The plan was aborted as soon as Haechan closed the door to the room that he lead them into.

"Why are you acting like this?" He stared at Hyerim, arms folded, leaning against the closed door.

"I don't know what you mean," she firmly stated, trying to keep her ground despite the alcohol from the beer coursing through her system.

Haechan sighed. "This." He gestured towards her in an effort to prove his point, and of course Hyerim knew what he meant, but she chose to turn her head, to not make eye contact with him, to do what she had to do and get the hell out of here.

"You're not even looking at me. Look at me, Hyerim." He made a move to step forward, arms stretched forward like he was about to sweep her into his arms, but he stalled, retracting them towards his chest instead like she had just stabbed him.

She didn't respond.

"Say something, please." There was almost a pleading tone in his voice.

"I don't know what you want me to say, Haechan. You ask me to come find you on your birthday, then you ignore me for the whole night, only for me to find you making out with someone. I don't know what you want me to say," she reinstated, shaking her head and turning to look at him finally. His expression was anguished, brows furrowed as he tucked his bottom lip between his teeth, eyes searching hers for something that she wasn't sure about.

Haechan was the one who broke the silence. "It was a mistake."

Hyerim immediately let out a soft scoff of disbelief. "Of course you say that now," she shook her head. "I don't know what else I expected from you. You left me for the whole night, Haechan." She ran a hand through her hair, sitting down on the edge of the bed. "And I waited for you, I really did. I waited for you, and then I went to find you because it had been hours, and there you were."

Hyerim knew she sounded bitter, and jealous, and petty. But she couldn't help it.

"I'm sorry," he said softly, taking cautious steps towards where she was seated on the bed as if Hyerim would fall apart and disintegrate if he moved too quickly. "I'm sorry," he repeated, but she shook her head.

"I thought it was obvious that I still liked you," she mumbled, not really processing what she was saying, looking down towards her lap. She was unaware that Haechan had halted in his steps, blinking rapidly.

"What?"

"Nothing. Get out, I want to sleep."

"No, what did you say?" Haechan snapped out of his daze, marching over quickly to the bed, sitting down and grabbing her hand. "Repeat that for me."

"Get out."

"Not until you repeat what you said before."

Hyerim huffed loudly, wrenching her hand out of his grasp and standing up from the bed in one movement. "I said I still like you. Do you understand now? I said I still fucking like you."

Her lip began to tremble, and she took a few deep breaths, trying not to cry in front of him but the alcohol fed harshly into the embarrassment that she was feeling.

She didn't want to look at him. She couldn't look at him.

"I'm leaving now." Taking his silence as an acknowledgement, she started walking towards the door, placing her hand on the door handle to open it before a hand was placed over hers to stop her.

"Wait."

Hands on her waist flipped her over so her back was against the door, and so that she was now facing Haechan, who was towering over her. She prayed to whatever gods above that he couldn't hear her heartbeat thumping in his chest.

He also prayed that she couldn't hear his.

"You still like me?"

"I just said that." She placed her hands on his chest to weakly try and push him off, but he stayed put, holding eye contact with her.

"Since when?" His voice had an edge. Annoyance? Anger? Urgency? Hyerim couldn't tell.

"Please, I can't talk about this right now." She started to cry, feeling overwhelmed by the stuffy atmosphere and the situation, and the music thudding outside the door. The feeling of her mascara sliding down her cheek made her feel even more ashamed, as she knew she looked like a wreck right now.

But Haechan lifted a hand up to her cheek. It trembled slightly as he made a move to softly cup her face, wiping her tear with his thumb. This made her cry further, leaning into his chest to sob and she knew she was messing up his shirt by staining it with makeup and sweat and snot and tears but he didn't mind.

He didn't mind. He let her cry, soothingly rubbing her back while she clung onto him, crying her frustrations out.

They ended up sitting on the bed, her on his lap while he rocked her back and forth as she sniffled softly.

Hyerim looked up at him. He was staring back at her with an unreadable expression.

"Why..." She wanted to ask why he was looking at her like that, but her voice faltered as he leaned closer so that their noses were a centimetre apart. He paused, but then spoke, his breath fanning her lips.

"Since when?"

She had to think for a moment, still tipsy. But then she realised, and her hand reached up to hold his jaw gently as she spoke.

"Since the day I met you again."

And he closed the gap between them.

