[title song: promise - ateez]
6k; will edit soon; gif credit bloomingyouths

15.

Baekhyun pats the seat beside him, smiling gently, reassuringly, at Sunhee. Sunhee glances at Irene’s back, watching as she flits through the kitchen with practiced familiarity, her robes fluttering all about. Sunhee swallows down her discomfort at that observation, at the ease in which Irene moves around the kitchen, as if she knows where everything is, before she takes a seat beside Baekhyun. Baekhyun smiles at her, a big boxy endearing grin, placing his hand on her knee. It’s a gentle touch, an anchor of a thing really, but Sunhee finds she is glancing up at Irene, feels like somehow this is not allowed.

(Sunhee can’t help but wonder why Irene and Baekhyun’s closeness bothers her. It shouldn’t bother her in any way. It shouldn’t.)

Irene is humming something under her breath and Baekhyun’s resorted to an uncharacteristic silence as he gently draws circles along her knee with his thumb. Round and round and round. She glances down at his thumb, at his pretty fingers splayed across the top of her knee, and she frowns.

She jumps when Irene suddenly turns, slamming plates down on the counter with three loud thuds. Baekhyun’s hand slips off her thigh. Sunhee’s face burns. Irene peers at Sunhee for a moment, silent, before a sharp grin creeps onto her beautiful face. She has a steaming pan filled with food in her hands and Sunhee is flustered by her silence, more than anything, even while Irene portions out the food she made.

Sunhee barely notices Baekhyun slipping off his seat to grab water before he’s returning, opening a bottle before sliding it over to Sunhee.

Irene plops into her seat, pouting at Baekhyun, “Where’s my water?”

“You can get it yourself.” Baekhyun tells her, nonchalant, before he takes a bite of the food. He chews, brows furrowing together, before his gives Irene a small grin. “Damn, I forgot how good your cooking is.”

“Of course you did.” Irene makes a face, wrinkling her nose. There’s a strange undercurrent of bitterness there, lurking beneath the surface. Sunhee feels like she’s intruding as she looks between Irene and Baekhyun. Baekhyun, though, doesn’t snap back or cut her down like she expects.

Instead, he takes it. Instead, he just shrugs.

“I’m serious. You need to open that restaurant.” Baekhyun tacks on, as if Irene never said anything. Baekhyun turns to face Sunhee, tongue darting out to his lips. He gestures at the untouched food in front of her, “Sunhee, try it. Tell her I’m right.”

Sunhee has no choice but to try it. Not when Irene looks on, expression blank, arms crossed over her chest. She’s expectant, even if she doesn’t look it. Baekhyun, on the other hand, is absolutely expectant. Slowly, Sunhee takes a bite of the food and, honestly, it’s incredible. Her taste buds burst with flavor and she can’t stop the way her expression changes. Honestly, she doesn’t try to. Baekhyun breaks out into a fond, little grin at her expression, all while Sunhee nods enthusiastically, meeting Irene’s gaze.

“Wow.” Sunhee manages, still nodding, reddening at the way Irene keeps staring at her. Despite the strange tension she feels between Baekhyun and Irene, Sunhee isn’t immune to Irene’s beauty. She doesn’t think anyone can be immune to her beauty. Especially when Irene is unrelenting in her stares.

“Told you.” Baekhyun throws Irene a pointed look.

“Even if I wanted to open a restaurant, it’d never work out.” Irene responds, rolling her eyes, before she finally tears her gaze off Sunhee, picking up her utensils.

Sunhee doesn’t miss the stiffening of Baekhyun’s shoulders. Still, Baekhyun’s smile doesn’t falter, even as the kitchen lapses into silence once again.

Three bites later—Sunhee makes it a point to focus on the food, practically stuffing her face so she doesn’t get pulled into any kind of conversation, though nobody seems to want to speak—Irene drops her hands to her lap. Her voice is loud when she speaks, “You know what? Baekhyun we need dessert.”

“Huh?” Baekhyun looks up, startled. He tilts his head, gesturing at the freezer, “I have a couple pints of mint chocolate chip in there.”

Irene blinks, once, twice, before she coos, “Oh, that’s my favorite.”

“I know, .” Baekhyun says, with a fondness that makes Sunhee feel like she really is intruding. “I hate mint chocolate chip, remember?”

“Unfortunately, yes I do remember.” Irene responds, but she’s smiling. Then her gaze flickers over to Sunhee, lingering for a moment too long. Again. Irene suddenly waves her hands, “Still, we need dessert, so how about you go to the convenience store and pick us up some more ice cream. Whatever’s Sunhee’s favorite.”

