Playboy

Trente

Baekhyun

It had been exactly thirteen days since Eunji broke up with Sehun, and Baekhyun didn't know why he had that information stored in his head. It was like he had a stopwatch in his head, ticking away the seconds since the breakup he had secretly been hoping would happen happened. He felt slightly guilty about this weird mental clock, but it wasn't like he himself understood why he was doing it.

Perhaps the reason Baekhyun knew exactly how long it had been was because Eunji had spent many of those days with him. Since it was finals season, Sunmi wasn't always available to be with Eunji. Baekhyun knew he was only a distraction, and a second choice at that, but he was happy that Eunji chose to spend her time with him. They had always been close friends, especially since he started working with her, but the last two weeks had given Baekhyun a chance to get even closer.

"Dude, just make a move already," Lay said.

"But it's only been two weeks, it wouldn't be right." Baekhyun shook his head.

"Okay, but consider this," Lay started, "if enough time passes, Sehun may try to reconcilliate. Right now, she doesn't want anything to do with him and he knows that. So he keeps his distance until Eunji starts to forgive him and then he swoops back in and takes her back."

"You really think he'd do that?" Baekhyun asked.

"Regardless of what happened, Sehun loved Eunji," Lay said, "he won't just give her up. It was shitty what he did, but in his own way he was trying to save their relationship. He's not going to let his first love go that easy."

"So what do I do?" Baekhyun's brow furrowed. This was all so confusing to him. He didn't have that much experience in relationships, but he did know a thing or two. This whole scheme of exboyfriends and love and having the right timing was alien to Baekhyun, though. He just wanted to be simple and straight forward.

"You have to make a move before Sehun does, that's it." Lay shrugged.

"What do I even say?" Baekhyun groaned, leaning back to stare at the ceiling.

"Just say what you've been telling me ever since you met Eunji," Lay laughed casually.

Baekhyun didn't reply, and instead squinted at his ceiling fan. He knew Lay was right, but it still felt too early to him. Baekhyun wanted to make sure that Eunji had had enough time to adjust and get over Sehun. But he also knew that Sehun would try to come back in the picture before that happened. It was so delicate a situation that Baekhyun was afraid everything could shatter if just one thing went wrong. Nevertheless, Eunji was worth the risk.

***

Eunji

"What's for dinner?" Sunmi asked, laying across all four bar stools at Eunji's kitchen counter.

"Please use my chairs correctly before you hurt yourself," Eunji laughed as she looked over at her friend whose head was poking just far enough past the counter to be seen.

"Not until you answer my question." Sunmi shook her head, her hair swinging from side to side as she did so.

"Lasagne was my plan," Eunji answered.

"Yummy," Sunmi replied as she wiggled her way into a proper seated position.

Eunji nodded in approval at her friend, now upright, and continued to search for the ingredients she needed. Recently, Eunji had taken to making dinners that took a lot of time and effort just to occupy her hands. Cooking forced her mind to focus on what she was doing and not Sehun. She hated that she still was thinking of him and hurting after nearly two weeks. She didn't want to continue on like this. Eunji was just going to keep distracting herself until Sehun was just a ghost of her past.

"I don't have milk," Eunji muttered as she looked for the final ingredient she needed.

"Boo," Sunmi called out.

"That's okay," Eunji said before turning to shout over her shoulder, "hey, Sehun, can yo-."

Eunji abruptly stopped when she realized what she was saying. She looked around her, hoping there was something she could do to distract herself, but only found Sehun. She saw him by her stove, trying to make carbonara. She saw him standing in the fridge, drinking from her milk carton. She saw him by the sink, freaking out because he clogged the drain. Everything reminded her of him, and she couldn't take it. This whole time, she had been fooling herself; she couldn't distract herself with little things forever.

"Oh, baby, no." Sunmi stood from her chair and came over to hug Eunji as tears started to flow down her cheeks.

"I fucking hate this!" Eunji shouted, covering her face.

"I know, honey, I know," Sunmi comforted.

"I don't want to be sad." Eunji shook her head.

"No one wants to be sad, but we can't all be happy always," Sunmi whispered.

"It's not that I don't want to be sad in general, it's just that I don't want to be sad about this," Eunji said through her sobs.

"What do you mean?" Sunmi asked.

"I'm tired of being sad over Sehun. He hurt me, but I was expecting it since day one, so why do I still feel like this?" Eunji pulled away from Sunmi to look at her. "I can't let him consume my life like this. Yes, I loved him, but I've loved other people before. I just...I can't stand it anymore."

Sunmi's eyes were sad as they looked at Eunji. Eunji could tell that her friend was at a loss for words, but she still wished that there was something someone could say to her to make her feel better. She hated this feeling of longing and pain that came in waves every time she wasn't doing something that took her mind off of Sehun. Eunji hated so much how Sehun was still managing to hurt her after all this time.

She couldn't possibly outrun this feeling with just little distractions like cooking or working in the shop. Eunji had to find something that would take up as much time and energy as her relationship with Sehun needed. What she needed was something long term and constant. What she needed was...