The kiss was gentle and timid, as if he was scared of breaking her, caressing her waist softly as he held her and kissed her like she was the only woman in the world. 

Thank god the door was locked.

❆

Their legs were tangled underneath the bedsheets as he held her, their chests rising and falling in sync. Hyerim was at first worried about this being some random's house and there being bed bugs in the mattress, but Haechan assured her that it was his cousin Taeyong's house, and this was a spare bedroom.

"I'm sorry, I didn't plan for your first time to be in someone's guest bedroom. I wanted to treat you right," he told her softly, tracing patterns on the curve of her waist as he held her. She hummed, shaking her head softly as she leaned further onto his bare chest.

"It's okay, I don't mind," she drowsily reassured him, about to fall asleep when he sat up.

"C'mon, I'll get you cleaned up." She watched as he pulled on his clothes, stumbling towards the ensuite bathroom and she heard the water running before he came back with a warm damp towel and began wiping down her body.

She didn't know what they were. He hadn't told her that he liked her back. So they were just friends, right?

But friends didn't take you back to their dorm room after you had just made love to one another at a party. Friends didn't run a hot bath for you, lathering soap onto your body and massaging your scalp with the expensive olaplex shampoo that they had bought just in case you guys had made up one day and you had decided to stay over at their house. Friends didn't lend you their favourite shirt, and help you put on the shorts because your legs were still trembling a bit and friends didn't offer you ibuprofen and warm water, then sit you on the bathroom counter to brush your teeth for you because you were drunk.

And friends didn't lay with you in their bed, stroking your hair softly while singing to you as you fall asleep in their embrace.

❆

"You're up."

Hyerim walked into the kitchen to the smell of food, and in all his glory was Haechan, standing at the stove in a black zip-up, some shorts and his house slippers, cooking breakfast for the two of them.

"Yeah," she softly replied, sliding into the stool of the kitchen island as he placed the food in front of her, then walked beside her to sit beside her and eat.

"There's an ibuprofen. You probably have a hangover," he instructed, placing the ibuprofen and a glass of water in front of her and she thanked him, quietly taking the ibuprofen before digging into the hangover soup that he made for her.

"This is good, you've gotten better at cooking," she noted, making him laugh softly.

For the most part, they ate in silence, the both of them too scared, too nervous to address what had happened the night before. As usual, Haechan was the first one to speak up.

"About last night," he cleared his throat before continuing. "I hope...I hope it was okay. I hope I was okay."

This made Hyerim laugh, despite her pounding headache.

"You weren't okay. You were great. Not that I have anyone else to compare you to. I should be the one worrying." She bit her lip, the realisation kicking in.

"Best I ever had," he reassured her, rubbing her arm gently before taking the empty plates to the sink to wash. She felt a bit useless sitting there, so she decided to help him wash the cups.

After they were done, Hyerim collected her own clothes to put into a paper bag. 

"I have a class today," she told Haechan, who frowned.

"I'm sorry. Hopefully the ibuprofen will help."

Not sure what to respond with, Hyerim simply nodded, and moved towards the front door, but Haechan placed a hand on her arm.

"You're leaving?"

She dumbly nodded again. "Yeah."

"Oh."

"Thanks," she said lamely. "I'll...stop by again. Sometime."

"Yeah. Do that," he responded awkwardly, shuffling his feet. "You have a toothbrush here now. And you can wear my clothes. Anything you need, I can buy it so you have it here."

She had her own toothbrush here. She could wear his clothes. Anything she needed.

It made her feel funny. Like his home was her home. And she agreed, a wide smile slowly spreading across her face as she nodded eagerly.

"You still have my number, don't you? I'll text you, yeah? Text me back, please." He hovered by the door, waiting for her to respond.

"Okay," she said softly.

They stood outside his place for another minute, her hesitating to leave, him hesitating to let her go.

"I missed you, you know?"

Hyerim opened her mouth. "You could have had anyone else," she mused, looking down at her feet.

His hand touched her chin, lifting her head back up so they were making eye contact.

"I missed you."

He leaned forward to press a light kiss on her forehead, and sent her on her way with a gentle smile.

And that kiss ingrained itself onto her skin, and later that night she finds her fingers still reaching to touch the spot that his lips pressed against.

haechan pretends to be super cool and badass but in reality hes just a loser malewife that will have tunnel vision once hyerim cuffs him down