"Sehun! You should go home now, I can literally see my house."

Since the end of school, Sehun had been insisting on walking Eunsung home and the latter had been insisting that he didn't need to - she could manage on her own like she had done for so many years previously, why would anything be different now?

"Exactly, so I'll walk you to there and then leave," Sehun responded as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, which was partially true. 

The girl huffed before muttering, "You're impossible." Sehun smiled to himself because he knew it was what Eunsung said when admitting defeat.

When the two reached the doorstep of Eunsung's house, Eunsung looked at Sehun, "Will you go home now? It's getting dark and it might be dangerous."

"Yeah I will, after you go in," Sehun smiled. The girl bit her bottom lip as she was worried for his well-being and just as she was about to search for her keys, the first drops of rain started to fall. They both exchanged looks.

"Okay that's a sign that you shouldn't go," she nodded at the rain, "Come on in, you can stay over, my parents won't mind."

Sehun looked behind himself at the raindrops hitting the ground and hesitated before asking quietly, "Are you sure it's alright?"

"Well I'm certainly not letting you go home in this weather."

Eunsung unlocked the door with her keys and the two took off their shoes in the hallway, placing their shoes on the rack. Strangely, there were two other pairs of shoes there already which made Eunsung furrow her eyebrows - her parents weren't ever home at this time. Could they really be this time? That would be strangely coincidental seeing as the one time they were at home was the one time Eunsung invited someone over.

She walked across the hallway to the living room, tilting her head to peer in the kitchen on her way. She found her parents chatting quietly while sitting on the sofa with their backs facing her and so they didn't notice the girl's presence yet.

"Mum? Dad? How..?" she asked from the doorway, causing her parents to suddenly turn their heads at the voice.

"You're home?" her dad smiled while her mum got up to check that she wasn't soaked from the rain - she wasn't, fortunately, as they had managed to take shelter just before the first drops of rain. In the meantime, Sehun walked to the doorway after hearing the multiple voices and managed to catch the attention of Eunsung's father first. The latter looked at Sehun before blinking, "Eunsung, you brought a friend over?"

The room went silent for a split second as her mother turned around to look at the guest too. Eunsung played with her sleeve nervously, not quite knowing what to say as she had not had the time to tell her parents about Sehun yet - they had always been so busy and she barely saw them for the past few weeks. A long time ago, she imagined that if she had a boyfriend, she would tell her parents first and it would be said so easily but after time passed, things became distant and she forgot about that. Opening to speak, she somehow could not get the words out - she was physically unable to.

Sehun noticed the girl's inner struggle and lowered his head to the girl's parents, slightly bowing, "Hello I'm Sehun, it's nice to meet you."

Things went well after that and Eunsung could only sigh in relief - somehow Sehun always did the right thing. Her parents immediately took a liking to Sehun as he was polite (from his introduction), helpful (he had offered to set the table but Eunsung's mother had shook her head and ushered him away) and his aura was just...nice.

Just before dinner, Eunsung went into her room to sit down on her couch and think about what had just happened. She was appalled at how badly she had responded (or didn't respond) to her father's question. If she were to put herself in Sehun's shoes, she wouldn't be feeling too great about not being introduced properly. That's why she made her mind up to tell her parents today even though it was so sudden and unplanned - she had to do it. It wasn't that she was scared that her parents wouldn't accept Sehun, it was just the thought of introducing her boyfriend to her parents for the first time. That itself was unfamiliar and frightening to her.
There was a small tap on the door causing the girl to jerk her head before Sehun appeared, his hand still on the doorknob, "Your mum told me to call you. It's dinner time." After a few seconds, Eunsung stood up slowly and made small steps towards the boy before coming to a stop when she was in front of him. Sehun watched her but didn't say a word, too curious to know what she was thinking about.

"Sehun..." she started, keeping her eyes downcast and focusing on the other's jacket button, "I'm sorry."

Sehun remained silent.

"I'm sorry for not telling my parents about us. I just.. I haven't had the chance to yet and I know that's not an excuse and that you're probably feeling not too comfortable with this but I promise you I-"

"Hey hey hey," Sehun shushed the girl who was speed talking by now. He let out a sigh before pulling her against his chest and wrapping his arms around her frame. After a while he spoke again but in his quieter voice, "It's okay, I'm not mad at you or anything so please don't think I am. I also don't want to rush you into things - if it's not the right time to tell your parents, then don't. I want you to do it only when you feel comfortable doing it okay?"

Against his chest, Eunsung could only nod as she found her brain unable to form coherent sentences as of now. She just wanted to stay in the warmth that was Oh Sehun but of course that had to be cut short by her mother's call 'everyone it's time to eat!'

