[title song: who (feat bts) - lauv]
[5k]
[gif credit: sefuns ...........I can't believe I never did this this whole time.........yikes]

14.

Shin Sunhee has always been a bit of a hopeless romantic. Despite her tendency to speak bluntly, despite the way she’s always seen things as black or white, right or wrong, despite the cold façade she’s learned to put on as she flit from failed relationship to failed relationship, she’s always had this inherent belief that love stemmed from sacrifice. If someone loves you enough, they will trek to the ends of the earth for you. If you love someone enough, you would do the same and more for them. She blames it on the romance movies and dramas she grew up watching, thanks to her mother; the cheesy, overtly dramatic shows and movies she had grown up on. Despite knowing just how unrealistic it all was, she still yearns for that cheesy, overtly dramatic, all-or-nothing type of love she had been bombarded by all her life.

She never really realized just how much she sacrifices for the people she loves – maybe she should have known, because she grew up watching her mother whittle off pieces of herself, dreams of her own, in order to back her father’s aspirations.

Sunhee loves them both so much, but she’s seen what it’s done to her mother, seen the sacrifices her mother made that have shaped her into the woman she is today, has grown up witnessing it, has been influenced by it in ways she never realized until she left her mother’s house to make it out in the world on her own – not until this very moment. Sunhee had grown up learning how to sacrifice herself, bend and stretch herself into a certain mold, for the ones she loves. Everyone always jokes about how, one day, you will become your parents. Sunhee hadn’t realized just how true it was, until this very moment.

But, at this moment, it’s all hitting her so, so hard. All this time, she believed that love was supposed to be sacrifice. All this time, she’s been living that philosophy, unable to stop, sacrificing and compromising. She wonders how many pieces of her she has left to give before she disappears completely. How many pieces of her does Seulgi already have?

Kai had been the one to knock at her door. Kai had looked distraught, desperate, and almost angry, as if he couldn’t believe he had to stand in front of Sunhee and ask her for help.

At any other moment, Sunhee would have found it hilarious.

At this moment, her heart just sinks to the pit of her stomach.

Kai stood there, jaw clenched, body tense, as if he wanted to be anywhere but there, and he had dragged a hand through his hair, whispered, “It’s Seulgi.”

And she had stiffened, felt Baekhyun’s fingers tighten into a fist against her spine. She had straightened up in her bed, forced a steely expression on her face, and responded, “What about her?”

And Kai had sighed, dropped the dark look on his face, and the vulnerability there, softening his features, had felt like a knife to the heart. Guilt, guilt, guilt. It’s all she ever feels anymore. Guilt and anger and helplessness.

Still, she listened, as Kai’s shoulders slumped, as he said, “She—she saw CCTV footage of that guy attacking you and she just lost it. She—she lost it and no one could or wanted to stop her and now she’s…I’ve been trying to bring her back all night. I even—she isn’t even ing responding to Junmyeon.” He grimaces slightly at that, eyes flickering behind Sunhee before locking with her. “You’re the only other person I could think of.”

Sunhee had a lot of questions, but all she managed to ask was, “…Lost it?”

“She nearly killed him.” Kai stated, blunt and sharp and tired and Sunhee’s heart twists again.

(Seulgi was a nurse. Seulgi lived to save people, to help them. Killing someone was something Sunhee never ever expected from Seulgi, because it was always so against her morals. Sunhee had sat through so many rants in university where Seulgi would lament the healthcare system, critique the way hospitals prioritized profit over the health of their patients.)

Sunhee wanted to stay angry, because Seulgi shouldn’t have even been around that disgusting man. She should have been back here, she should have been there for Sunhee, she should have, should have, should have. But, Sunhee couldn’t stop thinking about the sheer amount of rage that must have made Seulgi lose it in such a way that Kai had decided he needed to come to Sunhee for help. That show of protectiveness—it swayed Sunhee a lot more than she wanted it to, a lot more than it should.

“She’s never done that before. Please help me help her, Sunhee.” Kai had continued, voice stilted, hesitant.

Sunhee had not missed the way he addressed her, for the first time, by her actual name. It bothers her because he never allotted her that type of respect until he needed her.

