illicitnani

A Quaffle passed your sight as you cascaded from the great height. Home is when you’re meters off the ground, ass on a broomstick and pride worn with the Slytherin Quidditch uniform. 

Eric and Sunwoo were hot by your side, but their skill couldn’t compare with yours. You sent Sunwoo a minute smile at the furrow of his eyebrows, all his concentration on the Quaffle. Even the goggles he wore didn’t protect the falter as he caught your gaze, wondering why you were smiling at him despite your cold shoulder most of the time. 

Only it couldn’t be helped when you saw the underclassmen trying hard, pride pleasing you that he was working hard to beat you.

You sighed, turning back around and speeding on your broom. Hands steady and easily finding the Quaffle again, Eric’s hands nearly at it. It was moments before he would meet with utter distress as you swept through the air. A whistle let you know it was game over.

“Aw, man!” Eric yelled grumpily.

You let the Quaffle drop from your fingertips, not bothering to watch it touch the ground. Yuna, one of your managers, had quite the liking for wanting to catch the falling balls. You glide to the ground without another look, the others in your team following suit. You kicked your legs off your broom, the stick tumbling to the ground.

“That was one-hundred-fifty to eighty, I believe.” your main manager, Lia announced, her hands with a clipboard and a pencil, tapping her chin thoughtfully. Disappointment aroused the younger members of the team.

“It’s not fair, you guys always win!” Sunwoo argued.

You looked at him, his face contorted into a pout and a glare.

He really wanted to win...you liked that competitiveness. Then only, in a real game, he would play his best. He was a Chaser after all.

“Hey, we gave you guys Ryujin this time.” Jun, the vice-captain of the team, answered.

“Yeah. We gave you a chance to find the Snitch but you guys didn’t. Who’s problem is that?” you asked them. The younger members couldn’t say anything.

“You can’t deny. Jun and Y/N alone are a powerful duo for this team. If you guys lose either of them, it would be the end for the team.” Yuna bantered, holding out the crate of water bottles. Hands attacked it mercilessly, everyone going for their individual water bottle.

You didn’t say anything about what she just said, but you did accept it silently. Jun was an excellent Beater and you were Chaser, Captain and realistically, the ace of the team. Without one of you, the team would be at stake.

“You hear that, Y/N?” Jun nudged you playfully by the elbow. He loved hearing those types of compliments reeling from others’ mouths. Almost as much as compliments honouring your looks and honestly, you didn’t know what to say to that. It was like you grew up enduring his over-confidence. Though, if you weren’t the leader of this team, you couldn’t even begin to see in your head how the team would’ve turned out. They all would’ve been little servants of Junhui, the Beast Beater.

“Guys, guys!” You all turned your heads to see Wonyoung sprinting down, her hand high in the air. How she looked that beautiful while running, the secret remained with her genes but it would be a lie to state that everyone didn’t stop for a second to cherish in the angel’s running. Wonyoung, the currently benched first-year Beater, stopped at last in front of you all, looking like she was going to spur her words out but couldn’t because of how much she was running.

“Where did you run from?” the Keeper, Kevin, as if it was any much of a good time, asked.

“F-From the back of the—does it even matter?” the tall girl questioned, her eyes squinted as she gave Kevin a querying look. He had the energy for asking questions that surely didn’t matter. Sweat glistened her forehead under the light atmosphere. “They’re gathering to leave to Hogsmeade in ten minutes. If you want to pack up and leave, let’s go!”

The idea of going to Hogsmeade at a time like this sounded surpassing. You had quite some stuff to do before even thinking of doing so. You looked over at Jun for ideas but the third-year Vice-Captain seemed pretty chill about it.

“I say, we go. How about you, Y/N?”

You looked to your team where pleading eyes abode to convince you. For starters, you weren’t a very lenient person to please nor convince so this was the most they were doing without getting on your nerves. You gazed through each individual staring back at you with cutesy eyes and a sweaty face, belatedly feeling the tiniest bad that your efforts as Quidditch Captain were going to dissipate if you weren’t fit to treat your team at least humanly.

So you gave a little smile. “Fine, but here’s the plan...Lia, Yuna, Wonyoung, Kevin and Eric start packing up the stuff. The rest of us will get changed and then we swap in five minutes, so that Wonyoung, Kevin and Eric can go get changed. Then, we run. Understood?”

“Yes, ma’am!”

And just like that, you and your group of green dispersed in the foggy fields getting to your designated locations to do your things.

After packing up the equipment and changing, you were running towards the back of the school in a hurry to find yourself in McGonagall’s annoying nearness within no time, or more like, near late time. Fortunately enough, McGonagall was the type to not see differences in houses even if she took the Gryffindor’s pride to her heart. Unlike Snape who was always on your side no matter what. But if she saw you even a second late, you wouldn’t be excused and she would always wave you with: “Should’ve been here five seconds earlier.”

Had she been a dark witch, you would’ve told your auror parents to get rid of the woman.

Though, luckily enough, you were able to get there quick enough to find her just taking out her clipboard. She gave you and your Quidditch team a stern look in between.

“May I suggest that you make sure that your extra-curricular don’t clash with the times we’re not at school because it would be unfortunate for you to miss out on this. It’s a good way to relax for you students,” she said. And the group of students gathered around her agreed simultaneously.

You didn’t understand if it was a tactic to hinder your team from training more or actual advice, but you willingly wanted to listen to that piece of advice anyways. Maybe you should push Quidditch a few hours earlier on Saturdays so that you can go to Hogsmeade.

“We will be leaving now and no being bad, especially you, Weasley twins!” The woman turned around with a chuckle from Fred and George Weasley, walking down the icy path. Your team took in the snow environment as you cascaded down the group of students to bake in each other’s proximity and relish in your time together.

If you were being true to yourself and for once, not relentless nor greedy, you and your team had a stabler connection with each other than the school's other teams. Which not only made you feel superior but gratified. Because the team you had strived strong together and even the managers and the benched member felt like family, you were simply reliant on each other to the point that you were more than friends. You were all like family.

You could see it in the way you didn’t mind that Tzuyu would link her arm around yours or that Ryujin was hitting Kevin for twerking in the middle of the street and the how you all laughed in harmony together while another man stares. To which, Junhui replied: “Whatchu looking at?”

When the other person floundered away, supposedly an average citizen of Hogsmeade village, another laughter rocked through the members of the Slytherin Quidditch Team. You hit Junhui as he barked with laughter.

“You’re so rude, oh my God!”

Junhui yelling at the old man obtained you to apprehend that you were messing around so much that you didn’t come to the realisation that you were already treading into the village Hogsmeade. It seemed that the younger members were already finding themselves looking around, wowing at the Christmas decorations amidst the village. It shocked you too that they were already getting ready this time in November. However, you were amazed at certain decorations that were better than others. People didn’t fool about Christmas at Hogsmeade. Preferably no one jokes about Christmas in Hogwarts too. It was pretty huge over there as well.

From the delicious banquet to the present-opening morning in which you trade and replenish the air with gratitude.

“Please, please, please, can we go into Honeydukes?!” Lia asked, coming to your free side and taking over your arm.

She pleaded with her eyes. You remembered it like it was just yesterday—how she used to be so scared applying for her position as manager and here she was, for once, acting like you weren’t a ticking time bomb close to exploding. You allowed her to link her arm in, thinking about the thought of Honeydukes. It felt nice to be in the lead sometimes.

“Sure, why not? Where else would we go anyways?” you asked, leading the two girls in the direction of the infamous candy shop. The boys, Tzuyu, Ryujin and Wonyoung were just behind.

It was going to be bustling with students in the miniature candy store. You were precise in your estimate as you entered the store. It was mobbed with Hogwarts students, sprinting around the cramped scope to bestow to their friends what tricks their candies can do and it was no astonishment. Every Hogsmeade visit, the students would infiltrate Honeydukes as it was where the primary consumption of serotonin was—candy.

If you wanted to pay Honeydukes a visit, you had to get there early. That’s what you discovered over the years.

You managed to shake loose Tzuyu and Lia, forming your way within the crowd on your own exploit of confectionery. 

It was surprising someone so cold-hearted would intrigue themselves in something as lovely as the taste of sweets. This could be said again at the end of the story, but this tale will point through a wondrous roller coaster of emotions comparable to tasting Bertie Bott’s Every Flavour Beans in the sense that it would end with relief that the candy was over.

Subsequent to the wandering around the shop, you found yourself in front of your favourite chocolate. A small smile found its way to your lips. You’ve always liked this type of chocolate. Its gold-flared wrappings to the elegantly ripped taste of cocoa brought you to heaven and back for two Galleons and a Sickle.

The chocolate made you wriggle in serotonin, made you feel as if you were bouncing in the clouds of heaven. 

It had been a while since you had it too so you had to get it.

Just as you were about to bandage your fingers around the golden wrapping of the box, another hand reached through and got it. It appeared to be the last chocolate box stacked on the shelf too, so a broad disturbance sank your heart like quicksand that someone else also had a desire to get the final box of your favourite chocolate.

You whipped your head around, meeting a face that felt familiar. Kind eyes faced you. You backed away from the box but the boy stretched it out towards you.

“You can have it,” he told you.

“No,” You looked away, not aspiring to look at him for too long. You noticed the colour of the robes straightaway. 

Yellow stained your sight, disgusting you because you never experienced talking to a Hufflepuff face on. It was always through someone. This was the first time in all your years in Hogwarts a Hufflepuff has actually approached you and that alone said a lot about the type of person you were.

“Have it,” you told the boy. He must’ve been in the same grade as you because he looked more mature than most of the students in the shop.

“I insist. I didn’t really want it anyway, I was just taking it because you were—“

You squinted your eyes, wondering if you were certainly hearing stupidity or it was just you. Suddenly, a hand made contact with you. Whipping your head to the right, you made out the face of your best friend.

“What’s going on here?”

“I was just leaving.” A small smile covered his lips. The obscure Hufflepuff pushed the box into your hands and swung around, shouting out to what resembled to be his friends and followed to merge with his group. You looked at him.

You were staring so hard at the back of his head you didn’t realise that Junhui was blabbering about something—probably nonsense again. You weren’t sure.

“Hey, Jun,” you said, interrupting whatever he was talking about. “Who was that kid?”

“Pfft,” he replied, widening his eyes and getting saliva all over your face.

“Yah, Junhui!” You wiped your face desperately, not noticing the stares you were suddenly getting. The saliva luckily rid your face as you were alarmed to be scarred by his spit forever. Only one of the many perks of being Jun’s best friend, you accepted it as a rare privilege, in fact. You loved being spat in the face—sarcasm involved. “Why would you do that?”

He laughed, slapping your arm. “My bad.”

“Get to the topic.” you glared, delivering a glance at the Hufflepuff. “Who is he?”

“You don’t know him?”

“No, I don’t. Why would I ask that then?”

“Oh my God, Y/N.” Jun fake-sighed. “You don’t pay attention, geez. He’s Joshua Hong, does that ring a bell?”

And it felt like a thousand bricks crashed your head. You remembered who it was. The familiar kind eyes came into view again as you marked the prior vision of him accepting a badge fixed on his chest fled into your mind. You recollected that night as the same night when you got your Prefect badge. He got his Prefect badge and Head Boy badge.

Not only that, he was in your dull History of Magic class and Potions.

Now it made sense that he was giving you the chocolate box.

It was not only because he was a Hufflepuff but additionally for the reason that he was a Prefect and Head Boy, he had to keep his kind status up since he was liable for his entire house.

“So he just gave you that?” Jun asked, eyes wide when you told him what happened.

“Yeah, he did. Weird.”

“Yeah, but no. He’s known for doing that around the school. Maybe you should keep your eyes out in case he does anything else…remotely kind…exclusively to you?” Jun suggested. You didn't discern the tease in his voice.

You exhaled and then linked your arm around him even though the touch of another male's skin made you remotely disgusted. It was just too exhausting to think about. You rather go about your day without having unnecessary things in your head.

“Y-You’re holding me.”

“Right I am, Junhui. Let’s go pay for this.” You waved around the box of chocolates, putting an end to the conversation prior to him questioning anything else.

Junhui didn’t question anything else, knowing this was one of the times his best-est friend was actually revealing skinship. Instead, he walked you towards the counter, passing by Joshua’s group of friends. Your eyes managed to wander into the group unwillingly, filled with students from other houses with the exclusion of green robes.

To find that he was already looking at you. 

Was there a possibility that he did something to the chocolate—

No, he doesn’t seem the type.

He smiled.

I’ll never know.

You glared his way and rotated your head back, presenting a grin to the sweet old woman who worked at Honeydukes Sweet Shop, ready to buy your candy.

“Don’t forget, you owe us butterbeer, Captain~” Eric sang into your ear.

―

The dead have too much to say.

That’s what you concluded by the next History of Magic class. Because the teacher you had was an annoyance to the society of wizards and witches. Like, go rest or something? You rather catch Peeves the Poltergeist around the school than deal with Professor Binn’s shenanigans.

You flipped through the pages of your workbook, not really focusing on the class. No one was, no one ever did. In fact, every one of his classes you had attended made you want to drop your head to the table and sleep. Junhui not being in the class made it more vexatious as there was no one else to talk to. The other Slytherins already had friends and were sitting with them, talking and having a good time, leaving you singly at the back of the classroom.

You searched around the classroom, seeing if there was anything interesting to even lay your eyes on. Nothing.

It was peculiar how Binns’ classroom was set up, it was different to a standard Hogwarts classroom. It was one of those classrooms that had rows and rows in an ascending manner in the shape of a semi-circle, so it was easy to fool around and not have the ghost catch you when you were off task. 

As you were busy scanning around the classroom, your sight landed perfectly on something you hoped you never saw again.

Alas, there it was. The same kind eyes you were trying to avoid since the commencement of the class.

How Joshua Hong had been looking at you, you didn’t know but what you did know was that you didn’t like it one bit. 

You looked back at the teacher, aspiring to find more enthusiasm in the lesson than the Hufflepuff but it was painful as the teacher tended to slur his words into a hybrid of saliva. And then you were inquisitive about Joshua again so in a matter of seconds, you were glancing across the classroom to see if his eyes were still on you.

They weren’t—they were back on the teacher, thank God. A breath of relief slipped through your lips, only to be caught by you again. Suddenly, he looked at you. Your stomach drove itself in nervously, determining the situation awkward because you were never the type to be accused of making friends with Hufflepuffs. Nowhere near that behaviour.

You didn’t have time to shift your eyes too because he caught you into a smile.

It annoyed you—his face, the way his eyes would crinkle when he smiled at you. He appeared so punchable with that smile like he had some authority over you that you were hesitant of. That was the last thing you would let a Hufflepuff have of you, it'd be like someone striping your dignity off of you.

And because of that, it made you smile back, sarcastically.

“So, when did the witch trials happen, L/N?” Your smile was revoked. You whipped your head around so fast as did everyone to look at you to answer the question. Binns was looking at you with the same straight face.

Since you were just so out of focus, the first thing that slipped out of your mouth was a: “Your mum.”

Ugh, Jun! You need to stop saying that around me. 

Your face heated up. You felt yourself drown in your own misery almost instantly that you looked down at your textbook for some sort of virtuous support. Inanimate objects don’t give that, do they?

It was worse in a second. Because before you knew it, inhumane wails sought the class. You’ve never heard such blues leave a human before and it concluded that it wasn’t a human. You felt your disgrace pass more profound with the race of your heart as you looked at Professor Binns.

“M-My mother died in a terrible Muggle accident! How could you bring that up, L/N? I am so offended!” This was the first time that you were seeing Binns so expressive but that was not the point―at all. You had a problem that you did not want to be dealing with.

Someone save me. Anyone, anyone.

You closed your eyes, not wanting to see any of your peers looking back at you with humour lit in their eyes. Not only did you make yourself a fool to your classmates but no one was stopping the crying ghost either. It was an eventful day and it was only your third period. You felt your breath clog up in your chest and it was held there for several seconds until the bell rang.

A soundly sigh escaped you as you practically rushed to pack up before anyone in the class could move an inch. “Apologies, Professor Binns. Didn’t know your mother died. I hope she, um, rests in peace or whatever.”

Binns was in another round of tears at the completion of your apology and you were hurrying out of the class, acting as if you didn’t hear his crying. The last thing you wanted to do was comfort a teacher. Your reputation was far more influential than a dead man.

So as you cleared your books off of your desk, you mourned in the fact that the Binns’ situation may have scuffed your standing a bit. You were speeding off to your next class not stopping by any familiar faces that would only give you a run for their money—tease you, your roommates would relentlessly taunt you for the fool you made out of yourself.

You ran out of the classroom, practically wanting to fly.

“Y/N!”

You turned back around, realising that you left the sweet Wonyoung behind at the entrance of your classroom. She seemed to be waiting for you.

“Hey.” you greeted your benched Beater.

She grabbed your shoulders authoritatively, pushing you away from your classroom door where you were in the way of others coming out from the History of Magic class you wished to have forgotten. It was typical for the towering Wonyoung to do so, her generosity was regarded as the taste of honey.

“You seem a little feverish,” she said as she furrowed her eyebrows worriedly. Once again, worrying over her dear Captain that benched her for all she was worth.

“I’m fine. What is it? You should be going to your next class.” you told her dismissively.

“Ah, it’s nothing much but Jun told me to tell you that he wasn’t in class because he skipped.”

You nodded, knowing that was the case anyways. “Okay, get to class now.”

You sauntered down the hallway, requiring to go to the dungeons for your Potions class. Wonyoung tailed on casually, her face peeking between your shoulder. There was a suggestive consideration coming from the girl as you walked down the employed halls. As a Prefect, it was an anchored duty for you to be punctual. You couldn't be messing around here with your underclassmen.

“Did anyone tell you how beautiful you look lately?”

The compliment didn’t even slit through the outer part of your softness (was there even any?). But you knew exactly what her intention was. You glanced at your underclassmen, furrowing your eyebrows, though not showing much agitation at the same time.

“Is this your way of running from the benches?” you asked blankly.

The beauty jutted out her bottom lip at you, her eyes becoming more doe than they seemed to be a few seconds ago. She was good at using her charms.

“Please.”

“Sorry, Wonyoung. I would love to have you not be benched but we already have two remarkably strong Beaters. I know it’s hard on you...” you told her in an attempt to comfort someone. You didn’t do this often, she should appreciate it as much as she could.

“You have no idea.” the girl replied and the once sugarcoated words were drawing out with grief you’ve never seen from her. She was the happiest on the team, the hype woman for everyone and you seeing her this vulnerable had to mean that the girl was fading in her sweet ways, one by one, slowly.

“If it helps, I used to be benched too.”

Wonyoung’s eyes widened. You smiled softly at her.

“Seriously? I don’t believe it.”

You looked away from her intriguingly sparkling eyes. It was a big insecurity of yours and as much as some members of the team knew about the past preceding their arrival of the team, you would never speak on it, requiring the situation to stay succumbed in the happenings for your individual mental health.

“Ah, long story. But the captain was bad, Jun and I made a plan and overthrew him. He was a perverted little shi —“

Before your words could come out themselves, something hard bumped into your back. You jumped, turning around to see what it was.

For once, you were so within talking to another human being that wasn’t Junhui that you didn’t know the crash would make you cross. You were trying to talk to your underclassmen heart-to-heart, who would be so ignorant to destroy that dainty time?

Joshua Hong would.

You glared at the boy as he picked up some books that got knocked down.

Fury rested inside you, finding yourself try to maintain stability for the sake of comprehending his excuse. The last time you checked he was assaying to make eyes with you in the class not even ten minutes ago and now this? You were so close to just grabbing him by the throat and shaking him until his head popped off and wheel down the hallway.

“So sorry, Y/N! I wasn’t watching where I was going and I—“

“Save it.” you seethed.

Joshua stared at you, unbelieving of your response, as if. He better start believing it because you weren’t falling for his nice guy scheme. Whatever this was, you wanted it to stop. You didn’t like it.

Just looking at the way a few strands of black scattered across his forehead, messily and his stupid, sorry eyes made you annoyed.

You couldn’t stand him.

Grasping Wonyoung’s wrist, you tugged her towards you. “Let’s go, Wonyoung.”

—

Were you hard on Joshua? In your fine opinion, absolutely not. The guy had it coming for him, why would he even try his chances with you? Nevertheless, like every human, there was this slight conscious asking you if what you did was moral? As in, what if it really was an accident? Your attitude or personality couldn’t fall for such idiocy. Which was why you let the Joshua situation slip between your finger like quicksilver and by the next morning, it was like he didn’t even exist.

You did your usual morning routine from showering and putting on your school robes, answering questions from younger dormmates and breaking up fights, as a Prefect should. You weren’t one to mess with when coming to fights and the students who encountered you felt the same.

You left for The Great Hall beforehand, without Junhui as you didn’t have the same first period together. Times when the two of you weren’t in the same class, Junhui would lay back with other friends and you would too but no one was going to the dining hall as early as you, so you were all along among your travel to The Great Hall.

It wasn’t until you entered The Great Hall, the early morning chirping dwelled inside your eardrums, awakening you. You walked down the pinched gap between the Ravenclaw and Slytherin table after recognising a group of familiar girls near the front of the table to sit with. Students here and there avoided the contact with your shoulder, giving you free way nonchalantly as you walked, so you weren't paying attention to your surrounding as much as you should have been.

And then, it all happened so quick.

CLINK!

A little pot, it must’ve been the size of your palm, spilled gravy all over your uniform. Your eyes widened, the light brown colour denting the white and green on you.

In brief, you couldn’t differentiate the fine line between time actually stopping or if everyone was just scared for your reaction.

You slowly looked up, your mouth agape with offense. You found big round eyes looking back at you, widened like you. Like they made the biggest mistake ever. You examined the face, finding familiarity from the glasses to the neat Ravenclaw uniform. Sixth year, Xu Minghao, Prefect and an absolute genius one. You’ve heard about his marvellous expertise in academic work, yet didn’t care for who he was until now.

Your face churned, small chatter picking up slowly around you.

"Oh no, is she going to curb stomp him?" 

"Poor Xu Minghao. I pity him."

"Rest in peace, Haohao."

Even the teachers paused to watch. You heard an: “Oh!” from McGonagall who was making her way towards you. She was far away though. 

If you grabbed your wand now and hexed this Xu MInghao who was looking at you blankly, your rage would compensate. Your hand made its way to your pocket and—

Someone grabbed you from behind and when you looked back, your anger only furthered at the face of Joshua.

“Hong, get off me right now. I might punch the both of you in your manhoods.” you threatened lowly but grateful to the quietness in the hall, it seemed that the Gryffindor table could hear it from all across the room but not the teachers.

“I don’t think you’re in the position to when you have all that trickling down you.” he began.

You wanted to lean back and punch his face.

“Go, Joshua!” you heard a Lee Seokmin say from a distance, the insolent Gryffindor who you had once collided into after practice and being pestered by your teammates. He got one hell of a lecture from you, you weren’t sure why he was talking like he had it easy from you.

But you weren’t able to even get your word in about this mistreatment because before you knew it, you were being dragged out, out of your own will. A spell? You didn’t know, neither could you meet the eyes of McGonagall anymore because she was lashed into a conversation with Dumbledore. And this was the accurate cause why you shunned all the teachers in this school except Snape and sometimes, Hagrid.

Joshua was in lead, your body somehow hexed and following. All that flooded your mind was how wrong this was. Because it looked like you were the one that was following him despite the desperate looks from your body to him.

“Let me go and you’ll have less of a problem.” you seethed dangerously between your teeth.

Joshua smiled back at you as the two of you exited the dining hall like it was nothing. “You need help.”

Did he not get it? You didn’t want his stupid help, neither did you want to see his stupid face. “Hong, I will scream.”

“And I’ve already hexed you so I don’t see your point of trying.”

This was trivial. Joshua was acting like a whole different person. A badger once dripping with honey in his words and actions was now the one to drag you up the stairs without a question from everyone else. You were barraged with the sheer lack of care the people had around you. Did no one dare blink into the troubled face of yours and thought of helping you? That seems not to be the case.

When Joshua was pushing through the students (nicely) with his Head Boy privilege, you could tell where you were going. The one place where you had more advantage than most of your dorm—the Prefect bathroom. You saw students around you sneaking glances as Joshua entered the Prefect bathroom and you entering after him, sadly, with no choice. 

Now they wanted to stare. Oh, did the anger in you wanted to burn the whole school down.

“What the hell was that about?!” you roared when the door slammed shut behind you. Your limbs felt free, you could only assume that he took the hex off. And it was later confirmed when you saw his wand clutched in his grip.

Joshua’s eyes finally widened and you could see the fear slip into them. You weren’t falling for it. “I really wasn’t expecting you to know who I was.”

“Oh, of course, I didn’t know who you were until Mr Gentleman here decided to give me a run of his money. Last time I checked, Hufflepuffs stayed in their place.”

Joshua was quiet.

He didn’t say anything, his eyes reached the floor before a smirk sculpted his lips. Your mouth was agape at the audacity. Not once had you encountered such a Hufflepuff.

“I keep warning you—I won’t hesitate.” Your fingers found your wand tucked in your skirt, the slippery consistency of gravy between your fingers. And the vividly distressing memory of being humiliated was back.

“Okay, Y/N. Gravy is spilling between your legs, you look like a mess, and I’m the one who currently has the Slytherin girls’ spare uniform...you make the decision.”

You had been far too patient. Balling your fist, you did not hesitate in having a good run-up and punching him right in the stomach.

“You set this up! I’m seriously gonna—“

“No, wait, listen—“

“Why should I listen to a pervert who is obviously trying to bargain me into taking my clothes off in front of him after getting someone to spill gravy all over me. Do you think a Hufflepuff could ever get in with a Slytherin? And me, out of all people?” you spat, furrowing your eyebrows in disgrace.

You punched him.

Joshua clutched his abdomen, doubling over from the pain. You could feel the throb roam aimlessly within your knuckles as you retrieved it. You tilted your head sharply so the crack from the root of your neck would resonate in the bathroom. It was a known fact between the Prefects that the bathroom had a reverberation throughout.

“Stop, okay? I’m sorry. Mingyu helped me set this up. He thought if I was more upfront with my feelings, it would help me land you.” he told you, eyes sincerely drawing into yours

You seized him by the collar and pulled him inevitably closer. And with that move, it felt like Joshua’s whole body stopped working. But he let his words flow warmly.

“Land me? What do you mean by land me?”

“I have a crush on you and Mingyu planned this whole thing where I would take you out of the cafeteria and help you out and he gave me this huge script thing and I-I believed him instead of—“ His eyes could only accept fear into it.

“You expect me to believe this bullshit?” you questioned him, feeling mocked he would mess you with something like that. How low.

“Yes? Why would I lie about this? And to you? You will never find me doing that.” he challenged

“What are you trying to say?”

“I’m trying to say I like you a lot and this whole thing was a bad idea, I shouldn’t have pulled moves on you because it was wrong to you and set a bad example for my underclassmen. I’m sorry for getting in your way.”

Joshua saying he liked you had no effect on you. In fact, you were fairly ashamed. How could he take a careless word from an underclassman when he had girls upon him constantly? He should’ve known what to do. Your clutch loosened on the boy, letting him from your fury grasp.

“You should be. I don’t want this crush nonsense anymore. Stay out of my way, if you know what’s good for you..” you threatened him.

Joshua couldn’t even look at you. He must’ve known from the way you were no one to be fooled with. After all, you were known for your malicious words and merciless tendencies. For him to even attempt was an exceptionally brave and stupid thing to do. You wished he never tried, you would’ve been less stressed about your day.

“Understandable…the uniform is in the third bath cubicle, have a good day.”

He doesn’t blink into your face as he left, leaving you in the Prefect bathroom alone. You let out a loud sigh, feeling the inside of you collapse from the stress. He was just hitting on you and it failed horribly. You shook your head, unleashing the tight furrow on your eyebrows. The longer you thought about it, the longer it would have an unneeded effect on you.

Right, you were merciless and angry but you had a rationale conscious. You sighed and decided to go into the third cubicle, where a huge bath was already bubbling, surprising you. You figured it must’ve been Joshua’s doing.

This is the bare minimum.

You squatted right at the edge of the concrete where the sumptuously built bathtub was and dipped the edge of your fingertips of the water. It was warm. How?

Undressing, you wondered how the boy managed to keep the bath still warm. You had to have been in the Great Hall for a good five minutes and to get to the Prefect bathroom was almost ten minutes. Dipping yourself into the bath, the water welcomed you cordially. The foam covered your nudity from above and there was no doubt in your mind that Joshua must’ve got someone to do this minutes before you hypothetically entered—the only explanation that could be offered. If there was a spell, he would’ve had to go back into the third cubicle and take the hex off.

So that meant that he went super far into planning this.

He’s genuinely interested in me…

Who cares?

A booming “woooo~” scared the living daylights out of you. Your thighs clenched tightly as you backed to your dirty robes where your wand remained in case of danger.

It was nothing to be afraid of though.

Moaning Mrytle came from under, her body loose next to you so suddenly your body paralyzed for a whole second.

“Bathing so late in the morning, are we? Classes start soon.” Her eyes lowered a little. You pushed the soapy foam closer to you despite her seeing you from under anyways. There was something about Mrytle perving on you from above that made you generally awkward. She never hid her lustful tendencies as a spirit.

“If it wasn’t for an idiot, I wouldn’t be here, would I, Mrytle?”

“Badger boy~! Oh, he’s so incredibly handsome! Ah! I don’t understand why you wouldn’t fall in love with such a heartthrob.” she said, pouting at you. She perched her face on her hand, sighing heavily. “If I was still alive and in this generation of students, I would’ve had a huge crush on him or his incredibly handsome friend.”

Something little quipped in your heart at her words. You let the sound of the Moaning Mrytle's legs kicking her legs under the water sit a little. Gears were working in your head, finding a solution to that feeling. Why were you feeling that? It was like you could coincide with what she was saying. 

But finding Joshua conventionally attractive didn’t mean you liked him like that, in fact, it was the opposite. But Mrytle must’ve known what was going on, at least more than you did. You might as well dig for more information.

“Mrytle, did he come in here earlier?”

She smiled. “Whyyyy~?! Do you have a crush on him?!”

You were afraid that the question was going to come up, but you defended yourself nicely.

“Well, it must be every girl’s inquisition if a boy has a crush on her. You would know that Mrytle, you’re such a gem!” Being nice was definitely not your forte, but you had to try to get the truth out.

But she smiled, taking it which made it all worth it. “Oh, stop it!…well, he did bring that incredibly handsome Hufflepuff Prefect in here and they were discussing something about you. I heard that older boy say that he was in love with you and it hurts liking you. They were talking about something about you but I wasn’t paying much attention. The other one’s face was such a distraction, honestly!”

No one has talked about you that way. You felt empty.

Your thoughts were getting nowhere. All you could describe was shock at the situation that was ducked. Never once in your life have you heard about another person talking about being hurt while liking you.

Your heart felt as if it was weakening, but you retained quickly, remembering that he brought you into this current situation with his stupid action plan, thinking it would make you weaker. And that instantly made you fed up. The aggression wasn't as strong anymore and you wanted for it to be badly. 

He couldn't just do that and expect to win you over, that was beside the point.

He was messing with you.

Joshua Hong was trying to distract you.

—

The moon had always captured your eyes. It was like the big glowing circle would enlarge whenever someone fed it attention and admiration, becoming more beautiful. You couldn’t help it, indicting it on the divine sight the library had of it. Nonetheless, you couldn't let go of a certain topic knacking you on the back of the head—a bigger inquisition than the merit the moon offered.

"Do you think what Moaning Mrytle said was true?" It was a day following the event at The Great Hall.

Your best friend slid to your side. He grabbed a pebble on the windowsill and flung it back, letting go at the fit angle. The rock wheeled through the gaps of the circular window frame and into the atmosphere for a stable second, awarding unneeded silence to answer your question. Both of you paid attention to the rock's adventure until it decided to stop midair and drop down at an increasingly fearful speed. 

Junhui let out a sigh and then turned around to you, leaning his figure against the window frame. 

"I mean, I don’t know. It seems like anyone would be dedicated if they were planning to embarrass themselves in front of their crush. I wonder if Mingyu bribed him.” he stated.

You could hardly see it. Even on the court, Mingyu was too much of a good sportsman. It was beyond his abilities.

“I doubt it..." You leaned against the window frame like your best friend, giggling a little."Funny how I know nothing about him and he’s confessing.”

“Okay, but what do we do now that everyone thinks he brought you into the Prefects bathroom to screw?” he asked you. It was a question he ached to ask for so long, you could see it since this morning in which he gave you the most bewildered face when he learned that the rumours were totally muddled up. Students must've thought otherwise when they saw you and Joshua on the way up to the bathroom.

“I don’t really care what they think. I just hope he doesn’t come to mess around with my breakfast times again.” you shrugged, a small smile on your face at the recollection of humiliation on Joshua's face. You felt embarrassed for him, you couldn't begin to imagine how he was feeling.

"Oh if I was him, I would be scared to death.” 

"As he should be...should we go back? I wanna sleep so bad," you suggested.

Jun pressed his lips tightly together and nodded, agreeing with you. "Me too and we have practice tomorrow too."

"That we do."

You collectively exited the library, not forgetting to wave Madam Pince a 'good night'. Jun and you made your way down the many stairs from the library, engaging in a humorous conversation, distant from the drama in your life that had been missing for a while. It didn't seem like it but Junhui was a big gossiper. You would hear everything from him before it would come from anyone and it was because of how he was always able to be at the scene of the crime. All the time.

Of course, except yesterday when Joshua was dragging you out of the Great Hall.

You felt a little uneasy on the ground floor, knowing that the two of you had to go past the Hufflepuff dormitory on the way to the dungeons. It was a pain honestly and it showed that the event affected you more than it should've.

"Not you thinking about him already."

"Boy, shut up," you told him as you took the lead into the hallway, guiding towards the dormitory to show that you weren't anywhere near thinking about Joshua.

It hadn't even been ten steps.

Your breath hobbled in your throat as you came to an instant stop. Jun knocked into your shoulder from behind.

“No, Momo. You’ve had too much to drink. Go inside, I’m gonna go get something from the kitchen and I—“

"NoOoO, I wanna see her now. She’s all I think about Joshua, she’s all I—“

Joshua was holding up a girl, trying to get her to stand upright on the wall and from the looks of it, it was something scandalous. Her eyes were dull, somewhat trying to find their way into slumber. She was drunk. Drunk as hell.

