Chapter 23

His kisses lingered on my lips so much that I could still taste them three days later. I smiled brightly to myself, almost as much as I could sense the light of the morning sun was shining in from the large window. Rolling over in the bed, I expected to collide into a warm body. Instead I softly landed on cold bedding. Frowning, I finally opened my eyes and looked around the room. I was in the same place I had fallen asleep in and yet Changsun wasn’t. The sounds around the house were silent, and I started to wonder if I was dreaming still. I closed my eyes and then reopened them, returning to the same surroundings and without the tall Korean I lived with.

“Changsun?” I called out as I looked at the alarm clock beside the bed, noting there was still another fifteen minutes before it was set to go off. I sighed. “It’s not like him to get up any earlier than necessary.”

“I’m not up yet,” a voice replied within the room and I shrieked out loud, before crawling over to the edge of the bed. My eyes widened as I found Changsun lying on the floor with a pillow and blanket.

“What on earth are you doing down there?”

He glanced up at me and then let out a heavy breath. “I got sick of the kicking.”

“Ki-kicking?” I stammered, trying to remember doing anything in bed. “I slept quite still last night.”

“Hah!” He sat up quickly and pointed his index finger at me accusingly. “If you call wriggling around and kicking your legs about still, then sure, you were very still.”

“I don’t kick in my sleep!” Folding my arms over my chest I pouted at the idea. “It’s amazing I’ve learnt how to sleep through your snoring anyway! At least on the couch I could get a good night’s sleep!”

He didn’t reply and instead grinned lazily. It only seemed to irritate me further. But before I could continue expressing my thoughts, his lips reached for mine, kissing me tenderly.

I forgot all about our argument then.

“You’re cute when you’re angry,” he mentioned, reaching over to brush my hair out of my face. “And in the morning too.”

If I wasn’t so lovesick with Changsun, I would have been rolling my eyes at how incredibly cheesy he had become over the past seventy-two hours. But I couldn’t exactly complain when I actually liked it.

“Is there anything I’m not cute doing?” I wondered, having a mental run through the list he had begun creating. I tried not to smile in delight as he shook his head.

“I still have to discover the bad things about you Yoomi.”

“Perhaps a big one is that-”

Changsun groaned and I frowned. “Don’t point out that you’re dead we made an agreement-”

“Is that I kick in my sleep when I have vivid dreams,” I finished over top of his statement and he paused, looking a little flushed. “And I’m aware, but you seem to have an issue, since you brought it up.”

He rolled his eyes. “You can’t blame me for being accustomed to that excuse.”

“I don’t need to worry about it now that I’m with you, right?” I smiled and he nodded, climbing to his feet and sitting on the side of the bed. I instantly moved in behind him, wrapping my arms around his waist and resting my head on his back. He was warm despite his temporary sleeping arrangement and I snuggled in deeper, relishing in the one thing I had began to enjoy the most about being with Changsun. I hadn’t realised just how cold my existence had been until I was able to be in his arms. And to be honest, I didn’t like it when I found myself cold again.

Thankfully, ever since Changsun and I had decided to be together, he had rarely left me alone. Although we had skipped some of the normal dating steps since we already lived together and knew each other well enough, we were still in what I had read in magazines as the “honeymoon period”. We couldn’t get enough of one another, though admittedly I wondered if I ever could. I was losing myself into a whirlwind of romance; the fantasies I had always dreamt of were finally coming true.

Changsun moved when the alarm went off. Gently prying himself free, he got up and went over to his wardrobe to pick out clothing. He then turned around to face me. “Do you plan on moving?”

I shook my head.

“You do know what today is, right? You have to come and watch our MCountdown comeback stage for Run.”

“I have to?” I repeated with a smirk. “I don’t think I have to at all!”

“Yah, how can you call yourself Lee Joon’s girlfriend if you can’t even come to cheer him on?”

I raised my hand and shook it. “I’m not Lee Joon’s girlfriend.”

“Har-har.” He whipped his bed tee off and grabbed for a mint coloured shirt. I tried to avert my eyes away from his changing, but he moved back into my view, smiling and taking longer to do the shirt up. “Yoomi-ahhh.”

“How ironic, it’s usually me who does the cute things to gain attention,” I mentioned and sighed. Changsun grinned and finished doing his shirt up before reaching out for my hands and pulling me out of the bed. I padded downstairs so the boy could change in peace, going over to the refrigerator to get a bottle of water out. After breaking the seal and removing the lid, I gulped a couple of mouthfuls down, mentally going through my clothes I owned. I had slowly built a little collection so far, but I hadn’t been shopping since my rabbit tee incident. Cringing at the memory, I nodded once to myself and travelled back upstairs.

“Is it safe to re-enter?”

“Are you afraid of seeing anything more?” he queried and I peeked out of an eye to check. Changsun caught me as I snapped my eye closed again and chuckled. “Clearly not!”

“I have decided I will meet you there,” I announced, whilst feeling along the banister for the way to the wardrobe panels. Running my hands onto the wooden surface, I continued until Changsun took my hands in his.

“Why?” he asked as I opened my eyes, noticing his pout.

“I need to go shopping.”

“Ah, for more rabbit stuff?” he teased and I glowered at him. He nodded. “Planning to make me want you even more?”

“I doubt that’s possible with how vocal you’ve been able how you feel currently,” I retorted and he pretended to think. I rolled my eyes but smiled just as his lips crashed down on mine, closing my eyes to feel the kiss and experience the intense tingles I always seemed to get whenever we kissed. Eventually he pulled away and rested his forehead on mine, breathing heavily.

