ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ 𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗣𝗧𝗘𝗥 𝗦𝗜𝗫𝗧𝗘𝗘𝗡
─◌✰್ 𝖻𝗂𝗇'𝗌 𝖺𝗋𝗆𝗌

robin_is_a_penguin wowzers someone cleans up nicely
> cheesecakehannie okay don't be so surprised 🙇‍♂️
> bin.there.done.that @robin_is_a_penguin don't let the fit fool you he's still gross
> mymymy @bin.there.done.that all men are gross, bin
> nomnominnie @mymymy aw, even me??
> bin.there.done.that @mymymy @nomnominnie oop awkward

huats.up this pic makes the campsite look so dirty sigh
> matchatess it's bc @catdad_lee and @minniemouse- were wrestling on the ground...
> dingdonghong @matchatess okay why am i not surprised
> catdad_lee @matchatess @dingdonghong he tried to steal my piece of bread he deserved it

ramenoodlaska you didn't take my recommendation of the gray turtleneck but you still ate 🤪
> minniemouse- not everyone gotta follow your advice laska
> ryerye @minniemouse- she is the most fashionable seungmo
> cheesecakehannie @ramenoodlaska i would've worn one but hyunjin wouldn't let me borrow his 😔
> ramenoodlaska @cheesecakehannie i'll fight him for you hehe
> sk8terjj @ramenoodlaska wouldn't it be better if i asked him?

"Ewe, there's no way I'm touching the slimy stuff inside that pumpkin!" Han whined as he stared at the orange vegetable sitting before him.

It was the next morning. Everyone had woken up with the sun to start carving pumpkins, make pies, and participate in other fall festivities. Their vacation was in full-swing.

Robin rolled her eyes at him. "Okay, then roll my sleeves up for me and I'll do it."

"You're such a baby, Jisung!" Seungmin called from the table next to him. He had his sleeves rolled up to his elbows, and he donned rubber gloves as he rooted around inside the pumpkin, pulling all the seeds and innards out. "It's just a plant, and it's all for a good cause!"

"What cause it that, exactly?" Renee questioned.

Seungmin shrugged. "To make spooky decorations, of course! And our pumpkin is gonna be the coolest ever."

"You two are sharing a pumpkin?" you asked, coming to stand next to the two of them. "That sounds almost like..."

"Almost like what?" Renee crossed her arms. She was letting Seungmin do all the dirty work, so she had no pumpkin guts on her.

"Almost like you two are dating!" Tessa chimed in, smirking at her friend, who was next to her. "C'mon you two, how long are you gonna play this silly charade of acting like you're not together?"

Seungmin balked, glancing from Renee to Tessa, and back again. "Erm... Ren, what is she talking about?" he said, stopping his attempts to clean the pumpkin and staring at the girl next to him.

Renee ducked her head. "Uhh... no, it's nothing!" she said hurriedly. "Tess's being crazy, like always!"

"Hey, I am not crazy!" Tessa gasped. "Am I crazy??" She turned to the rest of the group.

Minho, who was chopping open the top of his pumpkin, shrugged. "I don't think you want me to answer that."

She glowered. "Shut up. I wasn't asking you." Facing Seungmin again, she continued, "All I'm saying is that you heard what Renee was saying around the fire. She wants a guy who wants to be with her, and doesn't care about his pride. Did you totally ignore that??"

"Tess..." Renee groaned, covering her face with her hands. "You don't have to do this."

Tessa grinned, before turning to her own pumpkin. "Just food for thought, babes. Anyway, you can pretend like I said nothing, if you want. Whatever."

Seungmin frowned at Tessa, but it wasn't a mean look. It was as if he was thinking hard about something. "Yeah... uh, okay." He glanced at Renee, who was decidedly avoiding him. "What kind of face do you want on the pumpkin? I was thinking a scary one, but I'm open to ideas."

You and Tessa shared an exasperated look. Clearly, they still weren't ready to admit their feelings, and no one could force them.

"Hey girl!" Riley called to you from the other side of the clearing. She, JJ, Hyunjin, Chan, Jeongin, and Mya were all holding straw baskets.

"What's up?" You started heading towards them. "Where are you guys going?"

"We're gonna go apple picking! Apparently, there's an orchard a few minutes from the lodge! We thought we'd go, then maybe hang out in the lodge for awhile after, so I can start my drawing. Wanna come?"

You shrugged. "Oh, I g-"

"Or you could help me carve our pumpkin."

Changbin stood next to Robin and Han, a few yards behind you, his hands shoved in his jeans pockets, head hung low as he refused to meet your eyes.

You opened your mouth to reply, but no sound came out. You met Riley's gaze, silently asking her advice.

She grinned wickedly, shrugging. "Carving pumpkins sounds like lots of fun. You could meet up with us later, if you want."

