“I don’t understand why we’re still here.”

“I’m getting my roommate a last-minute present,” Byul reminded him again, weaving up and down the aisles of the grocery store. Sehun had come unannounced after her shift and said he wanted to visit her apartment. Before they left to go home, she wanted to buy Jangmi’s birthday gift for the party later that night. Showing up without one felt wrong.

Sehun was following behind her reluctantly. “You’re getting her a present from the grocery store?”

“I get a ten percent discount here.”

“Remind me to tell you not to get me presents,” he muttered but Byul pretended not to hear. Sehun observed how she was squinting at everything they were passing by, obviously not looking for anything in particular. “I have a feeling you don’t really know your roommate.”

“I know a lot about Jangmi!” she claimed. “I know… that she’s really picky about separating the whites from the darks in the laundry. Every Sunday she brings the garbage out—”

“That’s just roommate stuff,” Sehun pointed out.

“Oh! She likes pickles.” Seeing a jar of pickles up on a shelf, Byul grabbed it. “This is perfect. I’ll also get her a Starbucks gift card or something and I’ll be set.”

“You’re actually the worst. Who gets pickles as a gift?”

“She likes pickles, okay?” she insisted. Sehun followed as she paid for it at a register. Grabbing a sort of fancy little bag for putting everything together, she figured it was enough effort.

They made their way to the parking lot when Byul was happy with her purchases. Sehun placed the bag on the back seat of his car and waited for Byul to secure her seatbelt before rolling out of the parking spot. The drive to the apartment was mostly light chatter about her day at work. Once they stopped by her apartment building, Sehun sweeped his eyes over the area first before they headed inside. It was something Byul noticed him do every time he was coming by.

“What do you want to do today?” she asked him as they got on the elevator.

“Hmm?” Sehun glanced at her, confused.

“You’re the one who wanted to come over. I have to entertain you now. What do you want to do?”

They stepped out onto the third floor. Sehun stood behind her as she unlocked her door and invited him in. Sehun’s seemingly random visit wasn’t for no reason. He hadn’t gotten any texts from Baekhyun asking for updates on Byul like he usually would bother him about. He was suspicious that Baekhyun was taking matters into his own hands and sent men after Byul. Just in case, Sehun wanted to survey the place.

He eyed the gaming console beside the TV. “Set up a video game. I’m not picky.”

Once again, Byul noticed him peek out of the windows through the curtains as she powered up the gaming console and slipped her choice of disc inside—Super Smash Bros. Sehun sat beside her as they chose characters on the screen to fight with. Byul went with Kirby while Sehun picked Link. She liked to think that she was good at the game, but Sehun was sadly kicking her .

“Do you know about the secret move you can do with Kirby?” Sehun leaned to her side to say without taking his eyes off the screen. “It unlocks the special power quicker.”

Byul was surprised he was helping her. Maybe it was pity. “What is it?”

“Fly to the edge of the screen and click up and then A.”

Following his instructions, Byul did just that. Instead of unlocking the secret power, Kirby swooped downwards off the map and automatically died. Sehun burst out in laughter and she shoved him by his shoulder.

“You just made me kill myself!”

“You are so damn gullible.”

She wrinkled her eyebrows together as she tried to summon all her focus on winning. “Can you go easy on me? I haven’t played this in a while.”

Sehun scoffed. “No way.”

The front door unlocked and Jangmi stepped inside. Byul paused the game to jump up to her feet and say, “Happy birthday!”

“Thanks, Byul.” Jangmi sent her a smile that faltered at noticing her company. “Hi, Byul’s friend.”

“Hey,” Sehun grumbled, not sparing her a glance. “I need to use the bathroom. You better be good at this game by the time I get back,” he threatened at Byul before tossing his controller on the sofa and disappearing down the hall.

Jangmi tossed her bag on one of the chairs. “Are you coming to my party later?”

“Of course.” The party was taking place at Jangmi’s boyfriend’s house. Byul and Jangmi shared mutual friends from Seoul University. Even if she seemed excited to go, inside she wasn’t anticipating seeing everyone again.

“He’s always here,” Jangmi said and it didn’t take too long for Byul to know she was talking about Sehun.

“I don’t get it because his house is way nicer,” Byul said. She had to hold herself back from demanding to know what Jangmi thought was so wrong with Sehun’s presence. She never seemed to like him, but then again, Sehun didn’t particularly like her either. Maybe some people just could never get along. “Do you wanna play?” she offered even though she knew Jangmi didn’t play video games.

“No thanks.” She glanced down the hall where Sehun had disappeared to. “Are you bringing him to the party?”

“I didn’t ask him. Do you want me to?”

“Up to you.” Jangmi shrugged. “He seems a little on edge to me.”

Byul blinked at her. “On edge?”

“He’s so serious all the time like he’s anticipating someone to crash through the walls and attack him. He acts like he’s in danger,” she said in almost a whisper, afraid Sehun would hear. Jangmi seemed to have noticed Sehun’s little cautious habits of checking his surrounding area and peeking out the window whenever he was visiting. “You’re not going to ditch the party for him, are you?”

“No.” Byul crossed her legs on the couch, setting the controller down. “What makes you say that?”

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