His back was facing you so there was no way he would see you. How would you slip by without him noticing? What if he sees you? Questions waved in your mind, all of 'the avoidance'. Whatever it was, you didn't want to be dealing with anything involving Joshua.

"Oi, Hufflepuff. What happened?" Jun asked loudly, leaving you flabbergasted. 

What is he doing?!

Joshua turned around, hands busy holding the girl's shoulders. He looked back at Jun and his eyes widened a little. It was moments before his view fleeted to you. You wanted to scream with frustration. Your best friend—

You were betrayed.

He didn't look at you for long, his glance gliding towards an allegedly helpful Jun. It was the truth that he was only doing this because he wanted to get on your nerves somehow.

"She drank something the sixth years gave her and now she’s drunk. I don’t know what she drank though,” he replied.

It was surprising that a situation like this would arise for a Hufflepuff. Nevertheless, you paid no mind to them conversing. You could feel Jun's eyes penetrating through you as you shied your eyes to the ground that was far more interesting than what they were talking about. The drunk girl let out yet another groan of disobedience.

"Stop, Momo," Joshua said sternly. 

Without a second after his words, you felt yourself being thrown forwards. Pushing back Junhui's hand, your jaw clenched. It took everything in you to keep your mouth shut from the words you wanted to spew out.

"Y/N here happens to be an alcoholic at a young age—"

"I am not!" you interrupted at the out-of-proportion lie. You only drank a couple of times and he knows it was for family events. The snarky smile on his face made you want to punch him.

“What I’m trying to say is she’s good at sniffing out drinks, why don’t you let us in and we can help you out?" Jun suggested casually.

Jun was in big trouble for sure. Any second now and he was going to find himself in a headlock.

"I don't know....that's not allowed." Joshua's chin tilted downwards, rejecting Jun's offer.

At least the goody-two-shoes himself wasn't letting you in anyways.

“Yeah, Jun.” you pressed, glaring.

Jun spoke up though, “Oh well, it’s your loss, really, Hong. You’ll have no idea what went into your friend’s body and you’ll have to go to the teachers and ask them if she has some kind of reaction. And won’t that be an embarrassment for you to have to tell, as Head Boy, that your underclassmen were messing around with alcohol under your nose? But I guess, it’s your decision.”

Junhui being snappy instead of being full-on aggressive was a rare scene, meaning that he was farming a lot of force to embarrass you. Of course, he was. Sometimes your misery was his happiness.  

Joshua's stare followed to the ground, yielding you relief that you weren't going to deal with him or the drunk girl. You felt a little bad for her but anything for your rep, right?

"He doesn't want us, let's go." You grabbed Junhui's wrist and dragged him down the hallway without another look. After this, you planned on having an early night so that you would have enough energy for tomorrow's practice.

“Joshua, please. I want to see Dahyun, I have to apologise to her. She’s the only reason I’m living. I—"

“Fine.” His voice stabbed in the hallways and it was plain that Joshua was aching in the drunk girl's antics. Chills ran up your body unexpectedly. He did not agree, did he?

"You heard our boy, Y/N." Jun reversed your positions, grabbing your hand instead to drag you down the hallway excitedly. A million-dollar smile was cemented on your best friend's face and dumbfoundedly, you were led by him down the hallway, helpless to understand it. There was no way Joshua, the Head Boy and Prefect and above all, Hufflepuff was letting you into his dorm. 

You clung onto Jun's hand for dear life, his clutch so loose that he would probably let you cluster to the ground if he were to let you go. 

Momo's half-shut eyes blinked into yours, reaching you right in the abdomen. She was drunk, you didn’t know what went into her body. What if it was poison? What if something horrible happened to her? God damn it.

You couldn't leave now.

Her eyes would haunt you forever then. This wasn't for Joshua, it was for her. The sudden change of heart was noticed greatly by Jun as you swayed his grip off of you. As much as you were doing this, the touch of men, you were disgusted by.

Joshua told his password in front of you and got in with the girl and with you and Jun following. Neither you and Jun were scared of basically infiltrating another house's dorm being rebellious students already but the way Joshua was worrying his lip between his teeth didn't pass you.

His lips are so plump—oh my God, what the hell am I thinking?

Your eyes widened at the side of his face, ensuring Momo that everything was going to be okay. That's how you were able to see his lips perfectly, excluding the gloom cast atop the dormitory. The thought shook you on the inside, you disliked it. Why would such a thought pass you, in the first place? Were you losing control?

“Guys, calm down. They’re just here to help Momo out. There’s no need to look at them like that. Seungkwan, take her.” Joshua announced to the many eyes staring back. You felt no astonishment to them.

A boy walked out and helped Joshua wrap an arm around Momo and bring her to comfy armchairs by the fireplace.

“If this keeps happening, we’re going to have to discuss with our companies—I mean, school. I mean, school. Why the hell did I say company?" Seungkwan patted her head slowly as she lulled her head on his shoulder without a care in the world.

"Where's the drink?" Jun asked from your side.

Joshua picked up a glass from a small table in front of him. He passed it to you. The remains of the drink were still evident on the bottom of the glass and you hoped hard that no one changed the glass while you were gone. You looked at the remains for a second before sniffing the drink, the smell already familiar to your nose.

"It's just regular ale, nothing bad will happen to her," you declared. 

The tension in the air dispersed. Joshua exhaled with relief as you put the glass back onto the table. 

"Let's go," you said to Jun, whining slightly. The longer you stayed in here, the more you wanted to die from embarrassment.

"Um, excuse me?" Joshua asked you and the desperation in you grew. Did he not understand? "How do I, um..."

"Sober her up?" you questioned. The yellow started to feel like a perpetual blot to the eyes and a steadfast reminder that he was within few feet of you.

You reached into your robes quickly and pulled out a vial that was the size of your palm. You couldn't believe you were giving away your last vial, but there was no choice. Gazing at Momo as you pass the concoction to him, sorry flooded you. Poor girl—

"Just make sure that...she doesn't drink anything handed to her."

You couldn't hold back the tongue of empathy clawing you, tormenting you. The ends of Joshua's lips quirked up slowly and you couldn't help but know exactly what that meant. The nice boy in him was going to spurt with gratefulness. Deciding quickly that it was time to go, you grabbed Jun and turned to head down the way you came.

However, a persistent word of gratitude slipped from between his lips anyways. "Thanks, Y/N!"

Disregarding him, you were beholden to find your palm on the door with a very giggly Jun on your side. As soon as you were in the hallway again, you let Jun move away from you before you punched him harshly in the chest. Even though you were doing this for Momo, he was still to blame for dragging you into it in the first place and making you blink into her face and feeling sorry for her.

To your surprise, the boy didn't flinch at all.

You almost forgot. The Beast Beater, what were you expecting?

"What was that about?!" you yelled at him.

He threw his head back, laughing at the glower you had. Was it funny? Was it really entertaining to him that you were suffering? The boil in you was proceeding to the edge as a hand weaved through your robe. Your wand was seconds away from meeting your grabby and desperate hand.

"Just teasing you..." Jun said, waving his hand dismissively. He walked towards the Slytherin dorms. You followed him, still heated but you let go of the wand for the reason that you didn't want to hex him so bad that you would get into trouble. There you went with your rational conscience again. "But hey, he's not a bad lad, you know? You could do with someone like him."

"What's that supposed to mean?" If you were to know everyone in the whole wide world, Junhui would still be the person to hate Hufflepuffs the most. Overly to the extent that some of the bitterness rubbed off on you throughout the years since the two of you were practically inseparable.

“It means that you need water for your fire, an eggplant to your peach, a—"

"Jun, I'll hit you!" 

He ran away before you could even get to him.

—

The Gryffindor teacher yet again had a lot to say. With a hand clutched onto the parchment with your excellent grade, you exited the class with heat radiating on your face. She had a problem with your continuous obsession—as the woman labelled it—with talking about her when her back was turned. You had no response for once because you had no idea she could hear you.

You could assume a student told her but then again, she's McGonagall.

You let out a sigh, looking down at your Transfiguration test. 

"Good job on the test though. You must've studied hard, L/N."

You pushed the test down, unable to look at it as you strode the halls with quick, angry steps. Was there a second where you weren't mad? It was a side of you that was always growing whether you liked it or not.

It relinquished within a second when you found the show of a familiar figure by the entrance of the school. She peeked her head out tentatively before rolling her heels back in the shadows, tending her back against the wall. Her eyebrows knitted in. 

You walked up to Lia suspiciously, crossing over a bunch of first-year Gryffindors who let you go first. They whispered harshly to each other in what you could assume was talk about the person you were. Not that it mattered—everything was interesting to the first years.

You were curious about Lia's behaviour since she was meant to be at practice right now and not wandering around the castle.

"You're supposed to be at practice."

She jumped, her hands flying to her chest. "Oh, it's just you."

"What are you doing here?" you asked.

Lia avoided your eyes.

"Well, tell me." you pressed on.

"Ugh, fine," she groaned, stamping her foot on the ground. "I fake-confessed to Eric because it was a dare from Ryujin and now he thinks I'm for real. He won't stop talking to me, even during class. It’s so annoying."

She scanned your face for your reaction.

"Why would you do that, stupid?" you said, holding in a small giggle.

Lia smiled a little subsequent to your light heart towards her reason. "I don't even know. I just wanted to prove myself, I guess...but! It's whatever now. I can go with you, Captain."

She linked arms with you, notwithstanding another second and led the way through the exit of the castle. The breeze felt a little heavy. It was an overcast day, murk weaved in between the students on the late Wednesday afternoon. It was an exhausting week already and for the students to keep going felt like a burden in the disguise of an obligation.

Lia glimpsed down at your test paper on your other hand.

"Ninety-five per cent?" she questioned, an impressed hum leaving her. "I thought you hated McGonagall."

"I do. But I have parents to make proud of," you answered, walking uphill.

"Don't all Slytherins?"

The slash of green and red from a distance didn't allow you to continue your conversation with Lia. As you were on top of the hill, you could see the anger on Ryujin and Sunwoo's faces, sensing something was wrong as they were meant to be getting ready to practice.

"Gryffindors? But we booked the field!"

"That we did, kid, but we know that Bradley Ainsworth is a little persistent, isn't he?" you dangerously chided under your breath. You drew Lia with you as you stomped determinedly downhill and towards the merged teams in an obvious fickle.

But something else hit you as you got there.

"Where's Jun?" you asked.

"He's in detention," Yuna replied to you prior to looking back at the Gryffindor Captain."We already booked the field. You guys can’t just come and interrupt our practice time like that.”

It was impressive that she could talk like that even though she was only the assistant manager. You felt proud that you taught your managers well and not to take shit from other people.

"No, you didn't. Check again. We booked it today and swapped you out for Sunday." Bradley looked at you with a smile. 

What a pain to look at.

You felt your frustration reach its peak.

"Are you kidding me?! No, you didn't!" you shouted as you ditched Lia's hand aggressively. The test paper in your hand was getting scrunched with every second of your talking.

"Hoshi," Bradley demanded, smirking. Their Chaser, Hoshi, picked up a piece of paper that was apparently worth millions and above all, proving his point. Indeed, you were swapped out for Sunday, but that would mean no break for your team on the weekend. You would already spend four hours practising on Wednesdays and Saturdays. For you to practice eight hours over the course of two days would take a toll on all your bodies.

"Ainsworth, you can't just do this stuff without telling me!"

"I'm sorry, L/N. But we have practice to get to," he said and was about to leave.

“Stop. Because you know that you’re not supposed to book the field out on my day unless you have special permission! This is absurd.”

"Absurd, she says." Fred and George mimicked and Hoshi laughs loudly.

Bradley was going to get it from you today whether he liked it or not because you weren't a fan of letting you and your team not practice when they were all already changed.

"Ainsworth, I suggest kindly that you all leave the field before I tell Snape about this and land you all in detention. Oh, and won’t that be your fifth detention from Snape this quarter? Doesn’t that mean a suspension?”

He pursed his lips tightly. As expected, all Gryffindors had intimidation towards Snape as a teacher. You never fully understood it until you actually came to Hogwarts where he treated his own house better than any other house. 

“Wait…why don’t we ask outside our own perception of this…um,” Bradley looked around nervously. You scoffed, finding this aspect of him different from how he usually acted. He would act all high and mighty all the time, he walked like he owned Hogwarts, he was such a tryhard with girls too. 

You smiled back at your team.

Until he did something unexpected.

“Hong! Get over here!”

Your heart dropped to the pit of your stomach. You hadn't seen Joshua Hong in two whole days and you were praying not to have to bump into him. But there he was, walking around with Momo, supposedly going to the lake.

“You are so not asking a Hufflepuff right now,” Sunwoo stated as Joshua and Momo walked over. She was looking a lot better today, you noted.

“Do you see any other alliances Slytherins have?” Bradley asked.

He was foul-mouthed and the steam of outrage touched the edge. You whisked out your wand, bringing it near his button nose. Bradley froze, brazen words leaving his mouth one second ago, all disappearing within the nanosecond. Kevin immediately pushed your hand down before things got too violent. You breathed out sharply, glaring at the Captain of the opposing team.

“You can’t just speak to our Captain like that!" Ryujin shouted at him, furrowing her eyebrows.

Bradley let out a small chuckle. “Oh, wow. Your team actually respects you, L/N. I remember what happened last time when you got—“

Triple homicide—Eric’s fist met with his abdomen, Tzuyu kicked him right in the knees and George, surprisingly, kicked him from the back. It was unexpected he was defending you but you appreciated it regardless. 

Bradley fell to the ground, his eyes widened at the abrupt fighting. Your fist was shaking as you drew it back, rubbing it slowly with the other. Tears threatened to follow down your face from the shock. 

You never really got over it...he had no title talking about you like that, you had no control over what happened then. The way his team didn't say anything and the twins glaring at him for his actions proved that he deserved it.

"What was that for?!” he had the audacity to ask

“How could you bring that up here?! You are seriously an asshole if you think we’re not going to do anything about this!" Tzuyu yelled at him.

Joshua held a hand out at the fallen Captain to your astonishment. "Calm down, the two of you. Why are we yelling here?"

Momo pulled Joshua back, letting the Gryffindor fall back to the ground with a thud. Joshua was persistent, pushing back Momo with a shoulder shrug. You felt like you should've punched him too.

“Joshua, stop—"

“No, I’m not going to stop! It can’t just suddenly be okay for her to push Ainsworth just because she wants the field.”

Tzuyu placed a hand on your shoulder, an attempt to calm you down but all you could do was push it off as a tear slid down your face. Joshua's mouth fell agape slightly at the sight. It was like he could capture every detail of you. Then he should've known what he was sticking up for, especially when it was about you.

“So it’s okay for Ainsworth to bring up how I got sexually assaulted in front of everyone?! Wow, thanks, Joshua. I can really see which side you’re on.” You left with tears, not wanting to see his face again, although, his eyes intruding when you ended your first sentence was stuck in your head. The amazingly graded test paper flew from your grips too, abandoned on the grass.

“Good job, Hong. Good fucking job.” Ryujin spoke up and you apprehended the steps of your team following you, guarding your back against a backstab you didn't expect from a person who pleads his case of crushing on you.

Was it all a lie?

—

"Where is she?" you heard Jun ask from outside the bathroom.

“She’s in there,” Eric answered and there was a moment of silence. You basked in it, letting the girls cling onto you like you were spending your last few moments with them. In truth, the younger ones didn’t know what was going on at all but Tzuyu and Ryujin knew for sure. Tzuyu was on the team at that time which was why she was the prime caretaker when Junhui wasn’t there. 

The tears just wouldn’t stop—not even when Wonyoung was wiping them away, not even when Lia was stroking your back with her soft palm, not even when Yuna was holding your hand and not even when Ryujin was laying on your shoulder. Until, of course, the door burst open with the presence of the Beast Beater.

The girls jumped in surprise.

“What did bloody Ainsworth say to you?” Jun asked, showing no action to the girls. His eyes were stuck on you defensively.

“It’s nothing, Jun.”

You didn’t understand how vulnerable you were at that moment. 

Jun’s fingers reached his temples in frustration before he grunted. He walked over to you and the girls, letting his hand reach the shoulder that wasn’t occupied with your Seeker. “I’m sorry I couldn’t be there but I’m here now.”

His genuineness closed the crevice where your tears poured mercilessly—you felt enlightened by Jun and in no doubt were you going to handle the circumstance yourself as you did before. You were going to talk.

Looking at the girls hopefully, they caught the message. 

“We’ll be guarding the entrance, okay?” Yuna said.

You nodded, the weight of them leaving you in a matter of seconds. They left through the tattered dark door of the second-floor lavatory in an orderly fashion, Lia peeking over at you, her eyes smiling at you lovingly. You nodded at her. She smiled and then closed the door behind her, enabling privacy between you and your best friend.

“Now, explain everything,” Junhui said, putting his hands on his hips. 

You sighed, then, you explained everything. In full detail. He nodded, taking in your words as this was the first time that Wen Junhui wasn’t at the scene of the crime. Actually, second because of the time with Joshua at The Great Hall, he was slumbering in the dorms. Junnhui listened carefully unto you told him what Joshua said.

“Hong did that?!” he exclaimed.

“Yeah, he did that.” you sniffled, the tears about to come back. You were about to lose it, remembering his eyes and the understanding that hit him then. Again, it was on Joshua, himself. He messed up, you couldn’t go around feeling bad for him. But you felt so bad when he realised. He was only trying to diffuse things and not let anyone get hurt.

But he didn’t have to glare at me like that.

“He was defending him all it was worth. I’m just disappointed,” you told Jun.

“Why?!” he questioned.

“I mean, I helped him out and he just accused me of something. He doesn’t even know how shitty of a person Bradley is,” you told him.

“I’m more worried about Bradley. I think we need to show him what Slytherins are about.”

You knew exactly what that meant but you didn’t want him to do anything bad that would result him in getting in trouble.

“Don’t get in trouble for me.” you smiled through a blurry sight of Jun.

“What else can I do?”

—

“This is your final warning. Next time, I’ll actually murder you..” Jun pushed him again against the sacks of flour behind him. It was impressive how he was madder than you about this. You admired his attempts in beating Ainsworth up and you also admired his bloodied knuckles with his fine set of rings which were inherited from his great grandfather. Jun bounced back, tilting his head to the right, a crack heard clearly in the room of working House Elves.

They paid no mind to you guys beating him up, they were profoundly focussing on their work for making dinner for the thousand students that attended Hogwarts. In fact, you were sitting on one of the benchtops, enjoying a tall glass of milk and iced cookies made by the elves for you. It had been long since you knew that Dumbledore had House Elves working beneath him than the food being magicked up itself. It was an easy way for you to beat Ainsworth up in here because you threatened the elves that if they were to tell anything to old man Dumbledore, they would find themselves in a little accident—or more or less, a kitchen fire. Not that Dumbledore would ask them anyways, you would make sure that Ainsworth kept his pretty mouth shut about this after.

“Do you think it’s funny to make fun of someone’s trauma?” Sunwoo yelled, kicking him right in the abdomen. This was beyond evil but he didn’t leave you with any other choice. Ainsworth was there when you were ushered into the hospital wing for immediate care, he watched you with his eyes that were half-awake because of the drug you were under.

Tzuyu bent down to her knees into a squat, grabbing Bradley by the collar. She pushed his face into his and smirked. “It hurts now, doesn’t it?” 

Bradley whimpered.

“God, that was hot.” Junhui cleared his throat.

You all looked at him expectantly. He rubbed his knuckles in his other hand, looking at the details of the ceilings, far from realizing that you were all looking at him. Excluding, Tzuyu, who just slapped Bradley in the face. He looked back at you and you beamed slowly. Did he like Tzuyu? 

“W-What? I said it was hot in here, you know? Because—”

He was so dumb, it was literally freezing in the kitchen, you didn’t know how the elves wielded in such harsh living conditions. You shook your head and then joined Tzuyu down on the floor, squatting right in front of Ainsworth. Holding him up by his blonde locks, drenched in sweat and little specks of blood, you smiled at him. You already had your time with him before, in fact, you were the first to land an excellent kick in the groin.

“Now you know to not mess with me again, we’ll leave you to tender your wounds, how about that?” you asked, crinkling your eyes as you smiled at him. You stuffed a cookie into Bradley’s bloody mouth as he whimpers in fear. You patted his cheek gently, his eyes exhaustingly peeking into yours. “Guys, let’s go now.”

“Righty-o, Captain.” Eric began making his way through the gaps between the short countertops made especially for the elves. You followed through, a satisfied feeling closing you with a breath of relief. Sunwoo opened the door for you, letting you go first as a way to show his pride in your wondrous bravery. 

You wished you didn’t go.

The smile that was on your face disappeared within a second. You relaxed your face and walked towards the left, a dire desire to leave.

“Please, Y/N. Let me explain myself—” 

“How many times are you going to apologize, Joshua? Actually—how many times are you going to mess up? You know what? Don’t even talk to me. If I look at you any longer, I’m actually going to start feeling sorry for you.”

Joshua’s eyes were big and sad, “I—”

Jun pushed him with his shoulder, making it to you. He wrapped his arm around your shoulder. “You heard her.”

You turned around and walked off with Jun.

Guilt swarmed through you, you felt that you were too harsh, you knew that yourself. The sorry in his eyes were prominent, so prominent that they shouldn’t be ignored. He was genuine—it was an innate characteristic of the Hufflepuffs and he wanted to make up for his mistakes. 

Why were you such a bad person? 

He’s a Hufflepuff.

“God, is it bad that I feel bad?” you asked under your breath, moving Jun’s hand away from you.

He smirked, nudging you with his shoulder. Nevertheless, you appreciated that he kept his voice down as your teammates fitted nicely into their own conversations. 

“Look at you being soft…no it’s not. He shouldn’t have reacted like that regardless. He basically minimized your problems.” 

How, though? You wanted to ask. How did Joshua minimize my problems when he was only trying to diffuse the heated problem between Bradley and I and was trying to make sure that no one got hurt because, in truth, that was the best for all of us? Plus, he didn’t know about my circumstance, that’s not his fault.

The realisation of your self-acceptance of the situation only made you want to bang your head on the nearest wall.

—

When Ainsworth came through to Ghoul Studies class the next day, you had to bite back a smile that was coming onto your face. There was no Jun to nudge and talk to about how his fingers were cuffed in bandages.

“Oh, Ainsworth. What happened to you?” the teacher asked, a frown settling on her lips.

“He fell off his broom during practice. It’s horrible, isn’t it?!” one of his many fangirls asked the teacher. You put your hand on your mouth, seeing how dejected his excuse was. So that was the excuse he gave to others? Ainsworth didn’t acknowledge you at all, taking a seat rows in front of you so that he couldn’t see your face.

You leaned back against your chair and smiled to yourself slightly for the rest of the class. When the class had finished, you were off on your feet swiftly to find Jun. But there was no seeing him come out of his Transfiguration class at all. You decided to pop in, at last, seeing McGonagall packing her things up with her wand. You couldn’t hold back your words at your least favourite teacher.

“Using magic for selfish needs, hm? You’re always telling us not to do that.” you scolded pretendingly, crossing your arms together across your chest. Her books nearly dropped her books down to the ground at you being in her class.

“Merlin’s beard, having you in this class four times a week is already a hassle but having you here for another day is just too much.” she sighed, shoving her wand into her robes. Abruptly, she smiled, causing you to do them. As much as you didn’t like her as a teacher, the woman reminded you of yourself at some times—the way she scolded students and her comebacks that were so blazing. They almost proved you wrong too but if it wasn’t for your own cunning remarks, you and McGonagall wouldn’t be in this puddle of disagreement and sharp words that pricked your flesh like a broken mirror.

And not to mention, there was a point in time where you were close to her. A dark time for you.

“Mr. Wen, I presume?” she asked you, walking out of the classroom. You followed her towards the door, getting there before her so you could open it wide for her. She had some things in her hands. “Thank you.”

“Of course, always. Where is he?” you asked. “Or did he skip again?”

“Ah, not this time.” the teacher told you. “I let the class go a minute earlier so I assume that he’s already feasting in the Great Hall. Very fidgety, something to tell him? Confess?”

“Oh, professor!” you exclaimed, putting your wand that you were playing with into your skirt. The teacher’s smile was not to abstain, she was undoubtedly amused at your behaviour, although, she got the wrong message. You were only excited to tell Junhui the message of Ainsworth behaviour in class that was amusing. “It’s nothing like that! Jun…please.”

“Well, the two of you seemed to be very close. One could only think so,” She was going to turn right and meaning she was going to the staff room because of the number of books she had. “Eat well, I’ve got to go drop these books.”

You couldn’t believe you talked to her nicely after these past two years.

You nodded. “You too. Bye, professor. Have a good day!”

The words slipped out before you could stop them. Though, there was no regret in them, only slight embarrassment that you would be soft around the Gryffindor. Oh, you couldn’t help it. She’s done many things for you, you could only do the bare minimum. McGonagall’s face softened. She didn’t say anything back, so you turned around and kept walking down the hallway, the aroma of food filling your nostrils quickly.

“L/N.”

You whipped your head at her. She was rooted in the same spot, her hands holding the books as if she was going to put them on the floor right then. There was an unreadable expression on her face that even you couldn’t decipher for the life of you. It was like McGonagall was questioning everything at that moment until she covered the look with a smile.

“Yes, professor?”

“If you ever need to talk again, I’m always here for you.”

You blinked a couple of times.

The nights of crying in her office were soon brought back, clenching your heart tightly. That was two years back but it felt like a lifetime away from the warm sense of her office. She was so kind to you and all you’ve been was a rude student. 

You still remembered not being able to sleep and going to hers or Snape’s office to sit there for a while just to bask in their safe presences before they would accompany you to the dorms again. It was crazy how you let it all go like it was nothing when in truth, every moment filled you with delight that someone was there for you besides Jun. 

And then, you looked at her for the house she was in. That she was just a Gryffindor, that she was not worth your care or respect.

It was a betrayal at its finest.

“O-Of course, professor. I’ll see you tomorrow for class.” Your heart pulled itself as you stepped away, walking towards The Great Hall, the aroma no longer satisfying your senses. Instead, all you could do was drown in sorrow. That was the first time in years that you spoke to the woman like another human being. You still remember being in Dumbledore’s office the day after it happened. 

FLASHBACK

“How can you let this happen, Professor Dumbledore?! How could you let such an occurrence happen to my daughter?!” your mother yelled as you held your father’s hand tightly. It felt like shame in there, you felt as if this was all your fault. Being sexually assaulted earned this trauma on you—one you couldn’t decipher then, but all you knew was that the worst came out of it and it brought the weakest side of you out. You hated it and you hated everyone. There was the thought that it could happen again.

“I apologise dearly, this shouldn’t have happened at all,” Dumbledore spoke calmly.

“Is this how you always handle situations like this, professor?” Jun’s father asked.

“Putting him in juvenile and serving time in Azkaban for a few years is not enough for you, Mr Wen?” Dumbledore questioned. “I have expelled him, he has no future at all now.”

“Her Quidditch Captain raped her and now you’re not offering anything to her. Counselling is the least you can do.” your mother yelled again. Tears pricked her eyes, drowning your heart in your stomach. Seeing her cry took a toll on you, one that felt like the worst burden in the world. You grabbed her wrist and pulled her to sit down beside you. It was quiet for a second.

The night was cold on October—it was evidently fall and the hushed breeze let in by Dumbledore’s window aroused the hairs on your skin to come to standing. 

“I’m so sorry, baby. I’m so sorry that I couldn’t protect you.” Your mother’s hands shook as she held your face. It was sadistic—the way that guy was making you all feel, the trauma he put you and your family through. An empty hole formed inside of you, destructing you painfully slow. The sobs that reeled from you didn’t feel enough. Nothing would feel complete, nothing felt right.

“It’s not your fault, Mum.” Your hand weakly grabbed hers as you looked into her eyes. She simply pulled you into her chest, letting the two of you sob. She knew how broken you were from it because for once, you were genuinely crying sad tears in front of her. “It’s not your fault, don’t cry.”

“I know but you didn’t deserve that. At all. You’re the sweetest girl I know and you got—I can’t even think how traumatic that could’ve been.”

“It is truly such a thing nobody deserves—getting their body taken advantage of without permission. I am extremely sorry you have to receive such pain, Ms L/N. We have offered your daughter counselling. She has rejected it kindly.” Dumbledore continued.

“You rejected it?” your father asked. “I demand you go.”

“Dad, I can’t,” you said, looking back at your father. Talking about it would only make you feel pressured and labelled.

“I don’t care, Y/N. You have to go—”

“Don’t force her. She doesn’t have to go if she doesn’t feel comfortable.” your mother said. “But—you have to, at least for two weeks, okay?”

Your breath hitched in your throat but you nodded. You had to do it for her and maybe, you might be able to cure. You had hope.

“I assure you Madam Pomfrey will take great care of her,” McGonagall told, nodding at your parents with a small smile.

“I hope so, Minerva or else I’ll have to be filing a complaint to take Hogwarts down.” Mrs. Wen started. She was definitely a force not to be reckoned with, she was powerful among the Ministry of Magic. Even in her own house where she demanded what she wanted when she wanted it. You’ve witnessed it yourself.

“Also, the teachers are always here so don’t feel burdened to go tell them what you’re feeling at any time.” Dumbledore told and your family seemed to have taken that bit a bit too seriously.

—

“Severus, I don’t care what you think but you need to be taking extra care for her. My daughter is everything to me.” your mother said.

“You have my word, Mrs L/N. I will watch over her, no doubt.” 

“We’re serious, we’re depending on you for her journey to better mental and physical health—oh, come on, Severus. Look at what that boy did to her, look at her bruises.” your mother pleaded.

You stayed silent like she had told you to be.

“If you are asking me to take special care of her, I, unfortunately, cannot do that for you. She is like any other student to me, I—”

“Please. Give her some lack for a few months and take good care of her. I assure you that’s all she needs.” your father interrupted, his eyes glowing.

Your bloodline ran with Slytherins and above all, your parents and Snape went to school at around the same time. 

Snape looked over at you, his cold eyes unfailingly bringing light into you. They had convinced him.

“Don’t worry about her.”

FLASHBACK ENDED

You roamed the halls with the reminder of those days, your shoulders weighing heavier than a minute ago.

“Hey! Hey! Wait! Wait up! Pretty Slytherin Captain, WOAH—!” A scream rang through the empty hallway. Before you could turn to see who it was, they thudded into you on the left corridor, causing you to almost knock over to the ground. 

“Man, what the—”

You stopped when your eyes met with Hirai Momo’s.

“What do you want?” you asked, putting on your blank face. Momo seemed jumpy, considering your thoughts into if she was drunk or not. There was no scent of alcohol this time so it gave it away. You were wondering what she was doing here instead of being at The Great Hall where she would be with him.

“I just- I just—damn, that was a long run,” she said, puffing out large breaths as she located her hands on her knees.

“Alcohol damages the lungs.” you slipped out smartly but you didn’t expect her to let out a giggle at your words.

“Thank you for that by the way. Sniffing my drink.” Momo stood up fully, something folded in her hands. Her smiled weaved you in like a distraction.

“I didn’t have much of a choice, did I?” you said, shrugging.

“Uh, I don’t really remember, remember?” she laughed, an attempt to reduce the tension in the space between the two of you. 

“Why are you here?” you asked straight away.

“Right!” She passed you the folded parchment but it hung from her grip as you didn’t try to take it from her. You found it a waste of time to be talking to her when you knew exactly what it was. Could he have been dumber than to think you would accept such a thing?

“What is this? An apology letter from Joshua?”

She laughed again. “Oh my God, no! It’s your test paper! You dropped it the other day. Although, an apology letter would be too far.”

You were enlightened, grabbing the parchment at your wrongness. You didn’t expect a Hufflepuff to be so easygoing—but since when did you know? Just now. Thanks to the fact that you never mingled with others in different houses. Even those who opened their hands for you. Like McGonagall.

You never realised how much of a pain-in-the-ass you were until that moment. Momo treated you kindly and you refused to even look into her eyes for a second longer because it made you seem weak. It did not. You were just discriminative of other houses.

“I agree,”

“Honestly, I thought you would be scarier to approach than this. Was everyone lying to me?” Momo asked, her smile brighter than the Sun. The way her eyes crinkled made you think that she was in fact completed of natural beauty. 

“Yeah, well, I need to go tell my team to jump on you for even thinking about talking to me after this. So don’t be surprised when it happens,” you told as you folded the test paper. You slipped in into your Ghoul Studies textbook, silence flying from Momo’s side. You would sort it out later when you go back to your dorms. 

You wondered why and then you realised what you said. She had to have been scared.

“Joking,” you said blankly and then continued walking down the hallway. The girl followed you, laughing. 

“Please. I thought I made the biggest mistake of my life, I was so scared!”

“Yeah, your soul left you.” you agreed without an expression.

“It felt like it…! Hey, I just wanted to apologise—“

“For what?” You looked at her dead in the eyes. She didn’t falter one bit.

“Come on!” she exclaimed, dropping her smile as she stamped her foot charmingly on the tiled floor. “What Joshua did was so not cool! You know, he doesn’t shut up about you in the dorms but he doesn’t even know the inkling details about you?!”

Your stomach felt like it was full of butterflies—something you took seriously. Because when Momo said that, you didn’t feel like yourself. You heated up at the thought of him talking about you a lot. 

“I tried to stop him that day but he was such an idiot and—“

“I know, I saw,” you interrupted her.

“I just hope you know, he’s extremely, super-duper sorry and I’m sorry that I didn’t slap him when he said that. He won’t stop looking at you from a distance and he’s just not himself these days.” Momo stopped at the entrance of The Great Hall, just at the side of the door so no one could see the opposite houses talking to each other. You respected her for doing so.

“Yeah, sure…he can come to me and apologise to me properly and I’ll think about it.” What a liar—you just want to talk to him again. No, I don’t—

Her eyes lit up. “Seriously?!”

“Does it look like I’m joking?”

“No, no! I was just making sure! Oh, thank God. I’ll tell him later tonight if I happen to bump into him, if not, tomorrow! Thanks so much!” Momo opened her arms.

You pursed your lips together. She quickly noticed, pulling her arms back together. “Right, you don’t do hugs. Ah! But thank you, I’ll see you around! Have a good day.”

“You too.”

Momo entered The Great Hall. 

You tilted your head slightly, finding yourself going over the conversation in your head as you leaned against the brick wall. You felt light talking to the girl, she radiated the vibe that you could tell her anything and she wouldn’t judge you for it. You smiled. Maybe you should get to know the other houses and possibly, Joshua too. 

