Chapter 10:

There was one time, a single moment in the night in which Jongin had convinced me that he really did possess a form of sleeping complications.

It was about one in the morning when I woke to the rustling of sheets against clammy skin and moans that were expressed in short periods of breaths that huskily exhaled, creating dramatic pauses in between.

“Jongin,” I drowsily breathed, rolling upwards and taking a glimpse through the dark at his twitching and uncomfortable body.

I repeated his names a few times and realized that no amount of calling him was going to break his nightmare and release him back to reality.

“Hey,” I finally whispered, close to his ear, which was affected by his convulsing figure. “You know…you’re okay.”

It was the instant I said “okay” when his whole body jolted forward and his eyes snapped open. Jongin’s arms instinctively shot to his stomach, wrapping it protectively and panting so heavily that his form racked with the breaths.

I found myself removing his hands from his stomach with mine and pushing him back to the pillow.

“See? You’re alive,” I informed him quietly, as if to reassure him.

Jongin took a glance at me and started to register his surroundings, shaking his head numerous times before retracting backwards, becoming conscious of the fact that I was holding him.

 I was expecting him to sulkily retreat into the covers without any recognition but there was a nod that briefly embraced his head into motion, causing my heart to flutter for the smallest of moments.

It took willpower to keep myself from smiling.

Sunlight drifted into the room, illuminating the walls, my face and an assortment of things that I took no notice of. It surely woke me, allowing me to turn off my alarm ahead of time before it even went off, not wanting to disturb Jongin’s sleep.

I twisted my body so I could see if he was still in dream world when I was met with his nose touching mine the moment I turned, brushing together lightly.

I’d hardly noticed how close we were until now but Jongin’s larger and muscular body was practically hovering over mine, radiating heat that danced off of my skin.

Then I realized he was asleep. Truly asleep. His expression was more peaceful than I’d ever seen it, his features fully relaxed in a position that they normally never retained.

While the male slept, I slipped into my bathroom, careful not to disturb the sheets of the bed so he remained serene.

Warm water welcomed my face, soothing my skin in ways that’d I’d always appreciate. I lathered soap into my arms, massaged my scalp with shampoo and finally rinsed, almost with regret, and climbed out of the shower.

Once I was dry, in a matter of about a minute of rushing the towel over my body, I quickly did a comb through of my short hair and adjusted my clothes, before exiting.

When I returned, Jongin was not lying in bed.  It was already made and for a fleeting moment, I thought he’d abandoned me, and then mentally slapped myself for thinking in such a way.

He resided in my kitchen, sitting at my tiny table and looking up at me with tired (but not as tired) eyes. They almost looked pleading and I sort of took it as his way of trying to use aegyo on me.

“You want something?” I mused, padding into the kitchen pulling out a pot and turning on the burner.

“I want to eat.”

I burst into a fit of laughter.

“What am I? Your wife?” It was supposed to be funny but Jongin seemed to take it seriously.

There was a comical transformation in his expression as if he was visualizing a compromising scene in his head. He shivered a few times and I couldn’t tell if it was through delight or disgust. Then he shook his head, refusing to meet my gaze until a few seconds later.

“D-Don’t be ridiculous,” he grumbled. “You’re ing stupid.”

“Okay,” I answered, a smile clearly visible on my face. “I guess stupid people don’t know how to cook. Looks like you’re not getting any food.”

Jongin shot me a glare, which I easily returned. However, it was much harder for me to keep a straight face and I finally gave up and turned around, preparing to cook some eggs.

“And where’s my thanks?” I wondered, setting some plates on the table and allowing my eyes to drift to his.

“I…I slept,” Jongin simply stated.

“Yeah, I know,” I remarked, cracking a few eggs.

“Well, it was…” Jongin trailed off and I felt his eyes on my back. “Thanks.”

It came out as a faint mumble but still brought a smile to my lips. I was thankful that I was turned away from him so he didn’t see. So I calmly responded.

“It’s nothing. Guess I just have that …effect on people.”

We were mostly silent while I prepared the breakfast. Finally, I sat down with the rest of the food and watching as Jongin devoured it shamelessly.

“I’ve got to start to head out for school in twenty minutes,” I informed Jongin through a mouthful of food.

“I’ll walk you,” was his immediate response. “I mean, I’m going to school anyway. So don’t, you know, get the wrong idea.”

“Oh come, Jongin?” I teased. “I thought we were friends now. Because I’m sure non-friends don’t sleep in the same bed, do they?”

A wave of tremors hit his body and his mouth that was stuffed with eggs deflated as he swallowed them all.

“Yah, you wanna die, Kyungsoo?” He mumbled through more bites.

“Who are you yah-ing?” I insulted. “I’m your hyung!”

“I don’t use honorifics.”

“Maybe you should.”

“Or how about, not?”

“Disrespectful.”

“Nerdy.”

“Ungrateful.”

“Dense.”

“Who are you calling dense?!” I demanded, standing up and crossing my arms.

“Only the densest ing person in the universe,” Jongin uttered under his breath and I definitely caught it.

“Wh-what?” I asked, getting confused at his statement.

Why would he say that? How was I dense? Was I missing something?

“Just…come on hyung,” Jongin said, grabbing my arms and carelessly dropping our dishes in the sink. “You wouldn’t want to be late and ruin your perfect reputation, would you?”

“It was ruined the moment I met you,” I countered, an eyebrow raised as I picked up my bag while we strolled out the door of my apartment.

The effect of one person can be truly amazing. In more detail, the effects of having Kim Jongin as a…friend. Word didn’t need to travel fast. People didn’t take out their mobile phones and take pictures of us walking together or talking throughout the week.

The witnessed it.

And so did Chanyeol and Baekhyun.

