“You could have just asked if you needed inspiration to jerk off,” You say. He pulls his hand away from his cock, scrambling to try and find something on his bed that could cover him up. “I would have gladly agreed to be your muse,” You were absolutely calm on the outside, but your mind screamed at you to run away and feel embarrassed about the situation. “I mean… the real thing is better than a photo, right?” He pauses, and you grip the hem of your shirt and lift it over your head, dropping it to the floor, you then remove your bra and drop it right next to your shirt. “Don’t you agree, Youngjae?”  He swallows, and you watch his Adam’s apple bobbing as he does. You weren’t sure where the fuck your sudden boost of confidence was coming from, you should be running out and hiding in shame at your actions.

“I… uh yes, I… yes,” He stutters out. He watches as you slide your hands over your breasts and down your stomach before curling your fingers around the waistband of your pants, his eyes widen as he watches you push your pants down along with your panties, he watches closely and intently as you step out of them before you take a few steps back and grab onto his desk chair and turn it to face the bed.

“Feeling more comfortable now that we’re both naked?” You ask as you sit down on the chair, spreading your legs slightly and giving him a perfect view of your pussy that was starting to grow wet. He was completely frozen, and you could feel your mind slowly catching up to you, maybe this wasn’t such a good idea. “Or should I leave?” He watches as you begin to close your legs, the view slowly disappearing from him when he snaps out of it.

“I, no!” He quickly says. “No, no, Fuck, no… don’t I… wasn’t expecting this,” You nod your head. “I just… this isn’t a dream, right?” You swallow as you now completely shut your legs and press your hands into your knees, building up the courage to stand up and making sure your legs wouldn’t give out on you when you ran for the door.

“No, no it’s not, this is very much real, and I’m starting to realize that I’m probably embarrassing myself in front of you right now,” You say. He quickly scrambles off the bed, falling to his knees and crawling towards you, his hands grip your knees, just below yours, and looks up at you with concern in his eyes, concern that you would get up and leave.

“No, no, why?” He asks. “Why do you feel like you are, because I can promise you that you’re totally not,” You were both naked, and he had a raging hard-on, and now he was holding onto your knees, his hold was burning your skin.

“For interrupting your private moment,” You say. “I should probably go,” You try to get up, only for him to firmly press down on your knees and slide his hands higher to have a better grip on you to keep you seated.

“Oh, no, no, please don’t go… fuck,” He says. “Unless you feel uncomfortable, and you chased your mind, but fuck, don’t go,” You watch him as he practically pleads you not to get up and leave his room. “I just… I just want one tiny taste…” You feel your muscles twitch and your insides twist at his words. “If you allow me… you can totally say no…” You take in a deep breath.

“Yes…” You breathe out. “You can have a taste,” You watch his eyes light up before his hands grip the crease of your hips, and he leans forward, his lips make contact with yours as he kisses you hotly, your eyes shut as you move your hand to the back of his head, twisting your fingers into his hair. His tongue swipes over your bottom lip, and you open your mouth to allow him access to explore your mouth, while his thumbs press against the crease of your thighs while his hand was squeezing the top of your thighs. Your other hand grabs onto his biceps and holds onto it, you could feel the temperature surrounding you shifting as the air became hot and heavy.

He pulls away from the kiss, causing strings of saliva to break off onto your chin as he does, but his lips were instantly on your jaw and kissing down your neck and over your collarbone before reaching the top of your breast, his tongue presses against your skin, and he licks a strip down to your nipple before taking the bud into his mouth.

“Ohh… fuck, Jae…” You breathe out, keeping your eyes closed as the pleasurable sensation goes through your body and builds up in your core. “Hmm…” One of his hands slides over the top of your thighs before it slips between them and pulls your legs apart, and moves his body between them to keep them spread for him. He slides his hand upwards and brushes the tips of his fingers against your folds, making you buck your hips forward. “Fuck, Jae…” He tugs on your nipple with his mouth, and you felt like he was tugging on the ball of tension that was growing inside you instead. You open your eyes and look down at him and saw him looking up at you as he was sucking on your nipple. “Fuck…” He releases your nipple and licks his lips.

“If I knew you were so willing to do this, I would have approached you weeks, no, months ago,” He says. His lips make contact with your stomach, and he kisses down and pauses right before he reaches your belly button. “I’ve wanted you… for months,” You could feel your stomach twisting at his words. “You want this, right?”

“For weeks now,” You mutter. You admit, that you found your roommate attractive when you first moved in, but once you got to know him some more, you quickly fell for him but decided to keep it all to yourself and only share it with your closest friends. “Fuck,” His fingers slide along your outer folds, causing a shiver to go up your spine.

“Are you saying I could have tasted you weeks ago and neither of us said a word?” He asks. You nod your head, and he lets out a chuckle as he drops his head. “Fuck, we’re idiots…” This time it was your turn to laugh, he looks up at you. “I guess better late than never,” He dips his head lower and his lips make contact with your inner thigh. “Let’s try and make up for the lost time,” His fingers slide between your folds, and you feel the pads of his fingers going towards your clit before circling around the bud.

“Ohh, fuck, oh, oh, Jae… shit,” You breathe out at the friction near your clit, your insides were twisting as you felt your pussy twitch at the attention it was suddenly getting, you could feel his hot breath near your pussy and his hair tickling the inside of your thighs, and fuck, it was making your mind spin. “Youngjae, fuck…” Your grip on his hair tightens, and you push your hand against it.

“So eager…” He mutters before his lips attach to one of your pussy lips and suck on it, your eyes shut, and you take in a deep breath. “Hmm,” You take your bottom lip between your teeth and bite down on it as the vibrations from his hum went through your pussy and towards the ball of pleasure inside you.

“Youngjae, hmm, oh, my fuck…” You moan, your lids twitch as your eyes move behind them, fuck, the feeling was sensational, sweat was starting to coat your skin, and you were starting to breathe in harder. “OH!” His finger slides over your clit and slowly rubs over the bundle of nerves. “Oh, my…” His other hand pulls away from your hip and feel his breathing becoming deeper against your skin. “Fuck… are you touching yourself?” He pulls at your pussy lip before releasing it.

“Fuck, yes,” He breathes out, your pussy clenches at the thought of his hand sliding along his cock, pleasing himself while making you feel good, “I’m so fucking hard, I need to try and take care of it,” You hear a squelching sound, and it definitely didn’t come from you.

“Fuck, Youngjae, that… is so hot,” You moan. His fingers slide down from your clit, and you feel a digit poking at your slit, his lips push right against your clit, and you could feel his breathing right against the nub.

“I wanna cum inside you…” He mutters, his voice travels through your clit, and you swear you could feel your own juices leaking from you at the words. “So please don’t take too long to get wet enough for me, baby,” Your back arches as you feel his lips wrapping around your clit while at the same time a digit slips into you, you throw your head back and your jaw slacks.

“OHHH!” You loudly moan, your hand on his biceps squeezing down at the sudden jolt of pleasure that goes through your veins, his nose was rubbing against your mound as his lips were wrapped around your clit, his finger curls inside you once it was completely inside you. “FUCK, JAE!” Your chest heaves up and down as you take in deep, rapid breaths. “Oh, my fucking…” Your heart drummed loudly in your ears.

“Hmm… hmm… hmm,” He moans against your clit, and with each moan you could feel the ball of pleasure inside you growing bigger and bigger, and your juices only getting slicker as it grew. A second digit slips into you, and you feel a light stretch in your walls as his fingers pump in and out of you.

“Fuck, I… Jae…” You moan as your head turns from side to side, pleasure fogging up your mind. “I…” His fingers curl inside you, and you feel a shiver go through your spine, your toes curl into his carpet floor and your muscles tighten. “Jae… Jae, I’m…” A third digit slips into you, stretching your walls even more. “Oohhh,” He releases your clit and licks a slow thick stripe over your clit, the friction making your legs shake as the rough texture of his tongue glides over your clit. “FUCK!” You sit up straight as the ball of pleasure inside you come undone, his fingers rapidly pump in and out of you to ease you through your high and make sure your walls were stretched enough for him. Stars danced behind your lids and your mind floated through the clouds and your legs shake from the pleasure.

“Hmm, so good,” He breathes against your pussy, making you push your hand harder down against the back of his head. “You’re so needy and desperate for more,” His tongue flicks over your clit, causing your back to arch. “Let me get you on the bed first,” You feel him place his wet hands on your hip and your shoulder before helping you up.

“Fuck, Jae, your cum on me… fuck,” You whimper out as he guides you towards the bed. He carefully lays you down and makes sure you're in the middle of the bed before he climbs on between your legs, pushing them wide open for him and giving himself the perfect view of your needy, glistening pussy.

“Fuck, you’re just… everything,” He says as his eyes slowly move up along your body, taking in everything about you, every little detail he was able to spot, one of these days he will explore your entire being to find which spots gave you the most pleasure and which ones he should avoid. “I need you now…” You were barely coming down from your high when you felt your hips being lifted and a fluffy pillow being placed underneath your butt. You lift your head and look at him through half-open lids. Sweat coated his chest and his hair was stuck to his forehead, a sight that made your walls clench and your insides twist together.

“Fuck… you…” You mutter and drop your head down onto the bed. You feel his legs touch the inside of your thighs and moments later you feel his cock brush against your folds before they push between them and slide up and down along your pussy.

“Fuck, so hot… and wet,” He mutters and moves himself towards your entrance. He places one hand on your hip and pushes the head into you, your jaw slacks as you feel him slowly stretching your walls and filling you. “Ohh, o-ohh,” He places his other hand on your hip as well and slowly pushes his hips forward to fill you.

“F-fuck, Youn-Youngjae…” You moan, your lids flutter as you feel your pussy slowly being stuffed by him. “F-fuck, I… you, hmm,” His fingers press into your skin, and you reach up and grip onto his bedding, twisting the fabric between your fingers. “Ohh…”

“Fuck, you… feel so good,” He grunts out, feeling your walls squeezing around him the further he sinks into you. “Taking me so good,” He thrusts his hips forward, swiftly filling you and causing your tits to bounce as he does.

“Oh!” You gasp at the sudden movement and turn your head to the side. “Jaaaeee…” You feel your muscles tightening as he slowly begins to slide out of you already. “Fuck, fuck, I… shit,” Your eyes roll to the back of your head as your head turns to the other side. The sound of your wetness quickly fills the room as he finds a pace fast enough for him yet slow enough.

“Fuck, I don’t… think I’m gonna… last long,” He says between gasps. He slides his hands along your sides and over your breasts before over your upper arms and along your forearms, you release the bedding as his hands reach yours and grab onto them, interlocking your fingers with his. “Fuck, yes,” His stomach brushed against yours with every thrust, and you swear that you could feel his muscles tightening as he does. He pulls your hands until they’re next to your head and pushes them into the bed.

“Hmm, I… we should have, oh, fuck… done this a long time ago-ooohh,” You moan. His lips make contact with your collarbone and moments later you feel him starting to suck on the skin there. “Oh, fuck…” You squeeze his hands, the feeling of his hearing his loud hot breath so close to your ear and feeling his lips suck a mark into your skin was adding to the feeling of your high building inside you. “Youngjae…” You feel your legs starting to shake as your toes begin to curl, you decide to lift one leg and wrap it around and feel his cock slide in just a little deeper. “FUCK!”

“Fuck, you’re squeezing me so good,” He mutters as he pulls away from the mark he was creating. “Fuck, you’re milking me, I’m…” You could hear a strain in his voice as he spoke. “F-fuck…” You could feel his hips stuttering for a second. “I’m…”

“Fuck, let me rub my clit,” You say. He releases one of your hands, and you immediately move your arm between your bodies, you feel his stomach rubbing more against your arm and felt his muscles pulling against your arm. “Fuck, you’re close…” You press your fingers against your clit and begin rubbing the bundle of nerves, he picks up on your breathing picking up before he felt your walls pulse around him.

“FUCK!” He loudly moans, your walls clench as the sound was so close to your ear. His pace picks up as he begins chasing after his high, his mind was spinning as he felt a heartbeat right in the head of his cock and knew he had to get it out. “Fuck, fuck, are y-you close?”

“Hmm,” You whimper out and push your head into the mattress as you feel your muscles tighten, and the knot inside you grow at a rapid pace. “Jae… YoungjAAEE!” Your back arches as the ball of pleasure inside you comes undone and pleasure courses through your body, your eyes shut and stars fly past your vision.

“Fuck, fuck, shit, I…” He mutters before his hips harshly snap forward, his body shakes on top of yours as hot ropes of cum spill into you, his hand squeezes your hand as his other hand grips the bedding and pulls at it. “FUCK, fuck, so good, shit…”

“Jae, Jae, fuck,” You chant out as your mind floats through the clouds, your body felt light as it was going through the ecstasy feeling. “Oh, my… fucking…” His hips rock into yours as he eases himself through his high, you pull your fingers away from your clit and move your hand to his side. “What if I sucked you off right now?” His hips buck forwards, your words making his mind spin even more, before he lifts his head to look at you.