And what the hell is this thing I have for Joshua? I know I am not falling for his ass.

—

He managed to weave into your dreams in the dead of a full moon night. How did your mind let it happen? It felt so calm and this dream soothed your mind into relaxation you never felt around the boy. It felt like the discrimination between Slytherins and Hufflepuffs didn’t even exist. Like you were away from the real world, just the two of you basking each other’s warm presence, fulfilling each other with comfort.

Joshua laid in your lap in a meadow of tall sunflowers, sun rays dawning on you two, too bright to be real. The two of you were sitting on a picnic mat with food set aside, seemingly have eaten already. 

You couldn’t feel anything. No sadness was felt, it was like everything was going right for once in your life. However, there was a slight difference in you. 

Scars...your old scars that used to make you feel disgusting. He took your hand and kissed them. One by one. Slowly. While smiling at you. And then, you shot up in your bed.

“Fuck—” You grabbed at your scalp. Sweat beaded your forehead as you frantically looked around your room, your heart racing from the dream. It felt so real, so real you had to look around to blink back the reality in front of you. The boy had easily milked his way into your dreams—how? How?!

You thrust yourself off your bed, quickly finding your slippers beneath on the dark oak floor.

“Ssh!” one of your roommates said in her sleep. You didn’t mind her, leaving the room immediately. You went down to the luxurious common room your dormitory had to offer. A few students were still awake, not to your surprise, other seventh years. You looked at the time. It was two in the morning.

You nodded in acknowledgement at one of the seventh years prior to leaving the dormitory. It wasn’t permitted, of course. But you didn’t care at this point, things were going too far. It seemed like even when you were trying to console yourself that this wasn’t real, that it wasn’t happening for real, the rush of the possibility of having feelings for Joshua would always beat it. Truth be told, you still had the slight anger for him because of what he had done in the past and that included the chocolate situation from the beginning. You didn’t like how he was so easygoing around you but then again, why did he need to be scared of you? You guys were classmates, he didn’t need to cower in your presence. 

Ahhh! I don’t know! Why am I like this?!

The darkness welcomed you once again as you sauntered the hallways aimlessly. The coldness brought you in like a friend you didn’t like and you started to regret not wearing something to cover you. You were only dressed in a nightdress, silky and soft to the touch.

“Lumos,” you whispered, ignoring the harsh words from the prior-sleeping portraits. Your mind was finally clearing a little.

“L/N? Is that you, young lady?” a cold voice asked. You stopped in your tracks, feeling the hairs on your skin rise. You reached your wand outwards a little, meeting Snape’s face.

Screwed.

“You know the rules. No roaming after hours. Come with me to my office for your detention slip.” he said.

You sighed. “Come on, professor. You know me!”

“Minerva is in the next hall. It’s either you get it from me or receive multiple from her and points off the house.” he whispered,

You didn’t answer back, you just followed him to his office. Detention seemed to be no remedy to your problem, however, a walk to Snape’s office was one because you felt like your head was clearing even more. Maybe you couldn’t come to a conclusion to this cluster of feelings but you were at least feeling like you got fresh air in your lungs.

Even though a detention slip was now in your hands because of your careless actions. 

You sat in front of him, the slightest feeling of dissatisfaction nagging you at the back of the head still. The thought of his lips on your skin kept playing on repeat in your head, an aimed loop to make you fragile.

“What do you think about a Slytherin falling for someone else who isn’t a Slytherin?” you asked suddenly. Silence occupied the space, Snape’s eyes sparkling into yours. His office already felt empty as it was with no fire lit up to warm it up and only moonlight shining inside. You were sitting in nearly utter darkness. “You know what—“

Snape sighed. “I obviously don’t get paid enough for this. How bad are we talking about this crush?”

You gasped. “Crush? No! It’s just— I had a dream that I and he were together and it’s really bothering me. It’s so weird of me telling this to a teacher, right?”

“You have no idea how many confessions I got from Pansy herself this week about her obsession with Malfoy itself. Who is the kid?”

You felt the inkling of curiosity from Snape.

“Joshua Hong...”

You expected no reaction from the teacher but he raised a brow and that in itself was a lot for you. It felt like he was really taking in what you were saying and you knew you were lucky to be on his good side. Though, a teacher is always a teacher. “A Hufflepuff? Hm, work out your own way.”

You weren’t going to get anywhere with this, especially with Snape. He was too closed off for your own good, you rather have a girl-to-girl chat about this with another teacher whom you were comfortable with. Though there doesn’t seem to be a teacher that you could talk about this to. Which is why you got up, letting the chair skid back a little.

“Fine, professor. Have a lovely night.” 

You exited his office with the detention slip in your hand. “Lumos.”

Walking down the hallway, you felt a little heavier. The dream was still fresh on your mind and it messed you up so bad on the inside. Obviously, you were not used to this kind of dream, especially from a Hufflepuff. If the dream was rather about Jun or another Slytherin, the two of you would laugh about it. But the dream had to be about him. His lips, were so plump and soft when they touched your skin. It was like you could feel it. 

Was it just admiration for his beauty? Was a question that remained unanswered. Although having his lips pressed against yours was something you wanted to feel too, did it answer the previous question? 

A figure was walking down the hallway, causing you to shine your wand at the person. You gulped immediately. How was this even possible?! 

You had to be seeing things! 

Seeing him as a hallucination could also prove to be just as bad. But you didn’t want to believe it.

Joshua jumped back. “I’m only here to see Professor Sprout! I came here with permission!”

“Why the hell are you up so late?” you asked

Joshua was shocked least to say that you were standing there in front of him. You were too, you were also better at hiding it. He paused for a second, gawking into your eyes. Dressed in simple striped blue pyjamas, his black hair slightly tousled, you were brought back to your dream. His divinely heavenly smile, the way the sun sparkled in his eyes, how you looked at him like he was the entire world—

He avoided eye contact as you welcomed his sincerity through. Joshua was just a package of sincerity in himself. He was not one ounce of bad blood but you treated him like he was.

“I had to deliver a complaint from a student…” he explained quietly.

“This can’t be a coincidence.” you pressed on. You didn’t mean anything bad when you said that, you were rather talking to yourself because of the dream you just had. His lips looked just like they did in the dream.

“Oh, come on, L/N. I’m not stalking you, okay, I just—“ You acted out of instinct, suddenly cornering him against the wall. You forced your eyes to look at his pretty face, letting the butterflies come in and settle in your stomach. There was no way you had him cornered against the wall right now but you had to see this for sure. 

“it seriously can’t…this really can’t be.”

Joshua was red under the grip of your wand as he looked to the side. It was like you were contradicting what you said earlier about him touching you. But you could tell Joshua Hong liked it from the redness of his face and his completely relaxed figure against the wall. So you continued.

You pushed a knee beside his left thigh, locking him in place.

“I’m not—“ 

“Be quiet,” you whispered, drawing his face closer with one hand, examining it in full detail. Whether this was a hallucination or not, you only started accepting the fact that this boy was actually pretty. Your heart was speeding just looking at his face. You forgot about the problems you had with him as your eyes followed his nose, lips, hair and back to his eyes, all defined and sculpted by the heavens to fit him. If someone had told you he was an angel from heaven, you wouldn’t question it one bit.

Finally getting a hold of yourself within the lost maze, you threw his face to the side, your fingers slightly piercing his cheeks. You moved off of him. 

Joshua furrowed his eyebrows at you. “What was that about—“

“Your mum.” You left.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: u got to the end!!!

here's the poll as promised, i'll make my decision in 24 hrs

“Offense, not fence baby, and none taken. I know Mingy–Mr. Kim is a great cook.” Mingyu grins as you start to use his first name in front of the kids. He didn’t mind; he actually would prefer it, but he knew how much you wanted to teach Mina respect so he didn’t push the subject. When you sigh again and nod, Mina giggles moving back towards Amy to take her hand allowing the other small girl to pull her towards the dining room where dinner was already waiting. 

You watch with adoration, trailing slowly behind them until Mingyu takes the spot beside you just inside of the dining room. Your eyes move over the freshly decorated Christmas tree just on the other side of the arch into the living room. Mingyu’s eyes can’t help but to mirror your eyes on the tree, but only, his stay on your face and your smile as it spreads across your face. 

“It’s so pretty Mingyu. You put it up today?” Meeting his eyes, you feel your cheeks go warm at his attention already so focused on you causing you to look away when he laughs nodding towards the girls. “Yeah, they helped me. I just need to put the star on the top. Maybe after dinner you can help me with that?” 

Nodding, you wrap your arms around yourself, making Mingyu’s eyes move over you once again with a smile. “Mm, perfect. Here, go ahead and join the girls, I’ll turn up the fireplace. You all get started with dinner.” You can’t help the shiver that runs through your body when his hand brushes over the small of your back causing you to smile, a smile that doesn’t go unnoticed by Mina or Amy who giggle in hushed tones. 

“I know, I saw!” 

“Tomorrow we will hang it up!” 

Your brows furrow as you catch bits and pieces of this secret conversation, sitting down across from your daughter who had made sure to place you as close to Mr. Kim’s seat as possible. Her smile only fades slightly when you sigh and shift your plate and seat down a bit in order to give him more space. “You guys know how to set a table. You have to give people room to eat. What are you two whispering about?” 

“Nothing mommy, and your seat was perfect. I don’t know why you had to move it…” You watch your daughter pout as you lean to begin putting spaghetti on Amy’s plate then her’s. “Okay, Mina. Napkin in your lap and eat slowly, both of you.” Amy smiles at you adoringly when you meet her eyes, making your chest feel warmer. You find yourself wanting to push her hair behind her ear and make sure she is well taken care of though, you know for a fact that Mingyu does a fantastic job of that even on his own. 

“Yes, Miss Y/L/N. Thank you for staying for dinner. I really like when Mina is here for dinner and you too. I want you to do it more, please?” Your heart beats a little faster, your brain trying to come up with the right words, not wanting to hurt her feelings or give her any false hope. You simply smile, starting to speak when you feel warm wool around your shoulders. 

“Amy, I’m sure Y/N and Mina will eat with us when they can and want to. Now eat up before all this hard work gets cold.” Your hands go to the shawl around your shoulders that Mingyu had placed there, your eyes meeting his to find him smiling. “You seemed cold, I hope you don’t mind.” 

Mingyu’s hand slides over yours to take the pasta server out of your hand, gesturing for you to sit down. “And please, you are a guest, let me serve you since you served the kids.” You glance quickly at the girls as they giggle, spaghetti sauce covering their cheeks while Mingyu places a serving of spaghetti onto your plate. 

“Girls, use your napkins. They aren’t just lap weights.” Mina sighs faux annoyed while Amy laughs, picking up her napkin wiping at her face. Mingyu grins as he watches you with the kids, enjoying the help with Amy and just watching you interact with them both. You were a good mom, attentive but still loving. It was clear that Mina loved you very much and that Amy had a special place for you in her life already. 

Dipping out enough spaghetti that could feed two people onto his plate, Mingyu laughs when he finds you looking at him, his fork already twisting the pasta around it eagerly ready to bring it to his waiting mouth. He only stops at your look as you hold a much smaller bite an inch from your own mouth, a small amused smile slightly hidden by the spaghetti. “What?” 

Shaking your head, you laugh before taking your bite, picking up your napkin to cover your lips and wipe them clean of any sauce at the same time. Mingyu takes his bite, filling his mouth with audible sounds of appreciation, making your heart once again feel full in your chest. Amy giggles drawing both yours and Mingyu’s attention while she watches her father eat with a shrug before pointing her fork at him. 

“He always eats like this. Worse if you weren’t here Miss Y/L/N. Seriously, you could ask Mina. One time I think he inhaled an entire chicken off his plate. The whole thing!” Mingyu’s cheeks warm, he is quick to reach for his water taking a long sip looking at his daughter over the glass as she grins at him with one to match his. 

“I think–” You can’t help but to laugh along with the girls when Mingyu has to clear his throat between talking before continuing, “Excuse me, I think that Amy is a bit dramatic. It wasn’t an entire chicken. I am just a person who enjoys a good meal.” 

You nod along with his words, your smile as bright as the lights on the Christmas tree in Mingyu’s eyes while he watches you working to get another bite of food. “I like knowing you eat so well. It’s good, you are a very healthy man.” When you look up to find him watching you once again, your fork slips in your hand, causing you to drop what little spaghetti you had managed to gather on it, making the girls giggle at your clumsy nature. 

“Thank you Y/N. Girls, eat your food. Stop giggling so much and actually put food in your mouths.” Amy and Mina mutter their okay to Mingyu’s words before going back to their meals, leaving you to regain your composure. A shared glance between the two of you and slight smiles hardly unnoticed by the two girls who kick at each other’s legs under the table before quickly laying down their forks, asking to be excused to go play. 

A sigh falls from Mingyu’s lips before he smiles and looks to you for your opinion. “I–okay, but only for a little while longer. Mina, we can’t stay too late. You have school and I have work. I’m sure Mr. Kim would also like to have a peaceful evening before putting Amy to bed.” 

The girls laugh nodding the entire time they run away from the table and towards Amy’s bedroom to play, leaving you and Mingyu alone to finish your meal. Mingyu smiles into his water once again before daring to let his eyes grace yours again. “You really aren’t bothering me by being here Y/N. I love having you and Mina in the house. It’s really nice. Amy loves having Mina here to play and I think, no I know, that she loves having you here too. She talks about it all the time.” 

You shake your head, feeling your cheeks burning under his attention while you reach for your own glass of water, wishing it was something stronger. “Well we both really love her as well, and you. I mean we love spending time…with you. Mina hasn’t had a good male figure in her life in a long time. It’s really nice for her to have someone to look up to like you.” 

‘...and you’ Those words take Mingyu’s breath away, causing him to sit back in his chair with a small grin, his eyes watching your fingers play with the glass of water. “Amy feels the same way about having a woman in her life. When you took her and Mina to that little nail salon a few weeks back? She couldn’t stop talking about it for days. She called my mom and talked about it for hours, about how Miss Y/L/N took her out for a girls' day. Y/N?” 

Your eyes find Mingyu’s though you are smiling at his story about Amy and his mother when he says your name in a question. “Hm?” Mingyu’s grin widens at how your eyes widen slightly in a question to him as he stands to go to a small cabinet in the corner of the room. “Red or white wine?” 

“Oh…I couldn’t. I have to drive home, and I told Mina we couldn’t stay for long.” Mingyu laughs softly, glancing back at you still taking out two wine glasses while you watch, a smile on your lips before you sigh. “Red, please? Just one glass.” With a nod, you watch the attractive man hold the wine glasses between his fingers and the bottle of wine in the other while he makes his way back towards the table and you. 

Mina kicks her feet when she runs back to Amy’s bed falling down on it out of excitement. “Your daddy got out one of those big bottles we aren’t allowed to touch and mommy looked really happy. I seriously think Santa got the letters.” Amy smiles just as brightly as her father had while looking at you before falling back on the bed to lay beside her best friend, both girls letting out an almost dreamy sigh at the thought. 

The two girls had spent many of their evenings after homework watching the Hallmark channel since they were playing Christmas movies. It all seemed so easy for people to fall in love and for families to have their happily ever after so why couldn’t they have that too? Why couldn’t their mommy and daddy have the same thing? 

They had both watched you work so hard to support them even when you didn’t realize they were watching. They had seen you sad, crying when you thought no one else was watching, they might be young but they knew what loneliness felt like. Yes, you had lost a husband and Mingyu had lost a wife, but they had lost a mom and a dad.

Then something magical happened, they were put into the same class and quickly became best friends. You worked later than Mingyu, so it just worked out that he could keep Mina, making it easier for you to pick her up on your way home. The fact that you two seemed to get along so well was just another seemingly magical moment for the girls, a Christmas miracle. Just like one of the Hallmark movies. 

Turning on her side, Mina reaches for the sprig of mistletoe that she had painstakingly tied the red ribbon around, her small fingers smoothing it while Amy watches her lost in thought. “Like you said, we can hang it up tomorrow. They have to walk under that archway like 100 times a day when your mommy comes by to get you. We will make sure it’s really visible so they won’t have any other choice but to go by the Christmas rules.” 

Amy smiles as Mina does, her friend putting the mistletoe back down for safekeeping before sitting up on bed to reach for a small notebook that the girls now shared. “Okay so, we did plan one. Dinner as a family, check. Mistletoe tomorrow…oh the star tonight. Maybe we can get your daddy to help mommy to put it on the tree like in that one movie. Oh my gosh, Amy, did you see him put that pretty blanket on her shoulders?” 

Mina watches the smile fade on her friend's face only slightly but she still nods. “Yeah, it was my mommy’s. At least that’s what daddy told me once when I asked. I mean I don’t mind your mom wearing it. She looked really pretty in it. I liked it, seeing her wearing that, instead of it just laying in my daddy’s room.” Mina leans to hug her friend making her smile once again, both girls laughing when the mood cheers back up. 

“She did look really pretty, I think your daddy thought so too. I wish he’d just tell her. The girls in the movies seem to like it when the boys tell them how pretty they are. Maybe we can figure out how to get him to do that?” Nodding, Amy takes the notebook from Mina’s lap in order to write down the new idea on their list, knowing she was better at spelling out of the two. 

“Daddy is a gennleman, he tells me that I’m pretty all the time. I’m sure he will be happy to tell your mommy.” A smile creeps along Mina’s lips at Amy’s words and her mispronunciation of gentleman while she watches the girl write slowly on the thick lines of the notebook. “Gentleman, like gentle. Mommy taught me that once. You know like when you touch a kitten, you have to be gentle?”

“Oh…that makes sense I guess? Daddy is gentle with me and you. He would be gentle with Miss Y/L/N and he’s a boy or a man.” Mina nods along with Amy’s words as if she made all the sense in the world, her smile just as bright as yours while you sipped at the last of your wine and leaned against the kitchen counter, taking a break only to dry plates as Mingyu washed them. 

“Mina told me that you all don’t put up a Christmas tree?” Mingyu watches your face shift like a deer caught in headlights while you reach out to take the last plate from him, drying it slowly. “Okay, I’m not a Grinch if that’s what you are thinking, Mingyu. I just…I literally do not have time to put up decorations knowing that in a couple weeks I would need to take them all back down. You know how much I work.” 

Putting his hands up defensively, Mingyu laughs, taking the towel from you along with the plate so he can put them away. “No, seriously I get it. I’m lucky to work from home most of the time. Mina can enjoy the tree here, I told her the same. She didn’t seem that upset about it honestly. Though she was more than happy to help decorate ours. I hope you don’t mind that she did.” 

Shaking your head you pick up your wine, nursing the last new sips and watching Mingyu move around his kitchen as he puts away the last few dishes. Your eyes linger over his back and his face until he turns around to meet your eyes when you speak. “No, I don’t mind at all. It’s good she gets that piece of Christmas somewhere. She usually only gets it with my parents so it's nice to have it here too.” 

Mingyu smiles once again with a nod, picking up his own glass of wine to take a sip. His eyes linger over your fingers and lips as you drink the last sip from your glass before setting it to the side. “It’s my pleasure Y/N. Are you sure you don’t want another glass of wine?” He watches a smile spread across your features while you consider his question. 

“As much as I’d love to say yes, I have to say no. You understand, I’m sure.” Mingyu nods, taking your glass from your fingers, letting his fingertips trail from yours seemingly on accident when he turns to take it to the sink. “I do. Another time, a rain check? When you don’t have to work the next day. Maybe on a Friday? The girls are always asking for a sleepover.” 

You watch his hands move over the fragile glass with such care that you can’t help but to tilt your head in wonder. How this large man could look like he was going to break something without even meaning to and yet hold something or someone like they were a cloud he wanted to keep forever. “They sure are. I keep telling Mina sometime later in the school year.” 

Mingyu laughs, nodding into his wine, finishing it so he can wash his glass before setting it to the side to let it dry. “I wouldn’t mind it earlier, but of course it’s up to you.” You watch him take a deep breath, his hips leaned back against the counter mirroring you against the island causing him to smile. “Should we get the girls and put the star on the tree?” 

Amy is mid laughter when Mingyu knocks on her open door, drawing both of the girls' attention towards him. “Hi daddy, what’s up? Are you and pretty Miss Y/L/N having good juice?” Mingyu laughs scratching the back of his neck realizing that the girls had been spying on the two of you. “Mmhm. We did have…good juice. Did you two have fun playing or did you spend your entire time spying on me and Miss Y/L/N?” 

Mina sits up from the bed with a giggle while Amy tries to play innocent by picking up her doll running a brush through its overly tangled hair. “That’s what I thought. Come on, it’s time to put the star on the tree before you head home with your mom, Mina.” With a whine from both girls, Mingyu mimics them ushering out of the bedroom back down the hall towards the living room where you were already waiting. 

Your eyes were on the tree, flicking from the different ornaments that had dates, some that were picture frames holding pictures of Mingyu and Amy. Your fingers pull the shawl tighter around your shoulders as you step closer to the fireplace, enjoying the warmth against your body and letting out a content sigh when Mingyu comes around the corner. Though neither of the girls seem to notice he stops in the tracks and has to take in a sharp breath at the sight of you like this. 

Mina moves to pull on your dress moving to hold at the shawl also enjoying the warmth causing you to laugh. “Where is your sweater?” Amy laughs, moving towards you as well letting you hold her just as close as she speaks looking up at you. “She forgot it at school. I told her she would when she took it off. She can wear one of mine home tonight, I don’t want her to get too cold.” 

Mingyu’s chest tightens when your fingers brush over Amy’s cheek. Your voice soft as you whisper your thank you to her, shrugging off the shawl to put it around both of the girls who curl up under it, enjoying the warmth and smell of your perfume you had left behind on it. Swallowing hard, Mingyu moves further into the room, his hand shaking slightly when he reaches for the box holding the golden star so he can take it out. 

“Oh…it’s beautiful, Mingyu.” He grins into a laugh that is cut short when he has to swallow hard once again as you step closer to him and the tree. Your gentle fingers run over the star before you look up at him as if asking for permission which he gives with a nod of his head, allowing you to take the delicate tree topper from the box to show the girls who ooo and ahh. 

“I love it daddy! It’s better than that stuffed elf we had last year. Did grandma give us this one?” Mingyu shakes his head no, a soft smile on his lips watching you move back towards him and the tree. Your eyes looking up at the top of the tree, you were clearly thinking there was no way you’d reach the top of it like this. “No baby, I bought it a few days ago from a shop in town. Y/N…wait, let me get a step stool.” 

When you start to speak, Mingyu puts up his hand moving back to a hall closet to bring out a small stool unfolding it near the tree before offering you his hand stepping closer to you. “Carefully, I have you though, okay?” You laugh as you step up on the small ladder with a nod, your fingers delicately clinging to his while his other hand grazes your lower back.

Mingyu watches you carefully until you reach the top of the stool, his hands holding onto you gently but firmly enough that you could tell he would never let you fall. Never on his watch.  Mina and Amy’s hands link under the warm shawl, happy smiles reaching their eyes while they watch you place the star on top of the tree making sure it is perfect. “How does it look, girls? Do you like this?” 

Did they like this? Seeing the potential of a family in front of their eyes? “I love it mommy.” Amy squeezes Mina’s hand tighter, sensing the tears in her eyes helping her to hold them back. “Miss. Y/L/N, it’s almost as pretty as you. Don’t you think so daddy?” Mingyu looked at his daughter with a laugh playing on his lips but she was right. 

“Mmm, almost but not quite.” Your cheeks warm, almost as if you were sitting right next to the fire, when you look down at Mingyu. His smile broadens into a grin before he takes a step back, helping you to carefully descend the step ladder. “Thank you for helping us put that up Y/N, it completed it. I could have never made it look that perfect.” 

You watch Mingyu carry the step ladder away, your fingers nervously moving along your arms you now have wrapped around you with no shawl to hide under. “I’m sure you would have. The girls did a great job with the rest of the decorating. I’m sure they could have done the star just as well, but I am happy to help. It was nice to have a little taste of Christmas.” 

Mingyu watches your hands move along your arms and he wonders if you are cold again, his eyes moving to the shawl around the girls but he knew he would never get you to stay for much longer. He found himself wanting to wrap you in his arms and hold you by the fire while the girls curled up next to each other under the shawl warm and happy by the tree. 

Shaking his head, Mingyu pushes the thought away and smiles at you. “It’s my pleasure, just like I told Mina, you can always have Christmas with Amy and me. We do Christmas with my parents on Christmas Eve then spend Christmas here…I don’t know what your plans are…so I…don’t feel obligated.” 

Mina sits up a bit looking at you longingly which makes your heart beat faster, an actual Christmas tree on Christmas for her. That would be nice…the thought plays through your head. “Uh we actually go to my parents on Christmas Eve as well so maybe. We will just have to see. Let’s not make any plans just yet.” 

You watch Mingyu’s smile tighten every so slightly but he nods even as the girls start to complain. “Amy, stop it. Don’t whine like that. It’s almost time for bed anyway.” You nod agreeing with Mingyu taking a step towards the girls to collect the shawl folding it carefully. “It is, we’ve stayed far too late tonight Mina. Time to say goodnight.” 

Amy and Mingyu watch you and Mina leave, a bit of sadness in both their eyes when your car pulls out of the driveway. Mingyu isn’t surprised when his daughter leans against him, a soft sad whine slipping off her lips. “You will see her in the morning. Time to brush your teeth, and I mean all of them, even the back ones.” Amy groans looking up at her dad with faux annoyance before smiling at him with his matching grin when he runs his finger over her nose only to tap the end of it. 

You watch Mina in the rearview mirror any chance you get on the drive home. She looked sadder than normal and you weren’t sure why. Though you felt sadder than normal after leaving Mingyu’s house and once again, you weren’t sure why. Shrugging off the feeling you make it home with your daughter making sure to take extra care with the borrowed sweater she had worn home. “I’m going to put this in your bag, make sure you give it back to Amy tomorrow okay?” 

Mina nods at you, her feet dragging while she walks past you towards the hallway making you lift your head and follow her. “Are you okay baby? Talk to me…are you that sad to leave Amy tonight? I know you want a sleepover but that just can’t happen on a school night. I really hope you will try to understand why?” 

A sigh leaves your daughter’s lips, her small body plopping down on her bed before she looks up at you shaking her head. “I’m okay mommy. Can I say something and you won't be mad at me?” Your own sigh matches hers when you squat down in front of Mina to reach up, running your fingers over her soft cheek to offer her some comfort. 

“Why would I ever be mad at you for saying something you feel like you need to say? Of course you can tell me something.” Mina swallows hard, leaning into your touch, her almost doll-like eyes avoiding yours, you know she is trying to keep her courage to speak. “I really like being at Mr. Kim’s house with Amy, almost more than here.” 

Your stomach tightens, your brows knitting together at her confession but you nod starting to speak but Mina does first. “With you though Mommy. I like when we are all there together. When you get home from work, that feels like home. Coming here after leaving there feels like leaving home again.” Some of her words made you feel some better but others made it worse, but you’d never let that show not in front of her. 

“Oh, I see. Is it our house? You don’t like your room maybe?” Mina shakes her head and finally meets your eyes letting you see a trace of wetness covering them, your heart feeling like it is going to shatter at her apparent sadness. “Oh baby…what’s wrong?” Shaking her head again the tears spill over Mina’s cheeks and she is unable to find the words only allowing her body to fold into yours. 

Your own tears burn at your eyes but you keep them pushed back refusing to show weakness in front of your child. Fingers brushing through her hair, you hum rocking her softly until she calms down and soft snores take the place of her tiny sobs. Still you keep your own feelings at bay while you get her changed and tucked into bed making sure she is safe and sound, her door cracked when your back hits the back of your own door and the tears finally slip down your own cheeks. 

Mingyu raises his brows looking up from his laptop to the sounds of hushed children’s voices. Taking off his glasses, he pinches the bridge of his nose with a sigh trying to make out what the girls are saying just a room away but instead he hears the sound of wood scraping along wood. “What in the world are they doing now?” 

A small pained grunt falls from Mingyu’s lips causing him to put his hand on his lower back signaling he had been sitting at his desk for far too long anyway when he stands and moves towards the sounds of giggles. He stops short only to watch as Amy balances on the dining room chair, Mina trying hard to keep her held tall but still safe while she attempts to place something as high on the doorframe as possible. 

“I need to get up higher. I’m gonna go on my tippy toes. Don’t let me fall, ‘kay?” Mina makes an unsure sound of approval going to hold Amy’s legs. Mingyu takes a step in closer only to stop again when he realizes that his daughter is holding a sprig of mistletoe in her little hand. “They have to see it here right Mina?” 

“Oh…” The word slips from his lips just as a breath unheard by the girls when Mingyu understands what they are trying to do. A smile spreads across his lips only to be covered when he wipes his hand over his lips still concerned with the scene in front of him. He waits until Amy has placed the mistletoe on the side of the doorframe pointing outwards, as far up as she can get it before he clears his throat looking down at them instead of what they were hanging. 

“Girls, you know better than to play on furniture. What if you fell down?” Amy panics, afraid her daddy will see the mistletoe before he should but when he doesn’t seem to notice she lets him lift her off the chair placing her safely on the ground next to Mina. “Sorry daddy, we were just…we were…” 

Mingyu waits for an explanation but he knows it will be a lie and his daughter had been taught not to lie from an even younger age. “Playing on the furniture, I know. Now run on and finish your homework. I know you two can’t be done yet. We’ve been home less than an hour. I’m going to start dinner soon.” Amy lets out a breath of relief at not having to lie, making Mingyu smile, lifting the chair to take it back to the dining room when he feels a hand tug at his shirt. 

A glance down makes his smile grow wider seeing Mina looking up at him, his heart warmer with her close to him. “What’s up Mina?” Her laugh is so similar to yours it makes him miss you being here. “Can you maybe text my mommy and see if we can stay for dinner again? Amy said tonight is soup night? I really like soup.”

God, how could he say no to that little face and that sort of request. Hell, if you said no he’d send home a bucket of the soup with you so that Mina could eat it for the next few days if he had to. “Of course sweetie.” His hand brushes over her head before he gestures with a nod towards the living room where Amy already was. “Now, go. Homework is waiting.” 

Your phone vibrating on your desk was a welcomed distraction from your work computer letting you lean back and take a breath. You only had a couple of hours left but it felt like you had 8 more to go. When you see Mingyu’s name as the person who sent you the text you find yourself unable to hide your smile even when you know you are in your office alone. 

Kim Mingyu: Hey, hope work isn’t too rough today. Mina wanted me to see if you two could stay for dinner again tonight. We are having homemade soup, a house special. 

You swallow hard reading over the words a few times ready to decline him. You already had the words plotted out in your mind, ‘So sorry but I already kept Mina out too late last night. We’d love to do it another time.’ but another text comes in making you let out a soft sigh. 

Kim Mingyu: I really hope you will stay for dinner. I enjoyed the adult company if I can be honest with you. I know you stayed out a bit later than normal so I will keep a better watch on the time tonight, scouts honor. What do you say?

“I doubt you were a boy scout Mingyu…” You whisper to yourself and the phone, your thumbs running over the sides of the device in thought. Another steadying breath taken you let your thumbs move to the keyboard so you can answer him not wanting to leave him on read knowing for a fact he would be waiting for a response. 

Y/N: If you keep that promise cub scout. Soup sounds really nice, Mina really likes soup…but she probably told you that. Thank you for being so kind to us. You really don’t have to but I really appreciate it. I don’t tell you that enough. 

Mingyu grins at his phone, raising a brow to your wording. Were you flirting with him? Shaking his head he chooses not to linger on that as much as your thoughtful appreciation. Which to him wasn’t even something you needed when it came to him. This was as easy as breathing for him. He wanted to do it, ever since he had met you and Mina it had always been on his mind. You had no one to help take care of you, not that you needed a man to “take care of you” but maybe you wouldn’t mind it once in a while to even have a friend lend a hand. 

Kim Mingyu: You don’t even have to say it. You are a joy to have in my life. 

The text comes through followed quickly by a second as your heart beats quickly into your throat. The correction calms you down but only slightly as you wonder if he had meant the first or second reply. 

Kim Mingyu: *Our life. You and Mina are a joy to have in our lives. Haha…autocorrect. 

Mingyu swallows hard, cursing himself for his quick wording and then his chickening out. His eyes watch the three bubbles pop up then fade several times before finally your response comes through. 

Y/N: You and Amy are a joy in our lives too. See you later this evening. 

You set your phone to the side, hands trembling slightly from how many times you had re-wrote that response. It had gone from, ‘But was it autocorrect Mingyu?’ to ‘You are a joy in my life too.’ before you finally landed on making you and Mingyu feel more comfortable with a safe response. 

Mina and Amy giggle between spoonfuls of the soup while you and Mingyu share the occasional glance. Not much had been said between the two of you out of the ordinary. He had asked about your day, you had told him about it. You had asked about the kid’s evening and their homework and as usual it had gone pretty much the same as always except for a little mishap with climbing on furniture. 

Now you felt warm and content in your chair, the same shawl from yesterday back around your shoulders while you sipped at probably the best homemade soup you had ever tasted. You had made Mina promise to not tell her grandmother that Mr. Kim’s soup was better than hers, causing a smile to grow on Mingyu’s lips before he met your eyes. Your heart racing ever so slightly under his gaze making you wonder how quickly you would be able to run away because you weren’t supposed to be feeling like this, not for him or anyone. 

“Mommy, tomorrow is Friday.” Your attention brought back to the table you laugh nodding at your daughter's observation gesturing for her to continue. “And that means what to me Mina?” Her slightly annoyed sigh causes Mingyu to snicker into his water, getting a playful side eye from you before you give all of your attention back to the small girl sitting across from you. 

“Well I was wonderin’ if maybe I could have a sleepover with Amy? If Mr. Kim says it's okay too?” Mingyu watches your lips tighten into a thinner line as you consider your daughter's question carefully. Your fingertips brushing together, a habit he had noticed you had when you were lost in thought. “I really wanted you to wait until near the end of the school year Mina…” You watch her face begin to fall and remember the night before, how you had held her in your arms while she cried herself to sleep. Your heart is tightening to the point of pain when you lift your hand to stop her from complaining or getting upset.

“If it is okay with Mr. Kim, then yes but only for one night.” Mina’s eyes glisten anyway when you say yes, her head turning towards Mingyu who was looking at you in almost disbelief. “Mr. Kim, can I?” Mingyu laughs quietly tilting his head, his hand moving to scratch the side of his neck. “Yeah, it is okay with me.” 

