cold | junhao

三十五

With a roll of his eyes and a few more seconds of glancing between Jeonghan and Jun, Mingyu sighs. "Yeah fine," he pushes himself to his feet and waves off Jun's attempts to thank him, slouching over to the stairway and grabbing a box. He stares back at them. "I'm not packing it all for you too."

***

Jeonghan's parents are home when they get there, and help Jun in moving the boxes to the spare room. 

"We're sorry we don't have another room to keep your things in. Won't it be too crowded at night?" Jeonghan's father asks with concern. 

Jun shakes his head. "No it's fine! I can't thank you enough for letting me stay in the first place." He waves his hands in front of him, trying to show on his face how genuinely grateful he is. Mrs. Yoon tells him it's not a problem and rests her hand on his arm briefly. 

Jeonghan walks up to them and tugs Jun away, dragging the last suitcase behind them. 

The spare room is pretty small, with a minimally decorated double bed and little furniture—although Jun's mountain of boxes makes up for that. Among the bed and boxes and the small desk, there's only enough room to walk between them and along one side of the bed. There's a painting hanging above the headboard, of a family of ducks that Jun can't help but smile at.

Jeonghan leans against the door with his arms crossed her his chest. "Hana and I have practice in a while," he says. "I'll be back at 10 o'clock-ish. You okay?"

Nodding, Jun smiles. "I guess," he says. "Everything feels kinda surreal right now—like half of it isn't even happening and I'll come to and everything that I think is going on... isn't? If that make any sense," he forces a laugh. 

Jeonghan steps further into the room, on hand still on the doorframe. "I get it," he says. "I feel like that at competitions sometimes. It'll fade eventually, but in the meantime you should have a bath or something, and eat. I can hear your stomach from all the way over here."

Jun's hand flies to his stomach, where it's churning painfully; he didn't even notice. "Are you also implying I stink?"

"Of course not," Jeonghan grins. "I would tell you that outright. I meant that you must be stressed, and baths can help you to relax." He smiles and steps backwards. "I'll get going." The volume of his voice drops as he says goodbye, and leaves Jun alone with his thoughts.

Collapsing onto the bed, Jun sighs deeply at the softness of the duvet and comfy mattress. He becomes occupied with moving his wrist, and watching the light catch on his watch face and send a reflection bouncing off the ceiling. It keeps his attention away for a while, until gradually thoughts start to creep back in: of looking for a new house, finding a way to make some money, telling Minghao eventually and worrying about his reaction. 

Not wanting to face those thoughts just yet, Jun decides on that bath Jeonghan suggested. 

Sinking into the hot water is like all of his muscles have been tied up with rope until they can't move, and now they've been burned away. Jun submerges himself fully in the water, finding comfort in the silence surrounding him as water fills his ears and blocks out any exterior noise.

Jun spends as long as he can basking in the comfort, until the water starts to cool and he pushes himself out of the bathtub. Mrs. Yoon gave him a towel earlier, and after being thrown over the radiator for the past half an hour it's like wrapping a giant hot water bottle around his body. When he passes Mr. Yoon on the way back to his room, a bright flush rushes to Jun's cheeks as he thinks Jeonghan's father will say something, or judge him for having a bath in his house, but in Mr. Yoon just gives him a quick smile, and nothing seems ill-mannered, which makes Jun breathe a sigh of pure relief.