A/N: Triple update~!

-Aerin’s POV-

Mondays – I’ll never get over hating them.

I woke up with a start when my phone’s alarm suddenly went off, its tiny speakers blaring. It was so annoying! I’ve already trashed my alarm clock back at home so I wasn’t used to the sound of a loud song suddenly turning on. It was actually the first time I would be setting an alarm using my phone and it was a good thing I figured out where the sound was coming from before I smashed it against the wall. Well, I did something pretty nastier than that to my alarm clock. It dawned to me that I wasn’t on my bed and I wasn’t on a bed. I slept sitting on the couch with Chan Yeol.

“Morning,” he mumbled sleepily.

I turned my head all too suddenly and I felt something snap on my neck, shooting pins from my nape all the way down to my back. “Damn it!” I hissed with all the irritation I felt towards the stupid alarm and waking up on a Monday morning for school.

“Whoa! Careful now.” I felt Chan Yeol shift beside me in a hurry, carefully making me lean against the couch. I guess he heard it, too. The sound was just too crisp to be missed. He bent in front of me, panic-stricken. “W-what’s wrong?”

I raised a hand at the back of my neck, panting as I closed my eyes. I opened it a crack after a moment and found him still standing there despite of my delayed response to his question. “Catch…on my back.” I winced as I shifted. “Crap, I shouldn’t have slept on the couch.”

He frowned, running to the kitchen and coming back after a while with a thermal bag. He handed it to me, but I couldn’t take it so he sat back down, making me rest against him as he pressed the hot stuff against my nape.

“Thanks,” I said in a breathy whisper.

He chuckled. “Do you get this often?”

I glanced up at him and managed to smile. He didn’t deserve to get my early-morning blues just because I got back pain. “Only when I stay at a certain position for a long period of time. There wasn’t enough room for me to stretch on the couch, see?”

His hand found its way to the side of my head and he began my hair in gentle, relaxing motions. “You should have told me then.”

“I forgot about it.”

“Too engrossed with snuggling with me, huh?” he whispered in my ear and I could feel him grinning as he spoke.

“Dream on.” At odds to my words, I inched closer to him, not wanting to get up ever. I closed my eyes, succumbing into the warmth as he placed the blanket around us again. “Chan Yeol-ah?”

“Ne?” he answered.

Oh that voice sounds sweet and hot when you’re still sleepy. I gave myself a mental slap. What the hell am I thinking? “Do you mind being late for school?”

He pressed his lips on my temple and shook his head. “Can you even go to school?”

“Mmhmm. I just need to stretch.”

“I don’t mind skipping school with you,” he told me suggestively.

I chuckled. “Whatever, punk. I’m not skipping.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah.” I drifted off to sleep after that.

***

I hate my back right now. It was neither letting up on the pain nor is it helping me concentrate in my classes. The stretching thing I always do whenever I get it did nothing but to provide me with temporary relief. The moment I got out of Chan Yeol’s car at second period which is when we decided to go to school, I had to stop myself from cursing as pain shot up and down as I walked. He had to ask me if I was doing fine several times before we proceeded into our respective classes since I couldn’t help it but gnash my teeth in pain. Stupid couch!

It was fourth period when the pain finally took its tall on me. I literally trudged towards that class and if it weren’t for Kai’s help, I don’t think I would be able to make it there since it was in the fourth floor and I’d be coming from the sixth after third period. I couldn’t turn my neck and it felt like pins were being driven into my back all at the same time. Kai covered for me for half of the class, giving me updates on what the teacher was saying since I couldn’t concentrate on what she was saying.

“Are you sure you don’t want to go to the infirmary?” he asked me, concern drawn all over his face. I knew he wanted to tease me about my stay at Chan Yeol’s house, but he just couldn’t after seeing how I looked like after entering second period. He was grinning at me at first, but it faded when I told him how I was really feeling at the moment.

I shook my head against the table top. “What can they possibly do there to relieve it?” I grumbled.

“Maybe they have pain relievers or something.”

“I already took them.”

“Take a rest?”

“On the chemical-smelling bed? I’d rather writhe in pain all day.”

He patted me on the shoulder. “You’ve got issues, Aerin.”

I straightened up and tried to relax my back. I stared straight ahead, ruffling my hair agitatedly. “I shouldn’t have slept on he couch,” I muttered under my breath as I heaved myself up.

At that, Kai arched a brow at me. He looked incredulous.

“What?”

“Maknae wouldn’t be too happy when he finds out that you’re not well after coming from Chan Yeol hyung’s, not to mention the fact that he allowed you to sleep on the couch.” He clucked his tongue. “I can’t believe he did that.”

I shot him an equally incredulous look. “You think Chan Yeol would do that? He did no such thing.”

He scoffed. “Then what on earth were you doing on the couch?”

I shrugged. “We were watching a movie and we fell asleep there.”

“Both of you?”

I nodded.

He diverted his gaze and shook his head. “Now maknae really isn’t going to be happy.”

I frowned. “It doesn’t even matter how he reacts to it. My back’s too y for his temper to even match.”

Kai chuckled. “Just relax there. I got your back.” He snickered and I rolled my eyes.

“Drop the wit.”

“What~? It’s funny.”

I didn’t counter his words and just sat there, trying to while away time by looking at the blackboard blankly. It wasn’t helpful in making time go faster, but it sure relieved some of my pain and by some I mean miniscule.  Kai wrote two copies of our lesson and handed one to me after the bell rang.

“I hope that makes you feel better,” he said smugly.

I laugh