[Fall]
[Seunghyun POV]

She mumbles in my ear, making me shiver. I place her arms around my neck as I wrap my arms around her back and legs. She buries her head in my shoulder. I unconsciously hold on to her tighter as I make my way towards my room. With much difficultly, I open my door. I kick it close and set her gently on my bed. She doesn’t let go of me. 

She murmurs something. I get my face closer to hers, listening. But I can’t hear anything. She must be dreaming. I reach behind me and unlock her hold on me. I place her hands gently on her sides and pull the blanket up to her stomach. She slowly turns her head and lets out a breath. 

I grab my chair and place it close to the bed. I sit down and rest my elbows on my knees. I place my hands under my chin as I look at her. It’s unbelievable, what I’m seeing. This doesn’t look like EunMi. She looks so… hurt. The bruises are evident on her face. No wonder she’s been hiding herself in her hood. 

I hesitantly reach over and brush strands of her hair away. My hand hovers over her cheek. With the back of my hand, I caress her cheek all the way down to her neck. Despite the cold coming these days, she’s so warm. I lightly trace my fingertips over her lips. She winces when I touch the corner of her bottom lip. With my thumb, I wipe away the remaining blood. On her left cheek, just under her eye, there’s a scratch, all red. 

On the right side of her face, there are two more scratches around her temple and forehead. I pull back and look at her face. A tear escapes her closed eyes. Out of nowhere, my heart starts to beat rapidly. I grab on to both of the arms of the chair and grip it hard. I start pushing my chair back, away from the bed and EunMi as if I could escape the beating of my heart. 

I abruptly stand up. I think I’ll sleep on the couch tonight. I can’t bear looking at her bruised face. For some reason, she’s making my heart race.
~~~~~~~~~~

So, I can’t leave her. 

I found that out the hard way. It’s already 4 in the morning and I still can’t sleep. Around 3:30 a.m. I fell off the couch and banged my head against the wall, just because I was worrying about EunMi. So, I went to check on her. I ended up stubbing my foot against the door. Surprisingly, no one woke up from my string of curses. 

Now here I am, back on this damn chair, watching her sleep. 

I watch as she tosses and turns, eventually making the blanket descend off the bed. I pick up the blanket and drape it over her small body. I sit on the edge of the bed, my arm resting on the other side of her body. Once again, I find myself looking intensely at her face. Man do I sound creepy. Without thinking, I lean forward; close enough to feel her soft breaths. 

She suddenly turns her head, a movement testing my reflexes. But I stay frozen. In that one turn, her lips brushed against mine with the slightest touch. To an outsider, it wouldn’t even look like we touched at all. And I wanted to believe that. But the tingle in my lips told me otherwise. 

I close my eyes and shudder. I shake my head, throwing the feeling away. I rise up from the bed and sit on the chair, across the room. I’m scared I might do something I might regret if I sit close to her. I entwine my hands together and rest my elbows on the arms of the chair. I slump against the wall. I gaze at EunMi until my eyes slowly start to close. Dark orbs instantly form in my mind. I start to relax as a beautiful face surrounds those deep, black eyes…
~~~~~~~~~~

“You can save me, Seunghyun.” EunMi whispers, staring straight into my eyes with her intense dark ones. 

“Save?” I hear myself ask. It feels as if I’m only seeing through my eyes, but I can’t control my own body. I must be dreaming… right?

EunMi smiles at me, making me freeze. “You know how, right?” 

I feel myself nod. What? I don’t know how to save her. Hell, I don’t even know what she means. Suddenly, the once bright atmosphere turns dark. EunMi looks down. “When are you going to save me, Seunghyun? I’ve been waiting far too long.” She says softly. Before I can say anything, she looks up, her face bruised and bloody.

“I’ve been through war. And you can save me, Seunghyun.” She says quietly, her voice blending in with the grim atmosphere. Darkness fills my sight, covering up EunMi. As if the darkness was a disease, I can feel it spread throughout my whole body. Without warning, I felt paralyzed. All my senses became sensitive. I see nothing, but a vast darkness, making me believe that I’ve gone blind. A chime-like bitter laugh rings in my ears.

“But why haven’t you done anything yet?” 

I open my mouth to scream. 

“Seunghyun?” 

I snap my eyes open, only to meet those black orbs. I abruptly sit up, making those orbs back away. I groan and rub my eyes. I’m not dreaming anymore, right? It’s hard to tell…

The beautiful face that’s been haunting me comes into my sight. Her bruised face worried. She opens , but I cut her off when I notice something.

“What happened to your eye?” I ask. Without thinking, I reach up and cradle her face in both of my hands. She stiffens. Finally realizing what I just did, I freeze. 

Silence.

My mind can’t process anything. The fact that her face is only inches away from mine is really disturbing me. Plus, I have her soft clear face in my hands. And her piercing eyes just make me feel weak. All I could do is pull her in and…

EunMi reaches up and places her hand on one of mine, warm and comforting. Unexpectedly, she slides my hands off her face. She quickly lets go of my hand, and I’m already missing the warmth. She stands up, looking down at me. 

“Your friends are waiting for you.” She says, heading towards the door. 

“Wait.” I call out to her. She stops, her hand on the doorknob. “Are you sure you’re in any state to be walking around already?”

I see her smirk. She looks over her shoulder. “Just worry about your state after you’re done explaining how the hell I ended up in your bed.”