Flutter//Jaehyun

Chapter 3

June 29th, 2022

I wake up to loud shuffling around my room, my dreams crumbling and dissipating into a groggy reality. It feels  early, as if the sun is waking alongside me, beckoning me to do the same. Waking up is typically the most dreaded part of life, yet as I lie here facing the painting of Jaehyun I made last night, it is somehow tolerable. The pinks and blues of the canvas blending in the background of his symmetrical profile put a bit of a smile on my face. I'm kind of glad....I have an inspiration once again. Jaehyun. His name flutters around in my head as I think about his new place in my life. I stretch, realizing that I'm on the floor. I wonder what time he left last night. I suddenly hear a flush from the bathroom.

I sit up straight in embarrassment that he slept here last night. God, i probably look like shit! I sadly attempt to fix the state of the messy curls on my head before he comes out of the bathroom as he left the bathroom.

"Oh, you're up." He says. Why did he sound so comfortable and nonchalant as if he lives here? "Hey did you know that you don't really have a kitchen, I tried to make us breakfast but..."

That comment he made in addition to the usual anger I feel waking up before noon really fueled a foreseeable, hostile response forming behind my teeth. Although, instead of completely chewing him out for no reason at all, I opt for a softer insult.

"Hey did you know that you walk really fucking loud?" I say, mocking him in his matter-of-fact tone of voice. I realize that the shuffling I heard earlier was just him stomping around. I'm not sure if it was that loud, though, maybe I just wasn't used to someone being in here with me. I would usually go over to Kiana's apartment if she wanted to hang out and tell her that my room was a mess-- which isn't an exaggeration, I think, looking around at food wrappers and clothes littered around my floor.

He stares at me blankly for a bit. Were my words too harsh?

"Wow, you're grumpy in the morning." He chuckles after plopping on my bed.

I struggle to grasp tug my short hair into a ponytail as I stand up slowly, stretching a bit as I do so.

"I'm sorry but are you gonna tell me what you're still doing here?" I say, attempting to demonstrate my typical cold demeanor. Just because Jaehyun might have been an alluring and mysterious man-- and extremely attractive in my opinion-- and had been sitting on my bed without a shirt--with just as alluring abs--, I wasn't going to show that I was interested. I was busy and frankly, didn't have the energy for all that flowery crush bullshit. He was just a random man who somehow keeps inserting himself into my life. I don't really care about him. I don't even care that he woke up early to make me breakfast.

My stomach leaps as he stood up to tap me on my arm, playfully.

"To thank you." He says. I'm quite taken aback by his earnest tone of voice. Who even is earnest nowadays. Although the way he so naturally shifts from playful to delicately honest is charming in its uniquity, I decide to push down the creeping thought of him being different than most guys. Yeah, he's  just really...weird, that's why hes different, I think to myself. 

"I mean, I show up to your apartment drunk and mumbling," he continues. "And I say random weird things and make you paint me. I'm seriously sorry--thanks for putting up with me, is what i'm trying to say."

And yet, this is another thing I've noticed about Jaehyun. He catches my attention with bold words and once I focus on him, he grows flustered, struggling to get to the point. This strikes another leap in my stomach.

"It's cool," I say, distancing myself to go brush my teeth in the bathroom. "You needed help because your phone was dead and I was there."

I leave the door open as I begin my quick morning routine.