SONG REC: "SOUR GRAPES" - LE SERRAFIM
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Right after the dinner, the two were back to how they were right before the fight. One particular afternoon, Lee Know was in his office, staring out a window, and trying to tamper down his stress.
"Fuck," he muttered. "I need–" Soft footsteps made him pause talking to himself.
"Lee Know?" she called.
His silence was a response in itself.
"Can I give you a hug?" she asked quietly from behind.
He looked over his shoulder. He frowned at her before returning to stare out the window. "I guess."
She rubbed the back of her neck. "Fine. Nevermind." She turned to leave. "But you can just say no, next time."
"Hug me." He paused for a bit before adding, "Please." He kept facing out the window, keeping his back to her. But his ears revealed how embarrassed he was to ask.
Yun wanted to giggle at the sight. Pulling herself together, she walked forward and wrapped her arms around his waist. He sighed, as if he could finally breathe. It was crazy how much of a comforting presence she was to him.
After a while, he turned his whole body around and hugged her back. He rested his head on her shoulder, since she was too tall to rest his head on top of hers. He loved that about her.
Loved? he questioned himself. No, not love. He just loved her height, not actually her. Although it wouldn't take much effort to do so.
He shouldn't have been having these thoughts.
But he nudged her arms upwards so that he could wrap his arms around her waist, and he forgot it all. As he pulled her closer, Felix walked in.
"Ohohoho!" he cackled as he took a quick picture. The two shoved each other away, but not before Felix got a clear photo of them. He ran out like the devil was chasing him.
"Well," Lee Know said with a crooked smile, "sorry about that." His attention shifted to the window, where the sunset was beginning.
Looking back, he saw Yun admiring the sun. She looked so infatuated with the sun and the sky, so he opened the window for her.
"Sit on the ledge," he said. "It's fun." He didn't actually know. He just knew she'd enjoy it.
Her eyes widened from excitement and she swung her legs over the ledge. She looked around at the world with all the beauty of it in her eyes.
"Join me," she said without looking.
"I–uh," he stuttered, "I have a fear of heights."
She gave him her hand. "Hold onto my hand. I won't let you fall." She let her hand drop a little. "If you want, of course."
"Of course." He took her hand and cautiously climbed onto the ledge, sitting close to her because of how cramped the window sill was. She swung their hands back and forth, humming occasionally.
"It's so pretty," she said, more to herself than him.
"Beautiful," he murmured, watching her.
She glanced at him with surprise. "What?" As realization dawned, she let out an embarrassed laugh. "Oh, right, the view."
He tilted his head. "No, I'm not talking about the view." He squeezed her hand, and she quickly looked at their hands and then away. It was adorable how she was trying to hide how flustered she was.
When the sun was right above the mountain, he could tell she was drowning in memories. Her eyes had gone blank, as if she wasn't even here with him.
"Do you want to talk about it?"
She blinked a few times. "You can tell? Am I that transparent?"
He shook his head. "No. I've just been doing it for a while." Slowly, he squeezed her hand tighter.
They stayed in silence until she began to talk. "Sometimes I just miss feeling carefree and looking at the sun and feeling nothing except the person I'm with."
"Mm. Me too," he murmured. "Was there more?" He could tell there was more but didn't want to pressure her.
"I used to watch the sunsets with my ex, before we got too busy and I was planning to run away, and everything fell apart. You know, it felt like one of those wrong time, right person things."
His grip on her hand slackened. He had never had a girlfriend before, and he didn't know what to say. He didn't even know what love really felt like. How would he know how the "wrong time, right person" thing worked?
"I'm sorry," he said stupidly.
"It's okay," she said, rubbing her thumb against the back of his hand. "I'm here now, and I only regret – mmm, half of it." She laughed, and then rested her head on his shoulder.
He turned his head to look at her, with the sun glowing on her and her eyes closed. She had a small, satisfied smile on her face. He stared at the raw beauty on her face.
Strangely enough, his heart started beating faster. Maybe it was just the sun and the height making him feel weird. He could fall off and die right now, after all.
But he wasn't even really thinking about the height.
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Commotion from outside made Yun wake up from her nap. She had been sleeping in her room after she left Lee Know's.
She walked outside and saw the members surrounding somebody.
A strangely familiar voice was speaking. "I've been exploring and got a bit distracted. There were many STAYs who were donating to our gang all over the world. But I trust Lee Know with the leader position!" the person said. "And–"
The members parted so that Yun could see who it was.
Bang Chan.
Her first and only boyfriend — now ex.
He stopped talking when he saw her. "Yun?" he asked, surprised.
She gave him an awkward excuse for a smile. "Yup, that's me. Um, Han, Felix, once you two are done, can you guys come into Han's room?"
As she waited for their arrival, she finally realized why Chan was always so busy when they were dating. Why he kept secrets.
He was the leader of Stray Kids. She felt light-headed from the whole situation.
Once Han and Felix both arrived, she began to spill the whole story of her and Chan.
"We dated from when I was seventeen to almost eighteen. We were pretty private about our lives, but we were best friends. At least, how best friends can be when one is a traumatized homeless person and the other is creating a gang in secret. When we started dating, we made really good memories."
"So why'd you two break up?" Han asked.
"Well, we're not bad people–"
"HAH," Felix laughed. "Funny."
Yun sent him a quick glare. "–We weren't bad people to each other. He treated me well; I treated him well. The only problem was that we slowly parted ways as we got busier with trying to survive. And, you know, he created Stray Kids secretly, so I thought he was making excuses not to see me. It was a mutual break up."
"Hmm." Felix scratched his chin. "I have a feeling this'll create some trouble."
"Oh, lots," Han agreed.
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THIS PHOTO ???