The whole time Ara spoke, Hyejin had her hands clasped together, a dreamy expression on her face. “Oh, Unnie!” The younger girl couldn’t help but squeal a little as the other one finished. “Do you know how romantic that sounds? You were injured and he saved you! Kyaah!” Hyejin giggled before she grabbed a pillow from the couch and hugged it. “And then he hugged you and you hugged back, and you even kissed! And he confessed to you and you, too, to him!” Hyejin couldn’t stop herself from sighing dreamily at the scene that her mind created in front of her inner-eye. 

Ara hid her face behind her hands in embarrassment, groaning silently. Having her little sister hear about what happened was terribly embarrassing, as the younger girl wasn’t satisfied with simple statements as “we made up”. Instead, she had urged Ara to tell her details.

While Hyejin still quietly squealed at what her sister told her, continuing to hug the pillow, Ara cleared and stood up, ready to go to bed – she was really tired. “Unnie?” The sound of Hyejin's voice made Ara turn around.

Hyejin lay there, still hugging the pillow, and a cheeky grin gracing her face as she asked, “You said you went back the next day, so it means you and Sehun Oppa spent the night together in the forest. Alone.” The young girl couldn’t prevent the huge grin to take over her face as Ara's cheeks turned into a light shade of pink. “Is there something else you still have to tell me about?” Hyejin asked, twisting her lips slyly before she broke into loud laughter at the sight of Ara's eyes widening.

“The heck! Park Hyejin, stop babbling nonsense!” The older girl half yelled as she rushed to the bedroom door.

Hyejin continued to laugh as she watched Ara throw her a scolding gaze before she closed the bedroom door, leaving the younger girl alone in the living room. It was only after several seconds that the laughter died, a thoughtful smile now forming upon Hyejin's lips.

She was more than glad that the issues between Ara and Sehun were settled. Because seeing her sister, who'd had such a dull look in her eyes the past few months, blush and get embarrassed, was relieving. Ara was getting better again, drifting further away from the rationality that had been so close to completely devouring her.

Hyejin was glad that Sehun kept his promise in the end. Her sister, of all people, deserved every bit of love that she could receive. And the young girl could see that Sehun's love toward her sister was from the bottom of his heart. The mere memory of him gently kissing Ara's cheek made Hyejin feel warm inside. There had been such care and gentleness in that little action, that she could literally see the love. To her, her older sister was amazing. Given, she had problems opening up to people and might leave a rather harsh first impression, but Hyejin knew what Ara had gone through and for her sister to have remained so strong throughout the years, she found it to be very admirable. She knew that her sister had a wonderful heart, and seeing that finally someone else was seeing Ara's heart relieved her. Relieved her so, so much.

-

“M-Miyoung?” Sehun mumbled, eyes widening in shock at the sight of the familiar girl standing a few meters in front of him, next to his car. He didn’t even bother to ask her why or how she ended up here. She must have followed him, must have left the forest trip earlier than the others. He immediately registered the look in her eyes. A look he had wanted to avoid by confronting her with the news slowly starting from tomorrow on. He hadn't planned on immediately telling her about Ara and him. He had wanted to first a few things across before actually spilling the beans because he'd wanted to avoid hurting the other girl too much. But seeing Miyoung look at him with such a hurt expression, he knew it was too late.

“O-Oppa,” Miyoung whispered. In the night, her whisper could still be clearly heard, even with the distance between her and Sehun at the moment. There was a rather long pause before she continued, in which she closed her eyes, remembering the first time she had met him.

“Is this why you told me not to fall for you?”

Sehun pressed his lips together as he saw Miyoung's eyes fill with tears. “Because you already had someone you love? That Ara girl?” She continued, her voice louder now.

The male sighed. There was no way to get out anyway, especially not as Miyoung knew Ara's name. “Yes.”

“But I'm your fiancé,” Miyoung gulped, not bothering to hide the hot tears that made their way down her cheeks.

“Not yet,” Sehun replied and his voice sounded colder than he actually wanted it to. It was just that slowly he was getting enough of Miyoung always claiming to be his fiancé, when in reality, they she wasn’t. At least not yet. He didn’t intend turn to hurt her and the sight of her tears did pain him. They were friends, after all.

“O-Oppa, but y-you know how I feel toward you.” That caused a lump to form in his throat. Yes, he knew. That was what he had feared. That was why he had first given her a warning. To avoid such a situation. And as much as he knew that it was senseless, he would want to blame her for not paying heed to his warning. However, he couldn’t. In the end, he had also let her get to know him. If only he had been colder toward her …

Miyoung stepped closer to him. “You're important to me, you are my first real friend. More than that, even. You–”

“Miyoung,” Sehun interrupted her, “you're important to me, as well. You're a great friend, and I'm grateful for your friendliness during our stay abroad. I'm grateful for your bullishness to get to know me even as I wasn’t interested in forming any friendships. I'm grateful for all your encouragement during the stay, for the laughter. But,” he halted and took a deep breath, “I gave you a warning at the very beginning not to develop any romantic feelings for me.”

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