hold me 𐦍 yeonbin

016 ᯓᡣ𐭩

Unfortunately, magic can’t help Soobin here.

“Shit,” Bora hisses, tossing her card into the discard pile. It lands upwards revealing a swirly green 6.

Soobin draws next.

“Fucking finally.” Soobin pulls his first piece from start and drops his 1 into the discard pile.

Bora taps her fingers on the table impatiently. Siyeon looks like she knows too much. Yeonjun hasn’t shown any emotional attachment to their game of 'Sorry!' since they explained the rules.

Apparently, Sorry! is not a popular board game among the fae. Not a “bored” game, which frightened Yeonjun, but a colorful, family-friendly, friendship ending game to help them pass the time and get to know each other more.

Siyeon draws next, smirking as she drops a 2 into the pile. Soobin thinks he might have seen Yeonjun’s nose scrunch in a momentary fit of frustration.

When Siyeon draws again, a second 2 in a row, Bora fumes.

“Wait a minute!” She slams her hands on the table. “You wanted to go last on purpose! You saw the order, you nasty cheater!” Bora shakes Siyeon in her chair, as Siyeon tries to keep a straight face and stay upright.

It was Soobin’s fault for suggesting a game of chance with someone who can see the future. It makes sense, now, how she won every single game of Go Fish that they played in studyhall.

“Okay, so, we’re skipping Siyeon’s next turn,” Soobin says.

“Yes! Thank you!”

“What? That’s not fair,” Siyeon protests. “You don’t get to make up rules.” She holds onto Bora’s hands to stop the shaking, still feigning innocence, still guilty, as she pulls Bora into a hold against her chest that she can’t escape.

“It’s two against one,” Soobin says. “Yeonjun?”

Yeonjun looks like he’s woken up from a trance.

“Do you think Siyeon is a nasty cheater and deserves to lose a turn and also sleep on the couch tonight?” Bora asks.

“What’s a nasty cheater?”

“Like a criminal, but worse,” Bora says, glaring at her.

“Don’t put ideas in his head,” Siyeon scolds. “Yeonjun, I did nothing wrong. Ignore them.”

“Is this part of the game?” he asks Soobin.

“House rules call for punishment,” Soobin says.

“I’ve committed no crime,” Siyeon says.

“Are you talking about the hell spell?”

Siyeon freezes, still holding Bora against her chest, and Bora stops struggling. The room grows so quiet Soobin would be able to hear a single particle of pixie dust hit the floor.

“Soobin, explain what’s—” a pause. "Will you explain what’s going on?” Yeonjun asks.

“Bora was talking about Siyeon using her magic to win at a game, not her criminal past,” Soobin explains. “You made it awkward.”

“What is a cheater, then?”

“A cheater is someone who lies or tricks the other players into letting them win.”

“What’s so bad about that?”

“Exactly,” Siyeon says. “Two against two. Let’s keep going.”

ᯓᡣ𐭩

Siyeon wins the game. Yeonjun comes in second thanks to Siyeon’s guidance. He is a quick learner and relentless with his tactics, leaving Soobin and Bora to compete for third and fourth place. They each have three pieces in home, their last pieces being in the final few spaces before the finish.