It’s been two weeks since he began sharing the living space with his neighbor. Although it had been awkward at the beginning—if he were to be quite honest, Luhana had been nothing but welcoming with the idea of letting him occupy the extra guest room she had in her apartment. Actually, it had been her who suggested that he stay there for the time being while he gets his place renovated. 

 

The landlord who rented out the space gave him the honor of taking the most worn down unit in the entire building. The pipes, air conditioning, and heating system were all about to malfunction in due time, and it just so happened to do so when the winter season had transitioned in. 

 

Just his luck. 

 

So, in a nearly desperate attempt to find a decent place to crash into while he waited for the right people to come and haul his apartment, he knocked at his neighbor’s door to ask if she knew any place that’s good enough to crash in while he waited for their landlord to fix the issues.

 

The ever soft-spoken Luhana had sported a worried look on her face the entire time he recounted what had happened when he was trying to wash up one evening. Sehun had gotten slightly burned at the back when he turned the shower on as scalding hot water had sprinkled all over him. His cheeks burned as red as his injured back the entire time Luhana had manhandled him into taking his shirt off so she could take a good look and put some ointment on him.

 

Luhana just clicked her tongue and said it was no problem, it was what good friends and neighbors do.

 

You see, Oh Sehun had been very careful around the young lady ever since they had met. It was only a few weeks since she had just given birth to her son, Haowen, the very first time he bumped into her at the elevator. She was struggling with the stroller and the baby bag while holding Haowen. Unthinkingly, he’d stepped in to help. Luhana flashed him that one smile, and ever since then, Sehun had found himself becoming a constant helping hand to his neighbor. It had also been a coincidence when he found out that she was raising her child alone. 

 

His respect and admiration for Luhana grew exponentially since.

 

“Sehun-ah, come have breakfast with us.” he hears his now-flatmate call out from their kitchen. Despite having a common unit design with his neighbor, Luhana’s place had always felt more homey compared to his. 

 

He steps out of the bathroom with a shirt, sweatpants, and a towel around his neck. Today is a Saturday and he’s got nothing to do for the rest of the day. He’d spent all night thinking of what to make of his time so he doesn’t get in Luhana’s way since he’s sure she would be busy. But, alas, he’s really got nothing. If he were in his apartment right now, he would just be spending the entire day lazing around. 

 

“Ah, thank you. You didn’t have to make some for me. Hi Haowennie~” he says, cooing at the baby settled on his highchair.

 

Haowen plays with his drool and makes bubbles out of it. Sehun automatically reaches out to wipe the child’s face.

 

“Oh it’s fine.” Luhana answers back, she walks to their table with two plates in hand. One for her, and another for the man. “A perk of living here is getting free breakfast! Anyone would kill for this kind of deal” she laughs lightly. He thanks her with a smile and they dig into their meal.

 

 

 

Oh Sehun would willingly admit that he liked to daydream a lot, if not, he would just be pondering about life or reminiscing about old memories. But sometimes, he also questioned himself whether he was just plainly imagining things or if it really did happen. 

 

Like...today; he nearly choked on his bagel on this sweet Tuesday morning because Luhana emerged from her bedroom with a tight fitted shirt and short shorts on, her legs were just there—as if waving at him to notice them. 

 

Sehun clears his throat and excuses himself to his room, taking the bagel and a cup of coffee with him.

 

The next time it happened was on Thursday night. He’s so sore from walking around while having to carry heavy equipment at work that the moment he arrives at their place, he could only flop face-down on their couch with a sigh. Thank god the day was over...or not. 

 

Sehun feels soft, gentle hands on his shoulder and then, “Sehun-ah, are you okay? Long day at work?” Luhana’s voice rang in his ears. He hummed in reply.

 

“Here, lay still. I’ll give you a massage.” He thinks he might have been going delirious when he feels her running her hands up and down his back, putting pressure here and there. He falls asleep there, with Luhana telling him to doze off for a bit and she’ll wake him up when their dinner’s ready. Then...a kiss on his forehead? Yeah, it must be the exhaustion driving him mad.

