“You’re terrible at cheering people up, you know?” Soojin pouted as you typed away on your laptop. You just nodded at her briefly and paused between sentences, running through them to make sure the wording made sense. It did not. You sighed, going back to fix it.

“My supervisor wants an update tomorrow and I haven’t been doing what I promised.” You sighed, hitting backspace and nearly screaming when it dislodged the table and shifted everything around the page. Undo! Undo! I can fix this, this is okay! “I’ve been keeping you fed and watered.”

“Am I a plant?” Soojin groaned, nudging you.

“In the morning? Yes! A caffeine-addicted plant.” You smiled at her, then closed your laptop before she could throw her coffee at it. “I’m sorry Soojin. You know I deal with by moving on with life.”

“You deal with stuff by not dealing with stuff!”

“Harsh but fair.” You smiled, checking your phone. Minseok had been texting you nearly non-stop since he’d left. Most of them horrified updates on the things Baekhyun had done to your apartment, but also updates on the plan. And here and there… What does ‘I really wish you were here’ even mean? And why was there an emoji? “But in my defence, I’m also making time for Jongdae’s get together.”

“Jongdae is having a get together?! Hey… Wait… How come you knew about it and I didn’t?!” Soojin narrowed her eyes, and you wisely hid your phone before she could make a grab for it. “You hate parties. Are you organising a party just to cheer me up? I take back what I said! You’re the best!”

Phase one completed. She didn’t suspect a thing. In hindsight, that probably should have been some kind of warning sign.

“Do you really think it’ll help if I tell him that?” Minseok sighed. In spite of his downtrodden tone, and the fact that you’d been on the phone for a few minutes, his voice coming out of your phone still sent shivers down your spine. The sigh made it sound as if he was breathing right next to you. Damn it, Hana, focus!

“It helps for Soojin. You just need to say it with confidence. He’s your friend and you want him to stop being a sad sack.” And in these circumstances, it wouldn’t even be a bad thing to phrase it that way. Minseok sighed again, and you were grateful you were sitting down.

“I’m reconsidering this friendship. Did I tell you he left coffee in the coffee pot overnight?!” Minseok’s words were cut off by a groan. “I can’t even get him to leave our house, I don’t know if I can convince him to go to a party. Would it help to tell him Soojin will be there?”

“How desperate is he?”

“I’m desperate, Hana! I want him out of my house and I want you back!” Oh yeah, that one went straight to your heart. “I took the liberty of locking your room so he can’t go in there. He just barges into my room at any time of day or night. It’s… I like Baekhyun, and he is my friend, but I’m so exhausted. Please come home.”

“Minseok you’re making me blush.” You joked, specifically to distract from the fact that your face was suspiciously warm.

“I’d like to see that.” Minseok and his word-magic were increasingly terrible for the health of your heart. “I’m serious though. I can’t wait for them to make up so we can go back to the way things were. Specifically, the way they were right before Baekhyun came knocking.”

Was that a joke? Since when was Minseok, the man uncomfortable with talking about his underwear, comfortable with talking about… That? You patted your chest and wondered if your nervous laugh sounded uncomfortable. Hopefully not. Would it be awkward if you didn’t answer him? You should probably say something, right?

“Did you put your phone on silent?” Was that too far? Oh , how does flirting work?! Is this how it happens? Oh what if that’s too subtle?! You sighed and stopped yourself before you could fall into rambling. “I feel bad about it but I really wish Baekhyun hadn’t shown up then. I like spending time with you. Doing things. And I’m bad at… Saying words.”

“That’s why we’re such a good fit. If it was anyone else but you, I’d feel weird. And I don’t feel bad for wanting that. It’s normal that we’d want to spend time together.” He sighed, and this time it sounded like he was smiling. Why that was something you were able to distinguish by sound, you couldn’t say. The sound just brought the visual of his smile to mind. “This is making me feel better about dragging Baekhyun over tonight.”

“So… Are you also comfortable with washing underwear together?” You teased, leaning back in your seat and cautiously eying the bathroom door. The sound of the shower running had stopped. Soojin would probably be out, but not all that soon. She had make-up to apply. “Talk clean to me, babe.”

His laughter was so loud you had to, reluctantly, move the phone away from your ear. Your face almost hurt from how much it was making you smile. Sure, you weren’t about to proclaim your ual attraction to Minseok through a loudspeaker, but it didn’t feel out of place to admit it to him. Unfortunately, admitting it to yourself also made you miss him more.

“I think Baekhyun heard me laughing. I’ll give convincing him a shot. See you tonight.” That last send-off sent a flurry of butterflies rushing through you. You ended the call and sighed, staring at the text messages you and Minseok had exchanged. The majority of it consisted of Minseok’s complaints about Baekhyun, but there were some messages in there that made your stomach do flips.

One was the tagline of a photo. A picture of two coffee mugs, simply described with ‘Made one for you by mistake.’ You scrolled up through the messages, there weren’t that many of them, but put away your phone when you heard the bathroom door open. Soojin stepped outside, wrapped in a towel. Her hair, though, was already dried and immaculately combed and styled.

“Hana! I need help with outfits! And… You’re here.” She looked you over. You looked down, and shrugged in agreement. “You can borrow something of mine, but you have to help me! We only have three hours!”

Apparently, ‘only three hours’ was in no way an exaggeration. In spite of the trip only taking about twenty minutes, you managed to still be late. It was actually making you nervous, since the plan was to make sure you and Soojin arrived before Minseok and Baekhyun did, but fortunately Baekhyun was also a fashionista. And thus, he was also fashionably late. That did mean, however, that you were stuck together with Soojin and Jongdae.

