Ji Hye regrets her friends and she regrets her bad decisions. Mainly, she regrets Luhan’s existence. And her bad decisions. Especially her bad decisions.

{HunHye}

-0-

Ji Hye does not like parties. She especially doesn’t like Luhan’s parties.

At the moment, she’s pressed against a wall, trying her best to become one with it and ignoring the couple that’s making out next to her. She has a plastic cup clenched in her hand and is currently wishing Jongin the worst possible death. While she’s at it, she might as well curse Yixing for running around in the same social circle as Luhan.

She can’t believe she actually let Jongin talk her into going to a stupid party. It’s Saturday night and Ji Hye is more than used to lazing around in her room while listening to music and doing her homework. She’s definitely not used to the horrible electro-dance music blaring through the speakers and staring dubiously into what is undoubtedly spiked punch. God, she hates college parties.

“You look stupid standing there,” Jongin yells over the music, frowning at her.

She scowls back at him. “You look stupid on a daily basis,” she snaps. A quick sweep around the room only serves to give her a headache; dim lighting and tacky strobe lights. “This is stupid. I hate this.”

Jongin only gulps down his drink (he’s already had three and she can tell he’s tipsy in the uncoordinated but still somewhat graceful sway he has) and rolls his eyes. “Lighten up, Ji,” he says lightly, his words beginning to slur. “This is a party and you’re nineteen. Have some fun.”

“How about no,” she says flatly, shoving her drink into his hand. She doesn’t like alcohol and she doesn’t like getting absolutely faced either. She has an essay due on Monday and she’d rather like to finish it before she fails her module. “I’m going back to my room.”

A hand around her upper arm halts her movement. Jongin is pouting ridiculously at her, bottom lip jutting out and eyes bright with unshed tears. She curses under her breath – he knows how weak she is when it comes to his puppy eyes. “Stay,” he whines, leaning into her in a ridiculously needy way. “You can’t leave me here all alone while I’m drunk off my . Someone might take advantage of me.”

She bites back her scathing retort of maybe you shouldn’t drink so much, you lightweight in favour of sighing and shutting her eyes briefly. The things she does for Jongin.

“Fine, whatever,” she grinds out. Her scowl only deepens when Jongin's face lights up and he drags her onto the dance floor. Well, it’s not really a dance floor. More like a crush of bodies as drunk people grind up against total strangers.

It’s not that Ji Hye doesn’t dance. After all, she is in dance club with Jongin. She just doesn’t like dancing at parties because with all the alcohol consumed, it’s less dancing and more with clothes on. If one more person grabs her , she’s going to end up in jail for assault.

She manages to extract herself from Jongin's tight grip and elbow her way to a human-free area in the living room. Her has been d at least twelve times and she feels much too flustered at the moment to be fully functioning. At this rate, she’s probably going to snap at the next person who talks to her. She hopes it’s Luhan.

“Never thought I’d see Song Ji Hye at one of Luhan hyung’s parties.”

A retort – one that would probably send the speaker crying thanks to her sharp tongue – is on the tip of her tongue, but she swallows it down when she notices just who is speaking. Instead, she allows her scowl to relax into a half smile as Oh Sehun leans against the wall next to her.

“It’s not really my thing,” she states. “Didn’t know it was yours though.”

“Luhan hyung’s a friend,” he amends. “I was dragged here.”

Her half-smile widens into a full smile as she snorts. “That makes two of us.”

He bumps her shoulder with his and they let the conversation die. They’re not really friends. Not close friends, at least. They’re friendly. They share a couple lectures and he’s an okay guy. He’s funny when he chooses to be and behind that indifferent mask hides a fun guy. It doesn’t hurt that he has a nice smile (when he deigns to show it) and a dry humour that rivals her own.

“You’re friends with Luhan?” Ji Hye asks, tearing her eyes away from the hilariously bad dance battle Jongdae and Chanyeol were attempting.  They’re bad enough dancers when they’re sober, but add in a couple shots of vodka and the dance battle is interesting in the way a train wreck is.

“Unfortunately,” he mutters, glancing at her out of the corner of his eye. “I don’t think you are though.”

“I’m not,” she confirms. “Yixing and Jongin are. Unfortunately.”

He smirks at her. “Figures Jongin would drag you.”

She answers with a roll of her eyes and nudges him. She takes a moment to appraise him – jeans and a graphic tee with a leather jacket shielding him from the cold, his platinum blonde hair unstyled and flopping into his face every so often – and silently huffs at how good he looks in something so simple. She’s pretty sure she can’t pull off something so simple as he can. It’s unfair, really.

Her musings are cut short by Luhan’s obnoxious drunk voice yelling, “We’re going to play Spin the Bottle! Oh Sehun, get your skinny down here right now.”

“You’ve been summoned,” she says, the slightest bit of a taunt hidden in her voice.

His face crumples into a scowl as he pushes off the wall. “Oh, shut up.”

She laughs, but it doesn’t last long as Jongin bounds forward and grabs her hand, dragging her towards the circle of people. “A game,” her best friend cries happily. She hates how cheerful he is when he’s drunk. “Ji Hye, come on.”

She’s pretty sure all the blood has drained from her face and she can hear Sehun’s mocking laugh as they pass him. Of course, it’s quick to stop when Luhan shrieks his name again (how does his voice even reach such decibels?).

Has Ji Hye ever mentioned she hates parties? She hates Jongin too, and it shows in the way she’s currently glaring at him. “I hate you,” she hisses as the male sways in his seat, half-leaning against her.