Still, Sunhee’s resolve was a flimsy thing and her love was made of sacrifices and compromises. Sunhee had found herself nodding slowly, carefully, had whispered, “Fine. Fine.”

And she was still so angry. Even as she watched Kai sigh in relief. Even as she looked towards Baekhyun and he gave her a reassuring, supportive smile, though they never quite reached his eyes.

(Somehow that made her angrier, guiltier, more exhausted.)

And now—here she is.

Here she is, shivering in the same dark warehouse Suho had brought her to. Baekhyun’s zip-up hoodie engulfs her form, but she still tugs it closer, eyes focused on the door in front of her.

The bathroom, Suho had said, the moment they burst through the doors. He hadn’t turned his attention away from the man in front of him, beaten to a pulp, the one who Sunhee had brought into this place. The man’s head had lolled and a shiver ran straight down her spine at the way he seemed to be looking at her, too alert, too aware. But then Kai had directed her towards the bathroom and now here she was, staring at the locked door.

“Why didn’t you just break the lock?” Baekhyun speaks, for the first time. She looks up at him, almost unconsciously, finding comfort in his voice, in the touch he maintains on her back. His eyes are on Kai, narrowed, suspicious.

“She’s upset.” Kai frowns at Baekhyun.

Baekhyun nods, slowly, before he mutters, “Since when did like that matter to you?”

The venom, the bitterness, in Baekhyun’s tone startles Sunhee. She glances between them, from Baekhyun’s clenched jaw, to the flicker of annoyance flitting across Kai’s features. But, Kai does not respond to Baekhyun. He just looks at Sunhee and he says, “She’s been in there for hours.”

Sunhee gives in, then.

She gives the door a light tap of her knuckles, calls out, “Seulgi? It’s me.”

She hears noises beyond the door, faint, hurried, before she hears a quiet, “Su—Sunhee?”

The way Seulgi’s voice cracks hits Sunhee straight in the heart. She presses a palm to the rough wood—trying the doorknob to no avail—and her heart feels so ing heavy in her chest, her fingers curling against the door. It’s so quiet that she can hear her fingernails scraping against the wood.

Sunhee lowers her voice, softens herself, whittles her anger into tendrils of nothing, and murmurs, “Seulgi, please open the door.”

She is leaning heavily against the door, her heart pounding against her ribs as she waits and waits and waits and—

The door cracks open and Sunhee’s grip on the doorknob is so tight, her knuckles are turning white. She pushes the door open, just enough to slip through, before she shuts it tight behind her, leaving Kai and Baekhyun behind. She appraises Seulgi’s disheveled appearance, from her mascara streaked face, splattered with red, to her hands—oh god her hands.

Sunhee freezes. Sunhee doesn’t know what her expression is conveying, but whatever it is has Seulgi crumbling before her, broken and vulnerable and everything Sunhee has never, not once, seen Seulgi. Seulgi has always been this ferocious ball of energy, opinionated and strong and everything the Seulgi before her is not.

Her hands are bruised and covered in blood. There is a look in Seulgi’s eyes Sunhee has never seen before. Sunhee is terrified.

But, she takes a deep breath, despite the tears welling in her eyes, especially when Seulgi’s face crumples and fresh tears spring to her eyes. She drops her head, staring at the floor, bloody hands trembling at her sides, and she lets out a quiet sob, words incoherent.

Sunhee feels the same way she had that fateful Tuesday Night. She runs on an autopilot she never ever knew she possessed as she steps forward and gathers Seulgi into her arms, murmurs, “It’s okay. It’s okay. I’m here, it’s okay.”

It feels like someone has her heart trapped in a vice-like grip, tight and suffocating, but Sunhee pushes it all away. She is Seulgi’s best friend, first and foremost, she reminds herself.

Seulgi breaks then, arms remaining limp at her side, though her face is pressed into the crook of Sunhee’s neck, wetting Sunhee’s hoodie. She makes a mental note to wash Baekhyun’s hoodie before she returns it. Slowly, Sunhee sinks to her knees and Seulgi joins her. Sunhee blinks her tears away, carding her fingers through Seulgi’s tangled hair as she lets Seulgi cry and cry.

