Kyungha realizes that she’s not in her mom’s room when she wakes up. In fact, she was sleeping on her bed. In other circumstances, it would be completely fine, but then she remembered, Sehun was using her room.

She blinks in disorientation when she also realizes that there are two people, and not just Sehun, himself.

Kyungha groans quietly, clutching her bladder. She’d lost at charades and one of the punishments was to drink an entire liter of water. Honestly, the person who came up with that should die. That wasn’t even a punishment, for god’s sakes.

She blindly pats around her to attempt to get up without peeing herself. Her mom is slumped over on her side, snoozing.

If she were awake and not so stupidly tired, she would’ve used her mom’s bathroom. But old habits die hard and she ends up stumbling down the hallway to the guest bathroom she was used to using.

After a satisfying tinkering, she pulls her sleeping shorts up and pads back into her mom’s room.

Maybe she should’ve looked twice because the direction she was going definitely was the opposite of her mom’s bedroom. Strangely, she didn’t think twice about the blue light illuminating near the bed, a signal that there was someone else in the room still awake.

She yawns, eyes blurry. She didn’t have much visibility in the dark, so Kyungha sort of kicked her awareness to the curb.

“Sweetheart? What are you doing—?” The voice gets cut off when she throws herself lazily onto the right side. “Uh, okay.” The voice is a little awkward as the person tries to position himself in a way for her to lay more comfortably.

Kyungha shuts her eyes, mumbling incoherent words. She hears the silvery, melodic tone of laughter from a familiar male above her. “You really shouldn’t be in here. I don’t want you to get in trouble.” His voice grows soft, and she believes that he’s the one caressing the side of her head. “Are you asleep?”

He’s met with silence, so he continues to speak to no one in particular. “I couldn’t sleep—actually, I haven’t been sleeping well in a while. You probably already know this from reading my journal, but the nightmares are still there. Since you’re asleep, I’ll be that crazy guy talking to the girl who’s clearly unconscious.” He chuckles at his own joke. Then, more silence. Then, finally, he begins, "when I was younger, I remember being dragged away from my mom by one of our housekeepers. I was probably three or four, but I can relive the day so vividly.” He laughs to himself, this time more bitterly.

“She had blamed me. My mom, not the housekeeper. When my dad married her, she was a model, a really well-known one, in fact. I did some research in high school and uh—every now and then, I find it hilarious that my old man married such a gorgeous woman way out of his league. Dad said he met her when she came to the emergency room, needing ten stitches from falling off of the catwalk. And you know, everything after that was self-explanatory. They fell in love, blah, blah, blah—” Sehun pauses when Kyungha inches closer to his body heat.

In her delirious state of sleep, she feels him lie down next to her, supporting her head up with one arm underneath, and the other arm going around her. He keeps the comfortable silence as he taps his usual nonrhythmic beat on her skin.

Even in her state, she could faintly guess that he was vulnerable tonight—maybe, he was reminded of his family from seeing hers. Shortly, he continues his story, "Dad got her pregnant and she had to stop modeling for some time. I think that’s when the culmination of hatred and weariness began. For…me. During that time, Dad was working as a resident. And if you know us, residents, we work long hours—often not coming home for anything else but sleep.

My mom must’ve gotten sick of it. I figured that they probably fought all the time during her pregnancy from what my housekeepers have told me.

You would think that after I was born, a baby would’ve calmed her down.” He lets out a stab of harsh laughter. “When I was three, I broke my arm. And the only one who came with me to the emergency room was my dad. Dad, who worked insane hours to support the three of us, took off from work for me. But my mom? No. She was out, drinking and partying. I think she hated being around me. I probably reminded her of her own mistakes. Falling in love with my dad. Having me. Giving up her career.

But now as I got older, I sort of understood her. She was just a woman who wanted her twenties back. I’m not even angry. It’s a reasonable wish.

The day she left after leaving the divorce papers in my dad’s office, I remember asking her why she was leaving me and 'mommy, don’t you love me anymore?', she’d looked me in the eyes and said, ‘no.’ Then she apologized, but at the time, I didn’t understand. How could someone say sorry when they obviously weren’t?

