Ara POV

They’ve always said that the sun shines after a storm.

Well that saying couldn’t have been more accurate because despite the fact my room faced away from the sun, I still woke up the next morning with light beams poking my eyes.

Groaning in pain, I snuggled closer to the source of warmth.

“Shownu,” I murmured, “Get the curtains.”

When he didn’t move, I nudged his arm and that was when I knew something was off.

If this was Shownu’s arm… well he just lost a hundred pounds in one night.

I peer my eyes opened a fraction and saw Hyungwon’s peaceful sleeping face across from to me.

It left me speechless.

Part of it was because of how innocent and vulnerable he looked. It was a replica of a newborn.

The other part was how comfortable and safe I felt.

I’ve only ever felt security in Shownu’s arms. Up until now, I didn’t even know that another embrace could be so… relaxing.

Recalling events from last night, I knew why Hyungwon was here. His arms that protected my ears had now slipped to my waist and he was hugging me like a gigantic teddy bear.

“Hyungwon,” I whispered into his ear trying to see if he’ll wake up.

The only response I got was a soft snore.

He’s a heavy sleeper I realized, so I decided to just let him continue sleeping.

Slowly, I untwined his arms and quietly lifted the covers. Just as my feet made contact with the ground, I shrieked and fell backwards.

Meanwhile Hyungwon was comfortably enjoying his deep slumber until he felt something like a wrecking ball swinging at his chest cutting off his air circulation.

Splattering a cough, he woke up startled thinking that construction workers were taking his house down.

“Sorry,” I mumbled guiltily before sitting up swiftly, “I forgot that there were broken shards on the ground.”

Hyungwon rubbed his eyes sleepily, “Did you cut yourself?” he asked in his gruff morning voice.

“N-No,” I played with my fingers, “I was just surprised and… yeah…”

After hearing my response, he plopped back onto bed.

Hyungwon closed his eyes but he didn’t go back to sleep. He recalled last night. How he heard the lamp shatter, how he saw the strong Ara break into pieces with the lamp.

After seeing that, he didn’t have the heart to leave her alone.

Turning his head, Hyungwon glanced at Ara’s sitting profile. She was staring into space but he noticed how her teeth chewed on her lower lips. How her fingers played with the hem of her shirt. How the usual alertness in her eyes faded.

It could have been because of the storm last night but Hyungwon believed that it was because of a different reason.

It was the same reason that made him feel weak and defenceless.

Tomorrow, both of them will watch their “parents” walk down the aisle for the nth time.

However, instead of confirming his theory, his eyes turned to the ceiling as he asked her a different question.

“Do you still want to dye your hair?”

Narrator POV

“Have you been here before?”

“Occasionally.”

Follow me,” the nurse led him down the hall and stopped in front of a room.

“The patient has forty five minutes before the doctor needs to see him but you are welcomed to hang around and wait until the check up is done.”

He nodded.

“Any other questions?”

He shook his head.

The nurse turned and started to walk away.

“W-Wait,” he suddenly called out, “H-How has he been doing?”

She turned around and glazed at him with sympathetic eyes, “He learned the times table last week, that is definitely progress but it’s slow. I would refrain from pressurizing him or feeding him too much information.”

“I-I understand. Thank you,” Wonho’s shoulders slumped a fraction as the nurse walked away.

He stared at the door in front of him. Instead of opening it, he glanced through the slim sheet of glass.

A lump rose in his throat as he watched a red sweater play gleefully with a bucket of bocks. Yellow blocks stacked on top of the blue ones, the structure staggered and wobbled left and right before completely crashing to the ground. A sharp wail escaped making Wonho push the door open.

“Hey,” he placed his hand on the red sweater’s shoulder, “Don’t cry, I’ll help you build this again.”

The sobs didn’t stop so Wonho worked as fast as he could to replicate the structure from before.

“Tada!” he placed the last block down before backing up. Somewhere during the construction of his building the crying had stopped and in his peripheral vision, he saw the red sweater move.

Red sweater grabbed something and shoved it into Wonho’s hands.

“Good person!” Red sweater squealed and clapped joyfully.

Wonho stared at his palm and saw a pink button.

“You no like?” the other one frowned a bit before shuffling around, “You want purple?” he pressed another button on Wonho’s palm.

Wonho glanced at the orange button before setting cross-legged beside the red sweater. Now that they were at the same level, Wonho was able to s