Intertwined Souls (JiTzu)

Chapter 6

Saturday: Just Past Midnight

3rd Person POV

Tzuyu woke up to the feeling of her body shaking. She sat up and looked around before realizing that the shaking was not because of herself. She instantly knew that it had to be Jihyo and turned to confirm her intuition.

Tzuyu's eyes went wide in panic as she realized that Jihyo was having a nightmare. Jihyo's body was shaking violently and she was muttering something incomprehensible. Tzuyu quickly reached over and shook Jihyo awake.

Jihyo's eyes opened wide after a couple of seconds of Tzuyu shaking her, causing the younger woman to jump back slightly. She was breathing heavily as her mouth opened and closed in rapid succession without uttering a word. Although it looked as if she was conscious, her eyes were blank and her body was paralyzed. Tzuyu froze in utter horror as she felt completely useless in this situation, not knowing what to do.

A minute passed by before life returned to Jihyo's eyes. Her breathing slowed down to a normal rate before she subconsciously swallowed the lump in her throat. She stared blankly at the ceiling for a few moments before her eyes wandered to Tzuyu who was still frozen and had fear written all over her face.

Jihyo realized what was happening as her face showed surprise and quickly jumped out of the bed before rushing out of the room. Tzuyu gasped for a breath of air after realizing that she had been holding her breath for half a minute. Her body shook slightly as she hugged herself. She was always the person having the nightmares and never the person witnessing someone else having a nightmare. There was part of her that was confused by what had just transpired. She has always been told that all it took to wake someone from their nightmare was just to shake their body; but the images of Jihyo opening her eyes in such an unnatural manner haunted her head.

Tzuyu quickly shook her head to rid herself of the haunting images and got out of the bed. She realized that she should follow and check on Jihyo. She walked out of the bedroom and into the living room where she found Jihyo facing the sink in the kitchen.

Tzuyu started walking towards Jihyo but froze after taking one step. She remembered what happened last night and wanted to avoid it from repeating again. She called out to Jihyo to tell her that she was present, gaining no response back. She took slow steps towards Jihyo as she explained every move she was making. She had no plan in mind when she was able to reach Jihyo's side until she remembered what Jihyo did to calm her down and comfort her.

"Okay, Jihyo-unnie, I am going to wrap my arms around you in a hug, okay?" Tzuyu asked as she slowly wrapped her arms around Jihyo's waist.

The moment that Tzuyu was able to fully wrap her arms around Jihyo's waist, Jihyo broke down into tears and tightly held on to Tzuyu's arms. Tzuyu was a bit taken aback by the development but remained calm instead of being frightened as she was before. She tightened her hold around Jihyo's waist before starting to whisper calming phrases that she used to calm herself. For some reason, she felt herself hurting every time Jihyo let out a sob. She hated the sounds and wanted to see the warm smile that she had gotten used to seeing on Jihyo's face.

Jihyo's sobs died down into an occasional sniffle before breaking away from Tzuyu's embrace and turning to face Tzuyu, "I am sorry for acting like this..." she apologized while looking downward, "I just had a really bad nightmare and really only find comfort in hot chocolate," she explained while pointing behind her.

Tzuyu looked over Jihyo's shoulder to see the container of hot chocolate powder, "There is no reason for you to apologize for having a nightmare. You helped me when I had a nightmare of my own, and I just want to repay you," she responded before silence formed between them for a minute, "You know what? Can I get some hot chocolate too? We can just sit and talk until you feel ready to go back to sleep," she suggested with a smile.