{ 006. undisclosed part 2 - closure }

sungli - oneshot, part two

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Sulli hid herself amongst her members backstage, trying to get as far away from Sungyeol as possible. She keeps reminding herself of the previous events, her almost-outburst of feelings at him as he tryied to pry her secret crush from her. She was too flustered, unable to get her thoughts together afterwards.

Victoria was the one who comforted her, calming her down slowly before the show's recording started again.

"You can't run away from him now..." she says kindly, babying the maknae as usual. "He's probably looking for you right now."

Sulli threw her hands up in exhasperation. "I can't just tell him that I-"

"Yah, Choi Jinri!"

An immediate facepalm was Sulli's reaction to the voice that cut her off. Victoria looked at the running Sungyeol and smiled at Sulli. "He's calling Jinri and you know what that means." She left to join the other three girls who had been trying to listen in to the conversation.

Sulli refused to turn around as Sungyeol approached, standing her ground firm even as he grabbed her shoulders to face him. "Please," he pants after what looked like a very long run, "can we talk?"

Possibly the most dreaded words to ever come alight to her, she bit her lip. "Later?"

The guy shook his head and his voice became almost desperate. "Hear me out, please? We need to talk-"

"I don't want to right now-"

"We need to-"

"We have a recording, Sungyeol!"

"If not now, then when, huh? You walk away from me now, I know you'll never call me or text me again because you're running away from something! If you won't face me now, I know you'll run away from me forever." the last sentence comes out quiet and quite blurred in her ears as the noises that surrounded her grew in volume. She was getting a headache from all the disturbance, feeling too enclosed in the tiny space behind the stage. Her members looked at the scene worriedly, but Sulli refused to meet their eyes.

Her composure broke and she slumped her shoulders. Sungyeol took this chance to take her hand gently and pull her away from the rest of the world, back outside where they couldn't be overheard or disrupted.

Neither faced the other as Sungyeol cleared his throat, preparing to speak but finding it hard to capture the right words. "I-" I'm sorry, he wanted to say, but wasn't sure if she would accept it. There is always a fear of rejection for him when it comes to this girl.

"Sungyeol, I don't like Minho that way." she suddenly whispers. He notices how her voice sounded a million miles away, so distant and unusual.

He held her hand tighter. "Come back to me, Jinri." he mutters under his breath, frowning. She doesn't hear him of course, but he just wants her to be right here, right now.

He tries to smile, but it doesn't work. "I'm sorry for pushing you earlier, I didn't mean to but obviously it wasn't the best idea. I'm an idiot, and I think you know that very well, but I don't mean to hurt you in any way...I just...needed to know things."

Her hands fall out of his. "Needed to know what?"

He remembers the question from before. "If it's not Minho, then who?"

She tenses, wanting to so badly run away but realises there is nowhere to run. Finally, she looks up at the tall guy with a frown that did not suit him, and feels her heart flutter at the sight. She takes a step forward, just a little closer to where he stood, and searched for the right answer in him.

He groans, unable to hold back his impatience. "Jinri..."

"You never call me Sulli like the others. You always call me Jinri or you don't address me at all."

"It's your name."

"Everybody knows me as Sulli."

"That's your stage name."

She blushes, knowing that's very true. "Yes, but still."

Sungyeol shrugs, "Because everyone calls you Sulli, I don't want to. I like calling you Jinri because that's your name and you may as well use it by being called it, right?" He leaves out the real reason why and tries to mask it from his face. She looks at him closely, feeling that he's hiding something, but shakes her head.

"I feel like there's something else. Sungyeol, what do you call Krystal?"

He raises an eyebrow at the odd question. "Krystal...why?"

"Luna? Amber? Victoria?"

He narrows his eyes, not understanding. "I call them by their names...because it's easier...?"

She lets out a frustrated moan and almost laughs at him. "But you don't call me Sulli? That doesn't make much sense! I'm confused, Sungyeol- I'm confused to why today isn't our day, confused of what I'm feeling right now or if I'm even feeling anything- I'm confused at-"

Sungyeol takes her hand. She is shaking. "I call you Jinri because you are my Jinri. Even though other people call you Jinri as well, I'm the only one who refuses to call you Sulli. You are Jinri and you are my Jinri."

He leans down and nears his face to hers. She doesn't say a word and stays still, waiting.

He meets her eyes and stares into them, hoping she would get the message. "I don't want to treat you the same as everybody else." he whispers, his voice like honey to her. He closes his eyes and she leans her forehead on his, entwining their fingers together.

Sungyeol sighs. "If it's not Minho, then who?"

His Jinri shakes her head and smiles to herself. "You already know now."

While neither one moves away, they find themselves in that position for a good two minutes before being found by Myungsoo. He stared at the sight of them for three seconds before loudly laughing his way back into the building.

Sungyeol pulls away, not saying anything as he takes her hand and leads her back inside. Sulli lets him lead, thinking that the two of them would have a lot to talk about later on.

She tugs on his hand. "Let me hear you say it one more time?" she flutters her eyelashes at him.

He laughs and pulls her so that her arms appeared on both of his sides, making her hug him. They stop just before they got to the door and he turned around so they were locked in an embrace. He leans down to whisper in her ears, "You are my Jinri."

xxxxxxx

the end.