying for patience. Jongdae is a good guy, he really is. He just has a really terrible habit of not knowing when to get off people. He’ll push until a person snaps.

‘You and I haven’t finished our conversation,’ Joohyun observes, undeterred by the aura of mild hostility around them.

Seungwan is ready to give the older woman a piece of her mind right there and then, but decides against it at the last moment. She doesn’t want to make her friends uncomfortable.

‘Follow me,’ she says instead and stands up. Joohyun puts her almost empty paper cup and for once doesn’t argue.

When they re-enter Seungwan’s bedroom, it is in a relatively better state than it was at the crack of dawn. The window is open, too, letting in the early summer breeze. The older closes the door behind them.

Seungwan decides to change the strategy. Maybe if she knows for sure what kind of delusion Bae Joohyun is entertaining she can extinguish it at its core.

‘May I know why you kissed me earlier?’

‘I thought we understood each other,’ Joohyun repeats a little stupidly.

‘We don’t.’ The radio host does her best to stay calm. ‘You said you don’t like me. Several times.’

‘Oh, no. I didn’t kiss you because I liked you.’ The reply is so quick and firm that Seungwan can’t help but blush again. Here it is, getting dissed. This time at her own request. ‘But you said that you can’t help me because you yourself don’t feel attractive enough to get a romantic partner.’

Seungwan’s jaw drops. She opens and closes several times before she nearly yells,

‘I never said that!’ Even though that’s exactly how she feels.

‘Well, that’s what I got from your constant objections,’ Joohyun states matter-of-factly. ‘So I figured, you and I can help each other. You can treat my kiss as a… taste of what’s awaiting you. A figurate taste, of course.’

Seungwan is about to contest immediately but something stops her. Nah, she doesn’t need any help getting a girlfriend, especially not from a judgemental person like Joohyun who will inevitably breathe down her neck the entire time. What could Joohyun even do for her? She just admitted herself she has no experience-

‘What do you mean?’ She says anyways, before she can think better of it.

A small satisfied smile makes its way to Joohyun’s lips. She sits down on the only available chair, crossing one leg over the other. Her faux leather trousers are too tight for Seungwan not to notice, so she struggles to keep her gaze on the other’s face.

Not that it’s a bad view, either.

‘I wanna know where to go and who to meet. I wanna know the whole subculture and what to talk about. What to read and what to listen to.’ When nothing more comes, Seungwan bursts out laughing.

‘Should I lend you my lesbian underwear, too?’ Seungwan can’t help but snark. She’s gotta be kidding me.

‘I want to get a girlfriend!’ Joohyun raises her voice, getting frustrated. Me too, buddy, me too, Seungwan looks at the other with pity when she’s done with her fit of giggles. ‘Alright, let’s start with just one thing. Where can I go to meet other women interested in women?’

‘If I knew, I’d have gone there a long time ago,’ Seungwan grumbles, already losing interest in the conversation. She turns around to look for her eco bag. The shopping won’t do itself.

‘There is a club. In Jung-gu, near Seomyeon station,’ Joohyun pushes, undeterred. ‘I read about it online. Go with me.’

‘What’s in it for me?’ Seungwan mumbles. Where’s my wallet?  

‘How long has it been since you had ?’ The question is factual but Seungwan turns around so fast she’s afraid she might get a whiplash.

‘Can you not do that?!’

‘Do what?’ Joohyun frowns.

‘That!’ Seungwan’s face is now positively aflame. There is no other way to explain her embarrassment than through a wild hand gesticulation.

‘Jongdae told me you haven’t had anyone in forever.’

‘Oh my ing god, this is not happening,’ the younger murmurs to herself in frenzy, packing up faster now. Anything to get away from this madness. Enough has been said about her romantic life – or lack thereof – without her knowledge or consent.

‘So you and I go there tonight. To Butterflies. I need company. We make small talk with some girls. If we don’t like them, we pretend we’re together. If we do, we both win. Do you understand? Unless you want to be alone your entire life?’

Seungwan can only let an airy chuckle of disbelief at the spin that the logic has taken within seconds.

‘You know what? Fine. Fine, I mean. I was gonna go at some point anyway. Not that it’s any of your business, but I can get a girlfriend by myself. I don’t need your help. I can graciously let you tag along tonight if it means that you’ll stop stalking me.’

‘Great. Now show me that special lesbian purse of yours because I want to buy the same. In black,’ Joohyun demands.

Seungwan looks at her, unsure whether she’s amazed or horrified.  

Oh Sehun is going out of his mind and the day has barely even started for him.

As the youngest in their writing crew, he is often scheduled to sit in on broadcasts that are either considered less important a.k.a. contain a lot of music and nearly zero creative effort or start at hours so random than more experienced writers do what they can not to be assigned to them. Today it is the former, a lunch show with pop songs and interviews of the local indie bands. He doesn’t mind the theme that much but to be fair, this is the least of his problems at the moment.

