ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ 𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗣𝗧𝗘𝗥 𝗦𝗘𝗩𝗘𝗡𝗧𝗘𝗘𝗡
─◌✰್ 𝖺 𝗋𝖺𝗇𝖽𝗈𝗆 𝗉𝖺𝗂𝗋𝗂𝗇𝗀

mymymy obviously the blue means that there'll be nice weather today. obviously.
> the.official.hwang mya wtf are u talking about
> ryerye @the.official.hwang i'm the artist here, and she's right
> the.official.hwang @ryerye suree 🙄
> ramenoodlaska @the.official.hwang it WAS sunny out while they were gone so... maybe she's onto something 👀

huats.up hey i would believe that you know what you're talking about
> minniemouse- she definitely had something to say about each one
> dingdonghong @minniemouse- seung you're making me sound like a blabbermouth 🤦‍♀️
> matchatess @minniemouse- yeah that's no way to talk about your lady, apologize
> robin_is_a_penguin @minniemouse- yeah she seems sweet but she might kick your ass, remember when she straight-up caught u when u fell off the lifeguard chair?
> huats.up @robin_is_a_penguin that was crazy. renee, do you lift?

cheesecakehannie look at you guys being all cultured, so proud
> matchatess weren't you napping during this? lol
> cheesecakehannie @matchatess i am already cultured enough thank you very much 😒
> @robin_is_a_penguin @cheesecakehannie last week, you thought kaarage chicken was a chicken nugget, and asked for ketchup.
> bin.there.done.that @cheesecakehannie is the "culture" in the room with us?

Hwang Alaska was one of the most persistent people you knew.

All you wanted to do was go after Changbin, and apologize to him about how you'd acted, how you'd treated him. It was wrong of you to choose work over play, especially when "play" involved spending quality time with him. He'd done the right thing yesterday in apologizing to you for acting rude, and you needed to do the same thing, if you were ever going to have a relationship with him. If that was what either of you wanted, that is.

But of course, Alaska insisted that you stay and bake pumpkin pies with her and Felix, back at their, Han, and Robin's cabin.

But how could she have known that you and Changbin were having a small falling out, once again? And you weren't about to tell her, or anyone else. You would never air your dirty laundry to people who didn't need to know.

"I promise, fresh pumpkin makes the best pies," Felix promised you from his spot by the oven. "That puréed shit is too sweet."

"Felix makes amazing pies!" Alaska agreed, as she tied her hair back in a purple scrunchie. "And since we already scooped out all the insides, it's gonna be easy!"

"Can I help?" Han approached the table curiously. "Robin, Tessa, and Seungmin are setting and lighting the jack-o-lanterns, and they said four people was too many."

"Well, four is the perfect number to make pie!" Alaska exclaimed, scooting over to make room for him. "We can pair up, and each make one!"

You and Alaska were partners, and so were Han and Felix. You started by making your own crust, per Felix's detailed instructions.

"You're way better than I thought you would be!" Alaska said, impressed as she watched you roll the crust out onto a cutting board.

"Hey, what does that mean??" you protested. "Just because you've never seen me bake doesn't mean I can't!"

She shrugged. "I thought you were more into fresh stuff, like smoothies and fruit, that's all!"

You rolled your eyes. "I like fruit in pie too! But I'm nowhere near as good as you and Felix."

"Oh, I'm not good," Alaska corrected. "Lix has just taught me a couple of things. Nothing too complicated though. He says I might start a fire, and he's probably right. But I get to help prepare stuff!"

Felix smiled fondly at her. "It always turns out well, and no one gets hurt. Win-win."

"I wish I could bake," Han pouted. "It's always so yummy when you make it, but when I try, it tastes like old tires."

Felix laughed at his friend. "Yeah, that's why I would never eat your food."

"Maybe Lix could teach you!" Alaska encouraged. "It could be fun! You could come over to our - well, our and Hyunjin's - place, and we could all make something together!"