“Fuck… you can’t say shit like that,” He says. You open your eyes to look at him, he could see satisfaction in your eyes with a hint of mischief in them. “Fuck, Y/n…”

“And what if I’m not joking?” You whisper. He sits on his knees and looks down at you, your skin glistened with sweat and your chest was heaving up and down. “What if I do that?”

“I would lose my absolutely damn mind,” He breathes out. Beads of sweat rolls down his chest and he was breathing heavily, his ears were red, and his eyes held a mixture between lust and warmth in them. “Another time… another time, fuck, it’s so tempting to see if you actually would, but another time…” He pulls his cock from you and watches as his cum and yours spill from your sopping hole and onto his bedding. “Let me take care of you now… you took care of my problem, let me take care of you,” You drop your leg from his waist and drop your hands onto the bed. “Are you okay… was this okay?” His tone suddenly softer.

“Hmm,” You say as you nod your head. “It was… it was more than okay,” He nods his head and slides his hand along your inner thigh, making you feel how much your juices had splattered from his thrusts.

“Let’s go take a shower, and then order some delivery,” He says. You sit upright and grab onto his shoulders, stopping him from getting up.

“What are we, Youngjae?” You softly ask. His expression softens slightly and he leans closer. “I don’t… want to be a one-time thing,” He squeezes your inner thigh, making you whimper at the feeling.

“Well… I would very much like for you to be mine,” He says. “To be with me, so we can do this a lot more often, and so I can call you mine…” You softly smile and lean in a little closer.

“Then say those magic words, Youngjae…” You whisper, your noses touch and your lips were so close to touching.

Eric walks through the quad, his headphones blasting music into his ears as he scrolls through his phone. He raises an eyebrow when he gets a notification, and he swipes down, letting out a light chuckle when he reads who it’s from.

sunwoo: hey stupid whore <3

hyunjun: i have a name

sunwoo: bold of you to assume i’m referring to you

eric: bruh... bitches blowing up my phone 

sunwoo: ah yes, there’s the stupid whore

hyunjun: LMAO

Eric rolls his eyes at the message, moving to type out a response when he hears someone call his name through his headphones. Looking up from his phone, he watches as that familiar head of blonde hair comes running down the path and towards him. He chuckles when she immediately jumps into his arms in greeting, making sure she’s secure before setting her back down onto her feet. 

“Someone’s excited to see me.” Eric teases, and she shrugs her shoulders while trying to hide her smile. 

“Just happy to see the guy I like.” Daeun tells him, the smile finally appearing as she lets her arms fall back to her sides. He lets out a grin and pats the top of her head, before pulling out his phone to check the messages he missed in the groupchat.

sunwoo: you busy tonight ? i want kbbq

hyunjun: never busy for food

especially kbbq during the winter <333

sunwoo: where’d eric go

hyunjun: stupid whore*

sunwoo: oh right

where’d stupid whore go 

hyunjun: prolly on his way to class

he’ll just respond later

Eric snorts and sends a quick reply telling them he’s down for kbbq, before turning to Daeun to point in the direction of the cafeteria. “You wanna get food? I have some downtime before my next class.” 

She nods her head excitedly at the idea, “Yes! I’m actually super hungry right now.” 

“You didn’t eat breakfast?” Eric asks with a chuckle, and she scoffs at the mention of the early morning meal. She raises her hands up for emphasis on what she’s about to say, making the redhead raise an eyebrow. “Eric, I’m a third year university student. You really think I eat breakfast?” 

He grins at that, nodding his head in respect as he turns away to mutter, “That’s valid.” 

As Daeun begins to talk about how her day has been so far, Eric listens quietly as he gazes at their surroundings. He blinks when he sees someone bump into another person, and he clenches his fist at his side when he immediately recognizes them. 

You’re giving the person who bumped into you a small smile as they apologize, even waving your hands at them to signal that it’s okay. Your eyes are warm as you say your goodbyes to them, and he feels his heart stop when you suddenly glance over in his direction, and accidentally lock eyes with him. 

The warmth that was in your eyes almost immediately disappears, now being replaced by an emotion that’s indecipherable to him as he refuses to look away. The world around the two of you seems to come to a slow, the sound of his heartbeat beginning to pick up in his ears when he finds that you don’t turn away either. 

The world returns back to normal when someone else comes into view, and Eric bites the inside of his cheek when he recognizes who they are. He watches in silence as you turn your head to your boyfriend, a bright smile taking over your features when you lock eyes with Younghoon. You immediately wrap your arms around him in greeting, and Eric feels his heart pang when Younghoon kisses the top of your head in return. 

He turns away from the sight of you and your boyfriend, being reminded of the times where he was once in Younghoon’s place. 

“Yo! Where are you going? Don’t you want to go to karaoke with Hyunjun and I?” Sunwoo calls out when Eric starts rushing down the steps of their building. The brunette at the time glances back at his two friends, giving them a big grin, “Yn gets out of class in five minutes, I want to be there to greet them!” 

Hyunjun chuckles at his friend, while Sunwoo laughs and waves him away. “Simp! Make sure to say hi for us!” 

Eric just holds up a thumbs up towards them, not turning around to see their reaction as he runs in the direction of the Chemistry building. He feels giddy at the idea of your reaction when you see him. Will you look surprised? Happy? Will you smile and give him a hug? 

The possibilities are endless.

Eric brushes past people through the quad, making sure to apologize if he accidentally bumps into them on his journey to you. 

Adjusting the strap on his backpack, he lets out a breath of relief when the Chemistry building comes into view, and he pushes himself to run a bit faster. When he finally makes it to the bottom of the steps, he immediately checks the time on his phone, and he grins when he sees that he made it with a minute to spare. 

The sound of the doors being pushed open from above gathers his attention, and he glances up to see the beginning of the rush of students leaving the building. He waits expectantly, gazing at every person’s face until he finally notices the top of your head. 

He watches as you look up from the steps, mid-way through putting in one of your airpods when you lock eyes with him. His heart stutters within his chest when your face visibly brightens, your eyes beginning to sparkle like they hold the whole galaxy in them, and your smile.

God, your smile.

“Eric!” You cheer in greeting, rushing down the steps and practically leaping into your boyfriend’s arms. He lets out a laugh at your excitement and stumbles back a bit from the impact, making sure to wrap his arms around your waist tightly as he takes a deep inhale of your comforting scent. 

You pull away with a bright smile on your face, a visual so beautiful that Eric feels warmth flood his face from the sight alone. 

“What are you doing here? I thought your class ended at the same time as mine.” You ask, and the brunette just shrugs his shoulders to try and act all nonchalant. “We ended a few minutes early, so I wanted to come and surprise you.” 

You giggle and nod your head, wrapping an arm around Eric’s waist as he places his arm over your shoulders. You point in the direction of another building, “Want to walk me to my next class?” 

“Of course I do.” Eric answers without any hesitation, and you grin warmly at this. The two of you walk in a comfortable silence in the direction of your next class, and the blonde takes this moment to glance at you, seeing the small smile still playing on your lips from earlier. 

He giggles, “Are you really that happy to see me?” 

“Of course! Who wouldn’t be happy to see their lovely boyfriend waiting for them to get out of class?” 

Eric feels his heart warm at this, and his brain quickly starts to think of ways he can come pick you up from your classes throughout the week if it truly makes you this happy. 

“Are you happy to see me?” You ask, looking at your boyfriend with an expectant look in your eyes as you await his answer. He brings the two of you to a stop, and turns so that he’s facing you. He reaches out and gently cups your face, looking at you with nothing but love in his eyes as he responds with a shy smile, 

“I’m always happy to see the love of my life.”

“Eric!” The redhead quickly snaps out of the memory, turning to find Daeun looking at him with an amused expression on her face. She points towards the cafeteria while lightly laughing, “I’ve been trying to tell you that we made it for like, a minute now.” 

“Oh, sorry.” Eric says with a strained smile, one that she fails to notice as she begins to bring them towards the cafeteria again. “It’s okay, I’m just curious as to what you were thinking about that made you space out like that.” 

And Eric just lets out a short chuckle, glancing at the blonde as he quietly replies, 

“Just remembered something, doesn’t matter anymore though.” 

“Grilled meat is a gift from the Gods.” Sunwoo states after he finishes chewing on some brisket. Hyunjun nods his head in agreement as he flips some of the meat, “If I was religious, I’d pray to the Gods and thank them for this delicacy.”

Eric chuckles at their conversation, taking a piece of brisket and dipping it into the sesame oil. Sunwoo looks up at the redhead, noticing that he’s been more quiet than usual.

“Eric, are you okay?” Sunwoo asks as he takes a sip of soju, and Eric blinks at the sudden question. He nods his head with a quiet laugh, “Yeah, why?” 

“You just haven’t been as loud as you usually are.” Sunwoo says, pouring Eric some of the alcohol before picking up a piece of kimchi. He rolls his eyes at the statement, “You’re always complaining about how loud I get, but now I’m thinking that you actually like how noisy I am.”

“Personally, not getting kicked out of this restaurant because of you being too loud is quite nice–”

“Hyunjun.”

“What? We always get kicked out cause of Eric.”

“Don’t act like you don’t play into Eric’s shenanigans after only two shots.” Sunwoo points out, making the redhead chuckle and Hyunjun laugh as well. “Alright, alright. You got me.” 

Eric’s about to retell the story of when Hyunjun danced on the tables after two shots when his phone suddenly dings, and he glances down to see a new message from Daeun. Hyunjun notices the notification from his seat, and he moves to place the onion onto the grill as he asks, “How are you and Daeun?”

Sunwoo watches as Eric turns rigid at the question, and he shares a knowing glance with Hyunjun, before turning back towards the redhead. Eric gives the two a small smile, “We’re alright. We’ve only been on like, four dates? I think?” 

“You think?” Sunwoo chuckles, and Eric nods his head. “Daeun’s really sweet.” 

“And?” Hyunjun presses, placing some pieces of pork belly onto the grill. Eric bites his bottom lip at the question and takes a sip of soju, before beginning to create a lettuce wrap. “She’s nice.” 

Sunwoo watches as Eric quickly shoves the wrap into his mouth after he finishes making it, and he lets out a breath. 

He’s concerned for his friend. Sunwoo and Hyunjun have been concerned from the moment you and Eric broke up. It was like they witnessed the five stages of grief right before their eyes. They watched the redhead go from getting wasted every night, to dying his hair, to getting rid of all traces of you in his apartment, to doing everything that he couldn’t do while the two of you were dating, and to this stage. 

Dating.

Daeun’s the fifth person Eric’s been on a date with since the two of you broke up six months ago, and she’s also the only one who’s made it to a fourth date. 

“Sweet and nice are synonyms.” Hyunjun points out as he cuts up the pork belly. Eric stays quiet at this, knowing that his friends can tell that he’s obviously distracted. He lowers his head towards the table, before reaching out towards his glass of soju and downing it all in one go. 

Sunwoo’s eyes widen at the sudden action, “Eric!” 

“Can we just… not talk about my love life tonight?” Eric asks after placing the empty glass down, looking up towards Hyunjun and Sunwoo to see their expressions. The black haired beauty just looks at Eric for a moment, before patting his back and continuing to grill the meat without question.

While Sunwoo stares at Eric in silence, an indecipherable look in his eyes as the concern he feels heightens a bit. Pressing his lips into a thin line, he lets out a strained smile and nods his head at his friend. 

“Yeah, we can talk about something else.”

“Eric Sohn!” You exclaim when he belly flops onto your bed as soon as he steps into your room. Your newly dyed blonde boyfriend rolls over onto his back and flashes you that pretty smile of his, “Yes, my love?” 

You raise an eyebrow at him, “I told you no outside clothes on my bed.” 

Eric blinks, before glancing down at his jeans and the grey hoodie he wore to his classes. Biting the inside of his cheek, he looks up at you with a slightly guilty expression on his face. You sigh and reach out to drag him off your bed, but you fail to realize that he was expecting this.

He takes hold of your hand and pulls you on top of him, eliciting a squeak from you when you land. You push yourself up onto your elbows and glare down at him, but this doesn’t affect him at all, considering the happy smile on his face as he wraps his arms around your waist. 

“What are you doing?” You ask with a blank expression, and Eric just pinches your sides in response, making you slap his shoulder. He chuckles at your reaction, and leans up to peck your lips, but you raise your hand and cover his mouth. 

“Eric.” 

“I’m trying to kiss my beautiful significant other, but they’re not letting me.” Eric answers, voice muffled by your hand. He watches as the corner of your lips quirks upward, and he grins at your resolve slowly melting away. 

He reaches up and grasps your wrist, moving your hand away so that you can see his smile. You press your lips into a thin line when he puckers his lips, closing his eyes as he waits for you to grant him his kiss. 

“Come on, you know you want to.” Eric says through his puckered lips, biting back a laugh when he hears you snort. His grip on your waist tightens a bit when he feels you lean in, and his heart thrums against his chest as he waits. 

He blinks his eyes open when you suddenly turn away and he feels your lips against his ear as you whisper, 

“You can get a kiss when you get your outside clothes off of my bed.” 

