Work had been exhausting. Honestly, it was always an effort, but today was one of these days when Seungwan wished she worked with more people. Well, alive people. She definitely had enough dead ones hanging around.

The only upside of spending her days handling corpses was that most of her romantic notions dissipated somewhere in the middle of prying bones apart and weighing organs. It had certainly helped keep her away from dating, at least until Joohyun had stormed into her life with that perfect face - perfect everything, to be honest - and thrown everything into chaos.

Now Seungwan was the kind of person who fantasized about having a nice girlfriend. It was beyond embarrassing. Even worse, it didn’t make any sense. Sure, logic wasn’t usually a requirement for her life, but just for once she wished her brain would stop and analyse the garbage it was churning out. First of all, because she wouldn’t be getting a nice girlfriend any time soon with the terrible dates Seulgi managed to find for her.

Second of all, because Joohyun might be nice, friendly, generous, caring, a lot of other positive adjectives that Seungwan’s brain would love to keep adding to the list, but she definitely wasn’t going to be a good girlfriend to anyone, for the simple fact that she wasn’t going to be a girlfriend at all. She wasn’t interested in romance, that much was clear enough, so would the embarrassing teenage daydreams please see themselves out now?

Seungwan realized the train had arrived at her station just in time, as the doors were already sounding their alarm by the time she managed to slip outside, slamming shut before she’d even had time to start walking. A few people glanced over at her flustered escape, so she quickly made her way out of the platform. To be fair, she’d probably have lost their interest quickly either way. Commuters on their way home from work weren’t the most easily stirred crowd and most of them were probably as deep in their own thoughts as she’d been. Maybe more practical thoughts, like what to have for dinner.

Distractedly berating herself for managing to get lost in thoughts about how she shouldn’t get lost in thoughts, she made the short walk from the station to her building and walked inside thankfully. The days were definitely getting colder and she kept forgetting to put on a warmer coat, usually just walking out with whatever she’d left hanging by the door the previous night.

Now was the part where she slowly dragged herself across the hall to check her mail, then towards the elevator, where she lingered for a moment before calling it down, then slowly over to her own apartment, where she once again lingered to root around her bag even though her keys were already in her hand. Usually, at some point in this routine Joohyun would show up, or she’d be upstairs when Seungwan got out of the elevator.

She glanced at her mailbox. The hands which had been absently rubbing her arms for warmth suddenly stilled, grasped a little tighter and finally dropped to her sides as she sighed. “This is dumb,” she muttered to herself. She walked resolutely to the elevator, not bothering with the mail at all. It wasn’t like it was going anywhere.

The trip up was quick enough and the elevator doors opened to reveal the familiar hallway. Occupying it was a familiar presence. Seungwan felt betrayed to find that a quite substantial part of herself had been hoping for just this and silently cursed her weak resolve. She’d been so determined to go straight home and prove to herself that she wasn’t in that deep yet. But now she was face to face with Joohyun and she’d never know if she would’ve actually gone through with it.

Joohyun’s face lit up in recognition as she saw Seungwan step out of the elevator. She waved at her like they weren’t the only two people there, a wide smile on her face. It had been a while since the days of their cold interactions, but the current excitement was definitely not the norm. Vague recollections of Joohyun’s drunk chatter came to mind, but she wouldn’t be drinking like that on a weekday, right?

Seungwan tried to approach her neighbour cautiously, although she couldn’t keep her face from stretching into a grin that matched Joohyun’s. She dared anyone to see Joohyun smiling and not reciprocate it, really.

“You look excited today,” Seungwan offered, trying not to let the apprehension show in her voice. At a glance, Joohyun seemed sober enough. Her work clothes and make-up were neatly in place, her cheeks were as pale as usual and her eyes didn’t show the unmistakable unfocused brightness of intoxication. One less thing to worry about, at least.

“I have exciting news,” Joohyun replied with a conspiratorial smile. Alright, one more thing to worry about. Now Seungwan was definitely on guard, the thought of all the possible horrible outcomes to this conversation pre-emptively exhausting her.

“Oh, really? What happened?” The previous smile was still on her face, but she felt it growing slightly smaller. Joohyun didn’t seem to notice, probably too excited to focus very intently on her surroundings.

“I have a date,” she declared brightly. Seungwan very narrowly avoided choking on nothing, as she unexpectedly drew her breath in a loud gasp. She tried to cover it up by coughing, weakly lifting up a hand to give Joohyun a thumbs-up in lieu of a verbal response.

