A Chance Encounter. Chapter Six.

I sit up groggily, my head’s pounding, and my mouth feels extremely dry. My eyes are itchy; I raise my hand up to rub my eyes. Crap. I slept with my lenses on. I’m pretty sure they’ve gotten permanently attached to my eyeballs. I don’t even want to think about peeling them off, it gives me goosebumps. The last time I did that, my eyes were teary and red for the whole week, and I had contracted some eye infection. I really need some water; I look around trying to find a bottle of water when I realize I’m still at Yixing’s place. That’s right, I remember. Yixing was adamant on watching some of my Webtoons last night, and I hesitantly agreed to show him the first episode of the cockroach superhero thingy – Momo: The Savior Arthropod. I did not come up with that name. It was my team leader, Kyungsoo. I had explained the plot in brief and Yixing had nodded his head solemnly, and said, “Like Antman?”

“No, Momo doesn’t have a suit!” I’d replied defensively. Okay, fine…I did watch Antman a day before I came up with the idea of Momo, the cockroach superhero, but I’ve added my own twists to it. For example, Momo is a mutant, who can camouflage into anything of his choice, kind of like a chameleon! But when he turns into a cockroach, his powers get activated. Okay, I get this is quite embarrassing, but this is what sells. The viewers seem really into it.

“Interesting,” he’d remarked, chuckling softly. He’d then played the first episode on his laptop, handing me the other side of his earphones. I’d wanted to dig a hole and bury myself in it. Chanyeol had never really bothered watching any of my Webtoons, so I had never really found myself in such a situation. In fact, my entire family hasn’t watched my Webtoons. And I don’t know if I should feel relieved or sad because they don’t have any interest in whatever I do.

The last thing I remember was settling on Yixing’s bed comfortably, and snuggling under the covers while he continued to watch more episodes. I don’t know if he really liked them, or if he was pretending to like them so I didn’t feel bad.

“Good morning,” I hear Yixing say as he steps out of the bathroom. He’s already changed into a dress shirt and trousers. He opens his wardrobe to retrieve a blue tie, and fastens it around his neck adeptly.

“You’re heading out?” I state the obvious.

“Yeah, I’ve got a web meeting with some Japanese investors,” he says, fixing his collar around the tie.

“But it’s Sunday!” I say, confused.

Yixing merely chuckles in return. “They can’t reschedule the meeting. They’re a busy bunch. Anyway, the maid will come in an hour, you can use the shower, there’s spare toothbrush and everything in the cabinet. Just tell her what you want, she’ll make you breakfast. I need to get going.”

“No, I’ll just head back home,” I croak. My head really hurts. I rub the sides of my forehead slightly.

“Do you want a painkiller?” Yixing looks at me worriedly.

“I didn’t even have that much to drink,” I say weakly.

“Yeah, half a liter of Vodka isn’t anything at all,” he quips. He then opens one of the drawers of the night-stand to grab a strip of pills. “Here.” He holds out a tablet in front of me, and hands over a bottle of water. “A shower might help.”

“Thanks, Yixing.” My eyes are really starting to burn. And a shower does sound nice. I’ll just wait for him to leave, take a quick shower and head back home. I don’t really want to be around in his apartment when his maid comes in. I don’t know what she’d think. I mean, we did fall asleep on the same bed. But I passed out, so…what am I even thinking? I really need a cold shower.

I look up to see Yixing glancing at me with an amused smile.

“What?” I ask suspiciously. Did I do something last night? Oh right, I think I climbed on to his lap and cuddled. There isn’t anything wrong with that, we’re both adults here, and I didn’t even try to kiss him. But, you see, I have certain norms when it comes to dating, and climbing on to the guy’s lap on your first date isn’t one of them. When Chanyeol and I started dating, we took almost a month to just hold hands! No, it isn’t because I’m some kind of a prude, it’s just that something or the other kept coming up. And I wasn’t certain if he wanted us to be just friends, or something more. Anyway, it doesn’t matter. I’m glad I didn’t do anything else last night. I would have probably undressed him, and pushed him on to his bed, for all I know. Alcohol does strange things to my body. I’d rather not talk about it.  

“Nothing,” he pauses. “It’s just that you talk in your sleep. Are you aware of that?”

“Oh,” I fumble. “Did that disturb you? I’m really sorry. It doesn’t happen most of the times; it’s just sometimes that-”

“I think it’s cute,” he chuckles. “Last night, you were saying something about elephants and…ice-cream? Was that some new plot for a Webtoon?”

I’m so darn embarrassed. I’m not going to blush, I’m not going to blush. Oh God, my cheeks are heating up. Wait…he thinks it’s cute? Crap, my cheeks are probably tinted red. I need to stop behaving like a teenager.

“It’s okay, Juyeon. You needn’t be embarrassed,” he laughs. “I think I should get going.” He glances at his watch. “The meeting is about to begin.”

Oh wow, I’m still trying to absorb what happened. I went on a date with Yixing, told him I hated pubs, confronted him about his feelings for Bona,