[title: baby you are - exo + watermelon sugar - harry styles]
[6k; will edit tomorrow ;_; ALSO there are sky castle spoilers lmao]

10.

“Sorry for just... unloading all that on you.” Sunhee’s cheeks feel hot as she occupies herself with the hot tea in front of her, fiddling with the chopsticks in front of her as she stares at the spicy rice cakes between them.

Baekhyun lets out a small laugh. She studies his expression, searching for anything that contradicts the nonchalance of his expression, but he seems entirely unbothered as he stuffs a mouthful of spicy rice cake into his mouth. “What else are friends for?” Baekhyun asks, meeting her eyes.

She can’t meet his gaze, instead choosing to stab at a rice cake with her chopsticks. She shrugs a little, “Yeah, I guess.”

Baekhyun laughs louder, seemingly amused by her embarrassment. She narrows her gaze at him, hoping it’ll intimidate him into not obviously laughing at her. Instead, it only serves to make him laugh louder, his grin boxy while he throws his head back, laughter so loud it causes a few people in the restaurant to glance over at them.

She huffs. Baekhyun points his chopsticks at her, “I’ll make sure to unload my trauma on you one day and then we’ll call it even, okay?”

She grimaces, finding comfort in sarcasm, “Should we schedule a time?”

“Pencil me in whenever you can.” He replies, with a -eating grin.

The longer she stares at his smile, the harder it is to maintain any kind of grimace. She isn’t quite sure how he does it, but his amusement is contagious. Sometimes, she wonders how he could possibly be a member of a gang. Baekhyun’s grin turns sweeter and less mischievous as he holds her gaze. It takes her a minute to realize that she is smiling back. She looks away first, at that realization, coughing as she takes another stab at a rice cake. She busies herself with eating, avoiding his gaze once more.

She changes the topic as she tries to snag a fish cake out from Baekhyun’s side of the bowl and Baekhyun seems to welcome it enthusiastically.

(“Did you watch the new episode yet?”

Baekhyun swipes the fish cake out of her grasp right before she manages to get it, his eyes lighting up as he nods, enthusiastically, “I’m definitely right on who killed Hye Na.” He snags another fish cake from grasp. She groans. He says, “And I ing hate that one dad so much.”

“No, you’re wrong. It makes no sense. How could her mom do it when we saw her running around the whole time?” She knocks at his chopsticks with hers, “And stop hogging all the fish cakes, .”

“No, never. And, okay, let’s say Ye Suh’s mom is—”)

For a couple hours, she forgets about everything. She forgets she is in love with Seulgi. She forgets the revelation that she would die for Seulgi. That Seulgi wouldn’t do the same for her. For a couple hours, she is just a girl at a restaurant discussing a popular drama with a friend after work.

She forgets, until she is stepping into her home, until she remembers Seulgi should be home by now.

(She doesn’t dwell on how easily reality slips away when she is spending time with Baekhyun. She doesn’t dwell on how she enjoys his company more than she ever thought she would.)

“Sunhee! You’re finally home!” Seulgi’s voice echoes from the kitchen. Sunhee wants to head straight up to her room and sleep off the horrible day, but she needs to pass the kitchen to get to her bedroom.

It doesn’t help that when she pauses at the kitchen doorway, Kai is there, sitting on the stool Sunhee usually sits at, his back to Sunhee. Seulgi has on an apron with little bears all over it. She’s bent over the counter as she eats. Seulgi catches Sunhee’s eyes and Sunhee knows, right then, that she cannot muster up the courage to just walk away. It makes her heart sink further and further.

Kai looks over his shoulder, his dark cold eyes landing on Sunhee. He seems to notice her ruffled appearance and she’s sure her eyes and face are puffy and swollen. She wonders if she looks anything like how she’s feeling.

Kai tilts his head, says, “Work was rough, huh?”

His tone raises alarms in her head. It’s pointed. Like he knows something.

To Sunhee’s credit, she doesn’t throw the nearest plate at Kai’s head in retaliation. Instead, she states, tone blunt, “Very rough. I’m going to bed.”

“How’s Baekhyun?” Kai calls after her, sing-songs really.