Sunhee blinks at the sudden mention of her name, offers hesitantly, “I, uh, I like strawberry.”

Irene grimaces, “That’s Baek’s favorite, too. Disgusting.” Baekhyun just beams at Sunhee, but Irene continues before he can say another word, “Stop smiling at her like that and go get us some ice cream.”

Baekhyun grimaces, “Stop ordering me around or I swear to God—”

“And go to the convenience store on the other side of town. The one next to the library. The one that’s super far away.”

Sunhee’s brows furrow in confusion, but Baekhyun just looks annoyed now. “Why do I have to go all the way over there? There’s a convenience store across the street.”

“Because I said so.”

Sunhee watches as Baekhyun locks eyes with Irene, the two of them seemingly having a very intense silent discussion. Sunhee feels vaguely like a third wheel, suddenly, and it’s a strange feeling. She doesn’t know what to do with that feeling.

The stare down lasts for a full minute before Baekhyun finally seems to relent, sighing as he slips out his seat. A small bout of panic flits through Sunhee as she watches him get up. She has the urge to pull him back by the arm because she does not want to be left alone with Irene, not after their last encounter, but all she does is curl her fingers into fists at her lap.

“Don’t worry.” Baekhyun, though, reaches out and gives Sunhee’s shoulder a gentle squeeze. She cranes her neck to look up at him and his smile is soft. For a moment, all her worries disappear. He murmurs, “I’ll be back in exactly thirty minutes. I promise she doesn’t bite, Sunhee.”

Irene snorts, calls out, “Not unless you want me to.”

Sunhee’s frown deepens, her face heating up yet again. She can’t help but widen her eyes at Baekhyun, silently hoping he’d cut it down to five minutes. But, Baekhyun’s eyes twinkle and he squeezes her shoulder yet again. Then, he turns to face Irene, hand still on Sunhee’s shoulder, and he scolds her, tone sharp, “Behave.”

Sunhee raises a brow, eyes flickering to Irene. Frankly, she expects Irene to punch him. Instead, she just pouts, deflating a bit, “Yeah, yeah, whatever.”

And then Baekhyun is striding out the apartment, calling out over his shoulder, “Thirty minutes.”

~.~.~.~.~

The way Irene slumps in her seat the minute the door slams shut behind Baekhyun leaves Sunhee speechless. Her entire demeanor changes. She’s no longer high strung nor stiff, seemingly on guard constantly. Instead she appears drained.

It’s quiet for too long—Sunhee counts out five whole seconds in her head—before Sunhee starts to word vomit, her nerves finally cracking, “Look. If you’re being all…intense because you like Baekhyun then know that you’re kind of terrifying and I don’t think I could ever compete with you over guy, so you can totally have him. Not that he’s an object or anything and we can make those decisions for him. But, we don’t have anything going on, not really. I like Baekhyun, but if you like him like, you know, like that, then go for it. And, like, I mean, for the record, I’d never want to compete with you for a guy because, frankly, you’re extremely hot and I’d rather date you and, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, why did I say that…? I, um, It’s just…this is so weird and—”

Irene giggles and Sunhee immediately throws her hands over her own mouth, eyes wide. Irene’s eyes crinkle up into little crescent moons and her smile is wide, genuine, not-so-sharp, as she gasps, “You’re so cute, holy .”

(Sunhee is grateful Irene’s ignored most of her word vomit in favor of laughing at her because she thinks if Irene actually acknowledged anything Sunhee had said, she would want the ground to swallow her up whole.)

Sunhee blinks, watches as Irene slowly quiet down, catching her breath. It’s quiet for just a moment before Irene lets out a tiny little sigh. She says, “Baek told me a lot about you. Said we have similar hobbies.”

Sunhee nods slowly, manages to say, “Did he?”

“Yeah. Said you both love boring like buying planners and following the rules.” Irene rolls her eyes, affectionately murmurs, “.”

Sunhee doesn’t get it. She doesn’t understand the way Irene flip-flops with the way she speaks about Baekhyun. One moment she is bitter and accusing, and the next she is affectionate. It’s whiplash at its finest and Sunhee is starting to get a headache.

Sunhee finds she can’t not say anything, so she speaks up, says, “What exactly do you want from me?”