Amy squeals in delight, putting her spoon down near her empty bowl before tugging Mina into a hug. The girls quickly begin to talk about their sleepover plans while you and Mingyu share glances then fond smiles. “Girls?” Your voice draws their attention causing them to stop for a moment with their rambles of excitement to look at you in question. “Yeah mommy?”

Clearing your throat, you wipe your lips with your napkin gesturing at their empty bowls speaking quietly but with authority. “Put your bowls in the sink and go play. Mina we are leaving in an hour. We aren’t staying as late as we did last night, especially if you are wanting your sleepover.”  

Both girls smile at you quickly following your request before you and Mingyu listen to the sounds of their feet heading towards Amy’s bedroom leaving you two seemingly alone. “You know, I’m surprised you said yes.” You smile at Mingyu’s words leaning towards the table beginning to help clean up dinner, his chair lightly scraping along the floor so he can help you do the same. 

“I’ve gone soft cub scout.” You listen to Mingyu laugh, it’s unlike his normal laugh, not as robust but instead it's almost warm and makes your skin tingle like a good sip of wine. “I’m glad, you deserve a little break once in a while Y/N. What will you do tomorrow evening?” Mingyu watches your brows furrow in thought, your back straightening while you hold bowls in both hands moving towards the kitchen and the sink. 

“Huh…you know? I hadn’t even considered that. I have literally no idea. I haven’t had a day really alone in 6 years. I mean there have been afternoons but never really a night. Mina never wants to stay with my parents overnight, this is the first time she has wanted to stay overnight somewhere.” Mingyu follows behind you to the kitchen, the rest of the soup in his hand. He nods, only stopping to grab a few pieces of tupperware from the cabinet before turning towards you listening. 

“Which, by the way, if she is a problem or has any problems obviously do not hesitate to call me. Literally it could be 2 in the morning. I will drive over here.” Grinning as he separates the rest of the soup into the leftovers containers, Mingyu nods then meets your eyes. “Don’t worry, you know I will keep in touch. I’m sure she will do fine but if we need you I will call you right away. I will always keep her safe Y/N. You are both very important to me, I–to Amy and I both. You know that.” 

If he were any closer he would feel the heat coming off your cheeks. You were surprised it wasn’t boiling the water while you washed the dishes. “Oh…I, yeah. I, we know that. You are both very important to us too and I trust you completely Mingyu. She can just be a little sensitive, or you know, even dramatic sometimes. I was just wanting to warn you.” 

Mingyu bites at his bottom lip pressing down on the lids of the containers glancing up at you to watch you rub the tips of your fingers together, soap dripping from your hands. “It’s okay. They are young, they’ve both already been through a lot. We can let them just be kids, can’t we? For one night?” 

Your gentle smile and nod causes Mingyu to mirror it moving to the fridge to put one of the containers away, placing the other next to your purse on the counter. “This one's for you to take home. You don’t need to cook tomorrow. You said you don’t know what to do with yourself alone? Put on your most comfortable pajamas, heat up the soup, get a glass of wine, turn on the tv, and turn off the world for the night.” 

It sounded like a dream. Something you never had time to do. Most nights after you got Mina home you barely took time to wash your makeup off completely before you fell into bed exhausted only to wake up the next morning, rise, and repeat. Mingyu grins, lifting his hand to cautiously push a piece of your hair from your eyes. “Then take a bath, not a shower. Take more than ten minutes to take care of yourself. Relax for once…” 

When you laugh and don’t pull away from his hand, Mingyu takes a subtle breath in gaining some courage. “I mean…I could try those things. It will be easier said than done.” You watch him laugh, a nod of understanding, his body leaned up against the counter next to you, closer than he had ever dared to stand before. 

“I get that but if you want to text me or call me to see how she is doing I won’t judge you. I will understand it completely. I will expect it actually, you are a great mother.” Your brain was running a million miles an hour. Has he always smelled this nice? When had his hand wrapped around your wrist? Why did it feel so nice to be touched by someone again? 

“Thank you, Mingyu. Really, like I said, I don’t say it enough. You literally make it possible for me to have the job I do so that I can take care of Mina.” Mingyu smiles so bright even as his brows furrow, his hands moving the towel along yours to dry them off. “I already told you that you never have to thank me for that.” 

“I know what you said but…” You walk with him, his gentle hand on your wrist leading you towards the living room only to stop short when he glances up to the doorframe then down the hall towards Amy’s room. Your eyes follow his making your words fall short into a small laugh when you see the poorly placed mistletoe that makes your chest and stomach feel warm and full. 

“Climbing on the furniture?” Mingyu nods, his fingers very softly tapping against your pulse point keeping you close but never making you stay. “I think they are trying to tell us something.” You chew at your bottom lip considering that and how Mina had acted the night before when you hear the sound of whispers from behind you and Mingyu. 

Neither girl was as quiet as she thought she was but both you and Mingyu could pretend for them to help them keep their little Hallmark moment. Tilting your head, your eyes narrow very slightly at Mingyu when you take a step backwards towards the living room bringing him with you under the doorframe and the mistletoe. 

Mingyu chuckles quietly under his breath, his glance over your shoulder barely finding the girls as they peek over the sofa waiting with baited breath for you both to follow the Christmas rules. When Mingyu looks up at the mistletoe showing faux surprise you can’t help but to laugh quickly covering it up by pressing your lips together. “Well, Miss. Y/L/N we seem to have found ourselves under the mistletoe. There are rules about that aren’t there?” 

Amy squeals only for Mina to elbow her side, muttering for her to be quiet while they watch. You roll your eyes at the perfectly charming and silly gentleman in front of you. His hand moves from your wrist to your cheek so he can push your hair over your ear waiting for you to speak but he almost renders you speechless with one simple act. “I–oh. Mistletoe?” 

Mingyu watches your eyes move to glance at the mistletoe before they meet him again taking his breath away. The Christmas light plays off the color of your eyes making them sparkle. “There are rules, I believe you owe me a kiss Mr. Kim.” You watch a smile spread wider across his lips when you all but ask for him to kiss you. He had been waiting for that moment for months. 

“You’re right, I’m such a fool. I knew that, may I?” His thumb on your cheek, his fingers splayed along the side of your face next to your ear Mingyu leans towards you when you nod and whisper yes and a small please. Mina is the one who lets out a small squeal this time when Mingyu’s lips brush over yours. 

“It worked Amy…” Her little eyes threatening tears once again, she clings to her best friend while you two share your first simple kiss. It wasn’t anything they hadn’t seen in their movies but it felt more important even when you two stepped away from each other and laughed. You both seemed to glow in your daughter’s eyes. To them it was like seeing you both really happy for the first time in possibly forever. 

Mingyu rubs his lips together, having to fight the urge to want to kiss you again and more fully. His eyes meet yours as you laugh, the warmth of your cheek under his thumb making him laugh when you reach up to move his hand down. Clearing your throat you carefully step away fixing your hair back from around your ear turning around pretending to be surprised when you see the girls behind the couch. “Girls! Were you spying?” 

Both girls giggle loudly and duck back down making your and Mingyu’s hearts feel impossibly warmer and larger that night. His fingers brush over yours again causing you to look up at him meeting his gaze when he winks at you. He was entirely unfair. You look away like a shy school girl hearing him laugh moving his hand away walking into the living room to look for the girls as he leaned over the couch. 

“Now how did that mistletoe get there hmm?” Amy looks up at her dad with a grin and a laugh only to be picked up and pulled over the couch in a fit of giggles. You watch as Mina moves around the couch trying to playfully help her friend, Mingyu letting the two girls quickly over take him beating him in “fair” combat before he surrenders only to pin them both, tickling them into another giggle fit. 

You rest your hand against your chest over your heart leaning against the door frame still under the mistletoe while you watch. Tears threatening your eyes much like they had for Mina as you listen to her giggle louder than you had in months or maybe even years. If anyone had asked you what you wanted for Christmas at that exact moment you’d tell them nothing because you had just been given it. 

“Mistletoe, add a big check. In fact, I think we can use the red colored pencil.” Amy laughs at Mina’s enthusiasm, the notebook on her lap, colored pencils laying on her bed next to her. “Got it. So, the teacher today was talking about how at holidays we get presents, right?”  

Mina nods along with Amy’s words, her eyes following the other small hand as Amy makes the check mark next to the word mistletoe. “But she said that mommy’s and daddy’s don’t always want toys or games like we do.” Mina furrows her brows because this had been something she understood even though she did very much want a new doll from her list she also knew she wanted her family plans with Amy more. 

“Yeah, she said to write them a letter telling them how much you love them.” Amy smiles, her brows wiggling much like Mina had seen Mr. Kim’s before after he had told them he had a surprise only for it to be dessert. “What Amy? Do you have an idea?” Nodding, the other girl moves to her knees on her bed, tearing out two sheets of paper from the notebook and handing one to Mina. 

“We write letters to them and tell them why we think they should get married. I think they are already there. If this were on Hallmark we’d be only like two commercials from the end of the movie and the wedding. Your mommy needs time to pick out the best dress and my daddy probably already has a ring. He’s super smart like that.” Mina looked at her piece of paper before picking up a purple pencil considering her best friend’s words. She did have a point, if they were living by their movie logic this was all very much to plan but their parents could use a little push in the right direction. 

“So a list of props and coms?” Amy nods excited, already scribbling on her page with a green pencil. “Yeah if you want to do it that way. Like they should get married because then your mommy wouldn’t have to worry about driving as far to work anymore.” Mina makes a sound of appreciation before nodding. Her pencil moves across her own page as she starts her list. 

“Seriously, Amy…this is why you have all the stickers on your grade sheet. You really are one of the smartest people I know. Like mommy is the smartest then your daddy but you are right up there with them.” Amy beams at the compliment only looking up from her letter to her dad to watch Mina work for a moment. This was already the best sleepover either of them had ever had ever had, even if it was the first. 

Mingyu had fed the girls dinner over an hour ago, leftover soup, before letting them go off to play. He had already told them they could stay up for a little while longer than usual but that he wouldn’t be tricked into letting them pull an all-nighter. Deep down he knew that neither of them would be able to do that no matter how hard they’d want to try. 

Now he found himself stretched out on his favorite spot on the couch, his phone on his chest while he flipped aimlessly through channels on tv. Nothing had really caught his attention yet but mostly because he couldn’t get you off his mind. He had sent you a text just letting you know that everything was going well, you had responded happily to know it. 

His lips pursed, Mingyu had told himself not to bother you beyond that. He himself had given you the advice to turn the world off. How could you do that if you had him texting you the entire night? It didn’t stop him from kinda wishing you would, even if it wasn’t about Mina. He had started to wonder if you hadn’t felt the same way about the innocent kiss as he had. 

You were staring at your phone ignoring the tv completely. It would be so easy to just pick up the phone and text him, or even call him. You could even use the excuse of wanting to check on Mina. God that felt cheap, using your daughter as an excuse. Picking up your wine you all but pout into the glass taking a long sip of the alcohol lost in thought. 

Why were you being such a wimp about this? He was just a guy, but was he? Of course he wasn’t. It was Mingyu. Mr. PTA, Mr. drooled over by every single other mother even the ones who weren’t single. This was Amy’s dad and at the end of the day that’s what really mattered. 

Your wine sat down next to your phone, you swipe up the empty soup bowl taking it to the kitchen to wash only to glance back over your shoulder to the phone. “Fine…fine! Jesus, maybe he won’t think I’m completely pathetic.” Plopping back down on the couch you pick up the phone, pulling your legs under you before beginning to plot out what you’d try to text first. 

Y/N: Hi, please don’t think I am a helicopter mom. How are things with Mina? How is your evening going?

God, had you sounded desperate? Was there an unsend button? There really was no way to put in an “autocorrect” mistake with how you had typed this. It was pretty clear and to the point that this was how you had meant to type the message. Picking up your wine you take a larger sip and wait, your knee bouncing lightly against the material of the couch from nerves. 

Mingyu felt his phone vibrate on his chest causing him to jump slightly glancing around as if someone was going to point and laugh at him for being startled by it. When he saw no one else, he cleared his throat and grinned seeing your name. Of course you had asked about Mina, he had expected nothing else but you had also asked about his evening. 

Kim Mingyu: Hey! Please, I’ve told you that you are a great mom. That will never change. Things are great, the girls were playing in Amy’s room. Quiet, perhaps too quiet but they are good kids. I don’t think I have much to worry about. Do you want me to tell her you said hi? I’m doing pretty good, just watching some tv. How about you? Are you trying to relax? Did you follow my advice?

Y/N: Yes, please, and tell her that I love her. Your evening sounds a bit like mine but yes I am trying to follow your advice. (picture attached) 

Smiling Mingyu looks at the picture of the wine in your hand, the base resting against your leg that was covered in fuzzy Christmas themed pajama pants decorated with candy canes. His stomach felt tighter knowing you were comfortable and he hoped that you had little to no worries. It made him feel good to know that maybe he had helped you feel that way at least for a little while. 

Kim Mingyu: Of course I will tell her. Very cute. I think I have a matching pair. Oh I think that there is some cheesy Hallmark Christmas movie on. If you are into that sort of thing. It looked pretty sweet. Just another recommendation. 

‘Very cute’ This was fine. You were fine. Your cheeks were simply burning from your face from your wine not his text. Sure, and you hadn’t thought about kissing him again all day long. Sighing out a long slow breath you take a sip of your wine shaking your head to try to clear it. 

Y/N: Oh? I will have to take a look. Is that what you are watching? A cheesy romantic movie alone on a Friday night?

Again, why was there not an unsend button on phones? You would think that the creators of such technology would know that people could not be trusted with their own words and needed at least a minute between each text being seen to consider what they had done. Instead you watch the message go to read and the three little bubbles pop up signaling that Mingyu was typing back to you. 

Mingyu laughs, reaching behind his head to scratch at his neck. Was that a burn mixed in with a flirt? Is that what is happening right now? He didn’t want to presume but at the same time he was so tired of being afraid to do or say anything around you. He had shown that last night, granted a lot of it had been to not disappoint the girls but also to not disappoint himself for the 100th night in a row. 

Kim Mingyu: Sometimes, all I’m missing is a glass of wine and someone to watch it with. I’d invite you to join me but I already gave you the night off. Should we do a rain check?

Was that a date invitation? Has the world begun to spin in the other direction? You were incredibly off kilter staring at your phone and his text in thought. Your fingers rubbing together, you chew on your lips trying to weigh out the pros and cons of accepting and rejecting him. If you accepted the rain check, pros would be; a lovely evening with a movie, a nice glass of wine, perhaps another kiss, who knows what else. Which then led you to the cons; who knew what would happen. It could end miserably and ruin your friendship with Mingyu while also ruining a friendship for your daughter. 

Y/N: As much as I’d like to say yes to that, perhaps we need to remember who we are and who is around us. 

His hands felt like weights but Mingyu understood what you were saying even if he didn’t want to. Leaning his head back on the couch, he sighed heavily when he heard a soft whimpering sound from behind him. Laying the phone down Mingyu shifted to look seeing Mina standing in the hall rubbing her eyes, tears running towards her lips. 

“Mina, honey, what’s wrong? Come here.” The small girl wasted no time moving towards the couch curling her smaller body up to his making Mingyu take in a deep breath, his hand pushing her hair back so he could check her over for injuries or any signs of what was making her upset. “Talk to me, why are you crying? Did something happen with Amy?” 

Shaking her head Mina whimpers looking up only resulting in making Mingyu coo in concern. His large thumbs wiping away her tears that seemed far too large for her small eyes. “Amy’s asleep. I was too but I had a bad dream and woke up. Mommy’s not here.” 

Mingyu frowned but nodded, holding the little girl closer trying to comfort her like he had with Amy many times before. “You want me to call your mommy? She already told me to tell you hi and that she loves you but I know she’d be over here in just a little while to get you if you want her to. No one is making you stay the entire night Mina.” 

Mina whines, shaking her head fervently, her hand gripping at Mingyu’s sweater. “I don’t wanna go home yet. I miss mommy but I don’t wanna leave. I wanna do the sleepover.” Mingyu nods, leaning to pick up his phone, pressing your picture on the screen to call you, making your brows furrow when you see his face pop up on your screen, having only expected a text message back. 

“Hello?” You clear your throat answering the phone, the screen pressed to your ear, nerves eating at your stomach making you wonder even more why he was calling. It isn’t until you hear Mina’s tiny sobs that you sit up more in concern. Your voice quickly changes pitch, “Is she okay? I’m getting my shoes.” 

“Y/N, no no, she’s okay. She just had a bad dream. She said she’s missing you. I thought if she could talk to you on the phone it might help. She was adamant she didn’t want to leave the sleepover.” Your whine reminds Mingyu of Mina’s causing him to close his eyes before he hands the phone to Mina who holds it with two hands to her wet cheek to meet her ear. 

“Mommy?” Her shaky voice almost breaks your heart but also warms it at the same time causing you to sink back down on the couch. “Baby, are you okay? Talk to me. Min-Mr. Kim said you had a bad dream?” 

You listen as the little girl recounts what she can remember of her dream. Something about a dark room at school and no one remembering to pick her up. Something that had never and would never happen, she knew that even as you promised and explained it. “Baby I will be there first thing in the morning to pick you up, I swear. Are you sure you don’t want me to come get you tonight? You know it doesn’t ruin the sleepover right?” 

Mina whines causing you to smile, “Mommy no, please and if you come too early that isn’t good either. I wanna eat breakfast here. I’ve never had Mr. Kim’s breakfast. Wait Mommy you come eat breakfast too, like a family? Please?”

Mingyu watches Mina curiously, his brow raising at the word family. He was surprised how much it made his heart tighten and how much he wanted you to agree to the invitation. You chew on your lip with a sigh bringing your fingers up to pinch at the bridge of your nose considering everything that had happened, including turning Mingyu’s date invitation down. 

“Mina…” The sound of your voice makes Mina start to tear up because she’s heard you say her name that way so many times, that is your ‘I’m about to say something disappointing’ tone. “Mommy, please!” The panic in her voice causes your heart rate to speed up when you realize how important this is to her, you weren’t stupid you had heard her call it a family. 

“I–okay. I’ll be there for breakfast.” Mingyu watches the smile form on Mina’s lips making it impossible for him not to smile. “She said she’ll come to breakfast. I’ll even set the table Mr. Kim, I promise I’ll sleep the rest of the night. I love you Mommy. I’ll see you tomorrow.” 

Mingyu takes the phone back, able to hear you tell Mina that you love her too, so much, just before the girl slides off the couch running back towards Amy’s room and bed. “She’s back to bed I guess.” You let out a tired laugh feeling a bit caught by your daughter, leaning back on to your couch with a small groan. 

“I told you she’s dramatic. I’m sorry Mingyu, I’m sure I can just take her out for breakfast once I get there. You don’t have to cook all that food for us.” Mingyu frowns when you start to talk your way out of breakfast, his disappointment clear in his voice. “I won’t make you stay for breakfast but I would very much like for you to be there too. It really did seem important to Mina…and now I’ll be honest it’s starting to feel important to me as well.” 

The silence on the phone is almost deafening to Mingyu, he can hear your soft breath but he has no idea what you are doing or thinking. Had he crossed a line? “Y/N? I’m sorry if I–” You shake your head and speak up to cut him off when he starts to apologize. “No, I’m sorry. I’m really guarded for myself and for Mina. It’s been hard Mingyu, but I’m sure you have your own understanding of that. It’s easier to push away than it is to let anyone close.” 

If there was anything he understood it was that. There had been other opportunities in the past for relationships but he had never even truly considered them, not until you. He was terrified to hurt Amy and in honesty he was afraid to get hurt. Now he was afraid to hurt you and Mina though he knew he’d never do it on purpose. 

“Yeah, no I get that completely. But if I can tell you something without you maybe thinking that I am a complete idiot or hell, that I’m going too fast…” You feel yourself start to panic at his words but you stay silent wanting to hear what he has to say. “Don’t we deserve a chance? Don’t the girls deserve it maybe? I don’t mean to use the girls like that, because that isn’t what I’m trying to do so please don’t think I am, but it’s very clear to me that they are trying to say something.” 

You know he isn’t wrong so you nod but then remember it’s a phone call. “You are right. They have been…trying. Dinners, mistletoe, “family”. Mingyu, what if things don’t work out for us? That’s all I can think about. I’m truly the worst when it comes to this. I make a list of pros and cons and even if my pros list is 100 times longer than my cons list those cons weigh 1000 times more. “ 

Mingyu sighs into a laugh and you can picture him nodding, his hand rubbing the back of his neck. “I’ve thought about that too, but I’ve also wanted to give this a try for months. Kissing you yesterday was more than just because of some mistletoe and because the girls wanted us to. I should have asked to kiss you long before that. There is so much I want to give you in your life and in Mina’s…because you have given Amy and I so much already.” 

“Mingyu, please.” He smiles when you almost cut him off, your voice pleading in such a soft way it makes him wish you were beside him so he could touch you. “I’m serious Y/N. One step at a time maybe? We don’t have to say anything to the girls yet, we can just see how we feel and we can also remember that no matter how it goes for us we aren’t the important ones at the end of the day. What do you think?” 

More of that deafening silence, god you were good with suspense. Mingyu chewed at his cheek looking over the lights of the Christmas tree, the gentle flickering almost memorizing him until you finally spoke. “Okay, I’d like to try, as long as we really do promise to remember to keep the girls first and not ruin their relationship.” 

“I promise, with my entire heart I will not let that happen. I also will do my best to never hurt you, I think you’ve had enough of that in your life.” You close your eyes and mutter under your breath making Mingyu’s brows furrow while he leans forward looking down at his hand between his knees. “What did you say? You were really quiet.” 

Your laugh makes him smile once again even as you sigh. “I was mainly talking to myself but I was just saying, please don’t say that to me Mingyu.” He shakes his head letting his teeth pull at his bottom lip not willing to give up that easily. “Sorry, no take backs. I mean what I say.” 

Mingyu couldn’t help how many times he looked at you during breakfast. He hadn’t had the chance to see you early in the morning on too many occasions and if he had to admit it to himself he would love this opportunity more often. If it were possible you were even more beautiful in the early light, the sunlight in your hair, that soft smile on your lips any time you caught him staring at you. 

Your cheeks had not stopped burning from the moment you had stepped inside the Kim residence an hour or so ago. Mingyu’s handsome smile kept catching your eye and you kept finding him unabashedly watching you. There was no way his attention was going unnoticed by the girls so you just did your best to keep yourself calm and not give off the wrong impression. 

“So, did you enjoy the sleepover girls? What did you do?” Mina smiles at you, glancing between you and Mingyu before stabbing at her pancake while Amy answers your question. “We painted our nails, oh and daddy’s. Show Miss. Y/L/N how pretty we did daddy.” Mingyu sighs before extending his fingers out to you to show the pink nail polish covering some of his nails. 

You laugh reaching to take his fingers into your hand running your thumb over his index fingernail appraising their work with a nod. “Mmm yes, this is good work. You will have to keep helping him out. There is no way he can look this pretty all on his own.” 

Mingyu’s thumb grazes your palm causing you to look up into his eyes, your hand slowly moving from his. A smile growing larger on his lips when you clear your throat looking back at the kids. “What else did you do?” The girls go on to explain how they colored, played dolls, and made you both a present drawing Mingyu’s attention with those final words. 

Even with his mouth full of pancake he makes a questioning sound tilting his head. “What sort of present?” Mina laughs at his muffled words shaking her head, “Mr. Kim! Don’t talk with your mouth full, bad manners.” When you laugh putting your fingers over your lips, Mingyu smiles looking over at you nodding before looking back to Mina after swallowing his bite of food. 

“Mmm you are right, I apologize. My manners have returned, I promise. Now explain these presents.” You can’t seem to take your eyes off of Mingyu until Amy starts to speak, talking about how you two will have to wait until after breakfast. “They are like early Christmas presents but you have to get them before Christmas, you understand?” 

Neither of you really understood but yet you both nodded to keep the girls happy telling them to finish their breakfast. Shared looks of some concern, you and Mingyu sip at your coffees when he nods and gets up to start clearing the table. “Well I can tell you this, no matter if we are getting early gifts or not, that does not mean anyone else is getting early Christmas gifts. I will not be bribed.” 

Watching the girls finish their pancakes, you smile at Mingyu’s playful words before you stand to start helping him clean up. Each girl handing over their plate giggling when turned with a small surprised gasp to find Mingyu right behind you. “Sorry, I was going to…” Mingyu takes a step back so he isn’t breathing on to your cheek, his gaze unconsciously lingering over your lips. 

“It’s okay, I’ve got the dishes this time. Why don’t you and the girls just enjoy the Christmas tree for a little bit while I finish up? Then we can figure out this present ordeal…” Mingyu smiles when you nod, taking a step away from him. Your eyes glancing back over your shoulder even as the girls pull on either of your hands to drag you towards the living room excited to turn on a movie with you. 

By the time Mingyu finishes and makes his way to the living room he stops short in order to just take in the scene. Mina curled up against your right side and Amy on your left, both of the girls watching some Christmas movie on the tv while your fingers brush over their hair. This was what Mingyu wanted for Christmas, no one had asked him of course but they never needed to. He didn’t want physical possessions, he wanted this with you. 

You smile when you look up realizing Mingyu is leaning against the wall watching you. Gesturing with your head you signal for him to join you with the kids. Amy is the first of the kids to notice her dad smiling brightly when he moves to sit beside her putting his arm behind you all on the couch. Her eyes meet Mina’s across your lap where they share an enthusiastic smile. Neither one wanted to move just yet, this was the closest thing they had to a “complete” family for their entire life. 

Logically both of them knew that not every family had a mommy and a daddy. All families were built differently but it hadn’t stopped them from wanting that dream and when they had become friends it all had started to fit together like a puzzle that somehow no one had lost any of the pieces. Mina nuzzles against your stomach making you smile, your fingers threading through her soft hair while Amy drags your hand from her head down to her side where Mingyu’s free hand is, your hands brushing lightly. 

Mingyu takes in a deep breath meeting your eyes, a gentle smile on his lips as the small girl’s hand tries to hold both of you closely. Neither of you had the heart to move them now. Not while they watched their movie, not while they seemed so content and happy. You wanted more happy days for Mina. Mingyu wanted them for Amy. 

When you lean your head back and to the side, finding Mingyu’s arm behind you, the corner of his lips turn up. “I can move if you want.” He smiles a bit brighter when you shake your head no but you also don’t move your head. Instead he watches you lean your head against his arm while you watch the movie. Mingyu isn’t sure what the movie is even about, he isn’t sure he’d even care now. He can’t take his eyes off you or his mind off the feeling of you against him. 

If it wasn’t for the cheerful music signaling the end of the movie not even the kids would have really realized the movie was over. They too had started to enjoy the warmth of the four of you curled up on the couch, the fire crackling nearby. Amy stretches, finally letting go of your and Mingyu’s hands leaning up to stretch, Mina quickly mimicking her. You both watch as smiles spread across their faces before the girls slide off the couch. “Both of you just…stay here.” 

Mingyu laughs though he glances at you a bit sad when you sit up and slightly away from him but he knows why. “We won’t move Mina.” Amy grabs her hand dragging her towards her bedroom to presumingly grab the ‘early Christmas presents.’ You take a breath stretching a bit on the couch before feeling his eyes on you causing you to look over at Mingyu. 

“Hi…” Just a simple word from his lips makes your skin prickle and a shy smile to creep along your lips. When you glance down at your hands Mingyu laughs, glancing back towards the hall to check on the girls before sliding closer to you. His fingers gently tilting your head back up to look at him. “I’m really glad you are here Y/N. I’m glad you came to breakfast and that you haven’t left yet…this is really nice seeing you for longer. Not feeling like you are always rushing out the door needing to get something done.” 

His fingers push your hair along your neck causing your eyes to move along his face, from his lips to his eyes while you listen to him talk. “And I hope you don’t find me to be too forward and possibly an ass but if I don’t just say what I’m thinking with you I’ll chicken out and never say anything.” You laugh finding yourself just barely leaning into his delicate touch. “I think…I’d rather you just say it Mingyu. I can’t play games. Like you said I’m always rushing and there is a reason for that usually.” 

Mingyu’s thumb glides along your cheekbone while his eyes seem to trace over your face like he wants to commit it to memory. “But we also have to be careful around the girls and not forget our promises. Remember?” He nods but doesn’t move, he simply points to his ear and smiles at you. “I’m listening for them and you can see over my shoulder. I just wanted a moment and I’ll move back, but I have to tell you that you are so beautiful. You always are but this morning you have taken my breath away every single time I have looked at you.” 

Mingyu laughs when you try to look away, his thumb catching your chin turning your head back up to him. Your shy eyes meet his once again while he speaks. “And I know you know I have been looking at you quite a bit today. I apologize for that, I know it’s forward of me, but again like you said, no more games.” 

You start to speak but Mingyu drops his hand and slides back a couple of inches, clearly hearing something you hadn’t but then you see the girls move around the hall. He smiles at you giving you a quick wink when you sit up a bit more trying to make it appear as if nothing was going on. You both quickly find out that neither of the kids would have noticed anyway, both of them holding a decorated piece of folded paper in their hands, their eyes on the paper. 

“What ya got girls?” You smile at Mingyu's voice that seems to bring the kids out of their concentration and back to reality. Mina looks to Amy for her to take the lead knowing she had the most courage of the two of them. You feel your heart tighten slightly leaning forward reaching for Mina who takes a step towards you but doesn’t offer you the paper just yet. 

“So we were learning about how not everybody wants toys and games for Christmas in school.” Mingyu nods along with Amy’s words reaching up to push her hair behind her ear, a smile on his lips. “Mm, that's very true.” She smiles finally meeting her dad’s eyes, most of her courage returning when she shows him the piece of paper. “Mina and I don’t just want those either. So we’ve made these for you.” 

When Mina hands you the letter, you tilt her head up with your free hand smiling at her gaining one in return. “Did you decorate this too?” She nods, chewing at her lip causing you to laugh. “It’s so pretty, so many colors. Do you want us to read them now?” Mina nods, clearing her throat in an attempt to gain her own courage. 

“Yes, please. They are very portant. I mean important.” Mingyu reaches over to brush his hand over her head when she corrects her word, a smile on his lips as Amy lays her letting in his hand. You watch the girls link their hands taking a few steps back choosing to sit on the floor, their eyes on you both in anticipation. Mingyu sighs a bit nervously, his glance meeting yours while his fingers unfold the letter carefully. You follow his lead doing the same with Mina’s, your eyes beginning to move over the page and her obviously carefully written words. 

‘Dear Mommy, 

First of tall, I love you very much. You are the best mommy in the whold wide world. Thank you for being my mommy. I do want dolls for Cristmas but I want something else too so I know how you make lists. I thoght I could do that too. 

Props and Coms to you and Mr. Kim getting married: ‘ 

You look up at your daughter, your cheeks burning warm even though she smiles at you. Her spelling has gotten much better, that was your first observation. You were very proud of her but the context of the letter while not surprising was still a shock. Mingyu glances over at your letter, unable to stop the smile that crosses his lips before he returns to his own. 

‘Dear Daddy,

I love you mostest. Even more than chocolate ice cream. I know you are the smartost person in the world so this won’t be a surprise. I don’t think I want anything for Cristmas. I mean if you ready got me presents that’s ok, I know Santa will bring more. I have been real good. But I want you to marry Miss. Y/L/N. I want her to be my mommy. I know she makes you smile like when I tell you a joke even though she is not funny. She’s really pretty. I know you tink so too. So I figure you ready have a ring like the boys in the Hallmark movie so maybe you can give it to her on Cristmas. Be a gennleman daddy. 

Love, Amy’ 

Mingyu takes a deep breath finishing his letter while you are still going over the list of pros and cons or as Mina had put them props and coms for why you and Mingyu should be married. Less time on the road for you, she could have a daddy, you could have a husband. You sink into the couch continuing to read, realizing there were no “coms”. 

Mina chews on her cheek watching you carefully finally moving to her feet to come to your side looking over your arm. Her little finger pointing to the last “prop” on her list. “That one is my most important reason. I like to see you smile and Mr. Kim does that the most.” 

You swallow hard, attempting to keep yourself composed while you nod at her explanation. All eyes following your hands when you fold your letter back up and put it in your lap. “Um…girls.” That tone in your voice, the disappointing one that Mina knew. Amy watches Mina’s bottom lip start to tremble, the girl sliding from your grip but you aren’t quick enough to catch her before Mina is down the hall. 

Mingyu frowns a bit folding his own letter, he wasn’t sure how to react to it all either. He hated to disappoint the girls but it wasn’t as easy as they wanted it to be. He watches you run your fingers through your hair before you stand and follow Mina down the hall, the soft click of a door opening and shutting then silence. 

Amy doesn’t look up at her dad, the disappointment hanging in the air like a heavy fog. “Amy?” Hearing her name, she still doesn’t look up, instead Amy makes a sound to acknowledge that she had heard her dad causing him to slide off the couch into the floor with her. “It was a very nice letter, from both of you. A wonderful gift, thank you baby.” 

She was strong, rarely cried so when tears slipped down her cheeks Mingyu had to hold his own back. “Oh, no honey. Listen, Y/N and I…adults are complicated. It’s not like the movies. Baby no one is trying to hurt you or Mina. I would give anything to give you the family you obviously want so badly…but things don’t happen for anyone in two hours like you see on tv. I know what you and Mina are trying to do and it’s so sweet of you both but can you do me a favor and try to let me and Y/N worry about the heavy stuff?” 

Amy lets her dad hold her close, his fingers brushing away her tears while she nods. His heart still beating quickly listening to her soft sobs. “You are so young, don’t worry about playing matchmaker right now. Just worry about having fun with your best friend, about school, and about how much you are going to enjoy Christmas.” 

Mingyu watches his daughter shrug her shoulders, his cheek meeting her forehead while he listens to her talk between soft whimpers. “I will try, but daddy I just wanted us to be…” He nods as her voice trails off because he knows what she wanted and honestly what he was wanting too. “All I can ask is that you try.” 

Mina clings to you, both of you sitting on Amy’s bed surrounded by stuffed animals and dolls. Her little hands hold tightly into your sweater even though you knew she was upset at you. You hadn’t pressured her to talk, you had only told her how much you loved her and how sorry you were to disappoint her. It felt like you were always disappointing her. 

“Did I not write it good enough?” Your own eyes close tightly, fighting back the urge to let tears slip from your eyes. “You wrote the letter so well. It was beautiful, Mina. I just need for you to try to understand that life doesn’t work that way. No matter if we want it to or not.” 

