╭                                                                 ╮
━━━  " 📂 " ‍..⃗. ༉

𝘾 𝙍 𝙔 𝘽 𝘼 𝘽 𝙔

! chapter twenty six ─── ʚĭɞ

╰                                                               ╯

"Just take it." Yeori held out the helmet to him, even as Seojun shook his head. "Why not?"

"Nobody else uses it but you." Seojun told her, looking up at her from where he sat on his bike, balancing his own helmet on his lap. She was holding the other helmet, the one that was black with pretty pink details hidden all over, the one that he had gotten for her so long ago. "And... I've been thinking about what you said."

"Oh, yeah?" Yeori stood up a little straighter, her interest piqued. "About listening to your mom? Because I think that it's a really, really, good idea."

"You do, do you?" Seojun leant forward, leaning his elbow atop of his helmet, palm resting at his temple. "Well, then I guess I had better listen."

Her smile narrowed a little. "Not that... not like I have to have any say in what you do or you don't do. I just think it would be a good idea considering she just came out of hospital."

"I know." He nodded. "Yeori, you should come by and see her when you can. Reassure her that I'm not being a total dickhead all the time."

"You're not?" Yeori's feigned shock made him roll his eyes. "Okay... do you also want me to mention that this time when you're not being a total dickhead was because we were running away from a gang of boys who wanted to beat you up?"

Seojun rolled his eyes. "Leave that part out, would you?"

"I'll try my best. Ask what days she's free and let me know." Yeori said. They remained silent for a moment, the girl turning over the helmet in her hands. "Night, Seojun. Don't drive too fast."

"I won't." He promised, pulling his helmet back on. She waited until he turned the corner before pushing her key into the lock and entering through the side door to her house, avoiding the low glow of the convenience store. It was quiet in the house, other than the sound of water boiling and a distant, hardly there noise of her brother playing video games deep into the night.

When she walked into the kitchen, she wasn't surprised to see her father sat there before his laptop, a pen in his hand and a notepad to his right as he made the orders for the week.

"Was that a motorbike I heard?" Seungwon asked as he looked up, removing an earbud and laying it on the table. "You wouldn't have caught a ride back with Han Seojun, would you?"

"Yeah, I did." Yeori nodded wearily, and delicately placed the helmet down in the middle of the kitchen table. "He gave me this back. I... He was at the same karaoke place we all went to after the study session."

"Ah, I see." Her dad replied sagely. "You didn't have an argument, did you?"

"No... no, the opposite, really." Yeori said, and slumped into a chair before him. "It was actually quite nice. We... it was like how it was a year ago."

"I see." Seungwon repeated with a slow nod. "I know how angry and upset he has made you in the past, but Yeori, let me ask you, do you wish that you and Seojun were still dating?"

"What?" She stared, shocked at first, before falling quiet, deep in thought. "I understand why we aren't." She said hesitantly. "I was happy to... to support him through everything that happened, but it was too much for him to deal with at that point. Seyeon... Suho, his mom. I know why he couldn't deal with having a girlfriend as well."

Seungwon put down his pen, and pushed the screen of the laptop down so as to not be distracted by anything as they spoke. "In that case... people are sometimes right for one another, but the timing becomes wrong. Things get in the way."

"Yeah. Maybe. We keep bickering, and we don't hate each other, and then there's moments when it just feels like nothing's changed and everything's as it was and... and I just...  I don't know. I think I'm just confused."

"It's okay to be confused at your age. You're only young, still in high school, there is time to be confused now. Perhaps you should sleep on it." Her dad suggested. "I'll bring you up a cup of tea. Think about it, Yeori, but you don't need to worry yourself. Things will work out, whether it is the way you expect it to now, but it will work out."

"I will." She nodded. "Thanks."

And she slowly pulled herself up and picked up the helmet, trudging up the stairs to change into her pyjamas. Her dad would deliver her tea, and as she sipped it and reached for her bag to try and complete a little more maths that she failed to do earlier, considering the Jugyeong-Suho distraction.

As she picked up a pen, her phone rang.

When she looked down, she couldn't help but smile at the contact and discarded the studying.

"Seojun, hi." She began. "Did you get home?"

Maths didn't matter that much, anyways.