23:12.
he'd recognised her.
sehun.
roma had smiled weakly, not managing to successfully hide her bewildered expression. big, deer eyes widening and chest thumping. scared.
sehun didn't look shocked to see her, or like he'd been looking for her particularly, or anything. roma was confused. his hunched shoulders and slumped posture made him look tired. more exhausted than she was.
he'd looked her up and down with an odd expression. half-pained, almost, but half-relieved. he'd stood up, the chair scraping loudly, greeting her with a small nod. even offered for to her sit down. roma had explained that she was working.
the nerves were brought up again, because sehun's piercing gaze only reminded her of baekhyun, and the way he sat, perched, on edge, on his seat. they had similar eyes; that same sparkling effect catching her breath. baekhyun's name hurt her to think. sehun watched her carefully, analysing and observing. took her answer with a small nod.
the sky darkened.
roma agreed to meet him after her shift at the coffee bar across the street. it was an awkward suggestion, mostly because the two of them weren't really close. the memory pained her thoughts, but she remembered the sun-filled afternoons that she spent watching kai write on the window sill, while sehun was either out or minding his own business. sehun apparently wanted to talk with her; and the prospect of some confrontational conversation forced her thoughts into a hurried frenzy.
it was late. and she was tired, and as she crossed the road, her mind continued to tell her to calm down.
it's fine, it's fine, it's fine.
the coffee bar, like any other, was ambient and warm, and somewhat welcomed her with a soft tone of smooth music and cocoa scent, with an underlying presence of strong spirits. she clutched her bag tightly in her arm, and--god, calm down--tried to ease her racing heart.
luckily, not many people were around. that same warm glow exuded from the dimmed lights. she tried to stop herself, but she couldn't help but think of all those coffee shops and restaurants that her and baekhyun went to. sitting in the rain, watching the drops spiral down the windows, with soaked clothes stuck to their skin.
sehun was waiting right in the corner, tucked away in the darkness. of course.
roma breathed.
she pushed her hair back from her face, behind her ears. attempted not to panic. also tried not to trip over her own feet.
"um, hi," she spoke breathily, once stood by his table, her chest heaving up and down.
sehun forced a small and encouraging smile. he motioned for her to sit down. she pulled up the chair, managing to stumble over the wooden legs. she blushed red, but sat down, slowly placing her bag down on the floor.
"hey," sehun said.
a prolonged lapse of silence encompassed the two; sat opposite each other, sehun's mouth quivering as if he had something important to say but didn't quite know how to word it. roma bowed her head, turning to the side, avoiding his tense stare.
"so, uh," he started, and she looked up, "i guessed he wouldn't have come back here."
roma's attention heightened.
"d-did he say he was going to come back...with you?" she whispered, regretting the question as soon as it blurted from her lips.
roma assumed he knew the situation. slight embarrassment crossed her features.
sehun paused. opened his mouth. his long fingers toying with his ring. he blew out a heavy breath; fluttered his fringe.
"no," he replied bluntly. "not exactly."
"oh," was all she responded. saddened tone.
someone in the bar shouted. caught her attention.
she turned back to sehun.
"what did you want to say to me?" roma tried, her voice so quiet, tentative.
sehun looked so mentally fragile that roma almost didn't want to break him, or say something that could send him over the edge. roma couldn't see, but could tell that his foot was tapping on the floor.
sehun sighed. a huge admission of exhaustion. he brought his head down to rest on his arms, both holding him up. roma extended forward to try and comfort him, but immediately drew her arm back.
"did he leave you? just like that?" he questioned. serious tone.
roma blushed. she felt helpless and hopeless and wanted nothing more than to go back to when everything was okay.
"wha-what do you mean?"
avoiding the question.
sehun zoned in on her. roma shuddered, felt the strands of her hair fly around her face. his intense gaze made her uncomfortable, but she didn't want to say anything.
clothes too tight. she struggled in her seat.
sehun sighed deeply. again.
"i'm assuming you know?"
roma's heart thudded, strained by her rib cage. she laced her fingers together. her knee began to bounce up and down.
"know what?"
"about baekhyun. about us."
"sorry, sehun, i don't know what you--"
"roma, i know, so don't bother pretending." his tone was very harsh, startling her. cheeks blushed further, bowing her head.