She didn’t understand that, not when you looked so happy around Mr. Kim and then when you were at home you seemed sad. This was just logical to Mina. “I have so much to think about when it comes to who I would be with. My own pros and cons list would be much different, baby. You didn’t list a single con but I’m afraid there are always going to be cons.” 

Mina shakes her head glancing up at you like you are speaking gibberish. “Like what? He’s so  nice. You are nice. He cooks good and he has Amy. He’s a good daddy.” Your fingers work to untangle her hair while you sigh nodding. “You are right, I don’t disagree with those baby, but what about if Mr. Kim and I don’t end up getting along? I have to put you first always. Everyday I wake up with you in my mind and how I can make your life better.” 

You watch her eyes blink out large tears that trail over her cheeks only to be wiped away by you. “My life, our life would be better with them.” You didn’t disagree with her but you couldn’t give her false hope when you were so uncertain of everything. The relationship with Mingyu had barely even begun. “Maybe, yes, but how about we just take this all one day at a time? Can you do that for me?” 

You get a skeptical look from Mina who only when she meets your sad eyes does she nod. “Thank you. I love you so much, Mina and I would never hurt you. Not if I can help it, it is my job to keep you safe and healthy. That’s why I have to make decisions you might not like or go slowly with things even if it’s not how you want it to be right now. I know that’s a lot, maybe for you to understand but let’s just get through Christmas okay?” 

Mina sighs, reaching up to wipe her nose with the back of her hand making you sigh. “Okay but only if you promise we will come here for Christmas.” She was so good at trapping you when you were weak, truly your child. “Okay, we will come here for Christmas, but only if you put this behind you and work hard at school.” 

Sitting up Mina offers you her pinky drawing another sigh out of your mouth. “It’s serious business mommy.” You laugh, nodding when you link your pinky with hers, both of you leaning to kiss the top of your fingers sealing your promise. “No take backs.” 

There were a few days when you were able to sleep in. Very few holidays that were deemed important enough that your work actually allowed you to have them off but Christmas was one of them. So you hadn’t set an alarm, instead you had planned foolishly to allow yourself time to sleep thinking you would get to sleep in to maybe even 8 in the morning. 

When Mina’s body lands on top of yours, her excited voice in your ear all you can manage is a whine. Your hand pulling at her to tug her under the covers trying to make her realize it was far too early for this. “Mommy, Merry Christmas! We have to get up, what? No! No, under the covers silly. It’s already 5 in the morning. We are going to be late!” 

“Late?!” You whine out the word and tug your daughter back to you hugging her tightly making her laugh. “I promise you Mina that Mingyu and Amy are not getting up right now, and if Amy has, Mingyu has done this exact thing to her. Now shh, sleep more.” Mine smiles curling her body into yours nuzzling under your chin listening to you talk. 

“Mommy?” Her voice makes you let out a tired questioning sound, her fingers playing with the fabric of your night shirt. “You said Mr. Kim’s first name. You’ve been doing that a lot more.” Shaking your head, you pull her closer turning on your back. Mina watches you throw your arm over your face in the low light, a laugh on her lips. “Go back to sleep Mina. Give me at least another hour. Your mom is tired, and all she wants for Christmas is sleep.” 

Mina smiles at your words nudging up against you with a small yawn, she had been wide awake but why was your bed always more comfortable than hers? It was so warm and you were so warm and felt so safe. She only nods a couple times before Mina is back asleep on your chest in a few minutes. 

You hadn’t been wrong that Amy had attempted to wake Mingyu up just as early only to be wrapped in a blanket now squished up next to him softly snoring. Mingyu had managed to get around an hour more of sleep but as the sun began to rise he couldn’t help but open his eyes along with it. It seemed unusually bright, Mingyu had to squint sliding out of bed carefully not to wake Amy making his way over to the window to peek out. He can’t help but to smile a bit seeing a fresh layer of snow on the ground. “She’s getting everything she wants for Christmas it seems…” 

Amy whines making Mingyu turn around seeing his daughter waking back up. She was struggling with his blanket that he had wrapped around her in attempts to in his own way swaddle his 6 year old daughter. A laugh falling from his lips he moves to help her untangle the fabric letting her sit up and stretch, her hair pointing in all different directions while she squints from the same light that had woken him up. “It’s bright…” 

Mingyu runs his hand over her hair trying to tame some of the hair but he knows only a brush will really do the trick. “Mmhm, you should go into the living room and see why.” Amy grins, beginning to catch on to her dad’s meaning. Mingyu chuckles following behind his daughter, her feet hitting the hardwood floors quickly in excitement, a happy gasp leaving her mouth when she finally crawls up on the couch to look out of the window seeing the snow. 

“Christmas miracles! Daddy, I asked Santa for snow!” Mingyu pretends to not know everything that Amy had asked for, simply letting his eyes widen in surprise. “And it seems like he probably left a bunch of the other stuff under the tree.” Amy giggles when Mingyu sits down next to her before she glances towards the tree in awe at all the different gifts. 

“Woah! Why are there so many?” Mingyu can’t help but to cover his amused smile with his hand shrugging a bit when Amy crawls off into the floor to look at the gifts. “Oh my gosh, daddy! Santa brought Mina’s gifts here! How did he know? That’s so cool! You should call Miss. Y/L/N and tell her right now.” 

Amy keeps carefully digging through the gifts, almost beginning to sort them while Mingyu shakes his head suppressing his laughter. “Should I? I will send her a text. How does that sound? Then I will start breakfast and you will keep your little paws off the presents. You will instead go take a brush to your hair and try to make it look like you didn’t get electrocuted.” 

Pursing her lips in confusion, Amy turns to sit on her knees looking up at her dad as he pulls his phone from his sweatpants. She watches him send you a quick text, her head titling before he meets her eyes and laughs at her expression. “What’s that look for?”

“What’s lectrocuted?” Mingyu sighs and shakes his head trying to think how he could explain it, reading a text back from you, a grin spreading over his face. “It’s uh…you know what electricity is. The lights, when you get shocked. Your hair goes all over like that. Now go brush your hair Einstein. Mina will be here soon.” 

“My name is Amy, you know my name Daddy. Just because you were reading your phone…gosh boys are so weird.” Laughing Mingyu simply puts his phone on the counter getting to work on Christmas breakfast hoping he will have at least most of it done before you arrive.

When you and Mina finally make it inside you are pulling her back to get her out of her jacket and shoes before letting her run off to find Amy. The smell of food hitting your nose makes you take in a deep breath, your mouth watering almost instantly. Walking through the house you find Mingyu in the kitchen, a smile on his face when you are finally close enough. “You finally just let yourself in for once.” 

He laughs watching you roll your eyes, his own eyes surveying behind you only to step closer his hand running along your hip to pull you in a bit closer. “Morning…” Your cheeks warm instantly at his touch and attention. You still weren’t used to it and having to hide it from the girls made it even harder, but you still can’t help the smile on your lips. “Good morning.” 

Mingyu’s lips press to yours gently and briefly before he lets you turn your head to see what he is working on at the stove. “It’s almost done. I thought I’d go a little traditional and a little not. I made some waffles, bacon, eggs, kimchi fried rice, and pajeon.” You shake your head reaching to pick up a piece of the bacon, biting off a piece then putting it to his mouth letting him take the rest from your fingers.

“You cooked enough for 10 people, Gyu.” He laughs swallowing the bacon, his neck heating up when you shorten his name. He still wasn’t used to it but he loved hearing it but he thought to himself there would be other names for him from you he might like even more. “Maybe but we can eat what we have leftover for lunch and then some of this like the rice will heat up really well for snacks.” 

Always thinking ahead. One of the many things you found out that you loved about him. No, that you liked about him. You have to correct yourself even in your head clearing your throat nodding to his words. Taking one of the serving dishes you watch him carry three balancing one plate on his arm making you shake your head while you follow him into the dining room. Your eyes follow him but do seem to travel over his body until he makes a sound having caught you. 

“Hmm, remind me later that I need to give you a Christmas present when we can be alone.” You start to complain but the girls running into the room at the smell of food cuts you off. “Oh my gosh! Mr. Kim, this looks so good!” Mingyu grins at Mina’s complement reaching over to ruffle her hair while the two girls take their seats. You start to move back to help him get the rest of the food but find him standing behind you. 

“I’ve got the rest. Let me get your chair.” Amy makes an ooo sound causing Mina to giggle when Mingyu pulls out your chair for you, letting you sit down. “Daddy, so gentleman like.” Mingyu shoots finger guns at his daughter with a wink playfully making you laugh. “You said it right, I’m proud of you baby.” 

Amy laughs rolling her eyes at her dad’s antics, her gaze finding you while you run your fingers over your hair trying to regain your composure. “Miss. Y/L/N, did daddy tell you about Santa bringing all the gifts here?” You smile at her and nod, leaning to start dishing out some food to the girls while Mingyu brings in the rest taking his seat. 

“He did, that’s very exciting and convenient.” Mina laughs at how you choose to answer Amy picking up her fork stabbing at some of her food. “Amy said there are presents under the tree for you too Mommy and some not from Santa.” You furrow your brows glancing at Mingyu who tries to act innocent shrugging only to hand over the syrup to you. 

“Is that so? Well we will have to take a look after breakfast is all done and cleaned up.” Amy nods in agreement while you raise a brow at Mingyu who simply smiles at you taking a big bite of pajeon. You shake your head amused with him deciding to pay more attention to the girls when you feel his free hand on yours under the table resting on your knee. His thumb gently glides along the back of your hand causing you to pause what you are doing. 

Mingyu smiles at your reaction but he keeps the girls entertained talking to them both about the snow and the possibility of playing in it once all the presents are opened. When you turn your hand over letting his fingers lace with yours it’s his turn to be surprised. Mingyu’s breath catches, his eyes lowering to the table and both of you are pleased to hear the girls continue talking between themselves about their plans. 

With your eyes on his, Mingyu doesn’t even hear when Amy speaks to him until you tap at the back of his hand and gesture with your head towards his daughter. “Mm what did you say sweetie?” Amy laughs, raising a brow at his reaction, some egg on the corner of her lips making him smile. She doesn’t budge even as her dad leans over to wipe them away, her mouth still moving to speak, “You two always take longer than us to eat but today can we maybe just go all together to the living room?” 

Mingyu smirks into a sigh at her question, his hand falling from yours so that he can use both of his hands with his food for a few moments. “Yes, if we make a deal. When you two are finished, go start on dishes. We can work on them together then go open presents. You two always get out of dish duty. Give back since it’s Christmas, help me and your mom.”  

You breath catches at how he says that last sentence and you notice that he seems to pick up on it too. “Mina’s…mom. You know what I mean.” Amy raises her brow even higher if possible glancing at Mina, both girls nodding but not before sharing a look of interest once again. You take a large sip of coffee meeting Mingyu’s eyes over the cup while he shoves food into his mouth only to glance away silently cursing at himself for a slip of his tongue. 

Amy was right in knowing she and Mina would finish first. You and Mingyu watch the two girls gather their plates heading towards the kitchen only to hear the sound of water and their chatter when they leave the two of you alone in the dining room. “Sorry…” Your eyes lift to find Mingyu looking from you to his plate while he pushes around the last bit of food, concern written on his features. 

“For? Why are you apologizing?” Mingyu sighs and almost whines making you laugh, it never ceases to amaze how a man so large could be so small sometimes. “Gyu, it’s fine. Nothing you said was…wrong really. I am a mom and they are now helping out. So where was the reason for you to say sorry?” 

He picks up his coffee finishing off the last bit before sitting the mug back down, a soft breathy sigh slipping from his lips. “I’m trying so hard to keep my promise and keep everything from them but I also just want to be with you. I’m tired of having to pretend like I’m not falling in l..like I’m not in a relationship with you.” You watch him quickly backtrack on his words, your heart racing in your chest. 

“I know, I don’t like it either but we said we wouldn’t tell them anything until we were sure about everything. We can’t risk hurting them. At the end of the day how we feel about each other is the least important thing.” That stung a bit, Mingyu’s face shows that just as much as it felt for you to say it. “Do you mean that Y/N? Or are you just trying to make it make sense?” 

Mingyu watches you swallow hard, your head shaking while you try to come up with words only to fall short. His hand moves along yours on the table to hold it, his thumb sliding gently along your skin. “I won’t make you answer that right now. Let’s just have a good day with the girls and go from there, huh?” You nod in response, leaning your cheek into his lips when he leans to kiss it quickly. 

The table slowly clears leaving you to grab just your own plate and a couple of leftovers so you can join the others in the kitchen. You find Mingyu at the sink having taken over the main washing duty letting the girls dry the dishes. A soft smile forms on your lips even though your stomach was in knots from your earlier words to him. Did you mean it? 

You shake your head answering yourself in your head, no you hadn’t. He was important to you. The way you felt about him and how he felt about you was important, incredibly so. Over the past few weeks he had quickly become someone you looked forward to seeing as often as possible. You never thought that your relationship with him could make him an even better friend to you but you proved yourself wrong once again. 

With the dishes washed and put away, leftovers safely secured for later, you and Mingyu follow the girls into the living room where they are given the go ahead to start going through the gifts. You join Mingyu on the couch sitting a few inches away from him watching Mina and Amy placing gifts into piles. “Are you going to take turns or just open them?” 

Amy considers your question and picks up a gift with a grin that always reminded you of her dad, her eyes finding yours. “Take turns. This one is yours.” You furrow your brows reaching out to take the small long box from her hands to read the tag with a sigh looking at Mingyu who glances away towards the fireplace to avoid you. “Open it mommy.” Your fingers work over the wrapping paper slower than the girls would like but you find Mingyu’s eyes back on you when you finally reach the box under the paper and are able to open it, finding a thin gold bracelet inside. Small delicate gems hanging from the chain in different colors that shimmered in the light from the window making you take a deep breath. 

“Do you recognize all of them?” You nod but quickly shake your head. You knew some of them but there were two you didn’t. Two stones were your and Amy’s birthstones, the others were different but it quickly made you realize who they belonged to. “You and Amy…” Mingyu smiles, reaching to take the bracelet out of the box, setting that to the side so he can put it around your wrist while the girls watch. 

“So you can have everyone with you no matter where you are.” Mingyu isn’t aware of the tears in your eyes but Mina is. Her face falls in concern when she starts to move to her feet only to stop when you surprise everyone in the room by turning Mingyu’s face to yours pressing your lips to his. “Mommy…” 

Mingyu smiles against your lips as the girls gasp and begin to talk excitedly until you pull back realizing what you have just done. “Oh my gosh! Santa got the letters for real. I mean it’s not a wedding on Christmas but…” Your cheek is warm under Mingyu’s thumb, his laughter helping to keep you grounded while you listen to the girls beginning to pick up other gifts. 

“Seriously if he got that letter that means that I got a laptop Mina. Also we have like an entire wedding to plan. Daddy can’t do that and your mommy, oh my gosh she might be my mommy soon too!” You lean your head back and Mingyu lets you rest your head on his shoulder while he looks at the kids. “Hey what did I tell you before? Let us be adults and you two be kids. Open your presents.” 

Amy gives him a sly look nodding while pulling one of her presents into her lap. “Whatever you say daddy.” Mina laughs almost matching her friend’s look before finding a gift with her name on it ripping at the paper. “Yeah whatever you say. You two just let us know when you need help. Cause we have an entire notebook ready. We’ve watched a lot of Hallmark movies.” 

You sigh into a laugh finally looking up to see your daughter's eyes smiling when you see how happy she is. “I bet you have.” The rest of the morning goes almost as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened. Only a few glances from the girls and the occasional squeal of joy when they noticed that you and Mingyu were holding hands. It didn’t take long before they were both begging to go into the backyard to play in the snow.

Mingyu was more than happy to let you rest on the couch while he wrapped too many scarves around each of the girls. Both of them complained about needing to be able to move to play but he simply mocked them playfully tugging their hoods over their heads. “Stay where we can see you. If I look out that window and you are out of sight I will come find you and then melt all the snow.”

Getting a sour look from Amy, Mingyu smirked, pinching her nose before opening the door to usher both of the girls out into the cold. You watched from the couch, smiling when you saw them both come into view Mina instantly falling down to make a snow angel quickly followed by Amy. You don’t notice Mingyu joining you until his hand slides over your leg to your knee drawing your attention back to him. 

“We will keep an eye on them, but they know the rules.” You smile with a nod watching him carefully and curiously when he leans up to reach behind a pillow to bring out another small wrapped gift. “You didn’t remind me but I remembered anyway.” When you laugh Mingyu’s smile grows exponentially, his eyes following your hands take the gift from him to set it on your lap. 

“First of all you didn’t give me time to remind you and secondly I literally didn’t get you anything Mingyu. We said no gifts and you lied right through your perfect teeth.” Mingyu grins shrugging, reaching up to push a piece of your hair behind your ear while he glances out of the window to watch the girls playing. “I already got everything I wanted so maybe I did lie, but I think I like spoiling you a little bit. It seems like you’ve never been treated like this and I kind of like the look on your face when it happens.” 

Your cheeks warm causing Mingyu to smirk when he feels it under his touch. “You are blushing again.” The sound of his laughter is music to your ears even as you elbow him playfully causing him to jokingly double over only to place a kiss to your cheek. “Open your present.” When you sigh, Mingyu taps at your nose while biting at his bottom lip watching you. 

“Stop looking at me like that.” Another laugh slips between his lips at your words, Mingyu’s hand moving from your face to the back of your neck while he watches you opening the present. “How am I looking at you?” You shrug moving the wrapping paper to the side first before opening the top of the box avoiding his eyes. “Like a school boy in love or something.” 

Mingyu raises a brow and shrugs his lips considering your words. “Interesting way to put it, but not far off.” You start to say something back to him but when you move the tissue paper in the box you find yourself speechless. Plane tickets along with another small unopened jewelry box sit on more tissue paper waiting for you to touch. “Gyu?” 

“Hmm?” He watches you lift the box first, putting it to the side, then your fingers pick up the plane tickets where you read the dates of the flight, seeing two round trip tickets to New York City for a long weekend during New Years Eve. “Oh…how could we even do that? We both have kids and that’s just a few days…like literally…” 

Mingyu hears you start to spiral so he takes his eyes from the window where he had been watching the kids playing to look at you. His hand moving to gently grasp your chin turning your head towards him. “Promise not to get too mad at me but I already took care of that. I spoke with my mom and yours. They want to split the time between them and take care of the girls. I believe your mom’s exact words were to “whisk you off your feet” so I’m here to whisk you off your feet Miss Y/L/N.” 

Your hands were shaking so Mingyu took the tickets out of your hands reaching to pick up the jewelry box putting that into your hand instead. “It’s not an engagement ring. I’m not that crazy, yet, but please open it.” You look at the box using your thumb to push open the box only to have your breath taken away once more when you do find a necklace inside. “The girls found this one the other day and kept saying how it would look so pretty on you. I have to admit they have really great taste.” 

You watch Mingyu’s fingers take the necklace from the box, he only makes a small questioning sound and you already know what he wants. He smiles when you lift your hair and turn your back to him so he can put the necklace around your neck clasping it only to let his fingers trace the delicate gold chain. Your fingers run over the small teardrop diamond pendant now resting on your chest, surprised when you feel Mingyu’s lips gently press to the side of your neck only once before he pulls away and lets you drop your hair. 

“So are you mad at me for planning behind your back?” Mingyu watches you shake your head, not making him smile a bit brighter. He finds himself leaning his cheek against your palm when you reach up to run your thumb along his cheekbone. “No, I’m not mad. I’m just honestly really happy. You asked me something earlier and I avoided it. I didn’t mean what I said. You are so important, this is important. I’m sorry.” 

Mingyu’s brows knit together, his face turning to press his lips to your palm causing your stomach to tighten to the feeling. “It’s okay. I know why you said it, but I’m so happy to hear you say this now. You are important to me too Y/N. Amy, Mina, and you are the most important people in my life and when I said I got everything I wanted for Christmas I wasn’t lying. This is what I wanted.” 

You turn your head towards the window in order to stop yourself from letting tears fall from your eyes at Mingyu’s words only to find yourself watching as Mina and Amy throw snowballs at one another. Mingyu moves your hand into his, holding it at his chest, his eyes following yours to watch the girls playing until they notice you both watching and wave. “This is what I wanted too, Gyu. Merry Christmas.” 

Mingyu smiles, meeting your eyes once again when you speak, your words going straight to his heart and stomach. When you lean towards him brushing your lips against his gently, he can’t help but to smile against your lips. Mingyu’s free hand moves to hold the side of your face gently while the snow starts to lightly fall on the happy girls playing outside making them laugh joyfully.

 “Merry Christmas Y/N.”

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please note that I am doing my best to tag all of you who have filled out the tag list form but tumblr won’t let me tag some of you. I think that is because either you have tags turned off or possibly a blank tumblr page. consider reblogging some of the fics you like from me or other writers. ♥

“Yo, Y/NNNN~! Dap me up!” a too-familiar Gryffindor shrieked, hand outstretched. You narrowed your eyes down at the boy upon recognition, questioning what went down for him to be so enthusiastic in the rise of aurora.

You dapped him up anyways. Because if anything, Soonyoung was your beloved friend.

“What happened to you?”

“Huh? Nothing. Where’s your little boyfriend? Isn’t he always scurrying around you?” the boy asked, leaning oh-so-casually against the doorframe of the classroom.

“He’s literally twice your size, Soonyoung. Don’t go around calling Mingyu ‘little’,” you stated defensively, pushing through Soonyoung’s shoulder roughly to enter the DADA classroom. The over-energetic Gryffindor followed you in, a grin smacked right on his face.

“Sure. You still won’t admit that you have a thing for younger men.” he smiled.

“Come on, Soonyoung, He’s in fifth year.” It was usual for you that people would discuss the age difference between you and your honey badger boyfriend. Not that it was a bad thing, you didn’t take it as a bad thing, seeing that the age gap wasn’t illegal as such.

He was sixteen and you were sixteen, turning seventeen. So technically, you were the same age still until you were to turn seventeen in a few months time.

“He could be a younger brother,” Soonyoung said to you, not letting it go.

“You could mind your own business.”

“He could quit his Quidditch team and let us have the Quidditch Cup this year.”

You rolled your eyes, striving to find a good seat in the classroom. It didn’t support you that Soonyoung was all over you, bent over backwards to talk you into breaking up with Mingyu for Mingyu to be dismayed the days leading up to the finals of Quidditch. As much as you loved Soonyoung as a friend, you were not willing to put your relationship on the line for some Quidditch Cup. With the time he spent talking you into breaking up, he could spend on academics or even, Quidditch, for that matter.

“Hold on―why are there labels on the desks?” you noticed.

“I dunno, princess. Use those brainwit-thingies you Ravenclaws have,” he said, smiling at you like a little kid.

Frustration grew inside you as you collapsed your books on a random table. Your finger traced over the little white label plastered across the corner of the desk. “What’s going on? Is this some kind of prank, Soonyoung?”

“We’re having seating arrangements. I came here especially early to see your reaction,” he admitted, putting a hand on your shoulder lightly. Once again, you rejected him by shrugging him off. You grabbed your books up in an armful and sauntered the barren classroom, now on a hunt for your seat. If you were sitting at the back, you were obviously going to pick a dispute with Professor Lupin.

Though, you were sort of confused on the part in which Soonyoung said he was early to see your reaction. Why would he come especially early to see―

BANG!

Your books dropped in a brown heap on the shiny floors of the classroom. In an instant, your eyes became wide and you could sense that there wasn’t an inch of your muscle that moved for a whole second. You wanted to believe that this was a dream (oh, please let it be a dream) so badly but your intelligence proved you wrong. Squeezing your eyes shut and taking a deep breath in and out, you opened them again.

It was still there.

Soonyoung’s laughing was heard but it seemed to be in a distance as you doubled over to pick up your books. The thought of it just made your body crash with adrenalin. You placed the heavy books back on the table one by one, an unlikable feeling settling in you. And what was even more unlikable was the fact that you were so near tears that you wanted to just disappear right then.

“I’m sorry, but it’d best be a Ravenclaw than a Gryffindor.” you heard Soonyoung said, embedding a hand on your shoulder. You wanted to shrug it off, yet was partly too shocked to even conjure that thought. “And also, you’re not far from the front of the class.”

Was he seriously trying optimism with you?

“He’s going to murder me,” you whispered coldly, hands fixed on the table as you figured out what to do. Was there anything you could do about this? You were a Ravenclaw for goodness sake, you should use that knack of a brain for something at least.

“He is not! And even if he tries to, I’m here!” Soonyoung declared just as the huge doors of the classroom open flauntingly. Your knees shook, the voices registering in your mind. You had no choice. You were to sit on this table for the rest of the god damn year and live with the fact that Yoon Jeonghan was going to be next to you.

It wasn’t that you were scared―it was more that you were a mix of annoyed and shocked for the reason being you were paired up with the most obnoxious, ungrateful brat in the world. Like there was a choice in it.

You swooped into your seat, cupping your face as your elbows held themselves on the table, sighing. The dismay was plastered on your face, signed by the eyebrow furrow.

“I’m gonna go take a seat, good luck.” He looked back nervously at the door and then left to the other side of the room. You would admit that the racing of your heart was much faster than envisioned. It was not your fault.

Those Slytherins put themselves on such a high pedestal that no other house in the year level could stand up to them. So if you were irritated at them being some sort of comical in class, you couldn’t just bark at them to shut up.

And Yoon Jeonghan. He was a sick little daddy’s boy. Stacks higher than him was basically what backed him up and you’ve seen the black card in the flesh. He wasn’t to be messed with, with all those assets and a filthy rich background. So it willed you to wonder, as soon as he saw an average-classed Ravenclaw, what would be the resolution?

You would be waiting.

It took a second for the Slytherins to realise that there were labels on the table and when they did, his group of friends began looking for where their name tags would be.

You played cool on the outside, taking away the anxiety from your face and staring straight ahead as they roamed the classroom. A piece of you was idling for Jeonghan to show up next to you. Waiting with every tiny sound of the clock’s hand passing the seconds ahead of you. Until it finally happened.

“Don’t tell me you’re sitting next to me.” His voice dragged out smoothly, yet managed to release your heart to your stomach. So maybe you were a little scared, but that didn’t mean that you were going to back down…sort of?

You turned your head to the left, seeing Jeonghan standing there with his books in hand, staring you down. Acting as if you didn’t know, you cleared your throat to attain your voice. “Yeah, you’re Jeonghan?”

“Who else would ask you that question? Aren’t you a Ravenclaw? You should know this.”

You pursed your lips together and faced the front again, praying for Lupin to arrive quicker. You didn’t want to be stuck conversing with an arrogant kid.

“Answer me.”

“I don’t think there’s a reason for me to answer that as you can see clearly that I am one.”

He scoffed, setting his books down on the table before sliding into the seat next to you. You continued to sit while facing forward. You didn’t know if it explicated that you were scared but you didn’t want it to show at all.

“I can’t believe this teacher,” he muttered to himself.

“If you have a problem with the seating arrangements, you should go speak with Professor Lupin with it because―” you began while turning to him.

“I don’t have a problem with this seating arrangement dumbass, I have a problem with you,” he answered sharply, also turning around to you with disgust painted with a sneer.

“That’s literally the same thing. Maybe you should consider thinking before speaking.” you began, but were cleanly cut off along with many other classmates and Professor Lupin’s voice came booming into the classroom. The man walked to the front with his loving greetings to the gloomy class, leaving Jeonghan powerless to act towards your rude reply.

You took pride in that as the lesson began.

“Good morning, class. Good morning, Soonyoung. As you can see, I have put you in seating arrangements. Now, I’m sure you have a lot of questions and opposes. But I have a reason for this.”

No one argued, seemingly interested as to why the ex-Gryffindor wanted to put you in seating arrangements. Though he was your favourite teacher thus far, you threatened him in your head to have a good reason.

“I noticed the social hierarchy in this year level specifically, so I would like you guys to sit around different houses just to build up that friendship a little…if you have any problems with it, though. Please do come to see me after class and we can discuss it.”

After that, Lupin started his class.

Reluctantly, you focused your eyes on the teacher, following his every word and taking notes here and there. You noticed, however, Jeonghan wasn’t paying attention a tad bit. Rather he was involved in a series of comics with his friend who was placed next to your table.

They were noisy, but you tried your best to focus on Lupin’s explanations briefly overviewing the topic of Dementors stationed on the outskirts of Hogwarts, trailing like blighted ghosts. Truthfully, you hated every inch of the boy’s presence beside you, it made you want to hit him with your massive Charms textbook more than anything.

How could he just turn completely away from the teacher and talk to his friends? He was going to be behind on work, you couldn’t imagine being behind on work with your hectic schedule. It would be a nightmare.

“Okay, so for today’s homework, I want you to answer the questions for Boggarts on page 209. Unfortunately, you must complete the questions for next week’s practical, so please do, do them…”

The bell rang, dismissing the class for the next period. You stood up and packed up your books like every student in the room, pumped for Advanced Arthimacy with your best friend.

Until the Slytherin spoke up. “Where are you going?”

“My next class?” you said.

“I need to go talk to Lupin―”

“Okay, go do that?”

You knew what he was trying to get at, but stayed fooled just for the pleasure of it and the honesty that you had another class anticipating you in literal minutes.

“You’re coming with me,” he declared grandly.

“Are you twelve? No, I have a class to get to and I―”

Jeonghan’s glare hardened, cutting you off as students rushed out of the room as if on cue by him.

You didn’t agree nor did you disagree which determined being a faulty choice made by you as Jeonghan slipped out from his desk and marched to the teacher, all high n’ mighty. You gawked with resentment screwing the back of his damned blonde head. The temptation of hexing him right then was indeed a hard one to let go of.

Despite that, you did heed that it would be embarrassing if you just left like that, so you settled your books down in the forced decision and moved to the front of the classroom to stand next to Jeonghan.

Lupin was sat at the desk when he looked at the two of you with a smile. But when he regarded that neither of you had similar expressions, he outlasted seriously.

“Is there something I can do for the two of you?”

You didn’t say anything, stubbornly gazing into the window. This was in fact a Jeonghan problem, he dragged you into it when you paid no mind―news flash, you paid tons of mind, you just didn’t act it.

He talked anyways, not requiring your cooperation a slight bit. Then, what was the point of bringing you here, if he could do everything himself? “Could you change our seating arrangements? I don’t want to sit with her.”

“What do you mean by that, Mr Yoon? I can’t just change the seats without a proper reason.” Lupin replied tensely.

It was like he doomed Jeonghan.

Jeonghan was quiet, suddenly and you predicted the anger showing on his face through a glare. Lupin continued, reeling his words in a teasing manner as he explained the reason. “An affair mayhaps that happened a long time ago between the two of you? Is that why you don’t want to sit―”

Sharply turning your head back, you gawked at your professor, offended. “What are you saying, sir?!”

“Well, was it?” he smirked at you.

“No!” Jeonghan answered this time.

“It’s not, so why are you so bothered about sitting by each other a few days a week? It’s just an hour class.”

“Fine, then. I’ll sit with her,” he grumbled.

Jeonghan whipped around and stalked off, frustration evident in the way he stopped to scoop his books into his arms and left. It happened all so quick, you only had time to part your lips in astonishment. Neither did Lupin say anything to comfort the boy. It was best to leave the aggression alone anyways.

When the door slammed hard behind the bitter Slytherin, your head returned to the teacher. Your hands urgently slammed onto the wooden table, striving for some sort of explanation on your side.

“Sir, it wasn’t my idea to come to talk to you, in case you were wondering.” you defended yourself excessively.

“I know that, L/N,” He stood up from his seat. You watched as he put a hand on your shoulder like he was going to have a deep discussion with you like he was your father. Not that you had time for that. Your next class had already begun. “Slytherins have the tendency to be full of themselves sometimes. I hope you can tolerate it, it’s a Ravenclaw’s duty to assist a Slytherin to see a different perspective.”

You laughed when the thought of showing Jeonghan the stars in the sky. You didn’t know why that was the first thought that registered in your mental process out of all likely thoughts. It would never happen even if the world was ending. Him being seen around another house was a scare for him.

“Sure, Professor Lupin.” you sarcastically answered, stepping down the narrow hallway of tables to get to grab your set of books. Smilingly, you looked back at the teacher, who smiled back, as if challenging your notion of his words.

You were off to your next class, forgetting your morning encounter.

-ˋˏ ༻❁༺ ˎˊ-

“So you’re sitting next to him now?” Adora asked.

You nodded with a sigh, digits sweeping past the tethers of books in the library’s inner shelves. Your best friend got to know the tea when you met her in Advanced Arthimacy and now she was expanding the conversation, seeking to find a solution to the problem. She sank against the table behind her, considerably shocked about the chances of you being with Jeonghan out of all people.

“Ah, that’s going to be tiring,” she said, forcing herself off. The active Ravenclaw patted your head, clearly feeling sorry for you. Who wouldn’t feel sorry for you? You were going to live sadder after this.

“You know what’s worse? Lupin was so funny about it. He was teasing us when he asked for a change in the seating plan.” you continued, looking over at Adora with pain screwed in your eyes. “And after Jeonghan practically stormed out, he was like ’it’s a Ravenclaw’s duty to assist a Slytherin to see a broader perspective’.”

“Dude, what?!” she queried, tucking her silky auburn hair behind her ear. It sprung back to the sharpness of her cheek, honouring her facial features.

“I know!” you exclaimed to your best friend, furrowing your eyebrows. “It was so weird! I really don’t know what to do with this kid sitting next to me. You can literally feel it, like the Slytherin energy when he’s sitting next to you.”

“God.” she sighed. “That’s scary. I would not like that at all…but he’s kinda cute.”

There she goes with the teasing. It was what any best friend would’ve done in the situation anyways.

“True.” you agreed, seeing honesty in her words. Jeonghan’s face emitted prettiness, but the kind of prettiness that was unjust. It was structured but also soft, masculine but feminine in and you found it difficult not to ask for his skincare routine. Had he been in any other house, you most definitely would. “But still, I don’t want to be sitting next to him for the whole year. He’s going to make a fool out of me.”

She sighed, planting her hand on your shoulder. You reminisced that it was to soothe you from the fluttering thousand thoughts running around your mind. She was simply taking her duty as best friend to make things right.

“I know. Though, you are a Ravenclaw, just focus on your studies.”

She made it seem so easy.