Jongin actually giggles. “Aww, love you too, Ji!” he cooed. “My little Jiji bear.”

“Call me that one more time and I swear I will end you.” In a grumble, she adds, “And I am not little, goddammit.”

“Okay,” Luhan says in an overly loud voice. “Bottle. Spin. Closet. Kiss. Seven minutes. ‘Kay leggo!”

Ji Hye makes a face because wow, that didn’t make sense but since most of the people here were drunk and Spin the Bottle was Spin the Bottle, it didn’t really matter. Once again, she wonders why she puts up with Jongin. Luhan tosses the bottle and it ends up hitting Baekhyun in the head. Either Luhan didn’t throw that hard or all that alcohol made Baekhyun numb because he didn’t react other than to laugh hysterically. She suppresses a sigh. Save her from inebriated college idiots.

The bottle spins and Ji Hye can only smirk when the neck of the bottle points dangerously close towards her, but slightly to the right – Jongin. Well. Someone’s going to be happy. If he remembers it, that is.

Being the wonderful best friend she is, she gleefully throws Jongin into the arms of his crush (although he insists that he only admires Baekhyun-ssi for his voice) and hopes he doesn’t puke on Baekhyun. Frankly, she could care less about the ensuing embarrassment and is more concerned about needing to drag a vomit-covered Jongin back to his dorm. At least it’d be an interesting conversation with Kyungsoo.

She catches Sehun’s eye from across the circle and grins. Sehun merely shakes his head in amusement. You’re vindictive, she sees him mouth. Her response is a wink.

It’s a shame Jongin won’t remember much, she thinks bemusedly as Jongin and Baekhyun stumble out of the closet fifteen minutes later (Luhan had lost count and, judging from the moans, the two in the closet were enjoying themselves too much for Ji Hye to interrupt). He looks absolutely wrecked, with his lips red and swollen and what looks like a couple hickeys into the skin of his neck and collarbone. His hair is a mess and his shirt is all crumpled, not to mention he’s missing a couple of bracelets that she might have seen in Baekhyun’s pocket. She’d take a picture, but she’s not that vindictive. Yet. Besides, not telling him how he got the hickeys is its own brand of vindication. He’ll be going crazy over it and she’ll be insanely happy to dangle that juicy tidbit over him.

She listens with half an ear as Jongin babbles about his amazing make out session with Baekhyun hyung as she watches the others get paired up with mild interest. The only one she found even remotely as hilarious as Baekhyun's and Jongin's was Soojung’s and Yifan's. It’s rare for any man to resist Soojung, but she supposes his batting for the other team totally excuses it. It’s a shame though, she sighs mentally, that a man like Yifan is into men instead of women.

It’s not long before Sehun finds himself with the bottle shoved into his hand. Ji Hye is just glad she managed to circumvent that. She knows Luhan, but she doesn’t know him the way Yixing or even Jongin does. Oddly enough, he catches her eye for a moment so brief she might have imagined it. She probably did.

She barely has to wonder which unlucky person will be stuck in a closet with Sehun for fifteen minutes – she hopes it’ll be another guy, because that would be hilarious – before the bottle is spun and –

It’s pointing at her. It’s pointing at her.

What.

She knows she’s probably blinking stupidly at the bottle, but it’s pointing at her and her mind can’t seem to compute what it means just yet.

“Ji Hye, you lucky bastard,” Jongin yells into her ear (drunk Jongin never did understand the importance of inside voice). “Your turn to go make out with Oh Sehun!!!” She winces at the exclamation marks practically bouncing around the room.

“Shut up,” she snaps, pushing him over and being absolutely unconcerned when he falls over and doesn’t get back up.

A hand enters her vision and she lets her gaze travel it, eventually meeting Sehun’s own amused (is he really anything else around her?) gaze.

“You coming?” he asks, shaking his hand in front of her a little.

“Somebody’s eager,” she teases, but accepts his hand nonetheless. He treats her with an extremely rare grin – albeit a small one – and she only has a moment to think that he should smile more before she finds herself unceremoniously pushed into the closet by Luhan.

Damn Luhan.

The only reason she’s not sprawled out on the floor of the surprisingly spacious closet is due to Sehun’s hands on her waist, keeping her steady. Unfortunately, he’s not that steady himself and he grunts as they hit the back wall. The door slams behind them, with a sobering Luhan reminding them to keep the rating below R.

“ing hell, Lu,” she swears. “I swear he’s even more of a menace when he’s pissed drunk.” She glances at Sehun and in the dim lighting, she can see him staring at her, mirth dancing in his gaze. “What?”

“I never knew you had such a potty mouth,” he teases, eyes twinkling faintly. He doesn’t smile, doesn’t grin, but his amusement still manages to show and she has to wonder if it’s a good or bad thing that she seems to entertain him so.

“You’ve never seen me around Jongin while he’s drunk,” she replies drily, although the smile threatening to break out takes away the sting of her words. Only then does she seem to realise that she’s still pressed up against Sehun – not that it’s a bad place to be, mind you – and she should probably move away. It’d be easier to have a conversation when they’re not breathing in each other’s exhales.

Only… well, she doesn’t really want to move away. Her fingers tighten slightly in his lapels reflexively before she releases her grip and clears . “You can, ah, let go now,” she murmurs, suddenly finding the dim closet a lot more interesting than Sehun’s face.

He looks down at where his hands are resting on her waist and blinks a couple times. “Right,” he says, lifting his hands and letting them dangle at his sides while she steps away. “So… we’re stuck in here for fifteen minutes. Together.”