When she felt confident enough in her speaking voice, she pushed all her energy into keeping her smile in place and turned to Joohyun. “That’s great,” she said in a weak voice. The coughing would probably excuse that, right?

Joohyun beamed brightly in response, clearly pleased at the approval. “Yes, isn’t it?”

“So, how did that happen?” Seungwan asked in what she hoped was a casual tone. She realized as she spoke that it might come off as a little rude, so she quickly elaborated. “I mean, since you’d never been asked out and all.”

“I’ve started smiling more,” Joohyun said simply.

Yes, that would do it. “That’s fair,” Seungwan mused out loud, “you do have a beautiful smile.”

“That’s what she said,” Joohyun replied delightedly. “The woman who asked me out,” she added when she realized Seungwan’s confusion.

“That’s nice,” Seungwan said weakly. It really wasn’t, and she very much wanted to go home now. She hoped it didn’t show too clearly on her face; she could only get away with so much through Joohyun’s oblivious nature. “So, when’s the date?”

“This Friday.”

Oh no, that was way too soon. It made sense, of course, nobody scheduled a date a month away, but still. That was barely any time at all. Seungwan needed time. She wasn’t sure what for, but it suddenly felt essential to have more time.

All the energy seemed to have drained from her body and it really must have showed because Joohyun’s brow furrowed as she studied her. “Are you alright?” she asked with concern.

Seungwan quickly nodded, possibly a little frantically. “I just… had a really long day at work,” she offered as an excuse, which Joohyun thankfully seemed to accept. It wasn’t a complete lie, anyway. Some of her exhaustion certainly came from that.

“Oh, you should go home and rest then,” Joohyun suggested helpfully. “Are you very tired? I could get you some dinner or… cook something?” she added dubiously, clearly not very convinced of her abilities in that department.

Seungwan was quick to decline that offer, gripped by panic at the thought of having to spend much longer with Joohyun and her excited news of a date. How far she’d come to once again find herself afraid of talking to Joohyun. At least this time it was only because the longing to fall across her sofa and escape consciousness was growing stronger by the second.

With a few reassuring glances and pats of Joohyun’s arm, she finally made her escape. The apartment door slammed shut behind her and she immediately leaned against it with a sigh. She only opened her eyes when she noticed the lack of greeting from her furry companion.

On the sofa sat Sooyoung, lost in the consuming task of petting Mr. Fluffers. One of her unannounced visits, then. Seungwan was honestly thankful; the warning texts were starting to feel a little eerie. Without a word, she dragged her feet to the sofa, leaving her shoes somewhere along the way, and flopped down with a short sigh. Her legs draped themselves across Sooyoung’s lap, which lay as an unacceptable obstacle to her goal of stretching fully. Already Fluffy was on the ground and padding away towards the bedroom, disturbed beyond recovery. Drama queen.

Sooyoung didn’t bother with a flashy reaction, opting instead to turn her head towards Seungwan and raise an eyebrow. Unfortunately for her, Seungwan was already closing her eyes, a hand travelling upwards to rest on her brow. Hopefully that would help with the growing headache.

“Why are your smelly feet on top of me?” Sooyoung finally asked, probably tired of waiting for Seungwan to say something. She poked at one her legs for emphasis, but even squirming away from it was deemed an unnecessary effort.

“Why are you in my apartment?” Seungwan retorted, effectively silencing her. She opened her eyes just in time to see Sooyoung’s head tilt in a silent ‘fair enough’. Bringing her shielding hand back over her eyes, she sighed again. “Do you ever feel like your life is one of those comedies that are really mean to the protagonist?”

“Did Joohyun undress in front of you again?” Sooyoung asked in an amused voice. Seungwan rolled her eyes, which didn’t mean much since they were both closed and covered by her hand.

“I just got home from work, when would she have undressed?”

“Do I look like I know your work schedule? For all I know, you’ve been at her place all afternoon.”

Another poke at her leg, then a warm weight as apparently Mr. Fluffers had beaten his aversion and returned to the human who did all the good petting.

“Well, Sooyoung, the thing about grown-up jobs is that you have to stay there all day and can’t just leave after lunch,” she explained in a tired voice. “That’s why they so much.”

A moment of silence. The shifting warmth on her legs suggested that Fluffy was positioning himself as comfortably as possible before lying down. Sooyoung’s fingers brushed against her, probably because she was petting his tummy. He really was in love if he allowed that.

