1.4.3

They finally reached Mokpo and safely arrived at Donghae’s house. Surprised as she is, Hae’s mother welcomed them with open arms. It has been quite a while since she received any visitors. Arriving exactly when the sun was about to set, they had dinner at the house and some decided to hit the sack early since they were tired.

“Oh. . Ohohoht!” murmured Mi Ra quietly.

“Yah. Can you lay off the profanity?” hissed a semi-asleep Sora. They shared a room together in the house since they were the only females.

“Sorry..” she turned around to look at Sora who had already snuggled comfortably in the duvet. Mi Ra turned to look back into her bag. She dug into it clumsily that the folded clothes inside of it are all scattered now.

I’m dead.

She ped all the pockets and finally decided, yup, I’m going to die.. of embarrassment!

She just discovered that it was that time of the month and, conveniently, she had forgotten to bring along the necessities needed. She sat there on the floor with an almost panic look on her face. Uurgh..Why am I so stupid..

The only thing she could think of now was that she needed to go to the stores to get some pads.

But how?? I’m in Mokpo now.. and they’re all asleep.. she thought, peering through the door to see the guys sleeping in a well-arranged formation.

One..two..three..four..five..six?? Let me see.. Leeteuk sunbaenim..Sungmin sunbaenim.. who’s that? She squinted her eyes. Ah..Eunhyuk sunbaenim..Emm..Changmin ssi..Ryeowook ssi..Donghae sunbaenim.. great..

Kyuhyun wasn’t there sleeping with the rest. He must be up somewhere around the house. Thinking that beggars can’t be choosers, she decided to just ask Kyuhyun the way to the nearest store. He probably would know, maybe..

She slipped into a woollen sweater over her shirt and the pullover she wore from the morning and put on her beanie since it was almost freezing outside. Plus, Donghae’s house was near the harbour, which means the sea breeze will be bringing in extra cold air.

She tiptoed her way across the living room in an attempt to find Kyuhyun. Nope. He wasn’t there. She tried the kitchen, where there was dim light. Nope. Not there too.

He couldn’t possibly be outside at this hour, she thought but nonetheless tried her luck. She opened the main door slowly and quickly shut it close quietly so that the cold breeze didn’t have a chance to seep into the house.

As soon as she turned around from the door to face the open porch, she saw a figure sitting with the back facing her and light coming from in front of it. Kyuhyun? She thought.

Slowly making her way near him, she peered behind him and saw that he was actually holding his phone and was happily browsing through some photos. Once in a while, he would poke the screen in amusement.

Who’s that? Sora? She peered a little bit more to see Kyuhyun swiping through photos of a female with shoulder length hair, slightly crouching near an aquarium.

m—me? Is that me at the pet store?

The sudden gust of wind made Mi Ra’s hair brush the ears and cheek of Kyuhyun.

“HO YOU SCARED M-mm---mmm!!”

Mi Ra shut his mouth with her small hands. “Sshhhh!” she shushed him. “You’re too loud!”

He grabbed her hands and shoved them off. “What are you doing?!” he looked up to her and hissed, surprised by her sudden appearance, yet, secretly happy that it was her, and not some weird creature, like, Sadako or something.

She swallowed hard. Talking to Kyuhyun had become awkward again. She realized that she was standing too close to him, too close that her knees were pinned against his arms. So she took a step back, whilst Kyuhyun got up and stood in front of her with a frown on his face. Mi Ra had grown accustomed to seeing him with a frown, that if it wasn’t there, she would think that it would be weird.

“I need—“ she felt nervous talking to him. “I need to go to the store—to—err.. get something..” she said with her hands pointing to everywhere as she talked, sending the international body language message that she was ultimately nervous.

“So?” Kyuhyun shrugged with a smirk across his face which made Mi Ra just want to slap that face until his nose falls off. “What- You want me to drive you there?” he asked and was all set to go get the car keys, but that tone of his voice and that smirk gave Mi Ra the wrong impression.

She looked at him disgustingly, “No,” she said making Kyuhyun stop in his step.

“No?”

“No,” she too was wearing a frown on her face by now. “I just need to know where the store is. You don’t have to drive me. I can go there by myself,” she hated the idea that Kyuhyun thought her as a meek little soul who couldn’t survive by herself, which wasn’t even the case here because Kyuhyun just wanted to take her there and didn’t think of her as such. Miscommunication?

He looked at her in disbelief, trying to figure why was it, at this hour, with such weather, would she refuse him sending her and would rather walk there by herself? You wanna walk five miles by yourself? Fine!

“Ohh? Okay. Just walk ahead from here, for five miles, and you’ll get to the nearest shop,” he scoffed.

What?! Five miles? How-  She finally remembered that Donghae’s house is quite far from the nearest town and to find a 24/7 shop would probably mean she had to go to the town.

“Thanks..” she mumbled as she turned away from him and started her five mile journey in the dark. A million things were on her mind at that moment, and one of it was how the crap was she going to walk for five freaking miles in her condition? By the time she reached the store, there would probably be blood trickling down her thighs.

It wasn’t funny anymore for Kyuhyun. He was angered by how Mi Ra would rather walk than ask him for a ride. Most girls would.

I know you hate me too much to ask me to send you there, but don’t you know that I care? I care about you, so much! I care, Mi Ra! I care, baby.. I do..

