Chapter Fourteen

The Bothersome

A/N: This chapter was so embarrassing to write, so beware of awkwardness. *covers face*

Sungmi slowly opened her eyes to the dark room that she was currently lying in. As of late, her body had been waking her up at the break of dawn even before Kai could pull her out of her slumber. She didn't know whether or not her running had improved, but she was slightly glad that waking up no longer felt like a tedious chore. 

Her thoughts flashed back to the previous evening, when her, Kai, and Luhan had all been sitting in this very same room working on math. Sungmi had been right to assume that with Kai's help, the two of them of them would finish rapidly because no less than two hours later, they had already completed a detailed paper with work and set-ups all adequately shown. For this, Sungmi's appreciation for the talented male soared even higher, and she couldn't help but wish that she could spend every day with him, like she had for the past two weeks, for the rest of her life and forever.

But Sungmi quickly discarded this thought. It wasn't good to dream too far. 

She stretched her arms above her head and let out a droning yawn. Since the house was completely silent, she figured Kai was probably still sleeping, which didn't really matter to her. The later he got up, the less she would have to run. 

Throwing her fleece blanket off her body, Sungmi swung her legs off the couch to move when she suddenly stopped and doubled over, gripping her stomach as a feeling of tight pain wrenched her body. This agony came out of nowhere and made her fall back on the couch with a groan. 

It took her approximately three seconds to realize what was happening. 

. 

Sungmi practically threw herself on the floor immediately out of panic. Turning to look at the couch, she observed the palm-sized red stain that now soiled the cushion, sticking out like a sore thumb from the creme fabric. Her face paled. 

Oh no, oh no, oh no. Why is THIS happening right now?

Of all days that it had to come, her monthly friend decided to make an appearance while she had a guest in the home. No, correction, a guest that believed she was a guy. 

The situation definitely didn't look good, and she feared that if Kai woke up and happened to see this, she wouldn't be able to lie her way out of it. What would she say to cover it up even? I spilled ketchup on the couch, no big deal. 

No way he was going to believe her. She would have to work fast if she didn't want to die of discomfort very soon.  

First, Sungmi needed a change of clothes. No doubt the blood discolored her pajamas too, and if that wasn't blatantly obvious of her womanhood, she didn't know what was. 

The current dilemma, however, was how to get into her room to grab her clothes without waking Kai up. She knew pretty well that Kai was a sound sleeper, but judging from this unlucky situation that she was in, she doubted she could go simply by chance. But then again, she didn't exactly have any master plan on how to execute her impending challenge, so maybe just sneaking in would suffice. 

Getting up from the floor, Sungmi quietly tip-toed to her room and twisted the doorknob slowly, praying that the hinges would not creak and alert the person inside of her presence. As soon as the space was wide enough for her to squeeze through, Sungmi edged herself against the wall inside the room and stood completely still to check for any movements from the person on the bed. Hearing his soft, even breaths, she released a small sigh and approached her desk to grab the key that she had hidden deep inside a drawer. Pulling it out, she twisted it into the closet lock and flinched as a small click! resounded through the dark room. Kai slightly shifted in his bed, but resumed his even breathing. 

Boy, that was close. 

Sungmi inched inside the dim closet and quickly chose an outfit from her array of monochrome clothes. It would be dangerous to change inside, so she decided that the bathroom was a much more private place to discard her soiled pants. After locking the closet door, Sungmi held her fresh clothes against her chest and exited the room as quietly as a ghost, closing the door behind her. So far, her challenge had been successful. Now she needed change rapidly and clean the stained couch outside before Kai could see it. 

Sungmi swung open the bathroom door and immediately opened the cabinet. She dug through her brother's many bottles of shaving cream and hair gel to locate the bag of tampons that she had put there a long time ago. She almost felt relieved that she had gotten this far without getting caught. Digging her hand in the bag, she quickly pulled out several and placed them on the counter to stash them into her pocket later. 

Just as Sungmi was about to stand up and close the bathroom door to change, she heard footsteps behind her. 

"Hey, was that you in the room earlier?" 

Sungmi froze as terror raced through her veins. Her hands began to sweat as she gulped loudly.

Kai approached the open bathroom and leaned his body against the doorframe. He rubbed his eyes and emitted a low yawn. "Because I heard something and I'd hate to think that your house has ghosts." 

Oh my god, Sungmi, you fail at everything, don't you? She grimly thought. 

It almost didn't register to her brain that her backside was facing the unexpected intruder until a full, terrifying second later. In a flash, she had flopped down on the floor and folded her legs up against her body. This, however, just made her body feel extremely uncomfortable.

She gave Kai an uneasy grin. "I don't know what you're talking about," she muttered through bared teeth. 

But he wasn't even looking at her. 

"Why do you have tampons on the counter?" He asked in confusion as he stared at the little tubes by the sink. 

Sungmi choked. She had completely forgotten about them. 

In a last ditch effort to keep her secret safe, she was willing to sacrifice all of her remaining pride. Sungmi snatched a tampon from the counter, opened it, and shoved it up her nostril. "Remember when I told you these are great for nosebleeds? They really are." She twitched her nose several times to emphasize her point and gave Kai a bizarre smile. 

Kai just looked at her as if she had grown three heads. "O...kay."

Sungmi could see from his face that he probably thought of her like a lunatic, but at the current moment, she really didn't have too much of a choice. 

Kai stared at her weirdly for a half a minute longer before trudging away from the bathroom. Sungmi let out a loud breath that she had been holding and