“Baekhyun told me your best friend’s dating Kai and that the two of you became friends because you’ve been trying to sabotage their relationship.” Irene’s eyes darken exponentially as she spits out Kai’s name. Her fingers curl into fists, even as her arms remain crossed over her chest. The way Irene scowls sends chills down Sunhee’s spine. The darkness in her eyes is unhinged in its ferocity. Irene bites out her next words with cutting precision, “I want to help.”

Sunhee stares at Irene. Irene lifts her chin, eyes unwavering, determined.

Sunhee murmurs, confused, “But, why?”

Irene purses her lips, fingers remaining curled into fists against the table, right beside her plate. The tension in her shoulders is unnerving because Irene is wound so tight, Sunhee thinks she could break in half with the lightest of touches. Sunhee sees cracks in her expression then—the bags under her eyes, purple and heavy, the small scar at the apple of her cheek, a shade darker than the rest of her skin, the wild look in her eyes—and Sunhee wonders if she really wants to know why. Does she want to shoulder Irene’s burden, as well? Can she handle that?

“Because,” Irene freezes when her voice trembles on the last syllable, faltering. A stream of emotions flickers through her expression at lightning speed, ones Sunhee does not have time to figure out. Irene takes a deep breath, closes her eyes, steadying herself. Finally, she continues, “Because I know what Kai is capable of. You don’t want your friend anywhere near him.”

Questions bubble up to Sunhee’s lips, but the tension between them is a quiet, fragile thing she is afraid to break. Irene seems to struggle with the way she wants to word her next sentence and Sunhee doesn’t want to interrupt that with her questions. She doesn’t want to risk putting an end to this. So, she bites her tongue, watching as Sunhee’s fists uncurl, palms flat on the tabletop. She takes another deep breath, says, “It’s a long story.”

It’s a warning, a way out. Sunhee is almost grateful for that choice. But, she’s curious. She finds she wants to bare the weight of Irene’s burden, if only for tonight. She’s not sure why, maybe it’s the look in Irene’s eyes, maybe it’s because Baekhyun seems to care about Irene and Sunhee wants to be able to understand Baekhyun more through this bond. Maybe, Sunhee just wants to be in the loop for once.

This time, Sunhee speaks up, her eyes locking with Irene’s. Sunhee tries for a smile, prays she does not look as constipated as Sanha always tells her she does when she tries too hard to smile, and she whispers, “I have time. At least for the twenty minutes before he comes back”

Her attempt at a lighthearted tone makes Irene smile, just a bit. She sighs, drags a manicured hand through her messy bun, readjusting the hair tie, before her expression changes, reforms back into that mask of confidence she had been wearing so well. She throws Sunhee a tilted smirk, says, “You’re so soft.” Her gaze flickers over Sunhee’s face, “Baekhyun’s a ing idiot.”

Sunhee grimaces, then, “What does that mean?”

“He’s just always liked the soft ones.” Irene shrugs, leaning back in her chair. The stiffness is replaced by practiced nonchalance, but Sunhee can tell that Irene can’t quite look Sunhee in the eyes. Irene sighs, leaning back in her chair, food remaining untouched, and tugs at her hair yet again.

~.~.~.~.~

Sunhee can imagine a young and naïve Irene – Bae Joohyun – younger, less jaded, a little shy, with a pencil case that matches her book bag and an assortment of colored pens and little sticky notes. She imagines her notebooks and folders color coordinated for each subject, notes neat and careful, just like her. Sunhee imagines a version of the beautiful, feral woman in front of her before she turned out this way, when she was wide-eyed and maybe a little wary of whatever attention her beauty got her. Maybe, she was shy.

Joohyun in middle school, shy and a little awkward, and it all only gets worse as summer break passes and she enters high school. Her uniform changes along with her school and the new bus takes getting used to. But, she still has the same friends to look forward to. The added pressure of college exams, however, not so much.

She met him at the beginning of high school – the love of my life, she whispers with sad, sad eyes and a bitter smile – and he was the most infuriating person she had ever met. She never used to have any trouble getting first place in her classes, until he came around. It pissed her off.

“It’s like he existed to annoy me.” She mumbles. “Always ing beating me out by just one point.”

She always felt as if she needed to try harder to prove herself, because people only ever focused on her looks when they thought of her. They spoke of her pretty hair, her pretty skin, her pretty face, and whenever she landed in second place, it was like her brain disappeared. Boys would visit from other schools just to look at her, ask her out even though they never even knew her just because they thought she was pretty, and she wanted people to see her as something other than a pretty face and body to gawk at.

“He was so ing nice, too. Would never notice what the he was doing or the amount of effort I put in just to ing beat him. It was so ing annoying, holy .” Irene groans.

