I felt like I was underwater – I was moving up and down slowly, as if I was floating. There was heat all around me, mostly from underneath me. Although I knew I should have opened my eyes to see the source of heat and movement, I was too comfortable. Instead, I found myself trying to cuddle closer to whatever it was that was keeping me warm.

My forehead nestled into the crook of someone’s neck – wait.

My eyes snapped open and I became hyperaware of my surroundings. When my eyes were open and I could see clearly, I realized that I was lying on the couch in the boys’ living room. Or more like, one of the boys was lying on the couch, and I was lying on top of him. One of my hands was on his shoulder, and the other was resting on his chest. His chest was moving up and down slowly with his even breath, and he was also the source of warmth from underneath me.  The heat from above was from a blanket draped over the two of us and his arms wrapped loosely around my torso. My heart was speeding up and I tried not to hyperventilate.

Moving slowly, I shifted my head enough so that I could see just enough of his face to identify which of the boys it was – .

I had never seen Soohyun with such a calm face. He was always either smiling or trying to look serious for a camera. However, he did have the smallest hint of a smile at the corners of his mouth.

‘Oppa… Even in your sleep, you can’t help but smile,’ I thought. I moved my hand from his chest towards his face, so that I could just barely trace the side of his face with my fingertips. I traced his jaw line and then touched his lips faintly. I moved my other hand from his shoulder and tried to slowly push myself out of his embrace, my instincts screaming at me to retreat back to the position I had been in when the cold air of the dorm hit my skin – wait.

When I arrived at the boys’ dorm, I was wearing a quarter length sleeve t-shirt with a high collar. I looked down at myself and heaved a sigh of relief when I saw that I was still wearing my pants and the tank top that I always wore under my shirts in the winter.

Soohyun made a mumbling sound and tightened his grip on me just enough that I was forced to lie back down on top of him. He looked so peaceful; I didn’t want to wake up him. My arms were on either side of his head, so I could probably prop myself up a little bit. However, there was the issue of making him relinquish his grip without waking him up. I propped myself up on my elbows and started to think, but felt his hot breath caress my face.

It smelled fresh, so I assume that he brushed it after I passed out. The taste of my toothpaste had faded since my hasty brushing earlier that morning. I still wondered what it would be like to kiss him – he was asleep, and I knew that he was a heavy sleeper, so it was safe to assume that he would never find out.

But then I thought that if I started, I wouldn’t be able to stop. And it wouldn’t be the same if he wasn’t kissing me back. However, I still had my fingertips hovering less than inch away from his lips, tracing their outline in the air. My fingertips accidentally brushed the corner of his mouth, and he stirred slightly, making my heart skip a beat with horror.

After he stirred, he just sighed and tugged on my waist again. My lips were pursed together so that I, hopefully, wouldn’t wake him with my breathing. His eyes were still closed, but his lips had parted slightly when he stirred, so now his breath enticed me again. I swallowed and turned my head to look away, but my hair fell and brushed across his face.

“Jae Hwa…” He mumbled, and my heart rate sped up again. My blood was pounding in my ears as my heart worked overtime; his slightly parted lips were begging me to kiss them.

My face moved closer to his, although the rational part of my mind was screaming at me not to. ‘He’s asleep, he’ll never find out,’ I told myself. My lips brushed his lower lip for a moment, and I instantly wanted more. ‘No!’ I restrained myself and tried to sit up again. He stirred more than the other two times and pulled on me with more force. He pulled me against him again, and there wasn’t any space between us, except for our clothes. This time, my face was aligned with his, and I started taking in every feature of his face.

It was obvious that I wouldn’t be able to move from his grip without waking him up, so I might was well make the most of it. I subconsciously moved one of my hands and buried it in his already-disheveled hair.

“Saranghae…” He mumbled in his sleep, and I felt as though my heart had stopped for a second. When my heart started beating again, I felt as though I was running a marathon again. It took awhile before I managed to calm myself, and after that it wasn’t long before his rhythmic breathing lulled me back to sleep, my lips still tingling from that split second that they had touched his.

