THE BABY PROJECT || HUANG RENJUN

CHAPTER 13

Early, pre-dawn light sat by the windowsill, waiting patiently to mature and filter through the gaps in the curtains to awaken her, the air warm and humid. Her sheets lay twisted between her legs, the raised hem of her pajama shirt giving a sneak of her flat stomach. Her sheets; she was in her own bed, in her own dorm room. The psychology assignment she'd tossed aside after finishing it the other night stuck out from beneath her pillow. Her roommate's bed was empty with Daiyu nowhere to be found.

She was at her dorm.

The previous day's shenanigans flashed through her pounding head and knocked at her walls with the lingering memory of her falling asleep on Renjun's couch. 

So why was she at her dorm?

The dorm room door creaked open, and Renjun stood at the threshold. Under the wane, pre-dawn light, he almost looked surreal, like a manifestation of her sluggish mind.

Her eyebrows drew in.

Sieun stared at the boy who stood by the door like a statue⸺ a high-definition statue with all that messy, brown hair, and classic, blank face. He was even dressed in his favorite yellow hoodie he had worn religiously since freshman year.

It was remarkable how she could discern every bump in his features despite the lack of proper lighting in the room. And then he smiled, a break in his countenance, kicking her heart rate into immediate overdrive.

A stuttering breath escaped her lips. 

Renjun was a work of art. He wasn't six-foot-tall, or broad and solid like the male protagonists in most clicklit novels. But in her eyes, he was the epitome of perfection. She was attracted to him in more ways than one. If not for his beauty that always captivated the beholders. Then his unassumingness or his impartial attitude. 

And right now, with a smile on his lips, her heart danced to the rhythm he was playing. A dangerous game of love she wasn't ready to start again.

Sieun opened her mouth to call his name, but her lips refused to move. In fact, every inch of her body felt heavy as though a mountain was pressing down on her. She was paralyzed. All she could do was watch as Renjun advanced towards her.

What was happening?

Some fevered voice chanted "Dream, it's a dream, a dream," over and over again, and logic and reasoning backed the claim. It was a dream, has to be. Because she clearly fell asleep on Renjun's couch, and unless she had the power of teleportation or sleepwalked her way back to the dorm, there was no possible explanation behind her presence there. And Renjun's.

Shit.

This was bad.

This was very, very bad.

Renjun didn't stop until he was by the end of her bed, which was of low height, so he looked like a giant ready to pounce. His cryptic, double-edged smile added to the suspense, and Sieun's heart thudded away in a mushy mixture of fear and anticipation.

The mattress dipped under his weight, and on all fours, he crawled over her sprawled body, until they were face to face, his hands secured on either side of her head.

"Sieun," Renjun rasped, his voice an unusually low rumble. "Sieun."

Sieun finally found her voice. "Renjun." And her strength. She slowly popped herself onto her elbows and began crawling away from him.

"Stop," he commanded, and the hair on the back of her neck prickled. "Don't move."

Sieun didn't stop. She did, however, slow down on her endeavor with barely perceptible movements to confuse him.

"Renjun." Her chest rose as she wrestled for oxygen. "What are you doing here?"

Renjun chuckled, deliberate and derisive. It was as enchanting as it was haunting under the waning light. 

"You're a naughty girl, Sieun." Circling his fingers around her ankle, he said, "I told you to stop, didn't I?" Then he yanked her down the bed.

She gasped. 

"Wait, Renjun." Sieun flattened her palm on his chest, and every muscle in his body bunched. "What are you doing?"

He inched closer. "Hmmm..." His fingers toured her bare waistline, and goosebumps scattered across her skin. "What does it look like I'm doing?"

Renjun's fingers were insanely hot against her skin. It was hot when he handed Eui to her countess times today too. But it felt inhumanly warm; Like scorching flames of fire. She shivered.

Her nervousness heightened. "You need to stop."

"Why?" Amusement marred his features. "You want this, too."

With half-hearted determination, she tried to push him away. "No. No, I don't want this." 

"Liar," He scoffed, flattening his lips against her neck. Every willpower crumbled within her. Her fist crushed the material of his hoodie between coveting fingers, and her breath came in harsh and fast.

"See," He wallowed in her misery. "You want me."

"Shit," she stuttered. "Renjun."

"I know, baby." He smirked. "I know."

Every muscle in Sieun's body tightened and clenched. This was wrong, she knew. She shouldn't let him pull down this pit with no return. She should choose flight and run away. Except all she did was freeze, holding her breath as she let him brush his determined fingers up the ribcage and the underside of her breast, soft and feathery, setting her up in fire.

A strangled sound gurgled at the back of her throat.

"Good girl," he said with a low chuckle. There was a cockiness to it that should've outraged her. Instead, she trembled, trembled, and trembled.

"Oh God," she gasped, squeezing shut her eyes. Her fingers clung to his hoodie in desperation as his lips worked the column of her neck and jaw. "Renjun, please⸺"

"Sush..." he hushed her, and she complied, pressing her lips shut. "Now give yourself to me." 

Seizing her jaw with brute force, he pounced on her, their lips almost touching for a long, heated kiss, and...

Sieun woke up with a choked gasp, sucking in big, lung-filling gulps of air. Sweat dripped from her temples, trickling down her neck, and pooling at her back, soaking the sofa covers. Renjun's living room was dark, but early, pre-dawn light filtered through the gaps in the curtains, just like it did in her dream. Or to be precise, her nightmare.

What was that? she thought. Why did she dream of Renjun⸺ she dared not even finish the sentence inside her head. The sheets lay twisted into a weird lump at her feet. What just happened? Why?

Sieun shook her head. It was nothing. She wasn't in her dorm room, and Renjun was still asleep in his room. It was just a nightmare.

Wordless, she collapsed back into the sofa and once more drifted into an uneasy slumber.

This is supposed to be a slow burn. I swear.