“Brilliant observation, Sherlock.”

“Why, thank you, Watson.”

She bites her lip to hide in a smile. She’s sort of lucky to be privy to his humorous side; he has a little bit of an ice king reputation around the school.

“What should we do?” she asks, looking around before deciding that it wouldn’t be so bad to sit on the floor and does just that. She sees his silhouette hesitantly mirror her so they’re sitting next to each other.

She knows what she wants to do – Oh Sehun is an attractive specimen of the male species and she’s definitely not blind. However, it’s absolutely Not Okay to suggest they make the best of however long they have in the closet to make out because she’s better than that. There are better ways to get a male to kiss her.

Tempting, though. Very tempting.

The silence stretches. She looks over at Sehun, only to look away with a blush colouring her face when she notices he’s not quite looking at her eyes. In fact, he’s looking at her lips and unexpected much?

“So… um,” she utters, floundering for a topic to breach that didn’t make her sound like a nerd (although she’s definitely one) or a murderous psycho (which Jongin has pointed out multiple times she has a tendency to sound like, mainly around him). God, her conversational skills were horrendous. She tugs the sleeve of her cardigan in a nervous gesture before glancing back at Sehun. The words she was about to say die in when she sees his intense gaze.

“Ji Hye,” he breathes and oh, the breathy quality in his voice is delicious. “Stop talking.”

She’s about to retort that she doesn’t talk that much, thank you very much with as much indignation as she can muster, but a single sound doesn’t leave her lips because they’re currently covered by Sehun’s own pair.

She blinks in surprise before letting her eyes slide shut. There’s the barest of pressure against her lips and she presses back, wanting – needing – more.

His lips aren’t soft. His chapped lips slide against her own equally chapped pair a little hesitantly, the slide not as smooth as it should be. It doesn’t really matter because it’s still perfect.

There’s a niggling voice in the back of her mind (it sounds suspiciously like Joonmyun) telling her to abort, push him away and never talk to him again. That voice is immediately drowned out when he gently grips the back of her neck to pull her closer. It elicits a small gasp and allows his tongue to slip between her lips. It’s almost embarrassing how fast he gains dominance, but Ji Hye hasn’t kissed a boy since she was fourteen and thought that Sungyeol sunbaenim was a pretty nice guy and he was cute too, so why not?

(To this day, Sungyeol still won’t talk to her unless he knows her brothers or Jongin aren’t anywhere nearby to report to her father. Ah, the woes of being the maknae with overprotective brothers and best friend.)

He leans back a little when they need to breathe. She doesn’t know how she ended up on her back, Sehun hovering over her. She in a breath as she lets her eyes roam his hooded gaze and swollen lips. She only has moment to think I did that before he’s leaning down again to press their lips together. Once. Twice. Three times. She pulls him down once more before he can move away, capturing his bottom lip between her teeth and tugging slightly. The growl he lets loose sends pride shooting through her because she finally managed to pierce that rock-hard armour of his.

The next kiss he pressed against has an obvious message – claim. He’s trying to assert his dominance over her and as much as she might (begrudgingly) like Sehun, she’s not something to be possessed. He trails kisses down her jaw, the side of her neck. He seems to be searching for something and he finds it when her breath hitches. She can feel his grin against her neck and there’s definitely some mischief going on when he latches his mouth on that one spot and .

“,” she gasps out, clutching his hair as pleasure shoots through her. “Sehun.”

He actually chuckles. She tightens her grip on his hair and she can see him bite back a wince as he smirks. “Found your sweet spot,” he whispers against her skin in a tone so smug she just wants to kiss it away. So she does.

They part for another short reprieve and Sehun takes that time to return to the extremely sensitive spot on her neck. It’s utter torture, but she definitely doesn’t want him to stop.

The door slams open, causing the two occupants of the closet to spring apart and blink in the sudden brightness.

“Had fun?” Luhan asks in an irritatingly casual manner as he surveys the situation with a knowing glint in his eye.

It takes a while for Ji Hye’s brain to restart – oh god, she was making out with Oh Sehun, her friend – and she’s out of the closet, running her hand through her unruly hair and rearranging her clothes so she doesn’t look like Jongin while grabbing said friend before he ends up face-planting in Baekhyun’s crotch or something.

She had let herself forget why they were in the damn closet in the first place, let herself think that what had happened in there was real. They were placed in there to make out in the first place, so he was obviously just taking advantage of the situation. That doesn’t make it hurt any less.

She pointedly ignores Sehun’s shouts of her name.

•●•●•●•

It’s so very difficult for her to get out of bed the next morning, but she forces herself to because she has an essay. That being said, it doesn’t necessarily mean she has to suffer alone.

Ji Hye stalks to her bathroom, only to curse when she notices the ‘bruise’ on her neck. She prods it and lets loose another barrage of swearing, including a few Japanese curses she had picked up from watching too much anime with Jongin. Damn Sehun.

“I hate my life,” she grumbles at her reflection in the mirror before heading off to shower with a sigh.

Her bad mood doesn’t last long as she bursts into Jongin's and Kyungsoo's dorm room with the code Kyungsoo had given her last year.

“Rise and shine, sleeping beauty,” she exclaims in an overly cheerful voice, dragging the curtains over Jongin's bed with a gleefully evil grin. “Sun’s up and we’ve got work to do.”

“ you, Song Ji Hye,” Jongin moans out from amongst the blankets he had buried himself in last night. “I’m hungover and it’s all your ing fault. .”

