7th Death - Eunhee's Death

Eunhee lay on her bed.

Almost involuntarily, she started comparing Jiho and Daniel. The more she compared them, the more she realized...

'Do... do I... like Daniel?' she thought, burying her head in the pillow. She remembered how effortlessly he pushed her into the table at the bakery, the way he made her food unexpectedly, how he told her she could be herself around him. She thought of the time he defended her from those men, and when he showed his vulnerability...

...She couldn't help but...

...touch herself.

[ SWEAR TO GOD, AUTHOR, YOU SON OF A BITCH! I WILL BREAK THE 5TH WALL AND HUNT YOU DOWN%]

When she finished, her phone buzzed with a barrage of messages. Furrowing her brow, she checked the screen.

[JIHO: Is everything alright!?]

[JIHO: Should I come over?]

[JIHO: Are you okay?]

Jiho kept sending message after message, over and over.

'Tsk,' she clicked her tongue in annoyance and sent a simple reply:

[I'm fine.]

Tossing the phone aside, she heard more notifications. A vein pulsed on her forehead in frustration.

'I think I've been deluding myself,' she sighed deeply.

'I loved Jiho... and I thought Jiho liked me too,' she began to rationalize. 'But... he's honest. If he felt anything, he would've confessed. Daniel would've encouraged him... and everything Jiho feels, he tells us both. So...'

'He just doesn't see me that way,' she reasoned, her mind twisting the memories of Jiho's occasional glances into something insignificant. 'Those were just glances of playfulness.'

'...Whatever I felt for him, there's no reason to feel it anymore,' she thought, her gaze lowering. 'There's just no point.'

'Right?'

Several minutes passed, and the messages finally stopped. Ten minutes later, her phone rang.

'Damn it... I really don't want to talk right now!' she thought angrily, checking the caller.

It was Daniel.

Her anger instantly faded, and she answered without hesitation.

"Hey," he greeted.

"H... hey..." she murmured weakly.

"Jiho told me you seemed off and that he's worried... Wanna talk?" Daniel asked.

"Y... yeah. Meet me outside my house," she replied.

Eunhee stepped outside, her heart heavy with conflicting emotions. The cool night air brushed against her skin, but it did little to ease the storm within. She spotted Daniel leaning casually against the gate. His presence was both reassuring and troubling at the same time.

"Hey," Daniel greeted softly, his eyes scanning her tired face. "You okay?"

Eunhee hesitated, then nodded, though she knew she wasn't. "I just... needed to get out for a bit," she whispered.

'I always feel at ease when I see him now... how did that happen?' she wondered, feeling the tension in her body melt away as she looked at Daniel.

'It used to happen with Jiho, didn't it?' she recalled.

'But now... every time I see or think about Jiho, I feel... burdened. Like I have to work hard, and I'm tired before I even say or do anything. But with Daniel... I feel like I don't have to be anything.'

Daniel pushed off the gate, walking toward her, his gaze never leaving her face. "I'm glad you called me," he said, gently tucking a stray strand of hair behind her ear. His touch was intimate—too intimate for just friends—but Eunhee didn't pull away.

'I can just be me,' she realized, leaning into his touch, craving the comfort he provided.

"I just... I don't know what's wrong with me," she murmured, her voice trembling. "I feel so... lost. I'm... I'm so angry... but when I'm with you, I feel calm, peaceful... I didn't want this...! What's wrong with me!?" Her voice cracked, tears filling her eyes.

Daniel's expression softened, understanding flickering across his face. He took another step closer, their bodies nearly touching. "You're not lost, Eunhee, and there's nothing wrong with you," he said quietly, his tone gentle.

"I... I didn't want to feel this way either. But when I'm with you, everything feels... right," he admitted, his voice lowering.

"I think... I think I fell for you, Eunhee. When I saw how hard you tried for him, how honest you were... I know I shouldn't have, but... I felt it."

Eunhee looked up at him, her eyes searching his for answers, for something to anchor her in the midst of her turmoil.

'For me...? You fell for me...? But... I... I didn't work hard for you at all...! I was just... being myself... like I promised I'd be with Jiho...'

'Oh...'

'I guess... that's what I've been doing with Daniel this whole time, huh?'

"I'm sorry, Eunhee," Daniel grinned awkwardly. "I fell for you," he said, an embarrassed smile tugging at his lips.

As those words settled in, she couldn't stop thinking about Jiho.

Had she really wanted him all this time? Was she really seeing Daniel just for Jiho?

The notion of letting Jiho go crossed her mind. But before she could fully process it, her breath hitched as Daniel's thumb brushed against her skin, his words sinking into her like a lifeline. It was as if he was calling her to let go of a sinking ship and climb onto his.

And right now, that ship Daniel was offering... never shone brighter.