Eventually, Seulgi quiets down. Eventually, she is quietly cradled in Sunhee’s arms and Sunhee thinks she’s looks so small. Sunhee doesn’t want to dwell in that, so she gently pulls Seulgi up. Seulgi lets her. She’s so pliant and it’s so different from the Seulgi Sunhee knows.

Sunhee doesn’t dwell on her thoughts as she maneuvers Seulgi onto the closed toilet seat, doesn’t dwell as she finds paper towels under the sink and soaks them in water before wiping the blood off Seulgi’s hands. She doesn’t dwell, doesn’t think, doesn’t ask questions.

Until—

“I tried to kill a man.” Seulgi’s voice is hoarse, and it’s so quiet, Sunhee almost misses her words.

Sunhee pauses, for just a moment, before she continues wiping at the dried blood on Seulgi’s skin. She whispers, “Don’t. You don’t have to talk about i—”

“I saw what he tried to do to you and I just ing—I wanted him dead. I took a scalpel to his face, Sunhee.” Seulgi’s voice is unsteady.

Sunhee moves to Seulgi face, finally meets her gaze, and there is something dark there, something unhinged and different. Sunhee’s stomach churns at that thought, at the difference. Still, Sunhee traces a wet paper towel over Seulgi’s cheeks as she says, “You didn’t kill him, though. That’s all that matters.”

“No.” Seulgi’s voice raises, bouncing off the bathroom walls. It startles Sunhee. She nearly drops the paper towel in her hands. Seulgi’s eyes are hellfire and fury impersonated. For a moment, Sunhee is terrified of her. But, then Seulgi says, “I swore I would use that scalpel to save lives. But, instead I’m—I’m a monster. I would have killed him. Next time, I will kill him. I won’t be able to stop. I know it, I know it.”

The moment of terror morphs into a heavy pitiful thing. Sunhee cups Seulgi’s cheeks, whispers, “You are not a monster. You were angry. You wanted to protect me. That doesn’t mean it’ll happen again. It’s okay. It’s okay.”

Seulgi shakes her, back and forth, over and over, reaching up to tug Sunhee’s hands off her face. “You don’t understand. I wasn’t thinking about protecting you. After…After the first stab, I just kept going because I wanted him dead.”

Something deep, deep inside Sunhee snaps at that. The way Seulgi looks at her, matter-of-factly, and the way her eyes hold a darkness to them—it all is too much, in this deep, visceral way. It’s like something has changed, something’s broken, and nothing is the same, nothing has ever been the same. Sunhee hates it.

Sunhee imagines Seulgi stabbing at that man multiple times. Her hands shake. Seulgi’s gaze flickers down, to Sunhee’s hands.

“It’s going to happen again. We’re stuck here.” Seulgi says.

It’s like Seulgi knows Sunhee won’t leave Seulgi here to drown, not alone at least. Sunhee’s fingers tighten around the paper towel in her hands at that thought as she says, “Then leave. Leave before you do something you can never take back.”

Seulgi shakes her head, wiping at the last remnants of her tears with the back of her now clean hands. “I like it here, Sunhee. It’s fun. I’m making a difference.”

Sunhee thinks that’s ing ridiculous. She rolls her eyes, “What’s going to happen when you actually ing kill someone then?”

“Then I’ll just have you patch me back up.” Seulgi throws her a small smile. Her joking tone falls completely flat.

Sunhee fingers clench into tight fists, “I really ing hate you.”

Seulgi stares at Sunhee for a long, long moment. “No, you don’t.”

There’s something so sad about the way Seulgi says it, as if Seulgi wishes Sunhee did actually hate her. Sunhee’s anger, guilt, and helplessness bubbles back up at that, though, filling her up, up, up, until she feels as if she truly can’t breathe.

“I wish I did.” Sunhee bites out, fighting the angry tears springing to her eyes. “I really do.”

Seulgi just nods, as if she agrees with Sunhee. Sunhee wants to leave, wants to storm out, but she doesn’t. She stays, despite everything. Seulgi just watches her.

