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"BLOUSES," irene began, adjusting her handbag and scanning through racks of shimmery cloth, "or a dress? a nice evening dress." she moved to a different rack, looking at all the options she would be having before diving right in. she missed shopping, and the beautiful pieces in front of her were haunting her.

irene's eyes traveled to different shades of red dresses in white plastic hangers, scanning them with her big eyes. she smirked at a red silk top, and took it out to scan it out a bit more.

"should i get this in red, or-or maybe black?" she asked, turning around, placing the blouse underneath her chin. "what do you think, seulgi?"

irene was expecting a reply, but seulgi wasn't definitely up for one; she was zoned out, mind still deep in thought as her eyes stared blankly.

"seulgi?"

she raised an eyebrow. it didn't seem to matter to seulgi, anyway. her mind was too clogged up with thoughts of jimin to respond.

she had no idea why she was even thinking of him, but she couldn't help it. she sounded totally mature right now - she sounded like one of those dumb blondes in movies. kang seulgi knew better than to get a guy stuck in her brain, especially park jimin, her ex-boyfriend-turned-roommate, but that didn't seem to work out better for her, even if she tried.

she tried to blink him away from her thoughts, completely trusting herself that it was going to work, but it didn't.

for seulgi, it was hard to forget how jimin sat beside her awkwardly, his legs tucked in, a hood draped over his head with his hair covering most of his forehead. she especially couldn't forget how his eyes crinkled up and almost disappeared when he smiled, or how he glances at her from time to time, to make sure she was still watching. jimin loved paddington, and it wasn't especially hard for her to convince him to watch it with her the night before.

it did, after all, made him feel a lot better, he had said. she smiled at the thought of his smile, and rolled her eyes at herself, and at the way she remembers him falling asleep on the couch, and waking up on the couch that morning, with him on the floor, resting his hooded head by the couch next to her. it was almost as if he was somehow relieved to be able to sleep better, and seulgi could never forget how happy he seemed.

except maybe for a few seconds, having irene in front of her to snap her out of it.

"yah! seulgi!"

she blinked for a few moments, registering her mind back to where she was. she was at the women's section at the department store, holding a few shopping bags, her oldest unnie looking at her with raised eyebrows, a red blouse in her grasp.

she wasn't at roomie movie night anymore.

"what? sorry," she muttered, looking at irene abruptly.

irene sighed. "i said," she began again, "should i get this in red, or black? or a dress instead?"

"oh, uh-" seulgi tilted her head to side, and irene brought the blouse closer to her body. the younger blinked a few times, then raised her own eyebrows. "i don't think maroon is your color, unnie."

irene sighed, looking down at the blouse. "yeah, you're probably right, i might not look good in this one." she placed the hanger and the blouse back.

she glanced back at seulgi, who seemed so lost in her thoughts again, only this time, she brought some attention to her feet.

"have you seen joy and yeri?"

startled, seulgi looked up as she started looking through the next range of racks. "w-what?"

"joy and yeri. are they out yet?"

having disappeared a few minutes ago to the fitting rooms, with about seven articles of clothing each, seulgi saw no sign of their younger friends, and shook her head. but she still had a distant look in her eyes, like she was thinking of something.

irene narrowed her eyes. "are you okay? something on your mind?"

"hm? oh, yeah, i'm fine." she didn't sound convincing at all.

"no, you're not." irene jumped to the next rack.

seulgi stared at her as she tucked a tuft of hair behind her ear. "am too."

"you've been spending the last ten minutes walking with a blank expression on your face, seulgi. then you just randomly smile and laugh to yourself," irene pointed out. "does that sound fine to you?"

"not particularly, i guess-"

"seulgi."

the younger groaned. "okay, maybe i've been zoning out for a bit-"

"you've been zoning out since we got here."

"-but that doesn't mean i'm not fine! seriously, unnie." irene raised an eyebrow at her, then shook her head. "what? stop looking at me like that."

"you're keeping something from me," she said, looking at seulgi with her piercing gaze.

"i am not," seulgi said, crossing her arms, walking over to the rack of blouses next to irene, scanning the pieces of clothing for something worthy of trying on - or, at least, that was what she was trying to do.

"seulgi, you're about as bad as a liar as you think you're a good actress."

"hey!"

"stop lying to me."

"alright, i was thinking of something."

irene looked at her. "anything in particular?"

"a lot of things actually," she confessed, "but none of them included telling you anything." irene rolled her eyes and continued scanning for clothes.

"i don't have to tell you everything," seulgi said. "you're not my mom."

"yeah, but you don't necessarily have to keep everything to yourself." she took a blouse from a rack and held it to her chest. "what about this one?"

seulgi turned to her and tilted her head. "looks cute."

"yeah? alright, hold this for me." irene handed her the hanger and the blouse. "so what's been boggling your mind?" she turned to her junior. "want to talk about it?"