She steals his pillow from underneath his head with practiced grace. She doesn’t know how, but she’s been charged with acting as Jongin's mother while said woman isn’t around. It isn’t as bad as it sounds because she gets to torture him daily while she tries to wake him up. She couldn’t let Kyungsoo have all the fun, after all.

“Not my fault you’re a lightweight,” she chides, ripping his blankets away from him and leaving him in his boxers.

“I’m not dressed!”

“It’s not like it’s nothing I haven’t seen before.”

He makes an unflattering gargle, sounding like a drowning whale, if it was possible. He glares up at her, but she can only smirk in amusement as the action only serves to make him look like a puppy whose nap has just been disturbed. “I hate you,” he utters with conviction.

“Love you too, Jjong,” she laughs in a poor imitation of him from last night. Her smile threatens to slip off her face, but she keeps it on with sheer willpower. Nope. She’s not going to think about it. Not until she absolutely has to, at least.

“Go away,” her childhood friend whines, burying his face in his sheets. “Leave me to my misery.”

“Nope. It’s my duty as your best friend to make your day worse,” she says brightly, rifling through his drawers to get his clothes out and ushering him into the shower.

Kyungsoo watches from his bed, a fond smile on his lips. “I left some aspirin on the counter,” he calls.

“I love you, Kyungsoo,” Jongin sighs, rushing to the bathroom in a more enthusiastic fashion.

“You pamper him,” Kyungsoo observes as he watches Ji Hye toss Jongin's clothes on the side table by the bathroom door and dump his sheets and pillow onto his bed. “Thanks for dragging him back before four, by the way.”

“Eh. I was bored of the party anyway.”

“You don’t like parties,” Kyungsoo points out. Their gazes meet and they dissolve into laughter. That would be the understatement of the century. After all, she and Kyungsoo had met at one of those stupid parties Jongin had dragged them to and bonded over their mutual hate of overly big social gatherings. “How did you get dragged there?”

Her face scrunches in displeasure. “I told him I didn’t have any plans.” Kyungsoo's laughing really isn’t helping matters right now. “Shut up, Soo.”

“er,” the elder cackles, rolling around on his bed. She properly looks at him. Oh, he’s still in his pyjamas. He regains his breath enough to add, “You should have told me. We could’ve been each other’s failsafe. There was this movie we could have watched.”

She groans, allowing herself onto Kyungsoo's bed and easily ignoring the elder’s protests. “I figured you were invited too and figured we could have just snuck out together.”

He snorts. “And leave Jongin to fend for himself? That’s a Bad Idea.” He peers over at her. “So, movie next time?”

Before she can answer, Jongin exits his bathroom with a scoff, looking more like a human and less like a reanimated corpse. “The two of you planning another date?” he teases, towelling his hair.

“Stop ing, then,” Kyungsoo shoots back playfully.

“I’d rather spend an evening with Kyungsoo rather than an evening with you,” Ji Hye adds. “At least I know he’d be sober.”

“Get off my case,” Jongin huffs. He tugs her off the bed. “Come on, we have work to do and the library is blessedly empty. And quiet.”

•●•●•●•

There are a great many things Ji Hye finds extremely disturbing. Jongin's unwavering concentration on her is one of them.

She sighs, looking up from where she had been rummaging in her bag for her hair tie. She only has that one hair tie and her sister will kill her because it’s not even hers. She should probably invest in more hair ties.

“Is there a problem?” she asks bluntly. “I mean, I know I’m pretty and all, but there’s no need to stare so hard.”

A balled up piece of paper is promptly thrown in her face – and misses because hungover Jongin has horrible aim.

“You’ve got a hickey,” he hisses, as if it’s some horrible secret.

She doesn’t even bother to lie. That would be underestimating Jongin's intelligence more than usual and he’s pretty much her best friend. She’s cruel, but not that deliberately cruel.

“What of it?” she says in a low voice.

“How?”

She eyes him carefully. “I’m not going to let you gut whoever did this to me.”

“I would never,” he splutters. “I’ll let your brothers do it for me.”

She dismisses the entire situation with a flick of her fingers, an irritated frown marring her features. “Forget it,” she says firmly. “If I were you, I’d worry about the multiple ones you’re covering up.” She pointedly looks at the sweater he’s wearing, its main purpose more to disguise rather than warm.

A blush colours his cheeks. “I don’t even know how I got them,” he wails quietly, clutching at his hair as he slumps over the table. He straightens when he notices her smirk and points an accusing finger in her face. “You know! Tell me.”

She pushes his finger away with a shake of her head and continues rummaging in her bag for her hair tie. It has to be in there, because if it isn’t she’s a dead –

Her hair tie is suddenly dangling in front of her, pinched between two pale fingers. She almost dreads to see who exactly is in possession of the thing she’s searching for. She expected it, but her heart still stutters at the sight of Sehun’s I’m utterly disinterested in life face. It certainly serves as a reminder as to how she had lost it.

She clears inaudibly and plucks it from his fingers, tying her hair into a short ponytail. “Thanks,” she says quietly, struggling to meet his eyes. A voice in her mind is yelling abort, flee, do something but the rest of her just enjoys being uncooperative and she’s left staring dumbly at him. She inhales sharply when Jongin kicks her shin and spares him a glare. She catches a glimpse of his what the hell is this guy doing here, explain now stare, which she dutifully ignores.

