"Isn't that your boyfriend?"
Scoups continued to stand there with an unreadable expression as he looked at Mingyu, Nabi and Suho.
"Hyung," Mingyu was the first one to properly react, his voice not really carrying any particular emotion.
If Mingyu was surprised to see Scoups here then he did a good job of hiding it and if he wasn't surprised that Scoups was here than he once again did a good job of hiding it.
"Scoups. . . You're here," Nabi stated as if it weren't clear. It was obvious to anyone that Nabi wasn't expecting him and her offhanded reaction only proved this even more.
"I mean. . .what are you doing here?" Nabi corrected herself.
Scoups walked a step closer and spoke up for the first time, "I called you."
"You did?" Nabi asked with a mixture of doubt and surprise.
"You didn't pick up," Scoups continued, "So I thought I might just come here and surprise you."
Nabi picked up her phone from where it was lying face down on her side and saw that she indeed has a missed call from Scoups as well as a few texts from him too. Nabi would've heard them if she didn't put her phone on silent mode.
"Sorry. . .I didn't realize," Nabi apologized.
"I can tell," Scoups said then turning to Mingyu, he continued, "I thought you were going out to meet a friend."
"I am. . .meeting a friend," Mingyu pointed out, referring to Nabi as his 'friend'.
A few moments of silence followed.
"What about you hyung? I thought you had other plans today," Mingyu asked, his words cutting through the silence like a knife.
"They got cancelled," Scoups said shortly, not providing any further information.
It was then Nabi noticed the plastic bag in his hand and asked, "Did you eat already? Do you want to eat dinner?"
Scoups looked down at the plastic bag in his hand and said, "I wanted to eat with you but I can see you already ate."
Nabi grimaced a bit.
Why does everyone want to eat with her today?
First Mingyu, then Suho and now Scoups.
Since when did she become so special to everyone?
"You can still eat with us. Mingyu's still eating. Suho still has yet to eat," Nabi pointed out.
Scoups nodded silently and sat down next to Nabi as she moved to the side to make space for Scoups, seeing that he was making his way towards her. She could feel that he was sulking slightly.
Nabi knows that Mingyu and Scoups are very close, having spent nearly ten years together with one another. They saw each other grow up and pretty much spend most of their times together so she couldn't understand why they were being so awkward around each other right now. Is it because Nabi is also there?
Maybe its because they aren't used to being around with an outsider at the same time.
Even though it is her home and they are being guests in her house, Nabi felt like the outsider. Almost as if she were blocking all the conversation between them.
"What did you bring?" Nabi attempted to make light conversation to diffuse the awkwardness in the air.
"Jokbal," Scoups answered and then continued, "I didn't know you two were friends."
Nabi smiled lightly, as if to diffuse the awkwardness she was feeling from Scoups and said, "We've been friends for a while now. I thought you knew."
Scoups shrugged his shoulders and said, "You never mentioned it to me. Neither did you."
Mingyu gave Scoups a teasing smirk and said, "Why? Do you intend on keeping her all to yourself? You should learn how to share hyung."
Scoups playfully rolled his eyebrows and pointed his chopsticks at Mingyu, saying, "Learn how to share your food first. Then we'll talk."
"I do share my food," Mingyu claimed.
"Oh yeah? Remember that Vlive?" Scoups began to get worked up as he began to open his food up, "You're so territorial with food."
"Food and People are different," Was all that Mingyu had to offer as a reply.
As Mingyu and Scoups embarked on another friendly sibling bickering, Nabi felt a slight tug at her sleeve and she turned towards Suho, remembering that he was also there.
Nabi had honestly forgotten about Suho momentarily because he had been so silent.
"Can I eat now?" Suho asked.
Nabi threw him a blank look and said, "Of course. You don't need to ask him to eat."
She pushed his packed dinner towards him.
"Thank you," Suho said as he made himself comfortable, "I'm starving."
"If this isn't enough then tell me. I'll go make you something inside," Nabi said.
Suho shook his head and said, "I can go cook by myself. You don't have to do anything."
Suho took a bite of his food and asked, "Are you feeling better now, noona?"
"I am. Don't worry," Nabi assured him.
Suho nodded in understanding and then leaned in close to Nabi, whispering in her ear, "Which one is your boyfriend by the way?"