 

This whole thing happened repeatedly for several days, like a routine. And whaddya know, Oh Sehun finds himself daydreaming— one day—of him and Luhana raising a family together. 

 

He panics and quickly buries the thought at the back of his mind. Never to be opened ever again.

 

 

 

It’s a Saturday. In the middle of having breakfast, (while Sehun is trying his best not to think of Luhana in a different way) Luhana calls out his name. “Sehun-ah” she starts.“Hm, are you busy today? I was wondering if you could give me a hand with the groceries. I don't have anyone to leave Haowen to, so i’ll have to bring him and he gets fussy.” She asks with a pout.

 

And honestly, how could Sehun say no to that.

 

That is how Sehun finds himself in the middle of a grocer with a baby strapped to his chest. Haowen was facing him and had taken a liking to the strings on his hoodie. He lets him play with it, drool dripping everywhere, while they wait for Luhana to finish at the produce section. 

 

Sehun could feel several gazes of people on him, and couldn’t help the unusual feeling—stirrings rather—in his guts. He’d belatedly realized that he was standing by the waiting area, along with other fathers looking after their kids. The young man lets out a heavy sigh that makes Haowen look at him curiously. So, Sehun takes the baby’s cheeks in between his palms and coos at him to keep them both pre-occupied while they wait for the other to finish up. 

 

“Haowennie, say ‘Sehun hyung’’ he says. Haowen makes tiny noises but continues to play with the strings. He gently squeezes Haowen’. “Say Sehunnie hyung~”

 

“Ooh...ooh-ng” Haowen answers him back, making him chuckle.

 

Just then, Luhana pops out from behind him with a satisfied look on her face. She says she had gotten a special deal and they were having wings for dinner tonight. Then, she flashes him that smile once more before turning and walking back to get the rest of their stuff. 

 

Sehun feels his stomach stir, and the thoughts he had been trying to get rid off are coming back twice—no, thrice as hard. He could feel a headache coming from trying to push them back, far into the crevices of his mind where he won’t revisit. When they finish up, Luhana lets him drive her car while she feeds Haowen. His palms are sweating against the steering wheel because instead of going away, the feeling just marinated in there and is hitting him harder now that Luhana’s around.

 

Sehun is tense and stays quiet the entire car ride.

 

It doesn’t go unnoticed by Luhana. On the way back, she asks if he was okay and he had to make a poor excuse that he was just feeling a little under the weather and he should probably just sleep it off before locking himself up in his room throughout the remainder of the night. His share of the chicken wings that Luhana had cooked for them sat uneaten in the fridge overnight.

 

 

 

Oh Sehun has been staying in Xiao Luhana’s place for an entire month now. He thinks it’s probably best to find another place because he didn’t want to impose his presence in her neighbor’s home. Also, the feelings had been keeping him up until ungodly hours ever since he began feeling it. 

 

This isn’t good, he thought. Because Luhana is his good friend and neighbor, and good friends and neighbors don’t just catch feelings for their friends and neighbors. He tries to push it to the back of his mind, often busying himself with the most random things. 

 

But whenever Luhana stands an inch closer, or accidentally brushes her hand against him when they are by the sink, Sehun could literally feel himself 

f 

   a 

     l    l

              i

                   n

           g  

                . 

 

Eventually Sehun’s presence around the apartment became more scarce. He would often stay out longer than necessary, or even crash into his friend and workmate’s house—Chanyeol’s—even when the man’s wife was already nagging Sehun to just go talk to his neighbor about being in love with her. 

 

“Why would I do—wait! No, I’m not in love with h—”

 

“Uh huh...you get disgustingly sweaty palms, become a nervous wreck, and answer me this, would you do anything to make sure she and her baby are happy, and would even die for her?” Baekhee (Chanyeol’s wife) retorts back. 

