I Just Died In Your Arms Tonight

Of all people, Joohyun was the last person Seungwan expected to betray her.

Seungwan was sitting on the backseat of the car, mildly shivering from the cold and casually staring out the window as the world passed like a blur.

It was a stormy night. The moon was barely visible under the dark clouds that loomed over the heavens, even the stars have disappeared. Droplets landed on the earth like miniature bombs and drenched everything in its path. Seungwan sighed. Looks like it won't stop raining anytime soon.

Her gaze drifted towards her members, each of them preoccupied with something to ease the boredom. Seulgi was kind enough to drive for them. Her fingers tapping rhythmically against the steering wheel in time with the melodramatic music blasting through the speakers that Joy was listening to. Yeri was passively scrolling through her social media & occasionally giving directions to Seulgi by consulting the GPS in her phone. Meanwhile, Joohyun was beside her, arms tightly curled around Seungwan's waist while resting her head on her shoulders as she slept peacefully despite the storm. The older girl complained about the cold earlier but she was starting to think otherwise. Judging by how she was hogging Seungwan like a blanket proved how Joohyun was just finding excuses to cuddle with her.

Her girlfriend has been acting weird lately.

Sure, she had always been weird. With her obsession of fabric conditioner and doing household chores, Joohyun couldn't be anymore bizarre, but this was a different kind of weird. A good kind of weird.

Ever since that unfortunate SBS incident where Seungwan fell off the stage during rehearsals, her girlfriend got a little more clingy, always keeping her close and touching her at every given opportunity. It's like she couldn't keep her hands to herself. Seungwan wasn't complaining of course, especially when she finally discovered the reason why.

~~~

"What's with this?" The blonde broached the topic to Joohyun one day. She was reading a book when her attention-seeker of a girlfriend decided that it was the perfect time to invade her space and sit on her lap.

"What's what?" Joohyun asked.

"This sudden clinginess?" Seungwan gestured at how Joohyun was wrapped around her like a koala and pointed out how the older girl preoccupied herself by breathing her in, like she couldn't get enough of Seungwan's scent. It was cute really, but the vocalist was slightly perturbed at the fact that someone was sniffing her neck, even if it was her girlfriend.

"But I'm always clingy?" Joohyun was confused. She only ever showed this side of her girlfriend. Sure, her members get glimpses of it once in a while but Seungwan was always, ALWAYS, the recipient of her hugs and kisses.

"Not like this. You weren't this touchy before the incident." Seungwan brushed away the stray locks of hair to properly gaze into Joohyun's eyes. "What's wrong babe? You can tell me."

Joohyun pursed her lip and looked away. How can she keep hiding the truth, how she felt the overwhelming need to always touch Seungwan. After much contemplation, the older girl decided to reveal her secret.

"It's for my reassurance, I guess." Joohyun shrugged, acting as if she didn't just admit an earth-shattering revelation that could probably change the world. It's quite dramatic, she knows, but when it comes to Seungwan, the older girl was never one to take things lightly. "Some comfort for me to know that you're still there."

Joohyun casually played with blonde locks, fingers drawing lazy circles on Seungwan's nape, a gesture so small but a significant impact to her. "When that incident happened during the SBS rehearsals, I watched you get taken to the hospital. I didn't know what to do." She frowned, as if the memory stirred unpleasant feelings that she fought hard to keep buried. "You took so long recovering from that emergency operation. It felt like you were slowly slipping away from me and I had no idea how make you stay."

Seungwan had no idea that the older girl felt this way, that she carried this burden all alone by herself without anyone knowing. "Hyun, I didn't know."

"Of course you don't. I never planned on sharing it to you. Not yet anyway since it's quite unpleasant for me" Joohyun took a deep breath to steady herself despite her voice trembling when she said. "I haven't been the same ever since, knowing that you could disappear in just a flash. Maybe that's why I always find myself touching you, to reassure myself that you're here with me."

"That you'll never go away."

She held onto Seungwan, hands clutching her shirt as her grip tightened, and pressed their foreheads together. "So promise me something Wan."

"Anything Hyun." Seungwan whispered against her lips.

"Don't go anywhere where I can't follow."

~~~

"You okay back there unnie?" Sooyoung spoke from the front seat, eyes sparkling with mischief when she noticed Joohyun draped over Seungwan like a Boa constrictor. "Should we just drive by a motel instead and get the both of you a room?"

Wendy was unable to hide her blush. "Shut up."

"It's like she has this overwhelming need to touch you always." Yerim commented offhandedly beside the sleeping girl. To prove her point, Joohyun tightened her hold around the blonde, if that was even possible, and sighed contentedly. It looked like she was having a nice dream. "You were gone for 8 months. Not a mothering century!"

"Language Yerm." Seulgi, ever the loyal best friend that she was, came to the rescue. She gazed at the driving mirror and flashed Seungwan a smile. "Besides, Joohyunnie haven't had a proper rest ever since that incident." She spoke the last word in a hushed whisper, like it was a forbidden sin to even talk about the reason why Red Velvet's leader developed insomnia in the past 8 months was because of the sudden disappearance of their main vocalist. "Even during the subunit preparation, she's always worrying about Wannie."

"True that. I've lost count of the times she bombarded me with texts asking about how you were and if you were eating well whenever I visited you in the hospital." Yerim rolled her eyes at the absurdity of it all. Her phone's memory was greatly depleted just because of Joohyun's messages alone. It's ridiculous. "It's like I've been ed into this annoying task of babysitting you."

"You have her wrapped around your fingers Seungwan-unnie." Sooyoung had this eating grin plastered on her face and the blonde couldn't help but be wary. The tall vixen only ever acted like this whenever she was planning world domination or just literally making everyone's lives miserable. "It's about time you conquered her uncharted lands, if you know what I mean." Her brows wiggled suggestively and for such an innocent-looking person, Sooyoung possessed such a crass mouth.

"You're disgusting." Wendy frowned because there's no way in hell she'd conquer Joohyun's uncharted lands. Well, if her girlfriend wants to, but not right now. She needs to get her consent first because Seungwan was a gentleman-- err, woman-- like that. She decided to change the topic before Yerim could join in and turn this into a conversation. "Anyways, why are we doing this anyway. Whose brilliant idea was this to announce a game night while a full-blown storm was raging outside?"

"It was mine actually." Seulgi had the decency to look sheepish when she pout