"sorry," he apologised, realising. "i just...you know now, and i thought..."
roma felt that huge lump rising up in her throat. pulse racing; her entirety hung onto his every word, every syllable. leant forward. she didn't really know; had no clue what he was being so indecipherable about.
"is something wrong? have i done something?"
is baekhyun okay?
sehun ignored her question.
"i guess i thought it was right that you were given a proper explanation."
he was acting weird. playing with her mind; felt like he was purposefully not explaining everything to her. leaving her in the darkness. her heart hammered.
"sehun, please, what's going on? i haven't told anyone, or anything, i--"
"it's not that. i just thought, seeing as you witnessed stuff, you should know."
he kept on repeating himself.
"know what?"
god, he was infuriating.
"he didn't, like, explain anything to you?"
roma stopped. again, she thought of them being on the top of the tower. all of the lights; the colours, and baekhyun's dark eyes. his strong hold.
"um. no." she added, with a whisper, "he just showed me."
sehun intensified his stare. the oval shape of his eyes distorted, representing a blizzard of emotions. his knuckles whitened.
"showed you what, exactly?"
his prose was jumbled, not really making much sense, and roma was frightened. sehun's tone dipped in and out in frequency.
she took a deep, deep breath.
everything seemed to go eerily quiet.
"baekhyun, he...he made everything go completely dark. no lights. nothing. we were on the top of the building, and, i don't know how, he just made each all the lights turn off one by one." she paused. "and there was a big storm. and then it all went away. i mean, all came back to normal."
sehun looked intrigued, as oppose to angry or, well. roma didn't really know what the appropriate reaction to what she just said should be. all she knew was that she was shaking feverishly.
"shit," he muttered incredulously.
roma could only see baekhyun. tears stung her eyes. her stomach churned, and her mind dizzied. took a long breath of the stuffy air.
"sehun," she began, "i know you and me aren't really that close, or anything, but you have to tell me what's going on. is baekhyun in trouble?"
sehun looked at her curiously.
"you still care about him? you think that's why i'm here?"
the question took her off-guard. heart clenched; didn't want to reveal her emotions to sehun. the tears threatened again. she bit her lip, to stop herself from crying.
"yeah, i c-care about him, i mean, i don't know what you..." she breathed out.
sehun's expression didn't alter.
"he left you, right?"
sehun's comment was hurtful. he was right, though; he had. maybe, roma thought to herself, she was wasting her time. maybe he didn't care anymore. why else would he leave her, when he'd got what he wanted.
she remembered the night where he'd tainted her with kisses and whispers: lies.
"yeah."
sad eyes locked with intense ones.
sehun curled his lip.
"i know he probably doesn't want to see me anymore, i just have to know he's okay," roma pleaded.
roma desperately wanted to ask if baekhyun had asked about her. restrained herself.
sehun stood up abruptly.
"let's go back to yours."
//
the question--or statement, roma wasn't sure--sounded suggestive and strange, but roma complied, nodding her head quickly. they walked through the lit-up, affluent downtown streets together, a weird but somewhat comfortable silence settled between them.
rounded the corner.
roma looked up, as the tower clock loomed up above, the square cobbled and empty. not again. the image of baekhyun lying on the ground, on the steps, unconscious. blood smeared across his face and bruised features, dark colours fading into his skin.
sehun noticed the tension in her body.
"you okay?"
she looked up at his knitted features.
"yeah." lie.
roma was nervous; her fingers and arms shook. sehun waited patiently at their front door as roma fumbled with the key. she felt anxious to see sehun's reaction to her apartment for some reason.
their loud and intruding footsteps echoed as they stepped in.
it was dark. roma reached for the light switch.
flick: nothing.
roma tried again, but that heavy feeling in her chest told her already.
no.
"they're not working," roma admitted. it was a weird thing to say; sehun understood. roma began to panic, throwing her things on the floor, fighting with the light switch.
she must have looked crazy.
"hey, hey, stop," sehun yelled, grabbing her shoulders.
roma stopped.
sehun tread carefully through the constrained hallway. his shoes dragged across the floor, as he touched the walls softly, like he was testing them for something.
"something's wrong," she heard him say.
"w-what's wrong?" roma asked, following him through the darkness. "sehun?"
the shadowed outlines of the furniture in their living room looked threatening, somehow. sehun wound his way through them towards the window. stopped, shoving it open. a sudden burst of noise inundated the dark and enclosed room.
sehun shook visibly.
the curtains flew apart, framing the window panes. wind gushed through the opening. roma held onto the nearest furniture for support, the sudden rush of air almost knocking her over.
