As soon as Ina got home, she dropped everything and threw herself onto the bed, eager for the mattress' coolness to meet her skin, yet it reminded her of the times she and Luhan had shared her bed. She got up immediately and went to the bathroom to take a cold shower instead, needing to sober up. This was perhaps the only place in which she could get a little taste of sobriety and peace since he had not quite left his trace in her bathroom yet.
Right now, she had two options: the man who cooked breakfast for her today and the man who cooked lunch for her today. She did not want to make a choice even though she had to, she must, and she knew it.
Could she really not decide, or had she already made up her mind but she just did not want to come to terms with her heart's choice?
Out of all the dilemmas she had ever faced in her life, this one had to be among the worst. And as if it could get any worse, she felt so guilty for being the one to get between the good relationship that Luhan and Sehun had shared. Now that the former would absolutely not let go of her and the latter had been pursuing her for the past two months, she knew that she was going to be an obstacle to them. They would fight over her but she hated conflict and it sucked that she had to be the reason for it. How did it end up this way? Why did it have to be them?
She could not do this anymore. She needed a change in environment. She needed to get away. Without delay, she stepped out of the shower, and booked her flight and hotel room.
~
The flight was no more than 3 hours, but as Ina skipped dinner and slept through it, it felt as if many more hours had passed. It was probably because she had spent the whole journey dreaming of the moments she had shared with Sehun. Dreams were the manifestations of her subconscious thoughts, so did that mean that her subconscious was trying to tell her something about what she had with Sehun?
She rubbed her temples because her head seriously hurt. It seemed that no matter awake or asleep, Sehun had still invaded her mind and she could not get him out of her head. Or her heart, for that matter.
She thought about the first time they met: when he was the one who was late to class on the first day of school, got humiliated by an unsympathetic professor, and awkwardly took the empty seat next to her. She chuckled at his cute pout that was on his face because the prof was mocking him in front of the whole class, but he shot her a glance in hurt as he had mistakenly thought that she was laughing at him too. She had paid him an apology but the conversation did not end there, and in fact led to many more.
Within the same week, the two of them shared several classes, but outside the classroom their interactions continued, and extended to them sharing her umbrella with him on a shitty rainy day, then to him taking off his jacket and draping it across her shoulders at the freshers' ball because it was colder in the ballroom than in a fucking freezer, and then to late night texts when they just happened to be in the mood to find a friend in one another. Gradually the two of them became confidants, and of course bonded over some of the most important things in life: bubble tea and crêpes. Such a strong contrast between her frequent encounters with Sehun and being completely cut off from Luhan. There was no contact at all between the witch and the werewolf whereas she met up with Sehun practically every day. When she thought of it this way, it did not feel so wrong that they had gotten so much closer. But it still remained the problem that he and Luhan were such good friends before she came into their lives.
Apart from that, she was beating herself up for moving on from Luhan to fall for Sehun within such a short period of time. She never thought anybody could tempt her...until she got to know Sehun beyond his good looks.
The night was quiet but her thoughts were loud. Luckily she had brought her very own customized sleeping potion with her. Without it she would not be able to sleep soundly, blissfully unaware of the chaos 300 miles away.
~
By the time Luhan woke up, it was dinnertime.
"Hyung, how are you feeling?" Sehun immediately stood up from the couch.
Luhan buried his face in his hands and let out a long sigh before answering. "How is it that I feel so full of rage and anxiety, yet also empty and hollowed out inside?"
Sehun's innocent face fell. "Hyung...I'm so sorry you feel this way."
"No. Don't feel sorry for me. It's already bad enough that Ina does," Luhan groused. "Where is she anyway?"
"She's gone home," Sehun replied. "Why don't I give her a call—"
"There's no need. I'm going to go to her. Where's my jacket?" Luhan asked curtly, about to put his shoes on.
"Aren't you gonna have dinner first?" Sehun asked. "We can go to her right after. I'll drive."
"I'm not hungry," Luhan stated, but his stomach disagreed and growled loudly in protest, which made him throw his hands up in the air and give in. "What are we having for dinner?"
~
On the way, Sehun had broken the silence by telling Luhan about everything between him and Ina. "I just wanted to apologize," the younger boy added ruefully. "If I had known that you two had had something going on, I would never have made a move on her."
Luhan's facial expression remained stoic and cold. "No, you wouldn't," he agreed. "But you would still have developed feelings for her," he said icily, turning to eye Sehun in a manner that was not at all friendly. "And you would still have gotten in the way."
"I'm sorry. I really didn't know. It's my bad. I asked her out not knowing anything about what the two of you had before I met her. She didn't say yes to me and I know it's because she loves yo—"
"I told you, she doesn't," Luhan cut him off rudely. "She just pities me."
"Well, I..." Sehun faltered. "I just mean to say that it's not her fault. I was the one who put her in a difficult situation. So I understand if you're mad at me, hyung. You have every right to be. But please don't be angry with her too. I don't want her to be unhappy."
"Difficult? It wasn't difficult at all. All she had to do was turn you down and keep her distance from you. She didn't do that though. Proves she feels something for you too. Now I wonder if that would still have happened had I been around." The elder boy gritted his teeth and under the dim lighting he looked even more animalistic and ferocious.
