As if I had an internal clock, my body jerked awake in order to face the new day. I sat up in a start, trying to make sense of why I was on the floor. But immediately turning my head to the side, I quickly found the very reason. 

The soft snores that came from the two slumbering children in my bed brought back all the memories of last night. A night filled with painful groans and noisy wailing. I didn’t exactly realize how bad this situation was or how bothersome the problem I found myself in was…but it was going to settle in sooner or later.  

It always does.

I just always liked denying the severity of any situation.

I sighed. The tiredness wasn’t quite relieved from my sleep and also because I knew this tiredness will only worsen now that morning came and I wasn’t in the clear just yet.

Focusing on the current issue, I looked toward my door and carefully listened for any movements on the other side. How lucky would I be if Jimin had already left for work and Jiyoon found some plans? That would be the most luck I would ever have in this entire year.

And I am willing to spend it all in this moment.

I slid in closer towards the bed. “Hanbin.” I whispered, hoping he wasn’t too much of a deep sleeper. “Hanbin.” I called out once more when he didn’t even stir. “Wake up.” This time, his brows furrowed.

Hanbin slowly opens his eyes and getting an unexpected shock, he knocks his head against mine. I shut my mouth and clutched my forehead, holding back the agonizing sounds that threatened to slip from my lips while Hanbin slowly sat up and rubbed his own pain-inflicted head.

Minutes after waking up, it’s already not working out. How encouraging.

I took a glimpse at him when the pain subsided and suddenly felt bad because I was already aware of what shape he was in but I guess adding one more injury wouldn’t make a difference for him. 

“Wake up Jibin.” I told him quietly before pushing myself on my feet to check for my sisters. The last thing I wanted was for them to catch me taking in strays last night without their knowledge. That outcome was not exactly ideal. Before I could head towards the door, Hanbin had reached out for my hand from where he was sitting on the bed.

“Where are you going?” He hushed his voice.

I took a look at him and then down at his gentle grip. “You’re touching me quite freely now.” After that whole physical contact from last night, something like this is hard to ignore. The memory wasn’t so simple in my mind – the way his fingers grazed the side of my face somewhat came off as too intimate and I wasn’t okay with it.

I’m not all for that.

Maybe because I was secretly fearing the reason behind that action. And I should have said something then but there was a short lapse of judgment on my part.

It takes a moment for Hanbin to realize what I was hinting at but once he did, he releases his hold while clearing his throat. 

Temporarily putting that aside, I walked toward the door before quietly unlocking the knob. 

Creaking it open – 

“Jiwoo.” Jiyoon appeared in front of me and I jumped in surprise. Opening the door only wide enough for my body and preventing her from seeing inside, I greeted her back with an unnaturally bright smile.

“Good morning, unnie.” From how she was dressed, relief washed over me. “Are you going out?”

“I’m meeting up with some friends.” She answered. “Do something today as well, Jiwoo.”

Oh, don’t worry. “Okay, have fun.” 

She turned away and I watched her go toward the stairs and down. Once she was out of view, I listened carefully for the front door and with the small clicking sound signaling that we were alone, I breathed out in relief.

The hard part was now over.

“Noona, you ruined it.”

I turned around after hearing Jibin’s voice. “What did I ruin?”

“I imagine girls would wake up beautiful as well.” He bluntly answered and started laughing at his own joke. 

“Jibin.” I called out calmly. “Key word there – imagine. That was your own imagination and not reality. I’m going to let you off this time because your intense crying from last night still lingers in my thoughts.” 

My response caused Jibin to stop his guffawing abruptly and I smiled in triumph.

Kid should learn I’m not someone to mess with.

Now, it wasn’t strange that Jibin was teasing me about my disheveled look – I’m quite used to it after all the times he had done it but rather, Hanbin didn’t laugh. You see, Hanbin was always encouraging of Jibin’s harmless jokes and joined in on the parade of insults but at this moment, it seemed like he was busy thinking about something else.

If you all haven’t noticed – the fact that he was lost in his own wandering thoughts was something that required some special attention, for it could only mean nothing good.

I watched him slowly push himself up from the bed and onto his feet. Without saying a word, he walked over to where I stood in front of the door. He peered down at me before flashing me a quick look. “Can I go to the bathroom?”

I slid over, allowing him to leave through the door. While he was gone, my eyes land on Jibin, whom had made no attempts to come out from under the covers. Unlike me, Jibin didn’t observe the sudden change in Hanbin’s demeanor.

Or maybe I was overthinking it.

It all could have just been an effect from last night. Must have been a traumatizing night for Hanbin.

I walked back into the center of the room and began cleaning up my makeshift bed. Jibin watched me silently before tilting his head. 

What? Is he going to apologize now? “What is it, Jibin?” I asked without paying any real attention to him. 

“I take back what I said earlier.” He commented before grinning up at me. “From this angle, you look closer to the image I have.” 

I sighed. “Jibin, save it.”

***

With them dressed in their clothes from last night, the three of us started down the street. The convenience store a few blocks away was our destination.

I hid my face deeper into my jacket since I was still lending my scarf away to Jibin. I found out the boy was too tough to wear a thicker jacket because cool kids rather be cool than warm – now he’s paying the price for such a childish and rather irresponsible thought. 

Arriving at the store and quickly finding the specific aisle that I have walked out into the terrible cold for, I started to scan the various boxes of ointments and bandages. “These are good for cuts and bruises.” I handed the few boxes to Hanbin.

Hanbin glanced at them in his hands. “How do you know which one to get?”

With my bad luck, I always found myself in little accidents. “Sadly, from experience.” I took a glimpse of his face. “How are you going to hide it from your mom?”

Hanbin thought for a moment before shrugging.

I wasn’t surprised. He would never get away with it no matter how hard he tried.

Now that my distractions were temporarily pushed aside, I am reminded once more of the uncomfortable silence between us. The same silence that followed us when we left my home and continued to stick around as we stood beside one another in this store.

“Hanbin…you’re not going to ignore me like last time, right?” My tone was kept so calm and casual that it would in no way disrupt this atmosphere between us and just to be sure, I kept my eyes on the shelves in order to reinforce the nonchalance in my sudden choice of question. But the words, themselves, were strange nonetheless. 

“…What are you even asking?” He mumbled.

I’m sure it wasn’t just my imagination. This same feeling that was occurring within me was just as familiar as the feeling I experienced when Hanbin was going through that little discovery of his feelings towards me.

The sudden revelation made me subtly freeze.

Did Hanbin finally see through the lie Bobby told and the very lie I have been trying to keep up?

A curt snort from beside me interrupts my small freak-out. “Why would I avoid you?”

And though I wouldn’t like to admit it, my body relaxed due to his words. Composing myself, I went back to the task of looking for more