Joohyun wakes up to the sound of the vacuum cleaner, whirring away in all of its glory. In all honesty the vacuum cleaner, an eight hundred magnificent beast that Seungwan somehow decided was a Must-Have, wasn’t loud at all.

 

Sometimes she wished Seungwan would just bring home a puppy as a surprise, rather than randomly returning home armed with exuberantly expensive household appliances. Their dingy little apartment has now become a living tech store. At this point Seungwan can rebrand to be a tech YouTuber rather than a musician, Joohyun thinks.

 

She grasps around blindly, before her fingers curls around her phone, and brings it up to her face.

 

It’s already noon. 

 

Ever since summer break started, she’s been sleeping in later and later. Soon she thinks she’ll be able to give Yerim a run for her money. 

 

 

 

-

 

 

Seungwan pops her head out from under the couch when she emerges from her room, her hair disheveled but still adorable in Joohyun’s eyes.

 

“You do know that they gave us an extension for the vacuum cleaner so you don’t have to be crawling under the couch, right?”

 

She smiles unconsciously, as Seungwan clamber out from under the couch. There are little bits of lint clinging to the tips of Seungwan’s messy, messy hair, and somehow it just makes her look that much softer. When Seungwan finally pulls herself out, she shakes herself off, and Joohyun’s heart skips a beat at the bright smile directed at her. 

 

“But I want to be able to make sure all the dust are gone.” Seungwan pouts playfully. 

 

“Yea, by turning into a feather duster yourself.” 

 

She holds out a hand, and Seungwan automatically hands her the vacuum cleaner to hook back onto the wall. She thinks of how domestic they are, thinks of how naturally they fall into a comfortable rhythm. 

 

She doesn’t know why the thought of it brings a sting to her chest, though. 

 

 

-

 

 

Seungwan brings around the camera while she’s preparing lunch. She pops up with a ‘hey’ right by her ear, startling Joohyun, and plants a kiss on her cheek so casually, so naturally, it stuns Joohyun more than the scare itself. 

 

“You’re so easily startled, unnie,” Seungwan laughs, already escaping from the kitchen. Her laughter still rings through, even as Joohyun flicks a kitchen towel at her , chiding. 

 

“That was our kitchen, as you saw, unnie...” 

 

She can hear Seungwan introducing the different parts of their little apartment, her voice growing softer as she wanders farther from the kitchen. Here and there, she hears her name being said, and wonders what Seungwan could be talking about. 

 

Her lunch grows cold, sat in it’s bowl waiting for her to remember it. 

 

 

 

-

 

 

Joohyun watches the vlog alone. At midnight she refreshes Seungwan’s channel page, and right at the top is the new video. 

 

[VLOG] NEW APARTMENT TOUR ft. My GF

 

The thumbnail is cute, Seungwan’s face, bright and cheeky in the foreground, a finger pointing at Joohyun’s back. She must have taken that without Joohyun noticing, when she was preparing lunch. 

 

Taking a deep breath, she clicks on it.

 

Seungwan is in the living room, whispering something into the camera, and she has to turn up the volume to properly listen. 

 

“So,” Seungwan whispers, “Joohyun is still asleep, so I have to be quiet.”

 

She makes a shushing gesture, winking conspiratorially at the camera as she does. 

 

“Really sorry about the lack of videos lately, there are a few songs that I’ve written, and some covers that I’m planning to shoot, but we’ve been moving.” 

 

Joohyun thinks she can watch Seungwan talk forever. Even through the screen, all her little quirks shine through. That’s her best friend, baring herself to the world, her heart on her sleeve with all her love. 

 

She sees the parts of Seungwan that are broken and hurt. 

 

And all Joohyun wants to do is return twice as much love that she puts out. 

 

“... it’s an apartment tour!” Seungwan imitates the sound of a crowd cheering, one eye closing slightly when she laughs at herself in embarrassment.

 

“So before the tour,” she says, after composing herself again. “I’m going to do a little bit of cleaning. Joohyun has been doing most of the housework these days, and I wanna give her a break.”

 

Somehow, Joohyun feels tightening. Seungwan, sweet Seungwan, her Seungwan. She watches on - short clips, fast forwarded, edited together, show Seungwan, all over the apartment cleaning and rearranging. 