-ˋˏ ༻❁༺ ˎˊ-

Thinking it was easy but to be there in the present and acting as if everything was tight rein seemed to be a high achieving goal you set for yourself. It was achievable, but it was the direness that made you not want to even try.

By the next DADA lesson, you sat at your arranged seat, waiting for class to start as you flicked through your notes.

“Good morning, L/N.” Lupin greeted, walking past your table.

“Morning, sir.” you greeted back, not swerving your eye contact to the man.

You were a little early for class but that solely meant more revising time for you. The night before you were stuck in a rather competitive game of chess with Jeon Wonwoo that got his whole year level staying to watch. The game was played until three am, with you winning, of course, to keep the pride of your year level.

Other than that, you made a new friend and made friends with his friend Vernon. So now, not only were you and Adora not alone together all the time, you had adorable little fifth years as friends.

“We shall begin the class, how are you lot?” Lupin asked the class. They responded as you took the sign of the fact Jeonghan wasn’t next to you. You didn’t say anything about it either. He was probably late. “L/N, where’s your deskmate?”

You glanced up at the teacher. It was painful not to get mad at him, especially when knowing that Lupin was doing it on purpose.

“I don’t know, sir. Sorry.” you apologised calmly, letting the ball of fists under the table unwind to let some air into your palm.

“Strange,” Lupin commented and then, grabbed white chalk from the chalkboard to commence the lesson. A lesson he thought would begin from there. Unfortunately not.

He was shortly interrupted by a bang which could only come from behind, indicating the double oak doors to glide open, as if on command. You gripped the fresh sight of an elephantine sea of green accented figures walking in. And the way they walked, it certainly caught you in a trance for a second. So in synch and with purpose and authority. You hadn’t seen anything like it. Lupin hadn’t said anything about it either. And when you turned back to face the teacher, there wasn’t an inkling of surprise dotted on his face.

“There you are…we were all wondering where you were.” Lupin chuckled. The Slytherin didn’t participate in his laughing. Your shivers were taken note of as the room moved severely cold. It was like there were no souls, yet thousands of eyes watching at the same time.

Instead, they scattered before entering the maze of tables and walked to their assigned seat, obviously filled with hatred for the teacher. You detected instantly it was because they couldn’t be with their friends but you also saw that some Slytherins didn’t regard anger in their face.

“We had to stay back.” the boy you recalled as Junhui, the Captain of the Slytherin Quidditch team, said.

A spark must have lit for Lupin because he straightened up. “Ah, yes. Is it because of the…incident?”

Jun nodded.

“What incident?” Soonyoung’s voice was as clear as a harmonised whistle and you crinkled your eyes, caught in cringe. He should have wished that moment he could have taken it back. Yet, he didn’t. He stared at the teacher, anticipating an answer.

He did get one, just not the one the poor kid was foreseeing.

“Stay in your lane, Gryffindor,” Jeonghan told him as he took the seat next to you, dropping his books in an untidy load on his table.

A heavy pit landed in your abdomen, somewhat feeling bad for the tiger but also feeling bad for yourself that Yoon Jeonghan had arrived and so dramatically, too. You didn’t commit to the acknowledgement of his arrival but minded your own business, the thought of getting called out was not a good one.

“Um, let’s speak to each other nicely in this classroom, shall we?” Lupin smiled.

You were funded with relaxation when the man once again swished and flicked, closing the double oak doors of the classroom. Then, he turned to the blackboard, beginning the class for the second time in five minutes. It was only moments before something started again. Honestly, you wanted an easy breezy class that would end with a nice finish.

Jeonghan started it.

“Tell your little boyfriend to stay away from us,” Jeonghan whispered.

You widened your eyes, shooting a side-eye at the boy. You thought he had no idea who you were. But then again, you were dating the Kim Mingyu, it came with a position of popularity dropped on your head like a crown.

You were deemed to be focussing on class, but the news flash caught you off guard. Suddenly, you found yourself needing to know what was happening with Mingyu and why he had gotten right into a web of troubles with the Slytherins. Because that was the last thing a Hufflepuff should be doing in this world. Messing with a Slytherin was bound to ruin a Hufflepuff’s reputation.

“What happened?” you whispered right back, your voice sadly biting the fact that you weren’t supposed to share curiosity around like that. You focussed on Lupin and leaned in a little so you could hear Jeonghan better.

“Your boyfriend picked a fight with Junhui after accusing the team of cheating in the last Quidditch match. Now tell me, do you think that just because we may come off intimidating, Slytherins will go as low as cheating?” It sounded like he was talking to Mingyu than his Ravenclaw deskmate and you were getting the feeling that the grudge dawdling his words were starting to follow you up. As if you were responsible.

“I’m sure he didn’t mean it.” you defended Mingyu anyways.

He was the sweetest boy you ever knew of. If Mingyu ever picked a fight, there would be a valid reason for it and when there is one, he would tell you. He hasn’t told you anything yet, so you were left to assume that there was something terribly wrong going on.

“He gave Jun a blood nose, what are you talking about?”

You glanced back at the said boy. Junhui, the brunette, was sitting a few rows back, his eyes plastered on the teacher as he scribbled down notes. Abruptly, his eyes peeled off the teacher to look at you. You turned back just as quick, not wanting to catch the Slytherin’s gaze. You heard rumours about him that were far too brutal for the average ear to even hear. For Mingyu to go pick a fight with him was unbelievable. But you had perceived the bloodstains at the edge of his nostrils. They had to mean something. Your grip tightened on your quill, feathers scrunching under your grasp.

“Why are you telling me?” you asked Jeonghan, covering the shakiness in your voice. You didn’t want to falter around him, wanting to prove that you weren’t scared of a small fight. But when you recalled the way the Slytherins walked in just before, you were beginning to trail with your own doubts and worries.

“Because you’re his girlfriend, duh. You don’t ever use your brain for a Ravenclaw.”

You flashed him a glare that made him a little startled as he backed the tiniest away. “I will converse with Mingyu after.” you stated and returned your focus back to the class.

-ˋˏ ༻❁༺ ˎˊ-

“Y/N, I swear! They cheated, I saw it with my own eyes!” your boyfriend exclaimed and you were sure if it weren’t for you questioning him, Mingyu would most likely be pulling on his hair.

The enthusiasm enraged the younger boy’s eyes. You cornered him near your common room entry on the fifth floor. In all your years of knowing Mingyu, you hadn’t seen him act like this before. It was fresh to your sights. “Okay, okay. Explain to me exactly what happened in the game.”

Mingyu sighed, looking to the ground. It was like he was trying to gather his words to talk to you. You recalled the previous Saturday game where Hufflepuffs were playing the Slytherins. You recalled that it wasn’t the nicest game in the world―insults were thrown at each other, physical abuse was involved in abundance that the game was about to be stopped halfway. If it wasn’t for the honey boy agreeing to play properly, the game would’ve been called off.

“Fine. I was flying around as one does and I had the Quaffle in my hand. Friggin’ Junhui smacked that Bludger right into me and I dropped it and―”

“That’s allowed, right?” you interrupted.

“It is, but here’s the thing. I was going to my goalpost because I got hit with the Bludger. That’s the rules, right? So I was in the middle of touching my goalpost when I saw, Tzuyu, their Chaser and Ace, push the ball into the hoops. That’s not allowed!”

You found the mistake. A deep disappointment ran through you. You were hoping that Jeonghan was wrong, hoping very hard but in the end, that is what the truth ended up being. “I know how Tzuyu is and are you sure she did that? I was near your goalpost and I―”

“Are you saying you don’t believe me?” Mingyu asked. “Or is it because she’s a girl and you’re taking sides with her because she’s a girl?”

He tilted his head to the left and it took everything in you not to smile at it. Mingyu was trying to stay serious about some Quidditch game and here you were, pursing your lips together in a straight line, seemingly thinking.

“No,” you answered, touching his arm comfortingly. Your eyes shined. “I was spectating by your goalpost and I even had binoculars with me. I saw Tzuyu hit that one goal only because the other boys were hogging the ball and that was the only time you went to touch the goalpost. What I don’t understand is the fact that she was so far away from the goalpost when she scored, you even saw that.”

It was Mingyu’s turn to purse his lips. His hair radiated under the light with elegance, almost. The Hufflepuff normally resonated with such bouncy behaviour, but today was the first time in a while you were seeing him act oh-so gloomy. As if you struck something you weren’t meant to. You understood immediately, your breath slightly hitching in your throat.

“I don’t know what to say…” he told you, looking at the ground.

“Don’t tell me you lied and went to pick a fight with them anyways,” you said, sounding more aggressive than you needed to. It was solely because you were praying in your heart that wasn’t the case. You didn’t want Mingyu to get on their bad sides, you cared for him that much.

“I did.” Mingyu answered you, laying his head in your shoulder with a plop. “I can’t even answer you, no wonder they didn’t believe me.”

“It was such a stupid lie.” you sighed, settling your hand in the tufts of his fluffy hair. You loved him and all, though at times, he would be so stupid, you wondered if it was humanly possible. “Why would you go and do that when there’s so much proof that she didn’t cheat?”

You were a little annoyed at the fact he lied. You were able to decipher why it angered the Slytherins too, it wasn’t fair on them.

“I don’t know, I was frustrated. You’re not going to tell me off?”

“Of course not, just don’t do it again, okay?”

“Okay…I have a Quidditch practice now, so I have to go,” he told you, looking up at you. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Sure, be safe.”

You pecked Mingyu on the lips before turning around to go to your dorms, ending the day with the calmness that you sorted the situation out.

-ˋˏ ༻❁༺ ˎˊ-

Only when your head hit the fluffy pillows a week later had you remembered something. You struck up immediately again, your tired eyes now as wide as an owl. Beginning to hate the way your mind worked, you stood up to your feet.

How could you forget? You were relaxing the whole day and you had the audacity to forget something as vital as that?

“You okay, Y/N?” your best friend inquired from beyond the room. She was leafing through the pages of a book, obviously tired from the way a yawn slipped through her mouth after asking.

“I said I would go get that book for Potions at the library and see? I completely forgot it.” you sighed, slipping on random slippers aggressively. You didn’t even see if you had them on right.

Adora giggled and her glance moved to the clock in the dorm. “What an idiot. Go get it quickly though, the library closes in like twenty-five minutes.”

That was sufficient to get you moving. As if there was an added force in the room, you were thrust to the door of your dorm, basically jabbing to grab the doorknob and pull aside the door. Adora’s laugh wasn’t lost in the air at your actions as you sprinted down the slim hallway where there were girls coming out and going into their dorms.

You nearly wanted to screech at all of them to get out of the way, but after discerning that it was hardly likely for you to do so, you sharpened your focus more on your way to the library. This was not easy for a Ravenclaw to do so whatsoever. Mainly when you were on the fifth floor, you had to escalade down a radical number of stairs in your pyjamas, which provoked the joints in your knees to barely stick together. Talk about disadvantage.

You were put through a rough time until you finally made it.

Accessing the library, you assuredly put your hands on your knees, breathing in and out piercingly, a punch right in your stomach. The sweat residue on your head became evidence of your hard work as you clammed for a grasp of yourself. Pushing back up, you decided to go straight into locating the book than wasting any time with your barely-jointed legs strolling.

You walked through the adventure section towards the left, before finding a table in the middle of three shelves and a comprehensive view of the lake. You were about to be distracted by the view when you skimmed your eyes back to the table, your heart almost stopping.

It had to be pure coincidence.

You stared, as did he.

The effort of running all the way to the library had doubled its results somewhat. His eyes tracked down to your feet, the book in his hand in a tight grip.

“Nice slippers.”

You looked down too and pinched your eyes shut. Please tell me I’m dreaming. No matter how hard you squeezed your eyes shut and opened them, the same vision of your dormmate’s llama slipper and your sheep one would still be below you. Shaking your head, you glanced back at the boy. He was the last person you foresaw here.

“What are you doing here?” you asked, changing. the subject. He was dressed exceptionally well, you noticed. Head to toe, clad in a nice outfit for something as plain as going to the library.

“Detention,” Jeonghan answered as you began sauntering around the area again.

“That’s stupid of me to ask,” you muttered, fingers running through the thick binds of books in a row as you turned your awareness away from him. You couldn’t forget why you came here.

Each bind came with its own texture―bamboo, silk, wood, paper and it was ascertained that each of those binds came with its own story. Soon, your fingers were brushing the wooden shelf, slowly delving into the side of the shelf and the other side.

Jeonghan’s presence simply slipped your mind like drops of quicksilver as you wandered through the quiet shelves, scanning for the title of the book. But it was nowhere to be seen. It was like you were looking for the same thing for hours and hours on end, yet came with nothing but a dead end. Surely, it was tiring you out too because you were sure that the book was here.

You had seen it before you went to have dinner and no one else in the school needs the book until your level in the latter part of the year. It didn’t fully set into you where it could be until your eyes met the authoritative figure at the counter.

You sighed and walked up to Pince, seeming very confused about the book’s whereabouts. You were hugely entwined with the fact that it had to be somewhere within the library’s walls and with your Ravenclaw knack, you weren’t far off.

Discussing the problem with the librarian, she took the big book stating all the books that have ever been borrowed in the library.

“Is it called Quick Potions, you say?” she asked, flicking through the pages. Something was telling you she was looking for the 'Q’ section to find the book’s name. And when she got nearer to the end of the book, you were told the same thing. “It has to be somewhere in here, dear. It hasn’t been checked out since last year.”

“Oh…maybe I didn’t look properly? Thanks, Madam Pince,” you said, bowing slightly to the woman.

She gave a firm smile prior to getting straight into her paperwork again. You were left with the suspicion rolling in your mind as you took another round the library, where you ascertained that you didn’t miss anything.

Nonetheless, the fact that nothing had been checked out stood out like a splinter in a knee. You looked again, skimming past Jeonghan’s table.

You shot him a brief glance, his doe eyes following the lines of the book he was reading. What was he reading anyways?

The way your body had stopped as soon as you saw the title of the book.

“Hey.”

He looked at you.

“Why do you have that book for?”

He scrunched his nose somewhat in revulsion. You gave no heed to the action as you penetrated your sights through the front cover that was strangely familiar from the start. You just never paid much attention to it, when Jeonghan was all dressed up fancy, drawing recognition away from the tattered case the book was in.

“To read, duh.” he remarked.

For all intents and purposes, you didn’t believe that. You didn’t show it, your target shifting to the book in interest.

“I need that book,” you addressed, leaning your hands on the wooden table slowly. Just as though Jeonghan was some prey of an animal you were trying to get near.

He must’ve seen the way you were looking at that book because he shrunk it back to himself a little as you looked at him. “No way. I’m having it.”

The book proved to be of such importance to you.

“Come on, Jeonghan! At least let me write some notes on it.”

“Um, no,” he stated with sass detected in his tone. “You should’ve got it before. And why do you even need it for? We don’t do this topic until later in the year.”

He was stating the obvious.

“I’m a Ravenclaw.” was the only excuse that drew from your lips.

“Right. You lot want to impress the teacher all the time.” he insulted, sounding like he was spitting his words out almost. He needed to look for the way he said things sometimes, it would come out wrong.

“Right we do.” you agreed with a firm nod. “So give me the book.”

Hope depleted your body. The boy in front of you didn’t seem to be wanting to give you the book, neither did he want to provide an explanation as to why he needed the book. Was he trying to be ahead of class, too? You didn’t know, but what you did know was there was no point trying anymore when he was so determined in his case.

“No.”

-ˋˏ ༻❁༺ ˎˊ-

“And then I told Wonwoo to piss off.”

“Adora, shut up. You did not!”

“You bet I did. Like, do I look the type to mess around with shit like that? Absolutely not! He had me mad mad!”

“So did you get your stuff back again or what?” you pestered her, genuinely involved in what she did with the younger students of your house.

Adora, Mingyu and you were currently walking through the busy halls of Hogwarts, striving to get to your classes. Had it been that Mingyu’s class wasn’t on the way, he wouldn’t be entwined by your link of an arm as you dragged him, chattering with your best friend. You acknowledged that he was very bored and looked over at him to see what he was doing instead of listening.

Your eyes had caught a glance of something else in the short distance.

Jeonghan was standing there, with his group of friends surrounding him in a semi-circle so they were all able to face the bustling hallway. His eyes had fleeted the conversation for a mere second, darting to make contact with you.

Your body stammered, identifying crisis at its peak. If you wanted to leave without a fight starting, you had to get yourself and Mingyu out of there immediately.

“Um,” Adora perked up.

You faced her again, realising that her line of sight was stuck at the troublemaking Slytherins. You could assume that she was worried about why you were looking at one spot only. Hating that you were so obvious with it, you looked at the girl with the intention to get away quickly. Your best friend got the message and before you knew it, you were starting to walk a little faster.

“Why are we going so fast? It’s just Monday morning.” came Mingyu’s groan.

You weren’t in a desire to hear any of it. It was your responsibility to get him into that class safely. If you weren’t doing that, what kind of girlfriend, or even, senior were you?

“Ssh, child. We’re going to your class now.”

“You did not just 'child’ me,” Mingyu complained, practically jogging at the end of his hold. Was he always such a brat? No. It must’ve been the prank that his roommates did on him that had him this grumpy in the morning. He was whining about it all morning and as much as you felt bad for him that it was the result of a bad’s night sleep, you rather Mingyu’s day not get worse.

Which meant physically flinging him into the classroom.

Adora laughed at seeing that, as well as a few other members of the younger year level.

Mingyu poked his head right out of his classroom again, furrowing his eyebrows in the slightest. “What’d you do that for?”

You put on a feverish smile on your face, acting as if you do this every day for Mingyu’s sake.

“For fun. Now, get back into your class and learn a lot. I love you, okay?” you told him.

Mingyu rolled his eyes and waved you off as if you were an embarrassing mother bidding her child to school.

“Love you too.” he muttered.

Your resisted the urge to say ‘say it louder’ and walked off with Adora, acknowledging that you had settled your boyfriend. It left some time before class actually started so you and Adora were able to almost crusade to class, now speaking more freely because there was no guy there listening in on your conversation.

The two of you entered the classroom and took seats at the far left back of the classroom where you were confirmed of being able to have your own conversation as well as easy access to notes since the board was on the left. You chatted your way through minutes as other members of the class came in as well as the teacher herself.

You almost had to bite your tongue to stop talking, just because you and Adora were having that good of a conversation. The whole class beame quiet, even the Slytherins who, fortunately, don’t stand a chance in front of McGonagall. Who does, honestly?

“I can’t believe I’m only now noticing how many classes Jeonghan and I have together,” you commented briefly as your eyes stuck to the teacher instructing.

“You don’t have that many classes with him.”

“I don’t. But it’s annoying to just see his face this early in the morning if you get what I mean.” you said.

The fear of getting caught talking in one of McGonagall classes was on your back.

“I get what you mean. It’s going to be hard now, huh?”

“It is―”

“L/N, would you come hand out these worksheets for me?” The teacher manages to instruct you.

You would admit that when she had said your last name, you felt a claw in your stomach scratching you and telling you that you had done something wrong. It wasn’t until she said her full sentence, had you calmed down a little. The shock stained your face, however, quickly erupted when you got up with a nod.

Chair skidding back, you removed yourself from the prickly gap between the table and chair and got out to the front of the classroom that had broken into a set of broken whispers here and there―the class was for once, able to talk in class.

You did your dutiful task of handing out worksheets, replying to ‘thank you’s and such for one side of the classroom. As you went along the last column, dreadfully as well, because Jeonghan and his group of friends were coming up, you felt this pit drop. Just looking at his face gave this ungrateful whirr of mush in you that you wanted to splutter out, but there was no possible way of doing so. It was so hard to describe, yet so easy to express the pain he gave.

You placed down Jeonghan’s paper on his table, sensing the silence when you did so.

What? Were you not even allowed to do your own task?

You moved away quickly because you realised that the group of Slytherins were just staring.

The class continued with the agonising pain of McGonagall’s voice deliberately getting screwed in your head. As much as you loved staying on top of your work and the satisfaction of doing so, you hated when teachers would give homework.

You left the class more burdened than you were when you came in, with your best friend complaining about the workload once again.

“It’s suffocating,” she whined.

“I hate it here.”

“Let’s run away with the Dementors. Lowkey, they’re kinda fine.”

“Girl―no, you’re kinda right.” You nodded along before the two of you bid each other a goodbye as you had different classes.

-ˋˏ ༻❁༺ ˎˊ-

“No, no. I stole your stuff because you stole my glasses.” Wonwoo argued affirmatively.

Vernon and you were shocked as you stared between the two quarrelling. How he had changed the story so drastically, you had no idea, but your were confirmative in your enthusiasm for it. As was Vernon who sat right opposite you.

Although Vernon and Wonwoo were juniors of yours, it didn’t seem that for a second that Wonwoo wanted it to be that way since he was starting to get out of line with his argument.

“Whatever it is, I am your senior,” Adora argued.

“Oh, so just because you’re my senior, you get special privileges of stealing my things?” Wonwoo asked.

“I did not steal them, I―”

You stuffed a spoonful of mashed potato into Adora’s mouth, causing Vernon to laugh. You smiled at him, glancing over at your best friend. “Eat. Or you’re going to be complaining about hungry you are all day and I don’t have time for that.”

Adora swallowed hard, her fists curled in her lap. You were her next target. If you didn’t notice right there, right then the absence of one of your textbooks on your concerning book pile, you would’ve been dead meat.

“Oh my God.” you gasped.

“What is it?” Wonwoo asked you.

You looked back at the three. “I totally forgot my Transfiguration textbook back at the classroom.”

Untangling yourself from the bench, you pursued into a run, not forgetting to turn a little to see your friends. “Take my stuff with you!”

And you were on a run; fleeting down the linear course of the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff tables where a sea of yellow and blue punctured your eyes. Students moved out of your way once they saw you running for what appeared like your life and frankly it was. You had homework that involved the presence of that textbook.

Lucky for you, McGonagall’s classroom was on the ground floor of Hogwarts, allowing students like you easy access. You scooted through some more starving students, a few fellow Ravenclaws in your sprint prior to making it to the entrance of your destination.

Oh, you felt like you had seen the light of the day when the double doors met your eyes. A soft smile of relief sculpted your face as you pushed the door just enough for you to slide through.

“Do you think it’s funny that your grades are going down, Mr Yoon?”

Your eyes caught quite the killing scene―McGonagall stationed at the front of the classroom with Jeonghan right in front of her. She seemed as if she was ridding her heart and soul out to the boy about the importance of school and you couldn’t agree less.

Yes, scold him more.

You nearly forgot that you could be seen so you quickly slid to the back of the classroom where your textbook was waiting for you like a child waiting for their parent to pick them up from kindergarten. It was like all your sweat droplets slinked back into the pores of your skin…only for them to bleed out again.

“L/N? What are you doing here?”

You looked up at the authoritative women at the front of the classroom who shot daggers at you. You stood still for a second, before trying to explain why you were in the classroom.

“Sorry, Professor. I just left my textbook in here.” You waved up the textbook.

She nodded, letting you walk freely. “Alright. You can go, then. Now, you―”

“No, Professor. She’s here to find out why I’m in here, so later she can go talk behind my back about me.”

You stopped in your tracks and rolled back around. “What? What are you talking about?”

“Yes, what is this about, Yoon?” McGonagall asked, her eyebrow raising. If she didn’t believe it, it would only cause you luck because she was such an opinionated woman.

Jeonghan sniffled. If you believed that McGonagall was not going to fall for his lies, why were you literally shaking in your shoes? Maybe because of the known fact that Slytherins tended to have their way with things.

“She’s been doing it the last few weeks and I’ve been hearing the worst rumours about myself spread around. She keeps calling me a manwh―”

“L/N, what is this?” McGonagall interrupted.

Her eyes proved that she was in a state of anger as you stood there, a textbook in hand, deadpanned. You were staring right at Jeonghan, instead of looking at your teacher because there was a part of you that was still concocting the message. He really lied to get you in trouble and for what?

“Professor, I swear to you, he’s lying! Why would I call him such a word? I don’t even know him!”

“Of course the professor will believe you.” Jeonghan looked away, enticing an effect of devastation. “Just because I’m a male and a Slytherin for that matter, I’m expected to take these words and be okay with it. But there’s always a line, Y/N. You should understand that―”

“That’s right, L/N.” McGonagall interrupted with a firm nod.

Resentment gradually rose in you as the doe eyes of Jeonghan floated to the teacher. “I feel like it’s only fair for her to serve detention too. That way she can learn from her mistakes.”

McGonagall nodded at the liar. “I think that is fair too. Furthermore, what is even more fair is that the two of you should serve detention together and sort out this issue.”

“What?” Jeonghan and you spoke out.

Your muscles felt stiff and rigid, your throat had gone dry. There was no way that you were hauled into a lie and detention with him. This was all beginning to be a little too much for you to take in.

“I said what I said, Yoon. Apologies, but I feel like this is a situation that the two of you need to make up together or come on okay terms. I hear that you are seated together for Defence Against the Dark Arts, it will be less awkward if you talk things out.” she explained carefully, looking between the two of you.

And it was like she knew everything that was going on. You were placed in a web of lies like prey for the spider. The spider being Jeonghan. You were daunting it with all your soul already, how would you be when you actually work with him?

“No, no, I don’t think―”

“That’s the final decision. Trophy Room, Wednesday night, at nine o’clock.” McGonagall stood up and swept her books into her arms magically. She was full of authorisation as she stepped down the steps from her desk before sweeping past Jeonghan. When she walked past you, she gave you a stern glare, her square glasses glimmering under the lights.

“I don’t want to hear such things coming again. You are a well-behaved student but you also need to be well-behaved when it comes to other students. Do you understand?”

As much as you wanted to tell her it was a lie, you nodded. She had too much power and was aware of it. McGonagall left the room, closing the door behind her.

Now that it was the two of you alone, you looked up at the blonde boy. He was looking at you already.

“Why the hell did you think that was okay, Jeonghan? I do not want to waste time doing detention with you and you―”

“How was I supposed to know that hag was going to give the two of us detention?” Jeonghan asked.

“She is the head of Gryffindor house. You should know that and above all, you lied about me. You don’t even know how much I wanna hex you right now.” you said, speaking in small breaths. You knew the rage hadn’t fully settled in yet.

Jeonghan didn’t seem bothered, he acted with the thought that the whole thing wasn’t his fault.

Why was he so arrogant for? Couldn’t he just be accepting of his faults? Slytherins like Jeonghan make you think that there will never be a good Slytherin again. They were all deducted of the need to tell the truth.

“Oh, shut up,” he muttered. Jeonghan walked past you, eyes seething from the looks of it. You couldn’t bring yourself to be afraid of him anymore. His cold presence meant nothing. In that moment, you just wanted to grab him by his luscious blonde hair and tug at it until it all ripped out.

Jeonghan left the classroom, leaving you in the emptiness of it. Placing the textbook on the table, a revelation opened up―you remembered something.

“Oh my God,” you muttered out of frustration.

You had a test on Thursday.

How the hell were you going to spend the night before revising when you had detention?

You hit your head with the textbook.

-ˋˏ ༻❁༺ ˎˊ-

“What if I just don’t show up?” you asked Adora, looking at her pitifully.

It was already Wednesday, twenty to eight and here you were, walking with your group of friends and boyfriend, dreading to see him. The last two nights ended up being full of revision because you couldn’t fully set it out over three days. Thanks to Jeonghan and his lying. You hadn’t wanted to beat someone up so badly.

He made it a point that he didn’t like you and he used that to make your life miserable. For what? Because you sat next to him in a class. You had no control over that, what were you supposed to do?

“It’s just one detention and you already know everything, babe.” Mingyu said, slinging his arm around your shoulder so casually. Even his pretty face hadn’t managed to make you comforted. “I tested you, remember?”

“Exactly.” Adora nodded, putting her hand on your head to reassure you. None of it was working.

You were scared that this one night gone would make a sacrifice.

“You’re a Ravenclaw, Y/N.” Mingyu told you. The other two juniors of yours entailed behind the two of you, quiet for their own good. You looked back at them, pitiful of yourself.

“You guys aren’t going to say anything to make me feel better?”

Wonwoo and Vernon exchanged a glance worriedly because they were put on the spot.

“Well, you’re our senior. So we don’t know what exactly to say.” Wonwoo said for the two of them as Vernon nodded along with his friend’s words. It must’ve been the fact that Mingyu was here.

Because behind closed doors, these two were the most fun you’ve known of in your life. Since Mingyu was in their year level and popular at that, it must’ve caused a margin of how much they talked. You understood that and smiled at them, despite the distasteful situation you had brought yourself into.

“Ah, babe.” Mingyu perked his head up at you, his eyes widened a little as if he remembered something.

“Yeah?”

“I-I have to be somewhere right now,” he told you urgently.

You furrowed your eyebrows wondering what it was and why he would remember it now? Like he could’ve said something about it earlier?

“Well, what is it?” you asked him.

“Um, you wouldn’t really get it now. But I’ll explain it tomorrow, okay? Good luck on your detention and test.” Mingyu quickly pecked your check, much to your distaste as you had previously mentioned your dislike towards public affection. Then, he turned around and dashed through your juniors without an apology.

You watched as the boy ran as if his life was on the line and for a second you pondered the idea if it was, then, you turned right back around, finding yourself dipped in worry and frustration once again.

“We’ve arrived,” Adora told you with a fatal sigh leaving your lips. How much you wished McGonagall would appear in front of you like a fairy and tell you that you were in luck, but there was no fairy McGonagall as you drove the doors of the Trophy Room wide open.

The dramatics of the door opening prolonged a silence that was without warning. You walked in first, the footsteps behind you reassuringly following.

He was already there.

A similar feeling of dread once again swamped inside you.

“Oh, look. You brought your stupid Ravenclaw friends with you.” Jeonghan commented, a glare that felt like it was stained on his face like turmeric to a countertop.

“You should be the last person calling them stupid.” You remarked back.

The room was silent for a second and you felt Adora’s hand on your shoulder, signalling you that your remark was a bit unexpected. You didn’t care. Watching Jeonghan’s face fall was somewhat pleasing to the eyes.

“Are you talking back to me?” Jeonghan asked.

“Yeah, I am. Because frankly, I’m starting to get sick of your rich boy attitude.”

Jeonghan didn’t say anything about it and it convinced you that you got him good. The rest of the room was quiet so you looked back at your group of friends.

“You guys can leave. I don’t want you to view this torture any longer.” You told them.

The two boys stood there for a second before Adora pushed them out. Door slamming behind them, it left only you and Jeonghan in the room and it was not the ideal environment to let two people that were on the verge of killing one another together.

Grabbing your wand out, you start to wave things out. You didn’t want to be here, neither did you want to put in the effort of cleaning up the room. The last time you checked you didn’t lie so you’re not doing the detention.

Jeonghan didn’t give you another look as he whipped out his own wand to get stuff done. The two of you were quiet with each other and there was this fine border, you saw it from the way things were going, that screamed that if someone were to talk right that second, it would break out something. Like a zit popping, an explosion that destroyed the world.

The two of you knew this deep inside and were basically playing tug-of-war in your minds, waiting for someone to say something. It was just that adrenalin rushing that made you all frustrated all over again.

“Detention with you out of all people…” Jeonghan muttered under his breath.

Your eyes darted up instantly, feeling the knot keeping the rope of sanity together break.

“You shouldn’t be complaining. If it weren’t for you, we wouldn’t be here together. I hope you regret this for the rest of your life, Jeonghan. I have a test tomorrow and now thanks to you, I can’t revise for it.” you complained, lashing out a trophy from the cabinet. It flew in the air and into your hands for the cleaning spray and a wipe down to retrieve another layer of glossiness.

Jeonghan furrowed his eyebrows at you. It seemed that no one really stood up to him, so he didn’t know what to say. Though he did know that his standards and expectations were being abolished by your comebacks.

As they should be.

“You shouldn’t be talking back to me.”

He had another one coming because your mouth opened and spat facts.

“Aw, that’s literally how communication works.” you pouted, before deadpanning at it. You flew the silver trophy right back into the cabinet and got the one adjacent to it. “I think you’re the stupid one, Jeonghan.”

Jeonghan’s grip on his trophy tightened and although it was fairly dark in the room, you were capable of seeing his veins tense. Sort of like Mingyu before a game.

“Oh, you should really shut that mouth. It’s not going to do you justice.”

You didn’t care. It showed too.

“Aw, really? How? Because I really love seeing you look so mad and do absolutely nothing about it.” You teased.

Jeonghan almost shoved the golden trophy into the cabinet. It urged no new reaction from you as you were determined to defend yourself well.

“I’ll do something for real, you dumb Ravenclaw. Don’t test me.”

“Come do it, then. Don’t tell me.” you smirked proudly.

It seemed like you snapped Jeonghan’s rope of sanity because the next thing you knew, he was walking towards you.

It was then you felt like a bucket of ice water was dumped over your head―you were enlightened as to why no one messes with him.

It’s not that he’s not use to it, it’s that he doesn’t want to make the effort to go fix the situation. This is shown through his unbothered behaviour and his lazy actions. Yoon Jeonghan was feral on the inside.

But now, you weren’t sure 'feral’ was the only way to describe it. He had his wand out and everything, you were sure he was going to murder you then.

You looked around for a possible defence for yourself. There was absolutely nothing in the stone-cold room that could pitch as a defence tool rather than your own wand.

It wasn’t until Jeonghan had reached a foot to you did you let out a loud gasp. A little away from you was a metal bucket that held all the cleaning supplies that you and Jeonghan were to use the night. It was empty when Jeonghan tripped over the bucket.

Gratitude to the fact that you were only what seemed a feet away, the only falling position had was on top of you. Though you were a Ravenclaw, it was a given you were too late in moving out of the way. Jeonghan’s body clashed against yours, causing the two of you to topple over to the stone-cold floor in a disordered pile.

The menacing Slytherin had his chest right at yours, the tension circulating one that could come off contradictory from your dispute. Your heart was shaking, beating profound in your ears as you took a glance at those ravishing doe eyes, hardly inches from you.

Light from behind had shadowed his face but you knew all too well that the look on his face could only mean that…he didn’t mean for this to happen.

However, before you could even get a word out of the, well, knotted situation, the door of the trophy room opened. You were not only weighed down by Jeonghan but also, fear.

“What in the world is going on in here?!” came the stern voice of McGonagall.

It looked wrong, you admitted it, but you required to explain yourself first. Sweet Minerva didn’t delight you with a chance.

“When I said to sort things out, I did not mean this. You children are a menace to society! Up to your feet―now!”