--

Soohyun stood there and looked at his surroundings, hopelessly confused. He opened his mouth to voice his confusion, but no sound came out. He tried to move, but there was some invisible weight holding him in place. He paused and tried to move again, but the invisible weight was there. Then, there she was. Jae Hwa.

She wasn’t facing him, but he knew it was her because of her long, naturally messy hair and small frame.

“Jae Hwa!” He willed his voice to work and called to her, trying to get her attention. She stopped what she was doing and whirled around to face him in slow-motion – and Soohyun saw the same thing that he saw every time he caught her attention. She would always stop what she was doing and turn her head a little bit, so he could see a cute, confused expression on her face for a split-second. Then her eyes would light up with realization, and a bright smile would bloom on her face when she finally saw him. Her hair fanned out around her, falling into her face for a second, hiding her smile from him for a moment.

He tried to run towards her so that he could sweep her into his arms, as he always did. However, the weight was still there. He tried to struggle more, since he knew that although Jae Hwa returned his embrace, she never initiated it. If he didn’t run towards her and hug her, then he wouldn’t get to hug her at all. But when he struggled, he saw her drop whatever she was doing and run towards him, so he stopped struggling and smiled, opening his arms for her.

“Oppa!” She cried with glee and flung herself into his arms. She was so much shorter than him; he swept her into his arms and held her bridal-style, listening to her giggle the entire time. “Saranghae,” she cooed in his ear and then buried her face in his neck. His heart sped up and he shifted her weight in his arms so that their faces were aligned. He tried to make his voice work again, as he had before, but it refused to work. She saw that he was having trouble and smiled, leaning forward so that she could brush her lips against his, so gently it was if she had simply breathed on his lips. “Saranghae,” she whispered again.

“Saranghae,” he finally said. She stared at him with wide eyes, surprised that he had actually said it. But a moment later, that beautiful smile appeared again. She buried one of her hands in his hair and held onto his shoulder with the other, and then began to pull his face closer to hers once again…

--

Soohyun’s eyes shot open and he groaned with anguish when he realized moments later that it had only been a dream. But hot breathing on his face and neck told him otherwise, along with the hand buried in his hair and another on his shoulder, just as it had been in his dream. He turned his head slightly and saw Jae Hwa lying on top of him on the couch, her eyes closed and her breath even.

‘Am I still dreaming…?’ He thought. ‘No… If I’m aware that it’s a dream, then it can’t be a dream,’ he reasoned, still staring at Jae Hwa’s peaceful expression. It would have been so easy for him to just move his head towards hers and kiss her – she was so close. ‘I could get used to this,’ he thought, smiling at the idea of waking up like this every day.

He was snapped out of his thoughts by his cell phone going off on the coffee table a few feet away. He immediately recognized the personalized ringtone and was about to lunge for it when he realized that Jae Hwa was still on top of him. So, this put him in a bit of a predicament. Should he answer his cell phone, because he knew that the call was from his close friend? Or should he stay where he was, snuggled up against another close friend, who was also female? A very attractive female…

The ringing stopped and Soohyun sighed with relief, since the decision had been made for him. He closed his eyes and was about to drift off into sleep once more, but his phone went off again with the same ringtone. This time, Jae Hwa stirred in his arms, inhaling deeply so that she could yawn, her hot breath cascading over his neck. She moaned a little and stretched, her body going rigid against his. Her body slackened and she sighed, lowering her arms to where they had been moments before. When her hands landed where they had once been, her face wrinkled a little bit with a confused expression, and she started moving her hand over his chest. She gasped softly and her eyes snapped open as she lifted her head and looked into Soohyun’s eyes.

--

I was in that state of mind where I was half-asleep and half-awake, but then a song started playing. As the music dragged me closer to full consciousness, it became easier to recognize – “The Day I Confess” by Jo Kwon. I knew that he and Soohyun-oppa were very close, but I don’t know why it was that song that was waking me up.