"i'd rather not," seulgi replied, plopping down on the nearest seat to the both of them. "you won't care anyway."

"how do you know i won't care?" irene gave her a smile.

"well, the situation clearly doesn't involve you," seulgi replied, looking her straight in the eyes. "it's mostly just that."

"are you sure?"

seulgi groaned. "unnie."

"what? i was asking." irene looked to see seulgi glaring at her. "alright, my bad."

"thank you, now i'd rather just keep to myself right now."

"you're in a mall, seulgi."

"joy practically dragged me down here," seulgi defended herself. "i didn't want to come, and she had to use my sad excuse of a wardrobe to force me to be here."

"she did have a point, your wardrobe isn't dressing you up for wendy's bridal party tomorrow night," agreed irene, and before seulgi could protest, she held up two hangers with shimmering blouses: one pink and one gold. "which one?"

the younger glared at her again for a moment and just sighed, then scanned both dresses, humming. "just try them both on, i guess."

irene looked at both of the dresses again, before handing them to seulgi abruptly, and going back to her usual business of finding cute things to try on.

"i'm sitting down," she heard her mumble to herself.

she was about to hand seulgi another one before looking at her, sitting down with her eyes glued somewhere behind irene, about three blouses in one hand and three more on the other. she wasn't trying any of them on; irene was.

she turned around and peered at her once more before looking away again, then rolling her eyes and deciding to speak up.

"is this about jimin?" she said it as nonchalantly as possible, but regardless, seulgi's head snapped up and caught her gaze.

"what?"

"you heard me," irene said, scanning the blouse in her hands.

"no." seulgi wasn't even trying to sound the least bit convincing.

"you really are a bad liar."

"it's not about jimin!"

"i'd rather be convinced otherwise."

seulgi rolled her eyes. "okay, maybe it is about jimin." she looked at the older. "is that a big deal?"

"being roommates with your ex isn't exactly heaven, now is it?" irene said. she turned to her slowly as she spoke, "there's the awkwardness and the silences and the raging hormones-"

"unnie!"

"what? it's true." she handed seulgi the seventh blouse. "you can't exactly move on from a person when you see him almost every single day."

seulgi scoffed. "so it is a big deal?"

"it's kind of an issue. let's go," irene motioned for her to stand up. "aren't you going to try anything on?"

she shook her head. "no, i'm good."

"then help me try these on." she said, walking towards the fitting rooms, seulgi following behind her, adjusting her hold on the blouses.

she looked at her unnie, and blinked. "how'd you know it was about jimin?"

irene turned towards her and smiled before looking forward. "mother's instinct."

"you're not my mother."

"you called me your mother before."

"that doesn't count."

irene looked at her again. "joy told me. about, you know, the other night."

seulgi's expression contorted initially, then it shifted. she closed her eyes and sighed. oh.

"joy did? well, i should've seen that coming." they arrived at the outside of the hall of fitting rooms, and irene stood outside the vacant one. irene started gathering the hangers in both of her hands, and prepared to get them fit in.

"i did what now?" said a shrill voice. it came from one of the occupied rooms, and sure enough, it was joy's.

"that's joy, isn't it?" irene asked.

seulgi nodded. "you told irene unnie about jimin?"

"yeah," joy replied.

"nice going."

"well, what was i supposed to do? i missed date night and it was an antsy atmosphere. i had to tell somebody."

"don't worry, you were cute," said another voice. it cam from the fitting room next to joy's and was a little more pitched than hers, so it must've been yeri. "pretty girl."

"yah!" seulgi called. "sooyoung-ah, you told her, too?"

"i tell her everything, unnie," joy replied. "sorry."

"just let them be, seulgi," said irene. she was preparing to enter. "hold my bag, i'll be right back."

she stood awkwardly outside the dressing rooms as irene entered and only the shuffling of the cloth from inside could be heard, apart from the blaring music from the mall's background and joy's constant giggling from the clothes she's trying on.

she was about to sigh again when yeri spoke up, "hey, seulgi unnie?" she called, continuing after hearing seulgi hum in reply, "tell us more about jimin oppa."

seulgi was partly glad that the doors were closed, so she could freely glare at them or roll her eyes if she wanted to, like right now. "why?"

"we want to know stuff."

she rolled her eyes at her door again. "what's there to tell?"

"what's he like?" yeri asked.

"he's a psycho, judging from the last time i saw him," joy butt in.

"you met him when he was drunk, joy. he's not normally like that."

"how do you know?"

"i live with him. duh." joy scoffed through her fitting room door.

"he's probably a sweet guy," irene added.

"he's a pervert," seulgi said. upon hearing so, joy burst into laughter, and yeri let out a few flustered giggles. "unnie!"

"what?" seulgi retorted. "it's sort of true. well, it is true."

