Chapter 15 – Someday. Somehow.

Waking up proved to be one of the hardest things to do in the morning after having taken Delphinium. It was worse than a hangover and my mind was still all hazy, but just like the week before, I was at ease. As if whatever I had done had taken a big load off my mind. When I tried to open my eyes, it was surprisingly dark and I frowned at the fact that I was lying in front of something black and soft. And it was moving.

My breath quickened with widening eyes when I slowly distanced myself from the thing just to be held in place by a heavy arm thrown over my shoulder. Minhyuk. This was too close. This was nothing I could handle. This was not good. I had been lying right next to Minhyuk, tugged under his arm, and his chest raised and lowered at a steady pace as he was still asleep while I tried to suppress my panic attack and slowly wiggled out of his grasp with a heart that beat like crazy. You know, turtle, there's nothing wrong with a bit of skinship. I let out a silent chuckle at that and dusted off my pants after standing up and looking down at the white-haired male sleeping soundly to my feet. Everything's wrong with it.

Having calmed down from the close proximity, I noticed that Shownu, Jooheon and Wonho were already gone whereas Kihyun and Changkyun lay a few meters away from Minhyuk in peaceful silence for once. I scratched the back of my neck before glancing at my watch for the first time since waking up, finding it to be ten o'clock. Almost time to leave for work, thank God I had woken up. In the living room, I encountered Shownu reading a newspaper, but none of the other guys and I sat down on the sofa opposite to him with a yawn. “Where's the rest?”

“Work and school”, the leader explained without looking up at first, but he then seemed to notice who he had just replied to and I saw surprise on his face. “You're up early.”

“Ten in the morning is actually pretty late, you know?” We both shrugged and I spent a few seconds in silence before finally making up my mind. “Shownu?”

“Hm?”

“Do you, like, remember what you do when you're high?”

The brown-haired male stopped for a moment to glance up from his newspaper with a raised eyebrow. “Most of it. Why? Because you don't and want to know what happened?”

I shrank on my seat with a sigh and averted my gaze. “I was just wondering if I did anything I should regret.” Of course, I had said that whatever happened on drugs wasn't actually me, but I simply couldn't stop pondering on the topic, especially not after having been this close to Minhyuk. He didn't harass me, did he? What about Wonho? I can't remember a thing, what if-

“Hyungwon, there's nothing to worry about, I promise. Especially not around us”, Shownu interrupted my overflowing thoughts and our gazes met for a moment, causing him to smile at me. “If you were to do something that could harm you I swear that one of us would interfere.”

“Then what did I do yesterday? I can't think of anything and I feel like I should”, I kept asking and bit my lip before swallowing and putting on a stoic mask again. Don't let your guard down, Hyungwon, who do you think you are talking to?

“Sometimes it's good to forget about something.”

“What?” My eyes narrowed and I took a deep breath, but Shownu didn't look concerned at all and gave me a simple sigh.

“If you don't remember, maybe it's because you don't have to. Maybe it's because you would think too much of it and then you'd retreat into that snail house of yours and never come out again. If anything you need to know happened I'd tell you for sure.” He might be right. “I know that look in your eyes, trust me.” Trust me. “Minhyuk has it too.” I swallowed and figured that he wouldn't tell me anything about the evening before with a groan, when something clicked in my head.

“What do you mean, Minhyuk has it too?”

“Sometimes things are more broken than one might assume.” Shownu's face remained blank and he seemed to hear the gears screeching in my mind, but before either of us could speak up again, the door opened and Minhyuk came in with a bright smile as always. “Good morning!”, his cheerful voice hollered and Shownu's face instantly brightened to return the greeting while I maintained my stoic mask.

After glancing at my watch again, I got up and stretched my back. “I'll get going. Work.” Minhyuk stopped for a moment with a confused expression but was quick to get a hang of himself and walk up to me. I know that look in your eyes. What look? What did Shownu see that I didn't?

“Can you wait for five more minutes? I'll accompany you.”

“Why would you?” My eyebrows raised and I glanced at the oldest whose eyes seemed to tell me that I should just take him with me from behind the newspaper.

“I feel like it”, came the indifferent reply and I sighed, sitting down on the sofa again and impatiently tapping my foot on the ground while he downed a bowl of cereal in record time before putting on his shoes.

“What would happen if suddenly the sun didn't shine as bright anymore?”, Minhyuk asked with his arms crossed behind his head and I hesitated for a moment. Why did I even wait for that guy?

“Are you...serious?” The white-haired male shot me a glance and I frowned. “Why would that happen?”

“Just imagine it”, the other insisted with an intense gaze boring holes into my head. “If the moon shone brighter than the sun, would we switch day and night? What about lunar energy, did you ever consider that?”

Something tried to surface in my mind, like the cracking of a record when you are waiting for the actual audio to begin. I kept waiting for the memory to come, but nothing happened and I let go of it in frustration. “Why would I know? You never know until you try it out”, I replied grumpily, unable to ignore the weird feeling in my head.

“Good answer, I'll remind you of that one day”, Minhyuk mumbled absentmindedly while burying his hands in his pockets. “You never know until you try...”

I stared ahead for a good five minutes and my company said nothing as he walked next to me, causing me to think that something was bothering him. Don't ask. “What's wrong?” Too late.

“Huh?”

I shrugged at his confusion and pushed my thoughts aside. “You seem to be lost in thought. Something's off. I never knew you had a brain.”

“It's nothing”, he replied without looking at me or replying to that diss for once and that's when I knew he was lying. But if he's not going to tell me it's fine. It's not like I am any differe- I'd almost have stopped on my tracks when realization dawned to me. That's what made Minhyuk and me similar. Keeping your distance from things while at the same time trying to find out what the opponent was thinking.

“We'd make a good duo when it comes to profiling”, I mentioned quietly and finally the weird feeling in my head snapped when Minhyuk turned towards me with big eyes, a hand grabbing my wrist. Why am I feeling like I... “Did I...say that already?”

The white-haired male swallowed and took a deep breath before a careful smile appeared on his lips. “Yesterday. So you do kind of remember?”

My eyes darted around the area when I picked up more speed again. “N