You were barely able to contain your sniffles as you climbed onto the bus. Your eyes were red and puffy already from crying, and all you wanted to do was go home and cry some more. You were having a horrible day. It started when you woke up late for work; your alarm failing to work because your phone decided to freeze at some point during the middle on the night. You had woken up in a panic and barely had enough time to shower before your bus would arrive, which meant no time to do your hair and makeup and maintain your professional image. An your way to the bus stop down the block, waves of horrible cramps decided then it would be a good time to start, leaving you nauseous and lightheaded from the pain. And of course if that wasn’t enough, it seemed like all the kids at the daycare you worked at were particularly bratty and the icing on the cake was one of the children getting injured by accident and having to go to the emergency room. The accident was the last straw. You broke down and started crying in front of your kids and colleagues. So much so, that they decided it was late enough in the day to let you go home early.

You sigh and pull out your phone, texting your best friend. You knew she was still working and couldn’t pick up, but maybe she would have a moment to text. It was hit or miss with her being a coordi for a new rookie girl group that had recently debuted. It seemed all her time was devoted to her job. Not that that was a bad thing… except that your boyfriend was more busy than she was. You agreed to date Kyungsoo and be patient and understand that he had a rough life and schedule. You also agreed you wouldn’t be one of those clingy, whiny girlfriend who rang all the time when he didn’t. You were his noona after all. You were a strong, independent woman with a good job and your own place; you didn’t need him. You chose to be with him. At least that’s what you told other people. In reality, you missed him and wanted to go further in your relationship, but were afraid to scare him away. Which is why when you needed to cry or rant, you went to your friend and not him.

Me: I’m having a horrible day…

Me: I haven’t had a day this bad in a long time.

Me: Please tell me you are free to come over. I need ice cream and a movie stat.

You wait several minutes and sigh, putting away your phone. Of course she would be busy when you really needed her. Your bus arrived at your stop and you got off, feeling drained and defeated. You walk back home slowly. Exertion made your cramps worse, so you maintained a slow but steady pace. When you finally reach home, your phone goes off just as you put your keys in the lock. You pull out your phone and look at the screen.

Best Friend: I’ll see what I can do, but I’m pretty busy right now.

Best friend: Why don’t you take a Lush bath and order some take out?

You frown, your eyes filling with fresh tears again. Angrily, you wipe them away, before texting back, trying not to sound too disappointed.

Me: Fresh out of Lush. I totally forgot I was planning on going, but this day went to crap before I even woke up.

Me: Let me know if you get freed. I’m going to go lie on the floor and hope my cramps don’t kill me.

You unlock you door and walk into the house. Today, it seems incredibly lonely to come home to no one. You toss your keys on the table by the door and kick off your shoes before treading to your bedroom to change into comfier clothes. After changing into leggings and a baggy t-shirt, you walk to your kitchen to investigate the food situation. You look in the cupboards and the refrigerator only to find them pathetically empty. The food you do find is unappetizing at the moment. You want something comforting and delicious, not just filling.

The sound of the door unlocking gets your attention. Your best friend. She was coming to save you. A relieved sigh escapes you and your start for the door to greet her.

“Noona?” You freeze. She did it again. You could forgive her the first time when you had the cold, but she couldn’t do this to you today. Not today of all days. Anger started to boil in your blood and you clench your hands into fists.

“What are you doing here?” You ask, trying to keep the anger out of your voice. You didn’t want to be mean to him, after all you rarely got to see Kyungsoo, but this was not okay. You were not okay. It wasn’t okay to send him over when you were in this state! You had barely exchanged ‘I love you’s, hormones, periods, and bad days were too advanced for this stage of your relationship. Not when you barely saw each other.

“I…” The confused and distressed look on his face made you even more upset. You didn’t want to hurt him. This wasn’t his fault. But you were so angry… “__________-ah called me… She said you could use some cheering up… And from the looks of things, she was right. Noona, what’s wrong?”

You honestly couldn’t take any more from today. You were going to explode and Do Kyungsoo was going to be in the line of fire and there was literally nothing you could do to stop it at this point.

“What’s wrong? What’s wrong?” You scoff, your voice growing louder. “I ask for her help and she gives you her set of keys to my apartment so she doesn’t have to deal with me! I gave her those keys as a privilege and this is what she does with them? I’m going to call her and tell her what a terrible friend she is and she won’t be getting those keys back!” You cry, starting towards him to grab your phone from the table by the door. Kyungsoo’s eyes widen and he grabs your phone before you have the chance to. You stop in front of him, glaring.