She told me, ‘I didn’t want you, but your dad insisted he would take care of us. I was young and stupid. I had believed him. And that’s where he was wrong. You’re a disaster. Everything about you. You’re my biggest mistake. You remind me of the times that I could’ve been a normal person. You’re nothing but a burden. And frankly, I’ll never love you, and you don’t deserve any love from anyone.

Not after taking my life from me and my future.’

My oldest housekeeper, Nancy—she’d heard everything my mom said to me. She was the one who dragged me away. She endured my kicking and shrieking when I watched the silhouette of my mother leave.’

Sehun grows quiet, pulling Kyungha closer to him as if she was his life source—as if she was the only person who was giving him the strength to exist. Their foreheads touch, and if she were to open her eyes, this was most likely the most intimate he’s ever been with her.

With how close they were, she could feel every creak and rumble of his laughter. A pretty, almost boyish laughter that came from him when he says, “you, sweetheart, are better than any sleeping pill.”

And then Kyungha and Sehun end up falling asleep together, again. But she faintly remembers being shaken awake by someone a few hours later.

“Hmm?” She cracks an eye open to see Jungkook, blinking at the two of them.

He drags his feet on the carpet. “Can I sleep here, noona? Tae and Sol keep kicking me off of the bed.”

Kyungha nods unintelligibly. And that was how Jungkook had ended up curling beside her.

Her thoughts are interrupted when she feels her back being squished against Sehun’s chest. Jungkook was a wild sleeper.

His arms and legs were strewn like spaghetti noodles. On her queen-sized bed, there was barely enough space to contain all three.

It really should’ve been an uncomfortable position, but she felt well-rested. Kyungha begins to get up, gently tugging Sehun’s arm away from her waist. There’s not much resistance as he’s completely knocked out.

The two look like they could use some more sleep, so she decided against waking either of them up.

She struggles to climb off of her bed without stepping on any of them, but in the end, she made it safely with wobbly legs.

Kyungha dusts her hands and leaves the room, shutting the door behind her. When she heads to the kitchen, she sees her mom leaning against the sink, staring out the window with a cup of what smelled like freshly brewed coffee.

waters as she approaches her mom, who acknowledges her with a curious look. She doesn’t say anything as she pours herself a cup. But her mom doesn’t have the decency to bask in the morning light in blissful silence.

“Honey,” her mom prompts, placing her coffee on the counter.

Kyungha grunts, silently preparing herself, “yeah?”

“You were sleeping with me last night, right?”

She stops sipping her coffee and nods quietly, not trusting herself to answer. Her mom tilts her head, blowing out air.

“Of course, it’s possible for you to have gotten up early, but I remember waking up around four this morning and…” Kyungha mildly panics as her mom ponders her thoughts aloud. She’d completely forgot about the consequences.

“I couldn’t sleep, and I didn’t want to wake you, so I stayed out here,” she blurts as inconspicuously as possible.

Her mom frowns. “Is it still bad? Your insomnia?”

Kyungha shakes her head, forcing herself to smile to reassure her mom. “I’m okay. It was probably the whole excitement from the trip that wired my brain.”

When she was younger, she was diagnosed with idiopathic insomnia. In her case, her brain was too overactive, and she couldn’t sleep without the use of pills. As she got older, it got better, but there were times she couldn’t sleep, especially if she was suffering from immense stress or pressure during the day. Nowadays, she could sleep more normally.

But it was strange that she could wake up with a clear head whenever she slept with Sehun. Whenever she had slept alone, Kyungha never woke up without at least half an hour of grogginess. Was it the same for him? Kyungha knows that he had the condition too.

She tries to rack her brain to recall what exactly happened last night. She remembers getting up to go pee, and then somehow, she’d habitually wandered to her room, and then, she was sort of awake when he began to voice his thoughts, but Kyungha couldn’t recall anything with detail. She really only remembered him mentioning his mother, and…was that all?

“You’re all heading to the beach today, right? Her mom questions, interrupting her flow of disorganized thoughts.

Kyungha straightens. “Hm? Yeah, I think so. Kyungsoo really wanted to take Jungkook here.”

Her mom claps with excitement. “He’s an absolute darling. I wish you guys came down here more. I only got to meet my grandson a couple of times.”

She lifts a brow. “So you only care about Jungkook? What about me?”

The older woman laughs, pushing at her arm. “I see you every summer. Your brother just adopted him, okay?”

Kyungha pretends to sulk. “Alright, nice talk. I’m going to head on a run now.”

