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When Jung Ara saw the text from Kim Taeyeon simply telling her to come over, she knew Baekhyun had told her. Quickly snatching her purse from the living room floor, Ara was determined to catch the first bus towards downtown Seoul where she could comfort her friend. Unless there was a different reason why she'd been invited.

But her suspicions were confirmed when Taeyeon had opened the door...teary eyed, dishevelled clothing and messy haired. Closing the door behind Ara, Taeyeon buried her face in her shoulder, squeezing her waist tightly as a stream of fresh tears slipped through her eyes onto Ara's peach cotton shirt. The latter was devastated for her and quite guilty that she hadn't told Taeyeon the second she found out. But luckily she didn't need to. It would be too painful to see Taeyeon's initial reaction.

"He's left," the heartbroken twenty–seven year old cried, shaking from the sobs. "Took all of his stuff. He isn't coming back."

Ara gently situated her onto one of the leather sofas before pulling her close and stroking the blonde wisps decorating her damp face. "What happened?"

"Yesterday, after the wedding," Taeyeon gasped. "He came home and began packing his stuff. I tried to stop him so I could find out why he was going so abruptly. He admitted he's been cheating on me for the past year...with Yuna."

"Oh god," Ara whispered in pure pity. Of course she'd seen the couple, but little did she know this relationship was for a whole year. Not only must that have hurted terribly for Taeyeon, but Jongdae must've been in huge amounts of pain also. "How's Jongdae?"

"Chanyeol texted me earlier. He said Jongdae's been crying too. I just can't believe it. The guy I've been living with, dating for five years, shared all of my deepest secrets with. Did any of that mean anything to him?"

"Did he tell you why he's been cheating?"

Taeyeon nodded a little. "He said he's realized that he hasn't been ready for a long term relationship for a while. Which I don't get — you've basically wasted five years of my precious life! I'm twenty–seven! I'm practically of age to be getting married!"

Cries yet again left Taeyeon's mouth as it dawned to her how much of her life has gone whilst being with someone who hadn't cherished it as much as she has. Ara wished that last night she did punch Baekhyun as hard as she possibly could have.

After Taeyeon had calmed down to the point that she was sipping a cup of tea on the plush sofas and her eyes weren't as red, Ara sat beside her silently.

"He told me you knew. But forced him to tell me. Thank you, Ara. Honestly. Because if I found out on the wedding, I would've ruined it."

That was a stress relief. Ara was praying that Taeyeon wouldn't be mad if she knew, but that wasn't even an option. "At least he did tell you."

"I feel worthless," she shakily mumbled, eyeing up the younger with pain and sadness. "With him, he's taken half of me. My soul, my heart."

"You can move on..."

Taeyeon sniffed, placing the steaming tea on the wooden floor under her. "I should've known. These past few months, he's been really...distracted? We haven't been — uh— intimate in two months. I thought it was me, maybe I wasn't as attractive as I used to be. But turns out he was sharing his intimacy with another woman! Not even a random person. Yuna!"

Kim Taeyeon, the bubbly, sweet girl was sobbing and clutching onto the arm of the sofa as if her boyfriend was still there. Ara was broken to say the least. Her emotions were mixed; she wanted to strangle Baekhyun but cry also.

"You're so much better than him. Trust me."

—

Do Kyungsoo was livid to say the least. He was also making his young child dizzy from watching him move to and fro his living room routinely for the past ten minutes. Reading the message from Jongdae that he'd yet again had been cheated on was hard enough. But with one of his friends? That was definitely a blow. Baekhyun was ignoring everyone's messages and blocked his number; probably disappearing to get away from all the destruction he'd caused.

As he himself felt queasy from pacing, he got Kyungri ready for bed since it was becoming late. Upon touching her bed, she was already dozing off. The door knocked, causing the angry man to step towards and open it to reveal the person he most definitely did not want to see.

"Baekhyun?"

Byun Baekhyun, the idiotic man who's usually crescent shaped eyes were puffy and mouth that was always smiley downcast and frowny, was standing in the apartment's landing with a suitcase and an expression of sadness.

"Kyungsoo," he started with a cracked voice. "C—can I come in?"

The accused was suffering from long, painful stares from the guy he'd considered a close friend. But the latter relented, allowing Baekhyun into his home. He was glad Kyungri was fast asleep in the bedroom because he was worried he would begin shouting.

Baekhyun took a careful seat on the sofa, dropping his suitcase by his feet. "I know you must be really angry at me..."

"I'm not angry, Baekhyun," Kyungsoo breathed, keeping calm. "I'm confused. I'm disappointed. I'm upset. I feel betrayed."

The last word caused Baekhyun to wince, realizing yet again the torture he's caused to the friends that had supported him since High School. He felt disgusted in his own skin; something he truly deserved.

"Jongdae must hate me."

A scoff left Kyungsoo's mouth. "That's the least of your problems, trust me. Think about your girlfriend."

At that moment Baekhyun began to cry, the thought of his girlfriend of five years probably crying herself to sleep and blaming herself was too much to handle. "She hates me."