"sehun, please tell me. please, i'm scared."
weakness.
suddenly, mia walked through the bedroom doorway. or, at least, roma assumed it was mia. roma remembered that mia had said she was staying in tonight. she was holding a lit candle in her palm, the bright, amber glow illuminating her face. roma could just about make out the puzzled expression in her curious eyes and open mouth.
"hi," she greeted. her vision was drawn to sehun, wondering what he was doing; why the wind soared through the minuscule gap, fluttering her hair behind her. "um, yeah, roma, the lights went out."
roma feared what was coming next.
"yeah," she managed. the wind tore at the buttons on her shirt. hand brought up to hold them closed. "i can see that."
roma ran forward towards sehun, struggling desperately against the natural forces that pushed into her quivering frame, reverberating in her swollen chest.
"sehun, what's happening?" she shouted and grabbed his arm, wrenching it from where it was practically glued to the window pane.
"roma? what the fuck is going on?" mia asked, her refrain still calm and laced with confusion, her stance fearful.
roma shook sehun violently, a sudden urge taking over her system. burst of courage.
he'd frozen to the spot. his form was rigid, arms stiff, and his eyes had darkened to the shade of the blackest night. his long fingers curled in on themselves, so roma couldn't try to grab hold of his hands.
a tornado of wind blew through their flat. roma heard the sound of things--she couldn't distinguish what--crashing down and disintegrating onto the floor. the vase of flowers shattered, splinting into millions of shards. the roses fell limply to the floor.
"roma!"
mia's voice called: panicking.
roma's attention was drawn to sehun, who was trying with every fibre of his being to shut the window. her heart was beating and her breaths were shaking; she attempted to aid him, grabbing hold of the glass pane.
couldn't see. it felt like all the objects in the room were flying around her, obscuring her vision. her hair came undone, getting in the way. she heard sehun shout with rage, with panic, his entire body weight flattening itself against the barrier.
somehow, the two of them managed. the window shut with a loud bang, echoing around the silenced flat. heavy breaths. mia was clutching the door frame, body heaving up and down.
sehun was sheet-white.
"roma," mia said, her voice deep and sharp. she walked towards her. "what the fuck was that?"
roma didn't know. and she wanted to ask sehun the same thing. she could barely breathe.
can't breathe.
"sehun," roma tried, turning the conversation, or rather, the question, onto him. "what happened?"
she sounded really dumb, and she hated that, but she had no idea how to handle all of this. her tongue stuck to her dry throat.
silence.
"we have to go. right now."
"what, sehun--"
"grab your stuff and let's go."
sehun rushed to the front door, disappearing into the night. within a few seconds, roma heard the sound of a car engine starting up, the engine rumbling.
roma didn't need to question; she thought baekhyun was in danger.
didn't know where they were planning on going or whether it was an irrational idea. she also didn't care.
heart racing. she rushed past mia and into their bedroom, heading straight for her wardrobe and drawers. grabbed a bag and filled it with anything she could find, her vision blurred with tears and adrenaline.
"roma, for fuck's sake, tell me what's happening!" mia yelled, blocking the doorway. demanded an answer.
"mia, it's nothing."
"yeah, this is definitely nothing," she nodded sarcastically, her voice heightening.
"mia," roma turned, stopped briefly, "i'll have to explain later, i'm sorry, it's just i have to go right now."
"i'm coming with you, then."
roma bit her lip; about to say that she couldn't. sehun appeared again, telling roma to hurry up.
"come on, we need to go," he stated. his voice was breathless and rushed.
"i'm coming as well," mia said.
roma didn't know what to say or what to think. her thoughts were all jumbled and couldn't distinguish what was reasonable or not. she leant against the wall, briefly, for support.
she just wanted baekhyun.
her desperate eyes locked gaze with sehun. his stare was intense; impossible to decipher. mia and sehun looked at each other. sehun had an anguished expression, looking at mia as if they both knew something that she didn't.
"alright, fine," sehun breathed out, "but we need to go. right now."
mia began to pack anything she could. roma couldn't breathe.
the two girls followed sehun out into the darkness. left behind their empty flat.
they didn't need to switch the lights off.
//