You smiled, nodding. "Yeah, okay Bin. I'd love to carve a pumpkin with you."

For the first time in almost two days, Changbin smiled at you.

And your stupid heart, the thing that you'd been trying to shut off, started hammering so hard, you could hear it in your skull.

Son of a bitch, you thought to yourself bitterly, as you strode over to stand next to him. Why couldn't you just get over this crazy crush, and focus on your career? You'd never had a problem with that before.

"So, would you like the honor of cleaning the pumpkin?" Changbin offered you a pair of gloves.

You stared down at them, unable to keep the distasteful look off your face.

Changbin let out a loud laugh, that gorgeous smile you'd been obsessed with since you first met him breaking through. "I'm sorry Gorgeous, I didn't mean that. I was just fucking around."

You groaned, rolling your eyes at him. "You are such a little shithead." But no matter how hard you tried to feign frustration, all you could think about was the fact that he'd just called you Gorgeous, like he used to.

Changbin grabbed the knife, and started cutting into their ugly, lumpy pumpkin. "I didn't think about the fact that all the weird knobs on this thing would make it harder to carve," he said through gritted teeth.

You watched him carefully. "Do you want me to hold it?" you offered.

"Yeah, actually that would be great!" he agreed, moving over so you could hold the pumpkin still.

He cut the top off with ease, those perfect arm muscles flexing, his tan skin glinting in the orangey autumn sun. Damn, he looked so good. Your mouth practically watered at the sight.

When he finally got the top cut off, he got to work on scooping the innards out.

"Do you like eating the pumpkin seeds?" Changbin asked as he plopped the orange insides onto a paper bowl. "They're a good source of fiber, you know."

You grinned, nodding. "You're not the only fitness buff here, Bin," you teased, placing a hand on his arm as he worked. His eyes drifted to it, and you quickly pulled away, embarrassed. "A-after we're done, we have to roast the shit out of these things."

"Ooh, we can do that!" Alaska called, as she exited her cabin, Felix following behind. "We were just preheating the oven so we can start making some pies!"

"Are you sure that's all you were doing?" Robin snickered, nudging Han, who also giggled. "You were gone for way too long."

Felix and Alaska glanced at each other guiltily.

"Ewe, spare us the details!" Minho called, shaking his head at his friends. "You two couldn't keep it in your pants for a couple days?"

"Hey, you guys are all busy out here!" Felix protested. "We were discreet, you had to make it weird."

"Besides, not our fault if you're a little... frustrated," Alaska smirked at Minho, who glared poison in response.

"I'm all for talking about our sex lives," Tessa commented, "but I would much rather be eating pie, and carving our pumpkins, unless we're gonna get some juicy deets!"

"We do not want to hear juicy deets!" Changbin whined. "Just because they're my friends does not mean I want that."

"Girls share everything," you reminded him. "I know things about your friends that would sear your brain cells."

Changbin made a face. "Please don't tell me. I miss when we all had secrets."

You laughed, leaning over and kiss his cheek. But suddenly, your phone buzzed.

Changbin glanced down. "What's up?"

You frowned, checking it. "Ah, sorry it's just Se Ri. I need to reply to her really quick."

"Can it wait?" He asked as gently as possible. "I thought you were taking some time to yourself."

You sighed resignedly. "That was yesterday. I gave myself one day to relax. But today, I'm back, beck and call to my boss. It'll just take one minute, I promise."

Changbin smiled, pulling his gloves off and squeezing your hand. "I trust you, Hua."

You smiled, squeezing his hand back, before turning around to respond.

Se Ri
I need an update on the
dogs ASAP.

You thought it was a little strange to hear from her so soon, when you'd barely had any time to work with them. Even the animal shelter hadn't contacted you yet.

Lanhua
The dogs are doing well. We haven't
had much time to work with them,
but we will be continuing tonight.

I will send you more updates then.

After putting your phone in your back pocket, you turned to help Changbin carve the pumpkin.

"Everything okay?" he asked, meeting your gaze with a bright smile.

You shrugged, nodding. "Yeah, she's just being clingier than usual." You rolled your eyes. "Anyway, do you have any ideas for what to do with this pumpkin?"

Changbin paused, pondering. "What if we did heart eyes, and a big smile? Like our pumpkin is..."

You smiled, your heart thumping along with your heightening feelings. "Like our pumpkin is in love?"

He grinned back, face pink. "Yeah."

"Yes! I love that-"

Your phone buzzed again.

You met Changbin's gaze guiltily, pulling the stupid electronic from your pocket.

"Again?" he asked, pairing his comment with a forced laugh, a feeble attempt at diffusing the tension. "What does your boss need that could be so important?"

"I-I don't know," you couldn't help but stammer. "But this is the last time, I swear. I just have to answer her. After The Work Debacle, I'm probably on thin ice with her."