Seungwan was just about to crack open an eye to study her visitor, suspicious of the lack of banter, when she spoke up. “So why is your life a… whatever it was, mean to you or something,” she asked distractedly.

“Well, Joohyun - “ She was interrupted by a deep sigh, which she couldn’t even protest with a well-aimed kick because Fluffy had taken her legs hostage. She paused, then tried again. “Joohyun is going on a date.”

“Oh, right, that.”

Seungwan’s eyes definitely opened at that. She tried to bring herself to a sitting position, but the awkward placement of her legs meant that the movement was entirely up to her upper body, and she was really too tired for anything that demanding. Instead, she only managed to bring herself about halfway up, after which she fell back down on her back with a huff. She’d have to settle for glaring at Sooyoung.

“You knew about that?” she asked, trying to sound imposing despite the embarrassing display.

Sooyoung smiled in vague amusement, but quickly diverted her attention to prevent Fluffy from escaping yet again. “Yeah, she’s been talking about it for a while,” she said distractedly, with a half-shrug.

“And you didn’t think to let me know?”

“If she wants to tell you, she’ll tell you,” Sooyoung replied with finality. “I’m not getting involved with your love life,” she added, which elicited an immediate snort from Seungwan.

“Since when?” she asked derisively. Really, messing with her love life seemed to be at least half of Sooyoung’s purpose in life.

Sooyoung suddenly looked away, focusing even more intently on the cat that was still trying to find a way to stay within arm’s reach of his new favourite person but far away from his owner’s dangerously flailing limbs. She pressed her lips together nervously.

Seungwan was almost stunned speechless as the pieces of the puzzle fell into place. She pushed herself up, this time with the aid of her arms, and fixed her eyes on Sooyoung. “Is this about the love intervention? Is that why you’ve been nicer to me? Well, less mean,” she added as an afterthought.

The taller woman finally caught her eye, but only so she could glare at her petulantly. “No, it’s because you’re hopeless and we feel sorry for you,” she said, not very convincingly.

The wide grin on Seungwan’s face finally made Sooyoung break eye contact and she turned back to Mr. Fluffers with a groan.

“You know what would have been super nice? Telling me that Joohyun was dating,” Seungwan suggested in a teasing voice.

“Yeah, well, we’re not super nice,” Sooyoung replied with distaste. Her attention was back on Fluffy as she firmly ignored the other side of the sofa. Seungwan’s pleasure at solving one of the mysteries of her life eventually dissipated as she remembered why the conversation had started in the first place.

They remained in silence, as Seungwan felt all the previous fatigue returning and wanted nothing more than to lie back on the sofa and wallow. Meanwhile, Sooyoung was perfectly content to scratch Fluffy’s tummy and chin, remaining almost uncharacteristically quiet. Feeling slightly suspicious, and also welcoming any kind of distraction, Seungwan studied her face for a moment. She was gnawing at her lip softly and her eyes seemed distant.

Sensing her attention, the object of her study turned around to catch her eye. For a moment, she seemed to look through Seungwan, but she quickly blinked away her daze as she seemed to remember her wallowing companion.

“It’s probably a good thing,” she said airily, like she’d realized that she should probably try to cheer Seungwan up. “The dating,” she added, like it had ever left Seungwan’s mind.

Seungwan scoffed. “Yeah, it’s great that she’s dating other people,” she replied sarcastically.

“It’s a change. She never cared about that stuff before, but now she’s opening up to, like, romance and dating,” Sooyoung pointed out. Seungwan only scoffed again.

“And she’s going to find out how much better she could do and she’ll never want me,” she said like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Sooyoung furrowed her brow in confusion. “So, if she doesn’t date, she’ll never date you. If she does date, she’ll never date you. In which scenario do you two get together, exactly?”

“None of them,” Seungwan answered quickly, once again sounding like she was explaining the obvious.

“Then why are you pursuing her?” Sooyoung asked with exasperation, her voice rising to match her temper.

“I’m not,” Seungwan said in surprise.

Sooyoung raised her hands to her temples and started rubbing them gently. “You’re giving me a headache.”

“Yeah, I get that way with myself too,” Seungwan said with a shrug. Sooyoung seemed ready to argue some more, so she quickly cut her off. “Look, I know what you’re thinking. But it’s a lot easier for you to be optimistic than it is for me. You’re not the one who gets heartbroken if you’re wrong.”

