-one night he wakes, strange look on his face, pauses, then says, "you're my best friend."-

  Sehun watched the two women with a soft smile on his face, it was truly amazing how they communicated without any words at all. It was amazing to realize how much eyes could speak if you really paid attention. And one day, Sehun wanted to be able to talk to Joohyun without the paper and the pencil in between them.

 She was adamant about seeing him off at the airport and her mother was alright with it. Sehun did tell her it wasn't necessary. He only wanted her to let him see her when she went back to New York, and that would be enough. Sehun told her he didn't want a lot from her, he only wanted to give her and he'd give her everything he could.

 Joohyun's mother handed him a scarf and he wasn't sure what to do with it. Perhaps he was to hold it for Joohyun. But after noticing that he was staring at the piece of cloth for two minutes now, her mother walked towards him with a smile and wrapped it around his neck. Sehun's mouth fell open just a little. Was she looking out for him? Suddenly, the warmth of the scarf was warmer and he couldn't help but smile. Joohyun fixed her hair in front of the mirror after washing her hands. And then they were tying the laces of their shoes, sitting on the porch.

 Her parents were well-off, so was she, and that made Sehun wonder what Joohyun had thought of his run-down house in front of Junmyeon's sparkling castle. But she wasn't that kind of a girl. He knew for a fact that she would never even compare their wealth. And if she ever did, he would make sure to work so hard that she would never get the chance. But Sehun was positive, Joohyun would like him for him only. 

 "Yeah, I'm on my way," Sehun said into the phone as he opened the door of the taxi for Joohyun. Her brows raised as she asked him who it was. She thought it was only her seeing him off and perhaps it made her pout a little but she didn't show it. "Jongin? He wants to go with you...is it about Yerim? Does he know that Yerim's not with me?"

 Joohyun watched the worry shine in his eyes as he closed the door after himself. Without wasting time, she wrote on her notepad the address of where they were headed to and passed it to the driver. Sehun lowered the phone and heaved a huge sigh. She couldn't hear it but she saw it. She watched his conversation with the driver before he leaned back to his seat. Her fingers touched the skin of his arm, eyes recognizing her father's scarf sitting around his neck. And she smiled at the idea.

 "Jongin...uh, Yerim's friend," he told her, feeding her curiosity, "Junmyeon says that Jongin wants to tell me something so he is bringing him along."

 Irene nodded before narrowing her brows at his lips, as if telling him, she didn't quite get it. Sehun repeated, and then she understood. Her eyes sagged at the corners with a silent sadness. Sehun nodded, "They were best friends and...maybe more than that."

 "They can still remain best friends," she said.

 Sehun nodded, "They can...but weirdly, Yerim doesn't want to. There's some philosophy I don't understand."

 Irene thought for a while before writing, "Did Jongin ever reach out?" He nodded, instinctively grabbing her pencil to write because he wanted to. He wrote that Jongin had sent a letter. Irene's eyes widened. "She must reply. It's painful to wait for a reply."

 "I know," Sehun stretched the last syllabus. "But I can't seem to make her understand that. She doesn't want to send a reply to him and it leaves me wondering if...something had gone wrong between them and she's holding a grudge. Yerim can be like that."

 Irene nodded, as if she had understood but then Sehun quickly added, "but she is not like that all the time."

 "I know," and she put so many w's afterwards like she wanted to tell him that Yerim was very sweet to her. Sehun smiled at the sight of her handwriting, tracing the words on her notepad with his thumb. Irene's eyes lit up when his finger ran down one of hers. Silently, she laced their fingers together. And Sehun was going to dream about this cab ride in his plane.

 Sehun had spoken to Junmyeon about her just that day. Junmyeon told him she had taken her closure, left him with her never-ending silence and that he regretted every bit of his high school that he spent not loving her. Sehun understood where he was coming from. Junmyeon didn't understand what he had until he lost it. And Sehun knew he was somewhere around that page too. They had both lost the sun and were swimming in frozen oceans. But soon, Junmyeon would get better, he had promised.

 The letters never mattered. Joohyun had stopped loving him ever since he told her to get the out of his life, his words. Even if Junmyeon did receive those letters and wrote back expressing his love for her, they wouldn't have lasted, Junmyeon told him. So he'd try to be okay with it. Sehun hoped he would really be okay with seeing Joohyun on his side.

 He was going to see Joohyun in two more weeks, as soon as her father would be able to go home. Junmyeon was speaking to Jennie while Jongin shifted his weight from one foot to the other, studying the airport. Sehun caught up with them and Irene followed him closely, half hiding behind his broad back. 

 "Dude, if you could teleport you'd probably still be late," Jennie noticed him first and then her eyes fell on Irene. Jaw tightened but she forced a smile on her lips. But Joohyun was not looking at her. She was staring at Junmyeon. 

 "I'm sorry. Did you wait long?" Sehun asked, pulling the zippers of his bag to see if Jennie had packed everything accordingly. 

 "Yeah...kinda but that's alright," Jennie studied Joohyun's face. Her little hand tugged on Sehun's pants pocket like she was nervous to stand before Junmyeon. "So you made up with your girlfriend?"

 Blood rushed to his cheek. Sehun could feel everyone's eyes on him as he nodded very slowly without looking at anything but at the insides of his bag.

 "That's good," It was Junmyeon. Sehun felt like he was pushing it but maybe he was just trying to cope with the situation. Jongin stood there beside Jennie, hands inside the pockets of his jacket as he stared at Joohyun, absent-minded. When he caught Sehun's eyes, he heaved a sigh. Then he passed him another letter.

 "I won't write to her anymore if I'm disturbing. I just want this to reach her, Sehun," he said. Sehun nodded, placing the envelope in between the pages of one textbook. Jongin looked away with glistening eyes. He could only pat his back and tell him to study hard.

 "You're not disturbing her," Sehun told him. "Jongin, she misses you too. It took her a lot of time getting used to the new city and she always misses you."

 "I know her, I know she does," Jongin nodded, "But...she always told me she isn't good with words. Please tell her that I'll take anything. I don't care...I miss her a lot."

  "My, don't cry," Sehun held the shorter boy in his warm embrace. Jongin wiped at his tears before they could even fall. And then he said his goodbye, running back to Junmyeon's car to cry on his own. Sehun watched his lanky figure disappear and sighed at the turn of events. He never wanted so many tears on his departure day.

 His rushed goodbye to Jennie, Junmyeon and Joohyun remained on his brain the whole night. He had waved at them until he couldn't anymore and he wished he had dared to kiss Joohyun's cheek. But of course, the announcement lady had to ruin his goodbye. 

 His phone buzzed with a text the second he sat down on his kind-of comfy chair beside an old woman. It was from Jennie.

damnnn you're in love boy
21:57

 And he sat back, th