I was so close to waking up; I inhaled deeply and yawned, and then stretched. I stretched my body as much as I could, stiffened when I had done so, and then relaxed.  I moved my hands back to where they had been, but stopped quickly when I felt the hard surface underneath one of my hands. I moved my hand over it, trying to identify it without opening eyes. Then I remembered what I had woken up to I-didn’t-know-how-long before.

My eyes snapped open and I was mortified when the first thing that I saw was Soohyun-oppa staring at me with surprise. I gasped and shot up straight, the cool air of the living room hitting my arms as soon as the blanket fell off of my shoulders and pooled around my legs.

“O-oppa!” I gasped with horror. We both were silent with surprise, and my brain was hardly working – however, it jumped into overdrive when I realized that I was now straddling his waist and my hands were on his chest. And in the midst of my sitting up, I had moved his shirt to where the fabric was clenched in my fists over his chest, exposing his stomach.

… My oppa has some very nice abs…

I was too distracted by those thoughts to realize that the straps of my tank top and bra had slipped off of my shoulder, and my tank top was riding up as much as his. I only realized when I felt his hands move from my thighs to my hips, and his hands started the bare skin over the waist of my jeans.

He suddenly gripped my hips and started to pull me closer, but I gasped in shock and scrambled backwards until I was sitting against the opposite armrest. “M-mianhe!” I cried, putting my hands together and bowing awkwardly from my sitting position.

Soohyun blinked a few times while sitting up, and smiled when he was sitting up completely. “We were worried about you!” He told me.  

I was flattered by his joy at seeing me awake and healthy. I was about to tell him so, but his phone went off again, to the same ring tone. “You should answer that,” I said softly, pointing at his phone, “It must be important if he’s called you three times in less than five minutes.”

Soohyun’s smile fell, but only a little bit. He sat up and stretched, just as the phone stopped ringing. He sighed and leaned forward to grab the phone, turning the screen on. For the first time in the time that I had known him, Soohyun frowned. “He’s texted me, too.”

“Really?” I scooted a bit closer to him, peering at his phone but trying not to read over his shoulder. “He’s called you at least three times – how many times did he text you, and why didn’t your phone wake us up then?” I felt my neck heating up when I reminded myself of our… compromising position.

“They all say the same thing – “call me, it’s urgent,” but it doesn’t say what the problem is -” At that moment, his phone went off again, a picture of Soohyun and Jo-shi filling the screen. At the sight of the picture, Soohyun’s entire face lit up and he hit the green button immediately, “Yoboseyo? Hyung, you’ve called me three times in just as many minutes, what’s wrong?” I could hear chatter on the other end, which grew louder and more hysterical as Soohyun’s face went through a series of expressions – when he answered the phone, he had been smiling. Once the chatter on the other end began, his smile began to fall slowly, and then morphed into a look of confusion. He reached up and started scratching his head, thoroughly puzzled, “Hyung, please slow down – I don’t understand Japanese -” Soohyun’s confusion vanished, and was replaced with shock. His mouth fell open as his eyes grew wider, and his grip on his phone tightened, “You can’t be serious…” He muttered, dropping his hand to his leg to grip his knee.

I was worried as his face morphed from one expression to the next, and grabbed his hand when he started to grip his knee. “Oppa, what’s wrong?” I asked quietly, holding his hand between both of mine.

Soohyun was shaking now, squeezing his eyes shut. His grip on my hand was so strong, I saw his knuckles turning white and my hand started to hurt. I could still hear the hysterical chatter on the other end of the phone, and Soohyun’s lip started to tremble. “This can’t be happening. This can’t be happening…” He finally released my hand and leaned backwards, burying his hand in his hair, “Why would they say that?” He groaned. The chatter had slowed down a little bit, but it still sounded hysterical. Soohyun’s eyes snapped open and he scowled with anger. “What?” He yelled, shooting up straight and clenching his phone tightly, scowling with anger. His entire body was tensed, and I was afraid he would lose his temper at any second – which was strange, because I didn’t know my oppa even had a temper.