The sound of your bedroom door opening slowly wakes you up from your dream, and your eyebrows furrow as you glance over at the entrance of your room to see Younghoon peeking his head in with a shy smile.

“Younghoon.” You murmur sleepily, and he waves at you as he places his bag down beside your desk. He pads over to your bedside and presses a kiss to the top of your head, “Sorry, did I wake you?” 

You shake your head even though him opening the door was the reason that you woke up, but you wouldn’t ever want Younghoon to feel guilty. He grins happily at this, gently brushing away the hairs that fell over your face while you napped. 

“Are you going to join me?” You ask in a quiet voice, and he nods his head while looking into your tired eyes. “I’ll join you in a second, I just need to change into the clothes I brought.” 

Your gaze trails over to his bag that’s laying by your door, seeing the sleeve of his sweatshirt poking out. Glancing back at your boyfriend, you give him a small smile, “Ah, okay.” 

He kisses your forehead one more time, before turning and walking over to his bag. You watch in silence as he takes out his clothes and leaves your bedroom, the sound of the bathroom light being switched on heard from a distance. 

You’re painfully reminded of the dream that you had as you roll over onto your back, staring up at your white ceiling. Biting your bottom lip, you let out a breath as you close your eyes, trying to rid yourself of the memory.

But you’re left with guilt as the visual of Eric’s mischievous eyes while he lays in your bed with his outside clothes appears instead.

“This is our fifth date, you know?” Eric looks up from the table to see Daeun looking at him with a small smile, leaning forward to take a sip of her boba as she stares at him with hopeful eyes. He nods his head with a strained grin, picking up his drink and sipping some boba as well. 

As he chews on the tapioca pearls, he turns and glances out the window of the boba shop, seeing the bright lights coming from the arcade. Biting the inside of his cheek, he places the cup down on the table and turns back towards the blonde. 

“Do you want to go to the arcade?” Eric asks, and she turns to look at the arcade, before glancing back at him with an excited smile. “Only if we can play dance dance revolution.” 

Eric snorts and stands up from the table, holding out his hand for Daeun to take, “I would be a fool to not play dance dance revolution when we’re at the arcade.” 

The blonde looks down at his hand, and he watches as a faint blush forms over her cheeks at the gesture. She reaches out and grasps his hand, grabbing her cup of boba as he helps her stand up from the table. Grinning, he leads her out of the boba shop and towards the arcade, feeling her squeeze his hand happily.

He fails to ignore the fact that her hand is cold, matching his own. 

“Should we go straight to dance dance revolution, or do you wanna play some other games first?” Eric asks after he receives the card that holds all their credits. Slipping his debit card back into his wallet, he turns to Daeun to see her glancing around while thinking. 

“Let’s play dance dance revolution first.” She says with a grin, and the redhead nods his head in agreement. She pulls the two of them in the direction of the game machines, and Eric chuckles with the knowledge that this is definitely not her first time going here.

“Are you ready to get your ass kicked?” Daeun asks once they arrive at the machine, and the redhead releases her hand to crack his knuckles, “I don’t know, I feel like I should be asking you that question.” 

She smirks and gets up onto the machine, swiping the card on both machines as Eric steps onto it. She pockets the game card and turns to the pretty boy, “You can choose what song we dance to.” 

“Wow, someone’s confident.” Eric teases, and the blonde shrugs her shoulders. “Just waiting for you to believe that I’m actually a God at dance dance revolution.” 

“We’ll see about that.” He replies, a playful grin on his face as he chooses one of the harder songs to dance to, Egoism. He glances at Daeun to see her reaction, only to raise an eyebrow when he sees the calm expression on her face.

Maybe even a bit of excitement laced in as well.

“You ready to get your ass kicked?” Daeun asks with a confident smile, and Eric just shakes his head with a quiet chuckle. He rests his hands on the handle behind him, watching the screen as the song starts to play. 

Once the arrows begin to show up, he quickly realizes that he completely forgot how difficult this song is to play. Stomping his foot on each arrow, he spares a glance towards Daeun, and sees her as the epitome of ease as she lightly dances to the song. 

“You having trouble?” He hears her ask when he almost misses a key, and he rolls his eyes teasingly as he shoots her a look. “Eyes on your own screen, hotshot.”

Daeun lets out a laugh at this, and he blinks at the sight. Biting the inside of his cheek, he turns back towards the screen to try and ignore the memory that’s playing behind his eyes.

“Eric, you already know that I’m terrible at this game.” You say with a laugh as the blonde swipes the card through both machines. He just turns to you with a smile, reaching out and grasping your hand to pull you up onto the arrows. 

“Which is why this is a good game for us to play, so that I can win and you can lose.” Eric tells you, and you scoff at this. He squeezes your warm hand with his cold one, “It’s only fair since you always make me play air hockey when you know that I’m bad.”

Pressing your lips into a thin line, you sigh in defeat and gesture towards the game. “Alright, choose a song.” 

He grins and turns towards the screen, scrolling through until he finds the song he wanted to dance to with you. After making his selection, he steps back and grasps onto the handle behind him, giving you a smile as you bite your bottom lip in anticipation. 

“You ready?” Eric asks when the first notes of the song plays through the speakers, and you just shake your head with a furrow beginning to form between your eyebrows. He giggles at your expression, before turning towards the screen once the arrows start to show. 

It’s only a few seconds into the song and he can already hear you struggling, and he bites back a laugh when you start cursing out the game moments later.

“WAH! Why is it going so fast?!” You exclaim, and Eric glances at you to see your desperate attempts at trying to stomp on the arrows at the right time. He’s unable to hold back his laugh this time, making you turn to see him smiling widely as he starts to focus on the game again. 

He’s caught off guard when your arms suddenly wrap around him, messing him up in the game as he laughs at your sudden intrusion. You quickly pull him down into a headlock, “You think my suffering is funny?” 

“Yn! The game!” Eric says through his laughter, and you shake your head. 

“No more dance dance revolution!” You tell him, letting out a laugh when he makes an attempt to keep stomping on the arrows. He giggles at the sound, glancing up to see the bright smile on your face as you continue to try and sabotage him. 

“Eric! I thought you were good at this game!” He blinks out of the memory when he hears Daeun’s voice, and he curses to himself when he realizes he zoned out in the middle of the song. He quickly makes an attempt to get back on track, but the memory of that day prevents him from doing so.

Once the song ends, and it’s clear that Daeun beat him by a landslide, the blonde walks up to his side with a happy smile on her face.

“See? Told you that I’d win. I am just too good at dance dance revolution.” She tells him cockily, and Eric lets out a strained chuckle as he glances around the arcade for another game to play.

“I thought you were doing well in the beginning, though. What happened?” Daeun asks as he starts leading the way towards the racing games, and the redhead doesn’t respond. He bites his bottom lip when he remembers the bright smile that was on your face that day, and he feels his heart pang at the fact that he’ll never be able to see it directed towards him again.

“You were distracted, just like you are now.” Daeun says in a soft voice, reaching out and grasping Eric’s hand. He stops at the physical contact, finally turning to glance at the blonde who’s looking at him with a bit of concern. He lets out an awkward laugh, reaching up and rubbing the back of his neck with his free hand. “Sorry, I was thinking about something. What were you saying?” 

“You’re distracted, Eric.” Daeun repeats once they arrive at the racing games, and he blinks at her slowly. Turning away, he just nods his head as he climbs into the driver’s seat, removing his hand from her grasp while he mutters, “Yeah.”

Daeun stands there for a moment, staring at the back of Eric’s head as she tries to ignore the feeling of her empty hand. Clenching her fist, she moves and sits in the driver’s seat beside him, resting her hands on the steering wheel as she turns to him with a small smile, “You ready to play?” 

And Eric can only nod quietly, obviously distracted as he swipes the game card in the slot. 

“Yeah, I guess I am.”

“How’s your relationship with Younghoon going?” You look up to see Hyunjae looking at you with an inquisitive expression, and you give him a grin as you take the sliced apple from his plate and pop it into your mouth. “It’s going alright, it’s close to our three months.” 

Hyunjae nods his head at your response, taking a sip of water while he watches you quietly. 

You and Hyunjae have been close friends since elementary, with the two of you watching each other grow over the years. He was the one who had actually introduced you to Eric in your guys’ first year of university, deciding to play cupid due to the feeling that you both would get along. 

He never expected for your relationship to end the way that it did.

“You like him a lot?” Hyunjae asks, and you nod your head without looking up at your friend. Scrolling through your phone, you can feel the brunette’s eyes on you as you avoid eye contact, and you let out a breath when the tension becomes too much for you. Putting your phone down, you finally lift your head and look at Hyunjae, “Yes. I like Younghoon a lot.” 

“Someone’s snappy today.” Hyunjae points out as he takes a bite of an apple slice, and you roll your eyes at this. “You ask me this question every time we meet. How do you expect me to not be annoyed by now?” 

“Because as your childhood friend, you love me a lot.” He answers confidently, only for his eyes to widen when you rub the back of your neck and look around at anything but him.

“You love me… right?” 

“Wow, I think there’s a breeze in here.” You mutter, and Hyunjae gently kicks your shin underneath the kitchen table, eliciting a laugh from you when you finally turn back towards him. Reaching out across the table, you pat his head fondly, “Yes, I love you very much.”

He grins when you retract your hand, and you smile back at him. He picks up another apple slice, biting into it as you pick up your phone to scroll through your feed once again. Biting the inside of his cheek, he decides to ask one more question. 

“Do you see you and Younghoon having a future together?” 

You physically pause, glancing up to see Hyunjae looking at you with that same inquisitive expression on his face. Except this time, you notice an indecipherable emotion in his gaze, a look that you can’t make out as he stares at you. 

Biting the inside of your cheek, you set your phone down, “Why do you ask?” 

“You know exactly why.” Hyunjae answers with ease, and you clench your jaw. 

You do know why. You know exactly why Hyunjae is asking you this, but you don’t want to acknowledge it. You don’t want to look back on the past, not now, and not ever, if you’re being honest. 

Turning away, you glance out the window of his apartment, “We are not talking about this right now, Hyunjae.”

“Then when will we?” He asks, and you just shake your head. Hyunjae lets out a sigh and leans, patting the corner of the table closest to you to try and get your attention, “Yn, we have to talk about it–”

“No!” You exclaim as you stand up from the table, turning to Hyunjae with wide eyes. He’s just staring up at you with genuine worry etched across his features, and you clench your fist at your side. 

“We will not talk about it, not now, and not ever. Younghoon and I are doing fine, there’s no reason for me to be thinking about a possible future when we’ve only been dating for less than three months!” 

Silence fills the room after your outburst, and you blink your eyes as you turn away from him. Bending down, you pick up your bag and throw it over your shoulder, “I’m going back to my apartment, bye Hyunjae.”

You hurry over towards the door and slip on your sneakers. Right as you’re about to rest your hand on the door handle, the soft call of your name has you stopping in your tracks. Slowly, you turn back to find Hyunjae standing by the kitchen table, looking at you with a sad smile on his face. 

“You told me you saw a future with Eric when the two of you had only been dating for three months.” 

You lower your gaze towards the floor, remembering the day you had confessed to the brunette that you really wanted things to work out with Eric. You would’ve thought that Hyunjae would’ve forgotten about such a thing, but you underestimated him. 

Raising your hand up to gently scratch at your cheek, you pause when you feel the wetness to your skin. Blinking, you reach up and wipe at your face with the back of your hands, only to realize that you’ve been crying this whole time. 

Quietly cursing to yourself, you rest your hand on the doorknob once again and turn towards Hyunjae one last time, 

“I may have seen a future with him, but he didn’t want one with me.” 

Eric lays on the floor of Sunwoo’s room, tossing up a baseball and catching it as he waits for Hyunjun to come back with some snacks. Sunwoo spins his chair around to check on his friend, just to snort when Eric completely misses the ball and it falls on his nose. 

“Shit.” Eric mutters to himself as he sits up from the floor, rubbing at the bridge of his nose in hopes that it won’t bruise. Sunwoo chuckles quietly to himself, watching as the redhead even goes so far as to roll the baseball to the other side of his bedroom. 

“You good?” Sunwoo asks, pointing to his own nose when Eric turns to glance at him. He lets out a quiet chuckle, squeezing the bridge of his nose as he responds, “A bit. I just hope it doesn’t bruise cause it’ll look like I got in a fight.” 

“I highly doubt that.” Sunwoo tells him, and Eric purses his lips. “But what if they did? Does it look like I won?” 

Sunwoo blinks at Eric for the question, before breaking out into a loud fit of laughter that has him bending over and punching his desk. Eric squints at his best friend, wondering what’s funny about the question as Sunwoo practically loses his mind. 

“What’s so funny about that question?” Eric asks as he reaches out to slap his peach haired friend’s leg, watching as he makes an attempt to calm himself down. He rolls his eyes when Sunwoo goes as far as wiping away a tear that managed to escape his eye from his laughter. 

“I’m sorry, it’s just.” Sunwoo begins, only to slap a hand over his mouth as another round of laughter threatens to break through. Eric sits on the floor, waiting patiently for his answer while he tilts his head at him. “It’s just so funny to think about you winning a fight.” 