He might or might not have screwed Seungwan over, and big time, something that he realised only minutes after his phone conversation with his noona. Of course he should have guessed that there was no need to disclose his co-worker’s home address but now it is too late. He knows Seungwan doesn’t work on weekends so he can only pray that her anger simmers down until Monday morning. Alternatively, that she is not mad enough to seek him out personally during that time.

As much as he loves his sister, he is well aware that she is too much. Junmyeon-hyung is too, Sehun laments internally during his twenty minute long ride from Dongrae station, where he usually starts his commuting to work. He’s getting tired and utterly uncomfortable of the conversations they’ve been having in the past few days. Sehun has always tried to keep his distance from Junmyeon, but the older man continues calling him, sometimes even twice a day. Sometimes to rant and sometimes to meet. Sehun has a feeling that it is just going to get worse, for both of them. He feels bad for the other and worries for him, but he also worries for himself. He doesn't want to be the shoulder for Junmyeon to cry on, especially since he is mourning Sehun's half-sister. It is not a burden that he wants to carry.

All in all, he has already had enough on his plate in the last few weeks even without the headache that awaits him at work daily but lost in his thoughts, he fails to notice Huang Zitao standing at the entrance to the radio station, leisurely finishing his cigarette. Sehun would have slowed down, turned around even and probably entered the small bakery on the other side of the road just for the heck of it since he doesn't feel like eating pastry at the moment. It's too late now, though - their eyes accidentally meet and a spark of recognition is there. Zitao doesn't do much beyond that, his gaze still trained on the younger man as he inevitably approaches their work place.

Sehun swallows hard, feeling nervous. He raises his head again when he is just in front of the other, nodding in acknowledgement but nothing more than that.

The cigarette leaves Zitao's lips just as Sehun passes him by. He puts the stick out with his left Vans. He’s dressed in all black, even though the temperatures are already reaching twenties.

'So you're not even gonna say hi, Oh?' Sehun stops, withdrawing just in time for the automatic mechanism of the revolving door not to crush him. Zitao’s Korean is still slightly accented, despite the years he’s worked in Korea.

'Hi.' Sehun is nothing if not agreeable but more importantly, usually an emotional pushover. Both Junmyeon and Joohyun have proved it several times and now Huang Zitao seems to be having a go at him.

'How are you today?' The older man appears nonchalant but Sehun knows exactly there is an agenda to his words, and a charged one.

'I'm good. How are you?' He replies weakly, wishing to be inside the building already, buried under the ton of script ideas that Jinki-hyung always throws at him. Heck, he'll take Minseok-hyung's lame jokes over this passive-aggressive confrontation.

'I called you last night.' Zitao doesn't respond to the greeting, immediately getting to what he really wants to say. He’s not one to beat around the bush.

'I was out.' Sehun realises that his words don't make a lot of sense, considering that his phone is for the majority of the time virtually glued to his hand but it's the only excuse that comes to mind. Zitao, too, understands the implication. I didn't want to pick up.

'Your brother-in-law alright?' The older taunts again and Sehun reddens to the impossible colour of a fresh tomato.

'I'll see you inside,' he says only but he knows that he'll be avoiding the Chinese like a plague. He nearly runs to the elevator.

Kang Seulgi thinks that her life is pretty alright at the moment. She’s finally been promoted to the main news caster for the afternoon block, after having been omitted for two straight years. She has a few million won of good savings. She lives in a good neighbourhood with a great friend. She is in good shape, courtesy of her pole dancing classes and spinning sessions at the local gym.

Somebody has actually put up with her for longer than four months, she thinks as she eyes Jongdae prancing around the kitchen corner to the rhythm of the Fresh off the Boat opening song.

God, she just wishes that she didn’t have such a bad hangover.

‘I’m gonna go lie down for a while more,’ she announces, standing up. Uh, god. She really feels nauseous.

‘Huh? I thought we were gonna eat breakfast?’ The man turns around, frowning. ‘Are you alright?’

‘I don’t know. I woke up and it was fine but now I feel dizzy. The hangover must have kicked it,’ Seulgi admits, smiling through her pain. Jongdae laughs.

‘You did drink quite a few last night. I’ll keep the congee out of the fridge then, maybe you’ll have more appetite later.’

‘Maybe.’

She stands up, grimacing at the splitting pain. She really needs to be in bed already. Jongdae follows her with a bottle of water.

‘Are you sure it’s not alcohol poisoning?’ He asks again and she shrugs. Thank god she isn’t scheduled for work today.

Jongdae is saying something else, putting his hand on her forehead but the moment her head touches the pillow, she’s out like a light.

'Seul. Hey, Seul.' Jongdae enters the bedroom after he's done with the dishes and watched all his shows on Netflix for the week. It's a Saturday routine for both of them, though recently Seulgi tends to sleep in. Seungwan and Joohyun are gone and it's nearing afternoon already. 'Hey, Sleepy Head.'

The woman doesn't respond immediately, groaning as she tries to turn to the other side. 'You alright?' The man frowns in concern.

She groans again.