“Oppa…” I spoke softly, afraid of making him even angrier, “Oppa, what’s wrong?”

“Jae Hwa, get the laptop,” he said, his voice cold with anger.

“Oppa, what’s wro-”

“Now, Jae Hwa!” He snarled, whipping his head around and glaring at me. I was stunned for a moment, but I stood up and practically ran out of the room. I rushed into his and Kevin’s room, searching through the mess for his laptop. It was only then that the thought occurred to me – where was the rest of U-Kiss? I stopped for a moment, wondering where they could be.

“Jae Hwa!” I jumped in surprise – something terrible must have happened, because Soohyun never yelled. Whatever it was, I was starting to get angry myself. Not at Soohyun, of course – I couldn’t imagine Soohyun getting this angry without a legitimate reason. No, I was getting angry at who, or whatever, had upset him so much. I finally found his laptop on his desk and turned it on so that it should be on completely when I finally got it to him. Once it was in my arms I rushed back to the living room, almost slipping on the linoleum in the kitchen. When I was back in the living room, I saw Soohyun on the couch, leaning forward and gripping fistfuls of his hair, his shoulders shaking. His phone was sitting on the coffee table in front of him, the screen off.

I rushed over and held it towards him, but he didn’t notice me. His eyes were squeezed shut and his shoulders were shaking with restrained sobs. I put the laptop down next to his phone and sat down beside him. He dropped his arms and turned his head towards me a little, and I could see that his eyes were already bloodshot.

“Oppa, what’s wrong?” I asked softly, putting my hand on his back and rubbing it in circles.

He took a deep, shaky breath and opened his mouth to speak – for a second, nothing came out. “… I was just messing around,” he said. “We’re just friends – we’re so comfortable around each other, we can mess around like that.”

I wondered what he was talking about, and then I recalled his behavior around Jo-shi. The two men acted rather… silly. At least, that’s how I put it. If you asked Kibum or Kiseop in a private conversation, from which no information would be revealed to the outside world, they would put it as:

“They act like a gay couple.”

“Oppa, what did Jo-shi tell you?” I asked him with my voice quiet. Soohyun sniffed and I could feel my heart breaking – I didn’t like seeing him this way. I already missed my cheerful, silly, smiling oppa.

“Someone stole hyung’s phone, and leaked some of our text conversations to the internet,” he explained, sniffing again. I looked around the room and snatched the box of tissues from the side table and held it towards him. “Komawoyo…” He muttered, taking a tissue and blowing his nose.

“Oppa, why is that such a bad thing?”

He looked at me and then gestured to his laptop. I took it from the table and handed it to him, and he immediately brought up the internet and went to a website that I didn’t recognize – it was a gossip site, so it figures. I was never one to pry into the personal lives of others.

Well, he went through the archives on the site until he found what I assumed was the post Jo-shi told him about. As soon as he clicked on it, his eyes narrowed in anger. “Shibal!” He snarled.

“Oppa!” I gasped, unaccustomed to hearing him use such strong language.

He shoved his laptop into my hands and leaned back on the couch again, covering his face with his arms and muttering ‘shibal’ over and over again. I watched him with sad eyes and then turned to look at the screen to see what had upset my oppa so much. I skipped the messages and went straight to the article and comments.

“Hop’ung,” I stated bluntly, closing the computer.

Soohyun dropped his arms and looked at me with surprise, the first sign of my oppa since Jo-shi called. “You were surprised when I cursed?” He said. If I wasn’t angry, I would have smiled at his cuteness.

I practically dropped the laptop on the table. I folded my arms and looked him dead in the eye. “Oppa, are these rumors true?”

Soohyun blinked in shock, most likely because he had never seen me so serious. “No, of course not! Hyung is a very close friend, but we aren’t… We aren’t that close!” He sat up straight and gestured wildly between his phone and the laptop.

“Then it’s hop’ung,” I stated again. “I believe you, Soohyun-oppa. I don’t care what everyone else thinks.”

