Chapter 6

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“You talk a lot when you’re drunk.” 

“I talk a lot on a normal day,” Sana counters. “You’d know if you were around more. Where do you go all the time, miss? I never see you. Not in the laundry room, or the mail room, or at work...” 

“I have my own - why would I see you at - you know what? Never mind.” Jihyo grunts. She’s obviously still annoyed with Sana, if the rippling tension in her shoulders is anything to go by. Jihyo sweeps a hand over her face, exasperated. “Don’t hijack my speakers again.” 

“What if I played a better song?” She bats her eyes at the short woman coquettishly. 

“Don’t you dare.” 

It seems the alcohol cruising in Sana's blood is giving her God-like courage because poking a sleeping bear isn’t usually something she does but here she is, egging on an already irate Jihyo. And she’s having fun with it to boot. 

Who is she?

“For example...” She taps her chin with her knuckles, feigning thoughtfulness. “‘Pretty Fly for a White Guy? Gotta love a good, pop-punk beat. Also, appropriate.” 

 
Jihyo points a menacing finger at her. “I swear you won’t get a decent night of sleep ever again if I hear that song coming out of my speakers.” 

What’s this? A challenge? Sana Smoak loves a good challenge. She teeters on the tips of her toes before catching the finger that’s still pointed at her. She wraps her entire hand around it and tries to shove Jihyo away, but Jihyo’s as sturdy as a brick wall so Jihyo doesn’t budge and oh - that... that looks really suggestive.  

“Um...” Sana's eyes won’t leave the image of Jihyo's thick, long finger surrounded by littler ones and she gulps. Her voice cracks. “Then you - you won’t get anymore sleep either!” 

“Yeah, we’ll see about that.” 

Jihyo yanks her finger out of Sana's hand, bearing down on Sana like Jihyo’s trying to look threatening. For a moment, they’re so close that she can discern the different shades of brown in Park's eyes, shimmering with frustration and a glint of something else.  

She’s too intoxicated to spend much time on Jihyo's eyes though, so she lets her storm past her in a whirlwind of anger and pride. She catches a whiff of Park's Perfume as she marches towards her door and Park smells nice. Real nice. 

Maybe she really did interrupt date night. Whoops.  

“Enjoy the rest of your night, Sana,” Jihyo warns as she pulls her front door open.”Because from tomorrow, sleep is going to be nothing but a distant memory for you.” 

 

Sana's head feels heavy and her brain feels like it’s shrouded in a thick cloud so nothing he says even makes sense anymore. Jihyo told her to enjoy the rest of her night, right? 

“‘Kay,” she says before waving cheerfully at Park. “Goodnight to you too!” 

Jihyo shakes her head at Sana like she’s looking at a lost cause then turns around to cross the threshold and into the hallway outside. Sana’s about to head back to her couch when she hears Jihyo heavy footsteps approaching again and she turns back to find her door still open, with a glowering Jihyo standing in it. 

"Sana. Jesus.” 

“What now?” she rolls her eyes at Jihyo. 

“Please lock your door after I leave.” 

“Oh. Right.” That would be smart. Sana nods at her, reaching for the metal chain attached to her door. “I’ll do that, yes. Okay, bye!” 

Her door closes with a satisfying snick in Jihyo’s face and she latches her door shut. Just as she starts stumbling back into her apartment, she swears she hears a faint, “And can you drink some water before going to bed?!”

The next day~

“Put this on.”

Dahyun glares at her elder Sister, ignoring the monstrosity of a thing she’s waving in front of her face. She twists her lips in disgust. “Ew, why?” 

“Because it’s about to get really loud in here.” 

Jihyo drops it - oh, it’s a pair of really, really large headphones - onto her lap and disappears into the kitchen without another word. Dahyun puts her phone away and picks the ghastly headphones up. 

“Fancy,” she murmurs, as her fingers go over the fine etching of the brand name over the top. “Hyo Unnie, seriously, why am I putting these on?” she calls out. She fiddles with the buttons on the side, examining the padded earcups. 

“Because they’re noise cancellation headphones,” is Jihyo's answer, which, frustratingly enough, doesn’t actually answer anything. 

Climbing off her very comfortable couch proves to be difficult, especially when Dahyun’s been lying on it all night - and morning. She tosses the headphones back onto the couch and goes in search of her weird elder sister. 


Actually, weird is an understatement when it comes to describing how Jihyo’s been acting lately. Sure, Dahyun knows it’s probably her accident that triggered the sudden shift in Jihyo's behaviour, but she didn’t think it’d make her change this much. 

Not that Dahyun’s complaining, of course. Jihyo 2.0 as she secretly calls Jihyo in her head, is so grown up, so different from the boy who spent almost all of hee waking hours either drunk or high, or most of the time, both. 

It’s as if seeing her all banged up in the hospital had set Jihyo off - triggered something - in Jihyo, and suddenly Dahyun's elder sister is taking classes at the Starling City community college, seriously thinking about her future and is like... home. All the time. They don’t live together, but Dahyun visits her often enough to know that Jihyo’s spent more time at home in the last month that Jihyo has the entire time since she moved out of the mansion. 

“Does this have to do with your speakers randomly playing music last night?” she asks, hopping onto the kitchen counter, watching her intently. 

Jihyo’s bent over her new speakers, muttering to herself as she yanks wires out from the main console. 

“It wasn’t random,” she growls, and then under hee breath, she mumbles, “Hah. Let’s see you try hacking me now.” 

“If it wasn’t random then you’re telling me your speakers started playing Right Said Fred on purpose last night?” 

Jihyo glares at her sister.


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Thanks for reading, if you see any mistakes then ignore them ☺

Have a great day /night.

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