At the dinner table, the two sat opposite Eunsung's parents. There were plenty of dishes laid out on the table and it put Eunsung's dinners to shame as the girl always somehow managed with a bowl of rice and some kimchi or something as simple as that. Seeing so many dishes before her eyes made her miss her mother's cooking greatly and so she ate with delight. She missed tasting her mother's cooking so much - she was convinced that nothing could ever beat it.

"How did you both manage to come home at this time?" Eunsung questioned realising that it was never answered before.

"We...well our boss let us all go home earlier today because of the bad weather and he realised there wouldn't be much point in keeping us behind because not much work would get done anyway so here we are."

Of course. Eunsung clenched her fists underneath the table, feeling angry at herself for even having the slightest bit of hope that her parents would actually return for her. She laughed bitterly inwardly, as if. Sometimes she felt selfish when she had these thoughts because it wasn't like her parents were at fault here - it was just the way life was. No-one was to be blamed or have fingers pointed at. Warm hands found themselves wrapped around her trembling fingers and when she glanced up to look at  the owner, Sehun just stared straight ahead.

"So Sehun, are you in the same classes as my daughter? I've never heard her talk about you before," her dad commented, using the ladle to fill his bowl with soup.

Eunsung raised an eyebrow and interrupted to save Sehun the trouble of having to answer, "I never talk about anyone in my school dad, you know that. We barely even talk about school let alone people." Sehun squeezed the girl's hand under the table as if calming her down.

"Actually I was new to the school at the start of the year and we're in a couple of classes together, We met because I was searching for my classroom and Eunsung offered to help," Sehun replied with a small smile.

"Oh I see," her mother nodded, "It's just that we rarely get to see Eunsung's friends so this is a first."

After dinner, Eunsung stood by the sink while watching her mother wash the dishes. It was quiet safe for the hums of her mother as she scrubbed the plates which suddenly stopped before she let out a heavy breath.

"Mum, what's wrong?"

"Eunsung I know these past few years have been hard on you," her mother stopped talking to look for a reaction from the girl, "And as a parent I'm guilty. I'm guilty for not paying enough attention to my child, guilty for not being there, guilty for not cooking for you every day."

"It's not your fault.." Eunsung said quietly, "And I admit I was a little mad at dad earlier but I know that he's not to blame."

"We truly do want to see you, care for you everyday. You know how your dad is with words - it just came out wrong."

"Surely dad has some way with words otherwise you two wouldn't be married," Eunsung teased, trying to lighten up the atmosphere.

"This daughter of mine..." her mother tutted before laughing, "Go and collect the other bowls on the table for me." Eunsung grinned before making her way towards the dining room but just as she was about to leave, her mother spoke.

"Sehun's a good kid, his parents must be very proud to have a son like him."

Eunsung paused before a sad smile appeared, "Yes, they must be."

As she piled up the bowls on top of each other, she looked outside the window which was where the balcony was and to her surprise she saw her father and Sehun speaking. She wondered what they could be talking about but continued sorting out the bowls anyway. When she gave them back to her mother, the latter told her to go and rest since she could handle it by herself.

Upon entering her room, she sat down on the couch and opened her phone but there were no new messages. With a small sigh, she set down the device on the table and pulled her legs up to her chest to rest her chin on her knees. The door clicked open softly causing the girl to turn around from her spot.

"This feels strangely familiar don't you think?" Sehun said as he walked over to the couch to join the girl.

"Except now this is my room and you're the guest," the girl smiled recalling the memory before frowning, "Does this mean I have to sleep on the couch tonight?"

Sehun chuckled, "If you want."

"That sounds suggestive. What's the other option?"

"You sleep with me," Sehun said cooly causing the girl to flush in embarrassment, "What? We've done it before."

"Yes but that was before we..." the girl drifted off, unable to finish the sentence.

"You're thinking too much," Sehun shook his head in amusement. Eunsung's mother came in with bundles of blankets and so the two went over to help her. Just as they were setting down the blankets on the couch, Eunsung's phone started ringing. She looked at the caller ID but it was unknown. Furrowing her eyebrows, she answered the call - it was probably a phone company or something anyway.

"Hello?" she spoke.

There was no reply.

"Hello?" she tried again.

There was a sound this time - the sound of someone breathing quietly.

Since no-one was answering, Eunsung just ended the call. The caller probably accidentally dialled her number when their phone was in their pocket. That happens sometimes. Yes, that had to be it.

"Eunsung-ah?"

"Huh?" she snapped out of her daze to see Sehun behind her.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah I'm fine... did you both finish with the blankets?" she said as she hurried off.

Sehun furrowed his eyebrows as he knew there was something wrong - the girl was just avoiding the question. He made a mental note to ask her about it later when they were sleeping.

