Present Day
22-Years-Old

And so it began.

With Sunhee slyly in his ear, Yoongi began to resent Aera for a lot of things he'd never even thought about before. He began to agree with Sunhee that Aera took advantage of him. He was a shy, quiet introvert, and Aera, a brash, loud extrovert, walked all over him. And he found himself getting more and more angry as he came to these realizations.

And Sunhee couldn't have been happier. It hadn't initially been her goal to get Aera out of the way, but Sunhee had become annoyed with her and didn't want to have to deal with her anymore. She supposed her grudge against Aera began the moment Yoongi had left Sunhee in bed after their first time to find and comfort Aera. He should've spent that morning cuddling with Sunhee, but instead, he was hugging Aera in the kitchen. Sunhee only saw red after that.

Yoongi, much to Sunhee's delight, had become short with Aera whenever he was around her. Sunhee could tell Aera was confused, and likely had her feelings hurt, but this only pleased Sunhee more. It didn't take long for Sunhee to put her ultimate plan in place. She was going to get rid of Aera once and for all.

"Yoongs, can I talk to you?"

"Of course," Yoongi replied, pausing the movie and turning to Sunhee.

"What would you think about us maybe living together?"

Yoongi blinked. "You don't think it's too soon for that?"

"No, I don't," Sunhee replied. "We already spend every night together, whether here or at my place. It just doesn't make sense to keep paying rent at two different apartments. Don't you think?"

Yoongi considered this. "That makes sense, I guess. I just..."

"Hmm? You just what?"

"Well, you'd have to move in here. If that's okay."

"Sure," Sunhee agreed. "But why would we need to be here?"

"Well, because Aera's here," Yoongi explained.

Sunhee frowned. "Well, don't you think three's a crowd?"

"What do you mean?"

"I think, if I move in here, it would be a bit crowded with three people. Don't you agree?"

"But..."

Sunhee raised her eyebrows expectantly.

"But, I just...I can't just kick her out."

"Why not?"

Yoongi stared at her. "I mean, she has been driving me crazy lately, but it just doesn't seem right to kick her out."

Sunhee sighed. "Yoongs, you've got to start standing up for yourself. And, if I'm going to move in, you need to stand up for me, too. Right?"

"I'll always stand up for you!" Yoongi exclaimed quickly. "Of course I'll do whatever it takes for you to be comfortable."

"Then I think you know what you need to do," Sunhee said. She placed her hand on his. "I know it may seem harsh, but I think it's for the best in the end. Best for us, you know?"

Yoongi thought it over. He supposed she was right. It didn't seem fair to move Sunhee into a crowded apartment.

"I'll talk to her – "

"You should talk to her as soon as you see her next. I mean, we want to take our relationship to the next level as soon as possible, right?"

Yoongi considered this. "Well, when you put it that way..."

"Good," Sunhee said, patting his hand. "I'll support you when you tell her, okay? It'll be alright."

Yoongi chewed on his lip. He still felt slightly conflicted, but he was falling in love. He knew he needed to do whatever it took to continue on that path. And if this made Sunhee happy...

"Okay," he said. "I trust you."

-

Yoongi put off the inevitable for as long as he could, but one day, Aera returned home while Sunhee was there, and Yoongi knew that day was going to have to be the day he talked to Aera.

Aera came in with exciting news, so she was joyously rambling with her typical fast chatter.

"Yoongs! Guess what! Officer Cho actually called me today! I'm going to go to court next week to see about fostering Ju – "

"Calm down!" Yoongi suddenly snapped. Aera's mouth clamped shut. "You are always rambling, and it's getting really annoying!"

"Wha – "

"We need to have a talk, Aera."

Aera, whose feelings had already been hurt by Yoongi's outburst, did not miss the fact that Yoongi called her by her name instead of A. "What's going on?" she asked quietly.

"Sunhee is going to move in with me."

"O-Okay..."

"So I need you to move out."

Aera's eyes widened. "What?"

"It's just that three's kind of a crowd, and Sunhee and I are taking the next step in our relationship. So, you need to move out within the next few days."

"Yoongs, I – "

"Please don't call me that."

Tears finally filled Aera's eyes. "But why?" she asked, barely above a whisper.

"Because I don't want you to."

Aera took a deep breath to keep her tears from falling. "Yoongi, I can't afford to live on my own."

"That's not my problem."

Aera flinched. "What's going on here? Did I do something wrong?"

Yoongi sighed with annoyance. "You're not on the lease, so you don't have a right to stay here."

"But I pay rent and – "

"So you can pay rent somewhere else now."

Aera was speechless. The tears finally began to fall, and she wasn't absolutely sure, but Yoongi's face seemed to soften for a split second. She then looked over Yoongi's shoulder and saw Sunhee smugly smiling at her. And it hit Aera like a ton of bricks. This was her plan. This is what she meant by changing the way Yoongi felt about Aera. And the tears snaked down her cheeks with no sign of stopping as she realized it had worked.

"Yoongi. Please. There's no way I can find a place and move out all my stuff within just a few days. I-I don't even know where I'd go."

"Again, not my problem."

"S-So if I can't find a place in a few days, you're going to kick me out on the streets?"

Yoongi rolled his eyes. "Stop being dramatic."

"B-But I mean it. What am I going to do?"

"Figure it out."

He then turned away from her and joined Sunhee on the couch. He wouldn't even look at Aera anymore. Aera stood stock still, not knowing what to do. She knew she wouldn't be able to stop crying anytime soon.

"I'm sorry for whatever I did," she said, barely above a whisper, before heading to her room. She sat down on her bed, put her face into her pillow, and sobbed. Eventually, she pulled the pillow away and looked around her room. How was she going to do what Yoongi had demanded? She didn't even have any boxes to begin packing. And she didn't have any other friends to help her. She silently hoped that Yoongi would help her with at least her furniture, but she wasn't going to hold her breath.

"What's going on?" she whispered. "How could he do this? He's not himself. I don't know what to do."

The tears began again, and Aera decided to simply lay down on her bed and hope that sleep would come swiftly and save her from this nightmare, if only for a little while.

-

The next day, Aera called out of work in order to look at apartments. Surprisingly, she eventually found one in her price range. Though it wasn't in as nice an area as Yoongi's apartment, she felt it was still safe and thus, she was comfortable with it.

After signing the lease, she set about finding boxes in order to get packing. By the time she made it home, she was feeling exhausted. She knew she should start packing, but she instead laid down on her bed. And though she was feeling a bit better about the situation, she began crying anyway. She couldn't move past the fact that she was losing Yoongi, if she hadn't already lost him.

She knew Yoongi was at work and so not with Sunhee. She pulled out her phone and sent him a quick text.

Aera I found a place today. I'll be moving out in the next few days, as requested.

She waited a bit, but got no reply.

Aera Yoongi, please talk to me. Help me understand what's going on.

Still no response. She decided to just try again later. Perhaps he was busy with work. She then decided to begin packing.

There was no time to waste, after all.