“You dropped it,” Sehun offers as an explanation. His mouth (she tries not to think what that sinful mouth had felt like against hers) twists into a frown as his pins her into place with a serious stare (not that she could have moved even if he hadn’t; his presence is too much). “We need to talk.”

“The hell is going on?”

Sehun and Ji Hye take no notice of Jongin's quiet exclamation. She’s struggling to come up with an extremely good excuse why she shouldn’t have a talk with him.

Apparently she’s taking too long because he takes her by the elbow with a roll of his eyes and drags her out of the library despite her quiet protests. He releases her elbow once they’re out of the library, free to raise their voices (which she hopes isn’t necessary).

“What was that about?” she demands.

“We need to talk,” he repeats. She flinches slightly at how flat his voice sounds. “Alone.”

She crosses her arms in what she realises is a defensive manner. It doesn’t really matter at the moment because she needs all the defence she can get. She balls her fists in the sleeves of her too-long hoodie that she had stolen from Jongin a couple years back. It’s the most comfortable thing she could find this morning and she needs all the comfort she can get.

“We’re alone,” she murmurs, “so talk.”

His lips press into a thin line for a second before he begins, “About last night – ”

“I don’t want to talk about it,” she squeaks, cutting him off. She can tell he’s not happy even though his facial muscles barely twitch. It twinges that he’s got that mask on again – the mask he puts on the deter people from talking to him.

“I think it’s kind of important – ” This time, he cuts himself off. His attention is drawn to somewhere below her chin and she feels outrage well up (she thought he was different, damn it). She’s a fraction of a second away from snapping at him when he reaches out and traces the mark he had left on her neck last night. She jerks away, stepping away from him in a skittish manner. “Did I… did I do that?”

“Forget it,” she says tersely, pulling up the collar of her hoodie slightly. It doesn’t do much but focus his attention on the purplish-blue mark. She wasn’t overly concerned about it before, but she is now.

“I’m sorry.” His quiet apology is as sudden as it is unexpected. It’s also not what she was hoping for and she forcefully pushes down the disappointment she feels. It’s stupid, she tells herself. I’m stupid.

“I should go. I have work to do.”

“Ji Hye, wait – “

It’s only too easy to brush past him, pushing away the hand that reaches out for her.

•●•●•●•

“Party tonight,” Kyungsoo pants, looking like he just ran from his dorm all the way to her dorm building (which is a good three blocks away from his, almost halfway across campus). She has half a second to panic (oh god, what if Sehun’s there) before he continues, “We have plans, studying for that test we have for music theory. I’ll bring the movies, you prepare the popcorn, I’ll see you at seven.” He leaves with a brush of lips against her cheek.

“Well,” she says into open air, “good talk, Kyungsoo.” She continues her walk back to her room before pausing. “We don’t have a test for music theory.”

True to his word, Kyungsoo shows up at seven with a small pile of movies and a six-pack of beer.

“If there are any horror movies in there, I’m kicking you out and letting you ‘study’ on your own,” she warns, holding the door open. She dressed in sweatpants and an oversized sweater her mom had knitted for her, but Kyungsoo isn’t dressed any better, in sweatpants and an old t-shirt.

He rolls his eyes. “Baby,” he mutters under his breath. She hears it anyway and doesn’t hesitate to lob a pillow at his head. He looks around the room. “Alone again?”

She snorts. “I might as well live in this room alone. My roommate is MIA more often than not.” She looks around the room and shrugs. “Actually it’s kind of nice.”

“What is your roommate’s name?” he asks, looking at the picture on her side table of her and her roommate back in freshman year.

… That’s a good question.

“Hell if I know,” she replies nonchalantly. “Any time we see each other, we just call each other roomies.”

The look on Kyungsoo's face is utterly disbelieving. “Really?”

“Really.”

“… Ji Hye-yah, you’re a horrible roommate.”

“Like you’re any better. Don’t get on my case. Just pass me a movie.”

They manage to watch the movie silently for a whole ten minutes before Kyungsoo decides that the silence has gone on long enough.

“So…” he says, dragging her disinterested gaze from the laptop screen to him. “Where’d you get the hickey?”

She groans, flopping down onto her bed and dangerously close to flipping her precious laptop off the box she had placed it on in lieu of a table. “Can this not be a thing?”

“No,” the elder answers seriously, poking her side. “Explain.”

“It’s stupid.”

“I’m waiting.”

Ji Hye sighs, hugging her pillow close. She supposes it won’t be so bad to tell Kyungsoo. It’s not like she did anything wrong… but it’s complicated, with Sehun. There’s the problem – Sehun. He’s just so… she can’t even think of an adjective right now.

“Well, that was dumb,” he states once she’s done with her story.

“I know,” she sighs.

“You should have held onto him and dragged him to a bedroom.”

Her eyes widen, almost rivalling Kyungsoo's. “Kyungsoo!” she screeches.

“What?” he says. “It’s obvious you like the guy.”

Incoherent words tumble out of at the accusation. Song Ji Hye doesn’t have crushes because that is ridiculously girly, utterly uncalled for and just plain weird. No. That is a thought that cannot enter her mind because Sehun is a friend and they share lectures and other like that.

Kyungsoo pokes her side as she attempts to smother herself. Thanks to the menace she calls a friend, she’s got that idea stuck in her head and she has to begrudgingly realise that she actually like likes Sehun.

“I hate you,” she crumbles, her voice muffled by the pillow.

The elder only laughs. “It’s not my fault you get yourself in these kinds of complicated situations.”

No, it’s her fault and she wishes she wasn’t so skilled in getting herself into complicated situations.