She frowns, glancing back at him—he isn’t supposed to know that she and Baekhyun spend time with each other. “What do you mean?” She feigns innocence.

Seulgi glances between the two of them, her eyes widening. There’s a dark look that crosses her face, her brows furrowing together, while Kai responds, nonchalant as ever, “You guys have been hanging out a lot lately.” Kai gives Sunhee a onceover, leering in a way that is obviously intended to make her uncomfortable. She scowls when he adds, “Though, that does explain the rough look. Baek’s a wild one.”

Sunhee resists the urge to check over her appearance, her frown deepening as she completely ignores Kai’s comment. She still wants to clock him, especially when he keeps grinning and staring.

Seulgi is the one to say, “What? You hang out with Baekhyun?”

“Uh, yeah.” Sunhee meets Seulgi’s gaze, confused by the apprehension coloring her features. She says, “I met him through you, Seulgi.”

“I know that. It’s just—You should know what you’re getting yourself into. Like…he’s a complete boy.” The way Seulgi says that, with absolute sincerity, does not match the sharp look in her eyes. Sunhee thinks the irony of her words could be comical in any other situation.

But, currently, Sunhee is emotionally and physically exhausted and the irony only fuels her anger.

She can’t help it when she snaps, “And Kai isn’t?”

Kai’s head snaps up, his eyes narrowing. Seulgi straightens, hands curling into fists on the counter. There is a sudden tension in the air—something that Sunhee feels like she doesn’t have a full grasp of.

A part of Sunhee hates that she is out of the loop like this. Another part of her, the part of her that stepped out of that warehouse and broke down in Baekhyun’s car, frankly, does not care.

“This is totally different.” Seulgi’s lips press into a thin line. “Do you know what Baekhyun—he’s not a good person, Sunhee.”

“Yeah?” Sunhee’s mouth moves on autopilot and it scares her just how vindictive and bitter she sounds. She has never spoken to Seulgi this way. Somehow, it’s terrifyingly unfamiliar grounds and she isn’t sure how to navigate any of it. “Well, who gives a ? We don’t exactly associate with good people anymore, do we?”

“Sunhee.” Seulgi frowns at her tone, “Did something happen? You’re not acting like yourself.”

She ignores Sunhee’s questions completely and even though Sunhee meant them to be rhetorical, it still angers her how Seulgi completely brushes them off. It angers Sunhee even more that the way Seulgi softens, the way her brows furrow in concern, makes Sunhee feel bad.

(A small part of her wonders if she’s being too mean. Seulgi still cares about Sunhee—maybe Sunhee shouldn’t expect the same level of love, of devotion, out of Seulgi because, well, Sunhee’s the one in love with Seulgi. It’s one sided.

Another part of her whispers, she’s still your best friend and she promised.

She wonders why she ever let it escalate to this—she should have noticed from the beginning, should have stomped out her feelings ages ago, should have noticed the red flags a long, long, long time ago.

Something whispers, maybe it’s your fault for not noticing, maybe you deserve the pain you are feeling now because of your own negligence, maybe she doesn’t deserve your anger because you should have noticed from the start, maybe you shouldn’t expect the impossible out of people because everyone shows their love differently, maybe, maybe, maybe, may—)

“Sunhee.”

Sunhee blinks up at Seulgi, at the concern coloring her pretty face, the way she reaches out and brushes the hair out of Sunhee’s eyes, her cheek in the gentlest of ways. Sunhee jerks at the touch, just a bit, but Seulgi doesn’t seem to notice. Instead, Seulgi rubs Sunhee’s cheek, soothing and soft, and she says, “Did he hurt you?”

The irony of her statement is almost funny. She thinks, of all the people she knows, Baekhyun is one of the last people who would ever hurt her. In a perfect, normal world, Seulgi should have been on that list. Yet, here she is.

(That terrible voice in her head murmurs, Is that fair to her? She doesn’t even know that she’s hurting you.)

She understands her silence is too long. Seulgi’s brows furrow together and her lips twist with anger, all directed towards the wrong person. Sunhee is hyperaware of the way Seulgi’s fingers curl gently around a strand of her hair, how she can feel Kai’s eyes on her, how her ing heart still flutters against her ribs.