Sunhee finishes cleaning up Seulgi, the two of them sitting in silence all the while.

When she opens the door again, Kai is there. She doesn’t think he ever left. He steps into the bathroom, leaving the door open.

(Baekhyun is not there. Sunhee ignores the pang in her chest.)

“Thank you.” Seulgi calls out after her.

It sounds so sincere.

Sunhee can’t find it in her to respond.

~.~.~.~.~

She groans as she stretches her arms over her head, switching off her computer for the day. Her phone vibrates in her hand – 1 New Message from Baekhyun, it says – and she’s still stretching as she clicks on the message. She doesn’t even get to read the message before she hears an amused giggle.

She looks up from her phone, frowning. Sanha is peering at her from his desk.

“What?” She mumbles, narrowing her eyes at his -eating grin.

“You keep making googly eyes at your phone every time you get a text.” Sanha states. He imitates her expression, scrunching his face up in an ugly way.

She scowls, “I do not look like that. And I definitely don’t make googly eyes.”

“You totally do. It’s disgusting.” Sanha says, grinning all the while. He shoulders his backpack before he says, “More disgusting then your usual face.”

He runs out the office just as Sunhee fully registered what he said. She hurries after him, whisper-shouting. It’s almost funny how she and Sanha slow down to a walking pace in front of their boss’s door, bowing deeply, before they both break into runs the moment they pass the doorway.

Sunhee grabs him by his backpack when they get outside. Sanha laughs when she can barely pull him back, hanging onto him instead. Sunhee revels in it, in the familiarity, the normality of it all. She can’t suppress her smile, even when Sanha makes fun of her for looking like she’s in pain every time she smiles.

“Do you want to get dinner and catch up?” Sanha swings his arms, look every bit like an overgrown child, even as he speaks. Sanha raises a brow at her and she finds she is nodding. Baekhyun’s been busy with work and, frankly, Sunhee doesn’t want to see Seulgi. She doesn’t want to think about that house and the things that happen in there. She wants normality for a little bit longer.

Sanha grins.

~.~.~.~.~

They’re seated at a rooftop bar overlooking the city. From up here, the city lights look picturesque. She thinks it’s beautiful and she thinks she’s only ever seen the city twinkle so prettily like this a few times before, from Baekhyun’s high-rise apartment.

(With the small buzz of wine in her system and the comforting fullness of appetizers comes a moment where her mind wanders to Baekhyun, as she watches the city bustle down below, lights glowing softly around them. She wonders what he’s doing, if she’s currently looking over him, somewhere in this city.)

Sanha leans heavily against the table, peering over the rooftop as well. She blinks at the pensive look on his face, watching as he takes a sip of his drink. His eyes hold a seriousness she has never really seen on him. Maybe she’s seen it once, that night Jinwoo took her to Suho. She doesn’t want to think about night; she’s been trying so hard to forget about it. But, she knows that’s unrealistic. It’s been the metaphorical elephant in the room between Sanha and Sunhee for a while now. Still, she won’t bring it u—

“I’m sorry about my brother, you know.” Sanha remains facing the city lights, but his eyes dart to the side, meeting hers. He purses his lips, pouting slightly, before he bows his head. His cheeks dust pink as he mutters, “I know we’re not supposed to bring it up, but I thought I should clear the air.”

She shakes her head, “It’s okay. It’s not your fault. Besides, he was just doing his job.”

Sanha puts his glass down, turning to her. His fingers remain folded on the table, entangled with each other. His pout just deepens, though his eyes grow more serious. “You know, I never had a mom or dad. I mean, I must have, because how else was I born? But Jinwoo practically raised me. Which wasn’t fair because he’s only five years older than me, but all I remember is Jinwoo cooking my meals and getting me ready for school. He…he gave up a lot of his dreams for me—so I could follow my own dreams.” Sanha drags a hand through his hair. His expression twists with a series of emotions. He stares at his hands, fiddling with his sleeves, before he finally, finally, looks up.

Sunhee is holding her breath. She doesn’t know what to do. She doesn’t know what to say.