•●•●•●•

“So how long are you planning on hiding from him?”

Ji Hye’s hand reflexively hits Jongin's face as she jumps. “, Jongin,” she hisses. “Don’t scare me like that.”

He regards her with a stare too serious for his face. “This,” he says, gesturing at her looking around the corner, “is absolutely ridiculous. You can’t avoid him forever. You have lectures with him, remember?”

“I can try,” she replies stubbornly. “I’m good at like that, okay?”

“That’s a load of bull,” he mutters. “Just talk to him.”

She looks at him with an unimpressed stare. “This isn’t going to make me tell you what happened that night,” she growls.

“You’re a horrible person.”

“Your stupid pout isn’t going to work on me this time, bastard.” Her eyes widen and she quickly pushes him into the nearest empty room. “Crap!”

She shuts the door as quietly as she can, her heart pounding as Sehun passes. She peeks out the window installed in the door, letting out a sigh of relief when he passes the corner. She turns back to Jongin's crossed arms and judgemental expression.

“You’re pathetic,” he comments.

Ji Hye scowls. “I don’t like confrontation, okay?”

He smiles sympathetically and slings an arm around her shoulders as they walk to their next lecture. “I’m sorry he apologised for kissing you.”

“… That isn’t making me feel better,” she grumbles.

“Want me to hit him for you?” he offers.

She sighs, grinning at her best friend and shoving him lightly. “No, because you’ll end up breaking your hand again.”

He looks affronted at the reminder. “I thought we were never going to bring that up ever again!”

To be precise, Jongin was the one who insisted they never bring up his hand-breaking incident again, not her. Then again, Ji Hye figured it was a good reminder that he should avoid punching people when he doesn’t know how. She’s actually impressed he managed to break his hand in five different places just by punching one guy. Now, that takes a whole different kind of skill. Then again, the two of them had been thirteen at the time while the guy Jongin had tried to punch was a little over twenty.

“I’m always going to bring that up,” she says with a cheeky grin, finally allowing her arm to wrap around his waist in a familiar gesture. “That’s what best friends do.”

He hums under his breath thoughtfully. “So you’re okay, right?”

She shrugs. “I will be.” She has to. “Ugh, I’m so dumb.”

Jongin laughs. “Aw, you’re finally acting like an actual female!” Good lord, he’s actually squealing.

She winces. Is it a wonder that she wonders if they had switched genders when they fell off that tree while they were children? She thinks not.

“Yeah, I’m finally acting like you,” she retorts. He retaliates by punching her shoulder. “Ow. You still hit like a girl, by the way.”

Maybe it’s karma. Or maybe it’s just Jongin's horrible way of paying her back for withholding the important information of the hickeys still marring his neck. Before Jongin can respond (most likely some unflattering curse), she finds herself knocking into a solid body and crashing to the ground.

Well, the famous Song Ji Hye Clumsiness strikes again. About time, too. It’s been suspiciously missing the past week.

Goddammit, Jongin. She’s not surprised that her so-called best friend had fled already. He tends to enjoy leaving her to her embarrassment.

Or torture, she amends as she finally gets a good look at the person she had crashed into and realises she’s currently lying on top of Oh Sehun.

Help.

“I – uh, I’m sorry,” she croaks out.

His face doesn’t change. It seems like he’s slipped into that indifferent mask he shows everyone else and it kind of that she’s not an exception anymore. “Ji Hye-ssi.”

Ouch. Ji Hye doesn’t wince, but she sure wants to. She can’t remember the last time she’s heard him speak to her in such a cold voice. She can feel his hands on her waist as if it’s burning her and… yeah, she should probably get up. “I should – ”

“Stop avoiding me.”

“I’m not avoiding you,” she protests, although the way her voice rises an octave is telling in its own way. Ji Hye stands up – she doesn’t lament the loss of Sehun’s hands on her waist – and dusts her clothes off, glancing around. People aren’t staring, which is a small blessing. She’s going to kill Jongin.

He crosses his arms, looking unimpressed. She tries to walk past him, but he keeps standing in her way. She contemplates shoving him out of the way, but that would only end up with both of them sprawled in the floor again. Plus, skin contact. Not such a good idea right now. Or ever.

“I’m not convinced,” he says flatly, once she gives up trying to go past him and stands with resigned irritation. “Can we just talk?”

“There’s nothing to talk about,” she snaps, flailing her arms. “I just – we just – ugh, forget it. It’s over, so let’s just forget it.”

He runs a hand through his hair, messing it up further. “We can’t just forget it,” he growls haltingly. “About that night at Luhan hyung’s party – ”

“It was just a kiss.” She doesn’t know where it came from, but she regrets it the moment it leaves . That’s not true, but things between them are strained enough. She doesn’t want to let the thing mess up what they had.

Now that she thinks about it, it’s probably a little too late for that.

“Just… a kiss,” he repeats, an odd expression on his face. “Is that all it was for you?”

“I – no, but it’s just…” No, she can’t do this. She. Can’t. Do this. “I have to go.”

And Ji Hye does what she does best (when it comes to Sehun, at least): she runs away.

•●•●•●•

She’s a coward. She’s a coward and she knows it. However, Ji Hye has more things to worry about than her problem with Sehun.

“What do I do?” Jongin wails, burying herself into her comforter. “I did – he just – and we – AAAAAAAAHHH!!!”

“It’s a good thing I don’t have a roommate to complain about noise,” Ji Hye grumbles, nudging Jongin's foot to the side so she can sit on her bed. Her roommate had just moved out a couple days ago, so she officially has the room all to herself.