“Kyungsoo, give me my phone! I’m going to call her! You can’t stop me!” Your growl out, swiping at his hands to steal your phone from his grip. He’s quicker than you though and puts your phone his back pocket, before grabbing your wrists. This only makes your angrier, and you pull against his hold. “Let me go, Kyungsoo!”

“Noona, please, calm down. Let’s talk about this.” He pleads, his face distressed and worried. You manage to break out of his hold, panting and shaking with rage. “Noona…” He tries again.

“NO! I can’t believe you’d defend her! Protect her when she deserves every little bit of this! That’s fine! I’m done with both of you! Screw off! You can go have fun together, the two of you, without me!” Before he can say another word, you storm out of the room, to your bedroom and slam the door with as much force as you can.

For a moment, Kyungsoo is still. He’s confused and a little hurt by your outburst, but he’s trying to process everything that you said. Did he miss something? He had thought that you’d be happy that you were there. Hoped that you’d fling yourself into his arms crying and tell him everything that was wrong. After all, he rushed over here as soon as ______ called him. He just wanted to take care of you; protect you. And when he heard your loud sobbing coming from the bedroom, it made him more frustrated and upset. He pulled out your phone and dialed your best friend.

“Hey Princess, did you like your little surprise?”

“It’s me.” He says simply.

“Why do you have _______-ah’s phone?” your best friend asks.

“She’s really mad at you- at us! Why did you send me over here if she was so bad? She clearly wanted to see you, not me.” Your best friend sighs.

“Look, Kyungsoo-ah. I had you go over there for a reason. First, I really thought she’d be happy to see you. I don’t think you realize how much she misses you when you’re gone. And now that you just had a comeback, you don’t exactly have time for her. It’s wrecking her, more than you know. She does her best to go through day to day, not saying anything about your relationship, and then when you do have a spare minute, she puts herself back together so you don’t have to worry about her.” Kyungsoo makes a face, pinching the bridge of his nose.

“She doesn’t have to… she could message me more… or… I’m sorry, I didn’t know she was so upset about me.” Your friend sighs.

“Kyungsoo, I’m going to be honest with you… If you can’t handle her at her worst, why do you think you deserve her at her best? She’s a good woman. A great friend and she loves you. I think more than you know. And she deserves just as much love and care back. So think about it. Are you giving her everything she deserves? Better yet, can you?” Kyungsoo purses his lips and sighs.

“I really don’t have an answer right now. Thanks for the perspective, _______.” He replies before hanging up the phone. He gently places your phone back on the table, shaking his head. He looks like a kicked puppy as he opens the front door and walks out.

You hold your breath when you heard the door close. Your tears stop long enough for you to stare at the closed door of your bedroom. Everything is still again. The house is now empty. And suddenly you’re in a panic, stumbling from your bedroom to the front door. Sure enough, he’s gone. You aren’t really surprised, seeing as how you acted. Disappointment hits you. But it doesn’t make you cry. Not until you notice he took the time and effort to lock the door before he left. You choke back a sob as you crumple to the floor. You were so mean to him and he still had the decency to lock the door.

You cry for several minutes, loudly, just incredibly mad at the world. You feel so drained. You’ve ruined everything and you don’t know how you are supposed to function after all of this. Crestfallen, you grab your phone and manage to crawl over to the couch. You climb onto it and lay down, crying yourself to sleep.

--

“Noona…” A gentle voice whisper to you. You let out a sigh and let your eyes flutter open. Kyungsoo is kneeling in front of you, brushing the hair out of your face. You blink a few times and realize your eyes hurt and are swollen. Cramps are still aching, but not nearly as bad as before. Your head hurts and you still feel a bit stuffy. And then it hits you. Everything that happened. You sit up with a gasp and stare at Kyungsoo before bursting into tears.

“Kyungsoo, I’m so sorry I was so terrible to you. I understand if you came back to break up with me. I’ve been so horrible to you, I’m sorry.” You ramble, covering your face. A small smile comes to Kyungsoo’s lips and he moves to sit next to you on the couch. He looks you over for a moment before gently pull you to his chest. You ball your hands in his shirt as you sob. He soothingly rubs your back, trying to calm you down.

