Joohyun woke up from the loud knocking on her front door. It took her a moment to be fully awake. She checked the time from her alarm clock on her nightstand and groaned. It was still 2 am. She stared at the red LED lights on the device, mind already falling back to sleep when another loud knock was heard. She couldn’t think of anyone who would come to her at this hour, except for –

“Haraboji?!” She scrambled out of her bed, thinking the old man she considered her own grandfather from across her apartment was in need of help.

She quickly unlocked all her locks in a new world record and opened it only to reveal a young girl instead of an old man.

“Seulgi?”

The girl on the other side of the door slowly lifted her head. Even with less lighting, Joohyun could see the girl was a mess. She understood the look in her eyes so she opened her door a little wider, inviting the younger girl in.

Seulgi didn’t say a word when she stepped inside. She stopped in the middle of the living room, not sure what to do or where to go, mind still dazed about Krystal’s confession earlier that night.

When Joohyun finished locking her door, she stepped beside Seulgi and reached for her hand. She slowly pulled the girl to her bedroom.

“Come on, let’s get some sleep.”

Seulgi just followed the pull and soon found herself under the soft sheets on Joohyun’s bed. She was tired from all the crying and was emotionally exhausted from the pain of losing her best friend. She felt like she could not cry anymore, but she was wrong. As soon as the other side of the bed was occupied, Seulgi turned and wrapped the older girl in a tight embrace.

Joohyun was left speechless of the action but didn’t say anything. She carefully took her arm beneath Seulgi and draped it around her, letting the younger girl’s head rest on her chest.

“Sleep.” Joohyun whispered.

“I’ll try.” Seulgi said, tears already dripping on Joohyun’s oversized shirt.

---

When Seulgi woke up, the other side of the bed was empty. She cursed at herself for being so weak when it came to emotions. She didn’t know why she came to Joohyun’s place in the middle of the night. All she remembered was that she wanted a shoulder to cry on and only Joohyun came into her mind. It must be because the older girl already witnessed her devastated state before.

She felt sorry for disturbing the older girl but she couldn’t help herself last night. She felt like she didn’t have anyone left in her life. Although when she was driving her way to the girl’s apartment, she was feeling afraid of what Joohyun would say or react but she took her chances. She was relieved Joohyun didn’t say anything when she opened the door and let her in, so she mentally noted to apologize and thank her.

She got up and made sure to clean the bed first, just like what she did the last time she slept there. This was going to be embarrassing because this time, she came to the older girl's apartment intentionally. Hence, she wasn’t ready to face Joohyun yet so she just stood still by the edge of the bed, contemplating on how to act towards the older girl. The bedroom door suddenly opened and she saw Joohyun’s amused face when she saw Seulgi’s panicked state.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you. I didn’t know you were already up.” Joohyun said. “Breakfast is ready. Go wash up first. There are some clean clothes I’ve prepared for you.” She pointed at the set of clothes on her dresser.

“Thanks?” Seulgi said in confusion, although she was grateful for the kind gesture. She forgot how it felt like being taken care of.

“I hope you like bacon and eggs.”

“I actually do.” Seulgi smiled.

“Great!” With that said, Joohyun closed the door and left the still surprised Seulgi.

After showering and changing, Seulgi checked her phone. She was expecting a flood of text from Sooyoung and she wasn’t disappointed. There were also a lot of missed calls. She read each message as she went out and walked towards the dining table.

“Duty calls?” Joohyun asked, already sitting on one side.

“Yeah.” Seulgi took the one across Joohyun’s. “My manager’s about to jump from Mt. Everest right now.”

“You should not let them worry you.”

“Why?”

“Huh?” Joohyun stopped midway in getting some bacons.

“Why do you care?” It sounded a little harsh when Seulgi was only curious. She cursed at herself again. She should really work with her conversational skills. Years of being alone and driving people away made her socially inept.

“Oh, well.” Joohyun pulled back her hand from the plate of bacons. She was thinking if she crossed the line by saying something she didn’t have the right to. Seulgi saw this and quickly apologized.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it that way.” Seulgi took some pieces of bacon and placed them on Joohyun’s plate. “I’m bad with socializing remember?”

Joohyun only nodded, a shade of pink already visible on her cheeks at Seulgi’s sweet gesture. Seulgi also saw this and decided not to say anything. There were other matters to be discussed first.

“I just want to say thanks for last night and I’m sorry for disturbing you.”

“Honestly, I don’t know why I keep letting you in.” Joohyun sighed dramatically, glad she didn’t cross any line.

“Are you regretting it?” Panic was all over Seulgi’s face again and Joohyun had to chuckle at the adorable sight.

“I didn’t mean it that way.” She grinned. “God! We really need to work with our conversational skills. It’s like we can’t hold a decent conversation without having the other misinterpret it.”

Seulgi laughed at that. “You’re right.” She put down her fork and tried to finish chewing before continuing. “I owe you a lot and I don’t know how to repay you.”

“I’m not looking for a payment.”

“But still, I want to do something