'Why did you let me drink so much last night? I feel totally nauseous,' she admits and he actually laughs, like he has the habit to at almost anything.

'Me? You wanted to celebrate the new show so we did. It was Caipirinha this, Caipirinha that. In what universe do you think I can actually control what you do?' He laughs again when he sees her rapidly get up and sprint towards the bathroom.

'I'm never drinking again,' she solemnly declares right before she pukes her guts out into the toilet bowl.

Jongdae dutifully follows, standing next to her and holding her long blonde hair up.

'I feel like I've heard that one before,' he replies humorously.

'I mean it. I've never had such bad, sudden hangovers before. Like, I felt fine just hours ago and now I have a splitting headache. This happened the other day too, remember?' There is a moment of silence before the man says out of the blue,

'Is this your way of saying you want to get married? Since we're getting old and all?'  

Seulgi actually looks up this time, a complete disbelief painted all over her face.

'In what universe do you think I'd raise the topic of marriage whole puking?' Her voice is hoarse due to the strain but the judgement remains clear.

Jongdae shrugs, but the mirth in his eyes is unmistakable as he continues smiling. Seulgi doesn’t know if she should laugh or get annoyed for real.

'Listen here, Kim Jongdae. You better know that you're a four who's lucky enough to be going out with a ten.' Seulgi doesn’t really mean it – heck, she is usually not particularly snarky and sarcasm is not her forte, either – but she does like to put the man in his place every once in a while when he’s being too much.

Jongdae bursts out laughing for real this time, but he says nothing more. When Seulgi is done, he helps her sit down on the now closed toilet seat and hands her a toothbrush.

‘Believe me. I know,’ he says, smiling fondly.

‘Is this really necessary? Maybe I could at least put my groceries back in the house first?’

‘Are you telling me that if you’ll actually come out again?’ Joohyun looks at her suspiciously and Seungwan has enough decency to send her a sheepish smile. They both know she’ll shut the door to the older woman’s face immediately.

‘Come, you can leave them in my car while we’re there.’

Joohyun leads them to the small sports car parked right outside of Seungwan’s block.

‘We can just take the subway,’ the younger woman suggests just because she knows Joohyun will be displeased. She is right - she receives a light, dismissive frown.

‘Don’t be silly.’

‘I really don’t need any more clothing,’ Seungwan declares as soon as she’s comfortable on the passenger’s seat, the bags safely deposited in the small boot of the vehicle.

‘You’d be surprised,’ Joohyun mumbles, trying not to offend the other but Seungwan hears it anyway. She decides to let it go.

Why is she even hanging out with Joohyun, she really doesn’t know. She feels like she’s been had, again. One moment she swore off the older woman and the next, she is on her way to some undoubtedly crazy expensive boutique in Centum, front seat in the Mercedes that Joohyun got after her divorce. Just perfect.

They find a parking spot in the underground of the Shinsaegae shopping centre, but they don’t linger there for too long. Joohyun leads Seungwan outside and they walk in silence for about five minutes. The place is hidden from view, in the back alley.

‘Are you gonna sell me for organs?’ Seungwan can’t help but joke when she sees Joohyun turn into an even smaller road.

‘Don’t be silly,’ she says again. ‘I shop here all the time. It’s a little more upscale but it’s tiring, trying to choose when there are so many other people around. Here the attention is personalised and they serve good coffee. I don’t like crowds.’

Boy, do I have news for you, Seungwan thinks of the stuffy club in the basement that Joohyun has so resolutely resolved to go to.

The radio host can sense the looks that she receives both from the guard as he opens the door for them and the two sales assistants as they welcome them. She doesn’t look like she belongs there. They only speak to Joohyun, anyway, seemingly knowing her very well already.

Seungwan looks around, slowly wandering off her companion. She’s heard of the brand, generally speaking, but now that she sees their elegant clothes up close, she has to admit that she wouldn’t be caught dead in all those tweed jackets. Her oversized bottle green blazer from Cache Cache is more comfortable, anyway.

Her steps lead her to the space further at the back, full of cocktail dresses. There are three women there, with their backs to Seungwan. One is the sales person, working her best smile to seal the sale, while the other is an older lady, clad in a light spring dress and a black jacket. The third one is in fact a secondary school student, still in her uniform that even Seungwan recognises as belonging to BIFS and her black hair loose on her back. She looks bored.

The sales assistant notices Seungwan then, turning her head.

‘Can I help you, miss..?’

‘Oh, no. I was just-‘ Seungwan’s explanations die in .

The two other females, too, turn their attention to the newcomer in that moment, distracted by her entrance. Seungwan just stares at the older woman, shell shocked and lost for words. The other grimaces lightly, looking utterly embarrassed if not a little guilty. Her young daughter notices her mother’s expression and frowns herself, looking between the two women locked in a staring contest.

‘I was just leaving,’ is what Seungwan finally whispers, turning on her heel.

She needs to get out of here.

A/N: Please upvote if you like? Have a good day!

* Title: James Taylor - Fire and rain