The younger woman considered her words silently. “Fine, do it your way,” she finally replied, her tone making it clear that the situation sounded ridiculous to her. “But you should just tell her how you feel. This whole thing is dumb.”

“I thought you weren’t getting involved with my love life,” Seungwan commented after a short pause where they both returned to their own thoughts.

“I’m not, I’m comforting you so you’ll get up and make dinner.”

Seungwan knew better than to take it seriously, so she just shrugged. “I’m not cooking, I have leftover pizza.”

“Oh. Cool. Let me know sooner next time, I won’t waste my breath.” Seungwan only snorted at Sooyoung’s attempt at a caustic response. They both knew it was too late to pretend not to care. Yerim was better at that anyway.

They didn’t say much after that, giving each other space to drift off into whatever was occupying their thoughts. Eventually, Seungwan got up, not without producing an abundance of protesting noises, to quickly grab the pizza from the kitchen, along with some napkins. When she returned, Mr. Fluffers was happily spread on Sooyoung’s lap, not even bothering to follow her to request his dinner.

They ate slowly, amidst only sparse conversation. Once she’d finished her first slice, Seungwan paused before reaching for a second one and studied Sooyoung, who was chewing slowly and barely making any progress on her own slice. Fluffy had relocated to the corner of the sofa, where he silently sulked because neither of the women would share their food with him.

“So, what’s up with you?” she asked casually, pretending not to notice the way Sooyoung’s head whipped up at the question. She focused her attention on the pizza, taking her time to choose just the right piece.

“Do you mean in general? Like, at school or something?” Sooyoung asked with a hint of confusion. Possibly evasiveness, it depended on how subtle she thought she was being with her whole head-in-the-clouds thing.

“No, I mean what did you come here to talk about,” Seungwan replied flatly, then took a bite of her pizza for dramatic effect.

“What do you mean, talk?” Sooyoung started, clearly trying to keep up the façade. “I don’t come to talk, I come for the entertainment system,” she finished, nodding towards the TV. She finally took another bite of her long-neglected slice of pizza.

“The TV was off when I got here,” Seungwan pointed out with a raised eyebrow. “And you didn’t even take out the consoles.”

“I don’t know why you keep putting those away,” Sooyoung muttered, interestingly avoiding the points her host had raised. She studiously avoided Seungwan’s eyes as she picked at the pizza toppings, until she finally gave up with a sigh. “Ok, fine. There’s something. But you’re, like, moping, so… We can talk about it later, it’s not a big deal.”

“Spill it,” Seungwan commanded immediately, once more surprising Sooyoung. She smiled and shrugged slightly. “It’ll distract me from the moping.”

Sooyoung spent some time mulling over the possibility. Seungwan ate in silence while she considered it, almost done with her second slice.

“There’s nothing to spill,” she began hesitantly. “It’s… I actually wanted to ask you a few questions, maybe. If that’s cool?”

“Is this about the morgue?” Seungwan asked suspiciously. “Because I already told Yerim - “

“No, ew, please don’t talk about that ever,” Sooyoung quickly interrupted, the look on her face making it clear how little she cared for that particular topic. Seungwan was happy to assent and the look was soon replaced by uncertainty as Sooyoung opened and closed a few times. “I… How did you know you were bi?” she finally asked, suddenly very interested in her pizza.

Seungwan studied her in silence as she finally finished her slice and promptly began inspecting her hands. “Well… One day I saw a girl and my heart jumped out of my chest and punched me in the face,” she said with a smile and a slight shrug.

Her story seemed to have made Sooyoung apprehensive, so she rushed to elaborate. “But it’s not like that with everybody. Some people take a long time to realize that what they feel for other women isn’t just platonic. It can be tough to tell the difference, especially with the message from society that we should all be straight and stuff,” she explained, hoping she wasn’t saying entirely the wrong thing.

In front of her, Sooyoung was fiddling with the edge of a pillow she’d snatched up from the sofa, thoughtfully chewing on her lower lip. She still wasn’t making eye contact, but she seemed to at least be listening. Seungwan wondered if she should keep talking, but the younger woman finally spoke up.

“Do you have to like, um…” She paused, looked away, seemed to consider giving up on the question altogether, before finally finishing it. “Do you have to like men and women equally? To be bi.”

