Shared Spaces & Hidden Desires • Seungcheol

90 - Nest

Seungcheol

The living room was dim and quiet, the curtains drawn just enough to let in the soft light of late afternoon. The scent of something buttery drifted in the air—popcorn, maybe. I wasn't even sure who made it. We'd just kind of ended up here, half-lounging, half-sprawled across the couch, buried under a throw blanket with a bowl balanced on her stomach.

"You know," I said, tossing a piece of popcorn in my mouth, "I keep forgetting we're home."

She nodded, eyes on the ceiling. "I know. I woke up this morning expecting to hear waves and birds... but instead I hear cars honking."

I snorted. "Ah yes, the majestic call."

She giggled, bumping her shoulder into mine.

We hadn't done much since landing the day before. Just stumbled in, dropped our bags by the door, and crawled into bed with no plans other than sleep—and each other. Now, it had been a full twenty-four hours and we still hadn't ventured past the couch.

"You think it's weird that it already feels like the trip was a dream?" she asked, popping another piece of popcorn into her mouth. "Like... we were just in a bungalow over the ocean. Now we're on our couch. Eating popcorn."

"Everything except the popcorn feels fake," I said. "This... this is real life."

"Don't remind me."

"Luckily, we've still got three more weeks before the real world claws us back."

She smiled, looking up at me with that familiar glint in her eyes. "So, you're saying there's still time for spontaneous kitchen sex and living room make-outs?"

I leaned over and kissed her temple. "Oh, absolutely. It's on the agenda."

Just then, my phone buzzed on the table. I leaned forward to check it.

"It's my mom."

"Ooh, speaker it," she said, sitting up a bit straighter.

I answered, putting it on speaker. "Hi, mom!"

"Seungcheol-ah!" came the familiar voice. "You're finally back! We didn't want to disturb you yesterday. You two must've been exhausted."

"Still are," yn chimed in. "Hi auntie!"

"Honey! You made it back in one piece?"

"Barely," she laughed. "Your son nearly left his passport at the hotel."

"Oh my god. No, I didn't," I groaned.

"You did! It was on the nightstand and you forgot it."

My mom sighed. "Typical. You always forget something."

Then came my dad's voice from the background. "So how was it? Sounds like a movie."

"It felt like one," I said honestly. "Everything was... just perfect."

"Perfect and humid," yn added. "My hair did not stand a chance."

"You always look pretty, sweetheart," came her mom's voice now from a three-way call. "Uncle and I were just saying... we want to see pictures!"

"Oh, we've got so many," yn said, laughing. "I think we took more photos of the sunsets than each other."

"That's nice..." her dad said. "Did you get one of the sunrise on the last day?"

"We tried," I said, smiling at the memory. "We fell asleep halfway through it."

"Aigoo, that sounds like love," my mom sighed.