pur autre vie • p.js | ✔

book two ❧ [v]

"I'm nervous, Sungie," you admitted, taking a deep breath to try to calm your erratic heart.

"You'll be fine, baby," he reassured you, grabbing your hand and squeezing it gently. "You've dealt with him before."

The two of you were on the way to your eldest stepbrother's house, at the invite of his wife. Chaeyeon had reassured that Seohyuk wanted you to come over, which only knotted your stomach even more. You could deal with Seohyuk being an ass, but you weren't used to him being... friendly. At least not without being in front of your parents.

You squeezed Jisung's hand tighter, trying to focus on the familiar coolness of it. "I know. But what if I'm nice because I think he's being nice, and end up revealing something that he'll just use the next time he decides to be cruel?"

"Hey, hey, hey," Jisung smoothed his thumb over your hand as he hushed your anxious thoughts. "You're just returning something; nobody said you have to pour your heart out to him."

"You're right, you're right."

Double checking the address Chaeyeon sent you, you watched the house numbers go down and down until you were finally in front of 1174, your destination. You gave Jisung's hand one last squeeze before letting it go and starting up the short driveway to their front door.

The black painted door swung open hardly a second after you had knocked, the familiar, beaming features of Chaeyeon greeting you.

"Hey, Y/N!" She threw her arms around you. "You made it!"

"Hi, Chaeyeon," you timidly hugged her back. "Good to see you again. Thank you for inviting me over."

"Of course, come in." She grabbed your arm in a gentle but firm grasp, pulling you in after her. Jisung barely slipped in before she closed the door, to your amusement—he could've easily walked through it.

Chaeyeon had brought you into their living room, where her husband stood up from his seat on their leather couch. Seohyuk kept his hands behind his back as he nodded to you politely.

"Y/N, hello."

"Hey, Seohyuk," you nodded back, nearly suffocating in the tension already.

After an awkward, heavy pause, Chaeyeon piped up, bubbly as ever as she asked you, "So, you said you had something, Y/N? To give back?"

"Yeah, yeah." You cleared your throat, reaching into your tote bag. In a small pocket separate from your cabinet knobs and other things, were two small rectangles. Taking just one more second to look at the top image, a photograph of Hyukjun when he was younger, you handed both that and the other paper out to Seohyuk.

"I found these the other day, tucked into one of my mom's books," you explained quietly. "I think she was using them as a bookmark."

"What's..." He brought out the other image from behind the first, his voice trailing off. It was his and Chaeyeon's wedding invite, and you knew he was seeing exactly what you and your mom had seen before as he held them side by side.

"You look just like him," Chaeyeon murmured, touching the wedding invite in awe. She looked up at you with a smile, "Thank you."

"I don't know what you think about my mom, or really what your guys' relationship with her was like in your eyes," you continued. "But to her, you were family. I wish she had been in better shape to be able to show you that, and I know she did too."

"I'm sorry." Seohyuk looked up from the pictures to you, a painfully sincere look on his face.

"For what?"