“Rabbits or not, I’m sure I’m going to appreciate it.”

I had spent most of the early morning searching for the best outfit. It was foolish, but I wanted to look trendy and sophisticated for MBLAQ’s comeback performance. I was no longer the girl who followed Lee Changsun around, but his girlfriend, and I wanted to look the part, only if it was just us who could see it. Finally settling on a pair of blue detailed skinny jeans and a floral slip tunic, I had taken half an hour to pick out a pair of wedges, hoping that my summery image wasn’t too premature for the current climate. Spring was already showing itself on the first official day of the season, and I couldn’t help but enjoy the bright colours of the top I had seen in the front window of a boutique store. After changing at home and gently tying my long hair to the side in a loose braid, I picked up my bag and made my way to the MNET building where the boys would be getting ready for their pre-recording stage.

Even though I was excited, I controlled myself to arrive at the building by public transportation, opting to make the experience as normal as I could. I felt a little silly, trying to perfect the outing in every way. Ever since I started dating Changsun that’s all I wanted to do, and I was determined to act like every other human being out there. After arriving, I made my way through the maze of corridors, finding the way to the stage and smiling brightly as I watched MBLAQ walking out onto it. I quietly made my way down the stair case as the music began and the five members started their recording. As I closed in on the stage, I examined each of the boys, smiling brightly until I came to Seungho. His face looked paler despite the makeup and he seemed strained. Blindly feeling around for a seat, I pulled a chair down and watched the man. I hoped he wasn’t ill.

My concentration slipped from him briefly and onto Changsun as he sung his part in the first verse, watching as he then executed the rapid fire moves in the chorus dance. Grinning, I soon forgot Seungho’s expression, enjoying the unity and masculinity that the dance exuded.

And then everything seemed to stop. Seungho’s movement fell out of line, leaving him more obvious. A yelp came from his lips and he reached protectively for his back, before collapsing to the ground in pain. I didn’t even hesitate to shift to the stage, crouching down beside Cheolyong who was desperately calling out to his hyung. A flurry of managers, staff personnel and members joined us and Seungho was soon lifted whilst expressing his excruciating pain with loud gasps of air and shrieks. It was horrifying and I watched on in complete fright, hoping he was going to be okay.

“He needs to go to hospital. You boys stay here,” their manager instructed and I finally sought out Changsun’s face, his eyes connecting with mine. He was distraught and as he squared his jaw, I saw he didn’t agree with the decision, though he knew he had no other option.

“I’ll go with him to the hospital,” I mentioned and he nodded lightly, letting me hug him gently before I raced off to find where they had started moving Seungho to. It wasn’t hard to find them, his cries were echoing down the hallway. By the time I reached his side he was clearly in so much pain that he was unresponsive. Grabbing his hand, I held it tightly, only letting go once as they lifted the stretcher up into the ambulance waiting. Jumping into the vehicle, I slipped in beside his manager and one of the paramedics, taking his hand again and ignoring the frantic voices around me.

Instead I gazed at the man laid out on the stretcher, his forehead perspiring with the pain and squeezed his hand gently. “Oppa, I know you can’t hear me, but I’m here with you. I’m here.”

His hand squeezed back and for a moment he stared at me wide eyed with shock before he closed them and succumbed to the pain once more.

__________

Author's Notes...

I'm here, posting EARLY for a change on a Tuesday, haha! More importantly, I have to mention to those who don't know yet - I spent my weekend finishing this fiction off, and wrote 22 pages on the final day - so I'm quite chuffed with the effort I've put in to this story, when I've been a bit slack with writing. so the good news is that since it's finished, I'm back to posting twice a week again for you all! Yay! Onto the chapter above, I know it's sickeningly sweet, I couldn't resist in making some cheese appear before things take the next path... which as you can tell involves Seungho's injury from the RUN promotions...bless him! See you all on Friday... and hopefully I'll be able to share something special by then with you all that I'm working on!! 

Replies...

@E_magine; Haha Dayoung is precious <3 You don't like ? I don't like to write anything trashy... so I hope you aren't offended by anything intimate I write :) I personally am not huge on myself (even though I've written enough over the years... hmm how does that work haha?!)

@Penquin_Panda16; Yay for constant awwing! Hehe you're welcomeee.

@Maggie; Aw hun!! No I'm not surprised. I cried writing that scene... as if I could really feel all their emotions. Stupid characters me into their worlds... it was harder finishing the fiction... dunno how there isn't 38473205 spelling errors from lack of sight haha! They are just so lovely together, right?! Squee, I really hope Changsun finds a Yoomi in real life... though alive I hope. Don't want to "curse" him with dating a dead girl, though stranger things have happened haha! I agree, the empathy Changsun holds for Yoomi is something second to none. I just love how I have been able to express that throughout this entire story... though, Yoomi sometimes isn't as aware of it as we readers are (yes I like to read my own fictions for enjoyment haha). Yes assignments are well... got to write an essay over my holidays about the relations between Japan and Korea actually, but first I have some time to spend writing fiction, hooray! As for me personally, I'm okay, days are sometimes harder than the others but I can still smile and see magic within the world (or at least the ones I create) so that's good! And my horses are literally fuelling me every day so I cannot complain <3 Lots of love back lovely! Gonna email you at some point when I've got a clearer mind of what I want to focus on to write haha!

@Kate; How does one make babies with a dead person? Trolololol. But you're right, the kids did love her <3 Thanks!