"What?"
"Which one is he? They both aren't your boyfriends at the same time, are they?" Suho asked innocently, as if he were genuinely curious.
"What?" Nabi said bewilderment, "What the heck are you saying?"
Nabi wasn't even sure if that was even possible.
"What?" Suho spoke in a defensive voice, "You could be in an open relationship for all I know."
"I'm not in an open relationship. Use your brain. You've been given it for a reason," Nabi said, shocked at the idea of even entering an open relationship.
"Can you blame me? They both are acting as if they are your boyfriend," Suho whispered rather aggressively.
"W-what?" Nabi's pitch went up a few octaves as she listened in disbelief, "No they do not."
"Yes they do. The tall one was trying to literally spoon feed you earlier and the aggressive looking one is literally upset cause you didn't wait to eat with him. This is how boyfriends act. Possessive," Suho said.
"You're delusional. Why don't you use your brain for something useful instead of wasting your brain cells on useless stuff like this," Nabi told him in orderly manner.
"Why do you always insult my brain?" Suho asked, sounding genuinely hurt.
"Just eat," Nabi ordered him when she couldn't think of something else to say.
It was typical older sibling behavior. Order your sibling when you don't know what to say.
Suho made a face but listened nonetheless.
"By the way," Suho asked after a while, "Which one is your boyfriend."
Nabi gave him a pointed look and asked, "Which one do you think he is?"
"The aggressive looking one," Suho answered.
Nabi looked back at the two males, who were still bickering over food. Now that she looked from a third perspective, she supposes that Scoups can come off as scary and aggressive looking to strangers.
"Yeah, that's him. And his name is Scoups," Nabi told him.
"Scoups? What kind of name is that-"
Suho was cut off by Mingyu trying to get Nabi's attention.
"Are you sure you want some more?" Mingyu asked Nabi, talking about the food he had ordered for the two of them.
Nabi shook her head and said, "I'm full. You can have more."
Mingyu frowned, his eyebrows furrowing together as he said, "You should eat more. You ate so less earlier. If you don't eat then you'll just faint again."
Scoups went completely still when he heard Mingyu, his fingers tightly grabbing onto the chopsticks he is holding in his hands.
At first he didn't believe his ears. He thought maybe he had heard his member wrong. Maybe the exhaustion of today's schedule was beginning to climb up to him and his brain was playing tricks on him.
Faint?
Faint?
Nabi fainted?
That's not possible. He would have known about it if Nabi had really fainted.
Alas, and much to Scoups's horror and disappointment, Nabi had indeed fainted because Nabi and her brother's reaction to Mingyu only proved so.
"I won't faint again," Nabi rolled her eyes, completely unaware of what Scoups is going through at the moment, as well as forgetting that she never did get to tell Scoups what had happened.
After he failed to pick up the call when she was in the hospital, Nabi went to sleep and when she woke up the next morning, she had completely forgotten about calling Scoups again. In her defense, Scoups hadn't even bothered texting Nabi to check up on her the past two days.
At this point Nabi was used to not receiving messages from him for a couple of days in a row and so it had slipped her mind to even tell him about the entire fainting spell she went through. Part of her didn't even think it was that important anyways.
"I swear everyone is being dramatic," Nabi continued, failing to read the anger and disappointment sweeping off of Scoups right now.
"Everyone is being reasonable. The doctor even told you noona that you need to improve your nutrition. He said part of your fainting happened because you lack too many vitamins and minerals," Suho spoke up.
"I am eating properly," Nabi said defensively, "I can't just start eating double off what I'm used to. Baby steps. Remember."
Meanwhile Scoups felt all of his hunger leave his body.
He no longer has any appetite for food and instead he is hungry for explanations and answers.
Nabi doesn't talk much about her family but Scoups knows that she and her brother aren't exactly sibling goals of the year. In fact he has barely heard Nabi mention her brother in the some eleven months they have been together. He had always assumed she had a dysfunctional family and didn't pester her for any more details, figuring that is Nabi wanted to tell him more, then she would do it automatically by herself.
But now apparently even her brother was in on her fainting incident.
Not to mention Mingyu, a complete third party, from Scoups's point of view.
It seemed to Scoups as if everyone in the world apart from him knows about this.