“Jae Hwa…” He said my name softly, and then smiled. I felt my heart flutter in my chest when I finally saw my oppa again. He wasn’t Soohyun when he wasn’t smiling – he wasn’t my Soohyun. I smiled at him in return, but gasped in surprise when he extended his arms and wrapped them around me, and then pulled me into his arms. “Gomawo…” He murmured in my ear and buried his face in my hair. The way that he held me in his arms felt awkward because his arms were wrapped around me and I was forced into draping my arms loosely around his shoulders, my legs uncomfortably stretched behind me.

“Oppa…” I spoke with a little strain in my voice. “Oppa, this is kind of uncomfortable for me -”

He chuckled and moved quickly to shift one of his arms behind my knees and press other hand against the small of my back. I squeaked in surprise when he turned me over, pulled me into his lap, and then wrapped his arms around my stomach. He laughed at my squeaking sound and pulled me closer so that he could bury his face in my neck. “Jae Hwa…” He whispered, his lips brushing against my neck, which I could feel burning – from the touch of his lips or embarrassment, I’m not sure. It was probably both. “Jae Hwa, I -” He was cut off by the sound of the door slamming open. I gasped in shock and scrambled out of his arms, which had slackened in surprise to the door opening so suddenly.

“We’re home!” Kevin sang, strutting into the living room as if it were a catwalk. “Soohyun, you missed a full day of recording!” He sighed overdramatically and wiped his forehead as he were drenched in sweat, and then saw me sitting up beside Soohyun. “Noona!” He squealed with an overjoyed grin and sprinted towards the couch, yanking me from my spot beside Soohyun and hugging me tightly. “Noona, we were so worried!” He cried.

“Noona’s awake?” Dong Ho poked his head around the corner and saw me being crushed in Kevin’s overzealous embrace.

“Noona?” Eli walked around Dong Ho and grinned when he saw me awake, but being choked in Kevin’s death-grip that could also be mistaken for a hug. “Hyung’s, Jae Hwa’s awake!” Despite the blood pounding in my ears from lack of oxygen, I could still hear the pounding feet of “my boys” as they rushed into the living room and argued with Kevin about releasing me so that they could take turns choking me to death.

Apparently, Alexander pulled the “seniority” card, so I was pulled unceremoniously from Kevin’s arms and into Alexander’s, who wasn’t much better. I was then yanked from boy-to-guy-to-man until I finally found myself back in Soohyun’s arms.

“If you bapo’s aren’t careful, she might faint again!” He chastised them, keeping a firm yet gentle grip on my arms while I tried to regain my breath and blink the spots from my eyes.

“Well, since Jae Hwa-noona is feeling better -” Kibum smiled at me and then turned his eyes towards Soohyun, “-What’s wrong with you?”

Soohyun wrinkled his forehead in confusion, “What do you mean?”

“And you call us bapo’s?” Kibum rolled his eyes, “You’re eyes are bloodshot, like you’ve been crying. And you must have done something to embarrass her, because her neck and ears are bright red.” I quickly started playing with my hair so that I could pull it in front of my neck and ears, trying to hide the red color that had almost completely engulfed my neck and ears. “See? Now she’s trying to hide it.” I slowly edged towards the nearest person, who happened to be Dong Ho, and tried to hide behind him.

“Seriously, Soohyun…” Alexander crossed his arms and looked at Soohyun with mild concern. “What happened while we were in the studio? This is the longest you’ve ever gone without smiling.” I realized that Alexander was right – Soohyun hadn’t smiled since I had pushed myself out of his arms. Soohyun cleared his throat nervously and frowned, staring at the floor.

Forgetting about my embarrassment I stepped from behind Dong Ho and stood beside Soohyun, putting my hand on his arm. “Oppa,” I got his attention, “I think you should tell them now.”

“Tell us what?” Kiseop narrowed his eyes at us with suspicion.

Soohyun cleared his throat again, “You guys know about my friendship with Jo Kwon, right?” There were murmurs of agreement and nods.

“You act like a gay couple.” Everyone turned to glare at Kibum and Kiseop, who had spoken in unison. They simply shrugged.

