it's cold.

“Myungsoo, you—you don’t. Aish, this is so hard.” Miyoon whined as she frowned at her reflection in the mirror. She checked the time to find out it was almost nine p.m. already. This meant it was night and what did most people do at night? Sleep. But tonight, Miyoon knew she wasn’t going to be getting any shut eye unless Myungsoo was out of her house. And to get that to happen, she had to tell him he didn’t live with her.

At first, she thought it was going to be a piece of cake but here she is now, locked up in her bathroom for a little under an hour, rehearsing on how she was going to break the news to him.

She started pacing back and forth, combing her hair with her fingers. There was a sudden knock which caused her to freeze in her spot. It was dead silent until another knock came along. Miyoon held her breath and then swallowed down hard. “Xia, are you okay in there?” Myungsoo questioned.

Momentarily, she closed her eyes and exhaled. You have to tell him. You can’t let him sleep with you. You’re not five anymore; grow some backbone already and stand up for yourself. At last her fingers curled around the knob as she twisted it.

When there was absolutely nothing separating the two of them, her eyes fixated on the floor as she spoke. “You can’t stay here, Myungsoo.”

Myungsoo stepped back and his eyebrows kissed at the center of his forehead. “Are you mad at me again?”

“No, I was never mad at you,” she explained. “It’s just you—you can’t stay here with me. I should’ve told you earlier.”

“But this is our house, Xia. Why are you kicking me out?” he said, crushed.

“That’s just it, Myungsoo.” Miyoon lifted her head to meet his eyes. “This isn’t our house.” Pain flickered across his face and for a minute, she regretted her words. “If you won’t leave then I will.” She looked back at the floor and continued, “I can’t stay in the same house as you, Myungsoo. It’s not right for a number of reasons. If you want to stay, then be my guest but I’m going to crash at my parents’ house and please don’t follow me. It’ll only make things more difficult.”

Without another word being uttered, Miyoon brushed by the speechless Myungsoo and headed for the front door. She swept her keys off of the coffee table along the way and as she slipped into her shoes, Myungsoo came running behind her. He enveloped her into a back hug as his head rested in between the crook of her neck.

“Myung-Myungsoo, what are you doing?” she stammered. She tried strenuously to shrug him off but he gripped tighter.

“You can’t leave,” he breathed. “Whatever you’re upset about, we could talk about it, Xiazi. Just don’t go. I need you here with me.”

“No.” she whispered. When she found her courage, she grabbed both of his arms and pried him off. She spun around, raised her hand, ready to slap him but his broken expression rendered her senseless. Her hand fell back down and she could only turn away. “Don’t do this.”

“Why not?” he asked, his voice sounding a bit bitter. He closed the space in between them and tilted her chin up to meet his gaze. “Why can’t you stay with me?”

Miyoon felt her vocal chords malfunctioning as she stood there with her lips ajar. Sure, she imagined scenes similar to this one dozens of times growing up but they were fake. And what was happening now was real. She couldn’t believe it.

“Because,” she whispered, her eyes unconsciously falling to his lips. The same lips she had dreamed about kissing for ages. went dry and just as Myungsoo caressed her cheek and leaned in for a sweet kiss, the doorbell rang through the house.

Miyoon’s eyes widened as she moved out of his grasp. I almost let him kiss me. “I should get that.” And before he could protest, she bolted to answer the door.

When she swung it open, “Mei!” was the first thing that greeted her as five of her geges, with the exception of Kris, hurled out of their hiding spots. Smiles and grins were smeared on their faces and their arms were sprawled about in the open air.

“Wh-what are you guys doing here?” she inquired, dumbfounded.

“What? Now we need a reason to come and visit our favorite Xiamei?” Xiumin pouted, dejectedly. “We just missed you and wanted to come and see you.”

“Yeah, mei. What’s up with that face? You should be honored by our presence. I mean women squeal and spaz just because we know their names, imagine what’d happen to them if we showed up to their house like this? You should be happy to have five good-looking men out on your doorsteps especially at this hour.” Chen bragged as he leaned against the doorframe in attempt to look suave.

“Oh please, ge. The only woman whose name you know is your mom's. Stop trying to act like a big hotshot.” Miyoon snorted as she punched his chest. “And there’s no problem at all, it was just a bit unexpected.”

“Ooh, she burned you!” Tao cackled as he high-fived Luhan. They all howled in laughter but their precious moment was cut off when another voice spoke up from inside.

“Xia, who’s at the door?” Myungsoo questioned from where he stood. Panic consumed Miyoon’s body as she recalled Myungsoo’s presence in her home. She looked over her shoulder and then back towards her geges. She swallowed hard when she noticed their expressions had altered drastically.

Although, they were all different people the current stone-hard, stale expression plastered across all of their faces made her think they were the same person. “Who is that?” Luhan interrogated suspiciously as Chen craned his neck, trying to steal a peek inside.

“He’s my friend,” she answered. Next, she held onto the doorframes and blocked the entryway. “He just came by to drop something off.”

“Really? He’s a fr