For the next few weeks, you became busier due to the ongoing promotion of your new album. You attended a bunch of award shows and did live performances, did a few album signing events, guested on different radio and TV shows, did a new photoshoot for the new cover of Korean vogue, and had an interview with Billboard. Aside from those, every single night before you could really rest and go to sleep, you had to visit the dance studio to practice for a few hours. You thought that the word “busy” could not even fully explain how busy you were. You're thankful, really. You're enjoying your job. You loved performing. But you also couldn't stop yourself from feeling sad that because of your busy schedule, it had been pretty hard for you to regularly visit Joohyun like you wanted to. Still, you did all you could do to show Joohyun your efforts.

Because of the incident, Joohyun's boss ordered her to take a few weeks off. Joohyun might not say it but you all knew that it was still traumatic for her. You knew that it's impossible for her to just forget about that incident anytime soon, but you hoped that a few weeks of just being in a loving and safe place like her home could help her feel safe, at ease, and to make her feel that she's not alone. Most especially, to heal.

Whenever you had free time in your hands, no matter how short it was, you always made sure to go to Joohyun's to deliver the homemade meals and pastries that you personally made for the girl and her family. And flowers, too. You never failed to bring flowers for Joohyun.

You're proud to say that you're getting better at cooking. 

In all the times that you visited her, there were only a few times when you actually saw Joohyun. When you were at her house, Joohyun's mom or Yeri would call Joohyun to go down and greet you. You'd patiently wait for the girl to go down.

All you wanted was to catch even a short glimpse of Joohyun, to see her on her feet and doing okay. The sadness and pain you always felt every time Joohyun refused to show herself to you was enough to dampen your mood for the rest of the day.

Despite this, your spirit never wavered. The fortunate times that Joohyun went down for even a few seconds or minutes (to get something from the kitchen or to even go to the bathroom) was more than enough for you to give you energy for the rest of the day. It didn't matter that Joohyun oftentimes ignored you when you greeted her. You would take whatever you could. What's important was that Joohyun knew that you're there. That you're always going to be there for her.

“Hi, Mrs. Bae! I brought lunch.” You smiled at the woman who greeted you when the door opened.

“Seulgi! Hi!” Mrs. Bae greeted with the same soft smile she always had. “You are early today. Come in, come in! You're just in time. We're about to start lunch.”

You handed the metal food container to Mrs. Bae's awaiting hands.

Soon, you started walking inside the house. “I hope you have enough time today so you can enjoy the meal I cooked and also the meal you brought. It's nice to finally have you with us for lunch.”

“I have a few hours of free time today, Mrs. Bae. My 1:00 schedule got cancelled so I'm free for the next two hours.” You stopped when you finally entered the dining room and saw Joohyun sitting silently on her spot at the dining table. You did not even realize that your smile got bigger the moment your eyes laid on her.

“What are you doing standing there like a fool. Come here and sit already. I'm hungry, Seulgi.” Yeri, who was sitting on the chair in front of Joohyun, jokingly scolded you. When you looked at the woman, you saw her smirking at you, mouthing the word “whipped”. You just rolled you eyes, smile not leaving your lips.

“Sit down, Seulgi. You can take the chair beside Joohyun.” Mrs. Bae was now sitting on her seat at the head of the table. When you looked at the older woman, you blushed at the way she was smiling teasingly at you. She even moved her brows up and down. You bowed your head shyly and walked towards the spot beside Joohyun. You didn't miss the way Yeri snorted.

You hesitated a little before you finally sat. You bit your lip because of the nervousness you were feeling. Here you were, finally, FINALLY beside the girl you'd been dying to see. No more short glimpses of her. Joohyun was really here. You could easily touch her if you stretched your hands a little. You could smell her. She smelled so good. She smelled like lavender. Oh, God. I'm so ing whipped.

You started cracking your knuckles unconsciously, a habit you had when you're feeling nervous. You saw Joohyun slightly turned her head to the cracking sounds and you, upon realizing what you're doing, stopped it thinking that Joohyun's getting irritated with the sound.

You cleared your throat. “H-Hi, Joohyun. H-How have you been?” You're so nervous. You could almost hear the erratic beating of your heart. 

“I’m okay.” You smiled upon hearing Joohyun's gentle voice. You knew that that's the end of your conversation because that's how it had always been. Joohyun would answer that same question every single time and she's out of your sight before you could even say something again. So you're not expecting anything from her. But for you, it's okay. What's important was you're going to have your first lunch with Joohyun. Maybe next time, you could have a proper conversation with her. For now, you'd take what you could get.

But to your surprise, you saw Joohyun bit her lip like she's contemplating something and you swore, you swore you felt your heart flipped when Joohyun finally looked at you like she could actually see you and said, “How have you been, Seulgi?”

You swore the world stopped. You're now certain there's a microphone inside your chest because you could clearly hear the fast beating inside.
D-Did she just-- I-Is she finally having a conversation… w-with me?

You couldn't talk. You mouth hang open like a goldfish. You couldn't believe what's happening. Joohyun's talking to me!!!

“Seulgi. Seulgi!” You blinked a few times when you heard Yeri calling you.

“Unnie’s asking you.” You saw Yeri making weird gestures at you while mouthing the words “Answer her, you idiot!”. 

Only then did you break from your state of shock and finally let yourself control your breathing.

You looked at Joohyun. The girl was still looking at you, brows furrowed, probably wondering what's taking you so long in answering.

Despite the overwhelming feeling that you're feeling, you managed to smile at her. You had