Three - When he feels sleepy

“Rise and shine!” I coo as I draw the curtains in Jongin's room.

Even with all the sunlight shining through the window of his room, Jongin still does not seem to be affected by it. The thing about Jongin is that he is a heavy sleeper. It takes effort to wake him up. Once he does wake up though, he will constantly have a sleepy face on.

I walk carelessly towards his bed and plop myself down beside him. It was not like he would wake up due to my actions. I stare at his sleeping face and an involuntary smile crawl up my face. He looks so peaceful and innocent. I comb my fingers through his hair, loving how soft the feel of his hair is against my skin. I absolutely envy him because no amount of hair conditioner will make my hair as soft as his. 

From his hair, I trace the contours of his face with my index finger, gently, admiring his facial features. I then lay down beside him and wrap my arms and legs around his body, as though he was a bolster. Moving my lips closer to his ear, I say, "Sleepyhead, it's time to wake up."

Of course, that did not work. I blow hot air against his ear and that somehow brings a reaction from him. He stirs a little but still does not wake up. I look at the clock on his bedroom wall - 12:00 noon. I sigh in frustration when I realise that he is going to be late for his afternoon class, which starts at two in the afternoon. I decide to sing out loud, knowing that I sing horribly and Jongin could not stand it even though he always states that I have a beautiful singing voice. Sure, beautiful singing voice indeed. Let us see about that.

I start singing at the top of my lungs, "Careless, careless! Shoot anonymous-", and immediately stop when a pillow lands on my face.

Groaning loudly, he says, "What the hell is that? Make it stop!" His voice sounds slightly muffled as he has another pillow covering his face.

I scowl at him and take the pillow that had landed on my face, before throwing back at him. "Yah! That horrible noise was your girlfriend's, and I quote from you, beautiful singing voice!"

He makes incoherent noises in response and I continue, "Why are you still asleep anyway? You do know that you have a class soon right? Wake up already, Sleepyhead!"

Jongin takes off the pillow that is covering his face and opens his eyes midway. He frowns a little when he sees the time on the clock. With an annoyed 'tsk' sound, he mumbles in his groggy voice, "It's still early." He then covers his face again with the pillow and without having to guess, I know that he has gone back to sleep.

I stomp towards him and pull the pillow off his face. He protests but I ignore him. I climb over his body and straddle him. Leaning forward, I pinch his cheeks, hard.

"Ow!" Jongin immediately shouts and his eyes went wide open, like saucers.

I glare at him and say through gritted teeth, "Wake up right now, or I'll bring out your worst nightmare - Mr. Water."

"Damn, you didn't have to pinch my cheeks so hard. You're mean. And I wonder why I love you," he mumbles under his breath.

I pinch his cheeks harder, before getting off him. However, Jongin's hands stay on my thigh, preventing me from moving. I look down at him and raise a brow. In return, he gives me a cheeky smile and leans his head towards me. As he gets nearer to me, I push his forehead away gently with my index and middle finger while saying, "Not going to happen."

He lays back down on his bed and mutters, "Whatever, I don't need your kiss."

I roll my eyes at his childishness and get off him. I then say to him, sternly, "I'm going to make breakfast for you and I expect you to be ready by the time I'm done with breakfast."

Jongin gives me an innocent smile and says, "Yes, Mother."

***

Jongin drops his utensils on his plate and let out a yawn. That would have probably been the 7th time he has yawned. With his eyes half open, he continues munching on his food. I stare at him and can only shake my head at him. Even though I made him his favourite breakfast, hot pancakes with butter and maple syrup, it still does not seem to be able to wake him up, fully.

"Jongin-ssi," I say softly, "Are you enjoying your breakfast?"

"Mm, yummy," he replies in the least enthusiastic way.

I throw a crumpled tissue paper at him and it made Jongin jerk up from his seat. When he realises that I had thrown a tissue paper at him, he narrows his eyes at me.

"Would you wake up already?" I say exasperatedly.

"I am awake," he mumbles while staring at me.

"Well, then what's 1 x 1?" I ask, raising a brow.

"Two," he answers nonchalantly.

"Yeah, sure. And then 1 x 2 is 3, right?" Without waiting for his reply, I roll my eyes at him and continue asking him. "7 x 8?" 

"Fifty-four," he answers proudly.

"Jongin-ssi, I don't understand how you're the top scorer for Mathematics in school," I say with mock disappointment.

He scowls at me and says, "Hey, don't insult the smarts. Who does Mathematics early in the morning, anyway."

"Yes, who does Mathematics early in the morning. But the thing is, it's not morning anymore. It's already afternoon!" 