"Did you even take your medicines properly," Suho asked, "I wouldn't put it past you to skip them. You used to do it when you were younger."
Nabi rolled her eyes dramatically and said, "Yah-stop trying to act like my dad. You're still younger than me, remember that."
Suho was about to speak up to bicker with Nabi when Scoups spoke up instead, directly speaking to Mingyu, "Don't you have a schedule early tomorrow morning?"
All other conversation died nearby and everyone looked at Scoups.
"Yeah," Mingyu confirmed yet he sounded unsure.
"Shouldn't you be heading back then. It's getting late," Scoups commented casually.
Mingyu looked as if he was feeling out of place.
"It's only half past eight," Mingyu said, "What will I do going home so early."
"Suit yourself. But I don't want to hear about you being late to work tomorrow morning," Scoups said, leaning back as he stretched his arms out behind him to support himself.
"You won't," Mingyu answered cooly with a small hint of a smile on his face.
For a second Nabi had thought Mingyu is planning to stay longer, despite what his hyung had told him to do, but then he got up slowly.
"Let me help you with cleaning up," Mingyu began to pick up the trash from the food he had ordered.
Nabi too got up, mostly out of hospitality as the host, and began to clean up Mingyu as well, neither uttering a single word.
The entire time Mingyu and Nabi were cleaning up, she could feel Scoups's sharp gaze at her, following her everywhere she's going and observing each movement she's making.
It was obvious to everyone that Scoups is upset by Nabi couldn't get herself to pin point at what exactly he was upset at.
Even Suho, who is mostly talkative, silently ate his dinner as soon as he can, feeling uncomfortable as well.
Nabi isn't one to get angry quickly and she has an unbelievably tolerable patience but she couldn't help but feel upset as well today.
Everyone was having a good time talking and laughing until Scoups began to act hostile.
Did he really have to make everyone so uncomfortable?
"Should I take these inside," MIngyu asked, holding the blankets they had brought out earlier in his hands.
The weather is getting colder as the winter night continues to progress and Nabi was now pretty much shivering sitting outside and so was Suho. Even Scoups was feeling as if his fingers had frozen.
Nabi nodded her head and moved forward to take them into her hands instead, "Here. Give it to me."
"No it's okay," Mingyu stepped away from Nabi to make sure she doesn't take the blankets away from him, "I'll put them in."
Nabi guided him inside as she held the front door open for him, Mingyu's arms lightly brushing her as he walked past by her.
"Just place it on the bed. I'll have Suho put them away later," Nabi told him and Mingyu did as he was told to do.
Mingyu turned around after putting the blankets away and and faced Nabi.
He looked at her an unreadable expression. His face was uncharacteristically stoic and his eyes were hard.
Mingyu sighed and blinked, his shoulders dropping and his muscles released the tension and became realized.
"I guess I'll see you next time then," Mingyu said.
"Yeah," Nabi responded.
Mingyu looked at her again, this time with a twinkle in his eye, and said, "You still owe me dinner by the way. Don't forget."
"I haven't," Nabi said, "Next time I will definitely treat you."
Mingyu smiled and said, "I'll get going then. Stay safe and take care of yourself."
"I will," Nabi promised, "You take care of yourself too."
"You're sounding as if I'm going away on a long trip," Mingyu said.
Nabi raised an eyebrow and said, "Now you know how you sound like."
Nabi stepped out as Mingyu followed her and grabbed his bag to leave. He wished Scoups goodbye and even greeted Suho goodnight too. Finally he waved at Nabi, smiling brightly at her, and Nabi gladly returned the wave with a goodbye as well while Scoups had excused himself to use the washroom inside.
"Noona," Suho called out when Mingyu had left, "I'll leave too."
Nabi turned around to face Suho and frowned, "What do you mean? I thought you were going to stay the night."
"No. . .I changed my mind. . .besides, I don't think you're going to be alone," Suho said, "I think your boyfriend wants to spend time with you."
"I can ask him to leave if he makes you uncomfortable," Nabi said.
Suho shook his head and said, "No I'm completely fine. I just have a feeling he wants to be alone with you. He didn't look too happy seeing so many people here."
"Suho. . .you don't have to leave," Nabi said, her voice betraying her.
