Sehun's eyes slowly opened the next morning and he found himself in his aunt's spare bedroom. It took him several moments to adjust before the memories from yesterday began filling in. Sitting up straight, he blinked several times wondering if yesterday had all been a dream (or perhaps even possibly a nightmare). There was no way Eunsung saw everything yesterday, right?

And as if on cue, he heard a small rustling of blankets and so he turned his head to see the girl still sleeping beside him - one thing he knew for sure: it really did happen. He let out an exasperated sigh and although he wanted to stay a little longer, he needed to think things over before she woke up. He went downstairs to the kitchen in search for some water and found his aunt there, already awake and cooking.

"Morning," Sehun greeted as he filled a glass with warm water. He never liked his water too hot or too cold in the mornings because getting a shock was the last thing he needed.

"Sleep well?" his aunt asked as she cracked an egg onto the frying pan. Sehun only hummed back absentmindedly and made himself comfy on the countertop. He was thinking about the previous day and one thing didn't sit too well with him: how oddly he was taking the situation. Wasn't he supposed to feel discomforted by the fact that someone else had already found out about his weakness? But then why did he feel so calm about it?

"You trust her."

Huh? Sehun looked up abruptly after hearing this sudden statement but his aunt didn't react, only continuing to flip the eggs. Sehun decided to keep quiet and just watch his aunt cook until she finished piling up three crispy eggs on the floral patterned plates. He wanted to ask her what she meant by that, how would she know what he felt?

"If you think about it Sehun, you never really told anyone about it before," his aunt answered his unsaid question catching him off-guard. The boy was about to protest that no, Luhan and Suho knew about it when he realised he didn't have any recollection of actually telling them. He was pretty certain that yesterday had been the first time he had truely spoken out the bottled up feelings he had kept for years. But why had he said it all to Eunsung? A possibility flew into his mind that maybe she was just there at the right time and all he wanted to do was to share everything with someone. Or maybe his aunt was right - maybe he really did trust her.

"Look Sehun, whatever the reason you told her yesterday, it doesn't matter because I couldn't be more thankful that you managed to do that so don't worry about it too much, alright?" his aunt pat his back before proceeding to toast the bread, "And can you wake Eunsung up for me? The food's almost done and I'm worried that it'll go cold if we leave it out too long."

Sehun nodded and left his glass on the table before wandering back down the corridor towards the bedroom again. How would things go from here on - would they be awkward? Would she look at him differently? Would they never speak about the incident again? Sehun honestly didn't know and he hoped that nothing changed between them both. He had grown fond of the girl's company in the past month of knowing her and wanted it to stay the same.

Normally Sehun disliked the idea of getting to know others because it meant that any one could leave at any time and that strongly discomforted him. Besides his hyungs, he always thought that he didn't need others but that didn't lessen the loneliness he felt when they weren't around. But then Eunsung appeared and wore away parts of that loneliness - speaking to someone different to his usual friends was something completely new and perhaps that's why he thought it was okay to tell her everything yesterday.

When the two returned back to Suho's house, they were welcomed warmly by the house members who had been worried for the well-being of them both. Sehun assured them that it was okay now they were back home safe and sound but a few of the boys didn't really buy it.

"Glad to have you back," Kai grinned, throwing his arms around the pair and ushering them into the living room.

"Hey, Eunsung isn't today your last day here?" Xiumin pointed out with a small frown.

"Oh..." was the only thing the girl said. She had adapted to the household so well that she didn't even keep track of the time and already, her one week stay had ended. She would be lying if said she wasn't disappointed by this fact.

"Well seeing as it is, let's all hang about outside in the garden. I think there are actually a couple of fireflies out right now," Suho smiled, trying to fix the mood. Tao, seeming to be the only one extremely excited about this, bolted out the room towards the garden before anyone could react (for the rest of the evening, he was found pointing his phone camera at the sky and the glowing fireflies and occasionally murmuring a 'so pretty.') 

