"Wake up."

I frown and shut my eyes tighter.

No.

I felt someone shaking me, but I chose to ignore it.

"Wake up, Se Hun."

I said 'No.’ And stop shaking me.

Let me enjoy my sleep.

Noona's in my dream.

"Five more minutes," I grumble, sinking down the couch.

There was the soft sound of a familiar velvety laughter, followed by shuffling noises.

"Wake up, Se Hun," a deep voice tickles my sensitive neck as the person breathes out. My eyes fly open and I jolt up.

"Ah!" I yelped, looking at my surroundings. My eyes hurt because of the bright light of the lobby, so I rub them.

There's that suave chuckle again, and I look down to see Noona kneeling on floor, cheek against her palm as she propped an elbow on the couch. I think Noona looks amused. I'm not sure; I've never been able to tell her expression correctly. (Guessing works, but only sometimes.)

Noona stands up and pats my head. "Sorry for waking you up, kiddo, but you have to go up now. You're the only one left here," she scolds me.

I rub my eyes again because I still feel sleepy and I would like to be awake when Noona is having a conversation with me. "That's..." I yawn, "I was waiting for you, Noona."

Noona bends down to my eye level, and stares hard at my face. Her gaze is burning, but so are my cheeks.

"You were?"

I nod furiously. "The Hyungs said that I shouldn't bet on you coming back home tonight because you were planning to pull an all-nighter at the library. But you promised me earlier that you'd help with my English homework."

I cross my arms and pout.

"So I waited for you, Noona."

Noona smiles gently but guiltily at me, and pushes my stupid bangs away. "I did, didn't I? I'm sorry for forgetting. I lost track of time; I'm sorry, Se Hun."

I shake my head and grin up to make her feel better. "It's okay! I know how important your test tomorrow is. I think I should be the one apologizing."

I could've asked Kris-hyung for help: English was his forte, after all. But I didn't because Noona made a promise with me, and I childishly held onto that.  

"No, no," Noona frowns, "Don't be. What kind of older sister breaks promises, huh?" She chuckles bitterly, "I'm really sorry.  But…don’t tell me you just waited for me. Did you at least try to answer your homework?”

I cringe and bow my head in embarrassment.

Oops. Caught red-handed.

"No," I mumble. "I really wanted to wait for you."

“Oh.”

I wept mentally. Oh, is right, Noona. Oh as in Oh Se Hun, you dolt.

asdlkfjalsdkf

You’re so clingy and needy and clingy. Noona hates clingy people, remember?

“Well, I’m too tired to tell you otherwise, and I suppose you only have enough energy to answer your homework, so...” Noona clapped her hands together and took her place on the floor, right in front of the coffee table where my gigantic textbook was sprawled open. I blushed, realizing that my stupid book was filled with red marks and…

My eyes widened.

Doodles.

alsdfjlskfjlskdjf

“Let’s begin, shall—“

I lunged forward, falling on the floor and toppling over the table. I did, however, manage to grab the book before Noona could even look through it.

(Yes! Plus points for awesomeness!)

My face landed flat on the hard surface, but I quickly recovered and, in an effort to save what was left of my dignity, covered my face with the book. “My nose…”I whimpered, lifting the paperback higher to hide my sorry nose.

Noona stares at me, her eyebrow already raised, and her lips slightly parted. I know I’m not the best one out there when it came to reading Noona’s expression, but it didn’t take a genius to know that Noona’s probably weirded out by me.

Why, why, why.

“My nose…” was the only thing I could say.

Keeping the same expression on her face, Noona crept towards me and slowly pulled my book away. I struggled, though, because there was just no way that I would let her see what was in there. Pissed (that much I could tell, at least), Noona tightened her grip, and in one swift motion, snatched the heavy book from me and placed it on the table—closed.

“Se Hun,” she sternly said, “Are you sure you still want to answer your homework? I don’t think that I’d be much help in the state you’re in.”

“No!” I exclaimed, pinching my nosebridge while waving my free hand. “I mean, yes! I…My class starts around 10 am tomorrow, Noona, but you’ll be gone by then. Plus, I don’t have any breaks in between my English and my Math classes, so there’s no chance for me to cram this thing.”

My nose—it hurts. And so does my dignity.

Noona deadpans at me, and it felt painfully awkward to have her merely observe me as I winced from the pain. “Se Hun,” she says, but before she could completely stand up, the sound of footsteps going down the staircase interrupts her. We both look up to find a drowsy Xiao Lu pawing at his eyes as he sluggishly took heavy steps down the stairs. Hyung pauses to release a yawn, and then resumes his zombie-like descent.