“Ji Hye,” he whines. “How could you not tell me?”

“I was going to, but you figured it out all on your own, didn’t you?”

“Baekhyun,” he cries, apparently attempting to smother himself in her pillows. She swiftly pulls it away; the last thing she needs is to sleep on a murder weapon. There’s a tiny part of her that says she doesn’t have the energy to deal with his problems right now, since she has problems of her own to deal with. Still, best friend is best friend and it’s her duty to help Jongin through his crisis.

Maybe she should have just told him rather than have him figure it out by himself.

“I can’t believe I freaked out on him,” he continues, his voice muffled from where he’s attempting to strangle himself with her blankets. Oh, honestly… “And he just stood there! I’m never going to be able to face him again.”

She sighs, resisting the urge to rub at her forehead. There’s a pounding starting up in the back of her skull and she really doesn’t need to fall sick. Midterms are in a week.

“Jongin,” she begins in a placating tone, “I’m pretty sure he understands why you blew up at him. I think you should just tell him how you feel.”

Her best friend made a noise that sounded suspiciously like a dying whale. “How about no.”

“How about yes,” she argues. “He obviously feels the same way and, hey, might as well give him a chance to reject you.” He rips her blankets away and glares at her. “If – and it’s quite a big if, mind you – he doesn’t feel the same way.”

He doesn’t respond, only mumbling to himself and entangling himself further into her blankets. He doesn’t look like he’s going to move any time soon and she glances at her clock. She has to leave soon; Joonmyun had managed to weasel her into acting in the play they were holding. She honestly doesn’t know how she managed to get herself into that mess, but there’s extra credit. Ji Hye will never say no to extra credit.

She gets up with a sigh, telling Jongin she’s going to be at rehearsal and there’s food in the fridge. There’s also the added threat of finish it all and die, but otherwise she’s sure he’ll be fine. She figures she’ll let him wallow in his own misery for a couple hours, then send Baekhyun his way after rehearsal.

He’ll thank her later, she’s sure. As long as he doesn’t defile her bedroom. If he does, he’d better be sure she’s going to go after his hide.

•●•●•●•

It’s amazing how bad Ji Hye’s memory is. How she managed to survive college until now, she’ll never know.

How could she forget that Sehun was in the same play? In fact, he’s her co-lead. A miracle that she forgot, really.

She in a deep breath and holds it in for three seconds before releasing it. All she has to do is pretend nothing is wrong.

Easier said than done.

“Ji Hye,” Joonmyun hisses during their ten minute break, “quit messing up!”

She winces. “I’m sorry,” she mutters. “I’m just – ” She cuts herself off; saying she’s nervous is a big No. “Sorry.” She smirks ever-so-slightly. “Take a chill pill, Joonie.”

Joonmyun makes a distressed sound, waving his hand in a dismissive gesture. Ji Hye knows how stressed he’s been recently, with the play and all. There’s a snide remark somewhere about Joonmyun taking on more than he can take, but she’ll take the high ground and not voice it.

She doesn’t notice Sehun until it’s too late and damn near jumps out of her skin when she turns and sees him waiting there to talk to her.

“Hey, you okay?” he asks nonchalantly, his hands in his pockets. She hates how cool he is when she feels all flustered.

She plasters an awkward smile on her face. “Yeah,” she answers. “Just… jittery.”

He smirks and it’s just not fair how it affects her. She can feel heat creeping up her neck and wills it down because she’s not going to blush, damn it.

From the look on his face, she’s blushing anyway and she hates him for making a smirk look so. Damn. Good.

“I heard Jongin found out about him and Baekhyun,” he says casually.

Found out is putting it mildly, she thinks, but nods. “Yeah.” She winces. “I should have told him.”

Okay, she’s talking with Sehun and things are normal again. Almost.

Good. Kind of.

Sehun opens his mouth to say more, but Joonmyun is calling them to the stage for their scene again.

The play they’re doing is a modern version of Romeo and Juliet. If you ask Ji Hye, Romeo and Juliet is the single most overly modernised Shakespearean play, but she’s not the one directing. She definitely thinks that she doesn’t embody Juliet in the slightest. Juliet is delicate yet strong, like a minter rose. Ji Hye thinks she’s more like a hurricane, blowing everyone over. More like bowling everyone over with her extreme clumsiness. All she knows is that if she hears one more joke about break wind, she will personally clock that person.

Ji Hye plays with the binder in her arms as Joonmyun goes to yell at some of the extras. Her cousin, Myungsoo, makes a face at her from behind Joonmyun's back and she has to suppress a laugh. Then, Joonmyun's turning to her and she smoothens her features to something a little more serious.

The set is filled with people and Ji Hye waits for Joonmyun's signal before attempting to brush past Sehun. His arm shoots out to grab her arm; it’s expected, but she doesn’t quite understand why there’s a thrill running down her spine.

“Can we talk?” Sehun says, quietly enough for it to sound intimate, but loud enough to be heard by the audience.

She glances around nervously. It almost worries her how genuine the emotion is. “I can’t,” she replies just as quietly, all according to script. “If my brother sees us talking, he’ll tell my dad. Then you’ll get in trouble.”

“I just – we really need to talk, Jin Hee.”

Ji Hye glances around again before grabbing his wrist and pulling him into another part of the set, through a door way to signify going into another room. She shuts the built in door and turns to Sehun. “Now we can talk.”

She’s memorised their lines almost religiously since Joonmyun practically hurled the thing at her head. She can almost mouth Sehun’s lines.

