“Where’d you go after the store?” Chanyeol was curious.

“Nothing special.” Namjoo murmured.

The glow of a street lamp gave him the chance to peek into her face. Namjoo really appeared bored. Her expression flat. She wasn’t even smiling. Unfeeling the waves of pleasure rolling back and forth in his chest. Once more proving she was not on the same wavelength as he.

“For real?”

“Yea.” Sounded more like a wisp of breath than an actual answer.

The darkness veiled her again. They passed a closed flower shop. He wondered if she liked flowers. She wore a perfume similar to the scent of roses. He had smelled it on her skin numerous occasions. Never asked.

“Wait, don’t step on it.” Chanyeol pulled her to a stop. Bending down he plucked a white dandelion from a crack in the sidewalk. Holding it in front of her he said, “Blow it.”

Namjoo frowned at him quizzically.

“They say if you blow all of it away at once, a wish you make will come true.” Chanyeol told.

When she made no movement, he gestured it in front of her. Namjoo sighed. Tired of his antic perhaps. He perked up delighted when Namjoo in a breath and puffed out her cheeks, blowing a whoosh of air. The white seeds fluttered, scattering in the gentle breeze. A few stubborn seeds remained, so he helped her blow them away.

“There,” he beamed, “now whatever you wished for will come true.”

He waved the empty stalk in front of her face, smiling gleefully. Softened now, Namjoo stared at him.

She was so pretty he wanted to know about her more.

He wanted to tuck her in his sheets and hug her safely in his arms. Although Namjoo never let him touch her after they did the deed, the only time he could was when they were actually sharing a moment. And he selfishly took advantage of each and every fraction of a second.

But now her best friend was back and he didn’t want her going too far away. If she stopped coming to him, then what?

Chanyeol couldn’t fathom the possibility of the future.

“Come on.” Still clutching her hand, he pulled her through the thin alley of the florist shop and the next building. Squeezing past a city garbage disposal overflowing with black garbage bags and whatever trash whomever had thrown. The disgusting smell was quickly forgotten upon the roar of the ocean.

They had run onto the beach. The foamy shoreline cold and damp, teasing them as it out in their direction then pulled back. Chanyeol released whoops of joy. In front of them the gigantic white-gray moon shone magnificently. Its ghostly reflection ripples on the water. In the beyond darkness hovered.

The water rushed in again, fast and dangerously. In its wake the wind whistled a longing sound.

“Isn’t it romantic?” Chanyeol asked pulling her along. The dry sand sunk underneath each step, the grains burying their feet. “Want to take off your shoes? The sand’s quite soft this time of year.”

Beside him, Namjoo kicked off her flats. He beat her to picking them up for her. “I’ll carry it for you.” He offered. Slyly adding, “This way you can’t run away.”

“What is with you?” Namjoo asked.

“Nothing.” He grinned. “Just a lonely man walking on the beach.”

“I want to sit.”

“But I’m keeping your shoes.” Chanyeol negotiated.

Namjoo pulled her hand away and lowered herself. Sitting with her knees up to her chest. Chanyeol sat with her, placing the shoes on the opposite side away from her. Then leaned back on his hand, stretching an arm around her.

She stared out into the bay, focused on a shard of air. Chanyeol glazed his view over her. Wholesomely trying to remember this sight of her. She came off so serenely. Tranquil moments like these amplified his feelings for her.

Was it the first time he woke up and turned to find her sleeping? Or the third time he kissed her and thought he could do this?

Namjoo had set ground rules when she started visiting him. She didn’t want him in her life. Romantically. As a friend. Anything. She didn’t want to be seen with him in public. They were to have nothing to do with each other. At all.

“Ok.” He had shrugged at first. A guy like him didn’t really care. She was just a girl like the others to him.

But he found her stubbornness charming. Going back and forth as she pleased. Adhering to no rules. Knowing they had gone to school together added to it.

He wondered if she knew it was him who’d thrown a slab of mud at her on accident during a class field trip to the mud flat? He’d been aiming for another student. On the other side, Namjoo had been crouching. Focused on searching for a crab. When the student thumbed his cheeks and wagged his fingers to , Chanyeol had tossed a ball of mud at him, but he had ducked and the mud smacked Namjoo on the head. The boy next to her instantly shot up at her cry, searching around furiously for the perpetrator, but Chanyeol had run off afraid to be caught.

Chanyeol wanted to lean over, kiss her, but he knew if he did it, he would risk not seeing her again.

“Do you still not think about getting married?” Chanyeol asked.

“Not gonna do it.”

“Scared?”

“No.” Namjoo confidently replied. “Just not interested.”

“What if you change your mind later?” Chanyeol wondered.

“I’m not.”

“What if some guy makes you think ‘I want to spend the rest of my life with him?’” Chanyeol questioned.

Namjoo’s stare cut toward the corner of her eye. “No.”

“Oh, come on.” Chanyeol tried. “There’s got to be a possibility.”

A brow burrowed and she turned to him annoyed.