“Not really. You can be 90% attracted to men and 10% to women, or vice-versa, or any combination,” Seungwan replied, trying to keep the flailing of limbs to a minimum. She always started moving her hands around when she was explaining something, but now was probably not the time. “I’m more attracted to women, personally,” she added, hoping that bringing the attention to her own experience would make Sooyoung more comfortable.

As she spoke, Sooyoung nodded thoughtfully but distantly, like she was listening to a lecture. Her hands were twisted together as she picked at her fingers absent-mindedly. “And you’ve dated men and women, right?” she finally asked, after another pause.

“Mostly men, but yes.” Sooyoung seemed confused by this, probably because Seungwan had just said she was more attracted to women, so she quickly explained. “It’s a lot easier to get in a relationship with a man. I mean, the size of the dating pool alone kind of tips the balance,” she added with a shrug.

Her words seemed to have raised another question with Sooyoung, one which she was having some difficult phrasing by the look of it. Finally, she glanced back up at Seungwan for only a second and cleared . “So, uh, hopefully this isn’t, like, super biphobic, but, uh…” she started uncomfortably. Seungwan nodded for her to continue. “If it’s easier to date men, and probably, I guess, because of society and stuff too, um… Why… Would you want to date women?” she finally asked in such a low voice that Seungwan could barely understand the question.

“Well, you don’t have to date them, but you can’t avoid liking them,” she reasoned simply. Sooyoung nodded in response, apparently not very happy with the answer. She’d gone back to chewing on her lower lip, which mustn’t be too comfortable by now.

“So, was there anything else you wanted to know?” Seungwan asked after a pause. She debated whether or not she should give some sort of ‘bi is okay’ speech at this point, but it was probably better to leave that up to Sooyoung for now.

Her visitor suddenly seemed aware of Seungwan’s attention on her, as she snapped out of whatever thoughts were currently occupying her mind. A slight hint of red tinged her cheeks. “I have this friend who’s… Thought it might be rude to ask her… Just curious,” she quickly stammered out, none of the sentence fragments forming any coherent form of speech.

They had both more or less forgotten about the pizza, or at least about eating it, and Mr. Fluffers had apparently decided that it would go to waste otherwise, because he chose that moment to lunge over Sooyoung, heading straight for the food. She stopped him easily, as he wasn’t the most agile of felines and she had the advantage in limb length, and he flopped to the carpet looking entirely unamused.

They sat in surprised silence for a moment, then promptly burst into laughter. In all the confusion, Sooyoung seemed to let go of her self-conscious nerves and become more like her usual composed self.

A random thought came to Seungwan’s head, seemingly out of nowhere. “You know, maybe there is something good about Joohyun going on a date,” she declared, almost surprised at her own discovery. Sooyoung looked at her expectantly. “It’s with a woman, so now I know she’s into women.”

“Of course she is, she’s a lesbian,” Sooyoung replied in disbelief. “You didn’t even know if she’s into women? Oh my god, you are beyond useless,” she exclaimed with disgust, shaking her head.

She reached for the last slice of pizza, still shaking her head. “Honestly, you two deserve each other,” she said reproachfully. “Useless.”

(…)

“I don’t get it,” Seulgi finally said, breaking the silence. They sat in front of the TV, which Seungwan had turned off once it had become clear that her friend needed some time to process.

“Well, uh, I think it’s kind of designed to make you a little confused at first,” she began uncertainly, toying with the remote. “Like, the first few episodes are a little out there. But then you get used to it.”

“Right, but…” Seulgi started, then paused again, looking too confused to even come up with a question. “Uh… Why does she fight with scissors?”

“That’s… There’s this whole thing with clothes, the scissors kind of go with that,” Seungwan replied with a shrug. Seulgi looked unconvinced. “The plot’s kind of… weird. But the animation style is really cool, like the whole aesthetic and the colour palette and – “

“Is that why she was half- at the end?” Seulgi cut her off, seemingly so focused on trying to understand what she’d just watched that she hadn’t even noticed Seungwan was still talking.

“Yes, actually!” Seungwan exclaimed happily. “She’s wearing this special suit, kind of like the uniforms but more powerful.”

“Why does it look like that?” Seulgi asked with furrowed brows. “All of the other uniforms look normal, she’s the only one who’s almost .”

“Well, there’s a reason for that in the anime, but, uh…” She cleared and started fidgeting with the remote again. “It’s mostly for fanservice.”