“No.” Sunhee shakes her head, a sharp, staggered movement. “He didn’t hurt me. I’m fine.”

Seulgi looks at her as if she doesn’t believe her. But she doesn’t push. Instead, she reaches down and threads her fingers through Sunhee’s, her hands warm, and she says, “How about we marathon some dramas and order takeout?”

Sunhee blinks. Seulgi radiates warmth and kindness and everything she’s ever loved about Kang Seulgi. For a moment, she is overwhelmed by it all. Sunhee glances sideways, meets Kai’s dark, unreadable eyes. She murmurs, “I don’t want to interrupt. It’s okay. I just need to sleep.”

Seulgi shakes her head, adamant, glancing back at Kai. “Come on! We haven’t had a girl’s night in forever. He can wait.”

She blinks, surprised, and then she wonders why she’s surprised—this isn’t out of character for Seulgi. This is what Seulgi’s always done whenever she was upset.

After a moment of silence, Kai snorts, “I’ll see you later then. Have fun.”

Sunhee can’t help but meet Kai’s gaze over Seulgi’s shoulder. Kai looks indifferent, not angry, not like he’ll spill her secrets to Seulgi as soon as he can. Her chest knots when Seulgi tugs gently at Sunhee’s hand, untying the apron and tossing it on the table before she bodily shoves Sunhee into the hallway. Seulgi says, “Go change and come right down!”

All Sunhee can do is follow her instructions, a little dazed, while Seulgi shows Kai out, murmuring something indecipherable to him.

(The self-doubt blossoming in her chest is most painful of all—she hates it, hates it so much, but she thinks she hates the way her heart still flutters for Seulgi the most.)

~.~.~.~.~

The banging on the door startles her awake, fills her with the sort of dread she’s afraid she will never get used to. She clutches the couch cushions and she watches, with growing horror as Seulgi slowly turns to look at her. Her eyes are wide as the moon.

The warmth and familiarity of the night is long gone, replaced by a cold terror.

Seulgi is nothing but a dark shadow illuminated by the moonlight streaming in through the curtains. The room is dark, aside from the blue light coming from the muted television. There are figures at the window, dark figures blocking the moonlight. The rapid knocks continue. Someone is speaking, shouting really, but Sunhee can’t make out anything.

Sunhee is frozen, but Seulgi is moving, rolling off the couch and reaching under, only to pull out a metal crowbar Sunhee had no idea was under the couch. Seulgi raises the crowbar with one hand, the other hand digging through the couch cushions. It takes Sunhee a moment to realize what Seulgi is doing. She moves, much more quickly than she thought she would or could.

She finds Seulgi’s phone, wedged between the couch cushions and Sunhee’s calf, and shoves it into Seulgi’s searching hands. She can’t see Seulgi’s expression, just shadows and long dark hair.

It’s disconcerting, almost as disconcerting as the sound of glass breaking. Sunhee’s heart is in . Time moves slowly, every action suddenly horribly pronounced in her mind’s eye, happening inch by inch.

The window is in pieces and there is a hand emerging from the shards, tearing at the curtains, so hard the metal rod holding it up hits the ground with a deafening clang.

Seulgi is talking on the phone. She hears the word Kai. Seulgi is so calm and it’s a huge juxtaposition to the first time they had intruders enter their home.

Somehow, that shakes Sunhee out of her frozen state because god she needs to move, she needs a weapon, she needs to protect herself and Seulgi. Her survival instinct kicks in, full throttle, and she jumps off the couch. She yanks Seulgi back by her elbow, because no matter how brave or fiery Seulgi is, surely, she doesn’t think she could win in a fight against these people.

Seulgi flinches in her grip and Sunhee whispers, voice hoarse, “We need to get the out.”

Thankfully, Seulgi doesn’t hesitate. Sunhee skids into the kitchen, grabbing the biggest knife they have, before she sprints out the side door and into the hall, following after Seulgi. There is no back door in their house, since it’s a guesthouse of a bigger main house, but Seulgi’s room has a bedroom that sits very close to the ground floor. Sunhee ignores the fact that there are crashes in the living room, shouts, heavy footsteps, all echoing down the hall the very moment she slams Seulgi’s door shut behind her. She drags furniture—useless furniture, a computer chair, heavy ottomans—in front of the door while Seulgi throws open the window. She kicks the netting out. There’s banging on the door, loud, overpowering. Sunhee’s hands are shaking.

