we the cursed, nct dream ✔

part forty-seven

"Yes, because it was totally something I could control." Their tones are light and playful, and Haechan is glad for it. It means 'normal' is not quite so far away. Juno winces as she tries to get up, and he rushes to her side to gently push her back down. "How long?" she inquires.

"Three weeks," he answers.

"It's just as well. I needed that coma." She yawns loudly. "I feel so well-rested. Is this what it's like to get sleep?"

"Yes," he deadpans, secretly relieved by the way her eyes twinkle at him. All is right again in the world.

"What happened?" Juno asks after a stretch of silence.

"You overdosed," Haechan says flatly. "On sleeping pills."

"What... oh. Ah, shit." Her hands burrow into her mussed violet hair. "Jaemin must've told you guys about the withdrawals, right?"

"Yes." Haechan cocks his head to the side. "But everyone wishes you'd told them, too."

"I honestly was going to keep it to myself. Jaemin found out about it against my will, and it was too embarrassing to actually tell anyone else out of my own volition." She glances around. "But this is a lot more embarrassing. What kind of idiot falls into a coma?"

"An idiot who needs sleep and overdoses." Haechan retakes his seat. "But you have to understand that all of us would've helped you, if you'd only told us. That's what we're here for."

"Us?" Juno's eyes are sparkling again. "Yourself included?"

"Of course. Otherwise I wouldn't f*cking be here." Haechan shoots her a look. "Do you know how many times I've come to this room within just the past week just to stare at you until you woke up?"

"How many?" She sounds genuinely curious.

"Seventeen."

"You're kidding."

"Nope." He crosses his legs. "And that's an exact value. Somebody had to be here, just in case. But Dr. Han hates me now, so I couldn't visit more."

"Why?" Amusement laces her tone.

"I kinda blew up on her for giving you the pills in the first place that day we brought you here. Basically accused her of doing something illegal and blamed her for your coma." He shrugs. "Not very nice things, but they needed to be said."

"I bet." Juno leans back against the bed. "I feel quite honored, really."

"You should." Haechan regards her for a moment, the question he's been itching to ask on the tip of his tongue. But something stops him. He likes the way she is now, relaxed and breezy, those damn eyes dancing with their ever-present mischief. So he stands again, ready to head for the door. "I need to tell everyone you're awake. They're gonna be ecstatic."

"Wait." Juno's hands catch on his wrist.

Haechan's gaze drops to it. "What?"

Juno removes her hand, and he relaxes again. "Okay, so this might be really fucking selfish of me to say, but I kinda want to sleep a bit more because I might not be able to after this, and I know that Han's gonna start running tests the moment I get up and I'd rather not, at least for now, so maybe if you could just not tell anybody for, like, an extra hour. Please."

Haechan hesitates. But her pleading gaze gets to him eventually. "Fine. But only for an hour."

"Thank you." Juno exhales, catching a glimpse of herself in the nearby mirror. "Holy shit! Why do I look like that?"

"You did just rise from the dead." Haechan shrugs. "And you certainly look the part."

"Asshole," she sneers, but there's no venom behind it. "That's the part where you're supposed say, "No Juno, you look beautiful and wonderful and every other good adjective, not at all like you've been in a coma for three weeks because you're simply too fine for that."" Her lips curl. "Don't you know how these things work?"