[Chaeyoung's POV]

"Or you could just sleep here instead." My heart just skipped a beat.

"EH?" I failed to give a cool response. Am I hearing that right? Mina inviting me to sleep with her?

YES. Of course. JINJJA GOMAWOYO, GOD JIHYO.

She's smiling at me and I feel like I just short circuited.

I still couldn't say anything. It's like my tongue went numb. I just immediately hopped in to her bed and lay down beside her before she could even change her mind.

I tried to take as little space as possible to make sure she could still sleep comfortably.

She lay down beside me sideways, her body facing me.

I lay there with my body facing upwards, both arms tucked neatly at my sides, stiff as a brick.

I took a deep breath and my nose was filled with the scent of her perfume. My tensed shoulders finally relaxed.

What are you doing, Son Chaeyoung? Stop being so weird. I told myself.

I sighed and turned sideways to face her. Our faces were much closer to each other than I expected.

I gulped.

"Give me your hand." I reached out my hand. Urging her to hold mine. She obliged without second thought.

I turned it palm-side up and started poking and rubbing it with my thumb.

"What are you doing?" she whispered.

"Accupressure." I whispered back, "it's good for your body and it's also to help you sleep better."

She just looked at me as I squeezed her palm and fingers.

"It's been a busy day and we didn't really get a chance to go out on a date or something." I mumbled.

"Gwenchanah," she's just looking at our hands while I continue to press hers. "Even real couples don't always go out on dates."

Her words stung me. Even real couples.

That's right. We're not a real couple.

My hands stopped moving. I looked at her and she stared back at me. It's like she's waiting me to say something.

There's nothing I could say, I don't want to overthink it or anything. My chest feels heavy, I'm once again reminded that my borrowed time with her is running out. Soon, I won't be the person she's staring at like this.

But that's a problem for another day. Right now, we're together. I should be contented with what I got. I just have to make it count. I leaned over and gave her a kiss on her forehead.

"Jajalyo, Minguin."

Sarangheyo.

[Mina's POV]

I woke up in the middle of my sleep and saw the back of Chaeyoung's head. In my half dazed state I tried pulling my arm to scratch an itch on my nose, only to realize that I can't.

I lifted my head and saw that my arm is wrapped around Chaeyoung's waist and our fingers are intertwined with each other.

She's sound asleep and—wait, I've been hugging Chaeyoung in my sleep?

I blushed. Ottoke?

Chaeyoung stirred in her sleep. She pulled my arm, making me hug her tighter.

"Minari..." she muttered in her sleep.

"Ne, Chaeyoung-a?" I placed my head on her shoulder.

"Sarangheyo..."

EH?

That startled me. Causing me to pull my arm away.

Did I hear it right?

She grunted and turned. Her eyes still fully closed.

"What did you say?" I might not heard it right. There's no way that's what she said.

She didn't respond.

"Chaeyoung-a?" I whispered, nervously waiting for her response.

"Let's..." opened slowly, "ride that dragon."

I almost cursed under my breath. Jinjja, Chaeyoung-a. Daebak.

She's just dreaming. Arraseo. Get some sleep, Mina.

"Hug me." She muttered.

She's just dreaming. "Unnie, hug me again."

I blushed. I thought you won't be calling me unnie anymore?

"Hug. Jebal. (Please)" She continued muttering. I almost laughed. Kyeopta.

I just realized that Chaeyoung is a bossy baby when she's sleep-talking.

But I decided to oblige and wrapped my arms around her.

"Jajalyo, my precious cub." I whispered as I closed my eyes.

Day 6

[Chaeyoung's POV]

Half awake, I reached my hand out to Mina's side of the bed, but all I'm able to touch is the blanket and mattress underneath.

I opened my eyes. She's not there. It took me a few seconds before I could process it. Didn't I sleep in Mina's bed? Did I sleepwalk back to my own bed?

What time is it? I reached out to my phone that I put at the bed's headboard.

04:15

It's still so early. I made a quick scan of the room. Okay, I'm still in Mina's bed.

But where is she? I rubbed my eyes. Maybe she went to the toilet.

My heavy eyes closed again.

I opened my eyes and checked the bed. Mina still isn't here.

I finally sat up and checked the time again. 04:48

It's been more than 30 minutes. She should be back to bed by now.

I decided to stand up and look for her. I didn't bother to turn on the lights, scared I might wake up the other members. Nayeon and Jihyo can be really scary when their sleep gets interrupted. But not as scary as Jeongyeon unnie.

I slowly opened the door and closed it behind me.

I immediately checked the closest bathroom but it's unlocked and the lights are off. I walked past the hallway and heard a faint noise coming from the living room. Mina's sitting at the couch by herself.

"Minari." I called out to her.

She titled her head and smiled when she saw me. She extended her arm and motioned it. Urging me to sit beside her.

I walked fast and sat right next to her. As soon as I sat down she put down her phone and rested her head over my shoulder.

I patted her head.

"What are you doing here?" I asked her.

"I couldn't sleep." she's playing with the sleeve of my shirt.

"How long have you been awake?" I tried to stifle my yawn but I couldn't.

"About an hour, maybe." she looked at me, "you should go back to bed. I'm sorry, I didn't want to wake you up so I just went here."

"You should've woken me up." I insisted.

"Mianhe." She said softly.

"Gwenchanah. Let's try to sleep?"

"Arraseo. Let's go back to bed." She was about to stand up.

"Or we could just sleep here instead?" I grinned.

She laughed at my odd request.

"We're making a habit of not sleeping in our own beds, aren't we?" she sat back down.

We fixed the pillows in the couch and found our positions.

With my left arm extended, Mina used my shoulder as her pillow. I don't care if my arm gets numb later or if I lose feeling in it completely forever, I won't let her lift her head up even though there's almost a dozen of perfectly good pillows she could use.

"We should stop doing this, though."

My heart sank. "What?"

"Annieyo. Not the whole thing." She immediately clarified. Probably seeing the terror in my face. "Just this part."

I didn't respond.

"I think I'm getting too used to this." she said softly.

Well, that's ... actually my goal. I wanted to tell her.

"Arraseo. I understand." I decided not to push it.