Not even her victories in the one subject she knew she was better than him at – Korean grammar – felt as sweet as they should have felt. Not when she felt like their supposed rivalry was really just a one-way rivalry while he remained oblivious to all her scrutiny. It was no fun if she was the only one insulting him.

The details remain something of a blur, even to this day, but somehow, after a particularly bad mock exam, where he beat her by three whole points, after a boy she had decided to be friends with because she thought he was being genuinely nice and friendly her the minute she rejected him (“Called me a for leading him on. The irony is what gets me, honestly. Bet he’d love to see me now.”), she had cornered him in an empty classroom and attempted (“And failed.”) at bullying him.

“I thought it’d help.” Irene snorts, staring at a point over Sunhee’s head. “Like, if I tried to shove him around like they do in those dramas, he’d lose his nerve, and I’d finally win.”

She had shoved him around, wanted to shout at him, except her cheeks were wet and her eyes stung with tears, hot and angry and embarrassed. And her shoves were weak against his chest. He barely stumbled. She remembers so vividly the way he had looked at her with his kind, brown eyes, the way he had just set down his books at an empty table and just gathered her up in his arms, holding her close and tight, ignoring the way she thrashed in his arms, until she relented, until she slumped in his arms and tried so ing hard to stop her angry tears. She remembers so vividly the way he had maneuvered her into an empty desk, ignoring the bell completely, and he had sat her down, untangling himself from her. How he had gripping her arms tightly and asked her if she was okay. As if she hadn’t been the one to threaten him bodily harm just a moment ago.

Joohyun had wanted the floor to open up and swallow her whole the entire time. But, was on autopilot and she blabbed all her insecurities, unleashing them on her self-proclaimed rival as if they were not actual rivals. They skipped the rest of their classes that day, just to sit there in that empty classroom and talk.

“It’s one of my favorite memories from high school.” Irene whispers, smile warm, soft.

But Joohyun let embarrassment reign over her. She was only a teenager, so she did what any other self-preserving teenager would have done in such a situation. She avoided him like the ing plague. He didn’t even notice she was avoiding him, smiling pleasantly whenever they made eye contact, beating her easily in half their exams, even having the audacity to wave at her in the cafeteria while she tried to speed-walk right past him. And then he had cornered her after school (“Well, technically, we both had cleaning duties after school.”) and asked if she would tutor him in Korean Grammar. It was his worst subject, he admitted.

She wanted to reject him, because if he actually understood the subject, then she would lose miserably in every subject. But, somehow, she found herself agreeing.

Somehow, she found herself enjoying their study sessions. Somehow, she started to catch feelings, intense feelings accompanied by butterflies and red faces and the urge to smile stupidly at her phone whenever he sent her a text. He asked her out so casually, while they were studying.

“I need help with chemistry.” He had said, voice low, leaning close, his kind eyes warm as they remained pinned on her.

She frowned, “You’re better than me at that.”

“Then maybe I can help you.” He had responded, eyes alight, grin beautiful.

Her brows furrowed together as she mumbles, “Uh, sure, I guess? Should we meet at our usual spot at the library?”

“No.” He shook his head, straightening up as he cleared his throat, “Let’s meet somewhere nice. We can get dinner and watch a movie, too.”

“And, god, I was so ing young and stupid. It only clicked then that he was asking me on a date, and I think I nearly fell out of my chair in shock. I think I was a little in love with him from the start, honestly.” Irene whispers and Sunhee hates how dejected she sounds.

“Chemistry?” Joohyun had raised a brow, cheeks on fire despite her teasing grin.

He looked so cute when he was flustered, ducking his head behind his textbook. “Baekhyun told me to use that line.” He had whispered, practically curling into himself in embarrassment.

She laughed, rolled her eyes, and responded, “You really asked for dating advice from that idiot?”

Irene barks out a sharp, cynical laugh at whatever she sees on Sunhee’s face. “Can you believe that ? Can you believe that the person who convinced the love of my life to ask me out is none other than our local dip, Byun Baekhyun? Can you believe that they were best ing friends? Can you believe it?”

And Irene looks so angry right then, so embittered, that Sunhee finds she cannot say anything, that she is afraid to console Irene, only because she looks as if she’ll tear Sunhee’s head off at a moment’s notice.

Still, Sunhee can’t help but speak, voice barely louder than a whisper, “What was his name?”

“Zhang Yixing.” Irene’s voice cracks around his name, lilts up and falters off into nothingness. The way she says his name, with nothing but love and longing, reverence, breaks Sunhee’s heart into a million pieces. “I—I loved him so much. I still do.”