"There's everything. Call me if you need anything else. Goodnight kids," her mother smiled warmly as she closed their room door.

Eunsung mumbled a small 'I'm going to take a shower' before she wandered off to the bathroom. She didn't know why she felt so uneasy about the phonecall - it was obviously done by accident. What shook her was the sound of the person breathing - the only thing that came to her mind about that was if someone was sleeping and if that was true, how did they manage to call her? But if was someone she knew, who would call her this late at night?

When she returned from her shower, she saw Sehun sitting on the edge of his bed still in his school clothes. She had been so caught up in the phonecall that she forgot to get him some spare clothes. So before she set foot in her room again, she made a left turn to her parents' room and knocked before opening the door.

"Dad? Can Sehun borrow one of your shirts and a pair of trousers? He's got nothing to wear besides his uniform right now," the girl explained.

"Don't even need to ask," he replied, opening his wardrobe to take out some comfortable clothes before handing it to his daughter. He smiled and Eunsung could see the dark circles underneath his eyes - suddenly feeling guilty that she was angry at him earlier.

"Thanks..." she murmured and just as she was about to leave, she stopped, "Dad, you should get some rest. You look tired." With that said, she went back to her own room.

"I got you some more comfortable clothes - they're my dad's but hopefully they'll fit you alright," she passed the clothes to Sehun who said thanks. He then went into the bathroom to get changed. The shirt was a nice fit but the trousers were just a little short, ending above his ankle but it didn't matter too much. He returned to the room and dropped his school uniform on top of his bag. Sehun noticed that the girl was sleeping on the couch and had covered the blankets over her head. There was definitely something bothering her and he was sure that it had something to do with the phonecall.

"Are you sure you want to sleep over there?" he asked.

The bundle underneath the blankets moved.

Sehun shook his head as he walked towards the couch and uncovered the girl from the blankets, "What happened Eunsung-ah?"

The girl fiddled with her sleeve before answering, "No-one answered the call but I heard someone breathing on the other end." It sounded stupid when it was said out loud but when experienced was different.

"That's odd. Maybe someone just accidentally dialled your number when their phone was in their pocket or it was a prank," Sehun said thoughtfully. The two scenarios seemed equally possible but she still couldn't shake off the uneasy feeling. She decided to not think about it for now as she was at home safe and sound.

She scrunched up her nose, "I don't want to sleep here."

Sehun chuckled, "Come on." He helped untangle the girl from her blankets so she could get out.

"Hey, my dad's clothes fit you. Not too bad," she commented as she grabbed her pillow.

"They just about fit me - I was afraid they wouldn't."

The two got into bed, keeping a distance of one head's space between them. They their sides so that they were facing each other.

"Sehun... what were you talking about with my dad earlier?" the girl asked curiously.

"That's a secret between me and him," he replied causing the other to frown.

"We barely get to see Eunsung - when we're back from work, she's already fast asleep and by the time she's awake for school, we're gone. I'm worried about her. I thought about quitting all those years ago but when I thought about not being able to afford rent, the bills, food, I just couldn't. She was lonely for a long time and I noticed but I never did anything about it mainly because there wasn't a way around it. I don't know why I'm suddenly telling you everything but I feel like I can trust you. Please take care of my daughter in all the times that I'm not around."

"So petty," she mumbled, "Fine."

The raindrops pelted down on the rooftop and the two could hear it as they both fell silent.

"The rain reminds me of you. Do you still remember the night we spent camping?"

"Of course. It was the first time someone ever stuck to their words."

"Seriously? You've been lied to your entire life? Is that why you didn't believe me?"

Sehun nodded, "Promises and rules are made to be broken after all."

"So optimistic."

"Just being realistic," the boy corrected. The room fell into a silence again for a while longer this time and Sehun assumed that Eunsung had fallen asleep in that time period. But he was proved wrong when he heard a small 'Sehun-ah.'

"Mhm?"

"I'm glad you're here," the girl murmured, sounding half asleep and half awake.

The boy smiled and reached over to tuck a few strands of hair behind the girl's ear as they were falling into her eyes.

"Where else would I be?"

♥ AUTHOR'S NOTE;

hello hello friends! I'm sorry I've been MIA for the past two months, I believe it's been roughly that long since my last update e__e i've been having so many exams to do and essays to hand in. And to top it off I had to go to hospital a couple of times this month (and am still going) as I haven't been well ;n;

but anyway, how is this chapter? the part where Sehun comforted Eunsung about telling her parents about their relationship AWWW isn't he the cutest *u* and who do you guys think the phonecall is from? I only put parts in that are relevant to the story later on so :D

also are any of you f(x) fans? THEY'RE MY FAVOURITE GIRL GROUP SO IF YOU ARE, COME HERE AND LET ME LOVE YOU ♡♡♡