Changbin sighed, barely suppressing an eyeroll. "I know, Gorgeous. I know how important this is to you. But... having fun, relaxing, that's equally as important. Maybe more. So please, after this, stop?"

You smiled, placing a hand on his arm. You could feel the muscles flexing beneath his rolled-up sleeve, and had to wrench away from him before you could get too distracted.

Peeking at your phone again, you groaned.

Se Ri
Please write up a detailed log for
each of the dog's progress, and email
it to me asap.

I need to know you are making progress.

Lanhua
Of course, Se Ri. I will get
to work on that tonight.

You set your phone on the table, face-up. If Se Ri wasn't going to shut up for longer than a couple minutes, you unfortunately wouldn't be able to keep your "no work" promise for the rest of the day.

Changbin's eyes narrowed as he stared at your iPhone sitting there. "You gonna put that thing away?" he asked, nudging you gently. It was clear he was trying to keep his cool.

You nudged him back, your cheeks warming. But it wasn't with embarrassment or giddiness. Rather, you were starting to feel defensive.

"You know I can't, Bin," you murmured, so quietly even Robin and Han, who were trying to smear pumpkin guts on each other's faces, couldn't hear. "This is really important. To me, and to my job. So please."

He shot you a harsh look. "I know how important your work is to you, Hua."

No more nickname, you supposed. That didn't take long.

"But I also know how important you - and your happiness - are to me. So if you want to hang out with me and carve this pumpkin, then great. I love spending time with you. But if you would rather stay up your boss's ass, then that's your choice. But remember, she told you-"

Your phone started vibrating, and Hwasa's "I Love My Body" started blaring out of the speakers.

Han turned around at the noise. "I wouldn't have thought you were a fan of that song," he exclaimed. "It's a bop."

You groaned, picking it up. "No, Tessa changed my ringtone, and I've just never changed it back. I should, it's really unprofessional."

"Don't you dare, everyone loves Hwasa!" Tessa warned from across the yard. Her knife was buried in the front of her pumpkin, cutting out a goofy tongue for the mouth.

As you swiped to unlock the call, you locked eyes with Changbin. His gaze was sad, but even worse, resigned. Like he was giving up on you. You opened your mouth to respond, to try and win him back in some way, maybe promise that you weren't as terrible of a person as you were clearly acting at the moment, but before you could formulate any coherent words, Se Ri started talking.

"Lanhua! Thank god you picked up. I need you to start working on that report right away. It's not up to me, but the higher-ups, the CEO, is asking for daily - constant - updates on the dogs. They're worried that this event will- well, I trust you, of course, but they-"

"I understand, Se Ri." You tried to keep your voice steady, but your free hand was twirling a strand of hair round and round your finger, one of your nervous childhood habits you hadn't been able to kick. "I-I will get to work on it after we train the dogs a bit more, I promise. I will have it to you by the end of the night."

"Thank you, Lanhua," Se Ri breathed out an audible sigh of relief. No matter how good of a boss she was, she was always a bit of a pushover, and hated conflict. It really showed in situations like this. "I will talk to you tomorrow, then."

"Bye." Was all you could muster, before jamming the hang up button, and whipping around. You needed to talk to Changbin, promise him that was the last call you would make today.

But he was gone.

Your pumpkin sat, half-carved, one heart-shaped eye cut. But the other was sliced into an 'x' shape, the knife next to it, forgotten.

Han and Robin still stood in front of their pumpkin, placing the final touches on the smirking mouth.

"Robin, Han, where did Changbin go??" you exclaimed, breath coming in fast gasps. The call had barely lasted two minutes, how far could he have gone?

Han shrugged. "He said he was going to hang out with the others who are apple picking."

"He seemed pretty upset," Robin added, glancing at you uncomfortably.

You tried to swallow down your stress, but you couldn't stop the sensation of nausea washing over you, like you might need to throw up.

Clearly, Changbin was mad at you. He had made that obvious the first time you picked up the phone.

But that wasn't what made you want to hurl all over your botched pumpkin.

He had given up on you, he no longer believed in you. And what was worse? He had every reason to.

laska's note —
well... that truce seems to have lasted all but five minutes 🥹 they can't seem to get their priorities aligned now, can they? maybe they need a bit of time to cool off, and talk to their friends. it's so obvious that they work well together when they're apply, but maybe hey need some advice on how to work together even when they have different opinions. i wonder if they'll be able to figure it out? and what about all those other couples who are still in denial that they're basically dating? cough cough seungee cough cough... will they just admit their feelings to one another finally?? who knows... 😅 what do you all think? can changhua work out their differences and be happy together?

𝖭𝖤𝖷𝖳 𝖴𝖯：
𝟭𝟳 - 𝗮 𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗼𝗺 𝗽𝗮𝗶𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴
┊ ⇄ ◁◁ II ▷▷ ↻ ┊