Sanha says, “I found out about his involvement with Suho six years ago. It was horrible. I was so ing mad and so horrified with myself, because he was putting himself in danger for me. He was hurting people, selling drugs, and doing god-ing-knows-what-else all for me.”

His eyes are glistening with unshed tears. She can easily pick the self-reproach out of his expression; she sees it in her own expression enough these days to recognize it quickly. Sunhee, unthinkingly, rears forward, reaching out to press her fingertips to Sanha’s clenched hands. He jolts at her touch, looking up. Sunhee speaks before thinking, says, “If you think my sudden involvement is somehow your fault—it’s not. I don’t blame Jinwoo for what he had to do. I don’t, Sanha.”

She can see the relief in his shoulders. Sanha sighs, though, mutters, “I just want him to stop, but I know we need the job. I know hyung is in too deep. I just…I wish I could do something to stop it. Join or something? I don’t know. I couldn’t do anything even when I was in that ing car with you and it was horrible.”

“Hey, no.” Sunhee murmurs, shaking her head quickly. Sanha lifts his head, brows furrowed. She looks him right in the eyes, still shaking her head, and she replies, voice firm, “Don’t think that way. Don’t even think about joining, either. Your brother doesn’t want that. No one does. Besides, I couldn’t do anything in that car either. It’s fine.”

“It’s not.” Sanha mumbles, “I just want to help.”

“You are helping. By getting this internship and doing well in school, you’re helping so much. You’re going to get a kick job and then your brother will never have to work ever again.”

Sanha glares a little, but it’s a watery thing that makes Sunhee smile a little. Sanha mumbles, “That’s what hyung says, too.”

“And, do you believe us?”

“I guess. I mean, I know it’s not wrong.”

Sunhee purses her lips, murmurs, “Just please promise me you won’t get involved with that gang.”

“Aren’t you involved, though?”

“It’s different.”

Sanha snorts, rolling his eyes, his teary eyes subsiding. “It’s not that different.” He sighs, propping his chin up with one of his hands, looking forlorn, “But, I promise. I’m not stupid enough to join a gang.”

“But your brother is?”

“Between the both of us, I obviously was blessed with the superior genes.” Sanha says, with a shrug.

Sunhee snorts in amusement.

It’s quiet between them for a moment—the waiter avoids their table, probably because he must have caught of glimpse of Sanha distressed and decided it’d be best to give them space—before Sanha speaks up, his voice low, “Why are you involved, Sunhee?”

And she understands why he’s asking, because how can she ask him to promise not to get involved with a gang when she is.

She almost wants to brush off the questions. She knows Sanha, knows that he won’t push if she doesn’t want to tell him. But something in her breaks at his question. Maybe, she’s been holding in too much lately. Maybe she just needs a friend who isn’t a part of the gang to give her objective insights into her life. Maybe Sanha deserves to know, since he had told her so much about his own life with prompting from her. Either way, she tells him. She tells him about that fateful Tuesday night, about Seulgi’s involvement, about her feelings for Seulgi (she never thought she’d be able to say it out loud to anyone but Baekhyun, but somehow it’s easier the second time around and Sanha doesn’t even flinch at her admission, nodding along as if she is normal and it nearly brings tears to her eyes), about Seulgi getting her involved on an assignment a few days ago, about the aftermath, the blood on Seulgi’s hands. She only avoids telling him too many details about Baekhyun. She isn’t quite sure why she omits that.

After she’s done, Sanha lets out a low whistle. “Damn.”

“I know.” She mumbles. She tries to catch her breath, suddenly embarrassed at spilling so much to Sanha.

“Are you…okay?” Sanha looks concerned, too quiet.

Sunhee isn’t sure why she’s being so truthful, maybe it’s a combination of the view, the wine, and the comfort Sanha’s friendship brings. Or maybe she’s becoming one of those people who spills their life story to anyone who is willing to listen. She murmurs, “No, I don’t think so.”

Sanha nods, slowly. She doesn’t expect him to say anything; what would he say to all that, anyway?

