Before I'm Gone | Stray Kids FF

Sleep

Areum POV

"So you're telling me..." I looked at him carefully. "She's just some girl that's your friend and there is nothing going on between you?"

"Nothing is happening." He nodded. "She was a childhood friend of mine and that's that." He paused before looking at me questioningly. "Could you possibly tell me what's up with Haneul? She keeps ignoring me."

"Um..." I stared at the door. "I can't. It's not my place to tell."

"Oh, okay." He sighed. "I'll respect that."

From then on, we continued our conversation. We ended up talking about what life was like for each of us when we were growing up. I felt like Chan was being really cautious with what he asked and such just because of my past. I told him not to worry about asking something but he was still really cautious and respectful too.

"How are you different?" I suddenly asked. "What makes you stray?"

"Well, you know, I'm not from here." He shrugged. "I got lots for hate and got tons of bullying for it back then." He fiddled with his hands. "Plus, the things I do compared to people here is very different."

"Oh, I'm sorry about that." I said, as I fiddled with my blanket.

"Still cold?" He asked, watching me carefully.

"A bit." I held out my hand to him. "Just feel." He took my hand and let go quickly.

"Better than before, but still freezing cold." He sighed. "Should we make it warmer?"

"No thanks." I replied. We ended up talking the entire time about the competition. Chan was asking me what they should do, I actually had a lot of ideas. Being alone in a forest for three days gave me a chance to think up ideas and brainstorm which I took to my advantage. He said that the tenth competition was coming up and he wanted to do something very different. In my own mind, I had thought that something special should happen for the tenth performance too. I suggested to him that he could have more than just Stray Kids in the group. Perhaps back up dancers or feature someone. He nodded along and took note of all the ideas while chatting with me.

After some time, the guys and Haneul came back with food. We ate and discussed things until Jeongin started to fall asleep. I shifted on the bed to make room for him since I did not want him to sleep on the floor.

"Jeonginie." I patted the empty place next to me. "Come here."

"Are you sure, Noona?" He said, rubbing his eyes.

"I'm sure." I lifted my blanket and let him sit next to me, laying him down and tucking him in. He layed there, snuggling up to me as he fell asleep. Smiling, I stroked his forehead until he was in a deep sleep.

The others asked me if I was tired too and wanted to sleep. I said no. We ended up talking until everyone slowly fell asleep. After Jeongin, Haneul ended up falling asleep on Woojin's shoulder. Next was Hyunjin and Felix who were sitting around watching videos on a phone. Seungmin fell asleep by Changbin who fell asleep soon afterwards. Jisung, who was talking with Minho, fell asleep, head laying on Minho's lap. Woojin fell asleep after easing Haneul's head down onto his lap. Chan was watching with jealousy but tiredness soon took over and he fell asleep. Leaving me no one to talk to. Well, there was Minho but it was not like we would talk much.

Glancing around the room, I smiled, seeing how everyone was asleep on the floor. Either sitting up, or laying down. As my eyes made their way around the room, they landed last on Minho. He still had not fallen asleep, rather, was staring at me intently. A little creeped out, I looked down at Jeongin and smiled at the sight of him sleeping against me. He was so cute. I brushed the hair in front of his eyes away and stroked his forehead once more. Looking up, I saw Minho standing over us, a brow raised.

"You're not sleeping?" I asked him as I topped stroking Jeongin's forehead.

"No." He made his way around the bed to sit down on the bed by my legs. "You're not either?"

"Nope." I shook my head. "I'm waiting for you to fall asleep."

"What if I don't?" He cocked his head.

"Then I won't either." I shrugged. "I find it hard to sleep before others sometimes."

"Hm, can we talk first?" He turned more towards to me. "Then we can both go to sleep."

My eyes wandered to the clock on the wall, ticking away. "Sure."

We chatted. He seemed really comfortable talking with me, but something was off. Like he had something on his mind that he was debating on whether to ask me or not. I decided not to pester him about it, though it bothered me too. Perhaps he noticed, because he turned to me and asked me what was up. I told him nothing. He rose his brow and shrugged, continuing the conversation. At one point, he asked me if I were still freezing cold. Giving him my hand, I let him feel for himself. He said I was slightly on the cold side but definitiely not frozen like before. When his hand touched mine, it was extremely warm to my touch. I see why the others were saying I was freezing cold. Looking down at our hands, I wanted to pull away, but he did not seem to want to, so I left my hand there, laying it on the bed.

"Minho?" I looked up at him.

"Hm?" He looked up from our hands to my eyes.

"What's on your mind?" I stared into his doe eyes. "Don't tell me it's nothing again."

"I'm just..." He trailed off while trying to think of how to explain what he was thinking. "I'm still worried about you, even though you're perfectly safe and sound. Does that make sense?" He said softly.

"Nerves are still there from me being missing?" I tried to make sense of it.

He nodded. "You had me really worried."

"Why?" I blurted out.

"Because I care." He let go of my hand as he turned his head away from me and looked at the wall. "It's because I care a lot."

"What makes you care so much?" I asked cautiously.

"You wanted to know why I live alone with Changbin right?" He said, eyes still on the wall. "It's the very same reason I'm Stray and why I care." He turned to me. "I was... neglected, you could say, by my parents after a while. They cared, and were great parents and all, but eventually, they were too busy for me and I no longer mattered. As long as I did not cause trouble, everything was okay to them. After a while, I told them I would move out and that stirred some arguments, eventually they just let it be." He sighed. "Bin and I met because he was searching for a roommate so I took the chance and decided to live with him." He gazed into my eyes. "His story is for him to tell though."

"Oh..." A silence filled the room. Eventually, he stood up and put a hand to my hand.

"Your turn to go to sleep." He said softly. "Don't worry about me sleeping, just rest." He caressed my hand gently until I fell asleep.

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Sorry, it's a little unedited, my online editor is acting up still.

Thank you Beullaegpingkeu12 for supporting this book! Interesting username btw!

On another note, there is a new story on my second account! I am trying something really new so I hope you enjoy it! I've also been thinking of making more things like reactions and stuff, but I dunno. Tell me what you think.

Link to new story 👉

See you in the next one!