My body feels effing stiff when I woke up. I feel ache crawling all over my whole body. That is what concerned me the most as my eyes flutter open to the familiar ceiling. I always tried to find some relief to be greeted with the familiarity of my surroundings because it made me feels safe. But this time the comfortable feeling didn’t last long since I feel crushed and heavy on my right side, some kind of jittery and a nervous knot formed in my stomach where I couldn’t comprehend why I’m having it. It was such weird feelings and I almost forgot all about yesterday if not I was suddenly aware of a presence beside me. I finally register a warm breath on my bare neck. I shivered instantly with the contact. The person who sneaked into my room last night is lying peacefully by my side, oblivious to my uncomfortableness. Fully waking up, I become conscious of his touch on my waist, his big hand that encircles me made my heart beats fast. I get nervous in which I can’t understand why.

I move my head slowly to look down at Kyungsoo who is still in deep slumber, unaffected with my growing feelings of discomfort. He looks so peaceful that I didn’t have the heart to wake him up rather the image of him bawling yesterday had made me go soft on him. I hate to admit but I pity him and I guess I was misunderstanding him the whole time. I stare at his face for a while. After putting my whole strength in unlatching his grip from me and keeping a small distance between us, his face is visible now and I gaze at his feature intently.

Yesterday, I didn’t get a proper look on his face because it was so chaotic and abrupt with his unexpected action of approaching me so it came out as a surprise to see how fragile he currently appears. It was as if he is an innocent little child wanting to be comforted and hold by someone to ease his nightmare. I am stunned and frozen on my spot. My gaze fixated on his closed eyes, the traces of dry tears streaked his cheek pained me and I hated the feeling of seeing him in that distressed state. He appears so weak that all I want to do is protect him.

It’s a feeling that came so sudden and I was dumbfounded on why am I so concerned. He is nobody, the guy that I despise so much but why do I feel so worried? Crap, this is making my head ache. His chest rises and falls slowly with each breath he takes, his relaxed state somewhat made me feel assured that he did feel comfortable even though I wasn’t. It gives me pleasure that I was a comfort to him. Time ticked by and I was unsure for how long I stare at Kyungsoo when he suddenly frowned in his sleep, his lips tremble slightly. Because it was so unexpected, I unconsciously his cheek softly with my fingers. At first, I’m afraid to touch him out of fear he will wake up but he was soothed by the contact as his face regains his peaceful state and sighs quietly. I retract my hand away, once I realized what am I doing and got so confused with myself that I snapped back to reality.

Shaking off the fleeting vulnerable emotion I had towards him, I immediately rise from the bed and hurriedly move to the bathroom to gather myself. Before I entered the washroom, I grabbed my clothes and then locked the door to my bathroom.

Pull yourself together, Hanna. I reminded myself of our situation here where Kyungsoo and I are nothing but strangers.  

I washed my face vigorously, assuring myself that I haven’t woke up properly and it is the reason why I’m having this weird thoughts and me acting out of the norm. I’m denying everything that happened, I know that but there is no other possible explanation of what exactly is going on in my head currently. I proceed to take a shower to release all of this mess from my head by washing them away.

A loud clang was heard after I finished washing up. Afraid that mom will come to check, I quickly unlock the bathroom door, unprepared to face Kyungsoo but I got no choice. Though I dreaded the confrontation and the awkwardness which will surely follow, I have to talk to him about last night no matter what. However, when I open the door expecting to see him standing in my room, he wasn’t there. The bed was left exactly as it is when I woke up but it looks as if it was only me and there is no trace of him. I rushed to the bed and inspect under it and find nothing. As I glanced around, a piece of paper stuck out from the book I read yesterday caught my attention. I don’t remember putting that paper before.  Grabbing the paper with my right hand, I unfold them and read the content. What was written on the paper is a short sentence of,

“Thank you for staying by my side” he neatly scrawled.

Kyungsoo left his sign with just one letter, K. I sighed in relief, knowing I wasn’t hallucinating of the event yesterday. I know he was here though he had now vanish probably back into his room. I put down the paper and pulling my curtain aside to peer into his room hoping I will see him there. My expectation of him being there soon faltered when I saw no one in there, not even his shadow. As if he was never there to begin with but his window is open so he probably is out. I step closer to my window and saw my box of stationeries are scattered on the floor. This is probably the sound I heard in the bathroom. Kyungsoo must have knoc