Haeun awoke to voices bickering in the hospital room, and she immediately wished that there was a mute button on them. She wasn’t at all inclined to wake up; despite the small hospital bed that she and Baekhyun were in, they were curled around each other in such a way that it was warm and comforting enough to lull her back to sleep. Her face was tucked into the crook of Baekhyun’s neck as his breath fanned over her head, and his arm was wrapped around her shoulders pulling her close to him.

Unfortunately, a bunch of people were talking in the room.

Unfortunately, those people were also her friends.

“Guys drop everything!” she heard Chanyeol speak, way too excited for her still half-asleep brain.

“What—this is expensive!”

“...just put that bouquet down on the bedside table, Jeonghan.”

Haeun quietly groaned as she tucked her face closer into Baekhyun’s neck and breathed in. He was all lean, hard muscle, but there was just something so incredibly peaceful and comforting about being in his arms. Plus, he made a great pillow, and she already knew that the idiots she called her friends were currently in the room so she wasn’t going to be able to enjoy any peace. It had been all of two minutes since she woke up, and she already wanted to go back to sleep.

“It hasn’t even been a full day, and they’re already acting absolutely disgusting," she heard Chanyeol utter. “I’ve been waiting for this for so long that I could’ve had a child, and that child would’ve been like three years old by now.”

“Are you and Wendy even ready for kids yet?”

“Shut up, Eunji.”

“Does this mean I won the bet, though?” Dongwoo asked. “I did say that it would take a life threatening event that would lead to them getting together.”

Haeun wanted to ignore the comment, she really did, but she also wanted to make sure no one won this bet.

“No,” Haeun responded, opening her eyes and raising her head to look around the room. Her friends had all taken up spots in the room. Eunji and Jeonghan were sitting in the chairs next to the bed while Dongwoo and Chanyeol were leaning against the wall across from the bed. She propped herself up on her elbow and glanced down at Baekhyun. She had honestly expected him to be awake considering all the noise they were making, but Haeun was surprised to find that he was still sleeping. The painkillers he was on must’ve really knocked him out. Slowly, trying not to jostle Baekhyun, she pushed herself up into a sitting position with her back against the stacked pillows.

“Sleeping beauty awakens!” Jeonghan called, a smile on his face. “How are you feeling?”

Haeun rolled her eyes, but responded. “Better. My collarbone was just itchy last night.” As soon as she mentioned it, the itch returned, and she resisted the urge to scratch at the bandage covering the wound.

“Your arm doesn’t hurt?”

“Not really. It’s mostly just sore, I guess,” Haeun rolled up the sleeve of her shirt so that the bandage covering the stitches were in sight as she replied. Thankfully, there wasn’t any blood leaking through.

“Okay, but what did you mean by no?” Dongwoo asked, still clearly thinking about the bet.

Haeun tilted her head with a half smile on her face as Chanyeol snorted from beside him. “I mean that we’ve been dating for a week now.”

The room fell into utter silence as Haeun’s smile grew at each of her friends’ reactions. It was obvious that none of them had expected this new development, and she got some strange sort of satisfaction at the fact that they hadn’t managed to guess that they were dating.

Eunji blinked a few times as she stuttered, “You—”

“What?!” Chanyeol exclaimed, cutting Eunji off. “You two started dating? And told no one! Not even me?!”

Jeonghan wasn’t far behind, either. “What about me?! I’m her best friend!” he protested, pointing a finger at Haeun. She let out a bright laugh at the chaos that was beginning to unfold in front of her.

“Damn it, none of us bet on a random day.”

Haeun smirked at that, happy that she and Baekhyun were still making their lives difficult.

“That’s what you idiots deserve for betting on us,” Baekhyun grumbled from besides her. She looked down at him with a happy smile, and her heart fluttered when he sent her a sleepy smile back.

Haeun looked back up just in time to catch Dongwoo rolling his eyes. “Well, we had to do something while you stubborn and clueless individuals figured your out.”

“That didn’t have to include betting on us!” Baekhyun protested as he slowly sat up next to Haeun.

Jeonghan snorted. “Better than us literally forcing you two to kiss.”

“You should’ve locked us into a closet,” Haeun responded with a sickly sweet smile on her face.

“I’m pretty sure you would have somehow crafted a hanger into a weapon of some sort,” Eunji pointed out, wagging her index finger in Haeun’s face. Haeun batted her hand away with a grumble because she had to admit it, Eunji was right.

“Okay, but forget about that. You two are soulmates,” Eunji excitedly mentioned, leaning closer to Haeun and Baekhyun. "So, now that you two are soulmates, you can break the bond," she spoke up. It was incredibly clear what Eunji meant, but Haeun wondered if she really wanted to expose the fact that they had already broken the bond. Haeun’s eyes slid to Baekhyun, and she found him already looking at her.

"I saw that look," Chanyeol pointed out, pointing a finger back and forth between them. "What was that look?"