“Boyfriend then?” Chanyeol asked.

Namjoo rolled her eyes up to the corner of her lids showing more irritation.

“Are you looking for a girlfriend then? Do you roll that way?” He cracked up. Namjoo pummeled him. He raised an arm up to defend himself, but not really. Chanyeol laughed harder as she clutched his shirt and jerked him but not too hard.

He so wished they were together.

He was her boyfriend.

She was his girlfriend.

And he would always make her laugh.

※※※※※

It was almost midnight when Namjoo climbed the steps up to her apartment. She wanted to rest. Even though she’d shaken sand out of her flats it felt like she hadn’t done a thorough job. Reaching the door Namjoo pulled her keys out. Expecting a quiet apartment. It was not so quiet.

In the kitchen on her left, Chaeri stared at her clearly unhappy.

“You’re still up?” Namjoo shut the door, took her shoes off.

“You lied to me.” Chaeri accused.

“What?” Namjoo shifted toward her. They were standing almost a room apart, but Namjoo could feel the tension picking up.

“You left me!” Chaeri raised her voice.

Namjoo’s mouth opened, but she couldn’t deny. “I’m sorry Chaeri. I didn’t mean to.”

“You have a thing for him, don’t you?” Chaeri’s face grew grave. “Even though you act all clueless and innocent.”

“Chanyeol?” Namjoo asked.

“Shut up!” Chaeri screamed a high-pitched note. She clenched her eyes, shook her head to dispel the name that had just left .

“Wait…” Namjoo rapidly blinked flustered. She hadn’t seen this coming. Frowning at her roommate, “Do you like him?”

“He came onto me first!” Chaeri yelled. “How can you do this to me?!”

Thrown off her feet, Namjoo’s mouth parted. This entire time she’d had no clue her roommate had a thing for Chanyeol. Since when?

Namjoo couldn’t get the words out of . It rushed through her. She’d been sleeping in Chanyeol’s bed. How to explain?

Dealing with an angry roommate tonight overwhelmed her already too full plate of troubles. So, she combatted with, “Sehun’s back.”

Chaeri made a noise, some burst of retaliation that immediately cut off when she processed her words. Namjoo felt like the scum of the earth. Turning the situation around, because she wasn’t able to deal. Saying word for word I’ve been having with the guy of your dreams. She was in so much .

“O…oh…” the resentment in Chaeri’s face transitioned to total surprise. Namjoo discreetly breathed relief. She’d dodged a bullet. “I’m sorry. That’s why you’ve been weird.”

Namjoo tried a smile. Ridden by more guilt than the anguish she possessed for Sehun.

“Do you need anything?” Chaeri worried.

“No. Then, I’m going to go shower.”

“I already washed up. Take your time.” Chaeri kindly urged.

Namjoo hesitated then pushed herself to keep going. She felt horrible. Closing the bathroom door, she sunk onto the edge of the tub. Sighing as she ran a hand up her face into her hair.

She had just betrayed the only nicest person to her. Chaeri who had witnessed her moping and wading a battle of depression when Sehun left, when her mother left. Just sitting there with her. Watching a movie or a sitcom. At the kitchen table sharing a meal. Going to the store with her. Keeping the fridge full of fresh food, picking up after Namjoo’s slack. Though Namjoo didn’t talk to her anything regarding her private problems, Chaeri’s presence had been a great comfort.  

Chaeri had been the giant stuffed teddy bear Namjoo could sink into, but she had just slit her open and yanked out her stuffing tonight.

※※※※※

“You two are dating, aren’t you?” The slam of Chaeri’s textbooks had them jolting from where they’d been closely huddling. Over a plate of lo mein, the cheapest on the cafeteria menu.

“God, Chaeri,” Sehun scolded.

The friend had snickered at them sliding the strap of her backpack off and sat across from them. “It’s suspicious you’re next to each other. Formally, friends would sit across from each other. You know,” she gestured with her fingers together and apart, “to put some respectful space between them.”

Noticing Namjoo was greedily twining majority of the noodles with her fork, he nudged her, pushing her away from the plate. Namjoo budged back, so Sehun dipped his head to eat the bottom of the noodles hanging off her fork. Didn’t matter if he stained his mouth there were napkins nearby.

“Gross you guys,” Chaeri scowled. “Get a room.”

Munching on her win of noodles, Namjoo with a full mouth declared, “We’re not dating!” She made a face at him. “I would never date him.”

So that was it. Namjoo and her words of determination. Always they were not an item. But Sehun still waited every day, for her to come looking for him.

He stared up at the ceiling. Seulbi was curled up on his right, snuggling her rag bunny. He couldn’t sleep. Things ran through his mind. He was disappointed Namjoo was not so happy that he had returned. Seeing each other again had not reignited what he had hoped.

He had been too expectant.

The following morning, he woke up with a sore neck. Seulbi had woken him up asking for paper and her crayons. Settling her down at the kitchen table, he started on breakfast. This morning he was super drowsy. All that thinking last night had done him in.