He went back into the house and quietly searched for Donghae’s car keys.

***

Every step she took was getting slower and heavier, making her wonder if she would make it to the store or not. She shoved her hands into the pockets of her pullover only to feel Kyuhyun’s gloves in there.

Tch.. she smirked to herself remembering how he slipped the gloves onto her hands. Even now, she felt her cheeks blush. A smile appeared on her lips and she just sheepishly smiled as she shook her head.

“Get in,” Kyuhyun yelled from the inside of the SUV as he drove by her slowly.

Mi Ra was shocked. Just a second ago she was happily revisiting cute moments between them, and now, here he is..

“It’s okay, I can walk..!,” she yelled back, stubbornly.

He immediately stepped on the brakes and got down from the car. She was just standing there with her eyes widen so much, you’d probably think she was related to Do Kyungsoo.

Kyuhyun didn’t tug on her hand as he had done countless times before this. Instead, he held onto her wrist, gently, making Mi Ra flinch a little at the coldness of his hands, and pulled her slowly towards the co-driver’s door and opened it as he said, “get on juseyo, I’ll drive you there.”

He was so gentle, she just had to follow. She sat herself on the seat as Kyuhyun closed her door and got himself into the car as well.

For the first two minutes, there was absolute silence between them. Mi Ra kept on gazing at Kyuhyun, making him feel uneasy. “What?” he asked, nodding his head a little, keeping his eyes on the road.

“Your hands are freezing,” she slowly said.

“No.. They’re fine..” he replied in such a calm tone, Mi Ra felt his voice sounded like a lullaby.

Thank you, Kyuhyun.. and she spontaneously reached for his right hands, which were on the wheel. Surprisingly, he didn’t resist.

She took his gloves from her pockets and slipped his hands into the glove, just as how he did to her. Her small hands handling his big, cold hands, made her tingle inside. They were probably the butterflies in her tummy, fed by the hormones which made them flutter inside her. Looking at how he willingly surrendered his hands to her, she just wanted to intertwine her fingers with him so bad.

Once finished, she didn’t expect Kyuhyun to offer his left hand to her as his right hand was placed back onto the wheels. She quietly smiled and put the gloves on.

“Feels better, right?” she asked and he just hummed in reply.

Can I just drive you back to Seoul.. he asked in his mind. He didn’t want this moment to end. He could live forever like this, with her by his side, not yelling at each other, feeling love resonating in the same air they breathe.

They got to the 24/7 store, where Mi Ra asked Kyuhyun to just stay in the car as she quickly got whatever she needed to buy and slipped into the toilet inside the store to put on a pad, before people start suspecting her of haemorrhage.

On the way back, Mi Ra ooh-ed and ahh-ed every time they passed by a deck by the harbour. Glancing at the digital clock in the car, which showed 1:00am, Kyuhyun stopped the car at one of the decks and got down, as he made his way to the deck.

Curious, Mi Ra did the same and walked over to him. She held the handrail and leaned against it a little as she stared into the winter sea. The breeze was light but was still chilly. Mi Ra turned to her side to look at the quiet guy beside her. He wasn’t saying much, but she could feel stuff that he didn’t need to utter.

His eyes finally landed onto hers and she offered him her sweet smile. He just kept on gazing into her eyes before he at last spoke, “I’m sorry..”.

Surprised by his sudden words as she didn’t expect an apology from him, she lowered her gaze and just chose to stare at the wooden deck instead.

“I’m sorry if I made you feel bad.. If I hurt your feelings.. I—“

She took off her beanie and took one step closer to him. The breeze was getting a bit rough, making the sides of his hair lightly brush onto his forehead and the side of his cheeks. She lifted her hands in an attempt to put the beanie on him from where she was standing, but then cursed herself for being a tad bit too short.

Unexpectedly, he pulled her by the waist to get closer to him. She flustered a little at the sudden contact and closeness of their faces, before she then carry on her attempt to put the beanie on him. She gently tucked his hair into the beanie, which had ROXY written on it, as he just takes pleasure in the perfect view of her facial features from a distance he never imagined before.

“you’re going to make such a great doctor..” he whispered as he softly brushed her flickering hair away from her rosy-from-the-cold cheeks, silently agreeing to himself to never allow anybody else to caress her velvety soft skin, apart from him. “You are such a caring person, I could see that,” he nodded as he smiled, looking for her eye contact.

Done with the beanie, she tried to pull herself back from his clasp, to which he held on even stronger.

“I don’t know..” she gave up and just stood there in his arms, eyes still pretty much shy to be looking into his powerful gaze from that close space, so she just settled for the zippers of Kyuhyun’s pullover instead. “For all I know I might not even graduate,” she shrugged her shoulders, her eyes now looking down in sadness.

“Sunshine..” and she instantly lifted her face to look into his eyes hearing her new favourite nick-name.

“Hmm?” she widen her eyes a little and Kyuhyun swore those set of eyes were prettier than any diamonds.

“Have a little faith, ne?” he lowered his head closer to her, making her smile at his sweet little gestures and words. She just nodded in reply.

They slowly walked towards the car, as her smile was getting wider that she had to bite her lips- Kyuhyun was slinging his arm across her shoulder as he pulled her close by his side, leaving a soft kiss on her glorious hair.

The digital clock in the SUV showed 1:43am~