Silence encompassed the room as they all stared at the new couple, but it was Jeonghan who gasped loudly before asking, "Did you two already break the bond?!"

“Uh,” Baekhyun started. Haeun just looked at him, silently asking if it was worth it to tell them, and he shrugged. She sighed, nodding at him, allowing him to explain. He grabbed her hand and started playing with her fingers as he spoke. “We broke it last night.”

“Yup,” Haeun agreed, settling her head into the crook of Baekhyun’s shoulder. She was tired and wanted her pillow back.

“Oh my god, they’re even more disgusting awake,” Chanyeol muttered.

“Uh-huh, and where’s Wendy, Chanyeol?” Haeun asked with a raised eyebrow, clearly challenging Chanyeol to keep talking. There were plenty of disgustingly cute moments that everyone else had to suffer while Chanyeol and Wendy had gone through their honeymoon phase before and after breaking the soulmate bond.

Chanyeol narrowed his eyes at her, knowing what she was pulling, but he relented as his face took on a serious expression. “Tracking Junmyeon.”

The reminder of Junmyeon felt like a blow to Haeun, and she inadvertently shuddered, a motion that didn’t go unnoticed by anyone.

Eunji reached over to place a hand on Haeun’s trembling one, and Baekhyun wrapped an arm around her shoulder, tucking her firmly into his side. She tried to focus on the conversation, but the mention of Junmyeon only brought back memories she would honestly love to forget. She wanted to forget the gleam in his eyes when he looked at her before running away after stabbing Baekhyun, but even more than that, she wanted to forget the image of the knife that was dripping with Baekhyun’s blood as Junmyeon fled.

Haeun bit the inside of her cheek before speaking up in a quiet voice. “He looked so sure he was going to get away with everything.”

“Junmyeon?” Jeonghan asked.

Haeun nodded slowly, her eyes trained on Eunji’s hand as it clutched her own. She didn’t want to look up and see pity or sadness in any of her friends’ faces. She knew they meant the best for her, but she wasn’t ready to bring up her inevitable trauma.Haeun was well aware that it would be something to deal with later on, but for now, she just wanted to pretend she was absolutely, perfectly fine.

“This is a dumb question,” Dongwoo started, moving closer to sit on the edge of the bed and settling a hand on her leg underneath the blankets, “but are you okay, Haeun?”

Haeun swallowed before looking up at her friend, seeing the concern in his eyes but they were clear from pity, and somehow that gave her the courage to speak up honestly. “No. I don’t think so. Not until Junmyeon isn’t caught, at least. He,” she paused, her suddenly dry lips, “was terrifying.”

“Was it Junmyeon who attacked you?” Chanyeol asked, a hard gleam in his eyes. Haeun shook her head, averting her eyes and looking at a random spot on the wall.

“It was someone else. Junmyeon didn’t show up until Baekhyun did.”

“At least something good came out of all this, though. Baekhyun wasn’t supposed to be leaving the building which is why they probably thought it was a good time to go after Haeun, but because Baekhyun was there and got — unfortunately — injured, they can’t suspect him as caught up in all the gang stuff.” Jeonghan mused.

“What if they try to say that Junmyeon was trying to tie up loose ends by killing Baekhyun after using him to murder Jaehyun?” Dongwoo asked.

“Baekhyun wouldn’t have called the cops to the location then. He called me and told me to call Chanyeol, so we’re both witnesses in a sense, as well. Besides, now that I’m on the case from the prosecution side, I’m dropping Baekhyun as a suspect. There’s no substantial proof against him.”

“You’re what now?” Haeun asked, tearing her gaze away from the wall to look at her smiling best friend as she broke out of Baekhyun’s hold to jerk up straight.

Jeonghan grinned, his eyes crinkling. “The case was assigned to me this morning.” From the gleam in his eyes, she knew that he had mentioned this now on purpose to try to distract her from her thoughts, and she sent him a smile to try to convey her gratefulness.

“There’s more good news to that,” Chanyeol smiled as he moved to stand next to Baekhyun. After looking at him, Haeun immediately knew that Chanyeol had already known that Jeonghan was the new prosecutor on the case. “Baekhyun has been reinstated as a detective. He’s free to come back to work as soon as he gets the clearance from the doctor. Oh, and after we process Haeun’s witness statement.”

This caused Baekhyun to straighten up, mimicking Haeun’s earlier actions, but he immediately hissed, pressing a hand up against his wound.

“Baekhyun!” she chided as she turned to push him down on the bed, and Haeun lifted his shirt to look at the wound despite his objections.

“Stop moving!” she scolded, slapping his hand away as he tried to push his shirt back down. The bandage had been changed before the two of them had gone to bed, so it was still fairly white, but there was blood starting to slowly seep through. “You are a ,” Haeun stated as she moved out of the bed. She was about to press the call button for the nurse when Baekhyun stopped her.

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