*ten years after Ryan*

The clacking of the pots and pans in the kitchen woke me up.

Rain was hitting the window like the entire building had suddenly teleported to a stormy rainforest. I remembered leaving the window slightly open, so to my horror, I found myself opening my eyes to a pile of drenched clothes hanging from a chair. A yawn stretched my jaws and I clambered up from the comfortable safety of my bed. As I stood up, the familiar dizziness welcomed me with open arms, making my vision blurry and my steps hesitant. ”Hello?”

The clacking stopped and all I heard was the rain. Then steps.

A figure I couldn’t quite see because of the dizziness appeared before me, holding their hand out incase I needed some support. ”Hey, I didn’t know you were here. Sorry, did I wake you?”

I took the assisting hand and hung onto it desperately. It had been a while since I’d had someone offer a helping hand to me. To be honest, even the slightest touch of skin helped. I hadn’t had that in a while either.

”Yeah, it’s fine. I wasn’t planning on falling asleep anyway.”

Chaeyoung eyed me worriedly from head to toe. She probably pointed out my lack of interest in hygiene and every other human necessity. ”Come on, you go take a shower while I cook something to eat.”

”I can order so-”

”Jennie, you stink. And there’s a huge dish pile on your counter that needs to be dealt with. I’ll handle it and boil some eggs at least.”

I sighed, then nodded.

Taking a shower felt surprisingly refreshing, even though it was something I honestly couldn’t be bothered to do if it wasn’t crucial. For example if I needed to be somewhere. I hadn’t left the apartment in days. Last time I had taken a shower was when my mom took me to see a movie, so that I wouldn’t rot in bed all day long, as she had put it.

I stepped out of the shower, dripping all over as I walked from bathroom to my bedroom without a towel. All my towels were dirty and I couldn’t be bothered to wash them.

”There’s nothing in your fridge”, Chaeyoung pointed out, but didn’t sound surprised. It wasn’t the first time she came over to find me like this. I didn’t even feel embarrassed anymore.

”Oh… there isn’t? Let me order something then.”

”I’m already on it”, Chaeyoung said, walking past the bedroom door. She stopped for a quarter of a second to steal a glance at me. ”Jennie.”

I quickly hid my body under a robe. ”Yes?”

Chaeyoung’s eyes looked blurry, but they weren’t teary. More like absent. Like she was trying hard to erase what she’d just seen. ”This needs to stop.”

***