Felix met her eyes with a soft smile. "Sunshine, you don't think I've tried that before? With all my friends? Same as when Minho tried to teach us to cook. It was a devastating failure, in many ways."

"Yeah, you're all lost causes." Minho entered the cabin, followed by Renee. "We're gonna be roasting pumpkin seeds in my cabin. Just came over to let you know, in case anyone wants to join us."

"We're good here!" Han said enthusiastically. "I'm trying to learn how to bake!"

Minho raised his eyebrows. "Wow. Well, good luck to you, Lix. He's a bit of a slow student."

"Hey!" Han yelped. "I am not, I'm very intelligent! My mom said so!"

Felix patted his friend reassuringly on the arm. "Don't worry, we'll turn you into a chef, if you don't kill us first."

"For being my friends, you're really mean," Han grumbled, but he didn't object further.

"Okay, well... bye, we'll be back with roasted pumpkin seeds!" Renee beamed at them, before hurrying out the door and towards Minho's cabin.

"That's a random pairing," Alaska commented, gazing after her friend. "Since when have they been close?"

Felix shrugged. "She might just be the most normal out of you lot. Maybe Minho wants to hang out with someone who doesn't make him want to rip his hair out."

"Like Tessa," you agreed. "As much as I love her, she purposely tries to make him go insane."

"It is kinda funny," Han pointed out. "He acts like a cool dude, but he's just as weird as the rest of us. He's just a little quieter about it. Has all that career success gone to his head, do ya think?"

Felix chuckled. "There's no way. It hasn't gone to any of our heads, has it? I mean look at Laska, she's out here designing for A-list celebrities barely four months after her career change! If that's not something to brag about, I don't know what is. And she's modest. Mostly."

Alaska's cheeks reddened. "Oh, I wouldn't say-" she began, but you interrupted her.

"How do you two do it?"

Felix, Alaska, and Han all turned to look at you.

"Who, us?" Alaska pointed at her and Felix in confusion.

"Or me?" Han asked curiously.

You raised a brow at him, and he sulked.

"How do you guys balance having a healthy relationship, with being normal people?" you explained. "How do you guys have lives, and... love lives?"

Han laughed at your words. "How do you know either of them have lives?"

Alaska glared at him, and Felix's mouth turned down in a pout.

"I'm kidding!" Han said hastily, busying himself with making the lattice on top of the pie.

Felix turned to you. "It's hard to balance work and life, but we do it by communicating with each other. And it also helps that we sometimes get to collaborate on the things we enjoy."

"We also carve out time for just the two of us," Alaska added. "Sometimes, in order to keep a relationship fresh, you have to make an effort to keep it like that."

You stopped placing puréed pumpkin in the crust to look at your friend. "That sounds like hard work. Is it worth it?"

Felix and Alaska shared a look. "Yeah, it is," they both said in unison, smiling at one another.

"It totally is!" Alaska squeezed Felix's hand. "Why are you asking this, Hua?" She waggled her brows. "Are you thinking about getting into a relationship with someone?"

"And maybe struggling to balance your work and life?" Felix prompted.

"Ooh, someone's in love!" Han cooed as he popped both pies into the oven.

"Stop it!" you cried, covering your burning face. "I've already told you, I can't have a relationship right now. Not when my career is in danger of going down the toilet. I feel like I'm constantly about to get fired, especially after The Work-"

"The Work Debacle, we know." Alaska finished for you. "And I think that you should forget about that. It seems like your boss has. Didn't she tell you to have fun on this trip??"

"Yeah, she did but-"

"Girl, stop making excuses!" Alaska shook a finger at you. "You keep trying to talk your way out of your feelings for Bin, and it shows."

"But you all agreed that I should be focusing on my work instead of my love life!" you protested.

"You did??" Felix gaped at her. "Why did you do that?"

"That does sound kinda dumb," Han chimed in.

"Okay, well we didn't word it like that," Alaska sighed. "I thought that you would realize how much you actually like him, and follow your heart! But you're a workaholic, so of course you didn't."

