#just like ophelia has to live with her choice of percy for now aldsjflas

[ameliiorate]

Things between he and Ophelia had been casual. Until they weren't anymore. Seonho had thought nothing of it at first. They are friends first and foremost, and it had been second nature to him to treat her as more than just the person that he was sleeping with. Making her breakfast after she stayed the night, running errands together, spending time together in general had come naturally to him. Since they first fell into bed together, they have seen each other arguably more than they ever have in their longstanding friendship, and of course he had picked up on that. And he is also self-aware enough to realize that his fondness for her had begun to take on a different shape. The romantic connotation colored their last few hook-ups, hanging over Seonho like a fog, and he should have known better than to hope that whatever was brewing between them is something that had the potential to become something significant. Something that could last.

Nothing good ever stays in his life for long. He's so used to not getting what he wants that he had tried to stop wanting anything at all. Without any dreams or aspirations, he floated along and did the best that he could. And all he could do in this situation is adapt. He's become a master at that, having encountered so many upheavals already. This is just another obstacle for him to climb. And he can't even be bitter about it. His shoulders shirk in resignation, and he accepts that this scenario had been an inevitability.

So he has to do his best to be happy for Ophelia, rolling with the punches thrown his way. He had hoped to escape without being noticed. The chipper call of his name is met with a smile that starts off shaky before evolving into something more steady. There's no reason for him to be upset, and he feels like a bad friend for not wanting to meet the guy hanging all over her. "Hey, Phe!" He greets, attempting to mimic his usual cheer. "I haven't been here that long! I have been mingling a bit, and I actually was looking for you, but..." He sprinkles in some honesty with his explanation. "But I didn't want to disturb..." An arm gestures between Ophelia and Percy, and he laughs loudly. The laughter does nothing to break up the nausea in his stomach. He scratches the back of his neck. "I probably won't stay too long. I was about to go out to the back, actually. I heard there was cornhole set up out there..." He shrugs, merely wanting to leave.

It wasn't as if Ophelia didn't like Seonho and their arrangement as of late. In fact, she had grown so accustomed to it to the point where it felt natural. Waking up in his bed, having meals with him, she enjoyed the domesticity of it. The problem was she liked it too much. Being friends with benefits, obviously, had its benefits. And from the beginning, Ophelia was adamant that she wouldn't let herself get carried away and let feelings get involved. As much as she enjoyed everything she had going on with Seonho, she valued their friendship above all else. So at the first inkling of emotion (even just the small invasive thought of oh i might like him--a thought she had while she laid in his bed, watching his sleeping form), she got scared. This wasn't what they agreed on and if she told him, she'd scare him away and ruin their entire friendship. She couldn't afford to lose him.

So she went about acting as though everything was normal, except she started staying over less. It was for the best. Staying in her own bed all alone felt... sad now. But there was a simple solution to that, which was this bartender, Percy, she matched with on a dating app. He was... fine enough (even if, at times, she had to force herself to not think of Seonho when she was kissing this guy instead). She just needed to rip the band-aid off and move on.

Arriving to the party early (one hosted by someone in her ballet company), Ophelia immediately found Percy. It had been a couple of weeks at this point, still firmly in the honeymoon stage of overly physical displays of affection. Breaking off from a kiss, she giggled as she held onto him before looking around for any signs of Seonho. He wasn't usually late, so she decided to look around for him. Spotting him in a corner, she all but runs over to him, far too giddy than she really ought to be for someone trying to get over her feelings. "Seonho!" She spotted the beer in his hand. "Oh, have you been here for a while?" Knowing that Seonho didn't usually like to stick around at parties by himself, ophelia frowned. "Why didn't you come look for me?"