Her mom notes, “the city just paved another trail a couple of blocks down from here if you want to explore it?”

After Kyungha puts on her proper jogging attire, she fills up one of her mom’s reusable water bottles and heads out the door.

The sun hasn’t fully risen. It looked to be shy of daylight with the remaining hue of purple dotted in the sky.

She spends the next few minutes, observing everything around her. It hasn’t changed much since the last she explored the area.

There are miles of trees stretching along the coastline. She’s enamored by the glittery sea in the distance. The sun had cast a bright ray of light over the water, and each crest of waves had resembled pearls.

When she gets back to her block, she runs right into Sehun who is as energetic as you could expect. “Ooh, be careful there, sweetheart.” He steadies her.

Her eyebrows are knitted as she pegs the question, “what are you doing out here?”

The corner of his eyes crinkle. “What does it look like? Why I’m running, duh.”

She snorts, crossing her arms. “Right, because, all of a sudden, you run.”

Sehun holds out his palms in offense. “Wow, okay. It’s still early. Let’s not get too ahead of ourselves with the passive aggressiveness, okay?”

She glares pointedly at him, and he simply chuckles in response, running a hand through his messy hair.

“Don’t underestimate me, sweetheart. You’re looking at the vice-captain of varsity track and field. In my prime time, I was number one at long distance. You hear that? I was unbeatable and a pretty, hot babe too.”

Her left brow lifts in skepticism. “Do you hear yourself sometimes? You’re so freaking embarrassing that it’s hard for me to take you seriously. Are you also diagnosed with narcissism?”

Sehun winks. “I hear myself all the time, and mind you, I love the way I sound. It’s called self-love. There’s a big difference.”

Kyungha her head in challenge. “Are you aware that overconfidence is also a flaw? Since you used past tense, it means you’re practically a grandpa. Do you have the confidence to keep up with me, or are you speaking out of your ?”

He squints his eyes at her, lips twitching as if he couldn’t decide whether to kick her or be entertained. “If I’m even a step ahead of you, consider yourself a loser.”

“Bet.”

“We should make this more interesting. Perhaps a prize for the winner?”

She rolls her eyes with disdain. “Don’t get ahead of yourself, Oh Sehun.”

“So you’re afraid that I’ll beat you?”

“I never said that.”

“Then what’s the harm, sweetheart?”

She kicks her legs out in resignation. “Fine! What do you want?”

“That is a very good question. What do I want?” He drawls, dragging his eyes over her with a certain irritating vanity.

“Do you want a black eye?”

“Thanks, but no thanks. Then…how about wishes?”

Kyungha considers this. What if he made her do something weird? She had to take some precautions. “On one condition,” she notes.

Sehun begins to stretch. “Shoot.”

“Only one wish, and if it’s too uncomfortable, then neither of us can be forced to do it.”

“That’s two,” he proclaims with a smile that tells her he’s enjoying this a bit too much.

“Deal or no deal?”

Sehun is silent. “Three wishes,” he offers after a long minute.

“One,” she articulates.

“Two.”

“Fine.”

He sticks out an arm, nodding his head in the same direction. “Lead the way, Miss Local.”

Running isn’t pretty. It consists of a lot of wind and hair in one’s mouth. Kyungha has to spit out strands of her hair for the millionth time. She’s ahead of Sehun, but it’s not going so well.

He was obviously being the little /troll he was. It’d looked like he wasn’t even taking their on-the-spot challenge very seriously.

Fine with her. She was going to win those wishes, and she knew what the first one was going to be. Hint. It’s two words. The first word starts with ‘f’ and the last word is ‘off.’

Pretty soon, she feels his footsteps fall too close to comfort behind her.

Kyungha turns her neck to see him waving at her with a cheeky grin. “Are you already tired, little one?” He mocks with the same energy from minutes ago even though they’ve been running for at least twenty minutes.

She glowers. “Mind your own business!”

Sehun hums, “it’s so nice to be with your favorite oppa, isolated in the woods, isn’t it?”

“Ha ha! You’re so funny.”

“Seriously, doesn’t this remind you of Twilight?”

Kyungha immediately groans. “I swear if you start reciting any weird monologues, I’m going to bash your head against one of these trees.”

