"I'm sorry you had to carry him all the way up here, G-Dragon-sshi." Minah apologized to G-Dragon. Taemin had fallen alseep in the car, so he offered to carry him up Minah's small apartment. She felt even worse that it was pouring out, and they didn't have an umbrella. He took of his jacket and it over Taemin so wouldn't get wet, so he got wet instead.

"It's not a problem. He's actually pretty light, plus I didn't want a cute girl like you to have to carry him up a flight of stairs," he smiled at her then casually added,"Haha. You can just call me Jiyong. G-Dragon's just a stage name." 

Minah blushed from his sudden casual behavior. You nodded after awkwardly turning away from his face, but not before letting out a sneeze. Her mom was surprised to see Minah home, along with Taemin on a stranger's back, and not to mention a BOY'S back that is.

"Look at you guys! You're soaking wet!"  she quickly let them in and rushed to get towels. Jiyong followed Minah into her mom's room, and put Taemin down on the futon mattress.

"Look at you two! Dripping wet from head to toe," Minah's mom exclaimed as she handed them their towels. Then she scurried to the kitchen to heat up some leftovers for them to eat and keep warm.

"Mom, since it's the weekend, can I stay over tonight?" Minah personally asked her mom in the kitchen.

"Sure!" she happily answered while lovingly holding onto her shoulders. "I'll make a call to the other house and see if they're ok with it. Why not let your friend stay here for the night too? It's pouring rain out, I don't want him to go home in this weather." she said sympathetically.

"Well, he's not really a friend...." Minah said hesitantly.

"Well whoever carries Taemin home in the rain is more than a friend to me," she said to Minah before telling Jiyong to stay for the night.

"Thank you for asking, but I should get home."

"Nonsense! No mother would want any child of theirs to be out in this type of weather. Look at how heavy the rain is. Call your mom and see what she says." she persuaded him. After getting the Kwons' permission, she asked for Jiyong's  parents' number to call for him.

"That's ok. I'll call them myself." he said standing up. Minah went to go shower and change into some fresh clothes while he made the call. She went into her old room after her mom had finished setting up a place for them to sleep for the night. There she found Jiyong wearing her dad's old clothes, sitting on top of a single mattress futon. She froze when she realized her mom had set up one futon, for two people-two strangers.

"Looks like it's just us." Jiyong said, scratching his head with a light laugh. "Is it a problem?" he asked unsurely.

If her mom wasn't already asleep, it would've been a big problem.

"It's fine. I'll sleep on the couch outside." Minah offered awkwardly before leaving.

"But your mom said the heater broke, and it's best to stay warm together." Jiyong said quickly before she left the room. She stood frozen in front of the door.

...

...

"So you'll sleep on this side of the pillow, and I'll sleep on this side." Minah said after a long time thinking of what should be done instead. She set up a wall of pillows to separate the futon in half before laying down to sleep. She layed close to the edge of her futon, careful as to not penetrate the wall she built to stay away from his side of the bed. She wasn't exactly comfortable with this, but since her bed is at the new place, this extra futon was all that was left. She closed her eyes, and let out a sigh of discomfort before attempting to sleep in peace.

Jiyong had lay beside her, taking a look at her walls filled with posters. Though it was dark, he could barely make out that it was pictures of America. There were smaller pictures taped side-by-side on top of one another of her and her family. Jiyong didn't know what to do in a situation like this. Sure, he's crashed at his friend's house plenty of times before, but he would usually sleep on their couch. Minah was someone he barely met, and not to mention they have to share a bed together. Despite all this, he lay himself as close as he could towards the center of the futon. Even the carpet floor was too cold to even be near. He peeked over to Minah's side. He noticed Minah staying close to the edge, and sometimes inching farther and farther away from the center.

"Aren't you cold over there?" he whispered, scared that she might be already asleep. He didn't get a reply from her, mainly because she was trying to ignore that he was sleeping next to her. She hoped that if she just ignored him, it would make sleeping much easier. She kept thinking to herself to pretend to be sleeping and everything would be ok.

After thinking that Minah had already fallen asleep, Jiyong put his head back down on the pillow. He would occasionally look over to her side to see if she was really sleeping or not. He found himself waking up in the middle of the night because Minah pulled the blanket over to her side without even realizing, which was understandable because she was asleep. Jiyong knew there wasn't enough room for two of them plus a large pillow in between them to sleep warmly and peacefully. Just then, little Taemin came walking in through the door.

"Noona?" he called out with tears welling up in his eyes. Jiyong sat up as he called the boy over to his side. Taemin ran over to hug Jiyong. 

"Something wrong kiddo?" Jiyong asked while comfortingly hugged him back. Taemin shook his  head with his face still buried in Jiyong's chest.

"Is something wrong Taemin?" Minah asked as she slowly sat up. Their talking and Taemin's quiet but still audible sobbing had woken her up. Taemin immediately jumped from Jiyong's arms into Minah's.

"Did you have a bad dream?" she asked him soothingly. Taemin wiped his tears, then nodded his head. He began hiccuping as he tried to tell her that in his dream, she disappeared and never came back. She assured him that would never happen and gave him a little kiss on his forehead.

"Can I sleep here tonight?" he asked with a bit of snot dribbling from his nose.

"of course you can kiddo." Jiyong said as he removed the pillow between him and Minah, while she wiped Taemin's nose. After they tucked him in, in matter of minutes he was asleep.

Taemin laid in between the two, as they exchanged glances at each other. 

"Daddy..." he mumbled in his sleep as he hugged Jiyong. Jiyong looked down at him gave out a small laugh. He found the situation he was in to be quite amusing.

"It's probably because you're wearing my dad's clothes. It still has his scent." she quietly tried to explain Taemin's clinging to him. He responded with a light chuckle.

"Would you like to sleep in my arms too?" Jiyong teased as he opened his arms for her. He wrapped them back around Taemin when he bega to stir and hugged him tighter.

"I'm joking." he laughed when she began to slowly move away.

"Isn't it cold over there? You should come closer. Here." He lifter the covers for her to crawl under. She hesitantly did so, which to he responded, "I don't bite." with a smile. She avoided his gaze andcrawled closer to him.

"Good night." were her last words before going to sleep. Jiyong smiled and did all the same.

(12/26/12)

Merry Christmas! It's a light chapter, but I hope you like it! Have a good new year!