Odd relationships between people were sprouting everywhere. The first peculiar association was Tao and Kris. They were both, very obviously, infatuated even though they had interesting ways of showing it. Because of this odd, new friendship, Kris had abandoned Jongin for Tao at lunch. Which leads to odd relationship number two.

To compensate, I went to get sit with Mr. Forever Alone Jongin. At first, he heatedly rejected my offer to sit by him. And then I pulled out my highly nutritious yet amazingly delicious lunch and Jongin just happened to lack a proper meal.

This left Chanyeol and Baekhyun alone, which I at first thought that they’d enjoy it but it seemed that the two were in some sort of an unresolved, underground fight that had only surfaced a few times and neither of them wished to bring it back, leaving it unsettled.

The two boys hardly talked. They weren’t acting lovey-dovey. And they weren’t hopelessly attached to one another in their own world. This was a problem.

Now, to add to the effects of this, I was heavily avoided. It wasn’t in those shunning ways where people refused to talk to me because they hated me.

No.

They were afraid of me.

I was now friend’s with Kai who could, at any moment, unleash the beast. And I was utterly protected by an invisible shield called ‘his presence’. People were so frightened of offending me, which would mean offending Kai, so they didn’t bother to even joke around with me.

 Jongin didn’t seem to notice but he definitely knew. He was one hundred percent aware of the effect that he had on people.

“What’s up with you and Baekhyun?”

Chanyeol and I were sitting in a bored manner at the coffee shop, waiting for a stream of customers to drop by at any time, but so far service was dead.

“What do you mean?” Chanyeol asked, getting defensive. “How about you and Jongin?”

His frizzy hair was extra tangled today and his eyes looked sadder, or just lacked sleep. He even wore his apron slightly lopsided as if he didn’t have the strength to put it on properly.

“Wh-What about us?” I responded. “It doesn’t matter; I asked you first!”

Chanyeol crossed his arms, almost out of impatience.

“It’s nothing,” he immaturely responded, refusing to create eye contact.

“Really?” I skeptically wondered. “Really?”

“Really!” Chanyeol nearly shouted it then retreated backwards in instant shame, lowering his voice. “I-I thought it was nothing.”

“Thought what?” I wondered.

Chanyeol drew a shaky breath and my suspicions were confirmed. Something definitely was up between the two.

“Well, Baekhyun was at my house like he normally is, right?” Chanyeol started, as if it was the most standard thing in the world and there was no reason why Baekhyun wouldn’t be at his house. “A-And we were just normally chatting on the couch when my dad came in and he saw us close together. He made a comment about us being gay, more like a joke. And then, I didn’t know what to say, so I just a-a-assured him that I wasn’t and-“ Chanyeol shortly stopped to take a breath.

“And Baekhyun’s mad about it,” I concluded. “So what? Just apologize.”

“I-I know, but Kyungsoo the problem is-“

“You like him,” I cut off the frizzy haired guy. “I know.”

Chanyeol blinked, his face went pale and then really red and took around ten seconds to return to normal color before he shouted at me.

“How did you know?!”

I restrained myself from slamming my head into the coffee grinder.

“Chanyeol,” I informed him. “I hate to be the one to say this but everyone knows. And I’ve known forever.”

Chanyeol let out a small oh.

“How-“

“It really doesn’t matter how,” I answered, though it was blatantly obvious. “But he unquestioningly loves you back so it shouldn’t matter.”

“Annyeong!” The familiar accent of Maggie Ann greeted my ears and the two of us awkwardly turned to welcome her.

I proceeded to make her usual coffee, while still discussing matters with Chanyeol, convinced that she probably wasn’t going to be able to pick up the conversation. Not like it would matter anyway though.

“Okay, this is to the point where you would die for Baekhyun,” I said. “This is where you need to make him you boyfriend.”

“But how?” Chanyeol tossed me a lid, giving me a questioningly glance.

I rolled my eyes.

“Ask. Him. Out.”

“But that’d be openly saying we’re gay. And we’re in Korea. That’s not exactly the most accepted thing and-“

“Does it matter?” I broke in. “If you love him it shouldn’t.”

I said this while meeting Maggie Ann’s eyes, but speaking to Chanyeol.

When she thanked me and continued to sit in her usual corned I felt Chanyeol take me by the shoulders from behind and shake me.

“Kyungsoo! Oh my gosh! You’re a genius!” Chanyeol gawked, hyperactively jumping around.

“Right thanks,” I mumbled, shimmying out of his grip.

“So,” he said once I returned to my normal state. “You and Kai?”

“Oh please,” I mumbled. “That selfish, immature little-“

I stopped and squinted into the distance and on cue, Jongin swung open the glass doors as if he was ing god in y human form. More like physical state of Satan from my point of view.

“Well look who it is,” I said. “You want your v- wait! Can’t say the name!” I dramatically flung my hands up, ignoring Chanyeol’s walrus laugh in the background.

Maggie Ann suddenly appeared next to Jongin as I prepared his drink, making me painfully aware of both their presences and the fact the he was totally ignoring her like the he was.

When I turned towards them, I suddenly felt the heavy weight that I was attracted to the guy and not the girl. I don’t think that was supposed happen.

Before I could say anything more though, a sweaty, breathless Baekhyun burst through the door, panting with grimy streaks across his face and arms.

This couldn’t get any more awkward.

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A/N: Kay, so this is short. SORRY T_T Fricken school is the worse alive. Anyway, things…heating up…more…and …asdfghjk,lkujyrhtegrsf. Kaisoo photos recently. The sina interview. I’m dead. So many Kaisoo moments…and Baekyeol…and Hunhan even though Luhan wasn’t there. I’m like, dying. Kay so anyway, comment because I love comments and they keep me going. Thanks for subscribing…and yeah. See you next time I update ;)