 

“Yes, I would.” Sehun answers, unthinkingly, in a heartbeat.

 

“There you go.” She concludes, with her signature eye roll. 

 

At the back, Chanyeol looks at him defeatedly because nobody wins over an argument with the Park Baekhee, not even him, the husband. “Dude, Baek’s right.” he adds.

 

Sehun could only throw himself back on their couch with a grunt and a heart that is now more confused than ever. Because what the hell, Baekhee is right. 

 

 

 

One Friday afternoon, Luhana heads straight to the Zhang's household with Haowen in tow. Since he’s started walking already, he’d been very insistent in doing it by himself while holding Mama’s hand. Yixing welcomes them with a warm embrace and a smooch to Haowen’s face before ushering them inside. 

 

It was after dinner and half a bottle of beer later that Luhana started pouring her heart out to her dearest friend. “I don’t know why he’s avoiding me! Was I too obvious?” she cries out. Her nose is a deep shade of red along with her cheeks. Her eyes were beginning to swell too. 

 

Yixing passes her a tissue as she rubs her back. “Oh Luhana, did he say anything to you? But...well, you know what they say. Men really ain’t .” she scoffs. And that makes Luhana giggle.

 

“I’m really stumped. I thought...you know? He got the hint? Why the hell would I offer a random person, a man no less, to stay at my home?!” suddenly changing her mood, Luhana slams her fist on the table. Soon enough, she realizes how loud she’s being and checks on Haowen who was sleeping on a cot not too far away.

 

“Yixing!” she cries again, this time a little softer. “I really like Oh Sehun! But I hate his stupid, dense face right now! Why does he have to be this way, it’s really frustrating!” the little doe continues to rant. “Is it because I’m a single mother?! But I’m still hot?? I even wear dolphin shorts around him to see if he’ll notice! YIXING!” 

 

Yixing nearly dies from laughing (with no sound, because Haowen might wake up) on the side because her dearest friend is absolutely, positively losing it and is head over heels for whoever this man is.

 

“Han,” Yixing starts. “How about, just tell him? You’re both grown adults. I’m sure he’ll be decent enough to give you a proper explanation.” 

 

“But what if he doesn’t? It’d be so embarrassing!” poor Luhana, her tears just seems to keep on coming.

 

“Then, you let me know so I could kick his properly.”

 

 

 

The next day, taking Yixing’s advice to heart, Luhana casually asks why he wasn’t around often nowadays to start a conversation. 

 

At loss of any more excuses, Sehun resorts to lying to Luhana about a friend who’s letting him rent out a room near his workplace. “It’s cheap and convenient, so I decided to go for it. I’ve been going there to fix stuff up.” He had told her. 

 

Though it was hard, he assumes it would be best to just ignore the sad look on his flatmate’s face after he’d broken the news. 

 

And though it was hard, Luhana tried to fight back another onslaught of tears b in her eyes. Maybe it would be best to just forget about it, she thinks.

 

 

 

On his 2nd month of living with the Xiao’s, Sehun is left with 5 more days until he moves out, he got Chanyeol to agree with letting him crash on their couch for a few more days. His apartment overhaul was nearly done too, so it wouldn’t be too long until he’s back in his place, alone.

 

Sehun is woken up at 2 in the morning to a Haowen crying nearly hysterically. His body autopilots and jumps up from his bed to check on him.

 

Just as he comes out of his room, he’s greeted by an undoubtedly exhausted Luhana. Her hair was a mess and there were dark circles around her eyes. She looks at him surprised before turning towards Haowen’s room.

 

“I’ll go” he blurts out, reaching out to stop Luhana. She stares back at him as if he’d grown two heads. “Go back to sleep, i’ll check on him.”

 

Sehun takes Luhana’s hand in his and gives it a light squeeze, and then, a smile. 

 

It’s an ungodly hour and she’s been secretly crying herself to sleep on some nights because Sehun’s been acting like a total towards her, and now this? Resigning to her exhaustion, she heads back to her room without a word.

