↱ECHO↲ ⇾seongjoong⇽

第九

Something is pissing Seonghwa off.

He's not entirely sure what it is yet, but it's lurking at the edges of his slumber.

After a few more moments of drowsy confusion, Seonghwa regains his lucidity enough to register that he's in his bed and that there's a noise in the distance that won't stop.

Ringing.

Someone is ringing the doorbell repeatedly.

With a groan, he rolls himself over and curses as pain shoots up from his hip, and the memory of the hospital visit with Hongjoong comes rushing back to him.

How could he forget?

He felt humiliated and ashamed that his plan to gain a little independence had failed so severely.

All he wanted to do was take a damn shower and yet he ended up in a far worse situation than being nude and soapy in front of his new nurse.

Hongjoong had found him unconscious, injured, and nude.

It was absolutely mortifying and definitely not something Seonghwa wants to relive again.

It was even worse when he had woken up in the hospital and his dry eyes had landed on Hongjoong, and the nurse had looked so distraught, as if Seonghwa wasn't just a paycheck, as if he was something more.

But he's not.

He's just money with a face and that's all he'll ever be to people like Hongjoong.

The ringing of the doorbell intensifies in both volume and frequency and Seonghwa turns to the alarm clock.

It's only eight in the morning, which means he's only been asleep for two hours— Hongjoong made sure that Seonghwa stayed up the entire twelve hours as recommended by the doctor for his mild concussion.

It had been a bitch, but Seonghwa was on enough medication to forget about his aversion to the expensive piano in his living room and had found himself lost in the music for the first time in years.

He was so focused on playing that the hours had slipped by easily; he wasn't even aware of what Hongjoong had done during that time.

He had only seen the nurse when it was time for bed and they worked together to dress him appropriately with weary faces.

Thankfully, yesterday's incident hadn't come up; they had been much too tired for that.

A door opens down the hall and Seonghwa can hear Hongjoong stumble out of his room to answer the front door.

Yunho won't come to clean until after lunch, it's not Yeosang's day to cook, and he assumes Jongho has already been informed of the canceled therapy session.

That leaves Seonghwa and Hongjoong alone with another for the day— well, them and the unexpected guest.

Seonghwa is pulling himself into his chair when he hears the front door open.

The low murmur of Hongjoong's voice drifts up the stairs followed by the deeper intone of the guest.

From here, Seonghwa can't even begin to guess who it might be, but he's curious about who would come at such an early hour.