She tilted her head a bit – her eyes still half closed. She had been hearing a muffled conversation for the last half hour now and it was starting to bug her out. She heard muffled laughter too – and she highly doubted it was all a dream. She wasn’t delusional.

‘Ssh, be quiet, she’s sleeping,’ Jongdae whispered, and it made Katherine’s ears perk up. Now she was fully awake. She didn’t move though, she didn’t want to make Jongdae stop talking to whoever was on the other line of the call.

‘Yes, I know, right?’

Why was Jongdae’s voice extra soft today?

She tried to position herself a bit better so that she could hear him and at the same time, see him.

‘Ssh, wait, wait,’ Jongdae whispered as she turned her body towards him – with eyes still closed, of course.

‘We almost woke her up, be quiet!’ he half hissed with a whisper. But is just sounded so lovingly to indicate that he was pissed off.

‘Yeah, I know. I want to see it soon, too,’ he said as he whispered. Now that was when her heart started to thump. She wanted badly to roll her eyes at him but she knew she should listen first. She should give him the benefit of the doubt, right?

‘I’ll call you again, okay?,’ he whispered. She gulped. He was the one who called.

‘Something wrong? You look tired,’ Suho said as he got a glass of water from the fridge. She thought twice. She wanted to ask Suho but she was too shy to. She wasn’t close to him after all. As if reading her mind, he said, ‘you can talk to me, Kat. I can be your friend too, you know.’ He smiled at her and she couldn’t help but blush. Suho was a good-looking man, no doubt about that.

‘Uh, have you- uh, nothing,’ she said as she bowed down at her failed attempt. She started to poke the food in hopes that it would redirect her attention to it instead. Suho chuckled, ‘hm?’ When she just couldn’t hide her peace anymore, she started to talk.

‘Have you seen Jongdae, Suho?’ she asked. When Jongdae left the bed, she got too tired of trying to calm her heart beat down that she drifted off to sleep again. When she woke up again, it was just seven in the morning. He must’ve been talking to that person earlier.

‘Not that I remember,’ Suho said as he thought. When he did remember something he added, ‘but he did tell me last night that he’d be going out today. I just didn’t know that he’ll leave that early.’ She raised a brow unconsciously. Why would he leave without her?

‘Did he tell you where he was going?’ she tried not to sound irritated, but it came out that way anyway.

‘Hm, no. He just told me he was going to meet up with someone. He didn’t even tell me who. If it were one of our friends, I should’ve tagged along,’ Suho joked. But almost too quickly, his smile faded as he saw her frowning at the food. Uh-oh.

‘But I guess he’s just meeting up with his family-‘ he wanted to face palm himself. Seriously, Suho? Family? They’re in Korea, idiot.

‘And then I was like, ‘no you didn’t, Suho,’ and he was like, ‘yes I did,’ and then-‘ Xiumin nudged at Chanyeol to stop talking. Both of them looked at Katherine at the same time. She was staring at her phone, hoping that the other line would pick up. But to her dismay, it didn’t.

‘Kat? Are you okay?’ Xiumin asked as he sat beside her. Suho had told them to keep her company and to try to get her mind off Jongdae’s absence but Xiumin knew, by the looks of Katherine at present, that they failed – even before they started.

She snapped out of her daze, ‘huh? Yeah, I’m fine. Sorry. Where were you again, Channie?’ she smiled at the both of them, but it didn’t reach her eyes. Chanyeol smiled weakly at her in respond.

‘I’m sorry, guys. It’s just that Jongdae’s not picking up his phone and I’m kind of worried,’ she admitted as she buried her face in her palms. Fine, she was hell worried.

‘If I were you, I’d doubt if he’d pick up, too,’ Chanyeol said. She looked at him, ‘really? Why?’ Xiumin threw warning gazes at Chanyeol but the lad didn’t seem to see it.

‘He said he’s meeting up with Andi,’ Chanyeol said and added, ‘if I were with Andrea I think I’d lose track of time too.’ He chuckled at his own joke while Xiumin couldn’t help but bow his head down. Chanyeol, you idiot!

She thought she heard wrong when she heard Chanyeol say a girl’s name. ‘Excuse me, come again?’ Katherine asked as she wanted to just at least clarify. Xiumin, upon realizing that she didn’t hear right, immediately sent Chanyeol the killing gazes again. But being the derp that he was, Chanyeol didn’t seem to be affected and repeated, ‘oh, he hasn’t told you about Andrea? She was our college friend back then. Last time I remember, she had a thing for Jongdae, if you know what I mean.’ Chanyeol winked at Katherine.

Her eyes widened – partly because of the information and partly because she hadn’t met someone as blunt as Chanyeol who spills secrets of his friends to their girlfriends. But even so, she was thankful that Chanyeol told the truth. No one would anyway.

‘Thanks, Channie,’ her voice cracked as she stood up and ran for the stairs. ‘G-good night!’ she managed to croak as she tried her best not sound like she was about to cry. She ran upstairs and moments later, the two guys heard a door close quite harshly. Xiumin then faced Chanyeol who seemed startled by her actions, ‘What the hell were you thinking, Park Chanyeol?!’ The latter faced him, ‘what was that?’ Xiumin face-palmed himself and stood up.

When she almost drifted off to dreamland, that’s when she heard the door creak open. Followed by the soft steps of someone towards the bed. Followed by the clicking of the lamp switch. Jongdae. But she was too tired to open her eyes. It wasn’t like she wanted to see him anyway.

Jongdae stooped down and snuggled his nose in her hair. She could feel him inhaling her scent but she dared not to move. She was tired. Tired of crying and tired of worrying. Given the fact that millions of thoughts kept running in her mind the whole day, she deemed herself that she was worthy of peace. Even just now. She didn’t want to face the drama of confronting Jongdae and asking him where he’s been all day. She just wasn’t up for that .

He kissed her head and whispered, ‘I love you, baby.’

And then she lost it. A tear escaped from her eye as she felt his figure snuggling towards her body. She felt his arm encircling her waist from behind. She wanted to hit him. Moreover, she wanted to ask him.

Why the hell does his breath smell like wine?

Chapter twenty-two, done :)

Sorry for not updating yesterday. My mom asked for a family day and I couldn't say no :(

Thoughts and comments are welcomed! ^^

Will update soon again. So please..

Stay tuned, yes? ♥