UNCHANGEABLE - SEULRENE

SR - first love

the sound of lips meeting and heavy breathing fills the room.

seulgi and joohyun were exchanging kisses, their lips playing an old symphony only the two of them knew. they were kissing like nothing has changed between them, kissing like they never broke up.

seulgi thinks she should pull back, or that joohyun should pull back, but the latter is kissing her over and over, ravishing and sucking her lips like those are the only thing she wanted all this time.

rationality is long gone by the time joohyun moves above to straddle seulgi. they kissed and kissed more as seulgi wraps an arm around joohyun's waist, hugging the woman closer.

this prompts joohyun to place her arms around seulgi's shoulder, pushing the latter to lean further against the couch.

that's when seulgi groans due to her injury.

"gosh. i'm sorry!" joohyun pulls back quickly in shock. "i'm sorry. i forgot!"

"i'm fine," says seulgi, wincing, massaging her shoulder. "don't worry. it doesn't hurt that much now like before."

"i'm sorry. i got carried awa--"

"one more sorry, and i'll kiss you again, joohyun."

joohyun stops and blushes. she presses her lips together and opts for tenderly stroking seulgi's shoulder with her hand instead.

seulgi silently takes in their position: how joohyun is still sitting on her lap, legs folded on either side of her legs. she touches joohyun's waist, making the latter look at her.

"do you have to go home tonight?"

joohyun's hand on seulgi's shoulder stops. she looks at seulgi, then shakes her head.

"i'm supposed to be at work now."

seulgi nods. "sleep with me here tonight?"

joohyun blinks. her face softens. she nods.

---

there are a lot of questions sitting at the back of seulgi's head now, waiting to be voiced out.

'what happened to you and junmyeon last night? did you had sex? or were you not in the mood cos you're worrying about me?'

'does your husband know you didn't go to work tonight? will you tell him what happened to us?'

'what will happen to us after this? did we just cheat on him? are we back together now?'

but seulgi knows asking those questions would either make or break them. she's not ready for any of it yet, not sure of what to do about it yet. whichever path they take, someone will surely get hurt--and seulgi knows she'll always be on the losing side.

so, she keeps her mouth shut all throughout the night. joohyun's silence tells her the other woman is thinking of the same thing--trying to avoid the elephant in the room.

they hug each other that night, basking into each other's warmth. there were no kisses, no sensual touches. they were simply hugging each other--their mouths kept shut.

the night went deep. joohyun eventually falls asleep. seulgi is stroking joohyun's hair, listening to her breathing. she noticed the black eye bags under the other woman's eyes. joohyun must be tired.

seulgi protectively holds joohyun in her arms. the absence of the voices in her head puts her to sleep in minutes.

tomorrow it'll be different. tomorrow they will go back to their normal lives--they will go back to how they treat each other.