 

She’s shocked to find out that Seungwan basically cleaned up the entire apartment while she was asleep. 

 

The clip cuts, slowing back to regular speed when Seungwan throws up a peace sign, and dives under the sofa with her vacuum cleaner in hand. 

 

She instinctively leans forward, even though she has her earpiece on, and hears Seungwan’s voice, muffled, over the sound of the vacuum. “Joohyun has a sensitive nose, like a little bunny. So I like to make sure all the dust are gone.” 

 

 

Seeing herself on camera still makes Joohyun a little iffy. This is the second time she’s made a full appearance on camera, and she wonders if she will ever stop feeling so awkward watching herself on screen. She sees herself walk into frame, watches their conversation happen again.

 

Maybe it’s the framing, maybe it’s the way Seungwan edited and coloured the video, but they do look like a couple, on screen, domestic, a little playful. 

 

The video continues on, and she skips the part where Seungwan scares her in the kitchen. She doesn’t want to live through that again, doesn’t need to see the way her cheeks burn red, doesn’t want to watch the what if’s.

 

 

Seungwan adds clips from the housewarming at the end.

 

So Seulgi did send over her clips after all. 

 

They look utterly in love, young, flushed from the alcohol, cuddled together and ignoring the world. She still feels the warmth from that night, still feels the brush of Seungwan’s breaths against her neck. 

 

Joohyun wonders, if she looked down, if she will find broken fragments of herself, chipped away, scattered on the ground. 

 

But she is stubborn, and so she keeps her eyes on her screen, watching the party continue on. The clips are startling, even more so, seeing her and Seungwan beyond the confines of an update video. 

 

The video ends, cutting to black, and she sees her face through the reflection on her screen. It’s a stark comparison, taunting Joohyun. What happens on screen isn’t real. 

 

And it’s all bound to end. 
 

Joohyun wonders if she should stop watching future videos in an attempt to save her slowly shattering heart. But she knows that she will watch them anyway, if only to experience what it's like for Seungwan to be hers, just as she was irrevocably Seungwan's from the first day they met. 

 

 

-

 

 

Seulgi and her spend an exhausting afternoon finetuning a choreography that Seulgi wants to upload. 

 

They sit, slouched against the mirror. She thinks to take a shower before going out for dinner, sweat-soaked shirt sticking to her skin. 

 

“Hey unnie?”

 

She hums in reply, still wondering what Seungwan would like for dinner. 

 

“I’m genuinely really glad you and Seungwan got together, you know that right? You guys are made for each other.” 

 

When Joohyun doesn’t reply, she continues. “You look so much happier these days, and now I know it’s because of Seungwan. You’re both my best friends, but you were my best friend first.” 

 

Feeling a nudge by her shoulder, she glances over to see Seulgi pressed up by her side.

 

“You were always meant for her, unnie,” Seulgi says. She rests her head on Joohyun’s shoulder, closing her eyes. “I’m so happy that you have her now.” 

 

“I’m sorry...”

 

“What for?”

 

“For not telling you, the others too, but mostly you.” Sorry for lying, for not telling the truth, for breaking my own heart for the selfish reason of keeping Seungwan close.  

 

“Don’t be sorry unnie, it’s all over now.” 

 

It’s all over now. 

 

No.

 

Not yet. 

 

But soon. 

 

 

 

“Come on, Seungwan is waiting for us.”

 

-----------------------

hello everybody! Sorry for taking a whole year to update this fic (or update anything at all) 😅 I've clearly forgotten how to write, so I'm sorry for this train wreck of a chapter. It's all coming together though~~ hopefully I'll be able to finish this fic 🤔

the title of this chapter is the title of Wendy's video - and it'll continue that way: if there’s a video posted during the chapter, the title of the chapter will relate to the video. If not then it'll just be the time period. Don't look too deeply into the time frames :/ they don't make the most sense haha 

Anyway I hope you enjoy this chapter, please come be my friend and talk to me (about this fic, about other fics, about anything 🙏🙏) 

My Twitter // Curious Cat 

(@wanniesaure)

 

see you soon! (Hopefully)