“AYO?! I have won a fight before!” 

“Pft, no you haven’t.” A third voice pops into the room, making the two glance towards the door to see Hyunjun walking in with snacks he stole from Sunwoo’s pantry. 

“While I love you for bringing us snacks, what the fuck do you mean I haven’t won a fight before?”

“Don’t you remember that one guy who was flirting with yn at the frat party in your freshman year and you immediately tried to swing at him?” Sunwoo asks, red in the face from how hard he was laughing moments prior. Eric bites his bottom lip at the memory, before laying back onto the floor again as he’s flooded with embarrassment. 

“Okay, but I was really scrawny back then.” 

“And you think you can beat him now?” Hyunjun jokes, and Eric tries to inconspicuously feel his biceps before answering. Sunwoo snorts at the sight and turns back towards his pc, attempting to finish writing his essay as his two friends talk behind him. 

“How was your date with Daeun? Didn’t you guys go to the arcade?” Hyunjun asks as he throws a piece of popcorn towards the redhead, cheering when Eric manages to catch it in his mouth. He nods his head as he chews on the kernel, “Yeah, she was really passionate about dance dance revolution.” 

“Must’ve sucked for her to find out that you’re practically a God at that game.” Sunwoo chimes from his desk with a small laugh, and Hyunjun nods in agreement as the two remember how competitive Eric is when it comes to arcade games. 

Eric tilts his head to the side at the memory of that day, drinking some soda as he avoids eye contact with his friends. “Actually, she beat me.” 

The two fall silent at the news, with Sunwoo even turning around in his chair to look at Eric with a flabbergasted expression on his face. He points at the younger, “What song did you two dance to?”

Eric reaches up and rubs the back of his neck, glancing down at the floor as he quietly answers, “Egoism.”

Hyunjun blinks, before turning to Sunwoo to see the look on his face mirrored on the latter. The black haired beauty turns back to Eric, “Is she really that good at dance dance revolution?”

Eric nods his head, and Sunwoo gasps quietly at the easy answer. Bending down, he grabs a handful of popcorn and tosses a few pieces into his mouth. He lets out a breath, before glancing at Eric, “So you’ve finally met your match then, huh?” 

Hyunjun watches as an indecipherable emotion flashes past Eric’s eyes at Sunwoo’s choice of words, and he bites the inside of his cheek when Eric just shrugs his shoulders. The redhead moves to lay on his back again, staring up at the ceiling in silence as Sunwoo and Hyunjun exchange concerned glances. 

“Eric–”

“I… I keep…” Eric begins, and Sunwoo looks down at his friend, only for his jaw to drop slightly when he sees the tears welling up in his eyes. “Eric, what’s wrong?” 

“I keep seeing them.” He mutters, so quiet that it almost goes unheard by Sunwoo and Hyunjun. The black haired beauty frowns, “Seeing who?” 

Silence falls over the room, the question lingering in the air as the two wait for Eric’s answer. They watch as Eric just blinks up at the ceiling in an attempt to get the tears to go away. He fails though, because the tears escape from his eyes when he finally confesses,

“Yn. I keep seeing yn.” 

Sunwoo immediately gets up from his chair and kneels down beside the redhead, eyes laced with worry as he watches more tears trail down the side of Eric’s face. Biting the inside of his cheek, he rests a hand on Eric’s arm, “Eric, let’s go get some water–” 

“Everytime I look at Daeun, I can only see them. Everytime we do something, no matter what it is, I get glimpses of what we used to be. Daeun coming to greet me on campus? I see me surprising yn after class. Daeun being good at arcade games? I see yn being bad at them.” Eric cries, the sobs slowly beginning to pour out as more memories push past his eyes so that you’re the only thing he can think of. 

He raises his hands up to his face, “I can’t get them out of my head, but they’ve moved on. How could they move on? After almost four years together? Do they still think of me? Think of us?” 

Hyunjun’s eyes widen when Eric begins to hyperventilate, and he and Sunwoo try to help Eric sit up from the floor. The redhead sobs loudly into his hands, hiding his face from his friends as the feeling of heartbreak floods his chest. 

Sunwoo feels his eyes fill with tears as he reaches out and gently pulls Eric into his embrace. He pats his back as Eric cries loudly into his shoulder, this scenario being all too familiar for him. 

“Sunwoo.” Your voice rings out from the other end of the phone, and he bites his bottom lip as he grabs his jacket from the back of his door. “Is he there again?” 

He hears rustling on the other end, and he can only assume you’re nodding your head, “Yeah, can you come get him? I don’t want him to fall asleep out there.” 

“Yeah, I’m already on my way.” Sunwoo says once he steps out of his apartment and hurries towards the elevators. He doesn’t end the call right away, and his eyebrows furrow when he hears you sniffle. 

“Yn, are you really sure you–” 

“Thank you for coming to get him. Goodnight, Sunwoo.” You interrupt, and he blinks when you quickly end the call. Letting out a sigh, he pockets his phone and presses the main floor button of the elevator. 

It’s only 15 minutes later when he’s made it to your front door, finding Eric asleep on your step, a blanket draped over his shoulders. He can only assume that it’s from you, and he gently removes it from around the blonde, folding it nicely and setting it on the step. 

He gently pats Eric’s shoulder, “Eric, wake up. I’ll take you to my apartment.” 

The blonde’s eyes slowly open at the voice, feeling disoriented as he reaches up and rubs at his eyes. Sunwoo grasps Eric’s arm and throws it over his shoulder, helping him up from the step and bringing him in the direction of his home before his drunk friend can question anything.

“W-Where’s yn?” Eric slurs after the two cross the street, and Sunwoo just tightens his hold on Eric’s wrist as they keep walking. “S-Sunwoo, where’s yn?” 

“They’ll meet us at my apartment, okay?” Sunwoo lies, hoping that his answer will appease the drunk blonde. Frowning, Eric rips his arm out of Sunwoo’s grasp and almost immediately falls to the ground, “Liar.” 

“Eric, please.” Sunwoo begs as he bends down to try and help his friend up, only to freeze when he hears Eric sniffle. Biting the inside of his cheek, he tentatively rests a hand on his back, “Eric?”

“Why?” Eric mutters, tears falling from his eyes and onto the sidewalk below him. Through his drunken haze, all he can think about is the breakup and nothing else. “What happened to us?” 

“Eric, let’s go to my apartment.” Sunwoo tells him as he makes an attempt to help the blonde up again, only to stop when Eric’s shoulders begin to shake as he holds back his sobs. 

“W-Why won’t they talk to me? W-Why won’t they try? W-What happened? Why are we like this now?” Eric cries out, feeling his body become wracked with sobs as he lowers his head to the ground. Sunwoo blinks back his own tears as he shakes his head, reaching out and helping Eric sit up, before pulling his friend into his arms. 

“S-Sunwoo, it hurts. Everything hurts.” Eric sobs into Sunwoo’s shoulder, and his friend can only pat his back in silence as he stares up at the night sky with tears in his eyes. 

He finds that there’s no stars in the sky tonight.

“I-It still hurts. Why does it still hurt so bad?” Eric sobs, and Sunwoo stays quiet as Hyunjun tries to soothingly rub the redhead’s back. Eric shuts his eyes tightly as the memory of your breakup comes to mind, more tears trailing down his face as he cries out, 

“W-Why did they leave me?” 

“How’d you and Younghoon start dating?” You look up from your food to find Nayeon waiting for you to answer her question, the food on her plate starting to go cold. Snorting, you gesture towards her rice, “Your food’s gonna go cold if you don’t eat it now.” 

You watch as she quickly gets a big portion of food on her spoon, before shoving it into her mouth. Biting back a laugh, you try to focus on your own meal as Nayeon practically chokes from how much she’s trying to swallow. Rolling your eyes, you hand her a napkin, which she quickly grabs to cover her mouth as she coughs. 

“When I told you to eat your food, I didn’t mean shove it down your esophagus.” You giggle, and she waves her hand at you while she takes a large gulp of water. Setting the glass down, she lets out a breath and points at you, “In my defense, I underestimated how much was on my spoon. However, this isn’t about me.” 

“How is you almost choking not about you–”

“It’s about you telling me your love story with Younghoon since we haven’t been able to catch up over lunch for,” Nayeon pauses and lifts up her wrist to look at her imaginary watch, before looking back at you. “For three months. Three months! Which is how long you and him have been dating, so it’s time for my yearly update on your life.” 

“You sound like my mother.” You mutter as you eat a spoonful of your bibimbap, and Nayeon shoots you a glare for the side comment. Sighing, you place your spoon down and make sure to properly chew your food before you glance at your friend.

“He had liked me for a while before the two of us got together since we were always paired together in projects.” You begin quietly, looking out the window of the restaurant as you remember the day you and Younghoon started dating. 

Stepping out from the library, you let out a huff when you see the rain falling from the cloudy sky above you. Reaching for the pocket of your backpack, you bite your bottom lip when you don’t feel the umbrella where it’s supposed to be. 

“Of course I’d leave my umbrella at home when it’s raining.” You grumble, tilting your head up towards the sky as you wonder whether or not you should just wait it out. 

A sad smile forms on your face as numerous memories come to mind, and you lower your head to the ground, “Eric always came to get me on rainy days like this.” 

“Yn!” Your head snaps up at the voice, and you glance over to see your classmate standing at the bottom of the steps, umbrella over his head as he looks at you with a grin. You blink in surprise when he climbs up the stairs, and holds out the umbrella so that it’s protecting the both of you. 

“Younghoon, what are you doing here?” You ask with wide eyes, and you watch as his cheeks turn a pretty shade of pink as he looks at your surprised face. “I remembered that you didn’t have an umbrella after our class ended earlier, so I came to the library since you’re always here.” 

“You knew I didn’t have an umbrella?” Younghoon nods his head at your question, looking rather shy as he looks at everything but you. “I noticed that your umbrella wasn’t in the pocket of your backpack where you usually keep it.” 

You stare at the black haired beauty standing before you, feeling conflicted as you look into his soft eyes. You’ve known for a while that Younghoon likes you, maybe even from the moment the two of you met. He’s one of the more well known students on campus because he’s handsome, tall, kind, and intelligent. Anyone would be thrilled to have the attention of Kim Younghoon.

“Younghoon, do you like me?” You ask, making the latter’s jaw drop slightly at how straightforward you are. He lets out a cough and turns his head away from you, face turning red as you wait for his answer. You watch as he clenches his fists at his sides, gathering all his courage before turning back to you, “I like you, yn. I’ve liked you for a long time.” 

Silence falls over the two of you, the sound of the rain falling onto the pavement being the only thing that you can hear as you stare at the handsome man before you. His confession slowly sinks in the longer you look into his eyes, seeing the hope that floods them as he awaits your answer. 

“Younghoon, you know that Eric and I only broke up three months ago–”

“I know!” He exclaims, and you blink at the interruption. He gulps, rubbing the back of his neck as he reiterates softly, “I know.”

You bite the inside of your cheek, “Then why do you want to date me knowing that I’m still trying to get over him?” 

Younghoon turns his head back towards you with a warm smile, “Because you’re worth every minute of my time, and every drop of love that you deserve to feel.”

Nayeon stays quiet after you finish retelling the story, watching as you take a sip of water while looking out the window. She bites the inside of her cheek when she notices the faraway look in your eyes, before letting out a low whistle, causing you to glance at her. 

“Wow, he’s brave.” Nayeon tells you, and you smile softly while nodding in agreement. “I was surprised too.” 

Taking another spoonful of your food, you’re about to take a bite when you hear her add, 

“I really thought you and Eric were like… endgame. I was surprised to find out you started dating someone else, to be honest.” 

Blinking, you promptly place the spoon back into the bowl. Staring down at your food, you quietly wonder why he keeps being brought up recently. Why now? After thinking you’ve finally moved on. Why does he keep making his way into your life, even in the smallest of ways? 

“Well, I guess life just had other plans.” You respond, mustering a tight smile to try and show that you’re tired of this conversation. However, Nayeon was never the type to back down. 

“Life had other plans, or did you?” She asks, and you stay quiet. Tapping your foot against the floor, you choose to not answer her question as you finally take a bite of your food. 

Nayeon lets out a sigh at your silence, before reaching out and resting her hand over yours on the table. You glance down at where your hands connect, pressing your lips together when you realize that your finger was tapping the top of the table subconsciously.  

“Look, yn. My friends and I are hosting a party next Friday, and I think you should bring your boyfriend. He sounds like a nice guy, and I want to meet him.” Nayeon tells you in a soft voice, and your eyes trail up towards hers, feeling conflicted when you recognize the emotion in her eyes. 

Concern.

Giving her a tight smile, you nod your head, “Yeah, I’ll try my best to go.” 

Eric sits on the bench, staring out at the quad as students walk past him, rushing to make it in time for their classes. He glances down at his phone, checking to see if he’s gotten any new messages, just to turn it off when he sees no notifications. 

