005.

Kyuhyun let her drag him away into the coldness. He did not complain but instead, ran himself. His fingers shyly clasped themselves around hers and they braided through the crowd, erupting into the winter night.

Kyuhyun bent over with his hands on his lap, breathing heavily. He knew that it was not scientific to exercise heavily after consuming alcohol, but at the time he didn’t care if the blood was rushing into his head or somewhere else or if too much sugar was draining down his vessels.

He directed his gaze to Seohyun, whom was staring in awe behind and in front of her, finding a sudden interest in a spot of nowhere, far away.

With no experience, he slid his hand in a cradle beneath her eye, looking away as a hot tear rolled down her peachy face.

“Are you…y’know…alright?” words of concern rolled down his tongue clumsily as she stood motionlessly, just letting her tears flow.

Seohyun didn’t know where her mind was. All she knew was that her mind wasn’t with her; she could not think.

What’s the area number for Hawaii, maybe my brain went on vacation there, she joked bitterly and choked back a new flood of tears.

It was bad enough that she had behaved rudely to Cho Kyuhyun, but it was even worse to pull him through what she too had just gone through, to selfishly keep him with her as a painkiller.

After five solid minutes of silence, Seohyun looked up. She had gotten used to the touch of Kyuhyun’s hand under her eye that she was shocked to see him still there, standing before her, looking grim and worried.

She smiled insincerely just to make him feel better, and upon seeing her face break through tears into a smile, he too grinned.

He’s beautiful, Seohyun’s heart bumped against her ribs but she caught herself. As much gratitude and respect and care as she have for him, she could not afford to fall in love. There is a price to dating that no matter how many jobs and how many hours she work, she cannot pay back.

Her eyes wandered around awkwardly, frantically eschewing his. A sudden shock shattered through her heart as she saw her mom leaving the club, laughing as if the past minutes didn’t happen.

She had the same careless look on her face, the same laughter as if she had no daughter to care for.

“L-let’s go in.” Seohyun muttered, grabbing Kyuhyun’s hand again, her fingers intertwining perfectly with his.

Kyuhyun felt another shock as her fingers came into contact with his. In fact, he felt so much of a shock that he didn’t even let her words sink in before falling into steps after her, following her into the misty atmosphere of the bar.

Once her hand separated from his and she wandered deeper into the club towards the bar, his brain snapped into focus and his eyes widened. “W-wait!”

He fumbled after her, avoiding complaints and shoves.

Finally he caught up with her and his hands clasped around her wrist, pulling her back from the bartender.

“Seo, what are you doing?”

“Oppa, I wanna drink.” Seohyun sighed, collapsing onto a chair.

“You can’t! You’re underage,” his soberness was displayed through his act of keeping her away from alcohol.

“Please,” she begged, closing her eyes tiredly.

“Kyuhyun oppa?” an unfamiliar voice cut through their conversation, and Kyuhyun snapped his head back in surprise.

“Do I…know you?” he asked nervously, wringing his hands together.

If this was a fan, then he is dea-

“Oppa! I’m your fan…can you sign this?”

Kyuhyun gulped.

“Not to be disbelieving, but I’d need you to answer some questions.” He mumbled shyly.

“Of course!”

“Uh, what group do I belong to?”

The girl narrowed her eyes. “Super Junior,” she said, manageably not scoffing.

Kyuhyun felt that it was useless to do anything, even if she had taken photos of him, he couldn’t possibly delete them without violence.

He scribbled his name in his messy Hangul onto her receipt from the bar and bowed gratefully to thank her for her support.

When he turned around, Seo-something was gone.

Frantically his eyes traversed the long bar and finally saw her at a corner, drowsily finishing a bottle of wine.

“Seo-!” he rushed towards her, knocking the bottle away from her reach.

“Thank god you came, it’s her sixth bottle.” The bartender sighed and walked to another customer.

“Seo-something, are you alright?” Kyuhyun slipped an arm under her knees and lifted her gingerly, bridal style.

She didn’t respond until they exited the club together for the second time that night. As soon as the night wind exploded onto their faces, her eyes widened.

“I’m tired,” she commented, resting her head on his shoulder.

He knew he shouldn’t get excited because she was drunk, but his heart drummed against his chest, and he breathed repeatedly to slow his heartbeat.

“It’s alright, just sleep.” He whispered soothingly.

“I’m tired…but it’s a kind of tired that sleep can’t fix.”

Kyuhyun looked at her, and then at the ground. He understood that sort of tired. It’s a kind of tired that everyone thinks can be wore away by sleep, but he knew that even if you hibernate, that tiredness will not leave.

Slowly, he sat down on a bench and put her beside him. Without warning, her head fell gently onto his shoulder again and he smiled.

She turned her head into his chest and for a second nothing happened.

Then he heard it- no, he felt it before he heard it.

Her tears fell again, soaking through his thin shirt and evaporating before touching his skin.

Seohyun felt her brain go unconscious. She couldn’t think, and she just wanted to sleep even though that won’t wear away her tiredness. She leaned her head against him, his arms securing around her like barriers.

“I’m sorry for screwing everything up. I tend to do that a lot,” she mumbled to herself, to him, to her mom, to nobody in particular.

A tear fell. Then another, then it was a wave of saltiness from the corner of her eyes.

He felt sorry, sorry that he couldn’t see into her and help her through, sorry that he couldn’t kiss away her tears because he knew that would scare her, and sorry that he didn’t even know her name.

Kyuhyun thought of a post he had saw on Tumblr the other night.

“You know,” he whispered, “good things can be bad if you look on the dark side. Therefore, bad things can be good if you look on the bright side.”

Seohyun’s heart thumped again. Pretty philosophic, too…she smiled.

“I wanna sleep,” she murmured, furrowing her head into his shirt.

“Neh, do you have anywhere to go to?” he asked.

Her heart broke again realizing that she really had no home, because she would be dead if she went home to her father.

She shook her head sadly.

“You don’t?” he sounded shocked, and then recomposed himself.

“Of course, you…can…” he trailed off.

“It’s alright, I can find somewhere to sleep.” She sighed, just lingering in his embrace a few seconds more.

“You know, maybe you can sleep in our dorm?”

Her head snapped up.

“I can’t do that!” she slurred softly, collapsing into his arms again.

Kyuhyun knew she was right but he was willing to do anything to protect her. Besides, he was in enough trouble already, what more could happen?

“Don’t worry about it.”

They reached the tall building of the Super Junior dorm. Kyuhyun had thought that she didn’t scream or fangirl because she simply didn’t know them, so he shrugged it off and allowed her to sleep on his mat while he slept on the floor beside her, edging as far away as possible so when his two hyungs wake up they would not be shocked.

He felt asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow, curling into a ball, warming himself up.

Seohyun’s head was still woozy and she felt a headache coming on, but she couldn’t help but to stare at the man beside him.

She inched closer towards the wall, further away from him so he wouldn’t get in as much trouble.

Seohyun smiled and her eyelids fell over her pupils, urging her to rest.

She fell asleep feeling safe and protected, feelings she hadn’t had for a long time.

---

I hope the pace I'm updating at is alright! Well more SeoKyu in this chapter, actual interactions now haha. Just clarifying again, this is of course a fanfiction, so I doubt anything here actually happened.

@YOONWON_imARA: :') im again so thankful for your comment and support.

@jinnie: i hope you like this chapter then ;D

@imsoinlove_seokyu: thanks, i sorta started their relationship in this chapter, although i'm planning to make their relationship a bit rollercoaster-y.