“I didn’t regret it,” he says earnestly, looking into her eyes.

That’s not according to script.

She panics for half a second, eyes flicking towards Joonmyun momentarily. The elder frowns, but nods his head, signalling for her to continue.

“This isn’t the time for it,” she protests, every instinct telling her to run, but she can’t just leave or Joonmyun might actually have an aneurism.

“I think it’s the perfect time.” Sehun takes another step closer so she has to look up at him. Ji Hye can feel her hands trembling slightly and clutches the binder closer to her chest. His hand rises, as if he wants to touch her cheek, but he lets it fall to his side.  “That night… I didn’t regret that stolen kiss.”

Ji Hye can feel the sincerity in his eyes, practically burning through her. She can feel another blush crawling up her neck, but she can’t let it show this time.

“I didn’t either,” she replies, hoping she convey how true those words are. She almost forgets that they’re at rehearsal for some dumb play that she hadn’t even wanted to be in. Right. Joonmyun's play. She quickly thinks of a way to bring it back to the storyline. “But it’s wrong, Soohyun.”

“How can something so wrong feel so right?” he murmurs, brushing her hair from her face. “I love you, Jin Hee.”

Her heart pounds in her chest, but she has to remind herself that it’s Soohyun saying it to Jin Hee, not Sehun to Ji Hye. Still, it feels good hearing it out of his (very nicely shaped) mouth.

“I – I love you too, but our fathers – ”

“It doesn’t matter,” Sehun insists quietly. He threads their fingers together and Ji Hye can feel the electricity zipping through her. “They don’t matter. All that matters is you and me.”

“Soohyun…”

“Look, I’ll be by your house tonight. I’ll toss a couple of rocks at your window and we can spend some time together – without any prying eyes.”

Ji Hye worries her bottom lip between her teeth, just like in the script. “I don’t know what to say.”

“All you have to do is say yes.”

“Okay. I’ll be waiting.”

“Cut!” Joonmyun yells. “Okay, good run guys. Let’s go back to our dorms!”

There’s a collective cheer followed by a flurry of activity as everyone scrambles to grab their things. Joonmyun stops by to tell them their ad lib is perfect and they should remember it for the real play. Myungsoo walks past, but he shoots their still joined hands a pointed look and Ji Hye slowly draws her hand away.

“Right,” she coughs. “Well, I should go – ”

“I meant it, you know.”

“Meant what?”

“I really didn’t regret the kiss.”

Hesitantly, Ji Hye allows the corners of her lips to lift in a small smile. “Okay,” she says quietly. “I believe you.”

Sehun sighs and smiles back at her. “Walk you back to your room?”

She glances at Baekhyun, who catches her eye and nods before walking off.

“Um, I think not,” she answers. When she notices Sehun’s face fall, she hastily adds, “I need to let Jongin and Baekhyun make up and Jongin's hiding out in my room.”

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?”

“No,” she laughs, “but if Jongin has in my room, he knows I’ll kill him.”

“So…”

“How about your room? I mean, we still have to practice our lines and stuff.”

•●•●•●•

Ji Hye frowns down at the script in her hands, trying her best to ignore Sehun’s pout. They’re sitting on his bed, facing each other so it’s easier to recite their lines; they’re facing each other for most of the play anyway.

“I didn’t think you were serious,” he whines.

“We have to practice, Sehun,” she sighs, finally looking up at him to pin him with a stern look. His bottom lip is still jutting out slightly even as he flicks through his script absentmindedly. “Fine, you pick a scene.”

He raises an eyebrow and continues skimming through the script. There’s the slightest of smirks settling across his lips as he stops at a page that interests him. “Scene twelve,” he announces.

“Really.” She flips to the mentioned scene and can’t help but think how shameless Sehun is. He’s skipping straight to the kiss scene and she honestly should have seen it coming.

“You told me to pick a scene.”

Yes, she did and she can’t help but think that maybe that wasn’t the best of decisions. Then again, she isn’t exactly known for her good decisions. She rolls her eyes, her lips twitching as she fights the smile threatening to appear.

She scans her lines and looks up to look into Sehun’s eyes. Ji Hye clears and tries to get into character. It’s not too difficult, with the way he’s looking at her.

“I’m sorry for – ” She finds herself unable to continue when Sehun leans forward to press his lips to hers prematurely. She leans back, smiling bemusedly. “That’s not your cue.”

“Eh.” He leans into her further so she’s forced to lean back into his pillows. He grips her script and tosses it to the floor. She opens to protest but he’s pressing his lips to hers again and, well, she can’t really think of a reason why that’s a bad thing. “I – don’t care – about the stupid – play,” he says, pausing every few words to press a kiss to her lips. “I just wanted an excuse to kiss you.”

She snorts, pulling him in closer. “Idiot. You didn’t need to have an excuse.”

They definitely don’t spend the evening practicing their lines, but Ji Hye finds herself not minding. She has to admit that it was one of her better decisions.

-0-

Hey, it's only been five days since my last update! Not bad eh, since I just started a job?

Lol, HunHye. I got a request for them like forever ago and I finally got around to writing it XD I have a few more HunHye story ideas that may or may not be written, also a SooHye werewolf AU. I'm thinking of making a drama MV AU as well...? I have no idea how to add Ji Hye into the storyline, tbh. Hey, what couple do you think would be best anyway?

Ji Hye likes kissing Sehun. It is so a thing, okay.

Btw, Sehun and yehet. Can I slap him.