Step By Step | Sehun & Irene

9 | When There's Desire, There's Regret

Mr. Hyun recently landed a job in an oil firm in Busan. On some occasions, the local train would be too packed to board in the evenings, or an unexpected meeting would come his way. He would have to stay for another day or two. It was on days like these where Irene would stay over at Sehun's.

A certain level of convincing had to be done, but in the end, he managed to get the approval from Irene's father.
"Promise me you'll take care of her. I need you to promise."
"I will, sir."
"No funny business either, alright? Just take care of her till I'm back."
The words of the father were resolute. He sounded firm, but he was more scared than anything. He didn't want to lose his daughter too.

Sehun brought her over to his house that night itself. Irene found it nice to be somewhere else, it got her away from all the bleak and painful memories of her mother and did wonders in healing her, even if it was just temporary.

After all, Sehun and Irene had broken a boundary between them. The boundary that prevented them from opening up to each other, and talking about things that not even their circle of friends would hear. They would talk on and on till the very depths of the night, to the point where it would get too late and Irene would just sprawl herself across Sehun's bed. Sehun would have to sleep in one of the smaller guest rooms, though Irene resented this fact quite a bit.

"Just let me sleep in a spare room." Irene would say in the middle of the night, as she leaned by the guest room door, rubbing her tired eyes with one hand and holding onto a blanket with the other. Sehun, who fell asleep just a couple hours ago, was awakened far too quickly by the spill of light that entered the room. The musky orange light highlighted her silhouette. It hugged her curves, managed to bring light to black hair. It was bugging him too, so he struggles wordlessly to his feet, yawning as he stumbles out of bed. "Not tonight." he says to her.

From his hazy vision, Irene looked just like a child who had woken up from a bad dream. "You like my room best, don't you? If you're worried about invading my space, don't be." Sehun walks with her to the large room he called his own. The bed was big, big enough for two people. Sehun could easily throw himself on it and join her, but instead, he held up the king-sized covers, as Irene slides in, one leg after the other. She gets comfy, tossing her hair back while she secures her favourite sleeping position: flat on the stomach.

"What would my friends say, if they saw me sleeping in your bed?" she wondered aloud, tucking her arms below her face. Her eyes were shut, but it sounded like she couldn't have been more curious.
"Do your friends have a problem with you sleeping in my very lush bed?" he replied, trying to make a joke. Wasn't very successful, though.
"I know how they feel about you. They think you're no good for me."

He stops in his tracks, his mind diverts itself to these friends Irene keeps mentioning. He pictured Seulgi's eccentric eyes, Joy's plush lips, Wendy's button nose. An image soon conjured up in his illusive mind; an image of these girls staring him down, judging him like he was dirty trash.
"And what about you, do you feel the same way?" There was an empty silence in the room. His heart carried an invisible weight as he waited for her answer.

"I don't. I like you very much." she replies, adjusting the position of her pillow.

Sehun watches her from where he stood, feeling some indescribable motion tugging at his heartstrings.
"You really feel that way?"
"Of course. Want me to rip out my heart and show it to you?"
Irene rolled on her side now, facing him. She had on a light, pin-striped, white and pink set of pyjamas, with nothing else underneath. "What about your friends? How do they feel about me?" Her breasts pushed together, creating a smooth-looking cleavage. They think you're fucking hot, is what he wanted to say. The city lights outside his lengthy window made the outline of her nipples more visible than when she was standing at the doorway before. "They think you're nice." Sehun had kept his eyes on her bust. He knew he had to avert his gaze, but it wasn't that simple.