"Jihyun-ssi, you're being a little loud right now. So, tone it down, would you?" Jongin says annoyed.

I groan in frustration and glare at him. I have had enough of Jongin being all sleepy. An idea comes to mind suddenly and I had to suppress the sly grin that was making its way on my face. I say in my most annoyed and angry tone, “Fine, be that way. I don’t care.”

Just like that, I grab my bag and leave a surprised Jongin in his house.

***

“Jihyun, baby, are you ready?” Jongin calls out to me from the living room of my house.

The whole day in school, I avoided Jongin. Even if we did talk, I would cut him off or reply him with short answers. I was not really angry with him nor was I annoyed at him. I just wanted to give him a little taste of his own medicine.

I hear the sound of footsteps approaching my room and I immediately scurry to my bed. I lay myself down on it and close my eyes, pretending to be asleep. I hear the sound of the door opening and I open an eye, using my bolster as a shield. I see Jongin enter my room and close the door of my bedroom behind him.

“She’s sleeping? How can she be asleep now?” he says to himself in a hush tone.

I can feel my heart beating fast as he walks towards my bed and sits beside me. I try to breathe steadily to make it seem more natural that I am sleeping. One of his hands caress my cheeks and I try hard not to lean against it. The bed moves a little and I can tell that Jongin is now lying down beside me as he wraps an arm around my waist. I can feel his breath against my cheeks.

“Jihyun, wake up,” he whispers.

I ignore him, continuing to ‘sleep’ with my eyes close. When I do not give him a respond, he starts to shake my body a little. I try hard not to break into a grin. I found it amusing, seeing Jongin trying to wake me up when usually, it is me who is constantly trying to wake him up. Yet again, I ignore him. He starts to mutter incoherent words under his breath. I know for sure that he is starting to become frustrated.

“Yah, Jihyun! Wake up!” Jongin says, suddenly, in a loud voice.

I decide that it is my cue to start responding. I move my hands a little, acting as though I just woke up, and stretch my arms. I open my eyes halfway and mutter a ‘mmm’. With my eyes half open, I can see Jongin standing at the end of my bed with his arms cross. I pretend to look at the clock on my bedroom wall to see what time it was – 8:00pm. Bingo.

Every Friday night, it has always been a routine thing for the both of us to have a movie session at the nearest cinema near our neighbourhood. We will choose one movie out of the many latest movies for the week and watch it. After that, each of us will give our review on it. It was Jongin’s idea because Jongin is a big fan of movies. Ever since he brought up the idea, we have been doing so every week, and so far, we have not missed one week.

“Why are you waking me up? I’m tired,” I mumble groggily.

“Tired?” he asks, confused. “What do you mean by tired? You’re never tired. It’s only eight. And you know that today’s Friday.”

“Friday?” This time, I pretend to be confused. “It doesn’t matter. I’m tired, so I’m going back to sleep. Goodnight.” I see how his eyes widen a little and at the same time, I let out a small fake yawn. As I was about to lay down, Jongin grabs my hand, stopping me midway. I scowl at him and sat up straight.

“Is this a joke?” Jongin asks, raising a brow.

“You ask too many questions,” I whine. “I want to sleep.”

I got my hand out of his hold and quickly lay back down on my bed. Jongin let out a scoff and mutters, “You have got to be kidding me.”

When I hear him say that, I shot up from my bed and look at him straight in the eye. “You shouldn’t talk so much. I mean, you love sleep so much, right? So, why don’t you sleep too? You would like that, wouldn’t you?” I end of the sentence with a sarcastic smile.

Catching on what I was trying to do, Jongin’s eyes widen momentarily and then he sighs. He went back to lie beside me, on my bed, and holds my hand. “You’re angry about this morning?”

“Angry? Why would I be angry?” I ask him back, giving him a coy smile.

He lets out another sigh and says, “Look, I’m sorry okay. I was-“

“No, don’t apologise,” I say, shaking my head. “I wasn’t angry or annoyed. I was just playing with you.”

Jongin raises his brows and squeezes my hand. “Are you sure?”

“Yeah, sure, why not,” I say, shrugging.

“So, everything’s okay now?” he asks warily.

“Yes, only if you let me decide what movie to watch this week,” I reply him, putting on a cheeky smile on my face.

“But it was supposed to be my turn, this week,” Jongin protests.

“Fine, have fun going to the cinema alone,” I say with a small shrug.

“Wait! You get to choose,” he mumbles.

I let out a giggle and peck his cheeks before going to the bathroom to change. “Love you!”

“Love you, too,” Jongin grumbles a reply.