After he calmed down from his breakdown a week before, he knew that he couldn’t keep going on dates with Daeun when he still wasn’t over you. He planned out how to talk to Daeun and end things in the nicest way possible, having even prepared to get hit by Sunwoo and Hyunjun taking turns boxing with him. 

“Eric?” He looks up at the call of his name, finding the blonde standing before him, a smile on her face as she fiddles with her fingers. He immediately stands up and gives her a tight smile, gesturing to the bench he was sitting on, “Hi, Daeun. You should sit.” 

She giggles at the fact that he stood up just to tell her to sit down, and she nods while patting his shoulder. “Always such a gentleman. You didn’t have to stand up to tell me that, ya know?” 

“I wanted to. Besides, my mother raised me to be very polite.” Eric tells her with a grin, and she chuckles with a nod of her head. “And that she did very well.” 

Daeun turns to look at him with warmth dripping from her eyes, and Eric’s heart swells with guilt at the sight. Turning away, he glances out at the quad as he mutters, “Thank you for agreeing to meet me here.” 

“Of course, we usually meet at this time anyways. What did you want to talk about?” Daeun asks, and the redhead bites the inside of his cheek when he turns back to face her and sees her unsuspecting gaze as she waits for his answer. Feeling his hands begin to shake on his lap, he slowly folds them together in an attempt to get them to stop as he looks into her eyes. 

“I don’t think we should keep seeing each other, Daeun. I’m really sorry.” Eric says in a soft voice, and he watches as the warmth in her eyes slowly morphs into shock at what she just heard. She blinks and turns away, hearing the sound of her heartbeat against her ears as she comprehends what he said. 

“W-What do you mean? I thought things were going well?” Daeun asks, turning back to the redhead to see the look of guilt on his face. 

Letting out a breath, Eric rubs his hands on his jeans out of nervousness, “Things were going well, they were great even. I just don’t think I’m ready for a relationship yet, and it’s not fair for me to string you along when you could be with someone who’s more deserving of your time and effort.” 

He watches as Daeun’s eyes turn glassy, and she glances down at the ground as she lets his words sink in. She’s had feelings for Eric from the moment he stopped and helped her pick up all the papers she had dropped from her folder. He was so kind, funny, radiant—everything she heard about him through her peers was right. 

But he was dating you at the time.

When the two of you broke up, it was almost as if a piece of him left with you. No one knew why things ended, and she could only imagine what happened between you and Eric. However, Daeun realized she had a chance.

She was thrilled when Eric said yes to her offer of going out for coffee five months after the two of you had broken up, but she knew the reputation he was slowly building. Before her, he had gone on dates with four other people, but they didn’t work out. 

She didn’t want to be like them—she wanted to last with Eric.

But deep down, Daeun’s always knew she could never be you.

“Is it cause of yn?” She asks in a quiet voice, and Eric turns away at the question. She slowly glances up to look at him, and she lets out a breath when she sees that familiar faraway look in his eyes again. 

Ah, so he was thinking of you, Daeun thinks to herself when she remembers all the times he would get distracted whenever they were together. 

“Yeah, it’s because of them.” Eric murmurs, and she fails to notice the flash of pain in his eyes at his answer. Biting her bottom lip, her eyes trail down to his shaking hands, watching as he fiddles with his thumbs to try and get them to stop. 

“Why would you try to go on dates if you still have feelings for yn?” 

Eric just stays quiet for a moment, knowing exactly why, but not wanting to say the answer. He turns towards Daeun, “That’s why I’m ending it with you now, because it’s not fair to you.” 

The blonde looks into his eyes in silence, knowing she should be angry at him. She should be screaming at him right now, maybe even hitting him for just stringing her along. 

She can’t bring herself to do any of that right now, though. Not when she sees how heartbroken he is over you. 

Pressing her lips into a thin line, she manages a small smile as she reaches out and rests her hand over his shaking hands. Rubbing circles with her thumb in an attempt to get him to calm down, she looks up into his eyes. 

“I’m angry that you said yes to me when I asked you out that day a month ago, but I’m also glad that you did, because I got to know you.” Daeun tells him, and Eric feels tears prick the back of his eyes. She pats his hands, and stands up from the bench, looking down at him with a sad smile on her face. 

“Goodbye, Eric.” She says in a quiet voice, and the corner of Eric’s lips quirks upwards at her. Nodding his head, he raises his hand up and gives her a small wave, “Bye, Daeun.” 

And with that, she turns around and walks away from him. He watches as she leaves, staring at the way her blonde hair flows with the cold, Winter wind. A tear finally falls past his eye when the cursed memory comes to mind, the sight of Daeun getting smaller and smaller as she walks away being all too familiar to him. 

Eric steps out of the elevator and hurries over to the entrance, heart thrumming with excitement at finally meeting with you this week. Ever since last weekend, he hasn’t been able to see you because you were so busy, so when he got a text that you were outside of his apartment complex? 

He immediately sprinted out of his apartment wearing his shark slippers. 

Pushing open the doors, he smiles widely when he sees you standing by the garden, scrolling through your phone as you wait. 

“Yn!” Eric calls out as he hurries down the stairs and walks over to you. You don’t look up at the call of your name, and he comes to a stop when he’s a few feet away from you, but you still don’t look at him.

“Yn?” He says in a smaller voice, wondering if you’re okay when you bite the inside of your cheek. He watches as you pocket your phone, and he feels anxiety settle in his chest when you finally look up at him.

Your gaze is hard, no sight of the stars that he’s come to know and love over the years. 

“I-I was surprised when you texted me that you’re outside of my building. I even sprinted out here wearing my beloved shark slippers, see?” Eric explains with a small laugh, gesturing towards his slippers in an attempt to make you feel more at ease. He glances back up into your eyes, and his laughter dies down when you stay quiet, no emotion in your gaze. 

Biting his bottom lip, he points back towards his apartment, “Do you wanna come inside? I can make your favorite–”

“Let’s break up.” 

The rest of the sentence dies in Eric’s throat at your words, turning to you with furrow to his eyebrows as he tries to gauge what you just said. He blinks, “W-What?” 

Staring at him with cold eyes, you let out a breath and turn your head to the side. He can hear his heartbeat in his ears as he looks at you, wondering if he had just misheard you while he waits for you to repeat what you said. 

But his heart sinks when you turn back to him and repeat, 

“Let’s break up, Eric.” 

His eyes widen, and he stumbles back a step like your words physically dealt a blow. He looks at you in confusion, “Why would we break up? It’s almost our four year anniversary, and we’ve been doing great–”

“I’m tired.” You cut off, and Eric just stares at you in silence. Running a hand through his hair, he takes a step forward, searching your eyes for any sort of humor, like this is all some kind of sick prank you’re pulling on him. 

But he doesn’t find anything. 

“What’s wrong, yn? Why are you saying this? Are you going through a tough time right now? You know that we can handle it together.” 

“I don’t want to date you anymore, Eric. Don’t you understand that?” You ask, a blank expression on your face as you look at him. He sucks in a breath, before violently shaking his head at your words. 

“N-No. What happened, yn? What happened in the week that we didn’t see each other? Did I do something wrong? What did I do? I’ll fix whatever it is that I did, just, please. Can we please talk about this?” Eric asks, tears pricking the back of his eyes as he feels himself beginning to grow desperate. You can only stare at the ground in silence, and the blonde reaches out to gently grasp your warm hands in his cold ones. 

“Yn, please. I-I love you, and you love me. We can work this out if you just talk to me and tell me what happened. If it’s something I did, I can fix it. I’ll do anything to fix this, so please–” 

“What makes you think I still love you?” You ask, slowly lifting your head until you’re staring directly into his eyes. 

You see the exact moment his heart breaks, and the pain that floods his gaze as he looks at you. A single tear falls past Eric’s eye, and his hands fall back to his sides as he shakes his head. 

“You don’t mean that.” Eric mutters, and you just stare at him in silence, and that’s all he needs to realize that you’re being serious. 

“I'll drop off your stuff later this week, and you can just drop off my stuff whenever.” You tell him, before turning around and walking away without another word. The blonde bites his bottom lip and shakes his head, shouting out after you, 

“Why do we have to break up?! How can you just end it, after everything?! How could you leave me?!” 

But you don’t turn around, and Eric just stands there like a fool, tears falling from his eyes as he just watches you get smaller and smaller, until you eventually disappear. 

You stare at the top of Younghoon’s head while he studies, nose deep into his book as he tries to focus on the material. You’re debating on how to ask him to attend Nayeon’s party with you on Friday, because you know that he’s not a fan of social gatherings. 

You’re so deep in thought that you fail to see him look up at you, an amused smile forming on his face when he notices the dazed look in your eyes. It’s only when he reaches out and taps the tip of your nose that you realize he’s caught you staring, and you let out a quiet laugh. 

“How long was I daydreaming?” You ask, and the black haired beauty shrugs his shoulders while giving you a grin. “About a minute or so.” 

“That’s not that bad.” You say, and he points at you with the highlighter in his hand, “But you were staring at me for at least ten minutes before that.”

“Damn, you noticed?” 

“You were practically burning holes into the top of my head from how hard you were staring at me. I can tell that something’s on your mind though, what’s up?” Younghoon asks you as he glances down at his book to highlight a sentence really quickly. You tap your nails against the table, slightly annoyed at how easy it is for him to read you now. 

It really puts a dent in your plans.

“So… you know how Nayeon and I got lunch the other day?” Younghoon nods his head yes, and you bite your bottom lip as you try to think of how to phrase the next part. He bites back a giggle at the slight frown on your face, and he reaches across the table, making you freeze in your tracks when he gently rubs his thumb on the crease between your eyebrows until you relax. 

“What’s making you so concerned that you’re frowning?” He teases in a gentle voice, but you can only swallow the lump that’s formed in your throat as you stare at your boyfriend sitting before you. From his pretty smile, to the fondness in his eyes as he looks at you, you want nothing more than to just focus on him. 

But you find your mind trailing to the thought of those warm brown eyes that often held mischief in them, and that sweet smile that had the ability to brighten even the darkest of days. 

“Eric! Stop throwing turtle shells at me!” You shout from the couch, and the blonde just lets out a cackle as he throws another turtle shell at you. You let out a loud groan when you lose once again, tossing your controller onto the couch beside you. 

“You are so bad at Mario Kart.” Eric tells you, and your eyes trail down from the TV and to your boyfriend that’s seated on the floor in front of the couch. He’s looking at you with a shit-eating grin, knowing damn well that he only won because he had decided to ruin your day. 

Blinking your eyes, you stand up and whack the back of his neck, eliciting a squeak out of him. Stepping over him, you head in the direction of the kitchen to get a snack, a deep frown setting on your features since you are a very competitive person. 

But so is Eric.

“Yn! Come on, I was kidding!” You hear Eric call out from behind you, the sound of him scrambling up from the floor to follow after you. You refuse to turn around and enter the kitchen, opening the door to the pantry to look over your chip collection. 

The feeling of arms wrapping around your waist from behind makes your heart rate speed up slightly, but you’re still too stubborn to turn around in his hold. He lets out a breath when you reach out and grab a bag of chips to check if you want to eat it, knowing that you’re ignoring him because you’re mad. 

“I’m sorry, darling. You and I both know that you’re the best at Mario Kart.” 

He bites back his smile when you physically pause at his words, and he internally celebrates when you finally turn around in his hold. He immediately lets out a coo when he sees the frown on your face, finding you to be incredibly cute as he stares into your eyes while you glare at him. 

“We’re having a rematch after my snack break.” You order, and he nods his head at you with a grin. Feeling slightly satisfied at his compliance, you’re about to turn back around when he lets go of your waist and reaches up to cup your face instead. Moving to ask him what he’s doing, you’re rendered speechless when he suddenly leans in and presses a soft kiss to the crease that was between your eyebrows. 

Leaning back, he smiles softly when he sees that the crease is now gone, your features now more relaxed as you look at him in surprise. He gently pinches your cheeks, before murmuring with warmth dripping from his gaze, 

“My pretty, pretty love.”

“Yn? What was it that you wanted to ask me?” Younghoon’s voice snaps you out of the memory, and you bite the inside of your cheek at the fact that you were reminded of him again. Your foot taps against the floor as you remember what you need to ask your boyfriend, and you let out a shaky breath. 

“Nayeon is hosting a party with her friends this Friday, and she wants you and I to come.” You tell him, and the black haired beauty purses his lips in distaste at the mention of a party. He reaches up and rubs the back of his neck, “Yn, you know that I’m not a big fan of–”

“I know.” You interrupt, and he waves his hand to signal you to keep talking. Nodding your head, you continue, “I know you don’t like parties, but I really want you to meet some of my friends. We don’t even have to stay that long! Just a couple hours, and then we can go back to your place and watch a movie or something.”

Younghoon stares at you for a moment once you finish, letting your words settle in as you await his response. Pressing his lips into a thin line, he eventually lets out a small smile and rests his hand over yours on the table. 

“Since you really want me to go, I’ll go with you and make sure that we have fun together.” Younghoon says, and a relieved smile takes over your features. You give his hand a squeeze, “Thank you, Younghoon. I really appreciate you doing this for me.” 