I think Noona forgot that I’m here because the minute Hyung takes his last step and lands on the lobby floor, Noona marches towards him, hands on her hips. “Well, this is rare,” she commented, bending down to peek at Hyung’s sleepy face. “Why are you up?”

I start to wonder as well, because Hyung never wakes up on his own once his head hits the pillows.

Hyung yawned again. “I actually don’t know,” he murmured, “ I just suddenly woke up.” He suddenly reaches for the hem of Noona’s shirt, and starts swaying, his other hand rubbing his half-closed eyes. Noona looks taken aback, I think, but after a few seconds, she smiles (warmly?) at Hyung and drags him to the couch.

“Why are you home so late?” Hyung whined like a spoiled child, folding his arms. “I thought you said you’ve been studying for your test since forever. Why are you home so late?”

Noona furrows her eyebrows and deadpans at him. “Lu Han, you talk as if this has never happened before,” she retorted, mirroring Hyung’s arms. “My test just so happened to have a wide coverage of topics, thus, a week is not enough. And besides, I’m a busy person—busier than you’ll ever be, Mr. All-I-Do-Is-Sing.” Noona jabs a finger at Hyung’s forehead, pushing him back.

Hyung aggressively slaps Noona’s hand away, but then starts to fiddle with his fingers like an embarrassed kid. “Hey, I don’t just sing, you know. I’ve been writing songs these past few days, and my professor said that he wants to compose a tune for one of them.”

I find it strange how Hyung is acting right now. In front of me and the rest of the guys, he’s usually the happy one—not as talkative as Chanyeol-hyung, but Xiao Lu was one of the happy ones, one of the moodmakers. In front of strangers, Hyung was sort of a wallflower—always giving out pleasant and courteous smiles, but never really saying much.

But in front of Noona, I realized, Hyung was a mess.

An awkward mess of awkwardness.

I silently watched as Noona knelt down in front of Hyung and looked up at him, showing a tiny grin. “I know; I passed by the Music Department on an errand yesterday and overheard your professor giving a lecture. He showed the song to his class at that time, and they all seemed pretty impressed with the lyrics.”

Hyung merely gapes at Noona, a pale pink spreading across his milky cheeks.

It’s so weird.

Really weird.

I don’t understand.

“Anyway,” Noona stands up and faces me. I’m grateful, because she finally remembers that I’m here. “Se Hun, I’ll get you some Wintermelon tea, all right? The sugar should keep you awake. Suho bought one today but ended up going to bed directly and leaving it at the kitchen.” Noona puts a finger to her lips, and I could see a mischievous spark in her eyes. “Don’t tell grandpa that I gave you his tea, okay, kid?”

I grinned in return and nodded. “Okay!” I said, laughing.

“And you,” Noona turns to Hyung, “I’ll get you some milk to help you get back to sleep.”

“Don’t treat me like a kid,” Hyung whined, but I could see it in his eyes: he was pleased.

I don’t get it.

Noona rolls her eyes and disappears into the kitchen.

“Se Hunnie,” Hyung calls me. “Why are you still up?” Hyung asks, as if noticing only now that I was here as well, “It’s already 2 am.” Xiao Lu smiles lazily at me, going down from the couch to sit beside me. He pats my hair, then leans forward to look at the study materials on the coffee table.

“Don’t tell me you still have homework,” he said, frowning at the English letters of my papers.

“Yeah, I do, Hyung. I hate it.”

“Is my roommate helping you out?”

I nodded hesitantly.

“Hmm…English, huh. Why didn’t you ask Kris instead?”

I stared blankly at Hyung.

Do I tell him that I wanted to wait for Noona?

“Umm, Kris-hyung looked pretty busy a while ago. I think he was working on his thesis?”

No, Oh Se Hun! That doesn’t justify why you needed to wait for Noona!

werelkmdsfali

I wish I had a keyboard to mash right now.

“And besides!” I exclaimed, “Noona…” I pursed my lips and looked down. “Noona promised to help me…”

“Oh. She sure does have a soft spot for you, huh?” Hyung says amusedly, ruffling my hair. I whip my head up to see him grinning at me. I smile in return. “She must be tired, but here she is: willing to help you. Why doesn’t she do that to me sometimes?” he laughs, but it doesn’t sound as melodic as it usually does.

“Don’t stress her out too much, okay, Se Hunnie?”

“I won’t!” I said like an obedient child.

Hyung’s grin widens and he reaches out for my cheeks. He pinches them, stretching them as far as they could go. I make weird noises, and my “Nooooo” ends up sounding like “akdsfjlaksdooooo”.

“Fwheyung...!” I wailed, hiding my laugh as I tried to make him let go.

“Se Hunniiieee~” Hyung cooed, tightening his grip on my face. I whimpered even more but that just encouraged Hyung. He finally lets go of my cheeks, but then begins to rub circles on them with his palm, squishing my face into an ugly fish-face.