"I'm fine. I swear. I really don't care," Suho said, getting up, "I just need to leave on time to catch the last bus later so I should leave right now. Noona, make sure to eat your medicines, I'll stay tomorrow night."
Suho began to walk inside the apartment to throw away the trash when Nabi stopped him and said, "Here, I'll throw it. You don't need to go inside."
Suho nodded and handed over the bag of trash to Nabi. Since his belongings were already outside on the terrace, all that Suho had to do was wear his knit cap and zip up his jacket before he was ready to leave.
Nabi watched until Suho was out of her sight before finally walking back indoors, where she found Scoups lying down on her bed, scrolling through his phone.
Nabi can sense that something is bothering Scoups but she was also bothered that he made the air around them so uncomfortable that both Mingyu and Suho felt as if they had to leave. If he wanted them to get intimate tonight, then he was in for a big disappointment because Nabi is not in the mood to do anything physical tonight.
Scoups looked up from his phone when he heard Nabi enter the room.
"Are they gone," Scoups asked in a low voice.
Nabi nodded, not giving him a verbal answer.
She stepped in and walked towards the fridge, pulling out a bottle of water as she felt thirsty. Meanwhile Scoups sat up straight on her bed and put her phone away, watching her as she moved around the tiny apartment.
"Is something wrong?" Nabi asked after some moments of silence, feeling Scoups continuous gaze on her.
"I don't know. You tell me. Is there something wrong?" Scoups talked in a mocking tone.
Nabi turned around to face him, confused and lost, "What do you mean?"
Scoups looked straight at her with a stoic face, not even a single emotion betraying his thoughts, "What do you think I mean."
Nabi shook her head and said, "I-I'm confused. Look, I'm really not in the mood to play some silly games-"
"When did you faint?"
Scoups cut her off with a single statement, not really interested in hearing whatever she had to say.
At first Nabi was lost. She didn't grasp onto what he was saying and just closed her mouth with a frown on her face.
Then she realized what was going on.
When she woke up in the hospital the next day, she got so busy with signing the hospital papers to get released and settling back home that she never did end up getting to call Scoups and tell him what had happened.
If she were to be honest, Nabi didn't really see what difference telling Scoups would have made anyways. It's not like he would have cleared his schedules for her or come live with her for a few days to make sure she's fine. Nabi had been sick before in their relationship and he has always been too busy to actually be there physically.
But Nabi also knows how bad she looks in the moment and knew better than to argue with a hot headed alpha male.
"I'm sorry-"
"When did you faint?" Scoups repeated, not interested in hearing her "sorries".
Nabi kept her silence for a few moments, biting her lower lip before answering, "Two days ago."
"Then why the hell am I hearing about this today?" Scoups demanded.
Nabi skid her gaze down and answered, "I called you that day but you didn't pick up so I let it be."
"Then you should have called me over and over until I would've picked up!" Scoups raised his voice frustratingly.
"I thought you were probably busy so. . ." Nabi tried to explain herself.
"I would've figured out something is wrong if you gave me more missed calls," Scoups said, "Fine! You didn't tell me on the day. Let's say I was too busy to even pick up your calls. Were you ever planning on even telling me?"
"It was nothing. I wasn't even really sick,"Nabi told him.
"Then why does every single fucking person on this planet apart from me seem to know," Scoups demanded.
"Not everyone knows," Nabi tried to speak but Scoups cut her off, listing, "Your brother knows. Mingyu knows. The people at your office apparently know. That's almost everyone who you know."
"It's not what you think it is. I was at the office when it happened so they contacted my brother. And as for Mingyu, he just found out today too," Nabi told him, "I-It's not even a big deal. I swear I just forgot about telling you."
"You forgot? You forgot!" Scoups repeated and the scoffed, "So that's it? You're just going to forget about telling me these things. Do I even mean anything to you?"
Nabi closed her eyes as she realized she's being take in the wrong way, "It's not like that. . . I-I just don't think its a big deal."
"You fainted Nabi," Scoups deadpanned.
"And I'm fine now," Nabi answered, "I didn't break any legs or arms. I'm alive and I'm healthy and I'm moving completely fine."
"Why did you even faint in the first place?" Scoups asked.