The two of you paused. Partly because Jeonghan was still on top of you, half his body on top while his hands held his weight up and entrapped you in between him. You felt heat rush to your face.

“Up!” the Gryffindor called.

With a glare that spoke ‘it’s all your fault’, Jeonghan got to his feet, and you clambered to yours too, a pain stretching across your shoulder blade from the knockdown.

“Another detention, both of you,” she said. “You have five more minutes in here and then you can leave.”

The way the teacher had expressed herself proved that she didn’t want to hear excuses drawing from either of you.

You pressed your lips in a firm hold and nodded at the teacher. Your head was down so you couldn’t see what your fellow classmate did, so you could only imagine that he did something that was sufficient for the teacher to leave you guys in the room.

Jeonghan shifted to the back of the room where he continued with the trophies, being somewhat louder, showing his have for the detention.

You could say the same with a bit more embarrassment.

The next five minutes were the most awkward five minutes of your life.

-ˋˏ ༻❁༺ ˎˊ-

Fire was darting through your lips by the next afternoon, insulting everything and everyone who was in the way under your breath. You were lucky to not have DADA yet. You didn’t have it until after lunch and during lunch, you were complaining to your friends, every word dropping with no hesitation or respect for the place you were in.

“Like how do I deserve detention in the first place?” you argued.

“Wow, this is my first time seeing you bitch about a teacher,” Adora commented.

And she was quite right about that. You didn’t complain about any teacher until McGonagall’s string of stupid accusations yesterday. She didn’t give you a chance to explain, instead, she put you in another detention with him. How could you not be frustrated?

“Yeah, because it doesn’t make sense. If it was a Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff teacher, they would’ve asked what happened,” you answered, the fragility gone in your voice. You proposed the subject of Minerva McGonagall with such aggression.

The bell rang, signalling your mood to get more unsatisfactory. DADA―your favourite.

You stood up, the burden coming again. You smiled sarcastically at your friends, your boyfriend not present. It was like he disappeared overnight, you haven’t seen him all day. Neither did you care very much, you had a lot on your plate at the moment and to check his whereabouts was not the top of your priority list.

“My favourite class.” you sighed.

“Just show him you’re not going to back down like everyone else in his way and he’ll treat you like an equal.” quiet Vernon spoke.

Your glance shifted to him―everyone’s glance shifted to him. He moved uncomfortably in his seat.

“Whoa, since when did you speak like that?” Wonwoo asked in utter shock.

If you were in shock, how would Wonwoo, his friend for a long time, be? You shook your head, clearing the air so that none of you would be late to your classes.

“Thanks, Vernon. I’ll do that.”

You grabbed your books from the small coffee table that was in the middle of the seance of armchairs and then shuffled out of the library with the rest of the students that were on their way to their fifth-period classes. It was an ill-fated, but a known fact that the three of them coincidentally had a vacant period and yours was after this DADA class.

He was already there when you had walked into class, on time, rather than early because of your grudge towards the Gryffindor head. You took your seat, not endorsing him.

It went on and you were sure that the air clouded between you and Jeonghan proclaimed to the whole class. Something about them whispering about the no recognition of the other showed. It was like you wanted it to show that you weren’t going to back down from his words because you were still mad at the test.

Oh, the test.

It didn’t go well at all. But at least you answered all the questions.

“Yo, my favourite Ravenclaw. Got a quill I could borrow? Kinda lost mine on the way here.”

The point that you knew Soonyoung was too dumb to read the mood made you glare at him more.

His eyes widened a little, accentuating his adorable features. “I-I mean―”

You cut him off with a sigh, clutching the spare peacock quill and delivering it to him. He muttered gratitude before leaving, pacing quick to his seat as you had anticipated. Since Soonyoung came, you sensed a simmer down In the atmosphere.

Jeonghan broke the tense silence.

“Have you said anything to your boyfriend yet?”

“What do you mean?” You didn’t face him, you were writing on the worksheet Lupin had given out earlier in the class. You noticed that Jeonghan’s was blank. He must’ve been going through some thinking time.

“Oh, you must’ve told him about how we Slytherins are…”

“No.” you replied. “What are you talking about?”

It had to be the way you said it because Jeonghan had straightened up. You finally looked at him, blonde hair shining under the light of the classroom to find out what he was trying to tell you.

Jeonghan appeared pissed.

You continued, Vernon’s voice stuck in your head like glue.

“You have too much Slytherin pride. Do you think I would actually go run my mouth about you to everyone? Sure, I’m concerned for him and that the irrelevancy of him going to pick a fight is prominent but at the same time, I wouldn’t go talk about you to him.”

He was quiet.

You’d never seen anything like it.

From what you viewed afar, Jeonghan was the type to fight back straight away but for once, he was silent, his lips loosely closed. He was examining your face.

It still made you doubt the lingering impression of whether someone hadn’t stood up to him or was he just observing?

“And as much as I hate sitting with you, I complain more about the situation than you.” you continued.

It was a lie.

Everything that left your lips was Jeonghan this, Jeonghan that.

“Sure you do, dumbass. Now give me the answers to this.” He motioned towards his blank worksheet. What was he doing?

You sighed, furrowing your eyebrows. “You’ve been copying every single one of my worksheets, Yoon Jeonghan. Why are you asking suddenly?”

It seemed that the air was clearing. It was much to your disappointment, but you couldn’t bring yourself to make it heavy again.

A giggle left him, one that felt a little too innocent to be Jeonghan. “You noticed?”

“Yeah, I did and not only that, Lupin let me know too that our worksheets are too vaguely similar.”

He smirked. “What’s the point of doing work when I already have a sweet Ravenclaw sitting next to me doing it for me?”

The word ’sweet’ coming from him stuck longer in your head than Vernon’s encouragement.

-ˋˏ ༻❁༺ ˎˊ-

The last detention with your enemy consisted of cleaning the Charms classroom, the following week. It was evident that both you and Jeonghan just wanted to get it over and done with. And you did. Without blaming each other, without talking much.

It was like for once, things were on par with either of you and you treated each other as equals rather than wanting to rip the other’s hair out. Supposedly, you would assume that it was the class where he asked for your answers that kinda released some pressure between the two of you from the night in the Trophy Room.

McGonagall came in after everything was done and dusted to give the two of you a speech.

“I don’t want to hear any name-calling or anything else like that, you hear me?”

You didn’t suppress your eye roll. Instant regret flourished through you.

“Young lady, you did not just roll your eyes at me,” she said, fairly disturbed.

You didn’t say anything as you were meddled by Jeonghan’s laughing.

“Is this funny to you, Mr Yoon?”

“A little.”

She made an offended sound, placing her hands on her hips. Then, she shook her head. “Thank God, I don’t have the two of you anymore for detention. Off you go now.”

The two of you spun around and left the classroom, leaving the teacher in her own thoughts.

It made you wonder, what does the woman even think of besides the fact that she’s a Transfiguration teacher? Does anything that doesn’t match the solidness of a rock go through her head? It was something you were far too afraid to ask but eagerly wanted to know the answer to.

Among the silence outside the Charms classroom, you let out a heavy sigh.

Jeonghan snapped.

“Thank God, I don’t have to be doing two horrendous tasks at the same time. Cleaning is enough, but looking at your face and cleaning―”

“Why would you look at my face while cleaning?” you cleanly interrupted.

It went horribly cold.

Your eyes widened a little, realising what you said. You were tired, both of you were tired―in short, you didn’t need to say that.

“I’m going back to my dorms,” you muttered, heading down the hallway. You didn’t want to anticipate in the reaction. But before you did leave, words slipped out of your mouth that couldn’t help themselves. “Hope your bedbugs eat you alive.”

He didn’t hesitate.

“Hope both sides of your pillow are warm, love!”

-ˋˏ ༻❁༺ ˎˊ-

The next class with Jeonghan proved to be rather interesting. Besides the fact that Soonyoung came over a couple of times to ask you questions about the work, which Lupin didn’t see as he had his own errands to run during class time. You didn’t fully understand what was going on in him, he was quite tired-looking.

Almost as if a Dementor had absorbed the life out of him.

Anyways, Soonyoung came to ask another question.

“What’s the answer?”

You leaned forward to the parchment, reading to where he was pointing.

What happens when a prisoner escapes from Azkaban and what is it?

You rolled your eyes. “We just went over it, but it’s the Dementor’s Kiss. So essentially, it’s when the Dementor sucks out a person’s soul and it’s used as a sentence for those who attempt to escape Azkaban…you got that?”

You turned to Jeonghan to see him scribbling it down.

"Yup,” he muttered.

The past two times that Soonyoung came over, the Slytherin found it easy to just copy what you said aloud to the simplest questions. He wasn’t surprised you caught him in the act of doing so either.

“Thanks, Y/N!” the Gryffindor exclaimed, closing his eyes and smiling. Then, he went back to his arranged seat across the room. You looked back at your work, all finished.

Jeonghan opened a conversation, appealing to your boredom. But it wasn’t quite the expected.

“You and your boyfriend don’t seem as close anymore.”

You looked at him, his blonde locks falling perfectly near his eyes. He was really, such a beauty. “What are you talking about?”

A part of you understands what he’s getting at but the other part tells you, why is it his business?

“I just don’t see you two hanging out often anymore.”

“This bothers you because…?”

“It doesn’t.” he replied, the quill in his hand falling flat to the parchment, prior to him continuing, “Just an observation. Like I’d give a care for your life.”

You smirked. “Mhm, you sound like you are, Jeonghan.”

“You think I would just hover around a middle-class Ravenclaw girl?”

You stopped.

The words bled an unexpected pain and you could see that his face twitched a little when you paused.

“You did not just call me a middle-class girl,” you said, standing up. Your hands pushed into the wooden table as your desk chair scraped back. It alerted some members of the classroom to look at you.

“I did.” he said calmly, face not wavering from it’s blankness

Alas, his predatory pride couldn’t help but come back again.

“Jeonghan, you do realise no one likes you because of how you speak to others?! Your friends only want to be with you because of your wealth, okay? It spoiled you into thinking you have real friends and that you can make fun of other people’s financial issues. It’s seriously not cool…you should really think about how fortunate you are instead of coming at people who are less fortunate!”

You didn’t know how the words spilled out, but you were glad they did. Who had given him this much confidence? Why didn’t anyone put him into place? Jeonghan needed to understand that not everyone may have gone through the same treatment as him.

He was advantageous and as much as he did call you a middle-class girl, he didn’t have any authority of making himself look like the bigger person because of his financial issue.

Murmurs broke out subsequent to your outburst.

“Y/N, detention,” Lupin said.

“W-What?!” You yelled, your frustration yet to back down. How many teachers were just giving detention without knowing anything about the situation? It was seriously getting out of hand. “I didn’t do anything, sir. He was the one that―”

“How can you raise your voice in a quiet working environment? Do you see anyone else making noise?”

Unbelievable. There was no way people were ganging up on you, now were they?

You sat back down to your seat, Jeonghan letting out a chuckle at your misfortune. It wasn’t funny, neither was it anything close to fair.

Devising a plan in your head, it was all set to go once the bell rang. You waited. Waited until all the students left the classroom before you made your way to the front where the teacher sat. You needed to give this one a lecture, the teachers at this school were starting to get on your nerves one by one.

“Yes, Y/N?” he asked as if everything was okay and he did not just give you a detention for standing up for yourself.

“Why would you give me detention? I didn’t do anything wrong.”

Lupin laughed.

You felt humiliated at that point. It wasn’t suggested to be funny. Were you that much of a laughing stock for the world? Jeonghan, Lupin, who else?

“I know, I know. I was just playing with the two of you―it was a joke.”

You crossed your arms together, the racing heart unable to move to its original speed. “Sir, It’s not funny. I’ve already ended up with two detentions because of that boy. You’ve already put me next to him and that itself is torture, let’s just leave it at that.”

Lupin opened his mouth to speak, maybe to comfort you but you weren’t into it. Your mood was just ruined for the day. There was literally no one that could make you feel better.

You dismissed yourself from the empty classroom, a cloud parading over your head when you bumped into someone.

Seriously? Who else was going to try messing with you today?

“Dude…Mingyu!”

There he was. Your boyfriend.

Actually in person to see you.

“Hey!“

"You came at the right time. I’ve just had the worst day ever.”

“Really? Oh, I’m so sorry, babe. You’re lucky though! I came here wondering, do you wanna go on a date today?”

That in itself had made the clouds go away and a smile came onto your face. Finally, someone could make your day better than ruin it all.

“Yeah, I would really like that.”

-ˋˏ ༻❁༺ ˎˊ-

The Three Broomsticks was a common place for couples of Hogwarts to go. You discerned it whenever you would be talking to your friends that had a significant other. You would guess it was because of the mature feelings that would surround the restaurant from the decorations to the people that attended it.

You couldn’t catch first to third years there much. So when you and Mingyu went in there thanks to your more senior rights of visiting Hogsmeade late at night, you guys were feeling comfortable in the atmosphere.

“Well, look who it is, my favourite couple,” Rosemerta said, with a smile that was so big and beautiful you wouldn’t miss it for the world. She was always so optimistic, it was wondered by many how it was humanly possible. The owner pulled out her notepad and pen, “What can I get for you today?”

You glanced at Mingyu and then ordered what you wanted. He ordered his food too and the woman went away, complimenting the two of you once again.

A conversation was then taken away by Mingyu. It’s been a while since you were able to talk to the other. But that didn’t stop chaos from happening.

Mingyu’s eyes shifted to the left when he had stopped abruptly in his words.

“Uh-oh,” Mingyu whispered.

“What?” you asked, deeply hoping it wasn’t another excuse for him to leave again.

Instantly you felt the hope turn into an unquestionable rage that could rake this whole restaurant into chaos. Yoon Jeonghan and his delinquent friends were sat a table away from the two of you.

If it wasn’t for the people sitting at the table in between yours and Jeonghan’s party, you would’ve said something about it and caused chaos anyways.

What he said last time had wound buried inside you and articulated some sort of extreme hatred for him. To the point where you couldn’t bring yourself to care anymore neither could you bring yourself to want to see him ever.

It was damaging that you were stuck sitting next to him.

Time went on on your date and you did your best to ignore Jeonghan and his friends that were laughing often. It was a restaurant, had they no respect?

Soon, the people that were seated in between the two of you left and that was enough for you and Jeonghan to turn around and lock eyes immediately.

You wish you could tell him that your boyfriend did actually care for you and was close to you but due to what he said earlier, you didn’t think that would be likely of happening.

“I really don’t want them to be here,” you told the honey-badger as you looked back at him.

He nodded, understandingly as the Slytherins roared with laughter again.

“I get it. Jun keeps looking at me. It’s a little uncomfortable.” Mingyu admitted.

A little silence flew by and you opened your mouth to suggest to leave when suddenly, a splat knocked you on your shoulder. You gasped and turned to your right to see a strawberry shortcake splat right on you. Your eyes directed upwards to meet with the Slytherin boys who were laughing again.

Jeonghan was too.

“Yoon Jeonghan!” you bellowed, knowing it had to be him. It seemed as if a rope broke because of him―the only thing keeping you sane in the restaurant and he had to go ahead and destroy that. “You better come here and clean this up!”

Mingyu seized a napkin from the stack on the table, leaning over your empty plates to reach your top but you put a hand up at him, still looking at Jeonghan. He sought to avoid eye contact, but even that didn’t allow his friends from letting it go. They were thorough in teasing him, something that you pronounced of his deserving.

“Yah!” he told them, striving not to break into another stream of laughter. “You can bet on my father’s black card that I’m not going there to clean up a prissy little middle-class girl.”

The way those words rolled off his tongue felt a little too natural for your liking. The Slytherins laughed again and Jun smacked his friend on the back. “Go! You’re the one who did it! Look at how mad she is!”

“Y/N, don’t do anything you’re going to regret.” Mingyu warned you patiently. He had fear screwed in both his eyes and you found that rather annoying, seeing that he was the one that willingly went to pick a fight with them.

You had about enough of everyone right that second, that you whipped around to look at Mingyu. “Oh, shut the hell up, Mingyu. You can’t say shit when you lost the fight anyways!”

Jeonghan’s table heard.

You knew when they all went silent.

You squeezed your eyes shut when you heard them all laugh again at what you said. It was an impressed and shocked roar of laughter and agreement that went past all of them and you couldn’t even bring yourself to look at Mingyu. You did not just embarrass him in front of all those Slytherins, did you?

“No, that’s not what I meant!” you tried, but failed, shaking your head. “Yoon Jeonghan, come clean this up.”

“No―”

“Yeah, Jeonghan.”

“Go clean it up, Jeonghan.”

“You’re the one who made the mess.”

His friends chirped him, aggravating him. But what was surprising was the random push Junhui gave him, urging him to go towards your table. Now that he was already up, he was left with no choice. Jeonghan walked towards you, surrendering.

Turning back to your seat, you waited for him to clean up his mess.

“Oohhhh~” his friends continued. They were contributing too much to this and in front of your boyfriend. You felt bad enough just looking at his face. The tips of his ears turned red and you were divulged into knowing the pain he must be experiencing because of these green-robed students.

Jeonghan’s napkins became an endless pile of cream as he wiped them off your bare shoulder. You kinda froze, letting him do his work in shame. His friends were too loud for your liking.

His fingers scraped past your bare shoulder, cool and relaxed as they touched by the off-shoulder material you were wearing. Jeonghan laughed again at something his friend from the other table.

“Shut up, Junhui!”

“Done…you act like too much of a princess for someone who wears something this cheap.” he commented. His finger casually glided into the sleeve of the material that started at your forearm and he playfully pulled it back.

A knot appeared In your stomach.

Mingyu was watching too. You looked up at Jeonghan, wanting to telepathically choke him to death.

“Go away, Jeonghan.”

He let it go, the elastic strap coolly hitting your skin again.

“Whatever you say, princess.” And he walked away to his seat.

You wanted to get up and get back at him but Mingyu reached for you over the table, in attempts of calming you down. You regretted dissing him earlier, so you took it as a way to repay him―by calming down.

“Let’s just go,” Mingyu instructed.

You nodded.

Thanks to Jeonghan, what was expected to be a perfect date became completely imperfect. In all honesty, you desired to spend as much time with Mingyu as possible, fill the long night with pleasant memories because you don’t get to see each other a lot during the week. The one time you wanted to live in a little bubble with just the two of you for a few hours was the time Jeonghan came to deflate it.

Mingyu and you weren’t quick to give up though―the two of you paid Rosemerta and walked, seeing snow fall in blankets over the ground. It was probably past eight-thirty and the coldness of the winter hugged the two of you together.

You reached for Mingyu’s arm, coincidentally, he put on his jacket. Pursing your lips together, you acted as if it never happened and decided to venture down the lone lanes of Hogsmeade.

“Where do you want to go?” he asked.

“I wanna walk around…there’s nothing much to do this late anyways,” you answered with a sigh that breathed out white smoke. Though you weren’t able to see that due to the darkness.

Mingyu and you walked along the snowy path, talking about random things as time flew. Because of the dark, you couldn’t see where you were going and soon you ended up down a small hill with a wired fence that felt a little too familiar to your liking.

“Holy, are we―”

“The Shrieking Shack.” you interrupted, seeing the other side of the fence.

It was far into the distance, yet noticeable. You didn’t mind it much, turning around to incline against the tall fence. The path back to Hogsmeade was next to you but for now, you needed to enjoy the time you had with Mingyu. Your eyes found his and you smiled, feeling the comfort that normally drew from him. Although, this time, it felt less.

You blamed it on the distance and how you couldn’t see him in the dark, but there was something about looking at his face that didn’t bring you the same satisfaction as it used to. Why? You asked yourself.

Was it a once in a while thing?

You furrowed your eyebrows as he looked over at you, hands stuffed in his pockets instead of holding you like the night was meant for. Why were you so far apart?

“Is it hard with Jeonghan?” Mingyu questioned you.

“Not just hard, I just feel so much worse when I’m with him. He’s always doing something to make the mood worse.” you said with an annoyed sigh. You did not want to be talking about him now.

All you wanted was for Mingyu to hold you, kiss you but he was just standing there and asking questions. You didn’t know how to tell him how awkward this was making it between the two of you.

“Can’t you ask the teacher to move seats?”

“I did, but he refused. Mingyu, I―”

“BOO!”

Mingyu and you both jumped, profanities leaving your lips in an instant. The hairs on your skin raised far quicker than it did when you stepped outside to come to Hogsmeade. Right on the other side of you appeared Vernon and someone else you failed to recognise. A drop of a cloak gave the answer away as to what they were doing.

“Who are you?!”

“Mingyu, calm down. It’s just Vernon,” you said, laughing. “What are you doing here? Who’s this?”

“Ah, I was bored so me and Chan decided to sneak out. But you know how fifth years aren’t supposed to go into Hogsmeade unless they’re with a senior, so we sneaked out.”

“Chan?” Your eyesight moved to the boy standing next to him and your mouth simply dropped to the ground. “The Chosen One, Lee Chan?”

“That would be me.”

“I never expected for this day to come.” you sighed, feeling your heartbeat quicken. Admittedly, it’s the quickest your heart had beaten this whole date because of Mingyu’s distance. Mingyu was also shocked as he took in the sight of the shorter boy as if succumbed in the shock.

You had another question coming for Vernon. “How about Adora? She could’ve taken you, Chan and Wonwoo.”

Vernon sighed and he rolled his eyes. “You’re not going to believe this but they were too busy studying together.”

You tilted your head in confusion.

“Wonwoo and Adora…”

-ˋˏ ༻❁༺ ˎˊ-

Every single second accumulated by the next DADA lesson made you want to hit your head on the nearest wall. The tension, Lupin talking, his fingers tapping on the table made you a ball of frustration, to say the least. You wished for it to go away.

But alas, you were stuck there, sweat sticking to your forehead in a thick layer and your legs jiggling under the table. Why was the class taking forever? Why was one simple hour taking so long to complete itself?

"―and I hope that all of you are writing this down as I speak to you?” Lupin asked, suggestively hinting that notes should be taken in the lesson. You were stress-scribbling everything he was saying, if not, repeating some of the words.

You hadn’t seen such rubbish on parchment in your life, it hurt your eyes from just looking.

“Except, Mr Yoon, of course. What makes you exceptionally different that you don’t have to be taking notes?” Lupin asked, his tone laced with sarcasm.

“I didn’t bring a quill,” Jeonghan answered.

Your eyes burned at the spare quill on top of your pile of books―the same one that Soonyoung had asked to borrow a week ago, it seems.

“Unprepared?…there’s not much we can do about it, can we?” Lupin said, strolling back and forth in a little circle. The whole class had tuned their attention towards Jeonghan, except you. You were attented to the teacher.

“Except we could ask our deskmate if we could borrow their pen.”

Your heart plunged into your stomach. It felt like the world had crumpled into you and you were the last person standing right that moment. A fake, but a tense smile passed across the features as you met a couple of glances from your classmates. They were amazed at how rough yet smartly Lupin played his cards.

The influential desire you and you would assume, Jeonghan had to play those cards right back were a slim chance, nearly none. You picked at the skin on your palm under the table, telling yourself not to fidget at the moment but it didn’t do you any justice that you were put in the spotlight.

“Fine.” Jeonghan replied to the annoying teacher, “Y/N, can I borrow your quill?”

Jeonghan took o polite voice, one that was fake as your smile previously.

“Sure, Jeonghan.” you awkwardly answered, looking at the boy daringly.

But it was that moment where you should’ve known that what hit you were a feeling quite different from what you would feel when you looked at someone you hated.

It was amazement that flooded your body for a second, taking every space inside you as you found yourself staring at his eyes. They looked the same, but you never really noticed how pretty they looked.

What the hell is going on?

Like the whole of your body went into dysfunction, you couldn’t find yourself breaking eye contact. He kept it going too. Suddenly, it didn’t matter that your class was still looking into the drama, anticipating for Jeonghan to pick up the quill from his mortal enemy’s book pile. But they would be rather startled to find that they were staring at each other, or at least you were.

You couldn’t help it. The doe-sleepy look, plus, the eye bags that stood out made you stare. It had to be the newly added eye bags that still burned with the same ember of fiery hate that made you pause that second extra.

Jeonghan’s hand roughly scrolled to the top of your book pile and picked up the peacock quill. Just as quick as it happened, it felt painfully slow. It was like time stopped for a second even. How dare he touch your quill? You saved up for it to look pretty on the pile of books you take to lessons and he just roughly grabbed you.

Wait until you roughly grab his throat.

The regret still stuck to you like super glue. You banged your head on your textbook when people left the classroom, appearing dazed at the thought of his eyes.

“What is wrong with me?” you groaned, grabbing at your scalp for some sort of moral support but none arrived. You collapsed back onto the book pile once again, left in a confusing dark.

-ˋˏ ༻❁༺ ˎˊ-

When you came to the library, you expected some quiet and peace but that was far from what you got instead. You got loudness that even Pince wasn’t able to pipe down and that proved to be deteriorating to your study time. You kept at it though, moving down the worksheet from Charms at a God-level speed. Your quill moved with fluidity, a smile on your face at every satisfying answer that came, until, of course, you were interrupted.

You looked up, taken aback slightly. Then, you search around and to your luck, the library was quite full and there was no other space except at your little table that had space for four.

“Are you Ravenclaws always hogging this space?” Junhui asked as he drew back the chair opposite you.

Still slightly in shock, you managed to pull in a few words, smartly. “You are stating the obvious. This is our natural habitat.”

Jun rolled his eyes, taking out the same worksheet as you from his Charms textbook. You didn’t find him to be the type to do his homework, he and Jeonghan skip classes at times.

You don’t mind him either, understanding the importance. You did your homework, proud that you were getting your stuff done today. You might go pay a visit to Mingyu if you had time to spare. So for the time being, you would just complete your homework and then―

“Do you have a crush on Jeonghan?”

The quill on your worksheet stopped writing ink bleeding through the parchment as you glanced up at the Slytherin in pure disgust. “I have a boyfriend.”

“That doesn’t answer my question.”

I don’t?

Why were you thinking this over?

“No, I don’t like Jeonghan. Why would I like Jeonghan out of everyone that exists?” The way Jun was asking you this―there had to be a reason. Had it been the time you were constrained to spend with his best friend or how you communicated with no chill? You were confused, yet sort of understood where he was coming from.

“You suit him, that’s all.” Jun shrugged.

You laughed. “Seriously?”

“Yeah, I’m serious.”

You shook your head and placed your quill down, demanding to know where he was coming from. “Why are you saying this all of a sudden?”

Jun sighed. “I don’t really seem the type to care about people―”

“You don’t.” you agreed.

He squinted his eyes sarcastically at you and continued with what he was saying, his finger swiping across one of your many books set on the table. “We grew up together, I know what’s best for him and I think rather than having a girl that wants his money, he should have someone smart and to keep him grounded.”

To say you were shocked that Junhui would be saying this was the least―you were mortified. The brunette didn’t give any type of sentiment as long as you’ve been in his residence. It was rather aggression that Jun designated towards others and now you felt sort of enlightened and shocked you were perceiving this side of him. Although, you felt the uncomfortable aspect of it too. You didn’t expect him to pour out his feelings like that.

“What are you telling me to do? Break up with my boyfriend?” you said, trying to make a joke out of it.

He was serious though. The boy didn’t falter from his point of view. He shrugged.

“Look, I―” you began, but was intervened by him.

Junhui locked eyes with you and you felt the seriousness coming from those half-closed eyes. “It might be because we’re in completely different houses. But if a Slytherin were to choose which house they would want to be acquainted with, it’s most definitely Ravenclaw…it’s just my opinion.”

You nodded, looking back at your work, trailing over the many answers. You were reminded about how Jeonghan would copy your homework last minute nearly every lesson and you wouldn’t have a choice but to let him because you didn’t want a fight to start in class.

“I respect your opinion and I really wish I could help you right now but I think you understand the situation yourself.” you smiled. And instead of making a joke out of it, you tried to comfort Junhui out of it.

They were really close to each other. Talk about bro-code.

“Jun? What are you doing here with her?” All your tension was back. This is why the two of you shouldn’t be together.

“Shut up, Jeonghan.” you told him, looking over at him. He was standing behind Jun’s chair as Jun stayed quiet, not responding to your fights. He’s never been that way between you and Jeonghan and you realised at that moment, this was the reason. He wanted the two of you to be together.

If he was going as far as desiring another girl for his best friend who was from another house, it genuinely showed how much he cared for Jeonghan. It reminded you of you and Adora―how you would do anything for each other.

It kind of comforted you knowing they were close like that.

“Say, you’ve gotten a little too much these days for a Ravenclaw,” he commented harshly. You noticed no use of the 'middle-class girl’.

You rolled your eyes. “You’ve gotten too prideful of yourself if you think I’m just going to let you be rude to me.”

-ˋˏ ༻❁༺ ˎˊ-

DADA was starting to become boring.

Lupin didn’t give any extensions for the inquisitive Ravenclaws, explaining that you didn’t need it. You tried to look for more extensions but truth be told, you’ve done everything possible for the topic. So by the next lesson, you were just sitting there with nothing to do.

Reading random things in your textbook didn’t dare give the same fulfilment as doing actual work on the things you reviewed.

“Hey, give me the answer to this question.”

Looking over a little above your book, you whispered harshly: “The answer is B. Stop asking me.”

“It doesn’t matter how many times I ask, your smartass always answers.” he chuckled quietly. You rolled your eyes and paid attention to your book, wanting to doubt the false accusations but they weren’t false accusations if you thought about it yourself. You gave him the answer regardless.

“You’re late, Junhui!” Lupin called, the boy entering the classroom.

Nothing new, you noted.

“I was held back by Professor Snape.” Jun excused, his footsteps echoing the quiet classroom.

He’s always held back by Snape. You were starting to think it was a little lie he would implore whenever he came to class late. But who would know? Snape always defended the Slytherins.

You felt a small shift from your side, you looked over. Junhui had sneaked over when Lupin returned his shift to his papers on his desk. Jun bent down beside Jeonghan’s table, locking eyes with you for a second, before going by his best friend’s ear and muttering something. You didn’t trouble yourself trying to listen, flicking through the pages of your book for something you haven’t read yet.

However, the definite: “What?” coming from Jeonghan reached you.

You minded your own business, grasping the boy would make a fuss if you didn’t. But the whispering became more jarring.

“I’m sorry.” you heard Junhui. Did they mess something up? Your mind wandered anyways.

“Just…go back to your seat,” Jeonghan instructed his best friend.

The next few moments were sat in silence. You couldn’t help but think something had gone wrong because the silence between the two of you was so awkward, unlike how it would be most of the time. It made you realise your talking terms with the Slytherin. If it wasn’t something serious Jun had said to him, he would be back to bother you for answers but Jeonghan hadn’t touched his quill.

“I’m redoing the roll since some of you came late to class. Soonyoung?”

“Junhui? Just arrived…Shawn? No…? Jeonghan?”

He didn’t answer.

“Jeonghan? I swear I saw him today―”

With no substitute, you nudged Jeonghan with your elbow without looking at him.

“Oh, here,” he said, passively. Something was wrong for sure.

The roll finished soon and Lupin was back at his table, seemingly marking tests as the students did their work. But Jeonghan hadn’t touched his quill. You were concerned and it worried you too much to concentrate on your reading.

Finally, you put a hand on his arm. “Hey…you good?”

Jeonghan shoved your hand away firmly. Your eyes widened at the reaction and you hesitantly looked over. You had to arrest the gasp coming halfway up your throat to prevent a murder from happening within the walls of the DADA classroom.

There was no way you were witnessing this yourself.

Jeonghan had his head hanging low, but even then, you could see it yourself. The tears.

They were rolling down in heavy beads, almost not seen.

What were you supposed to do?

You already made it awkward by freezing upon their existence. It was literally like a slap in the face as your eyes enlarged. Another side of you softened.

Jun must’ve told him something that happened at home. How? You didn’t know yet, but you felt as if it was critical that Jeonghan was okay.

“I got you, okay?” you said softly, routing out your wand and bringing over the tissue box at the front desk of the class. Then, with the brilliant wits of your Ravenclaw self, you pulled out a bunch of tissues and stuffed them with no hesitance on Jeonghan’s face. He shot you a glare from half his face and red eyes but you only nodded at him in reassurance. He took the tissues from your wand’s grip and tousled them onto his face like you instructed through the nod.

You put a hand on his shoulder and got up, shouting. “Professor! Jeonghan’s got a bloody nose!”

Lupin stood up quick to see the ‘pitiful’ boy beside you that supposedly had a bloody nose. “Go to the infirmary quickly! I don’t want any bloody kids in my class!”

You nodded and patted Jeonghan with the same hand and the other hand to motion him off his seat. Whispers broke out in the classroom, Lupin dismissing them. “Don’t fret. It’s just a bloody nose.”

“You were the one that was worrying, sir.” Soonyoung teased, tending at the teacher.

You pronounced yourself grateful as you crossed over Jeonghan’s chair and followed him to the exit of the classroom. You got to see Lupin’s face that was dying of hesitance as the class broke out into merriment. He hadn’t known how to respond to Soonyoung’s facts.

You rolled around just in time to see Jeonghan disappear through the doors and hurried to accompany him. Your smile disappeared as quick as it came. Outside the classroom, you found him walking ahead, soft sniffles emitting from the poor boy. Still having no inkling what happened, you dashed forwards to be by his side.

You knew you weren’t meant to be the person comforting him. In fact, you would be the last on his list. So, why this? You couldn’t help seeing him cry like that for some reason.

The sensitiveness that emptied the Slytherin was difficult to see.

You stayed withdrawn by his side, letting him morph himself into the bundle of tissues provided in his favour. Your hands crossed in front of you, fidgeting slightly to foresee how things will turn out.

“Why’d you take me out?” Jeonghan asked as you turned around the corners in the hallway.

“I was just worried. Didn’t want to ruin your rep or anything.”

Jeonghan lifted his face slightly from the tissues and looked over at you, seemingly scanning your face. And then, he was back at the tissues. “Like you would care about that.”

He stopped walking, taking a rest at a wall. His shoulder dug into the solidness as he peered down, refusing to look at you. You sighed, being patient with him. The solitary excuse he had was that he was crying, you were going to respect that this time. “Hey Jeonghan, news flash. Not everyone is like you, okay?

He didn’t say anything. Alternatively, he let the quietness coiled itself into the conversation. Jeonghan sniffled a little, his nose growing a rosy pink. Whatever it was that was going on, there was an intimation of curiosity running in your body to know what it was that made the great rich boy, cry.