And the black haired beauty nods at you with an indecipherable emotion in his eyes, “I’d do anything for you, yn.”

“Alright, Eric. It’s time to get out of bed!” The redhead lets out a groan at the loud voices, and he rolls onto his stomach so that he can cover his ears with his pillow. 

He sighs when the pillow is snatched out of his grasp, and he turns his head to find Sunwoo and Hyunjun standing over him. He blinks at the two of them, noticing the subtle waves in Sunwoo’s peach colored hair, and the dangly earrings that adorn Hyunjun’s ears. Leaning back a bit in his bed, he quickly realizes that the two are dressed very nicely for just coming into his room to wake him up.

“Did I wake up at Paris Fashion Week or something cause why the fuck are you both dressed so nice?” Eric asks as he points to the both of them, and Sunwoo raises an eyebrow at him. “I told you that Ryujin is hosting a party with her friends tonight.”

Eric bites his bottom lip and rests his head against the mattress, “Ah, you did tell me that.” 

“Exactly, so start getting ready or else Hyunjun is going to make you take three shots of vodka if you’re not done in ten minutes.” 

Eric immediately sits up in bed and squints at the black haired beauty, “You wouldn’t.” 

To which Hyunjun just smirks at him with a quirk of his eyebrow, before turning around and leaving the room. Eric lets out a loud groan when he hears the sound of his kitchen cabinets opening only a moment later, and from there he’s got his answer. 

“Is there a dress code?” Eric asks Sunwoo once he climbs off his bed and walks over to his closet, pushing through the hangers to see what shirt he should wear. His friend just shrugs his shoulders, plopping down onto his bed as he watches the redhead search through his clothes. 

“No, why would there be a dress code?” 

Eric snorts and shoots Sunwoo a look, “Considering the fact that you and Hyunjun dressed like you’re about to walk the runway, I was assuming I should dress like I’m about to meet the fashion god.” 

“And who would be the fashion god?” Sunwoo asks with a grin, to which Eric quickly answers once he pulls out his black button down from the closet,

“Xu Minghao.” 

Sunwoo purses his lips and nods his head in agreement, getting up from his bead with a sigh once he hears the sound of glasses clinking together in the kitchen. He points out the bedroom door, “I think Hyunjun’s about to clear your liquor cabinet since he’s too eager to drink, so I’m going to go and put a stop to the menace.” 

“He said he’d give me ten minutes to get ready, but that bitch is already taking my alcohol.” Eric mutters, and Sunwoo chuckles with a roll of his eyes. “Hurry up and come out so that Hyunjun won’t go feral.” 

“Got it.” Eric says with a quiet laugh, and with that, Sunwoo steps out of the room. When he hears the sound of his two friends laughing in the kitchen, he rests his forehead onto his hanged clothes as a frown takes over his features when he remembers something.

“Isn’t Ryujin roommates with someone I know?” 

You’re sitting on the couch with Younghoon as you listen to him and Nayeon chat enthusiastically about how Tata’s character design doesn’t deserve the hate that it gets. There’s a small smile playing on your lips at how passionate the two are over the heart shaped character, feeling a bit tipsy from the few shots you and Younghoon were forced to take with Nayeon as soon as you walked in.

You suppose this was good for your boyfriend though, considering how much more talkative he is now that he’s slightly inebriated. 

Letting out a breath, your eyes gaze around the living room, seeing groups of people doing different things. It ranges from those dancing to the music playing through the speakers, to people playing cup pong over near the stairs. You glance over at the kitchen and see the doors leading to the balcony down the hallway, and the corner of your lips quirks upwards at the thought of fresh air. 

Turning to Younghoon and Nayeon again, you see your boyfriend nodding his head enthusiastically to every word the blonde is saying about Tata. Biting your bottom lip, you reach out and rest your hand on Younghoon’s knee to get his attention, to which he just rests his hand over yours without glancing back at you.

Letting out a chuckle, you squeeze his knee, and he slowly turns to look at you. A smile immediately forms on his face when he looks into your eyes, and you grin back at him. 

“I’m going to go outside for a bit, it’s too hot in here.” 

“Do you want me to come with you?” Younghoon asks, and you shake your head with a teasing smile on your face as you stare into his brown eyes. “It’s okay, I’ll only be gone for a few minutes. Besides, you’re having a very serious conversation with Nayeon about the hatred Tata faces.” 

You watch as a wave of determination floods his eyes from the reminder of his last conversation, and you laugh at the sight. Standing up from the couch, you signal to Nayeon that you’re going outside, and she gives you a thumbs up. As you start to head towards the back door, you can already hear Younghoon and Nayeon sparking up their conversation once again. 

“Eric~ take another shot with me.” Hyunjun says in a singsong voice as he holds out the shot glass to the redhead, and Sunwoo grimaces slightly when Eric grabs it and downs the alcohol right away. He already knows that his two friends are shitfaced, and while he’s a bit drunk himself—he’s sure that he won’t be throwing up in the morning. 

Sunwoo lets out a sigh when Eric rests his forehead onto the kitchen counter after Hyunjun disappears to get some more alcohol, and he walks up and gently pats his best friend’s back. “Eric, do you want me to go get you some water?” 

Eric only groans in response, which Sunwoo takes as a yes. He lets the redhead know that he’ll be right back, and walks in the direction of the fridge to grab a couple water bottles since he’s already decided on forcing the water down Hyunjun’s throat as well. 

You squeeze past the different groups of people, your lips pulling downwards in distaste at all the sweaty bodies you’ve had to push through. Your eyes brighten when you finally see the doors to the backyard, and you hurry past the kitchen and into the hallway. 

You suck in a deep breath of fresh air when you finally push through the doors and walk out onto the balcony, feeling grateful that you’re alone as you walk over to the railing. Resting your forearms onto the cool surface, you stare up at the stars that adorn the sky with a sad smile playing on your lips. 

“Why do the stars always remind me of him?” You whisper to yourself, letting out a sigh as you lower your head.

The doors bursting open behind you make you jump up and glance back, eyes wide as you stare at the top of the person’s head. They’re slouched against the door, head hanging as they stare at the ground in their drunken state. 

“Are you okay?” You tentatively ask, staring at their red hair as their grip on the door handle tightens. You’re about to step forward to check on the person, only to stop when they finally look up and lock eyes with you.

Eric’s standing there, hand gripping the door handle for dear life to keep his balance as he stares into your eyes. The two of you haven’t been this close in months, having kept your distance a month after the break up. You know he’s not in the right state of mind based on the alcohol you smell on him, because he knows better than to try and talk to you. 

“Yn.” Eric slurs out, and you clench your jaw at your name falling past his lips. He blinks slowly as he looks at you, and he can start to hear his heartbeat against his ears when he’s reminded of how beautiful you are. 

“I didn’t know you were at this party.” He murmurs as he attempts to take a step forward, and you’re about to reach out to catch him when he almost immediately loses his balance once he lets go of the door. However, he catches himself by grabbing onto the railing, and the sound of the door closing behind him is heard as you slowly lower your arms back to your sides. 

“Nayeon invited me and Younghoon.” You tell him, and you fail to notice his grip tightening around the railing at the mention of your boyfriend. He blinks at you slowly, unable to believe that you’re real as the moonlight casts a pretty glow over your features. 

And you stare at him, feeling your heart pang when you see all the stars make its way back into those warm brown eyes of his the longer he looks at you.

Biting the inside of your cheek, you turn away and face the door. Pointing towards it, you mutter, “I’m leaving now. You can have the balcony to yourself.” 

You walk past him to get to the door without waiting for a response, and right as you reach out to grab the handle, you feel his cold hand gently grasp onto your wrist. You freeze in your spot, staring at the door with wide eyes as he continues to hold onto you. 

“Eric, let go.” You say, but he doesn’t move. Silence falls over the two of you as the cold Winter air breezes past you, and you find yourself wondering why you aren’t doing anything. 

Why are you just standing there, allowing him to hold onto you? Why aren’t you cursing at him, removing your arm from his grasp? 

Why is your heart pounding against your chest at the fact that you’re alone with him after six months of staying away?

You shut your eyes, knowing that your boyfriend is just waiting for you inside of the house. Sucking in a breath, you try again, “Eric—”

“I miss you.” He finally says, his voice being well below a whisper that you almost didn’t hear him. You don’t move, blinking down at the ground with tired eyes as he clings to your arm like a lifeline. 

You bite your bottom lip, refusing to look at him as you respond, “Eric, we can’t do this.” 

“I miss us, yn.” 

You stay quiet, trying to fight away the tears that are threatening to spill from your eyes. You tilt your head up towards the night sky, staring up at the stars to try and distract yourself from your ex-boyfriend. 

“You don’t miss me?” Eric whispers, and you blink up at the sky, feeling a wave of frustration wash over you when all you can think about when you look at the stars is him. Eric feels tears flood his eyes as he stares at the back of your head in a drunken haze, wanting nothing more than for you to turn around so that he can see your face again. He takes a small step forward, “You don’t miss us?” 

Your eyebrows furrow at the question, and you slowly lower your head so that you’re staring at the door handle again. You finally turn so that you’re facing the redhead, and you feel your throat constrict when you see the glassiness to his eyes as he stares at you. 

Your eyes are cold as you look at him, similar to that of the night you broke up with him. However, he notices an emotion to them that he knows all too well, for it’s the same one he sees whenever he looks at himself in the mirror.

Pain.

“No, I don’t miss you. I don’t miss us.” You state and yank your arm out of his grasp. You watch as his hand slowly lowers back to his side, and you silently curse to yourself for the guilt that’s flooding your chest as you look at him. Sucking in a breath, you turn away and point towards the door, “Can I leave now?” 

He stays quiet, just staring down at the ground as you wait for his response. Letting out a sigh, you turn around and walk towards the door. Reaching out to grab the handle, you’re about to open it when you hear him mutter something that makes you stop in your tracks. 

You glance back at him, “What did you just say?”

Eric’s staring at you, leaning against the railing as he lets out a dry laugh. Running a hand through his red hair, he turns away as he repeats himself, 

“Leaving me is as easy as ever for you, isn’t it?” 

Your eyebrows furrow at this, “That’s not true.” 

“Isn’t it, though?” Eric asks, turning back to face you with a tired gaze. Your eyes latch onto the tear that’s managed to escape his eye, following it as it slowly trails down his cheek. He gestures to you with his hand, “You suddenly left me after almost four years of being together, and never gave an explanation as to why because you cut off all contact with me. And now that we’re here, you’re leaving me again.” 

You squint at him, “That doesn’t mean it was easy for me.” 

“It sure as hell seemed easy.” Eric retorts, and you press your lips together in a thin line. Rolling your eyes, you turn back around, “Whatever, I’m not doing this right now cause you’re fucking drunk.” 

“You LEFT me, yn. You left, not me!” Eric exclaims right when your hand rests on the door handle, and you feel a burst of anger flood through you at his words. Turning around, you walk right up to Eric and poke his chest, causing him to take a step back as his eyes widen. 

“YOU’RE the one who wanted me to leave!” You yell, and his eyebrows furrow in confusion.  

“What are you talking about–”

“YOU’RE the one who fucking got drunk and moped to all our friends about how you weren’t ready for commitment and that you wanted to be single again! It was YOU!” You shout, and his eyes widen when he’s reminded of that drunken night six months ago.

“Eric, why did you have to get so shitfaced?” Hyunjun whines after Eric’s head almost slams forward onto the table, but Sunwoo had shoved his hand out right away so that he could catch the blonde before he hurt himself. 

“I already called yn, so they should be closeby now.” Sunwoo tells Hyunjun, to which he nods his head while patting Eric’s back.

“I’m scared.” Eric mutters, voice muffled by the table. Sunwoo and Hyunjun exchange a glance, before leaning towards the blonde, “What are you scared of?” 

“The future. Adulthood. Marriage.” Hyunjun raises an eyebrow at Eric’s answer, and he turns away to take a sip of water. 

“Is that why you decided to get shitfaced?” Sunwoo asks, and he watches as the blonde nods his head against his hand. He lets out a small smile at how drunk Eric is, waiting for his friend to continue speaking as he glances out the window of the restaurant to see if you’ve arrived yet. 

Eric lifts up his head and glances at Sunwoo, before turning towards Hyunjun. He sniffles and wipes at his nose, “Yn and I were talking about what we’ll do when we graduate, and when we think it’ll be a good time to get married. I freaked out after they left because I realized that we’re like, actually growing up and have to save money to start the rest of our lives.” 

Hyunjun presses his lips into a thin line, understanding his friend’s fears as he continues to pat Eric’s back. “I understand where you’re coming from, but you’ll have us and yn to help navigate this whole adulting shit with you.” 

“What if I’m not ready though?” Eric begins, and Sunwoo bites the inside of his cheek when he notices the slight panic in his eyes. “What if I can’t find a job that’ll help support yn and I when we get married? Everything is so expensive nowadays, and then we’re eventually going to start a family—oh God. I need another shot.”

Sunwoo frowns when the blonde reaches out and downs another shot, “Are you saying you don’t want to get married to yn?”