Seulgi crawls through the window. Sunhee follows. The bedroom door slams open behind her. Sunhee throws herself out the window. Her heart is in . Fingers curl around her hair. She yelps in pain, but the momentum of her jump keeps the person from getting a good grip. She lands in a heap. Pain shoots up her ankle, her hands, but she does not care. Seulgi yanks her to her feet and they run. They run. Run and run and run and run and run and—

“I—I—I think we l—lost th—them.” Seulgi is gasping for breath, her grip on the back of Sunhee’s shirt so tight, the collar of her shirt nearly chokes her. Sunhee blinks. Her chest hurts from the running. It takes a moment to realize just how cold she is—she’s just dressed in a thin shirt and pajama shorts. Seulgi is no better. Sunhee thinks they lost them plenty of blocks ago, but now, as she stands here in the dead of night, cold and alone and surrounded by silence and the faint sound of traffic, she is sure they lost them.

However, she is not sure they are safe yet.

There are people still out, despite the hour. Somehow, they’ve run into the part of town she rarely frequents, and she can feel eyes on them—whether they mean ill intent, she isn’t sure, but she does not want to find out.

Seulgi meets her gaze. In the darkness, her eyes still shine so bright.

(Somehow, Seulgi does not look as terrified as Sunhee expected. It’s disconcerting.)

Seulgi tears her eyes off Sunhee’s, glancing around. She says, “I think I know where we are. Come on.”

Seulgi reaches out and grabs Sunhee’s hand. It takes a moment to realize that Seulgi’s hand is trembling—she is terrified, she’s just hiding it well. Seulgi squeezes her fingers tight and leads the way.

~.~.~.~.~

Sunhee should have known they’d end up here. It only made sense, what with the phone call Seulgi made and the vague familiarity she had with this part of town. Now that she thinks about it, she can recall the path to the house. It feels like decades since she last came here. Like lifetimes.

As she makes her way down the stairs and towards the rundown building, she thinks, despite how much she’s changed since she’s been here, this place hasn’t changed a bit. It’s still stagnant, still as rundown and decrepit as she remembers. As the door swings open at Seulgi’s knock, as she stares down at the way Seulgi’s fingers tangle in hers, squeezing tightly, shaking shaking shaking, she expects Moonbin lying on the couch, expects Suho to demand Seulgi to help a half-dead boy in one of the rooms.

Instead, the door swings open and a stiff Suho stands at the threshold. His grip on the door tightens as he takes in the sight of them. She can hear voices beyond the door.

Seulgi wraps an arm around her torso, as if she is suddenly incredibly uncomfortable, though she keeps her other hand in Sunhee’s. Sunhee wills every Higher Power to please stop her heart from fluttering the way it is. Now is not the ing time.

There’s a dull clang and only then does Sunhee realize that Seulgi’s dropped the metal crowbar she pulled out from under their couch. It clatters at the doorstep. Suho doesn’t even look down at it.

Instead, he says, “What do you want?”

Seulgi’s voice is low, quiet, strangely vulnerable, when she murmurs back, “Junmyeon, please.”

Sunhee can’t see Seulgi’s expression, but whatever is there must sway Suho somehow, because despite his furrowed brows, he lets out a huge sigh. He drags a hand over his face, says, “I’m only doing this because you’re a liability now.”

Seulgi nods. Suho grimaces.

Suho spins on his heels and stalks away, into the living room. Seulgi slips her hand out of Sunhee’s.

~.~.~.~.~

“What—no.” Sunhee speaks up, finally.

She resists the urge to cringe when Suho’s sharp eyes land on her, unrelenting. She can’t help it when she scratches the underside of her chin; she can still feel the cold, bruising touch of the gun there. The corners of Suho’s lips turn up at her movement. She drops her hand immediately.

She shakes her head. She ignores the way one of Suho’s friends—a handsome man with a buzzcut and a stony expression that completely juxtaposes his doe eyes and heart shaped lips, D.O. Suho had called him—scowls at her.

