CHAPTER 7;

He clenched his injured shoulder, he was trying his best to tolerate the pain from the way he bit his lower lip.

And that was all the pale moonlight revealed of his face.

*

I closed my eyes and rubbed my nose bridge, mentally exhausted as I tried to recall the face features of the mysterious guardian in my dream.

His pale lips…defined jaw line and his lock of black wavy hair that were sticking against his cheeks.

I opened my eyes again and bend forward to my pencil art drawing, adding more lines to the portrait of the shadowy face. I leaned away and examined my art work with a frown. The art piece portrayed the exact scene I saw in my dream perfectly.

Yet…

I signed, resting my tired chin on both hands as I stared at the finished portrait. Try as I might, I couldn’t imagine enough to create the upper half features of this man’s face. What I left…was just the features of his lower-half face features, completed with shadowy effects that hid his hair, his eyes and cheekbones. My fingers slide over the lips of my mysterious savior, before caressing his cheekbones, as if to comfort, to soothe him from the pain etched on his sketched face.

Realizing what I was doing, I let out a chuckle of disbelief and flipped my sketchbook shut. Head rested against the couch; I stared up at the blank ceiling of the living room. My reasoning was probably flawed by exhaustion from today’s activities. I closed my eyes briefly, only to be interrupted by the sound of door bell echoing in the room.

I sat up straight and stared quizzically at the door.

Unnie has a key to her own apartment, so why would she need to ring the bell? Has she forgotten her key again?

The doorbell rang again.

“Coming!” I leapt to my feet and ran to the door. Giving it an energetic pull, I opened the door with a “Welcome back Unnie!” greeting….only to see someone I would never expect.

My mouth let out a gasp of surprise at the person before my. My brain went blank in an instant as I stared at him; my mouth remained agape as he smiled at me sheepishly.

“Hi…” Taemin gave an awkward wave at me. “may I come in?”

A pang of pain hit my chest and snapped me back to reality.

No.

Every single fiber in my being was protesting against this beautiful young man with a gentle smile, standing right in front of me. But my rational side realized the absurdness and managed to take over.

He fiddled with his fingers nervously as he sat on the couch, questioning his actions with each passing moment.

“Coffee, tea or coke?” Her voice startled him slightly.

“Coke would be great.” He replied, watching her as she fumbled the fridge, searching for drinks. He turned back and started fiddling his hands again, trying to shake off his nervousness.

Why has he land himself in this situation?

Taemin sighed, staring off into space.

But there was this anxious feeling that he couldn’t seem to fight off, wanting to know whether she was fine, whether she was safe and whether....he clenched his fists lightly at the thought, whether she hated him.

It was this impulse that drove him walking up to a surprised looking Eun-ah noona, asking for a way to have a private chat with Seo-Yun.

He gave a cold chuckle at his bold actions and now…he’s regretting for landing himself in such an awkward situation.

Refocused back to reality, his line of vision landed on a black sketchbook, lying on the coffee table. Without much thought, he took it up and started flipping the cover. He paused instantly at the sight of a drawing of a shadowed face. Amazed by the fine art work, his fingers trailed over the piece of paper, tracing the lips of the mysterious face…..until the sketchbook was abruptly pulled away from his grasp.

His eyes dart up, only to meet the gaze of a startled-looking Seo-Yun.

“Sorry!” he stood up, only to find her smiling as she clutched the book to her chest.

“It’s alright.” She said in a small voice, still keeping her smile on. His heart twisted at her slightly twitched up lips. It was a smile out of courtesy towards him.

“So…may I know the purpose of your visit, Taemin-ssi?” The shock of hearing her speaking politely, as if she was speaking towards a foreign guest, almost betrayed his carefully designed calm expression and then he pulled himself together.

“I just want to know if you’re fine and to apologize for what happened.” Taemin said, working to keep his tone light.  He stopped, watching her expression closely as she settled down on the couch.

“I’m fine.” She smiled, taking a sip from her cup of tea. “Thank you for your concern.”

“Really…” He let out a tired chuckle and sat as well. “That’s good…that’s good…” he repeated the words like a chant as he cupped the cold can of coke in his hand, as if to engrave the repeating words in his heart.

But the grip on his drink tightened.

It’s not good.

His heart could not accept the lie. It’s not good at all.

He disliked this sensation, this over-politeness….this widening distance from her.

Sitting less than a meter apart from her, but feeling as if there was a thousand miles separating him from her….

“Just call me Min.” His sudden request almost caused me to choke. Instead, I took a deep breath and set my cup down, careful not to reveal my distress.

“Like how you usually do back at the hospital.” He hurriedly continued as my mind sped through with all the possible options, looking for the best way to reply him. “You don’t need to treat me so politely just because I’m an idol…”

His last sentence stopped my rapid train of thought and I looked at him, startled that his eyes almost seemed pleading. My heart pounded hard for a moment or two as I recollected myself. For all I know, it could have been over-imagination on my part.

“I’m…that’s not the case…” I trailed off, still wondering how to reply him appropriately when I didn’t even have an answer to explain my strange reactions around his presence.

How could I tell him that his presence makes my uneasy and it’s not because of his idol-status?

My head spun and suddenly, my vision swirled and darkened. I heard a shout of my name in the distance and suddenly, a pull grabbed me out from the darkness.

My eyes snapped open to find myself gazing at that beautiful face, etched with worry.

“Seo-Yun!” So it was his voice after all…..calling me just now. “Are you alright?”

The dizzy sensation spun to a stop and I realized my proximity to him. I blushed and looked down, unable to address his concern, only to find my eyes landed on his hand, gripping tightly on my arm.

That hand shot away, as if it noticed where it had grabbed. I looked up confused, and saw a blushing Taemin who was scratching his head.

“I’m sorry!” His tone was nervous. “I saw you falling…so before I knew it, I reached out to pull you.” He paused in his actions and looked at me in concern. “Are you alright?”

The blush I thought was fading, came rushing back to my cheeks. “I’m fine.” My eyes looked down to stare at my arm he grabbed just moments ago; an unexplainable tingling sensation was coursing through, sending shivers down my spine.

“Maybe I’m just tired…” I stopped short, not wanting to add “from over-thinking” to the sentence and add guilt to the innocent person in front of me.

“Oh…” He stood up and I turned my attention back to him. “I guess I’ll better get going then.” He smiled gently and proceeds to make his way to the door.

“Let me send you off…” I was stopped by a head shake that indicated his refusal. “That’s fine! You’re still recovering! Rest more and take care!”

Before I could reply, he gave a wave and shut the door.

I let out a breath I didn’t know I was holding in and caught a glance of his drink on the coffee table.

The can of coke was left unopened.

#Author's Note =D

**Seo-Yun was recalling the dream scene from Chapter 2 to draw a picture of her mysterious savior

Ahhh I'm tired. I overslept today and missed my first lesson of the day. Kekekeke~ But I still feel tired (~_~) And to add on, I'm feeling distressed over something personal and its something I would be glad of if I found out that my instincts were wrong in the first place. Oh well. That's part and parcel of life I suppose (^_^ll) Okay I don't even know why I'm saying a load of crap in here.... xD