Eric blinks tiredly at his friend after he sets the glass down, before his head falls onto the table a second time, with Hyunjun there to catch him this time. 

And you stand by the wall, hidden from the three as you stare down at the floor with wide eyes at what you just heard. Feeling a tear fall past your eye, you cover your mouth to hold back the sob from escaping your lips, and turn around and walk out of the restaurant.

Something wet falls onto the tip of your nose, snapping you out of the memory. Blinking in confusion, you and Eric both look up towards the sky, watching as the first snow of the year begins to descend down onto the two of you. 

You let out a breath when the saying comes to mind, and you let out a quiet laugh at the irony of it all.

If you witness the first snowfall with someone, true love will blossom between both and it will be long-lasting.

Lowering your head so that you’re facing him again, you find Eric already staring at you with tears falling from his eyes. You bite the inside of your cheek, ignoring the way your vision blurs with tears of your own as you harshly poke his chest while you hiss out,

“I may have made the decision to leave first, but mentally? You had already left.” 

And with that, you turn around and move towards the door, only to freeze when you lock eyes with Younghoon. His hand is on the door handle, a pained expression on his face as he looks between you and Eric. There’s snowflakes melting on his black hair, signaling that he’s been out here with you and Eric since the snow first began to fall. 

You quickly wipe away the tears falling from your eyes and take a tentative step forward, reaching out to rest your hand over his, “Y-Younghoon, when did you get here—” 

The rest of the question dies in your throat when he flinches away from your touch, and you slowly let your arm fall back to your side. You stare into his eyes, feeling your vision begin to blur when he doesn’t make a move towards you.

“Younghoon, you know that I—”

“I knew that it would be hard for you to get over him.” Younghoon finally speaks, looking at the redhead with an indecipherable emotion in his eyes. Eric bites his bottom lip and shakes his head, “I was the one who kept yn here, they didn’t want anything to do with me—” 

“Yet I would’ve thought that you had gotten over him by now, but based on the tears falling from your eyes… I can see that I was bold to even think that.” Your boyfriend states, and before you can utter another word, he turns around and walks off the balcony. Guilt floods your chest, and you immediately fling open the door and follow after him to try and talk it out. 

Leaving Eric alone outside, the first snowfall of the year falling around him as he stares blankly at the door you had left through. Tears fall from his eyes, and he glances down at the ground as he lets out a dry laugh. 

“It was all my fault.” He murmurs to himself, unable to remember what happened the rest of that night because he blacked out.

He slowly sinks to the ground, bringing his knees up to his chest and wrapping his arms around them. Another laugh escapes him, then another, until it eventually turns into sobs as he sits alone on the balcony.

It’s only moments later when Sunwoo finds him, shivering from the cold as he sobs into his best friend’s arms. He’s only able to mutter that it’s his fault, that it was all his fault, until he passes out. 

You’re sitting at a bar, cheek resting against the table as the bass of the music vibrates through the furniture. You came by yourself an hour ago, and downed five drinks on an empty stomach within that hour alone.

And now you’re drunk.

It’s been a week since the party, and Younghoon hasn’t answered any of your calls or texts. You haven’t seen him on campus either, and you can only assume that he’s doing his best to avoid you.

Not that you can blame him, though.

You bite the inside of your cheek at the reminder of his pained expression when he looked at you, another wave of guilt washing over you as you let out a groan. You raise your hand up without lifting your head, and you hear the bartender ask you what you’d like. 

Right as you’re about to answer, you feel your hand get lowered, and a familiar voice replies from behind you, “I think they’ve had enough, thank you.”

Your eyebrows furrow, and you lift your head to look behind you, just to see Sunwoo sitting down in the seat beside you with a grin on his face. Your frown deepens when you realize that there’s a hand still resting over your own, and you turn your head, just to lock eyes with Hyunjae, who’s giving you a small smile. 

Your bottom lip quivers when you see your best friend, and he lets out a quiet laugh when tears immediately flood your eyes. He opens his arms without a word, and you quickly step into his embrace, a sob escaping your lips as soon as his comforting scent floods your nose.

He rests his cheek on your head, gently rubbing your back as you cry into his chest. He quietly mutters, “Cry it out, it’s okay. It’ll be okay, yn. I promise.”

And you cry. You cry so hard that you can barely breathe as you cling onto Hyunjae like a lifeline. 

But deep down, you don’t want to accept just who exactly you are crying over.

Sunwoo comes up to the table and places a glass of water in front of you, giving you a comforting smile as he sits down across from you. You let out a small grin, “Long time no see, Sunwoo.” 

“I would ask how you’ve been, but I can already see that you’ve had better days.” Sunwoo says, and you poke your tongue into your cheek as you turn away. Hyunjae snorts at your reaction, and Sunwoo chuckles while reaching out to pat the top of your head. 

“You sobered up a bit?” Hyunjae asks, and you nod your head as you take a large gulp of water, having not realized how dehydrated you were. “I’m tipsy at best, but not as shitfaced as I was earlier.” 

Sunwoo glances at Hyunjae after your answer, and you watch as they seem to start talking through their gazes. Feeling a bit left out, you pat the table, getting their attention back on you.

“Can I ask why you and Hyunjae came to get me? I understand Hyunjae since he’s my best friend, but you and I haven’t spoken since…” You trail off, finding yourself unable to say the two words for some reason. Sunwoo presses his lips together and finishes the sentence for you, “The break up.” 

You bite the inside of your cheek and nod your head, feeling a bit more guilt weight itself over you for practically cutting off all contact with Sunwoo and Hyunjun after you and Eric broke up. You already knew that they were shocked when you ended things with him, and you had assumed they had ill feelings towards you for the way you broke it off. 

You felt even worse when you had to keep calling Sunwoo or Hyunjun to come and pick up Eric from your doorstep for two months straight. 

“When I found Eric on the balcony a week ago, he told me what you said.” Sunwoo begins, and you glance down at the reminder of your argument. He shares a glance with Hyunjae, before letting out a breath, “I don’t think you got the whole story of that night Eric got shitfaced.”

Your eyebrows furrow, and you look up to see Sunwoo looking at you, trying to gauge your reaction. You rest your hands on the table, “How could I have gotten the story wrong when I heard everything you guys said? You were the one who even called me to come and pick Eric up.”

“But you left and called me to come pick up Eric instead, who was passed out by the time I got there.” Hyunjae interjects, and you shake your head. “I only left after hearing that Eric wanted to break up with me.” 

“Eric never said he wanted to break up with you.” Sunwoo states, and you blink at this. Leaning closer to the table, you look between Sunwoo and Hyunjae in confusion, “What do you mean?” 

Sunwoo sighs, “That night, you didn’t hear everything that was said.” 

“What if I’m not ready though?” Eric begins, and Sunwoo bites the inside of his cheek when he notices the slight panic in his eyes. “What if I can’t find a job that’ll help support yn and I when we get married? Everything is so expensive nowadays, and then we’re eventually going to start a family—oh God. I need another shot.”

Sunwoo frowns when the blonde reaches out and downs another shot, “Are you saying you don’t want to get married to yn?”

Eric blinks tiredly at his friend after he sets the glass down, before his head falls onto the table a second time, with Hyunjun there to catch him this time. 

“Eric, I get that you’re shitfaced, but you gotta stop trying to get a concussion.” Hyunjun murmurs sleepily after a moment of silence falls over the three of them, taking a sip of water as he feels the frown that forms on Eric’s face from what he said. 

Sunwoo nudges the blonde’s knee, “Eric, do you not want to get married to yn?” 

Eric shakes his head, reaching out and slapping Sunwoo’s arm for continuing to bring up that question. “Why do you keep asking that? When did I say that?” 

“It’s what you’re making it sound like.” Sunwoo says with a soft laugh, rubbing the part of his arm that Eric smacked. The blonde shuts his eyes and lets out a short burp, eliciting a grin from Hyunjun, “I’m just scared about not being enough for them, you know? What if I fail at being able to give them the life they deserve?” 

“That’s not only your responsibility though, Eric. You and yn need to work together to be able to attain the life that you both deserve.” Hyunjun tells him, and Eric lets out a yawn as he keeps his eyes closed. A small smile forms on his lips as your smile comes to mind, and he quietly murmurs before he passes out, 

“I’m in love with yn, I don’t ever want to be apart from them.”

You stare down at the table with wide eyes after Sunwoo finishes telling you the whole story, tears flooding them as you think of what you’ve done. Hyunjae watches in concern when you clench your fists over your legs, biting your bottom lip to try and fight the sob that threatens to escape. 

“Yn, say something–”

“It’s my fault.” You whisper, raising a shaky hand up to your head to push back your hair. You shut your eyes tightly as you reach up, covering your face with your hands, “It’s all my fucking fault.”

“Yn?” 

You let out a sob, all the flashes of Eric’s pained face whenever he looked at you coming to mind as your mistake sinks in. You grip at your hair, trying to take a deep breath but ultimately failing when you find yourself crying even harder. 

“Almost e-every night for two months, h-he came to my door and waited for me so that we could talk, but I just left him out there.” You cry, and Hyunjae reaches out and softly rubs your back to try and comfort you. 

You slam your hand down onto the table, and Sunwoo bites the inside of his cheek when he sees how heartbroken you look as you keep your gaze casted downwards. “If I h-had just given him the chance to talk to me, then this wouldn’t have happened. Instead, I was just so fucking cruel to him because I thought he didn’t want to be with me anymore. I’m such a bitch.”

Hyunjae takes a table napkin from the stand and holds it out over your nose, and you shoot him a glance, but he just shakes the napkin in front of you. “Blow your nose.”

“T-That’s gross.” You hiccup, and Hyunjae squints at you while pushing the napkin onto your nose. “We’ve been friends for years, I don’t care. Blow.”

Much to your dismay, you lean in and blow your nose into the napkin that Hyunjae’s holding for you. Sunwoo gives you a sad smile when you lean back from the napkin, and Hyunjae stands up to throw it away. 

“Yn, you know that you need to talk to Eric, right?” You slowly nod your head, staring down at the table with a faraway look to your eyes as tears trail down your cheeks. You blink when the feeling of a hand falls over yours, and you look up to see Sunwoo’s thumb rubbing circles onto the back of your hand.

“But before you talk to Eric, you need to sort out your feelings first and figure out what you want.” Sunwoo tells you, and you bite your bottom lip when you remember the pained expression on Younghoon’s face when he saw you with Eric. 

You look at Sunwoo, feeling helpless as you murmur, “Sunwoo, I don’t know what I want.” 

And he wordlessly raises his hand, reaching out and wiping away the tear that escapes your left eye. He gives you a small smile, 

“I think you know exactly what you want, you just have to figure out how to accept it.” 

You’re sitting at a table by the window of the cafe, staring down at the foam design on your matcha tea as you wait for Younghoon to arrive. You glance up at the sound of the bells coming from the entrance, just to let out a breath when you see that he’s not the one who entered.

It’s been almost three weeks since you and Younghoon spoke at the party, and after spending a lot of time thinking, you reached out to him and asked if he wanted to meet at the cafe where the two of you had your first date. You weren’t expecting a response, but he texted you back moments later saying that he’ll meet you there.

“Yn.” You look up from the table, just to stand up from your seat when you find yourself staring into Younghoon’s eyes. 

“Younghoon, hi.” You say in a soft voice, and he musters a small smile as he nods his head in greeting. You gesture towards the seat in front of you, “Sit, I already ordered your drink for you.” 

He glances down at the latte art on top of his coffee, letting out a breath as he mutters a quiet thanks before sitting down. You sit down as well, watching in silence as he takes a sip of his coffee, and gently lowers the cup back down onto the saucer. 

Silence lays itself over the two of you as you both just stare down at the table, unsure of how to bring up the elephant in the room. You know that you should speak up first, but the fear towards how he may react makes it hard for you to say something.

“We had our first date here.” Younghoon starts in a soft voice, and you look up to see him facing the window, a fond look in his eye as he remembers that day. You nod your head, letting out a soft laugh as you mutter, “I spilled my matcha onto your shoes.” 

“And they’re still stained, thanks to you...”

“I said I was sorry!” You choke out, and Younghoon laughs at your reaction. You bite the inside of your cheek, leaning back into your chair with a lingering smile on your face as he casts his eyes downward towards his coffee. 

“I always knew from the moment you agreed to go out with me, that our relationship would just be temporary.” Younghoon mutters, and you slowly glance up to see him staring at you with a sad look in his eyes. The corner of his lips quirks upwards, “But even with that knowledge, I was still happy that I got the chance to be with you.” 

You bite the inside of your cheek, “Younghoon…” 

“I know I’m a fool to think like this, but back then, I fell in love the moment I saw you smile for the first time.” He confesses, and you feel tears prick at the back of your eyes as he smiles softly at the memory. “Every time I saw you on campus, you were just so… radiant. You were like a star in the sky that I knew I would never get the chance to see from up close, but I was content from watching you shine from afar. That was until you and Eric broke up.” 

