Taking Our Sweet Time

Playlist:

“Cool Hot Sweet Love” - Red Velvet

“Something in the Way You Move” - Ellie Goulding

“Kiss Me” - Ed Sheerhan

“Run Away” - Royal Pirates

Seulgi pulled the car behind the building and parked it all in one swift line of movement.

            “Make it quick.”  she said to Wendy, switching off the ignition.

            “Ten minutes tops.” The other assured.  She checked her appearance briefly in the pop-down mirror.  Seulgi took out her phone and read text messages.

            “Fifteen, if you absolutely must.”  she stipulated, with a sniff.  Wendy glanced at her and Seulgi smirked, not taking her eyes off of her phone.

            “Gomawo, chinggu.”

            “Go on, Seungwan-ah.  You’ve just wasted a whole minute.”

            Wendy laughed and put on a face mask before stepping out of the car into the chilly late-evening air.  It wasn’t completely dark yet; the shadow of the day casted an aesthetic dark blue glow on the world outside.  Wendy quietly made her way up two flights of stairs and rapped on one of the apartment doors up there.  She heard a TV on inside so she knocked again, a bit louder this time.  The TV noise ceased and there were footsteps instead.

            Just the thought of him being on the other side, just behind the door, so close to her, made Wendy’s heart skip a beat and her stomach turn over.

            Finally the door opened a fraction; the chain still up.  It was Xiumin.

            “Are you a saesang?”  he asked, looking perfectly serious.

            Wendy pulled down her facemask.  “Yes.  Could I beg you, Xiumin-oppa, for a pair of Chen’s underwear?”

            Xiumin laughed out loud as he undid the locks and let her inside.  He locked up the door again before turning to her.  He was dressed in black jeans, no socks, and a black tank that had the words ‘LET FREEDUMB RING’ written across the front in gold letters.  His hair was wet and unkempt.

            “Good evening, oppa.”  said Wendy, bowing slightly.  “How are you?”

            “I’m fine, thanks.”  was the answer.  “We just got back like a half hour ago.  Jongdae is sleeping at the moment; he was pretty tired.”  He walked her to Chen’s room and leaned against the doorjamb.  His roommate lay shirtless on the bed in a pile of grey pillows; his arms above his head.  He was clearly very deeply asleep.

            “Ah, chinja.”  whispered Wendy.

            Xiumin grinned.  “He is very y, ne?”

            She smiled and tucked in her chin to hide her embarrassed face.

            “Well...go say hi, then.  He’ll be disappointed if he misses you.”  said Xiumin.  And he walked off, returning to the sofa and his kung-fu movie.         

            Wendy entered the room, closing the door only slightly behind her.  She didn’t intend to stay too long, after all.

            Chen’s room was all greys and browns, with a large grey-and-navy poster of the world map as his headboard and two strands of lights hanging above.  To the right of his queen-sized bed (this took up the majority of the smallish space) was a simple nightstand with a clock, his phone, a watch, a book (‘Pride & Prejudice & Zombies’) and framed photo of Wendy from Red Velvet’s ‘Be Natural’ era.

            She closed the curtains and sat on the bed, maneuvering herself carefully so that she sat cross-legged beside him.  He didn’t move or make any sound at all.

            She watched him contentedly for a few minutes.  His chest rose and fell with his steady breaths and a few of those breaths came out as sighs.  Wendy wished that she could catch those sighs and lock them up in her heart.  He made another sound and her insides constricted.  He swallowed and the muscles in his jaw and neck moved and the movement was so delicious that Wendy reached out with her finger to trace their trail.  She leaned over and kissed his forehead, his nose, his lips.  He smelled like everything she loved him to smell like; like autumn trees, like clean musk, like good, honest sweat.

            He still lay motionless.

            “Poor oppa.”  she whispered.  “How tired you must be.”  She kissed his lips again, and again, then three times more.  As much as she loved showering him with these sweet, gentle kisses, a need for him to reciprocate was quickly growing within her.  She was about to give him another kiss when his hands suddenly seized her arms and he turned her over so that she lay on the bed and he was above her.  She screeched when it happened; a strange, cat-like sound that amused Chen all the more.  He hovered over her with a lazy, although thoroughly interested expression.  She just lay there trying to still her breathing and the beating of her heart.

            “Your hair is so red.”  he said, reaching over and pulling at a strand of her freshly dyed locks and turning it between his fingers.  “...I like it.  Gives you a fierce, goddess-like look.  My own Athena.”  Wendy wanted her tongue to be on the muscles of his other arm that kept him propped up--she wasn’t sure why exactly.

            He just stared at her, flushing her body with heat.

            “I only have a few minutes.”  she said, like a warning.

            “Well,” he said, with a heavy sigh, “We must make the most of those few minutes.” 

            Her heart froze in her chest when he lowered himself on top of her and brought his face to hers.  The pressure of his body against hers made them sink considerably into the soft bed beneath them.  He ; barely a breath between their lips.  She could already taste him.

            “You want me?” he whispered.  Everything strong and solid within her turned into red bean jelly.

            “For heaven’s sake, Jongdae, what part of few minutes did you not get?”

            He grinned; his tired eyes almost disappearing completely.  “The ‘few’ part.”  he said.  “...Oh well.”  He kissed her chin before angling his head to give her a proper kiss.

            “You’re gonna get me in trouble.” she said, just a moment before.