“adlfksjalkdsfjyunnnnngggg.”

But Xiao Lu just chortles.

“God, Lu, you’re such a skinship . I don’t know how I survived four years of being your roommate.”

Noona enters with two glasses in her hands, and a disgusted expression on her face. She sets down the glasses on the table and continues to give Hyung that look. “But,” she says, her lips curving into a cheeky smile, “I don’t mind watching you and Se Hun get all touchy with each other.” Noona lets out a teasing laughter.

“What? No!” Hyung nearly shouts, withdrawing his hands in an instant. “No!” he barked, “I like girls!”

“Says the guy who does nothing but reject girls and gives them pity dates. Seriously, Lu, you keep doing that and—“

“At least I’m not a heartless person who flat out rejects the girls and makes them cry,” he argued.

Noona eyes him, and instead of saying anything, she grabs the glass of milk and shoves it in front of his face. “Just drink your milk, man. I’m going to be early tomorrow, and you know what that means: I have to wake you up early as well.”

Hyung gasps and stares at her with his mouth agape. His eyes look scared, and I laughed inwardly at his funny expression. “No…No…No…!” he recited dramatically, clutching onto the edges of the table.

“Stop being dramatic and drink your milk, Lu Han,” Noona tells him while wagging a finger like a doting mom.

“…Fine…” Hyung grumbled before taking his glass and downing it in one go. Once done, he set it on the table, and placed his hands on the surface to prop himself up.

“Wait,” Noona cuts him, walking to his side and plopping down. She takes her handkerchief from her pockets and starts to wipe the white froth that gathered above Hyung’s mouth. “You idiot. You hate being called cute and treated like a kid, yet you’re nothing but a kid. What kind of twenty-two year old forgets to wipe the milk off his face, huh?”

After making sure that not a single trace of milk was on Hyung’s face, Noona stood up and sat across me, taking one of my papers and scanning through its contents. “What are you still waiting for, Lu? Come on, go up and sleep already,” she says without even looking at him.

But Hyung just sits there, his eyes wide in surprise, his lips parted in disbelief and his entire face red in embarrassment. I nudge him, and he jolts up in response—frazzled, like a deer caught in the headlights. Hyung scrambles to get out of the tiny space in between the couch and table, and sprints up the staircase. A few moments later, though, he goes back down, as if he forgot something. He takes hold of the back of Noona’s shirt to make her face him, and quickly blurts “Thanks!” his cheeks still a nice shade of cherry. Noona blinks at him, and is about to say something in return, but Hyung is already scampering up. We hear a loud thump seconds later, and Noona calls out to him asking if he was fine.

“I am!” he says, before we hear his room door closing.

“Lu’s such a weirdo sometimes,” Noona chuckles, flipping to another page of my lecture. “Thank goodness that you don’t take after him, though.”

“Anyway,” Noona leans forward to show me my paper, “Let’s start, okay? Tomorrow’s a big day for the both of us, and I wouldn’t want you to stay up too late.”

I could only offer her a half-hearted smile.

~

We finished at around 2:45 am. There was no time for small talk, no short breaks. As soon as we were done, Noona ushered me upstairs and bade me a “Good night” before going off into the room she shared with Hyung.

As I laid awake, staring up at the ceiling and passively listening to Jong-in’s loud snores, I realized something: I didn’t touch my Wintermelon tea. Perhaps Noona noticed, because she was one to notice everything, but didn’t say anything because she already knew that I didn’t need it to stay awake.  

What she didn’t know, however, was what kept me awake.

It was simple, really: it was the sudden epiphany of a fact that I should have noticed way back when but didn’t for fear of having to accept it.

Hyung liked Noona.

As simple as that. 

Author's Note

Hello, everyone! This chapter is longer than the norm, but that's only because it was a plot bunny that I really really liked :"> 

LuMate is in the house!

Anyway, I'm going to go back to writing Roommates, now :)) I just like to write something as carefree and as unrestricted as this once in a while. I think I'm having a bit of a writer's block with Roommates right now because of the fact that I now have to follow a storyline of some sort for The Beach :)) 

Well, whatever, I bought this upon myself :)) 

Hope you enjoyed this! 

Thank you for reading, subscribing and commenting!

Be sure to leave a thought or two! :-) 

Fun fact: I personally don't like Wintermelon Tea. It's too sweet as it is, and I normally do like sweet things, but there's something about its sweetness that just isn't good. I think it's because of the "tea-ness" of the sweetness :)) I mean, it's sweet like candy, but there's this weird aftertaste that just screams out "THIS IS STILL TEA" and it doesn't really taste good :|