He lets out a shaky breath, folding his hands together underneath the table before continuing, “I became greedy? I guess you could say? When I saw that I had a chance, I took it, knowing very well that there would be a deadline to our relationship. Even then, I still had the smallest bit of hope that maybe I was wrong—that maybe we could last.” 

A tear finally falls past your eye when Younghoon’s gaze trails up back to you, and he gives you a smile with tears flooding his own eyes as he looks at you. He tsks to himself, reaching out and resting his hand on your cheek. He tenderly wipes away the tear that escaped your eye as he mutters, “Always such a crybaby.” 

“I’m sorry, Younghoon.” You blurt out, and he shakes his head. “I knew what I signed up for the moment I confessed to you, you don’t need to apologize.” 

“How can you say that? You should be angry with me—hate me, even! You should be cursing me out, swearing that you never want to see me again!” You exclaim as more tears fall past your eyes, and Younghoon just continues to smile at you with a loving gaze. You bite your bottom lip and lean back, pointing at him as his hand slowly falls to the table, “D-Don’t look at me like that!”

“Like what?”

“Like I didn’t do anything wrong!” You cry out, and he stays quiet as you wipe away the tears falling from your eyes. You clench your fist at your side, “I agreed to date you when I was still in love with Eric, I stayed with you for three months when you and I both knew that I still wasn’t over him. I’m a fucking… rat bastard, I don’t know. You shouldn’t be so kind to me when I was just leading you to believe that we would last.” 

Younghoon just stares at you as you cry even more, silence falling over the two of you with the sound of your sniffling filling the air. A small smile forms on his face after a moment, and he coos at you as he moves to wipe away the tears falling down your face, but quickly stops himself. Biting the inside of his cheek, he reaches out and picks up a napkin instead, before holding it out to you. 

You look at the napkin, and glance back up at him. He waves it at you silently, and you let out a breath, taking it from his grasp and blowing your nose with it. He lets out a chuckle when you take a deep breath after using the napkin, and you shoot him a glare. 

“You think this is funny?” 

“So now you’re going to scold me for laughing at you blowing your nose like an elephant?” Younghoon asks, and you press your lips into a thin line. He grins at your reaction, before sighing and leaning back into his chair. “Yn, I could never hate you.”

“You should, I’m a—”

“You’re a rat bastard, yes, but I can never hate you or wish for you to be gone from my life.” Younghoon tells you, and you feel your bottom lip begin to quiver as another wave of tears threaten to break out. He glances down at the table, “Of course, I don’t think I can be friends with you until my feelings are gone, because it honestly hurts to see you right now.” 

You nod your head in understanding, and he looks back up at you, the corner of his lips quirking upwards when he sees your puffy eyes. He lets out a breath, “But when the time comes that I can be around you without feeling hurt, then I’d really like for us to be friends, yn.” 

You let out a small smile, a tear escaping as you nod your head. “I’d really like that too, Younghoon.” 

He stares at you with that familiar look of love in his eyes for a moment, trying to ingrain your lovely features into his mind before he distances himself from you. Letting out a breath, he stands up from the table, and you quickly follow suit. 

“Thank you for a lovely three months, yn.” Younghoon says softly, and you huff at the lump that quickly forms in your throat at his words. You reach out and slap his arm, eliciting a laugh from him as he pulls you into his embrace. 

You let out a smile, wrapping your arms around his waist as you close your eyes. Voice muffled into his shoulder, you mutter, “Thank you for a great three months, Younghoon.”

The two of you begin to sway side to side, only for you to let out a squeak when you feel your hip bump into the table. The sound of a cup falling over rings in the air, and you cling onto Younghoon tighter when you don’t feel any liquid fall onto you. 

“Yn.”

“Younghoon.”

“Are you holding me even tighter cause you know that your matcha tea just spilled onto my new shoes?” Younghoon asks you in a quiet voice, and you bite your bottom lip. 

“I’ll venmo you.” 

He sighs, “I’ll send you the price later.” 

Eric sits on the step outside of your apartment, sniffling to himself as he rubs his arms for warmth. He drunkenly rests his head back against the door, blinking his eyes slowly as the fatigue begins to lay itself over him. 

Holding his knees to his chest, he feels himself beginning to fall asleep when the door suddenly opens from behind him. He blinks his eyes open, just to find himself staring at your pretty face as you wrap the warm blanket around him. You look up once you’re sure that it’ll stay on him when you move to go back inside, only to pause when your eyes lock with his.

The two of you stare at each other in silence, with Eric’s bloodshot eyes looking into yours as sleep threatens to pull him under, and you looking at him with a pained gaze as your hands slowly fall back to your sides. 

Biting the inside of your cheek, you move to stand up and head back inside when his cold hand reaches out and grasps your warm one. 

“Yn, can you please talk to me?” Eric murmurs in a sleepy voice, and you feel your breath hitch at his words. He stares at your hand, having missed the warmth of them as his eyes slowly trail up towards your side profile. 

“I want to fix us. If you give me a chance, I’ll do whatever it takes to fix what I did wrong.” He tells you, but you continue to stare at the inside of your house, knowing you should go back inside without listening any further. 

He blinks tiredly, not even noticing your lack of response as his vision blurs. He softly squeezes your hand, “Why… why did you leave me?” 

You tilt your head up towards the ceiling at his question, fighting back the tears that threaten to fall past your eyes as you remind yourself of why you ended things. 

He’s the one that doesn’t see a future with you, not you.

“Do you really not love me anymore?” Eric asks quietly, and you turn to see the tears trailing down his cheeks as he clings onto your hand. Biting the inside of your cheek, you kneel down so that you’re facing him as you adjust the blanket around his shoulders. He blinks at you sleepily, fighting to keep his eyes open so that he can see you properly.

You tentatively reach out and rest your hand on his cheek, wiping away the tears falling from his eyes with your thumb as he leans into your touch. When his eyes begin to fall shut, you quietly whisper, 

“I’ll always love you, Eric.”

He gasps awake in his bed, reaching up and rubbing at his face, just to let out a breath when he feels the wetness to his cheeks. He groans, rolling over onto his stomach so that his face is smushed by his pillow. 

“It’s not real, it was just a dream.” He mutters to himself, voice muffled by his pillow. He frowns at the fact that it was a memory he dreamt of, but he shakes his head when the possibility that it was real comes to mind. 

Sighing, he reaches out blindly towards his bedside table and grabs his phone. Turning his head, he holds his phone close to his face as he reads through his notifications, only to bolt up in bed when a name catches his eye.

yn: eric, can we talk?

i’m outside of your apartment complex

i’ll wait for you

Eric’s eyes widen when he reads the time stamp, and he practically leaps off his bed when he realizes you sent those messages two hours ago. Throwing his sweatshirt over his head, he slides into his slippers and sprints out of his apartment.

He frantically pushes the button for the elevator, the thought that you’ve already left coming to mind once the elevator doors open. He rushes inside and presses the button to go down to the main floor, tapping his foot against the floor as he reaches into his pocket to get his phone so he can send you a text.

Only to pause when he realizes that he left his phone on his bed. 

Cursing to himself, he hurries out the elevator once the doors open to the main lobby, and he practically bursts through the entrance. He breathes heavily as he looks around the front of his apartment complex, but he doesn’t see you anywhere as he lets out a sigh. 

“I missed them.” Eric mutters to himself, about to turn around and head back inside, only to stop in his tracks when he sees you sitting on the staircase beside him. Your head is resting against the wood, fast asleep as you hold your knees to your chest. 

His eyes widen when he sees the goosebumps on your arms, and he quickly takes off his sweatshirt and lays it over your shoulders. You slowly blink your eyes open at the sudden warmth, and you look up to see those familiar brown eyes boring into yours. 

“Eric?”

“Why would you wait for me out here when I didn’t answer your text? You should’ve known that I didn’t see it and went home! It’s the middle of Winter, what if you get sick?!” Eric exclaims in worry, continuing to dote on you as he tries to get his sweatshirt to stay on your shoulders. You bite your bottom lip at the fact that he hasn’t changed at all, he still takes care of you and scolds you like you didn’t completely shatter his heart over a misunderstanding. 

“I don’t know why you would only wear a short sleeve shirt in 40 degree weather—”

“You waited outside of my door for two months after we broke up.” You murmur, making the rest of Eric’s sentence die in his throat when his gaze finally makes its way back up into your eyes. He blinks at the tears that flood them as you look at him, and he glances down when he’s suddenly struck with the cold memory of your last encounter.

He stands up from the step and brushes off his knees as he mutters, “Sorry, I forgot my place.”

He moves to unlock the door of his apartment complex when your cold hand suddenly grasps onto his own, and he slowly turns his head to find you staring at your connected hands with tears trailing down your cheeks. 

“Your hand… it’s warm.” You say, and Eric presses his lips into a thin line as he chooses to stay quiet. You blink to try and get your vision to clear, but it fails as more tears continue to flood your eyes. Letting out a shaky breath, you rest your forehead onto the back of Eric’s hand, and he tilts his head up towards the night sky. 

“Younghoon and I broke up.” You confess, voice so low that the redhead almost doesn’t hear it. He blinks, and glances down at you with wide eyes, “What?” 

You cling onto his hand tighter, “I couldn’t be with him when all I can think about is you.” 

A lump forms in Eric’s throat as he stares down at the top of your head, unable to believe what he’s hearing. The sound of his heartbeat is loud against his ears, and he’s sure that you can hear it on this quiet, Winter night.

He slowly squats down so that the two of you are eye level, and you lift your head up from his hand to look into his glassy eyes. There’s disbelief in his gaze as he looks at you, but you feel a sob bubble up in your chest when you see that familiar look of love mixed in as well. 

“Eric, I’m so sorry.” You finally say, tears trailing down your cheeks as you lower your head. A sob forces its way out of your throat as you rest your forehead onto your guys intertwined fingers, “I-I was stupid and didn’t give you a chance to tell me the truth. I just went with what I heard, and was so hurt by what I thought happened that I acted like such a bitch. I s-should’ve listened to you, but I said such horrible things and I—” 

You’re cut off when you’re suddenly pulled forward, and you open your mouth to protest, but quickly stop when you find yourself wrapped in his warm embrace. Your bottom lip quivers when the familiar scent of his laundry detergent floods your senses, and you let out a loud sob into his shoulder. 

He’s holding back sobs of his own as he holds you tightly in his arms, afraid to let go for the fear of you leaving again. Tears roll down his cheeks as he cups the back of your head with his hand, finally feeling at home after months of being overwhelmed by loneliness. 

“I’m sorry, Eric. I-I’m so sorry.” You cry out, voice muffled by his sweater, and he just closes his eyes as he nuzzles his face into your neck. After a moment of the two of you just holding each other while crying, he gently leans back so that he can look at your pretty face. 

The corner of his lips quirks upwards when he sees your swollen eyes and tear-stained cheeks, and he tenderly reaches out and cups your face in his hands. You stay silent as Eric looks at you, sniffling occasionally as more tears threaten to spill over. 

He leans in and presses a gentle kiss to your forehead, whispering against your skin, 

“I love you.”

Eric pulls away with a small smile on his face, cooing when the tears you were trying to hold back fall from your eyes at those three words. You let out a quiet laugh, one that’s full of heartache and relief as you reply, 

“I love you too.”

Biting your bottom lip, you look down as you begin to mutter another apology, but you’re quickly stopped by Eric tilting your chin upwards and capturing your lips in his. 

After months of staying away, the two of you have finally made your way back to each other. The kiss is messy—desperate, even. It’s sloppy and tastes of salt from the tears the two of you are shedding, and you can’t stop crying out apologies between each kiss as your fingers intertwine with his against your cheek. 

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay.”

“I love you.” 

“I love you too, yn.”

When you finally pull away, Eric wipes away the tears under your eyes with the pads of his thumbs. While you wipe at his cheeks with the sleeves of his sweatshirt, gently slapping his shoulder every few seconds as he giggles softly at the sight of your swollen eyes.

He gestures towards his apartment complex when he takes notice of the goosebumps beginning to rise on your arms again, “Let’s go inside, yn.” 

You nod your head, and he helps you stand up from the step. His eyebrows furrow when he sees you shiver slightly when a particularly cold breeze blows past the two of you, and he quickly helps you slip on his sweatshirt that was just laid over your shoulders.

You let out a smile when he pulls the hood over your head, and he grins back at you as he leans in to mutter, 

“I’ll give you clothes to change into at my apartment. I don’t allow outside clothes on my bed.” 

And you let out a laugh at his words, eliciting a giggle from the redhead as you reach out and take hold of his warm hand with your cold one.

Later on that night, when the two of you are laying in bed, Eric rolls over so that he’s facing you. He stares at your sleeping face glowing underneath the moonlight shining in through his window, unable to believe that you’re here as his eyes trail over your pretty features. He carefully intertwines his fingers with yours while you sleep, a soft smile escaping him when he feels your hand permeate warmth into his cold one. His eyes slowly fall shut when you gently squeeze his hand in your sleep, the familiar rhythmic sound of your breathing lulling him to sleep. 

After six months of only being able to live through glimpses of what once was, everything slowly falls back into place since you and Eric have found your way back to one another. 

Now able to live through glimpses of what can be.