She says, “Why the hell do we have to stay here?”

“It’s not like I want either of you here.” Suho snaps back, crossing his arms over his chest. “But, like I said, we have a lot of enemies and it seems they’ve figured out who you two are. You’re liabilities now.”

“Doesn’t mean we have to stay here. In this…this…” She gestures around her. She trails off, unable to find the right word to describe the feeling this place gives her. Instead, she settles on, “It’s just super ing creepy.”

This time D.O. outright glares. Suho rolls his eyes, biting out each syllable with a precision that reminds her too much of the other night. He seems to be aware of the effect he has on her now, his eyes glinting. The look in his eyes causes anger to bloom in her chest. Suho says, “You have two options – stay here, or we kill you.”

Sunhee opens to retort—she doesn’t know what she wants to say, only wanting to ride off the blooming anger in her chest, when Seulgi cuts her off, her voice loud, sharp, “Sunhee.”

Sunhee’s eyes widen, her head snapping sideways, incredulous. “You can’t be serious, Seulgi.” She speaks slowly, confused, “It’s their fault our home was invaded in the first place. The least they can do is find us a safe house somewhere else in town, away from their hideout.”

“This is the safest place we could be.” Seulgi says, voice soft, low.

Sunhee blinks, wants to shout no it’s not, but she catches herself, reels herself in, because Seulgi is stubborn and will never listen to Sunhee if she shouts. Sunhee questions, “Do you really believe that?”

Seulgi nods, lips pressed into a firm line. “I do.”

“Are…” A voice in Sunhee’s head tells her to bite her tongue, but she plows through, “Are you going to tell me why?”

Seulgi shakes her head slightly, murmurs dismissively, “Later.”

All Sunhee can really do is nod, agree, because the front door swings open and Kai appears, his expression strangely frantic. Sunhee is shocked at his demeanor, at how anxious he appears, his hair sticking up in every direction, his fingers still clutching the front door. When his eyes land on Seulgi, his tense shoulders sag. Seulgi seems to soften, too.

Seulgi is standing up and Kai is surging forward and Sunhee can only watch as they rush towards each other, as Seulgi says, I’m okay and Kai just nods and nods, his hands wrapping around her, as if he cannot believe she is there in his arms. The scene is too intimate. She can’t look. Her chest swells and it is a mixture of happiness for her best friend and jealousy she wishes she wouldn’t feel anymore.

Her eyes land on Suho instead, who stares at Kai and Seulgi embracing, gaze rigid, stony. He stares and stares until he doesn’t, until he tears his gaze off them and meets her eyes.

She doesn’t look away first; she holds on, because he had seen her vulnerable once and she won’t allow it again. He scoffs, turns on his heels. D.O. just rolls his eyes, though his reaction seems more good-natured, playful, especially when he makes a loud gagging noise and laughs when Kai tells him to off.

Suho, though, looks bothered.

Sunhee wonders if she was right, wonders if Suho has feelings for Seulgi, wonders why the hell so many people seem to have a crush on Seulgi.

(She knows exactly why, but she doesn’t want to fall into that rabbit hole at the moment.)

“You’re staying, right?” She hears Kai ask, loudly.

It takes her a long moment to register that Kai is talking to her.

She blinks at him. He raises a brow. He doesn’t have his usual lopsided grin this time. He just looks tired, as if he’s exhausted himself from worrying over Seulgi. The thought makes Sunhee’s stomach churn uncomfortably. Sunhee glances at Seulgi, who nods not-so-subtly.

Sunhee wants to say no, but she doesn’t know where she’ll go. She doesn’t know if those people who had broken into her home will come looking for her. Even though she doesn’t think anyone in this room will care what becomes of her if she did decide to walk out the door. Still, she doesn’t think it right of her to leave Seulgi here alone, Kai or no Kai.

(Something inside her grows incredibly sad, dejected almost, at that thought. If Sunhee were to decide she wasn’t going to stay here, would anyone try to stop her from walking out? She doesn’t even think Seulgi will, at this point. There’s a sort of resignation in her eyes, coupled with distraction. Her heart twists.)