“Come on! Just talk to him!” Soojin nudged you, hoping to push you towards a tall, admittedly somewhat handsome man you vaguely recognized from your undergraduate program. “Talking can’t hurt, can it?”

“Soojin, I’m really fine, thank you.” You rebuffed, digging in your heels and sipping your drink. Jongdae groaned and whistled, attracting the attention from the stranger.

“Hana, take it from the expert. You need to unwind and have a good time. And Chanyeol is talented at providing good times.” He mused, and you felt the urge to punch his stupid grin.

“Jongdae, can you please stop?” You pleaded. Jongdae didn’t seem like he wanted to stop, but at last you were saved by the bell. Jongdae groaned but turned around to let the visitors in. A buzz in your pocket confirmed what you’d expected. Minseok. He was here. Your heart fluttered and you smiled.

“I think he’s coming our way, Hana.” Soojin mused. You couldn’t care less at this point, because you could hear his voice, greeting Jongdae. Oh, finally… The door closed and you heard footsteps. Every fibre of your being wanted to turn around and look at him, but you knew you shouldn’t. If Soojin saw Baekhyun, she’d know about your plan before it was too late for her to escape.

And yet…

“I’m not the jealous type, but trying to set my girlfriend up with other men is a step too far for me.” Minseok’s voice cut in calmly. At once, you felt immense relief, happiness, stress and confusion. Girlfriend? You spun around, smiling by instinct when you saw him. It’d been just a few days and yet it felt as if you’d been deprived of him for an eternity. You felt drawn to him, taking a step closer to him without even thinking about it. Soojin gasped.

“Girlfriend? What do you mean girlfriend?” She exclaimed. At the same time, you heard Jongdae sigh in exasperation, stepping up next to Minseok.

“This again? Come on, you and Hana aren’t dating! Right, Hana?” Jongdae turned to you expectantly. You only had eyes for Minseok. In his eyes, you saw it. This wasn’t a ‘get you out of jail’ card. This wasn’t him being a gentleman. He was absolutely dead serious.

“We are dating, actually.” You answered clumsily, taking another step towards Minseok and, crucially, away from Soojin. She couldn’t hit you there, probably. Or so you hoped. “Why do you think I had no interest in being introduced to anyone?”

“I can’t believe this… You were dating and you didn’t tell me?! I put in so much effort to set you up with the perfect guy and all of a sudden you’re dating?!” Soojin squeaked. You flinched, but found Minseok’s hand on your own. It felt warm, and you felt the sensation running up through your arm.

“We’re not ‘suddenly’ dating. You met us while we were on a date. Hana even said that we were out on a date.” Minseok rebutted, to which you could only nod in silence. And then it hit you.

It made sense now. He kissed you after you spent half an evening going on about how perfect you thought he was. That movie and dinner day was definitely a date. He even bought the popcorn that you liked. All the flirting, all the ‘I miss you’s made perfect sense in the context of you two being a couple! The only issue now was that you had absolutely no clue that you were dating.

“Hana just said you were going out for dinner. But I knew it was suspicious.” Baekhyun joined in. For a moment you were worried he and Soojin would heads or have a public fall out, but Soojin mercifully chose to side with her boyfriend.

“Exactly! You two… Were suspicious… I guess. When did you start dating?” Luckily, her desire to pry into your private life was greater than her anger with Baekhyun. You were also curious about that question, however, and looked up at Minseok. He shrugged sheepishly and squeezed your hand.

“I’m bad with dates, too… Jongdae, when was your birthday again?”

Jongdae sighed and rolled his eyes. He raised his hands in exasperation and took a moment to collect himself. From what, exactly, you had no clue. Maybe he’d been involved in Soojin’s misadventures of trying to set you up with… Whatever his name was.

“You know what? You two are the perfect couple. I’m grateful you’ve taken each other out of the dating pool. Please stay together forever so no one else has to deal with how unbearably unromantic either of you are. My birthday is September 21^st. Maybe you should write it down.” He huffed, taking your drink and downing it before muttering to himself. You caught the words ‘useless’ and ‘ruined my plans’, but chose to ignore them.

There was a silence for a bit as Baekhyun and Soojin realized they were in each other’s vicinity and that they hadn’t actually made up. Things were starting to feel awkward. Minseok squeezed your hand. This was your cue. You gave him a small nod and cleared your throat, drawing the quarrelling couple’s attention. Soojin narrowed her eyes at you, occasionally glaring at Baekhyun. You spoke before she could.

“Soojin, Baekhyun’s an idiot, but he loves you. You’ve had space, talk to each other like adults and work out the kinks. Please.” You instructed her. Then added a little extra for good measure. “You owe me for trying to set me up while I was dating.”

“You are my friends, but please just talk to each other!” Minseok added, “and for the love of everything, if you need help, call Hana tomorrow. In the afternoon. No, evening! No. Actually just don’t, we’ll call you. Good night!”

And with that, you were being dragged away. You didn’t mind, giving Jongdae just the smallest of waves as Minseok opened the door. Jongdae, apparently having overcome with earlier frustrations with another drink, waved back at you before the door fell closed. Your shoulder made contact with Minseok’s chest and you suddenly found yourself alone with him in the hallway.

Butterflies made their way from your stomach to your chest. It felt scary to look him in the eyes, you might hyperventilate just from making eye-contact. And yet, as his arms circled around your waist, you looked at him. You’d heard people talk about fireworks, but you hadn’t expected to feel it just by looking at someone.

“I missed you so much.” The words flowed from your lips reflexively. You had missed him. So much.

“And I you.” He whispered back, squeezing your waist gently. “I’m going to kiss you. No one can stop me.”