September 14th, 2016

11:05 AM

The next morning following Broken Glass

The night turned into day with a few blinks of an eye. They had finally found some security with a long awaited slumber, but even within dreams, the thoughts didn’t escape swollen eyes. Jongin’s words sounded even there: “... love me... pretend… at least...” He intruded protected sleep with a few breaths, that’s all it took.

A calming sense swept over Eunhye’s body as she opened her eyes to the light. Dust particles played on her vision, dancing around the room like feathers in the wind. The sun was already high in the sky, and the warmth of the day was already awake. A soft sigh came from her lips as she tried to fight back the morning, wanting one last second of sleep. Closing her eyes, she kissed the last sense of stillness goodbye—a new kind of feeling awaited.

Eunhye’s eyes finally opened fully and the ceiling stared back down. The soft sigh turned into a groan as a lazy body rolled over on its side, and as hazy eyes searched for the clock on the bedside, but they found something else altogether: a glass of water waited patiently on the nightstand; Jongin had put it there last night. Thinking for a second, that was the first time he ever did something like that for her in a long time. A lump became apparent in heavy lungs, and she turned away quickly from it for Eunhye didn’t want to have those feelings for him or something he did—at least not anymore. The urge to pick up the glass and throw it became so apparent that she almost acted upon her thoughts, until she realized who was sleeping beside her. She turned slowly to find Jongin wasn’t there; his side of the bed lay empty, but the impression of his body remained. What time was it really?

Eunhye forced herself to look back over at the nightstand to get a glance at the clock, only to find that it was also missing. Deep grooves carved their way into her forehead as she sat upright. Where was the clock? It was there last night, but where was it now? Things like that didn’t disappear.

Hopping out of bed, Eunhye started to look for the missing item. Maybe it fell off the stand? She looked up, down, and around the bed for it, but it didn’t show up anywhere. Funny thing was, Jongin was missing also, along with the clock. Two things that should be by her side when she awoke weren’t there. He never woke up before her, it was always her to rise first. Breakfast had to be on the table before he batted his eyes to the daylight. ‘Weird...’ she thought, letting her mind take her out of the room.

Immediately Eunhye sensed something different. Activity swarmed around her nose as she took in the warm scent of coffee. It was strong, but fading. She followed the trail into the kitchen and found a fully dressed Jongin sitting at the table reading a book with a cup of coffee on his lips. slightly opened in surprise at the sight. Seeing him in this calm state was shocking, but what really caught her attention was the clock that lay beside him—he had taken it.

“Ah, finally you’re up,” Jongin mused, setting his book aside and leaning up to look at Eunhye. “I thought you were never getting up, must’ve had a lot to dream about,” he said, smirking softly and putting down his cup. “I… made some coffee for you,” he offered in a calm voice. Standing, he walked over to the steaming pot on the counter; a mess of coffee grounds lay all around it. A small laugh threatened to break through Eunhye’s lips as she saw the chaos he had created in an attempt make the drink. “Though, I must say, it doesn’t taste that good. You make it much better.” A full on smile landed on his lips as he turned to look at her. That was a sight seen with sore eyes. Smiling seemed so foreign in this house now, it caught her off guard.

“Oh, I guess I will… remake it for you?” Eunhye questioned after a few moments, still confused by the whole situation.

Jongin’s eyebrows raised slightly, and he shook his head. “No! Can’t I be a good boyfriend and make you breakfast and coffee?” Turning away, these words came out urgently as he grabbed a coffee mug from a cabinet above. He poured the cup full, added in some sugar and cream, and walked over to Eunhye. He put his hand on the small of her back, gently guiding her over to the table, but his hand signaled a tightness through tired muscles. That always happened when he was close to her, but back then it was a good kind of nervousness.

Eunhye sat in the chair, facing him and taking the big mug in her small hands. She held it there for a moment, looking down into the murky steam below. White and brown mashed as they swirled around the cup. “Hmmm...” Jongin said silently beside her. Her eyes brought themselves up to his: he was sitting leaned up against the table, hands under his chin and eyes on hers. The sudden contact almost scared her, and her eyes brought themselves anywhere but his. They instead fixated themselves on the clock laying in front of the both of them.

