Guilty As Sin ► Y.JH

05

The air in the studio was thick with tension, the kind of silence that settled over a room when words went unsaid, but everyone knew they were hanging in the air, waiting to be spoken. Soleil could feel it, creeping up on her like a shadow. It was as if the weight of the past few days had begun to press against her, bending the edges of her reality until everything felt distorted.

She had been avoiding both Jeonghan and Minho for days now-longer than she would admit, even to herself. Every time she saw Jeonghan's familiar, calming smile or caught Minho's protective gaze, her heart sank with guilt and fear. The emotions she had been trying so hard to suppress were bubbling up to the surface, threatening to spill over.

Soleil stared at her camera, though she wasn't really seeing the lens in her hands. It had become a coping mechanism to hide behind it-to capture moments that weren't real, moments where she could pretend everything was okay. But even her photography was no longer an escape.

Jeonghan sat on the other side of the studio, his gaze flicking between his guitar and the ground. There was a tension in the way he strummed his instrument, something off about his usual rhythm, as if he, too, could feel the growing distance between them but was at a loss on how to fix it. He glanced up at Soleil every now and then, but the effort was half-hearted. His eyes held an almost painful sense of restraint, as if he was waiting for something-waiting for her to say something, anything, that might break the silence.

And then there was Minho. He was the only one who hadn't said anything, the only one who hadn't confronted the growing elephant in the room. He was deep into his own world, wrapped up in his phone, his mind clearly somewhere else. But Soleil could feel the subtle way he kept checking his watch, how his jaw tightened every time she or Jeonghan got too close. She couldn't explain it, but Minho's usual easygoing demeanor had begun to shift, and she had a sinking feeling he was beginning to suspect something.

The band had been practicing in the same studio for hours. The music had lost its energy, as though the notes themselves had become suffocated by the weight of the unspoken words hanging between them. Soleil sighed and set her camera down, wiping the back of her hand across her face. She needed a break, a moment of peace, but every attempt to distance herself from the two men who had become central to her life seemed futile.

She stood up from the couch, making her way toward the door. "I think I'm going to step out for a bit," she said, her voice small but loud enough for them to hear. She didn't wait for a response-she couldn't.

Jeonghan's eyes met hers briefly, but he said nothing. He simply looked down at his guitar, fingers tracing the strings aimlessly.

Soleil glanced at Minho, expecting to see him lost in his phone or busy with some task, but instead, she found him watching her closely. Too closely. His expression was unreadable, but there was a sharpness to his gaze that she hadn't noticed before. He wasn't angry, not yet, but there was an unmistakable tension there-an undercurrent that sent a shiver down her spine.

"Where are you going?" Minho's voice cut through the silence like a knife.

Soleil froze, her hand on the door handle. She hesitated for a moment, not sure how to answer. But before she could say anything, Minho stood up, walking toward her with a purposeful stride.

"I've been meaning to talk to you," he said, his tone softer now, but with an edge that made Soleil's stomach churn. He glanced over at Jeonghan, who had his back turned to them both. "Can you step outside for a second?"

Soleil nodded, stepping away from the door, her heart hammering in her chest. She didn't know what Minho wanted to talk about, but the way he was acting made it clear that something was off. She followed him out into the hallway, the door to the studio closing quietly behind them.