"We have to tell Changbin about this!" Han said excitedly. "He's been totally obsessed with you since the day you met! He wouldn't stop talking about that swimsuit you wore. 'She looked as delicious as sorbet!' 'I'm so in love!' Blah blah. Wow, he can be annoying when he has a crush!"

"Jisung, you're not helping," Felix chuckled at his friend.

"What you need to do is forget about work for the rest of the trip, and try to have a good time!" Alaska encouraged.

"You know I can't do that," you deadpanned. "I'm always thinking about work. And it- well, it got in the way of my time with Bin today. That's why he's not here."

"I agree with Laska!" Felix nodded. "If you can think about work no problem, then you can also put in the extra effort to think about your love life."

"That's what we do," Alaska smiled encouragingly. "And as you said, it's worked out really well."

Your shoulders sagged as you gave into defeat. "So... what should I do? He was really mad at me when he left. What if he doesn't want to see me?"

"Did you hear anything I just said?" Han demanded. "He. Is. Obsessed. With. You. Swimsuit or not!"

Alaska shot him a disgusted look. "Okay, you're so weird." Glancing back at you, she added, "but he's right. Bin has been crazy with you forever. How many times do we need to tell you that??"

"Apparently way too many times!"

Tessa, Robin, and Seungmin entered the cabin, kicking their shoes off at the door.

"I know, I know..." you rolled your eyes at Tessa's words. "I just don't want to get rejected, you know? But at the same time, Bin has done his part in proving that he wants to be with me. And I need to do the same."

"Girl he's basically in love!" Robin crossed her arms over her chest. "You better run over to the apple orchards and confess your love, or I will make you!"

Seungmin snorted at her. "How would you do that? Throw a game controller at her head?"

Robin frowned. "No, of course not! Geez Seungmin, I wouldn't knock out a friend. I would just steal her Gucci bag, or something."

You fake-gasped. "You wouldn't! Now I have to go!"

"That's the spirit!" Alaska clapped her hands, before shoving you around the counter and towards the door. "Now byeee, go get your man!"

"Hey!" You let out a surprised laugh. "Since when have all of you cared so much about my love life?"

"Since you started being lame and choosing work over everything else!" Tessa called. "I swear, ever since Jeju, you've basically just locked yourself away at the clinic. It's boring without party girl Hua. And maybe Bin can bring her back!"

"Partying with you was fun as hell," Robin agreed thoughtfully.

"So, go out there and tell him you love him, or kiss him, or fu-"

"Tess!" you said, shooting her a warning glare.

"Okay, okay fine, apologize him for whatever you two were fighting about, make up, and get your ass back here so we can have some fun!" Tessa threw her hands up in the air. "This is a vacation for all of us. We need it."

"Go! Go! Go!" Han started chanting.

Everyone just stared at him like he was crazy.

He stared back. "Was that too much?" he asked innocently.

You shook your head, a resigned smile on your face. "No, it was perfect, thanks Han. I'm... I'm gonna go now." You headed towards the door.

"Go get him, babes!" Tessa called after you.

"You got this, Hua!" Alaska and Robin ran after you, faces against the cabin door, waving.

You laughed at the two of them. Maybe your friends were right. If you carved out a time and space for love, love would carve out a time and space for you.

laska's note —
there our girl goes, off to fight for the guy she likes! 🤭 so proud of her for asking for advice and listening to it for once! this was a bit of a silly filler chapter, but we got a bit of an insight into felaska's relationship, who i love so much! and look at that, a new friendship between minho and renee is apparently beginning! i think it's so fun, as this series progresses, to see unexpected friendships appear because they start getting to know each other better 🥰 here's to hoping lanhua and changbin talk through their tiff once more! they're just too cute together not to, right? on the topic of relationships and friendships, what do you look for in a partner, or a friend? 😁

𝖭𝖤𝖷𝖳 𝖴𝖯：
𝟭𝟴 - 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝘀𝗵𝘂𝘁 𝘂𝗽
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