Aurora - You are my light (Ateez x reader)

FIFTYTHREE

I had really hoped no one would notice. I had taken a fresh shower, tamed my hair, even thrown on a pretty dress long enough to hide the telltale pull in my thighs – or so I thought.

But nothing – absolutely nothing – could hide how carefully I walked. How sore I was. How completely filled I still felt.

Every step was a quiet reminder of the night I had spent with San. And even though I tried not to show it, I could feel how my body was silently screaming: I don't belong at breakfast. I belong back in that damn bed.

When I entered the dining room, the large table was already full. Everyone except Hongjoong was scattered around it. Wooyoung, as always in his chaotic-shiny kitchen glory, had handed out steaming bowls of Doenjang-jjigae – that spicy, slightly-too-hot soup with tofu and kimchi that usually warmed my stomach. Today though... everything else was already churning in there.

"Good morning, Princess." Mingi grinned as I slowly sat down next to him. Too slowly.

Jongho pushed a bowl toward me. "Eat something. You look like you trained all night."

Internally, I froze. Mingi grinned. Yunho threw Jongho a meaningful look.

"What?" Jongho asked innocently. "I'm just saying—"

Then the door opened. And everything got worse.

San walked in – and I hated how good he looked. Damp hair, open shirt, that look that immediately found me. And the way his fingers brushed my shoulder almost casually as he sat next to me.

Too casually. Too familiar.

I could feel heads turning and glances being exchanged, so I stared intently into my soup, as if I could see the future floating among the veggies.

"So tell me..." Wooyoung began, waving his spoon in the air like he'd just uncovered a conspiracy. "Did you two...?"

He set his bowl down dramatically. His gaze swept to me. Then to San. Then back to me.

"Oh great," he sighed theatrically. "They did it."

"Did what?" Yunho asked with that fake-surprised tone that meant he already knew everything.

"They had sex. Aurora and San. The San. The untouchable, too-elegant-for-us San."

San snorted. "You talk like I'm a unicorn."

"You're worse," Yeosang chimed in without looking up. "A unicorn would make less noise coming."

I choked on my hot soup. Mingi snorted.

Wooyoung patted me generously on the back as he passed behind me to refill Mingi's bowl. "Come on, Princess. No need to be shy. If you were as loud with him as you were with me, I'm not surprised Jongho thinks you were training all night."

"I hate you all." I held my spoon up defensively.

"Oh please," Yunho grinned. "You love us."

"What really matters," Wooyoung continued, "is whether San was better than me."

San gave him a look that would've killed anyone less bold.

"She didn't say it out loud, but I think her legs are speaking volumes."

"You were all different," I said quietly – but honestly.

"I just mean..." Wooyoung leaned over the table. "Be honest, my performance was a little dirtier, wilder... maybe more creative?"

I laughed and shook my head. "You were... yourself, let's put it that way."

"That means amazing," he shot back instantly.