“The first time I saw Jinwoo hurt someone, I was devastated.” Sanha says, suddenly, so quietly. Her eyes widen at his admission, watching as he continues speaking, “I guess I never knew what he was truly capable of until I saw it with my own eyes.”

She ponders on that, thinks, oh maybe he’s right. She says, “She was just so…different. Everything I ever knew about Seulgi revolved around saving lives. Around medicine. I’ve never seen her like that.”

“Sometimes, we don’t want to accept just how much we don’t know the people around us,” Sanha sits back against his chair, crossing his arms over his chest, eyes solemn, tired, too tired for someone like him, “Especially when it’s the people we love most in the world. To accept that…to accept that you don’t really know anyone—it’s ing terrifying.”

Sunhee swallows the lump in . She’s been thinking about that night ever since it happened, thinking about what Seulgi had said to her, the differences in her behavior, the moments of fear that had coursed through Sunhee. “How do you deal with that?”

“I don’t deal with it. I accept it, despite that.”

“I don’t think I can do that.”

“Don’t you love her?”

“I do.” Sunhee murmurs, immediately. She pauses, before she finally admits, “But something has changed and she’s not the same girl I fell in love with. She’s not the same and I don’t know how I can keep her from disappearing forever.”

Sanha slowly takes a sip of his drink. His voice is gentle, uncharacteristically so, when he says, “Maybe you have to just let it happen. Maybe there’s nothing you can do, Sunhee.”

She wants to say, I can try, I can try. But she doesn’t know if she can do even that.

~.~.~.~.~

“The ending was terrible.” Baekhyun sighs and she snorts at how put-off he looks. “They hyped up the movie for it to end like that? I want my money and time back!”

“It wasn’t that bad.” She attempts to placate him, reaching over to pat his back, rubbing up and down unconsciously. He just groans, dropping his forehead against his arm as he clutches the overhead handle on the train. He leans further against her. The bus is crowded for a Friday night and they’re pressed together like sardines packed in a can. She leaves her arm wrapped around Baekhyun so she can keep balance as the bus occasionally jumps over a pothole or swerves precariously through narrow streets.

“It was. They ruined Captain America’s character and half his movies just for that stupid ending. And don’t get me started on Iron Man, god, they should have switched it and—are you laughing at me?”

“Yes.” She cackles.

Baekhyun’s pout deepens into a scandalized look. “You’re the worst. I’m never speaking to you again. Go deal with your on your own.”

Sunhee sputters, unwrapping her arm from around him to shove at him. “Stop bringing that up!”

“Only if you agree that the movie .”

“I—oh, this is our stop.”

She grabs Baekhyun’s hand, ignoring the comfort his warm hand brings her, dragging him out the bus. Baekhyun wrinkles his nose at her for a moment. She almost laughs, at least until his grimace drops, returning to his regular mischievous twinkle and big grin. He says, “So you’re really planning on staying the night?”

“Isn’t that what friends-with-benefits-who-are-pretending-to-date do?”

“What exactly are the benefits, though? Because I have yet to experience any benefits.”

His grin is blinding, his eyes glinting. She shoves him. He snorts, stuffing his hands into his pockets as he matches her pace. She says, “You’re annoying.”

He shrugs, “Can I change the benefits to cleaning my bathroom? The tub needs scrubbing.”

“What do you need next?” She grimaces at him. “A pension plan?”

“Junmyeon can’t exactly give me one of those, so honestly that’d be nice.”

Sunhee can’t help the small laugh. Baekhyun starts ranting about the movie again, and, honestly, Sunhee can’t help but agree with most of his points. Eventually, though, he quiets down and they walk side-by-side in silence. The night is warm, an occasional gentle breeze kissing her skin. She finds that a certain tranquility in this moment.

Baekhyun hasn’t said a word about the incident with Seulgi yet. Half of her is grateful he hasn’t brought it up. The other half wishes he would just ask. Maybe that’s why she spilled so much to Sanha, because Baekhyun hadn’t asked and she had kept those thoughts and feelings bottled up a little too tightly.

She’s so caught up in her thoughts that she doesn’t notice the way Baekhyun catches her limp hand in his until she registers the sudden warmth. She blinks, her cheeks burning up, as she glances down at their locked hands.

