𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐆𝐄 𝐏𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐄𝐍𝐂𝐄 | csc

𝙭𝙞𝙫.

"i guess so. Anyways i gotta go, see you tomorrow Seungcheol."

"oh yeah yeah for sure." Aerin giggled before disconnecting the call and slipping her phone inside her pocket. As she turned her focus forward she caught Jihoon in the corner of her eye simply staring at her with his headphones around his neck.

"what?" Jihoon only shrugged it off in a defensive matter and the two went back to being in silence. Luckily though, it was only 2 minutes before the uber stopped at the curb and the two got out of the car.

"Let me walk you in." 

"Nah it's okay Ji, i'll be fine." Jihoon really didn't want to argue with the girl who had been through so much in the past 24 hours so he gave in tp her wish and slowly entered the car, watching her walk inside her dorms safely. 

As much as Jihoon didn't want to admit it, he cared so much for Rin. He cared so much that he found himself subconsciously committing acts of care towards her. She was the closest thing he had to a sister.

He let out a sigh before turning back to the moving road and closing his eyes. It had been a stressful night.

. . .

"i'm back- woah holy shit hey." Aerin walked inside the dorm only to find only hunjae eating takeout with. . .Jeonghan? Her head tilted to the side and clearly her confusion was not the most important thing because all of the members came running from both halls and rushed into her embrace at the sound of the door closing. Oh yeah, she was in a coma like a few hours ago huh?

Yuna was the first to rush to the girl and then the rest of eclipse followed and they shared a group hug. It felt empty though. And to investigate her suspicions, Aerin looked up after a few seconds to notice Hyunjae sitting back around the area of the couch.

She was going to get up but she made a face as if battling with herself and then sat back down. Although she was confused at Hyunjae's actions a tiny bit, Yuna's muffled sobs distracted her and she looked to see Yuna was crying into her shirt.

"Nana...hey hey, look i'm okay alright? Everything's okay" she comforted the young girl who had dealt with the scare that came along with Aerin's poisoning the worst. The two besides her and Hyunjae always had the best connection in a mother-daughter way. Despite the small-ish age gap between the duo, Yuna had always had a more child-like presence and Aerin enjoyed nurturing that. She couldn't imagine how much her fainting had scared her.

It took a good 2 minutes before Yuna's crying had stopped and Rin turned to the smaller situation at hand: the man sitting on their couch as if he owned it and the girl sitting across from him.

"Jeonghan. What are you doing here?" Her voice was stern yet confused as she spoke, though Jeonghan only smirked in her direction before standing from his seat.

"Hyunjae and I are long-time friends. You didn't know?" Aerin stopped to think.

"Jae . . . why didn't you tell me?" Aerin slowly made her way to now stand in living room area instead of being stuck in the foyer. Her walk was slow as she tried thinking while Hyunjae only shrugged. Something about her calm attitude and dismissive response irked Aerin.

"I didn't think it was important." Her attitude was more blunt than the last time she had talked with her. Something about her demeanor was off and Aerin couldn't figure out why.

"okay. . .well uh still, Jeonghan, that doesn't explain why you're here." He suddenly stood up and walked towards Aerin.

"just visiting a friend. And now, i'm leaving." He held on to her shoulder as he walked past her and swiftly made his way out. 

As the door locked she turned towards the other girls who's gazed were directed anywhere except for her eyes. Their body language was tense, Aerin was puzzled by that.

"Girls." Their heads turned quickly as if someone had snapped their necks. This was Aerin point of peak confusion. This was not normal, Aerin knew it wasn't and she needed to figure out why it wasn't. 

Her gaze turned to Hyunjae who sat on the couch. She was the only one who had yet to meet her eyes as she opted for staring out the balcony which was left accessible through the open glass doors.

Seungcheol.

His voice intercepted her thoughts and his words were as clear as day. They kept replaying and replaying until they started overlapping. Aerin felt she was going crazy. 

This was not it. It couldn't be it. Hyunjae could never and would never, she was sure of that right?