“Yeah.” She says, before the silence goes on too long.

Seulgi smiles, slightly, at her, but then she turns her full attention back to Kai. Sunhee averts her eyes and she frowns at the dried bloodstains under the table. She resists the urge to groan, dropping her head back on the couch as she laments every God in existence for making today the tiest day of her life.

~.~.~.~.~

“Knock, knock.”

Sunhee sticks her head out of the mound of heavy blankets she’s burrowed herself in—according to D.O. they use this place as a resting place for a lot of people, so they always have to stay heavily stocked on blankets, sheets, and pillows—not even bothering to get embarrassed about how happy she must look to hear his voice. It’s been hours since she buried herself under these blankets, intending on sleeping, but she’s been too strung up to sleep.

Baekhyun leans against the door hinge to the room D.O. said she’d be using for time being, an amused, boxy grin dripping from his lips, glasses sitting precariously on his nose, and his dark hair sticking out in small tufts from under his red snapback. A plastic bag dangles from his fingers, but he does not move from his spot, still blocking the doorway as he grins at her.

He says, “Rough day, huh?”

“I wish it’d just be over already.” She mutters, grimacing.

He lets out a breathy laugh before he pushes himself off the door hinge and dangles the plastic bag. “Come on. Soo told me you were here. I figured you wouldn’t be able to sleep, so I brought breakfast.”

She blinks, “Is it already breakfast time?” She makes a move to search for her phone before she remembers that it’s probably back home, charging. She groans, “, I don’t have my phone. This ing .”

Baekhyun drops the hand holding the bag and steps further into the room, holding out a hand for her to take. She takes it without hesitating and he hauls her up. She nearly trips over the blankets, but he keeps her steady with his grip as she rolls out the bed. He says, “Want to use my phone to call out of work?”

She blinks. He’s still holding her hand, even though she’s fully upright. She doesn’t really mind the warmth of his hand, so she doesn’t pull away. She frowns, “I don’t know. I have a lot of work to do and—”

She cuts herself off, remembering that she’ll have to see Sanha. She doesn’t think she wants to deal with that at the moment. Besides, she’s so sleep deprived, she doesn’t think she can handle all the phone calls she’ll inevitably have to take when she goes in. She frowns, says, “Never mind. Yeah. Yes, I’m calling out. Definitely calling out.”

“We can stop by your place after you get some rest and grab some stuff, too.” Baekhyun tells her as he swivels on his heels and starts to walk out the room, tugging her by the hand after him. She lets him tug her around, still frowning at the thought of Sanha—oh, God, what if she runs into Jinwoo in this house??—and the thought of seeing the damage done to her home in broad daylight. Dread crawls up her spine at the thought.

“What about Seulgi? Shouldn’t we go with her?” Sunhee blurts out.

She swears she sees Baekhyun roll his eyes as he turns the corner into the empty kitchen. He drops her hand and tosses the plastic bag on the counter, turning to slide open drawers with a practiced ease only someone who’s used to this kitchen would have. “You could.” There’s a pause before Baekhyun tacks on a level, “I don’t want to, though.”

Sunhee blinks at Baekhyun’s back for a long, long moment, the silence stretching on and on as he pulls out utensils and washes them in the sink. He spins, facing her, his expression neutral, normal, but her stomach still churns a little.

(She vividly remembers what she had told him last night, the realizations she came to. She feels like she is somehow disappointing him, though he doesn’t look disappointed at all. Maybe, she is disappointing herself.)

Baekhyun takes a seat across from her just as the front door swings open, Seulgi’s loud giggles and Kai’s deep voice drifting into the kitchen.

Baekhyun looks Sunhee right in the eye, as if he’s waiting for her to ask.

For some reason, the words are lodged in . Even when Seulgi and Kai saunter into the kitchen, food in their hands.

Seulgi’s eyes widen at the sight of them, her gaze flickering back and forth, back and forth, narrowing slightly. Kai raises his brows. Seulgi says, “Oh, I thought you’d be sleeping, Sunhee.”

Sunhee is acutely aware of Baekhyun completely ignoring the two of them, the sound of him rummaging through the plastic bags echoing in the kitchen. A strange sort of tension hangs in the kitchen, one Sunhee doesn’t fully understand. It bothers her, because while she doesn’t get the reason behind it, everyone else in the kitchen does.