"I-I don't know. The doctor said it was because of physical exhaustion, stress, lack of nutrition," Nabi shrugged, "I really don't know."
Scoups shook his head and said, "Sometimes. . .sometimes I feel like you don't want to tell me anything."
"What?"
"Now that I think about it, you don't tell me anything about yourself. Sometimes I feel like I don't even know who you really are," Scoups said.
Nabi blinked calmly and asked, "What do you mean?"
"Like that thing with Mingyu. Since when have you been friends with him. I didn't even know you knew him personally," Scoups said.
"We've been friends as long as we both have been seeing each other," Nabi answered quietly. "I thought you knew."
"How am I supposed to know? It's not like you talk about your friends. And Mingyu hasn't even mentioned it to me once," Scoups said, his words sharper again.
"We're just friends who meet each other sometimes," Nabi said, shrugging her shoulders, "It's really a platonic friendship."
"Are you sure about that?"
Nabi threw Scoups a ridiculous gaze and said, "Of course I'm sure about that. I don't get why is this such a big deal. It's just Mingyu."
"Nabi," Scoups suddenly closed his eyes as if her were in pain, "You can't just keep these things away from me."
Nabi knew that Scoups had went back to the topic of her fainting and she felt another pang of guilt hit her.
"I-I really didn't mean to," Nabi spoke honestly.
"And yet you did," Scoups pointed out.
Nabi looked down, overwhelmed with emotions.
"Y-you say I don't tell you things b-but have you ever considered just reaching out to me," Nabi spoke quietly.
Scoups furrowed his eyebrows, "What?"
Nabi knows he heard her clearly, despite her low volume and his reaction was purely out of surprise.
"Y-you haven't even called me once since Sunday," Nabi pointed out, "And when you do, all you ever want to do it either drink at my place or have sex with me. Do I even mean anything to you."
"What the hell are you saying?" Scoups said.
"It's true though," Nabi continued, her eyes beginning to water as she breathed heavily, "You always forget about me. We can always only meet late at night, and only when you want to. I can't even the last time we went out somewhere. You say I don't tell you anything but you've never asked me either."
"Nabi, where is this coming from," Scoups asked.
"Can you blame me for not telling you when you probably wouldn't have cared. I told you about my father's death anniversary on Sunday and you just walked out without saying anything. How do you expect me to tell you anything when you probably wouldn't have cared," Nabi said, a tear rolling down her cheek now.
Scoups narrowed his eyes when he saw her crying and swore, "Shit! Nabi. Don't cry."
He moved quickly towards her grabbed her arms, making her look at him.
"Nabi no. . .you have it all wrong. Of course I care for you," Scoups said.
He pulled her into his chest as he wrapped his arms around her, making her bury her face in his chest, letting her wet his t-shirt with her tears. Scoups was mad earlier but now he just felt strangely empty. It felt weird to see Nabi cry and it even felt more weird to hear her being so honest.
It made Scoups realized how little he did truly know her and how little he sought to find out about her.
"I'm sorry if I made you feel neglected. I didn't mean for you to feel this way," Scoups said, pulling away and wiping away her tears, "You mean so much to me. You will never know how much you mean to me."
Nabi smiled bitterly and said, "You always say sorry and do the same thing again."
Scoups bit his tongue as he stared hard at her.
Suddenly he was picking Nabi up bridal style and walked towards the bed with her in his arms.
"What are you doing?" Nabi asked, confused.
"Laying with you," Scoups answered.
"What?"
"You're tired right now and you're emotional," Scoups said, "Let's talk in the morning when you're calmer. No matter what I say right now, it'll just make you cry."
Scoups laid Nabi gently onto the bed and covered her with the blanket.
"But you're always gone in the morning," Nabi pointed out tiredly.
Scoups leaned down and pressed a kiss against her forehead, saying, "I'll be here with you tomorrow morning. I'm not going anywhere."
Okay, this is a long chapter.
Does anyone watch Stranger Things? Season 4 is so damn good I can't wait for the final two episodes to air. I'm only on the 4th episode right now but I can't stop thinking about it and honestly it's not good cause I have finals coming up.
Also Hot is such a Jun and Mingyu era. I've never been biased wrecked by Jun before but oh my god, Jun in this era is blowing my mind away.