Her cheeks only grow hotter as Baekhyun’s pretty fingers thread through hers, fitting carefully between the spaces of her fingers.

She’s gaping at him. He peers down at her, eyes twinkling, grin widening at her expression. He doesn’t say anything though, just gives her a -eating, knowing grin, before swinging their intertwined hands between them.

She stumbles at his side and she hates how warm her cheeks are. Baekhyun giggles.

~.~.~.~.~

He doesn’t let go of her hand. Not even when they step into Baekhyun’s apartment. Not even when a pretty woman pads out of the kitchen the moment the door shuts behind them, dressed in a lacy white night gown with a fluffy pink robe hanging loosely over her gown, her hair messily piled on top of her head. She’s wearing Baekhyun’s house slippers. Sunhee freezes.

It’s Irene.

Sunhee’s grip on Baekhyun’s hand tightens. He looks up from where he’s untying his shoes with just one hand, still holding her hand for some godforsaken reason, before he suddenly shoots up.

Baekhyun is surprised, his eyes widening in confusion. Irene, on the other hand, is nonchalant, a spatula hanging precariously from her manicured fingers, gaze flickering between Baekhyun, Sunhee, and their intertwined hands.

After a moment, Sunhee feels strange. She untangles her fingers from Baekhyun’s, crossing her arms over her chest, unconsciously putting up a wall between Irene and herself.

Baekhyun makes a small, disgruntled noise. He says, “What are you doing here?”

“Why? Did I interrupt something?” Irene’s grin stretches across her face, only making her more beautiful. Her little snicker is pretty, too. Everything about her is pretty and Sunhee finds herself in awe, all over again.

Baekhyun scowls, ignoring her comment completely, “You’re supposed to use the ing key for emergencies only.”

“This is an emergency.” Irene waves the spatula at Baekhyun, brows knitting together.

Sunhee watches the way Baekhyun’s annoyance instantly disappears, concern flickering over his gaze. “What happened?” He asks. It reminds her of the tender care he’d direct at her sometimes. Her stomach jumps at the thought and she isn’t sure why, her fingers digging into her skin as she watches their exchange.

“Your bed is comfier than mine. I missed it.” Irene twirls the spatula in her fingers, raising a brow, “Didn’t feel like doing groceries either, so.”

Irene wiggles her fingers in a jazz hands fashion. Sunhee focuses entirely too much on your bed. Sunhee can feel a frown growing on her face. Irene glances at her, still smiling.

Baekhyun’s concern dissolves immediately. He rolls his eyes, kicking off his shoes, exasperation clouding his features. “When you’re done eating, you need to leave. And wash the ing dishes before you go. I’m sick of doing your dishes.”

“Aww, is that any way to treat a guest, Baek? I really did interrupt something, huh?” Irene cackles. Her gaze settles on Sunhee for a second time, seemingly sizing her up, appraising her, and it makes Sunhee feel extremely small. Irene is smaller than her, but her aura makes her so much bigger. Sunhee shuffles in her spot, uncomfortable, especially because, this time, Irene doesn’t say anything.

She just spins on her heels, still cackling, and disappears back into the kitchen.

Baekhyun lets out a small sigh.

Irene’s voice echoes out from the kitchen. “I’ll make extra. We can all eat together.”

Baekhyun sighs yet again, but Sunhee does not miss the small, fond smile tugging at his lips.

a/n: first of all, I am in love with the title track song I really miss bts' sad boy music from back in the day TT if you listen to the song, I actually borrowed some of the themes for this fic because I thought it fit Sunhee/Seulgi really well. 

second thank you all sooooooooo much for all the support. I keep meaning to take time to answer comments but I keep forgetting because I'm so busy. But just know if you've left a comment I love you SO much and I seriously appreciate you guys so much. It's so motivating I love you I WILL RESPOND AS SOON AS I CAN JKDSNJK

THIRD SUHO SOLO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! MARCH 30!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! SUHOLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Also, I finally fully planned out Baekhyun (and Irene's) backstory and I would like to apologize in advance I've been watching WAY too many OCN and TVN dramas lmao.