“What…what happened to him?” Sunhee is hesitant.

“He’s dead.” Irene’s expression is icy, “He’s dead and it’s because of Baekhyun.”

Sunhee blinks, once, twice, three times, before she manages a quiet, “Wh—what?”

Irene laughs but it’s a hollow sound, broken, “Baekhyun was never a good person, Sunhee. He never deserved to call Yixing his best friend, his brother. Everyone always wondered why the Yixing put up with him. Yixing was good. He was top of his class, volunteered all the damn time, treated everyone and everything with kindness and respect, he was everything Baekhyun wasn’t. Baekhyun hung around ty people and ed around with drugs and people’s feelings. He constantly did stupid and the only reason why he was never expelled was because Yixing got him out of it every single time.” Irene scoffs, quiets down for a minute, deflating.

“Yixing wanted us to get along, but it was…hard, at first. Baekhyun liked to tell me that I was a boring stick in the mud, that I was just a pretty face Yixing would get tired of. He was really a piece of . So, naturally, I was a piece of right back. Told him that all he did was bring Yixing down, that he’d ing ruin him. I didn’t really mean it back then, you know…I didn’t want it to be true. I just wanted to hurt Baekhyun the way he hurt everyone else, a taste of his own medicine and all that. Anyways, Yixing convinced me to tutor Baekhyun – apparently, he only wanted to pass his classes just to spite everyone, but Yixing seemed happy Baekhyun wanted to pass his classes at all. Apparently, a lot of people liked to tell Baekhyun he wouldn’t achieve anything. Not just me. Pretty ed up, I guess. At least, Yixing thought so. Either way, we started to get along. And then we became friends. Maybe even best friends? I don’t know when it happened, but it just did.” She drags a hand through her hair, pulling out her hair tie.

“I should have known he’d ruin everything. We almost made it out of high school, you know. Yixing would have made it into SKY. I wanted to go to Yonsei. Baekhyun could have ended up at a decent university in Seoul, too. Yixing really wanted him to pursue music, insisted Baekhyun was an incredible singer even though I never got to hear it. But, then we went to that party.”

Her expression changes, darkens exponentially, “Baekhyun’s always been involved with gang . He convinced us to go to a party that—we should never have ing gone—and he promised he’d stick around. I don’t even know exactly what happened. Just that one minute it was actually fun and the next, I f—found Yixing—I found him broken and bleeding and halfway dead in an alleyway and I will never, ever forget the look on his face. I couldn’t even recognize him, Sunhee, and every night that image haunts me. That’s when Baekhyun showed up, though, and he was ing handcuffed. Yixing said to him, he said, ‘Please take care of her. Please do that for me. Please, Baekhyun, please.’ like he was going to die and it hurt so, so bad, Sunhee. Baekhyun promised then, too. He looked Yixing in the eye and swore to Yixing that he would. But when the ambulance came, Baekhyun was too ing busy getting arrested and I had to do it alone. I had to sit in that emergency waiting room alone. I had to break the news to Yixing’s grandparents alone. I had to make funeral arrangements alone, while Baekhyun was arrested. He sat in jail for three years while I had to pick up the pieces all alone. He broke another promise to Yixing because that’s all he knows how to do.”

Irene takes a deep, steadying breath, uncurling her fists one finger at a time, “None of that compelled Baekhyun to stop being involved with that gang. I…I was alone for three years. I tried so hard to move on, you know. I got into Yonsei and I tried to focus on classes. But, it was hard. I couldn’t afford it and I had to work two jobs. Yixing’s grandparents passed away soon after that and they had no one to arrange their funerals. I paid for that, too. I…it was hard. I admit that my coping mechanisms weren’t the greatest. The men I dated weren’t the best. Maybe I was looking for something the opposite of Yixing, so I’d forget him. Something that wasn’t good for me like he was. About halfway through Baekhyun’s jail sentence, a man showed up at my door, said he was explicitly ordered to keep me safe. He said Baekhyun sent him.” Irene finally meets Sunhee’s eyes, searching her face for a long moment, “He said his name was Kai.”

This time Irene just looks exhausted and Sunhee is already reeling over learning about Baekhyun’s past. Now, she’s afraid to hear what kind of person Kai is. She already knows Kai isn’t a great person – anyone who threatens to force someone out of the closet is never a good person – but she doesn’t think she’ll be able to handle learning that both Baekhyun and Kai are more similar than she originally thought. Her fingers dig into her palms as she stares at Irene.