She looked back at what she had held onto for so long—her feelings for Jiho—and couldn't help but think they were just rust, once mistaken for gold.

"Daniel, I..." she began, but her words faltered as she realized how close they were, how easily she could close the gap if she just... leaned in.

Daniel's gaze flicked to her lips for a fleeting moment before meeting her eyes again.

"You don't have to say anything," he murmured, his voice low and husky. "Just... let me take care of you, Eunhee."

Time seemed to slow as Daniel leaned in, his intentions clear. He gave her all the time she needed to pull away, to say no, to stop this before it went any further.

But she didn't.

She let go of the ship she believed to be a rusted, sinking mess... and swam to the lifeline Daniel had thrown her in these deep waters.

Her eyes fluttered shut, her body moving on its own, tilting her head up to meet him halfway.

Daniel saw his victory, her lips just before his eyes.

But then, by sheer chance, a thought flickered through his mind.

'I'm doing this for Jiho. I know. But once he knows... he'll be sad.'

He remembered:

=========

"You're so reliable, Daniel! I trust you!" Jiho said with an honest smile.

=========

'Ahh, fuck...' Daniel thought, feeling the magnetism pulling him toward her.

'I'm sorry, man. Too late to back off now,' he thought, closing his eyes and closing the gap, sealing her lips with his own.

[anti-ntr man rn:]

She had climbed aboard Daniel's ship... and left the other to sink into the ocean.

'Yes... I... I fell in love... with Daniel, haven't I?'

The kiss was gentle at first, a tentative exploration of the emotions that had been building between them. But it didn't take long for it to deepen. The heat between them grew as Daniel's hand slid from her cheek to the back of her neck, pulling her closer.

'I'm... I'm sorry, Jiho. But... I can't... I can't control it anymore. It's... not your fault. My heart... now belongs to him. I'm... really... really sorry.'

'Wait... Why am I sorry...? Jiho never liked me... Right...? So why do I feel like I need to say that...?'

Eunhee's mind went blank, her doubts and fears melting away in the warmth of the kiss. Everything she had questioned suddenly made sense, as if this was what she had been searching for all along.

Daniel's other hand wrapped around her waist, pulling her even closer, and Eunhee let out a soft sigh against his lips, her body responding instinctively to his touch. She had never felt like this before—so wanted, so desired, so... alive.

But just as quickly as the kiss began, Daniel pulled back, resting his forehead against hers. Their breaths mingled in the cool night air, the tension between them electric.

"You have no idea how long I've wanted to do that," Daniel whispered, his voice rough with barely contained emotion.

Eunhee's heart skipped a beat, the reality of what had just happened crashing down on her. She had kissed Daniel—her best friend, the person helping her win over Jiho—and it hadn't felt wrong. It had felt right. More right than anything she had ever felt with Jiho.

'He always... wanted this... always? Since... the beginning? Was he... also confused, like me?' she thought, entranced by his kiss and the warmth of his body.

"I..." she started, but the words stuck in her throat. She didn't know what to say, how to explain the turmoil in her chest. How to reconcile the fact that she had just crossed a line she never thought she would.

Daniel pressed another soft kiss to her lips, silencing her thoughts, grounding her in the moment. "You don't have to say anything," he repeated, his voice soothing. "We'll figure this out together, okay? We'll just... keep our dates make-believe. Think of it as part of the training for now..."

Eunhee nodded with a soft chuckle, her mind still spinning from the kiss and everything that had led to this moment. She didn't know what the future held, didn't know what this meant for her feelings for Jiho or everything she thought she wanted.

But right now, all she knew was that she was in Daniel's arms, and it felt like exactly where she was meant to be.

"Right... make believe... That's all this is... hahaha... It's all part of our training," she giggled, looking up at him.

"Yeah," Daniel confirmed, a playful grin on his lips. "Actually, that kiss was really awkward... You're pretty bad at it, Eunhee..." he teased with a frown, making her pout playfully.

Then, lifting her chin gently, he whispered, "...I'll have you train extra hard from now on. It has to be perfect for the real thing," his eyes locking with hers.

"Well..." she smirked warmly, "I guess I'm lucky you're so reliable all the time, Daniel..." she murmured, feeling her heartbeat quicken at her own words.

As they stood there, wrapped up in each other, Daniel's lips curled into a satisfied smile against her skin. He had her now, exactly where he wanted her. Every step of his plan had worked, leading to this moment, and he knew there was no going back.

He sealed it with another kiss... just as Jiho's phone call rang out from inside her room.

'I won, Jiho,' Daniel thought.

'And it was worth it.'

'It really was.'

'I mean it,' he convinced himself, even as a small twitch of guilt flickered in his heart at the thought of his friend.

And now...

...it's time for Dead Mode.