Chapter 25: Fluttering

Naeun watched Myungsoo carefully as he paced, wearing out the carpet. He hadn’t stopped pacing since she had explained to him how severe the situation was.

“You’re going to tear a hole in the carpet if you don’t stop all that pacing.” She tutted prudently and he stopped pacing and abruptly plopped down on the loveseat next to her, releasing his agitation by tapping his feet in an infuriating rhythm.

“He won’t answer my calls. He hasn’t been answering them since yesterday…”

“Eunji’s not eating as well… I’m worried. She’s been too quiet and she blanks off and stares into space a lot.”

“They’ve really exploded haven’t they?”

“And they both have the stubbornness of mules.” Naeun scowled.

“That’s why they’re so compatible.” Myungsoo grinned

“That is true.” She nodded in agreement.

There was a pause before he asked: “Do you think we are?”

“What?” The question hung in the air whilst she absentmindedly played with her hair, unaware of his rapt attention focusing solely on her.

“Do you think we’re compatible?” He asked and her eyes grew as big as saucers, a strange heat spreading up her neck.

“Um- I-I’m not sure what you m-mean.”  She stuttered nervously and when he began to chuckle at her adorably embarrassed face, she threw a pillow at him; though it didn’t quell his bubbling laughter.

“This isn’t funny!”

“It kinda was.” He smiled. She involuntarily pouted and what he did next took the air out her lungs.

Quite literally.

He leaned in and pressed his lips against hers without warning. Naeun’s eyes fluttered close automatically and she slinked a hand to his neck so their position wasn’t so uncomfortable. Heart trembling, she let him lay her down against the sofa cushions, his form ghosted hers. It was strange and new and she liked having him at such close proximity, even though it unnerved her greatly.

 However, when the nausea appeared she felt like she was doused with water and she gently pushed his chest with the palm of her hand. He pulled away immediately, aware of her discomfort and lambent eyes.

“I’m sorry. I’m still not used to that.” She whispered softly, her head sinking into the pillowy cushions.

“I apologise, that was uncalled for. I was capricious.” A blush crept up his cheeks and when Nauen opened to protest a different voice interrupted her instead.

“You guys should get a room.” Eunji yawned, a cup of coffee in her hand, watching them like they were the most engrossing drama on television. They had no idea how long she had been watching them.

“And what? Go at it like rabbits like how you and Hoya do?” Myungsoo got off of Naeun and glared at Eunji, challenging her as if he didn’t know what the consequences were.

“Don’t talk about him. I don’t want to hear his name.” Eunji growled lowly. “I should have hidden Naeun better from wolves like you.”

“You were the one that set us up!”

“Well I never actually expected her to have such terrible taste in men.” Naeun frowned but didn’t say a word; she knew better not to talk back when the elder was in one of her moods.

“And you have the most singular taste in men ever- Lee Howon.” He smirked triumphantly and Eunji shrieked like a banshee, annoyed and perturbed.

“Don’t say that stupid name! I don’t want to hear it! Get the hell out of my house Kim Myungsoo!”She shouted before giving him a dirty look and slamming the door of her bedroom.

“She’s in a foul mood.” Naeun notted.

“Maybe she’s on her period.” She slapped his arm playfully and he grinned back at her, their banter was mostly at the expense of Eunji and Hoya.

“You think we can fix this?”

“It’s not something we can meddle in... just yet. Just let nature run it’s course and they’ll go back to ing in your kitchen.” Naeun frowned but didn’t comment. “Besides... soul mates eventually find their way back to each other.”

“You think they’re soul mates?”

“There’s no other word for it. No one compliments each other that well. They’re like two pieces of the most complex puzzle, they simply fit.”

“You’re such a romantist.”

“If you think I’m bad then you should see how badly Woohyun fawns over his fiancée.” He chuckled, shaking his head as if he had just remembered something awfully amusing. She liked it when he talked about his brothers, it made her heart palpitate more than it should to know that he was opening up to her in his own way.

“You’ve never spoken about your brother before.”

“It’s complicated.”

“Most families are. I know what that’s like. I can’t really say I love my family.”

“In the meantime... we should let them blow off some steam. Time heals all wounds.” The words came out of his lips eloquently, like they always do when he gets melancholic or nostalgic.

“But it doesn’t necessarily cure a broken heart.” She whispered and stared at the clock ticking before her eyes fell on his. Myungsoo drew circles on her palm and kissed the inside of her wrist. His lips grazed the sensitive skin there and he felt the pulse underneath her skin, it was oddly more intimate then any of the kisses they had ever shared but she pulled away abruptly.

“I’m sorry.” He apologised again, wincing as if he had just been kicked.

“Don’t be! Please don’t apologise every time you touch me.”

“You’re uncomfortable.”

“I’m... not used to such sensations... they remind me of-”

“You are not obliged to tell me anything Naeun. I don’t want to force you to speak of the past.”

She closed for a minute and debated if she should tell him. But the truth was horrid and she didn’t want him to go. If she told him, then this whole fantasy would crack like a mirror.

And she liked him too much to let that happened.

Kim Myungsoo was not something she could ever risk to lose.

Because he made her heart beat wildly and yet he calmed her nerves.

Because every kiss was burned into her memory, every touch, every word seared into her brain like a permanent scar.

Because he made her laugh.

Because he made her smile.

She could not afford to lose him.

She had no choice now, but to let him open the door to the attic room of her heart, deep within the recesses of her caverns, where the only thing someone had left behind was pain.

Naeun was scared, terrified of frightening him off. But she was even more desperate for him to stay.

She smiled, her eyes meeting his superficially.

“It’s nothing, I’m fine.”

And that was one of the biggest lies she had ever told him.

“It has been said that something as small as the flutter of a butterfly's wing can ultimately cause a typhoon halfway around the world.”

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a/n : So I wrote this quickly so mind the mistakes... but omg is anyone else fangirling on infinite and apink right now??? Like seriously... I should be studying.