Chapter 66
AttayearFor the first time in her memory, Jinsu woke up with somebody’s arm draped around her and the comforting, warm presence of a person beside her, and it was as blissful as it was weird. Back when she was about four or five, she and Jimin had occasionally made duvet tents and attempted to curl up around each other with a portable DVD player to watch movies, but they’d always been discovered by their parents and separated, even if it was long after they’d fallen asleep.
She also had to admit that if she hadn’t recognised the now-familiar weight of Baekhyun’s arm as she’d been emerging from subconsciousness, and if the touching gesture of him being there for her the previous night to make sure everything had gone well hadn’t still been on the forefront of her mind, she would have been beyond freaked out. Besides, hadn’t he said he was going to go once she was asleep? He must have been as tired as she was. She didn’t even remember drifting off.
For a few moments, she basked in the comfort of Baekhyun’s presence. He was sprawled out on top of the duvet – bless him, though Jinsu reckoned it was probably because he’d been asleep before he could get under the covers rather than him being a total gentleman (her whole left side was duvet-free and a little cold) – shaggy hair tumbling well over his eyes and splayed out across the pillow, and the book he’d been reading open and turned over to keep its page on the pillow just above his head. Jinsu wondered if he ever found her as utterly adorable as she was currently trying not to find him, because it took every ounce of restraint in her not to pinch his cheeks and coo.
A couple of minutes more and she began to grow aware of the fact that she needed the bathroom, and to do her teeth, and quite probably to get up and dressed and out of the room before anybody came looking for her. Or to get Baekhyun up and dressed and out of the room before that happened. She didn’t quite have the heart to shake him awake and kick him out, though, so she settled for making that sacrifice herself.
It didn’t quite go as planned. When she tried to wriggle her way out from under Baekhyun’s arm, it tightened around her. She stopped in surprise and glanced across at him. Was he actually awake?
His eyes were still closed and he was still breathing peacefully. Jinsu tried again, with the same result, and then lay there, contemplating the ceiling as she wondered about the best way to do this. After some thought, she carefully attempted to pry his fingers off her waist so that she could lift his arm away.
That got a deep whine of complaint and a much firmer tug towards him. She was going to have to wake him up.
“Baekhyun,” she tried softly. “Baekhyun.”
His face scrunched up adorably in protest. “Five more minutes,” he mumbled, his voice thick with sleep and at least an octave lower than it usually was.
“Okay, but can you let me go?” she bargained.
“Jihyuuuuuuuuuuuuun,” he whined, his voice cracking. “Haven’t seen you for ages. Five minutes.”
Jinsu’s eyebrows knitted together in consternation. “Who’s Jihyun?”
“Noona, don’t be dumb.” It came out as little more than a sigh. “Mm. Tired.”
Thankfully, he rolled over, stifling a massive yawn, and let Jinsu free. She sat up and made her escape before he could roll back again, sincerely hoping her guess that Jihyun might be his older sister was right, because if it was some other girl he was really close with, she was going to have a hard time swallowing that he dreamt about somebody who wasn’t her, as selfish as it sounded.
By the time she was out of the bathroom, fully refreshed and with clean teeth (brushing her teeth was something she found it difficult to start the day without), Baekhyun was sitting up on her bed and rubbing the sleep from his eyes with a humungous yawn.
“Morning,” he croaked at her. “Sleep well?”
Jinsu nodded. “Who’s Jihyun?”
To her relief, he didn’t go pink or start acting awkward. “My big sister.” He yawned again. “Had a dream I was back home. It was nice. And then I woke up here.”
“Which was not so nice,” Jinsu guessed.
“Not really,” he admitted. “Would have been better if you hadn’t snuck off.”
If Jinsu hadn’t left her handtowel back in the bathroom, she would have thrown it at him. “Baekhyun, just how shameless are you?”
He laughed. His voice was still deeper than normal since he was still sleepy. “You’re not used to people flirting with you, are you?”
“No,” said Jinsu shortly. “Why would I be? I was either the Ice Princess everybody was too terrified to speak to or I was socially ostracised as an awkward pariah. I think the closest I ever received to flirting was insults.”
Baekhyun winced.
“You’re literally my first everything.” Jinsu tried not to sound too vulnerable. “I don’t know how to play this, and it , because you do.”
“I’m not your first love – that’s Sehun.” Baekhyun rubbed vigorously at his eyes with another yawn and looked blearily up at her. “I like you not trying to play this. It’s easier for me to try to give you what you really want because I don’t have to second guess you.”
Jinsu wasn’t sure if it was the first part or the second part of that which had her face burning up. Baekhyun dropped his hands into his lap and turned an expectant gaze on her.
“So what’s the plan for today?”
Baekhyun was very, very against it, but Jinsu insisted on going to visit the others in the hospital ward. Junmyeon was there anyway eating breakfast; Kyuhyun was in an induced coma in intensive care due to medical complications that had arisen and looked set to be so for another few days at least; Hyunwoo was standing by the window staring out at the view and talking quietly to Jisung. Jinsu still hadn’t seen Minhwan, Junho or Youngdo, though she could hear their names coming up every so often in Hyunwoo and Jisung’s conversation.
Kyungsoo was happily sitting up in bed and shovelling food into his mouth, but he beamed when he saw her.
Then his eyes slid over to B
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