“I didn’t want you to wake up. You were sleeping so well,” Jongin said in a sweet tinged voice. “The clock tells you when to wake, I wanted you to decide for once.” Eunhye let her eyes raise to his willingly, and confusion filled them for he hadn’t acted this way in a long time, what were these actions now? “Eunhye, let me care for you…” he uttered, putting on a playful pout and leaning back in his chair, crossing his hands against his chest. “Hmmm, I’m hungry. You slept so lo-”

Eunhye rose from her chair and tried to walk back into the kitchen, but Jongin grabbed her hand on the way there. “Eunhye, sit back down, I wasn’t asking you to make me anything,” he said, getting up from his chair and guiding her back to hers. “I will make the breakfast.” With a painfully confused look on her face, she obeyed and sat back down. Jongin made his way into the kitchen and bent down to pick something up. He disappeared from her view and then reappeared again with a box of cereal. He held it up with a huge smirk on his face. “I made it especially for you!” he proclaimed, b with laughter. A smile almost broke out on her lips, but she turned away quickly to hide the makings of it.

Jongin brought over two bowls, milk, and the box. He set a bowl in front of Eunhye, filled it up with contents, and sat back down on his seat in front of her. Filling his own, he dug in right away. She looked down at the meal in disbelief: what had gotten into him? Breakfast? Well, even if he didn’t make it, he still poured the milk. And what about coffee? How did he even know how to turn on the machine? “Eunhye, I wasn’t going to try and make anything else… there aren’t that many good tutorials online…” he said, letting his voice drop in a small laugh. She just kept her eyes on the sinking grains in her bowl. Silence fell over the room, as it always did. “You could at least try it,” he finally said, gulping down his last bite.

Without realizing it, Jongin had finished his bowl; Eunhye’s thoughts contained her attention, not the time. She looked up quickly, with forgiveness on her lips. Her eyes went big, and she shook her head, “I- I was just thinking… sorry,” she muttered, in an almost breathless voice as she picked up her spoon and started to eat the soggy cereal—it actually tasted good.

A soft grunt came from Jongin as he leaned back in his chair, letting a small smile be painted on his lips. Eunhye continued to eat the cereal as he brought his attention back to his book. Both of them expended their attention on their own activities and, again, the time seemed to move so fast. Jongin had flipped through many pages and Eunhye’s bowl was empty, a glass of coffee now in her hand. Eyes again focused on the disappearing swirls, enjoying this moment of peace. A slight warmth filled the palm of her hands as she brought the mug to her lips. Excepting a bitter taste, her tongue was greeted with sweet, sugary warmth; he had made it perfectly. A smile played on lips as she took some more sips.

“The two eyes looking at each other

The one remaining pair of eyes, the lost eyes

The two eyes, tightly shut

The eyes that are too late, the eyes that lost you

I’m becoming more and more sorry, looking at you with these kinds of feelings

Eyes looking at each other

One pair of remaining eyes, eyes that have lost their way.”

Soft words exited Jongin’s lips, letting them soak into the peaceful silence. Surprised thoughts brought themselves to settle on the book he was holding: the red spine screamed in remembrance. It was the same one that took hours to find; the same one that brought shy eyes to look into warmer ones. Memories of that day and the many days after flooded Eunhye’s mind. She remember searching for that book each day, waiting for it to come through the door. That red cover signaled the arrival of a man that shook a stilled heart: a heart that began beating for him. How long had it been since that heart took a few breaths?

Interested eyes looked up to meet a pair of serious ones. Jongin’s stare crept into Eunhye, taking control of her thoughts and filling them with questions. Those eyes looked on with a much different feeling: they had never been that serious, yet blissful. She could feel streams of breath leave her body, being replaced with his gaze. It was a tender moment, one that hadn’t been exchanged in ages. His eyes stole her soul, but put it right back again. He had her attention, but for much different reasons. For once, fear wasn’t on her mind; fear of Jongin was gone with one look.

Emotions took control of the moment as Eunhye felt tears arise in her swollen eyes. How easily she cried these days. She had to break the lock he had on her; looking away, she captured a falling tear. Jongin looked away this time too, not to cry, but to hold in the tinge of resentment that was growing. “There are those eyes again…” he said in a whisper, almost to himself.