You went to visit Su-ho together with Si-eun and Yeong-i.

For context: it had been a bad plan. Su-ho and Beom-seok had been kidnapped, and you and Si-eun had gone after them. It ended badly.

Su-ho had taken a hard blow to the head and nearly broken his arm, landing him in the hospital. You, Beom-seok, and Si-eun were worn down too---bruised and exhausted---but at least none of you were risking a concussion.

Su-ho laid on one of the hospital beds, Yeong-i on the opposite one, in between you and Si-eun. You didn’t even remember how the conversation had drifted there, but suddenly Yeong-i was joking about her and Si-eun being a thing.

Su-ho’s eyes widened. He pointed at the two of them, then slowly lowered his hand when Si-eun gently untangled his arm from Yeong-i’s grip and lifted her head from his shoulder.

He sighed, his voice quiet as he explained, “She’s just being weird.”

Yeong-i scoffed and slid her arm back under his anyway. It was all a joke. You knew that.

What you didn’t know---until then---was how angry the sight made you.

For context---again: you’d liked Yeong-i for a while. Longer than you cared to admit. Even when she hadn’t been easy to trust at first. She was pretty, kind of funny… well---cool. She was cool.

You stood up abruptly, mumbling something about getting water. Su-ho immediately added, grinning, “Grab me a snack!”

You nodded and left the room, aware of Si-eun’s and Yeong-i’s eyes following you.

Outside, you shoved your hands into your hoodie pockets and kicked at a random pebble that had been resting on the floor for too much time---for your liking. A snack sat in one hand, the water bottle untouched in the other.

The hospital’s automatic doors slid open behind you. You turned.

Yeong-i.

The wind brushed through her half-purple hair as she stopped beside you, the familiar bag slung over one shoulder, hoodie half-zipped, phone in hand.

“You’ve been out here the whole time?” She hummed, crossing her arms once she came to a stop.

Then she tilted her head slightly. “Being a weirdo? You left pretty fast earlier,” She added, brows lifting with a mix of curiosity and mild confusion.

You didn’t answer right away.

You stared at the pebble by your shoe instead, nudging it forward with the toe until it skidded across the tile and disappeared beneath a bench. The automatic doors slid shut again behind her, cutting off the sterile hum of the hospital hallway.

“Yeah,” You finally said. “Guess so.”

Yeong-i hummed softly, like she wasn’t convinced. She leaned back against the railing beside you, her shoulder just barely brushing yours. Close enough that you noticed the faint scent of detergent clinging to her hoodie. Familiar. Annoyingly so.

“You okay?” She asked, eyes fixed ahead instead of on you.

You let out a short breath. “I’m fine.”

She glanced at you then, slow and deliberate. “You don’t sound fine.”

You tightened your grip around the snack bag, the plastic crinkling too loudly in the quiet space. “I just needed air.”

“For water, right?” She teased lightly, nodding toward the untouched bottle in your hand.

You followed her gaze and felt heat crawl up your neck. “I forgot about it.”

Yeong-i smiled at that---not wide, not bright. Just a small, knowing curve of her lips. “Figures.”

Silence settled between you, thick but not uncomfortable. It never really was with her. That was part of the problem. She had a way of making quiet feel shared, like she was choosing to be there with you rather than simply existing nearby.

“You looked upset back there,” She said after a moment. “Did someone say something?”

You hesitated.

Images flashed through your mind---her arm looped through Si-eun’s, her head resting on his shoulder, the way she’d said it like it was nothing. Like it didn't really matter.

So why did it matter so much to you?