New Start

Part 20

Ella was due to land later that day, and Alex knew she had to deal with her awful, Chanyeol – Junmyeon – her love triangle. Ella wasn't going to be happy with her, though she would support her, Ella had a way of making reality come crashing down that left Alex wanting to find her own way back on the ground first.

She had spent all evening thinking about what she wanted. She didn't want to hurt anyone, but she was not the kind of person to settle into something just because it was there either. She had learned from her life not to just go with the flow if something didn't feel right. She had come to the conclusion when she woke up that morning, that she needed to detangle herself from both men, as much as possible, start over in some way, and just be friends with them, like she was friends with Baekhyun.

Not wanting to delay any further, she made her way down to the end of the hall towards Junmyeons apartment. She pressed the button and waited, anxiously tapping her foot for him to answer.

When the door swung open and she looked up, expecting to see Junmyeons face, she was confronted with the tall figure of Sehun.

'Hey,' he said, folding his arms over his chest, 'Can I help you?' he looked down at her, slightly confused.

'Hey,' she mimicked, not expecting to see him. 'Er, is Junmyeon there?' she asked him shyly.

'Sure,' he took a half step back to let her into the apartment. It was very similar to her own, light, and laid out in much the same way, but it was far, far messier than her own.

'Hyung,' Sehun shouted into the apartment, watching her closely. She hung back adjacent to the door, it felt strange finally being invited into one of there apartments.

'Yah!' She heard Junmyeon shout back from a distant room.

'There's someone here for you,' Sehun told him still looking at Alex with a confused expression.

'I'm Alex,' she told him since she had never met Sehun before.

'Noona says she's Alex,' Sehun shouted over his shoulder with a smirk back at her.

'What?' Junmyeon came into view in the living room, wearing only black gym shorts. Alex had to swallow hard and keep her mind on what she was about to say, not on how his chest rippled.

'Alex! What's up,' Junmyeons face broke into a huge smile, making her feel terrible.

'I – er – can I talk to you?' she asked him, a little uncomfortably, hoping Sehun would get the hint.

'Yeah, come in,' Junmyeon stepped closer to her, reaching out for her hand, and directing her onto the sofa, moving piles of clothes to make a space for her. 'Sorry, we haven't cleaned up yet.' He told her.

'Its ok,' she said quietly, feeling Sehun still staring at her from the door.

Junmyeon turned to look at him, obviously conveying with his eyes for Sehun to leave.

'Ok, I'm going out anyway. Nice to meet you Alex.' Sehun told her as he made a hasty exit.

'Bye Sehun,' she called after him, as he poked a hand waving through the closing door.

'Sorry, he got back two days ago, and after his suitcases exploded he's just been sleeping.' Junmyeon apologised sitting down next to her.

'That's – erm – that's ok.' She wasn't sure what to say to him.

'Do you want a drink? Coffee or something?' Junmyeon began to get up to the kitchen.

'No,' she pulled on his arm, to get him to stay still. 'No, I'm fine,' she forced a smile.