Neighborly [Seo Changbin + FemReader]

[5.1] Seo Changbin

Her laugh was echoing in my head, bouncing around happily and with abandon in there like it had taken ownership of the place. I couldn't stop the goofy grin I knew was plastering itself to my face. I knew that I was wanting to approach this new friendship—and possibly more—slowly, but she was making it difficult to keep my foot on the brakes.

"Earth to Seo Changbin." Bang Chan's voice cut through my thoughts.

I snapped out of my replay of last night's dinner for the hundredth time and looked up to see Chan's knowing smile and questioning stare being directed at me. I looked over my shoulder to see that Han had left the small meeting room already. His place at the table, which had been covered with a couple notebooks and his writing materials, was cleared and clean. How long had I been daydreaming to have missed that?

"When did Han leave?"

"Nevermind Han. How did your business go that you had to take care of after work?" Chan turned to me fully and grinned. "What's her name?"

I immediately blushed and got flustered. Of course Chan would be able to tell if I was interested in someone. He was the closest friend I had and was always more intuitive than he let on. I tried to speak several times, but the words kept getting lost and jumbled.

Chan doubled over in laughter. "Oh, bro. Now I really need to know what's going on if she's got you stumbling like that."

"Well... it's special. She's special," was the first thing I could get out my mouth.

Chan immediately fell silent when he heard the seriousness in my voice. He sat back in his chair and stared expectantly at me with an inspired light in his eyes. "Do tell."

I sighed and looked down at my hands on top the table, fingers absentmindedly fidgeting against each other. I cleared my throat and tried to get my thoughts together. There was an excitement to tell him about this that I didn't realize was right under the surface. I cleared my throat again and opened my mouth. Everything spilled out in order so easily: the first moment of her knocking on my door to Yu-Jin colliding with me outside the building to the confrontation with her ex-husband to the kiss to dinner last night and to saying good night to her and Yu-Jin at the door even though I definitely did not want them to leave. I paused for a moment to consider everything that I had just said.

I looked back up to Chan, who was listening but was also playing with a silver chain around his neck that had a solitary silver and black ring with a star of diamonds on it. "That's new," I observed aloud. That caught his attention.

"Yeah..." He looked down at it with longing. "Just got them this weekend."

Understanding dawned on me. My mind whirled with this new information, especially since his relationship had been under wraps for well over a year. "Man, what?? Did you...?"

He sighed. "Not in the official 'down on one knee' way, no. But yes. That's the direction we're going in. She's all in... and so am I." He brought the ring up to his lips and kissed it before tucking it back in his shirt and giving me his full attention again.

"I want what you have." The words left my mouth before I could stop them. "I want that security and that... that..."

"Home in another person?" Chan finished my sentence, even though it wasn't exactly what I was trying to say. It was so much better.

"Yes. The Noonas and Stay have been great all these years, but to find that—to find home—in someone else... It's a different level and I want that. Especially after seeing how happy and alive she made you." I nodded.

"It takes time to develop that, Bin. If Y/N is possibly that person for you, it will take work, but it's the kind of work that is worth it and you're willing to sacrifice for. Just keep in mind that it could stop developing into something more at any point, or she may not want the same thing as you in the end. Acting on feelings and possibilities requires risk, so settle that in yourself before you take any more steps forward." Chan crossed his arms and smiled gently at me, more like a father sharing well-earned wisdom than a best friend in that moment. "And the boy's feelings are extremely important too."

My heart warmed at his words and the ease of his voice as he offered me his advice. "I don't know what you did on your rogue solo trip to see her this past weekend, but thank her for me. You seem different now."

He laughed and smiled harder, shyly looking down at the tabletop. "Yeah. It's all because of her." He brought his eyes back up to meet mine. "And I hope you're able to find what you're looking for too. If this woman is anything like the way you've described her, you might find it sooner than you think."

There was a current of hopefulness that ignited in the room. I took a second to think over what he was saying, and I tucked it into the back of my mind. I couldn't let this whole situation distract me from the important things already set in my life, but I didn't want to dismiss the newness and excitement that it brought into my life either. I needed to be careful; I knew that. I also needed to allow myself to take some risks too.

"Maybe so."

I got out of the vehicle at the corner of the block, waving a goodbye with the driver who I'd gotten to know some over the past year. He waved back and drove off. I hiked my backpack up higher on my shoulder and began walking toward my apartment building when I caught sight of her out the corner of my eye walking toward home from the next block. Her eyes caught mine and I raised my hand in acknowledgment. Her smile was small and tight, and something unpleasant stirred in the pit of my stomach.

Something's not right.