“Noona, please… Listen to me. I’m going to do no such thing. In fact, this has made me realize how horrible I’ve been to you…” You hiccup, not believing your ears. He was blaming himself?

“Kyungsoo, it’s my-.” He cuts you off.

“________-ah. Listen. I haven’t been fair to you. I have been so busy and not giving you enough of my time. When I said I loved you before Christmas, I meant it. But I haven’t been proving it. And I realize it now. So… after I left, I did a little shopping. Because I wanted to spoil you. You’re special to me. My girlfriend.” You look up at him, absolutely astonished.

“You bought me things?” He gives a small chuckle and nods, leaning down to pull a gift bag onto the couch. You pull away from him and look at it, then back at him.

“I got a little help from ______. She helped me pick out a few things. But there are… a few things she said you would need, so… uh… blame her.” He was blushing and now you were curious. He hands you the bag and you immediately begin to pull things out. First was a Dear Daniel plushie. A smile comes to your face.

“This I did on my own.” He says proudly, smiling. “I know you love Hello Kitty. And you have tons of stuff of her. But, this is Hello Kitty’s boyfriend. I figure, if you’re Hello Kitty, then that’d make me Dear Daniel. I hope you’ll think of me when you’re alone and give this a hug when I can’t.” Tears clouded your vision already at how thoughtful the gift was. He wiped your tears, laughing lightly.

“Don’t cry yet, there’s more!” Gingerly you set down the plushie and give another chance to the bag. You pull out a bar of salted dark chocolate. You laugh lightly and dig in the bag again, this time pulling out a bag of sweet tart gummies and a bottle of ibuprofen. “_________-ah said those were… essential to you right now. That it would help, even if just a little bit.” He was blushing again. You put the ‘essentials’ down and place and hand on his knee.

“You don’t have to be so bashful about it… It’s part of being in an adult relationship…” You tease gently, making him turn redder.

“I know! It’s just… still strange to me. I’m around a bunch of men all the time. It’s not something that comes up…” He mumbles, looking at your hand on his leg. You pat his knee and nod.

“That’s fair.” You say before turning back to the bag. A smile lights his face again.

“I had help with this too, but ________ said you’d be really happy about this!” You pull out of the bag a small bag from Lush. Your eyes widen and you break into a smile. “________ said you were out. And that baths help relieve stress. So… I figured we could run you a bath and you can tell me all about your horrible day. I know I haven’t been there to listen as much as I should and I’m going to do my best to be here. I’ll only be a phone call away, I promise.”

You all but launched yourself into his lap and hugged him tightly around the neck, tears escaping you again.

“Soo…” You sniffle into his neck. He pushes you away a bit to look at your face and brush your tears with his thumbs.

“Hey now… So many tears…” He whispers, looking a little worried.

“I love you.” You choke out, making him smile again. With your face still cupped in his hands, he leans forward and catches your lips gently. The kiss is soft and passionate and only lasts a few moments before he pulls away slowly.

“I love you too, ________.” You smile a bit, wiping your own eyes that won’t seem to stop leaking.

“I’m sorry for yelling at you. You just… happened to be there right when I had a meltdown.” Kyungsoo laughs softly, shaking his head.

“I was more than a little shocked, but that’s alright. I need to be able to handle the bad if I want the good, right?” You laugh a little yourself, reaching out to pinch his cheek lightly.

“Yah~ Look at you being all sweet and smart about this.”

“What can I say?” He smiles cheekily before moving you off his lap. “Now, I think we should run you that bath so you can tell me all about your bad day.” He stands up and helps you to your feet before grabbing the small bag from Lush.

“Can you call in delivery while we talk? I’ll pay.” Kyungsoo clicks his tongue and pouts a bit.

“Yaaaah~” He whines. “I’m supposed to be treating you.” You snicker a bit as he guides you to the bathroom.

“So we’re having delivery then?” He kisses your forehead sweetly and smiles.

“I’ll call it in while you get ready. Let me take care of you. You’re my noona, but I’m still your boyfriend. So let me treat you for a change.” You hug him close, resting your head on his chest. You listen to the comforting beat of his heart and smile.

“Okay.” You say simply, giving in. It was nice to know you had someone to rely on. You’d have to call your friend and thank her later. But for now, you had a date with your boyfriend and a bathtub to soak in.