Chp.33| Sleepless

“Step any closer, and I’ll break your jaw, Tae Woo,” Park Jung Sang warned with fury in his eyes.

Tae Woo ignored him and went over to help Hye Min stand properly.

She was lost. You could tell it in her expression. “Who are you people?”

“Let’s get you home,” Tae Woo said, leading her away.

Just seeing them together, I wondered who was more concerned about Hye Min. Was it Tae Woo or Jung Sang?

They weren’t far when he stopped to call over his shoulder. “You can wear it for now. Give it to me later.”

He was speaking of his hoodie. I quickly turned my head away, thinking Jung Sang still hadn’t figured out who I was. I could act aloof and walk away. I could just pretend to be a nobody and I wouldn’t have to deal with any of it. I could just go. But go where?

“You look pathetic,” came the remark from Jung Sang as he began to walk away from me.

Busted. I hurried over to catch up to him. “Listen to me. It isn’t what you think.”

“I don’t care, I’m going home.”

I ran up to block his path. “And what about Hye Min? Did you go there for her?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“Because her parents called to tell me to take her home!” he exploded. "They think it's my fault that she went out drinking, that's why!"

“And you weren’t at least a bit concerned for her?”

He didn’t look at me when he said, “I was too. If I weren’t, I wouldn’t have come.”

I remember the time Jung Sang had told her that he didn’t want anything to do with her. He had lied. I had caught him holding her the other time. This time he went to retrieve her because of what? Loyalty? Pity? He done it because he was her concerned ex-boyfriend. There was a slight pang of jealousy that kept poking at me to the point I had to say something relative. “You still like her. Don’t deny it, Jung Sang.”

He said nothing.

I persisted. “Then it must’ve hurt for you to see her kissing that other guy.”

He clenched his jaw and sidestepped to walk ahead of me. “It did hurt. But it can’t compare to the hurt I felt when I saw you wearing Tae Woo’s sweatshirt.”

My heart dropped, not only for Jung Sang, but because I felt like we were both slipping, and our arugment was going to end up pushing us apart. “I didn’t want to be seen in public with such a face so he took it off for me to wear,” I said, forcing the words out slowly.

“You were with him,” he pointed out.

“I ran into him on the street. We were just talking when he decided to---"

“You don’t have to explain anything. I don’t want to know.”

“But you have to hear me out.”

“I said I don’t want to know.”

“Because it’s not worth knowing, right? If I mean anything to you, you would hear me out. Just earlier you were testing me. I didn’t leave you and now we’re back to where we started. You say you don’t want to know? But I want you to know so I will tell you right here and now that you’ve misunderstood me.”

He gave me a mocking snort. “Funny how you said you wouldn’t go to him and just five minutes ago, you were with him.”

No more tears, Ji Won. You’ve cried enough and now you’re all cried out. “You’re right. It is funny. Is it also funny that I’m here following you now? Do you also find that funny, Jung Sang? Because I am here now…with you.”

He stopped walking and turned around. “I need time.”

“Time for what?”

“I need time alone, or whatever the heck you call it. Just leave me alone.”

“You know what. Fine. Go wherever the hell you want. If you think that I’m the type to run to Tae Woo, I’ll do it just because you see it that way.” I spun around, and started walking away angrily when he called out, “No. You will not!”

“Why the hell not?!” I asked, without looking back to him.

“I don’t want you to!”

It was my turn to play his game. “Give me a good reason and I won’t go.”

“Because I’m your boyfriend!”

“Really? Just a moment ago, you weren’t acting like one.”

I was pretty sure he didn’t like my sarcasm. This time he stalked up to me to block my path. That was all it took. He needed to only block me and it would end our argument. “I am acting like one now and I’m telling you not to go to him,” he said, looking more angry than I was.

“You’re being selfish.”

“No, you are.”

“No, you are.”

“Shut up.”

My shoulders sunk in weariness. I couldn’t continue on arguing with him anymore. Not after all that happened. “I’m tired, Jung Sang. I don't want to argue. Let's just forget what happened and move on.”

He took hold of my hand and dragged me with him. “I’ll take you home.”

“Not home. I can’t go home yet. I got into a fight with my mom. It was over something stupid.” I continued to ramble on. “Soo Jin has the pox so I can’t stay over her house either. I have no money on me. I have nowhere to go. Should I just sleep out on the street?”

“Dummy, you think I would let you sleep on the streets? You're not a homeless person, don't act like one. You still got me. I'll take you to my place.”

“Yes, let’s do that.”


When we started to move again, I held him back. “Wait. I want to say something else first.”

He looked down at me inquiringly. “What?”

“If it means anything to you, I was on my way to your place when I got stopped by Tae Woo. I just want you to know that."

He nodded his head. “I understand. I’m sorry for misunderstanding.” He released my arm and observed me in a studious manner. “Take it off.”

“But---"

“Take it off.”

I removed the hoodie over my head and saw that Jung Sang was taking off his own sweatshirt to hand to me. “I want you to wear mine, not his.”

---

After a quick shower, Jung Sang had lent me his draw strings shorts and a clean white t-shirt to wear. When I walked into his room with a towel around my shoulder, I found him lying on his bed, with one arm rested against his forehead. He wasn't sleeping but he had his eyes shut as if he was in deep thought. It reminded me of the time when Jung Sang was lying in the hospital, sleeping peacefully like an angel.

Sensing that I was staring at him, he opened his eyes and quickly sat up. “You can take the bed. I’ll sleep outside in the living room.”

“But it’s your bed and I’m the guest so---"

“Just don’t drool over my pillow,” he said, moving off the bed.

Truthfully, I didn’t want him to leave yet. “But it looks uncomfortable…”

“I fluffed the pillow and added an extra layer of sheet on the mattress, what more do you want?”