Massaging his nape, he sighed. Glancing down when Seulbi tugged on his sweats. “Daddy, I halp. I halp.”

“I don’t need help. Go draw at the table, ok?” he tiredly asked yawning a deep sound. Seulbi tugged on his sweats for attention again. Waving the sheet of printer paper at him.

“Daddy, I halp!” Seulbi exclaimed again.

Scrunching his face up, he concluded she wouldn’t stop unless he looked at her drawing. Accepting the paper, he held it up. Clumsy drawings of a man and what he supposed was a female wearing an upside-down triangle pink dress peeped at him. Their pencil hands with three fingers were intersecting.

“It’s a pretty drawing,” Sehun handed it back to his daughter. “Good job. Want to write your name on it and I’ll put it on the fridge.”

Seulbi shook her head. “No daddy! I halp!”

“Ok, kiddo.” Sehun surrendered. “You want to make breakfast?”

“NooOOOoo!” she shrieked frustrated.

 That was his wakeup call. The drowsy fog lifted and the pain in his neck immediately forgotten. “Ok, I’m sorry.”

Seulbi’s cheeks had reddened from exasperation. She puffed out her cheeks pouting. It was the drawing he supposed. Sehun glanced at it again. He thought the girl drawing was Seulbi, but seeing now she was nearly as tall as the boy figure with strands of straight hair sticking out of his too circular head.

“Is that daddy and mommy?” Sehun asked.

“Miss Namjoo.” Seulbi beamed brightly, her tantrum forgotten.

“What?” Sehun peered at the female with black curly straw looking hair drooping around her face. Her smile was drawn in pink.

“I halp, daddy,” Seulbi proudly smiled too broadly.

A moment of amazement drifted over him. Seulbi at four-years-old had observed and understood that much about him.

“You want to help daddy?” Sehun asked.

Seulbi eagerly nodded.

“Do you know the alphabet?” Sehun prodded. Seulbi cocked her head. Forgetting the pan on the stove, Sehun hurried toward the table, grabbed a chipped crayon and scrawled something down on an available piece of paper. Waving her over he waited for her to climb onto the chair before asking, “Can you copy this down on the paper? Let’s give this to Miss Namjoo when you see her.”

Seulbi cunningly went right to work.

When he dropped her off at the bus stop Monday, he made sure she had the paper folded and tucked securely into the side of her backpack. Waving at the bus enthusiastically he couldn’t wait till later in the afternoon.

※※※※※

Namjoo arrived bright and early. Despite a completely calm weekend she was honestly not feeling the best. Being a liar had never made her feel so in the dumps before. Heaving a sigh, she clamped a hand around the strap of her purse and turned the curb to head into the school.

She spent the morning chatting with teachers who had arrived early before reporting to her assigned classroom. Already the kids were sprawled around. Storage bins overturned as several children dug through for their toys of choice. Others were playing games of chase or drawing at the round tables. Few were sitting quietly.

Namjoo caught Seulbi at a blue table with red legs. Her backpack on the table, but not looking at her. Crossing the room, she waved to a mushroom hair boy and grabbed her apron off the hook in the back. Just like before she felt a tug on her skirt. Seulbi stretched her arm out offering a piece of folded paper.

“Oh…Seulbi, hi.” Namjoo warmly greeted. “Is that for me?”

She quietly nodded.

“That’s so sweet. Thank you.” Once Namjoo accepted the paper Seulbi ran off. Puzzled, Namjoo unfolded the paper. Staring at the awkwardly cute drawing of a child’s. A couple holding hands. She could tell right away. This type of drawing she'd seen one too many times.

A smile inched across her face bemused. In awfully illegible writing at the side Namjoo took a moment to configure the letters sloppily misplaced. It read: Ice cream with a big question mark filling the lower half.

Glancing up, Namjoo looked at Seulbi who was staring, but as soon as she was caught turned away. If Namjoo was no less smart she knew the meaning behind the message. The familiarity of the dessert years past. Shared with only one person.

On the ride to the bus stop at the end of the day, Namjoo sat quietly with the folded paper on her lap. Thinking. Debating. Then they already arrived and she climbed out to help the children off.

Today, Seulbi was last again. Always sitting in the back of the bus for some reason. Namjoo hadn’t been keeping an eye to see if she’d made any friends. Maybe she should care. Also, today she didn’t have to look into the bus for Sehun’s daughter. A small hand reached out to grab her fingers. Seulbi hopped off the bus, but didn’t run off immediately like she always did.

She held her hand as if Sehun had planned this.

A yard away Sehun waited, watching them. Standing tall. Strikingly. That tiny smile splayed on his lips. A ray of golden sunlight rained down behind him. The yellow tree leaves swayed in an oncoming breeze. In his eyes the horizon glowed.

***After School's Someone Is You set the stage for the last part /melts/

***I was afraid I might not fit any hunjoo scene in, but I made it! But I had to write that sweet Chanyeol bit, it was important