The rest of the group leapt out into the garden, some wanting to join in on chasing the fireflies (as childish as it sounded); some wanting to sit around and talk; some wanting to do their own thing. Suho was busy keeping his head wrapped around a novel he picked up from the bookstore the other day, Chen was almost falling asleep on his chair; Yixing and Kyungsoo were discussing what food they would cook tomorrow morning; Kris, Kai and Xiumin were wondering why the hell they were out so late watching their friends play with damn fireflies and Luhan, Baekhyun and Chanyeol were busy chasing the fireflies while Tao yelled at them to stop because he couldn't take pictures if they kept moving. 

Eunsung originally was watching a couple of fireflies too but after Tao screamed bloody murder at the others, she decided to steer well clear of those. She sat by herself on a patch of grass, staring up at the night sky filled with sparkling stars. It, in a way, reminded her of the day she had to share a tent with Sehun and thinking about now, she couldn't believe that they were the same people. If someone had asked her back then what she saw of the path for them both, she would blank out, not really having an answer. Sehun was so stiff back then, she remembered. And even though he wasn't the most open person even now, he had let loose a little and that was all that mattered. 

"You not gonna watch the fireflies?" Sehun asked as he plopped down on the space beside the girl, "They're really hard to find you know. You can't see them whenever you want to."

"I know, and I was before but then..." she stopped to nod her head in the direction of Tao punching Baekhyun in the arm while the latter cried out. Sehun breathed air through his nose which came to the girl's ears as a soft laugh and hearing it was nice.

Eunsung glanced at the scene in front of them, of all the others messing around, talking and just being together in general before she let out a wistful sigh, "You're lucky."

Sehun raised an eyebrow, willing for her to continue, "In what way?" 

"Just being surrounded by so many people at home, it's really heartwarming to see..." she replied honestly with no hidden meanings. Although Eunsung had never said, she always felt lonely whenever she was at home but she couldn't tell anyone. She couldn't tell her mum because she was already feeling bad about constantly leaving her daughter alone all the time so it was cruel to make her feel worse than she already did about the situation. She couldn't tell her dad because he had his own job to worry about and really, the reason why he was spending time away from the family was because he wanted to make life better for them. Ironic wasn't it?

"It might get a little frustrating at times too," Sehun said rolling his eyes when the bickering of Baekhyun and Tao could be heard, once again. The corners of Eunsung's lips tugged upwards and strangely enough, she felt a little better about the situation.

"Thank you," the girl said quietly as a firefly appeared in front of her eyes, shining brightly. She had a number of reasons to thank Sehun: for sharing his past with her yesterday, for forgiving her for touching his belongings, for allowing her to use the same toothbrush holder, for waiting for her every morning to share the cup, for giving her the bed on the first night while he took the uncomfortable couch, for making her feel better just now. There were so many things that she wanted to say but not enough words to express her gratitude, so she just wanted to say 'thank you' for mainly, everything. 

"Don't move," Sehun whispered as he lifted his hands to catch the glowing insect. Eunsung held her breath unknowingly, trying to remain as quiet as possible to not scare away the beautiful creature and when Sehun successfully captured it in his hands, he put his palms out flat and rested his hands between the two of them. The firefly glowed brighter than all of the fireflies Eunsung had seen in the garden that evening. Sehun transferred the firefly into the girl's hands and as if he understood the meaning behind that 'thank you,' his eyes sparkled as the corners of his own lips found themselves curling into a true smile. 

"You're welcome."

♥ AUTHOR'S NOTE;

Awwww I've wanted to write the scene for Sehun smiling for god knows how long and it's finally here now! C: I personally find this chapter and the previous chapter to be the best at capturing the development of their relationship <3

also, a really big THANK YOU to all for the feature and congratulatory messages ;u; I'm really touched by all the support even though I started this story back in 2013 so the first few chapters are written badly orz I'll try and show a better writing style in the future!