 

When he heads back to bed after changing Haowen’s diaper, Sehun feels something at the pit of his stomach. He falls back to sleep and dreams of Luhana and Haowen walking away from him even when he screamed for them at the top of his lungs. 

 

Then, he woke up with tear streaks on his face. Perhaps, a foreshadowing of a bad day ahead. So, he spent the evening drinking with Chanyeol despite getting nagged by his wife.

 

 

 

Four days left. He was now nursing a slight headache the night before from drinking and thinking too much. Chanyeol had joked around yesterday, telling him that he was just too chicken to just tell Luhana how he feels. He’d hit Chanyeol’s arm and refused to buy him coffee. The other man retaliated with an “okay, but that won’t change the fact that you’re in love. Face it, idiot.”

 

Was he?

 

Sehun comes out of his cave quietly and sits by the dining table. Haowen sat on his seat and was unusually too behaved while Luhana matched the silence when she brought them their food. Sehun felt like he was going to suffocate from the obvious tension in the room. 

 

When Luhana set the plates of food down, she just started eating and feeding Haowen as well. The little boy ate obediently. 

 

Sehun nearly chokes on his food midchew when Haowen suddenly speaks out, breaking the silence.  

 

“H-Hun hyung! H-Hun hyung!” Haowen stutters out. Drool spills out of his lips and unthinkingly (again), Sehun reaches out to wipe it. He then turns to Luhana, and she was already staring daggers at him.

 

“Unbelievable...just unbelievable.” she said, her voice was laced with venom. It must have made Haowen anxious that he’d started pouting and was about to cry.

 

Sehun could see unshed tears in Luhana’s eyes as well when he moved to get closer to her. “Lu, w-what’s going on? Wait Haowennie,  don’t cry baby. Lu don’t cry, baby—”

 

“This is getting really annoying, Sehun-ah” she was basically stabbing him with her stare. “You...even my baby’s first word is your name. I can’t—how dense could you be?!” Sehun could feel her tiny finger poking at his chest. He really must be going a little insane right now, and it’s probably his fault.

 

“Lu, what do you mean?” 

 

“Is it because...I got Haowen and raising him alone? I—”

 

Suddenly, Luhana looked so small; a look of embarrassment flashed on her face. And immediately, it all clicked in Sehun’s head. 

 

“No! I like you!” he blurts out. He mentally smacks himself at the back of the head because, really Sehun? You could’ve said it better, you dumb . 

 

“Luhana, listen...I don’t know how to start without sounding like an absolute jerk. But believe me, there’s no other answer to whatever it is you’re thinking right now.” he swallows. 

 

“I like you. I really really like you. And it was weird at first, because we’re very good friends and I thought I shouldn’t do that to you. You’ve been nothing but kind to me, and here I was, being a sorry excuse of a man getting feelings for you out of nowhere—as if I had other intentions. But I didn’t! I swear, it just happened. You’re an absolutely beautiful person, Luhana. Despite everything, you went all through it gracefully. And I'm sorry for making you feel bad. I-I should’ve explained to you properly.” He found his hands holding onto Luhana’s as soon he finished talking, and he let out a deep breath.

 

“You’re such a big dummy.” Luhana says, in the softest voice, after a while. “But Haowen likes you a lot...and hm, I do too so…”

 

“Hm? What was that? Say it louder so I can hear”

 

“You! Just ask me out already! So annoying…” 

 

Sehun couldn’t hold his laughter in seeing how much Luhana and Haowen looked so much alike. The sight of the two who were both pouting so cutely, he felt like his heart was going to burst. “Alright, alright.” he sighs. “Luhana, will you give me the honor of being your partner for life?” 

 

Just as Luhana was about to answer, “Yesh!” Haowen cuts her off with a laughter that could cure the world’s sadness.

 

From then on, they lived as happily as they could.