“I thought he could the heartbreak and grief out of me. Instead he took all the broken pieces of me I refused to acknowledge and molded them how he liked it. And I let him.” Irene grits her teeth, “That’s something they don’t tell you about grief, Sunhee. They don’t tell you that you need to acknowledge that or else it will eat away at you until you don’t even recognize yourself. I worked too much. I failed my classes. Baekhyun got out of jail, but no one would hire him except for that gang. I couldn’t stop going back to Kai. I needed money. I needed someone to understand what losing Yixing was like. I needed a lot of things and I thought Kai had it all. Spoiler alert: he ing did not. Eventually, I ended up joining the gang, too. There was an opening at one of the strip clubs and the owner was one of Kai’s friends. He liked me, so he hired me right away. In the end, my brain got me ing nowhere and all that mattered was my face and body”

“Irene—I—Where—where was Baekhyun? Why didn’t he—”

“Stop me?” Irene rolls her eyes, “He tried, but why would anyone listen to a hypocrite? We both knew it was a lost cause at that point. He could barely look at me anyway. As time went on, though, it got worse. I was always either high or drunk or doing Kai’s bidding. It took two years until I asked for help. I had a dream about Yixing and I just—I spoke to Baekhyun for the first time in years after. I wasn’t—I was messed up and he helped me through it, like we hadn’t ignored each other for two whole ing years. I think he felt guilty.” She wrinkles her nose, “I think he still feels guilty.”

“Baekhyun wasn’t the one who hurt you.” Sunhee tries to defend him, though her voice falters, because honestly, she completely understands why Irene seems to condemn Baekhyun.

Irene murmurs, “So many of his choices ruined my life. His complacency put me here.”

Sunhee understands and it makes her wonder why Baekhyun never tried to help Irene earlier; is he really the type to ignore his friend’s dying wishes like that? The Baekhyun she’s come to know?

Irene voice is hard as steel, resentful. “It’s easier to hate Baekhyun. He never resists, never really gets mad. He just takes it.”

“That’s not—that’s not okay, Irene.” Sunhee blinks at the admission.

“You think I don’t ing know that? You think I don’t know that I ruined my own life with my inability to ing cope? That Kai took advantage of me when I was vulnerable, turned me into a goddamn monster, and then he ing threw me away like—like—like—” Irene clamps shut, tears welling in her eyes, and Sunhee doesn’t think as she reaches out and wraps her hands over Irene’s balled fists. Irene flinches at her touch and the sob that leaves makes her curl into her chair, her voice muffled by her hand. Her eyes, however, are filled with fire, determined to ignore the vulnerability she’s showing as she meets Sunhee’s gaze and holds it. She bites out, “I want to destroy him.”

(Sunhee stares at Irene and she can’t help but wonder if this is how Seulgi will turn out. Will Kai tire of Seulgi just like he did with Irene? Sunhee’s heart hurts at the thought, her grip tightening around Irene’s fists.)

“Okay.” Sunhee murmurs. Irene blinks. Sunhee continues, “Maybe you’ll make better headway than we have. We’re not very good at the whole sabotaging thing.”

Sunhee smiles at Irene. After a moment, Irene drops her hand from , brushing away her tears, and she allows Sunhee a tiny, watery smile that barely reaches her eyes.

The front door beeps as it opens. Irene sniffles, swiping at her face, shoulders tensing as she sits straighter, back on guard, Sunhee realizes. Sunhee just takes a deep breath. Her shoulders feel heavy. She feels tired.

She looks over her shoulder at Baekhyun, watching as glances between Irene and Sunhee, a plastic bag hanging from his pretty fingers. Sunhee hates that she can’t stop thinking about Irene’s words, how she suddenly sees Baekhyun in a different light, how she wonders what had driven Baekhyun to be so complacent, so selfish, during moments when he shouldn’t have been. She wonders if she can really trust him, when she doesn’t know him at all. She wonders.

His gaze meets hers and his gentle smile thins out. His eyes drop to the bag in his hand before he looks back up at her, eyes unreadable.

Sunhee is exhausted.

a/n: this was a huge infodump omg. I tried to make the narration as easy to follow as possible, but if it's still confusing, please let me know. Present is present tense and past tense uses past tense but I can always put parenthesis in to separate these. thank you all for all the support and love!!!!!!! I love you all!!!!!!!! As always, please let me know allll your thoughts, negative or positive!

Also, please stay healthy and wash your hands! I guess social distancing means more writing and reading fics lolllllllll but please be careful!