"And she has good reason to. You know how much she's gone through; how much she's confided in you. She lost her Mom at a young age, she's been lonely for so long. And you do this to her. You do realize she may never recover from this."

"I know, I know. I should've told her. I should've been honest. But you know how hard it is to tell someone that you've been dating for five years that you've been unfaithful?"

That was the breaking point. Kyungsoo earlier attempted to contain his annoyance but it all came spilling out. "Then why did you do it? You didn't have to cheat on her. Taeyeon doesn't deserve you. She deserves so much better."

Baekhyun wiped his never ending tears, frowning at the truth being thrown at him. "She does...she never deserved me. I've always told her that but she had faith in our relationship."

"Because, unlike you, Taeyeon knows what she wants. She doesn't break people's hearts. She's kind, loving. You really should consider what you've lost."

"I don't know why I did it, Kyungsoo. Really."

Do Kyungsoo sat down finally after walking angrily around his living room. Staring down at Baekhyun as if he was a repulsive creature, he sighed. "Why did you do it?"

"I really put in my head that Taeyeon didn't deserve me. That if I try and edge my way out of the relationship slowly, she wouldn't get hurt. Then Yuna and I's relationship escalated so much to the point that pain was inevitable."

"How did you hide it?"

"I bought a second phone," Baekhyun admitted in embarrassment. "Taeyeon once clocked on...she asked me and I said it was your phone and you lost it."

Yet another harsh exhale left Kyungsoo's mouth hearing this. "When it couldn't get any worse. Have you spoke to the others?"

"No. Chanyeol gave me a bunch of missed calls, I got kicked out of the group chat. I doubt anyone wants to see me."

"Then why come visit me out of all of us?"

With a bite of his lip, Baekhyun shrugged his shoulders. "Because out of everyone, you're the most just and fair one. You'd listen to me even if I'm in the wrong. Which I am."

It took two hours until Baekhyun stood up from the sofa and was ready to leave Kyungsoo's dark lit abode. Holding onto the suitcase containing his life, his past and now his future, the depressed man stepped towards the door with a cold and upset demeanor.

"Thank you, Kyungsoo," Baekhyun muttered, voice slightly choked up. "For letting me in. Something I was never really good at doing, as you can see."

"Look, I'll never agree with what you did. I'm angry for Taeyeon and Jongdae, but I know you. Just take some time alone to figure things out and then really consider apologizing to Jongdae. I have no doubts that Taeyeon will never listen to you, so there's no point."

He complied as the truth hit him right in the face. Then hugged the stiff Kyungsoo quickly before leaving. But as he was walking through the landing whilst Kyungsoo watched, Ara was entering her apartment. She gave Baekhyun a horrified once over, the latter avoiding her stare, and then turning her attention to her slightly awkward next door neighbor.

"Uh..." She trailed off, waiting for him to finish.

He replied with opening his door more. "Come in."

Ara immediately entered the sweet smelling apartment. Hm, smelled a bit like cake. Once Kyungsoo locked the door, she crossed her arms. "What were you doing with the enemy?"

"He came to me! Do you think I was going to deny a crying Baekhyun right at my doorstep? Anyways, I'm super pissed but I still owe him this. He's always been kind to Kyungri."

The suspicious Ara dropped her hostility. "Fair enough."

"Went to see Taeyeon?"

"Yeah," the memories of Kim Taeyeon absolutely torn still haunted her. Never did she ever want to see such a close friend that hurt. "Makes me want to throw Baekhyun into a pit of fire."

Kyungsoo raised a brow. "Should I be worried?"

"Shut up. Anyways, I have an assignment due that I must complete. I'll see you around?" She wriggled her eyebrows, playful. The pair were still deliberating on their status. The others were already aware of the budding relationship occuring between them. From the cute gazes to each other to the jokey arguments and the loving compliments. Whether they were going to follow through with their attraction was complicated. But yes.

"Yes, you will. Specifically next Friday?" Kyungsoo smoothly brought up. He'd gotten a day off at work for that day because of his extra work put in which impressed his boss. "If you can't make that day, I guess I shall have a date on my own."

Ara's mind swooped to her calendar. Friday, Friday, Friday...free. She couldn't help but grin realizing her first real date would be happening very soon. "Consider yourself lucky that you won't be spending that day on your own."

Obviously Kyungsoo became very happy at that but he played off the cute grin on his face with a stony expression. "Yeah...whatever. See you then."

"Bye," Ara waved as the two edged towards the front door and she found herself standing outside her front door. "Just remember—"

"—to bring Kyungri? Not this time."

—»

A pretty short chapter, oops. It's a quick one, though! That means I've actually updated twice this week which is progress because I actually didn't think I'd be able to follow through with my promise. This is a happy birthday Kyungsoo special chapter! Happy birthday, Squishy! I'm so dead he's adorable, I love him. Please, vote, comment and I hope you did enjoy this chapter. Do you pity Baekhyun or are you pissed off? See you all on Monday!