Sehun chuckles. “I was actually going to tell you to turn around, so you could witness my beauty. I know you want to check me out like Bella did with Edward. Go for it. I won’t judge.”

“Maybe if you were a sparkly vampire, then I’d be more interested, but you’re just an old, uninteresting haggard grandpa.”

“You’re gonna regret saying that to me, sweetheart.” He begins to sprint faster and, in a blink of an eye, he’s right behind her heel.

Kyungha squeaks, a laugh bursting from the seams of her lips. She dodges his grabby hands as he tries to tackle her to the ground. Sehun continues to chase her, but she speeds through the last bit until they exit the forest into a clearing.

It was the end of the trail, so she’d won. Do Kyungha had beat Oh Sehun at something. And it was a damn sweet victory.

Kyungha skids to a stop on a thick patch of grass, and what she didn’t expect was Sehun knocking right into her. “Hey!” She sputters, arms flailing.

She tumbles backward onto the grass, the weight of his body pressing on top of her when they fall together. At first, she wants to shove him off of her and kick him to the ground, but unexpected fits of laughter come tumbling from her.

Kyungha closes her eyes, tears springing out. “You’re such a d-,” she wheezes. Sehun bites back a grin but fails miserably when he bursts out laughing too.

“Unfortunately, that side comes out a lot when I’m with you,” he says as a matter of fact.

“I could’ve died, you know?”

“Hm.”

“From a head injury. Kyungsoo would’ve sued your until you became dirt broke.”

“And then what?”

“And then you’d also die from starvation.”

He chuckles, resting his heavy head against her chest. He was still on top of her and had no decency to get off. Kyungha didn’t find the need to argue with him on this. She’d actually liked his weight.

He feels perfect on her. He’s big and toned and hard in the right places. Just heavy enough for their limbs to meet intimately, but not suffocatingly so.

“You’re such a pessimist. Always talking about death and such.”

Kyungha tilts her head back, watching the tall green trees sway against the breeze. “I’d rather not be an overly energetic ball of sunshine like a certain obnoxious human being, thank you very much.”

Sehun blows a raspberry, deflating against her. He’s currently playing with her zipper. “So, since you won, what do you want from me?”

Kyungha presses her lips together, thinking to herself. Except the thinking didn’t really help because she hadn’t thought that far out yet. So, she feigns, “it’s a secret.”

He lifts his head and the fuzziness of his hair tickles her nose. She tightens her abs, sneezing into his face. He winces, probably grateful that it wasn’t a wet sneeze. “I’m pretty sure you just gave me all of your flora.”

Kyungha winks, and it’s so unlike her that it takes a moment to realize she’s actually being playful around him. “You should thank me then—when you’re the only one who doesn’t get sick during flu season.”

Sehun leans closer, eyeing her with tenderness. “I’ll make sure…to do that,” he murmurs, his lips. Kyungha was sure he didn’t do it on purpose, and it was out of habit. But it was too late.

She stares at him. He stares at her. Her gaze falls to his lips. And suddenly, his lips become captivating. Her eyes are locked on one spot and it’s as if her eyes and the pink pair of lips in front of her were two magnets. “I just thought of my first wish,” she whispers, tilting her head. To get off of me, her brain screams.

He stops leaning in. “What is it?” He asks, distracted as his gaze is unwaveringly focused on . She shivers, feeling his breath fan her face.

“I want—“

But before she can finish her sentence, her ringtone disturbs the quiet serenity of nature. They spring away from each other like they’ve both been scalded. Kyungha stumbles to answer her phone.

“H-hello?” She stammers.

Kyungsoo inquires, “hey, Kyungie. Mom said you were jogging. Are you coming back any time soon? We’re starting breakfast.”

Kyungha answers briskly, “hmm, yeah. I am. It’ll be another few minutes. I have to walk back. Go ahead and eat without me.”

Kyungsoo hums pleasantly, “alright—ah—Sehun said he was going on a run too. If you see him, can you let him know as well?”

At the mention of his name, her eyes flit to Sehun, who is fidgeting with the blades of grass underneath his fingertips.

“Will do,” she replies breathily. Then, her gaze drops to the floor. Kyungsoo hangs up, but she remains frozen when she becomes reminded of her wish. Worst yet, the words were still right on the surface of her tongue, waiting to be let out.

I want you to kiss me.

She lied. She didn’t want him to get off of her.