Sehun gulped. "Err...we're almost there. Do you—"
"Yeah, I know," Luhan interrupted again, evidently annoyed. "Do I need you to tell me that?"
Sehun just decided to shut up for the rest of the drive. He kept his feelings to himself as now just seemed like a really bad time to try to have a conversation with his hyung. He could understand why Luhan was so pissed. He just wished things were not this way.
~
After numerous phone calls that had only gone straight to voicemail because Ina had had her phone switched off, just wanting some space and peace to herself, the two boys had resorted to messaging her on every social media app she used, even emailing her. But they still received no reply, so Luhan just used the spare key to her house that she had given him.
They kept calling out her name but she was nowhere to be found. Until Luhan noticed that the duffel bags in the cloak room were not where they were supposed to be. This had given him the idea that she had been packing. Frowning, he marched into her bedroom and found that her pajamas, which she would normally leave on the side of the bed when she went out, were not there. Her laptop and handbag were also not on her table where they should be.
Frantically, he dashed to her study, Sehun closely following. Having known her for years, Luhan knew which drawer she had kept her personal identification documents in. He pulled it open and rummaged in it, and her passport was not there. He cussed loudly and cast half of the cupboard's contents onto the floor. She was gone, and he had not the slightest clue where to.
"Hyung! Calm down! What are you doing?" Sehun exclaimed, eyes widening at the mess Luhan was making.
"SHE'S GONE!" Luhan bellowed. "How could you just let her leave like that?!"
"What?! What do you mean? She didn't tell me anything; she—"
Suddenly the werewolf balled his hands into fists and swung a punch at Sehun. The human boy had not seen this coming and was totally taken aback and rendered completely defenseless. He doubled over and fell to the ground due to the impact and momentum of the swing, but Luhan had picked him up by the collar, hauling him off the ground and slamming him into the wooden door.
"You were the last person she talked to. Did you tell her to get away from me?! Where the fuck is she?!" He demanded.
"I...I don't know..." Sehun spluttered. He was so scared and he had never seen this side of his Luhan-hyung before. His paranoia and violent tendencies were growing by the minute and Sehun did not know how to feel about it. In fact he could hardly believe what was going on, considering how he had, mostly, only ever seen Luhan protect him from bullies rather than as someone he would need protection against. It felt so dissonant and wrong to the younger boy.
"You don't know?! Are you sure you didn't drive her away thinking that if you can't have her, then I can't either, nor can anybody else?" Luhan questioned fiercely, no doubt having the upper hand although he was the shorter one.
"No. I didn't do anything," Sehun gasped, panting in fear. "I didn't say anything to her."
"But you do know where to find her, don't you?" Luhan snarled. "Just like you knew to locate us in the alley earlier today."
"I have no idea," Sehun said breathlessly. "I know nothing. I'm sorry."
"Well you better fucking find her," Luhan warned, putting Sehun down. The mention of what had happened in the alley might have given the werewolf an idea as to where Ina could have gone. Without speaking another word, he had left her place and about to embark on a dangerous mission. He was not going to just search for her and get her back; he was also going to avenge his pack.
~
As soon as Luhan was out of sight, Sehun sank down to the floor and caught his breath, needing to calm himself and regain his composure. After a moment, he found the fridge and grabbed an ice pack to apply to his cheek where it had connected with Luhan's fist. He was sure there was going to be an ugly, big ass bruise, but that was the least of his worries right now. Other than that Luhan's anger was getting out of control and that his aggression was going to leave a great deal of destruction in its wake, Sehun was concerned about Ina. Where could she possibly have gone? He was freaking out because too much had happened in one day, and extremely worried right now which was making it difficult for him to think hard. But he forced himself to do so anyway, because he was so desperate to find her. He found his phone again and tried to call her, but once again it got him nowhere and none of his messages got any replies either. He hit his palm against his forehead in frustration and paced the perimeters of her house to try to look for clues. Her passport was gone, which means she had flown out, but where would she go? It had to be somewhere near enough to Seoul, since she only had the weekend to be away.
As he walked around, he saw a photograph in a frame next to a vase. It was a picture of them and a group of Ina's classmates during freshers' week. Instantly, it had made Sehun think of the late night talks during freshers' week, when everybody had to share some of the items on their bucket lists. He snapped his fingers and got excited when he recalled that she mentioned going to Jeju. That had to be a lead on her whereabouts. But where in Jeju?! Was he supposed to get on a helicopter and scout the entire island?
But there was no way he was giving up. Although he was not expecting to see her today, yesterday they were at class together, and he observed that something must have been on her mind yesterday, which he now was able to deduce must have been her dilemma between him and Luhan. Once again he felt remorseful for putting her through this, but now was not the time to douse himself in guilt and shame. He continued to think about how oddly quiet she was yesterday, and how she had set up her laptop for the lesson but was not jotting notes. In fact she was not even using her laptop at all even though it had remained switched on the whole time. She was just blankly staring at her laptop wallpaper for three hours straight, having zoned out and too engrossed in her own troubling thoughts.
That was it! Her laptop wallpaper! It was a photo of the famous Jungmun Beach, and that was in Jeju! Could that be where she had fled to?
Sehun could barely stay rational. He left her place immediately and got into his car as quickly as he could, driving back to his place to pack. He was going to get his ass to Jeju.