Sunhee shrugs, “I couldn’t sleep.”

Seulgi opens to respond, but Sunhee notices Baekhyun pausing in his, frankly, loud preparations of breakfast. She glances over at him and he’s staring at her.

She raises a brow, mouths what.

He just lifts his hips off the chair and digs around in his pocket, his movements nonchalant (infuriatingly so, apparently, since Seulgi’s eyes seem to narrow exponentially with each second that passes) before he dangles his phone between his fingers.

He tosses it at her. She yelps, nearly dropping it. He glares at her fumble, but then he returns his attention to portioning out breakfast for the two of them.

Sunhee stares at him, confused.

He doesn’t look up, “Call out of work before it’s too late.”

“Oh, ye—”

“…You’re calling out?” Sunhee is startled by Seulgi’s voice—for a moment, she truly forgot about Seulgi and Kai. Guilt blooms at the pit of her stomach because oh yeah Seulgi had been trying to speak to her and she completely derailed the conversation in favor of whatever Baekhyun was saying. The irritation knitting Seulgi’s brows together start to make sense.

Sunhee nods.

Seulgi nods back, biting her lip. A strange awkwardness settles between them, though it’s brief. It disappears as quickly as it appears, flickering away with Seulgi’s bright smile. She puts the bags of food on the counter and says, “That’s good! You should get some rest.” She gestures between Kai and her, “We’re going to go check out the damage at the house in a little bit.”

The way she speaks so casually about the situation, as if people hadn’t broken in and tried to do God-knows-what to them, as if she’s just talking about a burst pipe or some other type of property damage, causes a chill to run straight down Sunhee’s spine.

Still, Sunhee opens , perhaps to ask if she should go with Seulgi, because this is their home and they almost died in there last night and isn’t this going to be terrifying? Shouldn’t they at least go together, because they both understand the magnitude of what happened last night?

Kai takes out a couple boxes from the bag, already turning on his heels and heading out the kitchen.

Seulgi gives Sunhee a pointed look, “Be careful, Sunhee.”

Then she turns and follows Kai, down the hall. Sunhee blinks after them.

The silence stretches on and on and on and on and—

“Still gonna ask?” Baekhyun murmurs.

She frowns at Baekhyun.

The teasing expression she expects on his face isn’t quite right. It’s lopsided, a little off. Still, she kicks him in the shin.

He yelps, attempts to kick her back, but she’s pulled her legs up to her chest on the seat. He pouts, says, “Not fair.”

She sticks out her tongue.

(The sadness from before, from earlier when she realized that if she refused to stay here, no one would have stopped her from walking out the door, hits her again. It’s a sadness, she’s coming to realize, that seems to follow in Seulgi’s wake. Maybe, this is heartbreak. If it is, she hates it, because it is a slow, agonizing break that seems to be filling her to the brim with sadness at a gradual speed. There is a fable, of how a frog dropped into boiling water will immediately jump out to preserve it’s life. But, if one were to drop a frog into tepid waters and slowly, degree by degree, raise the heat over time until it is boiling, it will stay put and never jump out.)

She says, “Can we try that new café near downtown today?”

Baekhyun’s chocolate brown eyes soften behind his glasses. A small, gentle smile plays at the corner of his lips. It’s kind, sweet almost. He dips his chin, says, “Only if you pay.”

She grimaces. He gives her a boxy grin.

“Fine.” She says, before she picks up his phone and dials her work.

He throws her little finger hearts, winking, and she can’t help but smile.

a/n: oof this one feels a bit disjointed and slow, but I am trying my best to keep chapters short and succinct. also baekhyun is a taurus and taurus find comfort in food so he's gonna be That Person who feeds the sads away kjdfnfkjsdn. Anyways, as always, let me know what you think below!!!! Love you all soooo much, I'm sorry I've been so absent! Lots of work and also I died because I saw super m live TTTTTTTT

what's your faves off the obsession album because the album's full of BOPS but I love baby you are, groove, and jekyll sooooooo much. also............the astro comeback you GUys my aroha-L heart TT