“Well, apparently, the rest of Korea thinks we are.” The room went dead silent and all of the boys stared at him in shock.

“…What?” Alexander was the first to snap out of his surprised state.

Soohyun rolled his shoulders nervously, and I moved my hand to his back. “Someone stole his phone and leaked some of our conversations to the internet,” he finally blurted out, and then winced.

The group was silent. “So?” Eli was the first to speak.

Soohyun muttered ‘shibal’ under his breath, and I smacked his arm and frowned, jerking my head in Dong Ho’s direction. He glanced at me and muttered ‘mianhe’ before rolling his eyes and sighing. “Some of our conversations were… seemingly intimate.”

“You dodging the question, hyung,” Kiseop stated with a bored look.

Soohyun groaned and grabbed fistfuls of his hair. “They leaked the conversations, which are completely out of context, nobody gets that the two of us are just good friends and that we’re just playing around, and now everybody who pays attention to gossip thinks that we are a gay couple!” He grabbed my hand and dragged me to the couch and flopped down, pulling me onto his lap in the process. He wrapped his arms around me – again – and buried his face in my neck – again. He made a whining sound and pulled me closer, and I could feel my ears turning red.

It was silent for a moment, and then all of the guys burst out laughing.

“That’s ridiculous!” Alexander laughed, clutching his stomach from laughing so hard. Soohyun moved his head a little bit, still using my hair as a veil.

“You’re a goofball, but you aren’t gay!” Kibum declared, pointing at him. Soohyun made the whining sound again and buried his face in my neck again.

“Especially when you – oomph!” Kevin was about to say something, but Eli jabbed him in the stomach with is elbow.

“Especially when he… What? What does he do?” I tried to turn my head and ask them, but Soohyun would make the whining sound and nudge me so that I wouldn’t turn my head.

“Unfortunately, we can’t exactly use that as evidence, now, can we?” Kibum crossed his arms and quirked an eyebrow in Kevin’s direction.

“I guess not…”

“What? Use what?” I was completely lost, and hopelessly confused. Soohyun tugged on my waist again, but didn’t use the whining sound. “What?” I muttered, turning my head just a little bit towards him. He said something very quiet, but not only was it muffled because it was muttered it against my neck, but I was too distracted by his lips so close to my neck while he was talking. “What?”

“I said I’m not gay!” He pulled his face away to declare this very loudly, and then buried his face in my neck once more.

I smiled and wrapped my arms around his neck, playing with his hair with one hand and the back of his neck with the other. “Poor oppa…” I cooed, “I know you’re not gay.”

This time he moved his head a little bit, “Gomawo, PJ,” he muttered, and I could hear him that time.

A few seconds later, I noticed that all of the guys were looking at us with the same funny look on each of their faces. “What?” This time I was the one whining. “What is it that you guys aren’t telling me?”

“Nothing, noona,” Kiseop teased, turning and walking out of the room.

“Exactly, noona!” Kevin declared and then proceeded to chase after Kiseop.

Dong Ho looked between me and where Kevin had just disappeared to, and shrugged. He took off after his hyung, but poked his head back around the corner. “I’m glad that you’re feeling better, noona!” He declared and smiled cutely before disappearing once more.

“Yeah, why would we keep secrets from you, noona?” Eli said while ducking out of the living room.

“What he said,” Kibum shrugged and followed Eli.

Alexander was the only one left standing in the room, and he was smirking at me and Soohyun. “What?” I whined again.

Instead of giving me a direct answer, he simply mouthed ‘I told you so,’ before turning and walking out of the living room.

 “Thanks for giving me such a great explanation!” I yelled after them with heavy sarcasm.

 -----

I am deeply offended. Really. Truly. -__-

My first chapter didn't get a single review? Four subscribers, but no reviews? Is that all? No constructive criticism?

(*sigh*) Well, I might as well deal with four subscribers, and people who keep reading it every time I edit the stupid chapter... Let's hope I don't read through this chapter after it's posted and make a million changes. -__-