Seulgi nodded silently, reaching out a hand to bury it in Fluffy’s fur. He immediately stretched to give her better access, purring softly at the contact. “So someone killed her dad?” she eventually asked, and Seungwan was relieved they weren’t pursuing the topic of fanservice and ism in anime. She nodded but didn’t elaborate, to make sure she didn’t accidentally spoil anything. Seulgi responded with further silence. “Her friend seems nice,” she added at last.

Seungwan studied her friend for a moment, then she let out a small sigh. “You know, we don’t have to watch it. I don’t mind that you don’t watch anime with me.”

Seulgi turned to her with wide eyes, evidently finding this unacceptable. “But you watch all those scary anime on your own!” she protested.

“I like watching them on my own.”

“One time I surprised you while you were watching one and you threw your pillow at me,” Seulgi replied dubiously. “You almost ripped out your headphones.”

She shrugged in response. “I still like it. Besides, you’re not watching that stuff with me ever. You got scared watching Madoka.”

“The cat thing ate itself, it was really creepy,” Seulgi exclaimed in defence. Then she cringed and turned to Fluffy apologetically. “Sorry you had to hear that, Mr. Fluffers.”

“I don’t think he minds.” Seungwan pointed out the way her cat was purring loudly with his eyes shut tight and probably moments away from a nap. “So, now that that’s done, do you want to go get some ice cream or something?” she asked, stretching in preparation for getting up.

Seulgi opened to answer, but she was interrupted by the sound of someone unlocking Seungwan’s apartment door. They turned to the door just in time to see a tall and meddlesome woman pop in.

“Seungwan, Joohyun wanted me to ask if you – “ She suddenly paused halfway through her sentence as she registered the presence of an extra human in Seungwan’s house. “Oh, Seulgi’s here,” she said with a smile.

“Why didn’t you just knock?” Seungwan asked with an exasperated huff. Then she fully registered Sooyoung’s words. “Wait, how do you know Seulgi?”

“Well, she’s your only friend who isn’t us,” she remarked in a bored tone.

“That you know of,” Seungwan interjected, although she wasn’t expecting much success.

“That you have,” Sooyoung replied matter-of-factly, her eyes clearly challenging Seungwan to argue against it. She couldn’t, of course, because Sooyoung was right. “And you’d look way more awkward if it was a date,” she concluded with a smirk.

Seungwan slumped back into the couch in defeat, her arms crossed as a last line of defence. Her eyes were fixed straight ahead, gazing absently at the TV, but she didn’t miss Sooyoung inviting herself into the apartment and stepping closer to the sofa. It was also hard to miss the way Seulgi was looking at Sooyoung with a slightly uncomfortable smile, along with a hint of curiosity. Oh, right.

“Uh, Seulgi, this is Sooyoung,” she said awkwardly once she finally remembered to introduce her friends. They seemed happy to take it from there, as Seulgi swiftly got up to shake Sooyoung’s hand, both sporting happy smiles. “So, what did Joohyun want?” she asked, turning to the pair.

“Ask her yourself, I’m not your errand boy,” Sooyoung replied immediately.

“You were coming in here to tell me,” Seungwan protested in frustration.

“Yes, but now I’m talking to your friend and that’s way more fun. Just go ask her, you know where she lives.”

Seungwan turned back to the TV with a huff, but Seulgi’s hesitant voice caught her attention. “Um, why don’t we all go to Joohyun’s apartment?” she said, her suggestion earning a squeal of approval from Sooyoung. “Seungwan?” she asked, clearly waiting for her best friend’s opinion.

“No, yeah, I probably should have introduced you guys a while ago,” Seungwan conceded with a sigh, wincing as Sooyoung squealed again. She was almost beginning to miss Yerim’s sullen disposition. Getting up from the sofa reluctantly, she waved the two over to the door.

Sooyoung didn’t miss a beat, grabbing onto Seulgi’s hand and pulling her towards the apartment across the way as soon as her shoes were on. “You know the way,” she threw back at Seungwan, who was left behind to find her keys and lock up the apartment.

Her friends disappeared inside Joohyun’s apartment and she immediately heard Sooyoung’s voice announce “I found Seulgi!” The responding squeal certainly sounded like Yerim’s voice and Seungwan was just glad she was far enough to hear the muffled version. She shook her head and dragged herself across the corridor.

Apparently, in the short time that she’d been out of her sight, Seulgi had already managed to become close with the two younger women, and the three now sat together on the sofa, chatting low enough that Seungwan couldn’t tell what they were saying. Probably talking about her, her own paranoia suggested helpfully.