“I…”

He titled his head to the side and smirked. “Don’t tell me you’re trying to ask me to join you?”

“No.”

He looked over his shoulder and said, “We could share. There is enough room for the both of us.”

“I don’t like sharing.” I quickly walked over to grab a pillow to hand it to him. “Take it and get out.”

He only looked at it. “This isn’t your room. You have no say.”

“I’m your guest so the guest should have the bed.”

“You’re my girlfriend, not a guest.”

“I’m still considered your guest.”

He took a challenging step closer. “You’re afraid that I might do something?”

Perhaps it’s the other way around, Jung Sang. “Here, take it.”

He took the pillow but he grabbed my arm along with it, drawing me closer. “A goodnight kiss then.”

“What?”

“You heard me.”

“No.”

“A goodnight kiss or I’ll sleep in here too.”

What kind of threat was that? “Fine,” I agreed, moving in to place a chaste kiss on his cheek. He returned the gesture and leaned in to whisper softly into my ear. “Thank you.”

With those very last words, he was gone.

I didn’t like the empty feeling that I was feeling when he wasn’t around. I guess you could say that every girl feels the same way when her partner leaves her.

I felt giddy when I touched my warm flushed cheeks and buried my face in Jung Sang’s pillow, inhaling in his scent. That was enough to knock me out.

---

It was probably a few hours later when I woke up to the heaviness on my stomach. It felt like a piece of brick. I opened my eyes and adjusted my sight to the darkness that surrounded me. I wasn’t in my room.

Quickly sitting upright in a panic, I looked around the bed to see someone lying next to me.

The person was Jung Sang. I realized that I was suffering from a mild disorientation. I covered my mouth and remembered that I was sleeping in his room and he was supposed to be sleeping outside. More to my discovery, the weight on my stomach was his foot. He had slept upside down.

I shook his leg and pushed at him. “YAH, JUNG SANG WAKE UP!!”

He rubbed at his eyes groggily. “What?”

“You’re on the bed with me!”

He rolled over and mumbled, “And?”

“And you’re supposed to be sleeping outside.”

“I got cold,” he answered.

“You’re sleeping upside down!!”

“I’m not. You are.”

I gazed down at the bed and at myself and then everywhere around me. Jung Sang was right. I was the one sleeping upside down.

I crawled closer to him so that I could push at him some more. “What? Did you move me?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“The last time I saw you, you almost fell off the bed so I moved you back. I don’t know. You probably moved again,” he grumbled, burying his face into the pillow.

“Alright. You can have the blanket. So go back out.”

“No.”

I slapped his back. “Why not?”

“If I don’t stay here, you’ll fall for real this time.”

I was touched by his concern, but to be honest, I really didn't like sharing my bed. “I know you’re trying to protect me but I don’t like sharing my bed.”

“I can see why.”

I placed a hand on my waist, feeling like I had to explain myself. “I’m usually not like this at home.”

“I’m staying,” he said, raising the blanket higher to his chest while shifting around. He fluttered his lids opened to look at me before bursting out laughing. “You look like a freak.”

“Shut up.”

He laughed some more and covered his eyes with the back of his hand. “Stop it.”

“Stop what? You’re the one that’s laughing to yourself.”

“Just don’t look at me. You’re starting to freak me out.”

Really? PingPongBoy was afraid of ghosts? I took it as an advantage to scare him by covering my face with my hair. Tapping on his shoulder, I whispered, “Look at me.”

When he did, he jumped and sat right up. “, Ji Won. I told you not to look at me!”

“You looked at me.”

“That cause you told me to,” he argued.

I laughed, reaching for my pillow to place it next to him and then I settled down beside him. “Wanna hear ghost stories? I know a lot.”

“Shut up and go to sleep. My ears are getting tired from listening to you.”

“How can your ears get tired?”

He turned the other way. “Ji Won, stop being irritating.”

“There once was this girl who was deformed---"

He covered his ears with the pillow. “Shut up!”

I tugged at his arm. “No. Listen to me. It’s good.”

He sat up and got out of the bed, moving towards the door to shut it tighter. Then he went over to his wardrobe closet to shut it close and then he came back to kneel in front of the bed and checked under it before climbing back to settle himself next to me. “If you continue to tell me these stories, I’ll tell you a real scary one.”

I knew he was only trying to get me to stop. “Really? I want to hear.”

It came out more simple than I thought. “My apartment is haunted.”

That caused me to become frigid. “You’re lying, right?”

“No. Why do you think I went to shut my door and checked in the closet and then under my bed? Because there’s a spirit in this place that likes opening doors, hiding in closets and causing a racket under my bed. To tell you the truth, I rarely sleep in here in fear of seeing it. Maybe…” he trailed off, unwilling to finish.

“Maybe what?”

“Maybe the spirit moved you around on the bed.”

I shifted my body closer to him. This time, it was my turn to get scared. “Jung Sang, stop it.”

“What, you’re scared now?”

“Yeah...”

“Go to sleep. Maybe if it sees us sleeping together like this, it’ll leave us alone.”

“I guess,” I said, shutting my eyes tight. “But could I put my arm around you, so that I know you’re here?”

“Sure.”

I placed my arm around him and he placed his arm on my arm. This was comfort to me. It was all I needed. It was perfect.

“Jung Sang?” I asked, gazing up at him in the dark.

He had his eyes shut. “Yes?”

“When you sleep, dream of me.”

“I can’t force myself to dream of you, Ji Won.”

“If you think about that person that much you will dream about them.”

“Okay. But where did you hear this?”

“I read about dreams.” I closed my own eyes and thought about him.

“Ji Won?”

“Yes?”

“If it means anything to you, I dream about you every night.”