It only took time for him to reveal it himself.

“…my dog just passed away…”

Once more, you were submerged into astonishment. Your lips parted to say your apologies and pay immediate respects but he cut you off, looking at you fiercely. Tears were at the brim of pouring again.

“And if you’re looking at me like I’m weak or something, don’t even because―”

“I’m not,” you answered. “How does Junhui know though?”

He let out a sigh, the force in his face releasing. Neither of you suspected to be here at such a depressing time but here you were.

“I didn’t open any letters from my family the last few days. So Junhui’s mum told him to tell me.”

You nodded inaudibly and then slinked down the walls. Jeonghan gazed at you weirdly. You just patted the spot next to you. He wasn’t going to have it if you were all generously comforting him, he wanted to be treated like an equal because to him, you were merely a scum. You recognised that Jeonghan didn’t want to be treated nicely by ‘scum’.

Jeonghan sat down beside you. You looked ahead at the other wall, fading in its colour of beige. The embers of torchlight shone amongst the cloudy hallway with its breaks of windows and walls. You felt like you could feel the heat from those torches, but it wasn’t exactly the case. It was rather the distance between you and Jeonghan that you were met with.

“Cry it out,” you told Jeonghan. “I’m not going to judge you.”

He stared at you, asking with his eyes if you were teasing him. You didn’t say anything, rather, you looked back at him with the same neutral look in your eyes. You were still unsure whether it was good to say something comforting or not.

Jeonghan turned around and buried his face in the tissues and the light sobs soon resonated. You tilted back upon the wall, waiting for him to finish. A hand soon found itself on his back, this time he did not restrict it.

You couldn’t believe he wasn’t restricting it.

“What was your dog’s name?”

“Charlie…my little sister named her,” he said and you found the smile on his face that shone like the sun after a huge storm.

You were warm. “How old was she?”

“She was going to be fourteen next week.”

You moved your hand from Jeonghan, scrunching your face at the sad news. “Ah, that must hurt then. I’m sorry…for your loss.”

“Is this your way of making fun of me?” Jeonghan questioned abruptly. It took a second to register in your mind―what he said.

You snapped at him. “No! Why would I use such a thing against you?!”

Jeonghan also turned to face you, calm even though you were going to scream at his accusations. “Just joking, chill.”

“I can’t believe you’re joking at a time like this.” you huffed. “Your dog literally died.”

You rolled your eyes away from his face that caught a delicate smile. A smile that represented that he was already getting over it. He chuckled again. “You know, you’re kinda cute when you’re all riled up.”

Bewilderment severed a cord inside you. You fastened your head at him the second time to see something else instead. A tall kid walking down the hallway.

“Y/N?” Mingyu asked before you could barely register his presence.

“Oh, this isn’t going to look good.” you whispered to Jeonghan, waving at Mingyu. He didn’t respond, it only meant that you were alone for this.

You got to your feet, Jeonghan followed you up. Realising then was a renowned mistake―what could you do? It was already too late to cover it up.

“Y/N, what are you doing here? Don’t you have―what’s he doing here?” Mingyu’s words were sharp, sudden from the Hufflepuff.

Since when did he act like this? He never addressed you like that? You had many questions during that moment, but it was challenging for you to get an answer when you didn’t want anything to start neither did you want allegations flying around. It was better for things to be left as they were, particularly when you and Jeonghan weren’t at each other’s throat for once.

“Are you skipping with him?“ Mingyu interrogated you.

You gasped. “What? No! Mingyu, stop. It’s not that big of a deal. We’re just in the same class.”

Mingyu wasn’t having it for some reason. The male treated you with such caution like you were a prized possession. But all of that was gone as soon as it came to Jeonghan. Mingyu was mad.

“Sure, just tell me to calm down. It makes everything better, doesn’t it? You would doubt it too if you were in my position. One minute you hate him and the next you guys are skipping class together.”

You were aghast by his behaviour. Out of everyone you knew, you didn’t expect Mingyu to interrogate you like that. It was out of line.

“Stop looking at her like that,” Jeonghan told him when he was borderline glaring at you.

“You. Don’t tell me what to do―”

“Mingyu, seriously. You’re getting out of hand. I literally can’t speak to him? He’s in my year level, we sit together, we have the same classes. How am I not supposed to communicate with him?”

“Whatever you say. Because for me it looks like a completely different story,” Mingyu said, shoving past the both of you. He didn’t want to talk to you and it hurt that he was the one that wasn’t willing to listen to you. “Have fun.”

Jeonghan and you stood there, watching the tall boy walk down the hallway in absolute shock. You never saw this day come. The most mellow boy that ever existed was the one telling you off.

“Aren’t you going to follow him?” Jeonghan asked.

“It’s not my job to. He should be trusting me.”

You guys baked in the quietness, your eyes scrutinizing Mingyu’s back. Jeonghan used the time to get rid of the stray tears on his face.

“All of this…don’t think I’m suddenly going to be nice to you or something.”

You weren’t in the very mindset to think about what and what not Jeonghan wasn’t going to do. So you replied simply to him. “I’m not.”

-ˋˏ ༻❁༺ ˎˊ-

Rushing was something you hated to do. It was proved so when a week later, you were rushing around the dorm with your best friend, the two of you, off timing for once in your school years. Your alarm rang late and because Adora was a deep sleeper, what you would do normally was get ready first and then wake her up so that she can get ready.

You were close like that. Though, this one time, your alarm hadn’t sounded and the others in your dorm began to get troubled and woke the two of you up.

“I’m so sorry!” you apologised, almost wanting to cry. What was worse was that the two of you had a test for Muggle Studies first period. It was unfortunate that your day had to start with sprints and worries.

The two of you were already worried about the test, it seemed that this poured more salt into the growing wound.

“If we get to the Hall now and grab something small, we’ll be five minutes early to class.” Adora dismissed, before waving at a non-existent fly. “Don’t be sorry, you goose! You didn’t do anything wrong!”

The guilt continued to sink into you as you ran through the nearly empty common room. Students must be finishing with their breakfasts and getting to their classes but you and Adora were only getting to the Hall. You second-guessed Adora’s estimate of getting to the Hall, but you did stay persistent in trying as you followed her out the door and down the hallway jammed with students getting to classes.

Lucky for them they were all extremely early for class.

It sucked that the Ravenclaw dorm was on the fifth floor too, it was unimaginable how many steps you had to take at this hour. Your hand flung to Adora’s shoulder when you felt that you were going to lose her in the crowd and she was assuring in the way she grabbed onto your arm and lurched your forward, winning profanities from the students that were bumped into.

“Stop running!” you heard a teacher yell.

It was far from getting you to stop on the staircase almost tripping and toppling you into the branches of auburn hair in front of you.

Until you were stuck.

A guy had bumped into you from behind as you were running, nearly knocking you off your balance, thanks to the jumpy feeling settling into you since the morning. You parted your lips to say something.

“Hey!”

Adora, you and the guy snapped your head behind you, in time to see something startling. Jeonghan…and his group of friends walking through the crowd with luxury (they were practically giving them way) as he looked at the guy. You couldn’t believe this.

“Why’d you bump into her?” he questioned the guy.

It was hard to ignore the nudge from Adora. It was screaming with questions, you couldn’t face her.

The guy looked down to his feet and then bowed at you promptly. “I’m sorry, ma’am.” And he pushed past you to get down the remaining stairs. You were about to go as well when the Slytherins didn’t let you without another ounce of surprise that morning.

“Why are you rushing so much?”

You furrowed your eyebrows tensely. “We haven’t eaten anything and we have a test first period.”

“Ah, that’s all?”

What was up with him? You nodded. “Why are you asking so many—“

Jeonghan whipped out his wand and swished and flicked. You assumed you were getting a live demo from Flitwick from the elegance that departed Jeonghan’s wrist. His other Slytherin friends were questioning his behaviour.

“Why are you talking to Ravenclaws?”

You heard draw from one of their lips but Jeonghan ignored it. Subsequent to his elegance, his best friend’s bag lifted in the slightest and rattled, gaining attention. Out came two packets of pumpkin pasties.

"Hey! Jeonghan!” Jeonghan didn’t mind him as his other friends got a hold of the grabby Junhui. Jeonghan turned to you more seriously, his eyes not wavering with any source of pity of such.

“It’s not much but you best get early to your classroom.”

The pumpkin pasties floated over to you, Jun trying to grab at them but failing miserably. You believed your inside warmed up yet not having a single bite of the sweet pumpkin pasties. The shock had taken some time to indulge you. Instead, you were thankful for the gesture by Jeonghan. Until you held your pumpkin pasty in your hand.

Adora was dead silent, letting you talk. She wasn’t involved, you didn’t blame her.

However, you had a choice and it was limited. Accept it and be early to class, don’t accept it and eat at the Great Hall and be late to class or don’t accept it and starve during the test, ultimately, failing from zero concentration. You were choosing the best option.

You were still in surprise. Maybe this was just repayment for last week’s assistance of comfort.

“Jeonghan, I—“

“Just go do your test.” he sighed, placing his hands on his waist.

You nodded and sent him a small smile. He didn’t smile back, you weren’t expecting him to. He already saved you enough.

“Come on, Adora.” You gestured the evidently nervous Adora and hiked back up all the stairs. This time, the two of you weren’t rushing, rather walking upstairs, waiting for the perfect time to talk about it. It wasn’t until the two of you entered your empty classroom that were you allowed to speak freely without the sound of other students near.

“Mingyu doesn’t seem like a dick, but up close he is. Jeonghan seems like a dick, but up close he isn’t,” Adora concluded.

“How do you draw to that conclusion?”

“Unless you have another opinion, Ms L/N,” Adora smirked, finding a spot on top of the back row table. Her approach was insightful, you admitted and you didn’t affirm offence in how she described Mingyu the d-word. Jeonghan helping you out was really a blessing, you believed. You were able to make it to class twenty minutes earlier.

You grabbed your pumpkin pasty wrapper as well as your best friend’s and made your way to the front of the classroom.

“I don’t have anything to say,” you told her truthfully.

“Hey, it’s just like Junhui said. Maybe the two of you are meant for each other. If he can see it, I can too.”

“You guys are so not playing matchmaker right now.” you gasped, watching as the orange wrappers swirl before taking a dip into the empty garbage liner.

“We should be. Have you sorted your stuff out with Mingyu?” Adora asked you.

You walked back through the tangle of tables and sat on top of the table in front of Adora’s. She twirled around so she could see you and the disappointing look your face gave away. “No. It’s been like this for the past week. If I see him in the hallway, I don’t even wave.”

“Sounds like a red flag to me. Even the overall jealousy.”

You didn’t doubt her. She wasn’t wrong that it was a bad indication of how Mingyu got angry easily.

“What do you think I should do?”

The auburn-haired girl pursed her lips. “I don’t know. I strongly believe that you and Jeonghan are a much better match. After you told me what Jun said at the library, it’s been on my mind.”

“Why, though?” you asked softly.

It didn’t make sense—before this, you and Jeonghan wanted to blow each other up. There were people that think that you would actually look good together. You could understand Junhui’s belief in keeping his best friend grounded but how did Adora think you would benefit from a relationship with Jeonghan?

“Not only will you guys look cuter but Jeonghan is also a lot more emotionally available for you than Mingyu. He fits with your time schedule so you’ll get to see him more often.”

How were you taking all of this in? It was like you were actually reflecting the differences between your boyfriend and Jeonghan for a second as if they were two different pairs of shoes you really wanted to wear for one outfit. You shook your head. “Enough. Now test me on technology evolution with Muggles.”

Even if Adora stopped talking, the topic of Jeonghan lingered in your mind.

-ˋˏ ༻❁༺ ˎˊ-

“How do you think school is going for you guys?” It was more of a question you wanted to ask yourself because of the deepness of homework you were sinking in. Almost brutal to the touch, you hoped that your juniors were going through something easy.

“It’s starting to get harder,” Vernon admitted, filling in another blank on his worksheet.

You nodded and turned to Wonwoo for an answer but before you could, you caught something beside his head that sauntered in through the library doors.

“Mingyu,” Vernon stated for you.

You pursed your lips, seeing another girl, seemingly his year level next to him. They were laughing and chatting. Wonwoo had turned around to catch the honey boy walk in and the world had slowed. A pain slashed into your heart, ridiculing you at the sight.

“Who’s she?” You asked the boys more than yourself.

But all Vernon could do was shrug. Wonwoo, however, answered for you. “She’s one of Mingyu’s friends. They’ve been hanging out for a while together.”

“For a while, as in?”

“Since you guys stopped talking to one another,” Wonwoo told you. He must’ve known that was enough to cut the ties between the two of you, because the next minute, you were yelling for Mingyu from across the room. He caught your eye in a second as if knowing that you were where you were. You wouldn’t be caught surprised if he did, he was sly like that.

Mingyu walked over with the girl, who confusedly looked between you and Mingyu.

“You wanna talk?”

Mingyu looked at you blankly, “Sure.”

With that, he followed you out the door of the library, completely quiet and trying so hard to diminish the awkwardness between the two of you but there was proven to be no way. You and him were going to be like this until the problems themselves diminish.

The outside of the library had no trace of people or soul so you started talking immediately. You knew he was trying to get you back for what happened.

“Look.” You began. “I wasn’t trying to make you mad or anything, the other day. You know that’s definitely not my intention.”

Mingyu sighed. “No, it’s just that I was hurt that you would hang out with the guy that I fought with. It felt like you were on his side or something.”

You shook your head. He got the wrong idea. Completely. “Jeonghan was just going through a hard time and I brought him out of the class, that was it. And besides, there were no sides at all, neither was Jeonghan the one you were fighting. You’re just in the wrong with them.”

“It’s the same thing. He was still threatening me for his best friend and you know how that made me feel?” He was starting to show aggression, far from how a normal Hufflepuff would’ve handled the situation. You didn’t want to anyone thinking that you were in the wrong for something that wasn’t even your fault.

“Okay, thinking rationally, this whole thing was your fault, to begin with as you admitted to cheating―”

“So you go hang around with him?”

You took in a deep breath and let it out, estimating the stress would just air itself out. But another glance at Mingyu proved the exact opposite. “I told you we weren’t hanging and even if we were, it’s bound to happen. Not only are we in the same year level, but we also have some classes together and seating arrangements. Of course, I’m going to have to talk to him and he’s actually kinda okay. Maybe if you didn’t mess things up, he wouldn’t have gone hard on you.”

Your past self wouldn’t have guessed you would come to this stage in your life. Your past would rather die than see the day you defend the Slytherin.

“You complained yourself that he wasn’t nice and he annoyed―”

Mingyu stumbled forwards, his eyes widening. The Hufflepuff riled back to his straight posture, turning to the side to see who it was. It happened to be the very person you were discussing. It gave you a sickening vibe that things were about to turn ugly. You wished for an escape.

“What?” Mingyu asked.

“Stop messing around with her. I can see how much she doesn’t wanna be here from all the way down there.” Jeonghan pointed down the hallway.

He was right, but you couldn’t not defend Mingyu. “Hey, Jeonghan! It’s not like―”

“Don’t ‘hey’ me, dumbass. You’re still in a relationship with this cheater. If he’s cheating in Quidditch, imagine how he’d cheat on―”

Mingyu snapped. He grabbed Jeonghan’s collar in a fistful, causing adrenalin to shoot down your veins, worrying resting at your temple. It seemed that your endless worries were starting to prove the bottomlessness it really was. Why was this happening to you?

Jeonghan’s smirk wasn’t missed as he was hoisted in the air by your boyfriend and you could only assume that this was a bad sign. You didn’t want anything bad happening so you quickly grabbed onto Mingyu, pulling him away.

“Stop, Mingyu!”

He looked over at you, fingers opening to let down Jeonghan who fell gracefully to his feet. His intention was to trigger Mingyu and obtain some sort of victory from it―that was one way to assume Jeonghan’s doings.

“Y/N.” Mingyu pressed on, looking over at you sharply. “You choose me or him.”

“Hey, stop it.” you began, the anger starting to drive into you too. He wasn’t the only one that can show frustration. “This is not like some movie, okay? This is real life and we need to sort our situations sensibly.”

He didn’t talk, simply gawked at what you said. You stared back, just because you didn’t expect this quiet of a reaction from the determined boyfriend. Jeonghan, on the other hand, didn’t miss with a small giggle leaving his lips.

“Fine.” he stated. “I see how it is.”

Mingyu turned around and walked down the hallway. You watched for a few seconds, turning around too, deciding whether it would be the right decision to follow along. The boy was immensely immature, but simultaneously, you were filled with a need to stick to your spot on the ground, determining your dominance in the fight. You weren’t going to let him get away with something this silly.

But when a laugh left Jeonghan and his group of his friends, a sad sigh drew from your lips.

“Mingyu!” you yelled.

He didn’t stop walking.

“I’ll be back,” you said to the Slytherins before running down the hallway, in the attempt of seeking attention from your boyfriend again.

-ˋˏ ༻❁༺ ˎˊ-

Your lips melded together perfectly into a rushing heated kiss. Back pressed against the wall, you found your hands pressed on Mingyu’s nape as he placed your hands on your waist.

“Oh my God, we haven’t done this in ages,” he said, pulling out at last.

You leaned your head back, catching your breath from the kiss. It wasn’t every day that you would be kissed like that from Mingyu, especially these days where all it seemed to be was bickering with one another or excuses of not meeting up with each other. Mainly Mingyu since he didn’t want to break the rules by sneaking out in the middle of the night.

“I missed it,” you replied with a sigh, feeling relief that the two of you were able to sort out your issues a few hours ago.

“Me too…we gotta go now,” Mingyu said, patting your shoulder. You wished it wasn’t time though. Something about having the satisfaction of his lips back on your mouth was somewhat urging you to ask him to stay back, but you couldn’t.

There was an invisible barrier blocking you from asking the Hufflepuff such an easy question. You were his girlfriend after all, not some random stranger. But the barrier was there and it was telling you not to cross it.

“Sure.” A brief glance into his eyes displayed tension that you couldn’t get past, however, you ignored it and walked down the hallway. Mingyu and you were somehow quiet on the way back to your dormitory as if the make out didn’t just happen. You were in your own headspace, thinking that you were starting to lose touch with Mingyu.

Ever since the incident a few days back, he’s been acting weird. Like he doesn’t want to talk to you much even though you have reconciled your issues.

“Emma!” Mingyu suddenly exclaimed, causing your head to lift up. Your eyes went comically wide, seeing the same girl that was with him when he came into the library on the day of the near-fight with Jeonghan. You squinted, double-checking but there was no doubt. It was the same junior girl that you saw last time.

She had a big grin on her face as she made her way towards the two of you, with you standing there awkwardly.

“Oh, hey, Mingyu. I was looking for you all around the common room! We need to work on the project today and try and finish it off.”

Were you not there?

You cleared your throat, putting a hand on his shoulder. “Project? Do you guys need any help? Because I can be of assistance.”

Mingyu smiled at you tensely. “Ah, no…we’re okay, we’re nearly done. anyways”

You nodded and smiled back, biting the tension away. You didn’t want to be there anymore, a distaste in seeing the two. Like you didn’t like Mingyu anymore.“Okay, why don’t you go, then? I’m sure you guys need to finish it off before the due date so I’m going to go now―”

“Are you sure?”

“Sure! Good night, Mingyu…and Emma.”

You turned around and walked away, a confused feeling stuck in your chest as you did. You’ve never done that before, why were you doing it? You recollected those days when you used to be jealous of girls that talk to him so brazenly and you would no doubt tell it to Mingyu.

You headed back to your dorm, putting your mind off things. It was pretty easy as the first thing you saw was Adora about to throw hands at Wonwoo.

Again.

You stepped in fast, grabbing her off of the poor kid.

"Girl, you better get off me or you’re going to get it too!” she exclaimed. The threat was evident in her voice but didn’t scare you, to say the least. The two of you were used to threatening each other in a way it became the norm.

“Shut the hell up and sort issues out without violence, dumbass.”

Adora paused, coming back to her senses and thank God for that too. You wouldn’t want to live for the day that she struck a punch at Wonwoo, that would be too painful.

“What were you guys were doing anyway?”

“We were discussing―”

“Arguing.” Vernon interrupted cleanly.

“Discussing,” Wonwoo argued. “We were discussing what we were going to do while you were gone.”

“And…?”

“We’re going to go to the library.” Adora answered with a shrug. You walked around the girl and claimed the seat next to her. “Just to hang out and stuff.”

“Wow, I should’ve just stayed with Mingyu,” you said sarcastically.

The three dropped their jaws to the ground, cooking in your comment. You laughed, realising how what you said cut a wound intensely to your friendship.

“No, no! I meant that he was at the library doing a project so I should’ve stayed there if you all were going to go there anyway.” you explained, a hand going to Vernon’s shoulder. They all sang with an understanding tone.

“Really thought you were betraying us like that.” Wonwoo put his hand to his chest, breathing out a relieved sigh.

“Of course not! Now, how long are we going to stay here? Let’s go.” The three of them got up along with you, exiting the Ravenclaw dorm hastily to enjoy the Friday night. Walking in the hallway, their voices echoed throughout.

To be frank, Adora and you were basked in more entertainment when you started talking with Vernon and Wonwoo. Whether it’d be Wonwoo and Adora fighting just for the fun of it or you and Vernon having to get those two back to the dorms because they’ve fallen asleep by each other’s side again after endless arguments―you counted it all as your entertainment.

There was something special of a sort between you and your friends and you were forever cherishing in that. Especially as you walked to the library, you and Vernon exchanged smiles at seeing your friends bicker again.

If you and Jeonghan weren’t enemies, these two definitely were. Arriving at the library, Vernon cut them off.

“I need to show you guys this comic I saw the other day.” He grabbed both Adora and Wonwoo’s wrist and then paused, regarding that he wasn’t holding you too. He pouted a little.

You shook your head and smiled. “It’s fine. I’ll go look at the 'romance’ section anyways.”

“Need to find more erotica? I can hel―”

Adora used her free hand to ball into a fist and hit Wonwoo on the head. His head fell a little. “You idiot. How dare you ask that question to her? She has a boyfriend!”

“Okay, so? It’s only human nature to read what is erotic. Therefore, I’m not asking her anything wrong.”

“Therefore, I’m not asking anything wrong―shut up before I smack you silly. Y/N, listen to me. Go look at all the erotica you like, but don’t take advice from him. Even I know better erotica.” Adora said, pointing sharply at Wonwoo like he was something disgusting under her shoe.

You raised your eyebrows with Vernon. Wonwoo defended himself nicely. “I know better erotica than you―”

“No, you don’t. Don’t argue with me, Four Eyes!”

“I can show you better erotica,” he said to her.

All four of you paused in your respective positions at Wonwoo’s words. Did he just say what you thought he said? Even Vernon let go of Wonwoo to place his hand on his mouth.

“Yo, Wonwoo~ Are you trying to tell her something?” you teased. It was your turn to get hit by Adora. “Ow!”

“Don’t joke like that. I would never do anything like―”

“Wonwoo, don’t you think a great erotica story would be one where you’re doing Adora and you take off your glasses and put it on her. Then, you compliment―”

“Enough. Go read your damn erotica!” Adora said, shoving you out of the way.

Vernon and you erupted with laughter. “I said I was going to look at romance, not erotica. There’s no erotica section in a school. You two started this!”

They tried to argue with you but you were already on your way to the other side of the library.

The rest of them were off to the other side of the library, apparently looking at the comics. You didn’t bother them, on your way to the romance section like you said you were, finding fascination in the particular enemies-to-lovers trope.

“Are you sure she won’t come here?”

“I’m sure. She’s too stupid to even realise that I’m cheating on her.”

“Mhm,” she giggled, looping her arm around his neck. Her lips were nearing closer to him. “Thank God.”

You were frozen, captivated wrongly in the scene your eyes fled to. Particularly noting that it was happening right at the end of the last romance aisle. You felt as if someone had ripped out your heart and stomped on it and that person being Mingyu had caused tears to run freely down your face as you stood there. Just watching.

Funny how merely seconds ago you were joking with your friends and now this.

Body against body, you were met with betrayal. The girl you suspected was actually with him, kissing him so passionately. Mingyu had never done that with you. You were almost discreet of showing public display of affection, it hurt to see that he was open with someone else.

You couldn’t see it any longer. Turning around, you exited the library, allowing the tears to run loose. If Vernon and Wonwoo weren’t there, you would’ve gone to confide Adora straightaway and she would’ve given him all she had but they were there and you were alone. It would be embarrassing to go tell her that now, so you escaped the claws of the self-delusional way of a cheap thrill Mingyu had.

He didn’t see you either.

You looked down even though there weren’t any students that passed the hall at this hour.

Some assignment, he said.

Not only had he lied but he was making out with another girl in the library and in the romance section. You wished to bleach your eyes as the scene refreshed and replayed in your mind like some kind of heated drama.

All you could keep asking yourself was why?

Why were you so easily fooled? You bumped hard into someone.

“Dude, what the hell―dumbass? It’s you?”

You looked up at him as if you were strong and proud of your tears and least to say, he was quite still to see you in tears.

“Yeah, it’s me, everyone’s favourite dumbass. The one that’s so easy to fool because she’s such a dumbass.” you laughed half-heartedly, before sinking your face into your palms again. The sadness came out behind all the anger stored in you. It was like you had so much anger that the way that Jeonghan was in front of you in such a moment, didn’t seem to phase you.

“What happened to you?” he asked, more aggression in his voice than was relevant.

“No, don’t speak to me. I’m a dumbass. Dumbasses don’t know how to speak for themselves.”

Jeonghan held onto your wrist, pulling back an arm to reveal your crying face. You looked to the ground, feeling his stare penetrate through your skull, prompting your heart to go wild at how he was the one that found you out of all people. But with the way that he was staring at you, you found the care that came through it. Like he was waiting for you to explain.

“Right now, as of nine-thirty-one pm, Mingyu is making out with another girl and what did I do? Walked right out and acted as if I didn’t see anything? Yeah, I did. That was me.”

“He did not.”

Jeonghan overlooked your ignorantly sarcastic behaviour, focussing more on the fact that Mingyu cheated on you.

“He did.” you nodded, smiling.

Jeonghan’s grip on your arm got tighter as if bringing you back to your ground. The tears stopped for a whole second.

“Ah, ah!”

“Oh, sorry.” He let your arm fling to your side, then he proceeded to question you. “How could you just walk out like that?”

The way in which he asked the question seethed with toxin.

“Because I’m a dumbass.”

Jeonghan furrowed his eyebrows, his hands placing themselves on his waist. Never in a million years, you would expect Jeonghan to be here when your heart was at stake.

“You dumbass! You know I didn’t mean that! Ugh, just, come on!”

“No. I’m not going back in there!” you yelled arrogantly as he got a grip of your forearm again. He needed to get his anger issues consulted because if he was going on like this, everyone was going to be insulted profoundly.

“Um, yes. You are. Because you’re a dumbass that speaks up for herself. Don’t let anyone step all over you.” Jeonghan turned around, leading the way towards the library.

Instead of objectifying, you proceeded with caution, watching as his face contorted into frustration of some sort. You were seeing a new side of Jeonghan―a preventive side. Why was he helping you out? What happened to his Slytherin class? He held himself up so greatly to the point that you assumed you would never see the day he would be helpful to you in some way.

And yet here he was, dragging you back into the library to stand up for yourself.

He kicked open the library, making you jump in your skin. You didn’t bother trying to tell him where Mingyu was because he was dragging you through the aisles (left, right, up, down) until he finally met the romance section and your doom.

And to your great horror, he was still there.

“Yah, Kim Mingyu!”

Mingyu snapped his attention away to you, his eyes widening at seeing you and Jeonghan there. A dreadful pit dropped into your stomach. Jeonghan pushed you forwards.

You really didn’t want to do this.

But after seeing that girl, Emma, rolling her eyes, it made you more mad.

“What is this, Mingyu? What are you doing?”

Mingyu pushed Emma out of the way, walking down the aisle towards you.

“No. Don’t even come here.” You stood there, wiping away the last tears with your sleeve, glaring at Mingyu. “Breaking my trust was one thing, but being a coward and telling me about it, pushed the line. The least you could’ve done was be honest about it. But you didn’t.”

“Babe. Let me explain.”

You looked away. “Jeonghan, I can’t even look at his face anymore. If you let me stay here any longer, I might actually damage his face for life.”

Jeonghan sniggered beside you and then nodded. “So no slap or…?”

“Not feeling it.” you sighed, placing your hands on your hips. Looking at Mingyu’s face for a longer time made you realise that you weren’t so mad anymore. It must’ve been the distance that separated the two of you the past few days but somehow wounding into your night, looking at him only concluded disappointment in your heart.

It was kind of an annoyance that it would happen on such a good day, so as you and Jeonghan left the library together, with no signs of your friends (they were probably riddled into a good comic), you were alone.

“Come on.” Jeonghan stated, grabbing the sleeve of your top.

“No.” You shook your arm, hoping that he would let go but Jeonghan stuck to you like super glue. “I’m going back to my dorm.”

“And do what? Cry for the rest of the night and then act like nothing was ever wrong…? Exactly. Come with me,”

A final tear slipped down your face loosely, not emitting any particular emotion. It just came down itself without being asked to.

“Where are we going?”

“Shut up.” was all Jeonghan said as he pulled you down the hallway. You might as well be an inanimate object from the way things were going. The pull was strong and you could’ve said anything to it, but you didn’t. Partly, you knew that Jeonghan was trying to help and him helping was better than spending a night alone with tears running down your face crazily. When Jeonghan brought you outside the castle, you were beginning to dispute his actions, wondering if he was purposely doing this so you guys get in trouble.

“How about the Dementors?” you asked, feeling a bold shiver run down your spine as you hiked the fresh grass patches. The sound of waves crashing slowly onto the shore of the lake resonated the night, along with branches swaying. The night was bright, notably because of the white moonlight that decided to stripe against you and Jeonghan.

“What about them?”

You rolled your eyes at him, acknowledging there wouldn’t be a way out of this. He had let go by now and the two of you were finding a spot amongst the field.

“Here.” you motioned, slinking down into a sitting position. By now, all tears were dispersed from your space. You were indulged in relaxing your body against the night’s sways. Jeonghan sat next to you.

The silence bathed in itself, the calm yet rough wind delivering cool air to your body. That’s what you liked about nights. Not only was it a perfect time to study, but the cool breeze from opening your window in the slightest also delivered satisfactory cool air. Jeonghan bringing you here could only mean he enjoyed it similarly.

“You’re not crying anymore,” he noted.

You nodded, folding your knees to your chest habitually. “We weren’t doing as well anyways. I don’t wanna cry for him too. He didn’t trust me and ended up breaking my trust…God, I didn’t even expect this.”

Jeonghan converted his shift towards the Black Lake.

“I’m not the best to comfort, however, he is such a big asshole for doing that to you.” Jeonghan said.

And that in itself was able to soothe your racing heart, calming down the nerves that came from the cheating incident.

“Geez, I didn’t expect you out here out of all people when things turn bad.” became the only way you could reply. You really didn’t know what else to say.

“Me neither.” Jeonghan agreed.

You shook your head, another important thought slipping into your head, one that was staying in your mind like an undefeated fire, soon taking over every single part of your brain. Every time you had spare time, your mind would aimlessly wander to this question.

Of course, as a Ravenclaw, you had not one, but variants of answers in which Jeonghan could answer―carefully analysed and thought of too but it was the best to hear from him.

“How come you’re talking to me now? Don’t you Slytherins hate everyone except your kind?” You made sure to sound doubtful about him so that he would answer properly.

“You’re okay.”

“I’m okay?” you scoffed, turning your head towards the pretty boy. He was still busy examining nothing in the lake. The night was light, but when it came to the Black Lake’s side, nothing shone over there. It was concealed. “What’s not okay?”

“That you’re not a Slytherin.” he answered, his own smile on his face. You laughed along, finding truth in his voice. You liked that he was truthful, unlike some people.

You sat for a while, admiring the lake’s beauty even though it was quite dark for the eyes to adjust to. Being with Jeonghan made it better. You were smiling too instead of having a glare around him. It was like a miracle.

“You know something, Jeonghan?”

“What?”

“You’re more tolerable than I expected these days.”

“Hm, why do you say that?” His voice had gone one octave lower, making you look over at him. Jeonghan seemed tired, though you couldn’t exactly tell.

“Because…because you’re being nice for once.”

“Or maybe…you’re into me,” Jeonghan smirked.

Your eyes widened, heart racing as you captured a glance of his eyes. They seemed only half-open and doe-shaped. God had given him sexy and cute in one person, you couldn’t take it anymore. Just looking at him made you want to hit your head on the wall, making you question your own morals.

You just got out of a relationship, why were you already looking at him like a next target? But your mouth had answered before you could.

“Maybe I am.”

Jeonghan chuckled. “You know that would make you equally as bad as Mingyu?”

“No.” you told him, shaking your head. “I’m not in a relationship, I can say what I want.”

“But technically, you must’ve been thinking about this for a while before telling me,” he said. You had an answer for everything.

“Or I could’ve just found you attractive?”

“Or you just never wanted to admit it before because it would’ve made things awkward between us?”

Scratch that. Jeonghan always had an answer for everything. You looked away with a smile, prompting a giggle from the boy. There was no arguing with him.

“There’s no beating you.” you sighed.

“Glad you admit it.”

“I hate that you’re being nice, though. Since when were you nice?”

“I don’t like seeing you be nice too, love.” he admitted, the ‘love’ getting you to zip your mouth so quickly. The first time he called you that, you didn’t feel anything. But now there was this rumbling feeling inside you that caused your body to heat up in the cold night. There was no other explanation for this.

“I’d take you on a date…”

You whipped your head back at him.

“But―” Jeonghan’s perspective darted to your lips. “I’d rather we wait it out a little.”

“I was going to say that anyways.” you said. “I don’t want a relationship right now. Besides, we never got to know each other properly. Let’s do that.”

Jeonghan nodded. “So you actually have feelings for me?”

“Do you?”

“You caught me there.” he smiled. You waited a brief second for him to answer. He didn’t. Your heart was pounding in your ears.

“So you do?”

He nodded.

“For how long?”

The night’s breeze quickened, your eyes following the stars up. You could see a Dementor in the distance. It didn’t scare you much, to say the least, it was more like you were used to seeing it there, flying around lonely. If Jeonghan hadn’t found you in tears, you would’ve felt like a Dementor. All lonely.

“Last week.”

“All the tension finally got to you.” you commented.

“It did.”