Seungwan walked over to Joohyun, who acknowledged her presence with a warm smile. At least someone did. Joohyun turned back to observe the three women on the sofa and Seungwan followed her eyes.

“So, that’s Seulgi,” she said awkwardly. Joohyun nodded at her words and she nodded back. “The woman I love,” she added with a chuckle. Her neighbour turned to her with a raised eyebrow. “You know, because of… The intervention and… A joke,” she finished lamely, giving up on explanations altogether. To her relief, Joohyun gave her a small pity laugh. That was nice of her.

“They’re getting along well,” Joohyun remarked with a small smile. Seungwan had to agree, which was a scary thought. Seulgi was pure and innocent and nothing like the two demons that were currently surrounding her, but she did have a lot of sensitive information regarding Seungwan that would be deadly in their hands. Maybe that was why they’d been so eager to latch onto her in the first place. Sooyoung had certainly seemed pleased to see her.

Her thoughts eventually led her to the reason Sooyoung had even invaded her apartment. “So, Sooyoung said you wanted to ask me something?” she mentioned, turning to her and drawing her attention away from the others.

“Oh, it was nothing. I was just wondering if you’d like to join us,” she replied simply. Right. These days, she barely needed to be asked and just showed up not long after lunch unless something came up. But recently… Well, ever since Joohyun had told her about her date she’d started thinking that maybe she should try to distance herself just a little. She didn’t want to lose their friendship but it felt impossible to ever get over her feelings if they were together all the time. If she had to look at that perfect face with that dazzling smile and those deep dark eyes.

So she’d started skipping some of the afternoons, just enough not to be noticeable but still afford her some breathing space. She might even change her schedule so she wouldn’t keep bumping into Joohyun on her way home. But that was on the back burner for now, on account of her not really wanting to do it.

“Of course, I didn’t know you were with Seulgi,” Joohyun said, awakening Seungwan from her reverie. “I wouldn’t want to pull you away from your friend,” she added with a smile. Seungwan smiled back automatically, thinking guiltily of all the other times she hadn’t visited Joohyun, when she’d just been sitting alone in her apartment throwing cheese puffs in the air and trying to catch them in . She wasn’t even good at it.

“So, what were you guys doing?” she asked, hoping to change the subject. To be honest, she was only partly invested in the conversation. As much as she enjoyed Joohyun’s company, she was too worried about the hushed whispers coming from the other side of the room to relax into the feeling.

“Oh, just working. The girls are beginning to think about their finals, so they caught up on their studying and I did some reading,” Joohyun answered. Her brow furrowed as her eyes landed on Yerim. “Yerim didn’t even have the syllabus for one of her courses. I swear, I worry about her sometimes.”

Seungwan scratched her head thoughtfully. “Well, there’s still a while until finals though, right? Like, a month and something?” Joohyun nodded in confirmation. “Even if things are a little shaky, she’s still got time.” Why was she even defending her? Probably because Joohyun would hate to have to play the disciplining parent. Especially with Yerim.

Their conversation was interrupted by a bout of laughter from the sofa. Seungwan cringed at the sound, more convinced than ever that her doom was unfolding before her.

“What are you guys talking about?” she finally gave in and asked. Yerim immediately raised her head in her direction, her lips curled in a teasing smirk.

“Why so curious?” she asked in a predatory tone. Sooyoung joined the fun with a smirk of her own, her hand resting comfortably on Seulgi’s knee as she raised a questioning eyebrow at Seungwan.

Seulgi looked between the two and then at Seungwan, offering a reassuring smile. “Don’t worry, Wannie, we’re not talking about you or anything.”

“Yeah, Wannie, don’t worry so much,” Yerim echoed with erse pleasure at the nickname.

“Not everything is about you, Wannie,” Sooyoung added with a bored flick of her hair. “We’re interesting enough to have a whole conversation that doesn’t involve you.”

Seulgi seemed to have realized her mistake, but Seungwan just shook her head at her, indicating that it really wasn’t her fault. Those two would have latched onto anything.

She sighed and turned back to Joohyun just in time to see her hiding a smile. She resisted the urge to sigh or roll her eyes or just drop down on the floor and stay there. “So. Do you want anything to drink?” Joohyun offered kindly, leaning towards the kitchen.

Seungwan took another glance at the occupants of the sofa, who were already back to their excited whispering. “Sure. Do you have anything extremely alcoholic?” she asked with resignation.