"you must like him that much," joy remarked.

"i do not!"

"i smell a bad liar," yeri said. irene hummed in agreement.

"i'm not lying! why do you guys assume that i lie about everything i say?"

"because you almost always do." yeri giggled. "plus we can just see right through you, so it's not that hard to tell."

"thanks a lot you guys."

there was a moment of silence, then someone spoke up again. "how'd guys end up separated, anyway?"

seulgi blinked at irene's question. "what?"

"she means, why'd you guys break up in the first place?" joy rephrased.

"are we really talking about this?"

"yeah, you haven't told us yet," joy replied. "we're bound to know eventually, and now is the perfect time."

seulgi raised an eyebrow. "at the fitting rooms."

"yeah."

"while you're changing."

"can't name a more perfect place, time and situation."

seulgi sighed. she had a point; she was jimin's roommate, and it didn't look like he was moving out any time soon, so these girls were bound to know some time. "i thought you guys already knew."

"no, we don't."

"we don't?"

"no, i don't think we do, but you did mention something briefly about him cheating on you."

seulgi rubbed the nape of her neck. "er, no, that's not true."

"eh? it isn't?"

"no, it isn't. he has never cheated on me, well, that i know of." i know he wouldn't do that to me.

"then why'd you guys break up?" joy seemed most enthusiastic about this compared to the other two.

"i don't know, really - i guess we were just young and we weren't ready to be with each other yet." seulgi blinked at the floor; jimin would never hurt her, and she knew that. he did have a few moments where he could be a handful to manage - his drunk state included - but then he treated her so well, that it could never have been his fault that caused them to drift apart.

if anything, they broke up because of her.

but they didn't need to hear that.

the silence drove the girls in the fitting rooms crazy, and joy was the first to open her door, peeking at seulgi. "that's it?"

seulgi looked at her. "yeah, that's about it."

"that can't be it!" joy said. yeri opened her door next.

"well, what were you expecting? dishes broken, punches thrown?" joy shrugged as yeri walked over. "we hadn't even spoken since we broke up, joy, we couldn't have fought before we said goodbye to each other."

"did you break up just because you don't think you're ready?" joy asked. seulgi couldn't find the right words to answer her, so she stayed there, looking at her. "or because you don't think you can handle a relationship?"

now that you mention it-

"sooyoung-ah," irene scolded her, walking out from her door. "it's not your place to be asking these questions, you know." joy pursed her lips.

seulgi placed a hand on joy's shoulders. "it's alright," she said, a small smile on her face. "we broke up because we weren't ready, joy. and besides, we're honestly so different. he wants to pursue dancing, i want to pursue acting. he's a fuckboy, and i don't like fuckboys. if anything, we're better off alone, away from each other." she shrugged. "it's fine, really."

"do you still like him?" yeri asked. joy looked at her.

seulgi faced her, and felt her lip tremble. "n-no."

"liar," joy said in a sing-song tone, gathering her clothes.

"i'm not lying!" seulgi called out in frustration, leaving yeri and joy giggling.

"we'll leave you be, unnie," joy said. "stop thinking of him." seulgi reached out and hit joy on the arm as they walked out of the fitting rooms, three blouses in their hands, discussing the outfits they had planned for the bridal party.

irene walked over. "i was right," she said.

seulgi blinked at her. "what?"

"being roommates with your ex is hard," irene said. "and by the looks of it, it's destroying you."

"yeah, well, i think i'm doing well."

"do you still like him?"

seulgi looked at irene, and for once, she found no words. she sighed. "unnie, what do i do?"

irene looked at her with her big eyes. "don't hesitate."

"what?"

"you're only human, you know. you can't control what you feel." she shrugged. "talk to him, and clear the air. maybe it might help." she held up the blouses in her hands. "we'll be paying up, meet us by the cashier?" seulgi nodded. "and yes, seulgi, stop thinking about him so much." she smiled eerily before walking over the cashier, her own items to be bought in her hands.

the girls began segregating the items they would be buying, since they still needed to buy shoes to compliment their clothes. seulgi didn't have a knack for shopping as of the moment; not when she had too many thoughts racking her brain, and her friends weren't even helping. she was just staring blankly again.

then, she had an idea.

she wasn't thinking straight, and she was aware of that, and she didn't how as well. but she was sure that her heart was controlling her right now, which was why what she was currently about to do was irrational.

she grabbed her phone from her jeans' pocket, and opened the first contact that was saved under emergencies. she contemplated for a while, looking at the number and the name and the picture, before pressing the button to dial.

she could feel her heart in her throat.

she waited for a few rings before she got an answer, like it always did.

"hello?"

and she smiled, and sighed of relief.

"hey, jimin."

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sorry for the late update!!!!! i was so busy with prom and everything

- nayeonsbunny -