My eyes flutter open as I feel someone's soft breath tickling against the skin of my neck. I rub my eyes with my thumb in order for things to come to focus.
The mild rays of sun is adequately peeping through the window, I can hear birds chirping coming from at a distance. It's already morning.
I shift my gaze to the figure who is holding me gently yet securely in his arms, and on the instant a smile plasteres on my lips. His back is resting against the wall beside the door. The blood from his wounds have dried, there's still stains of tears on his cheeks.
Despite the calamity he went through last night, he looks as peaceful as dew-mist from an evening sky right now. It fills my heart that has finally recovered from all the anguish and devastation with immense delightness. I curl up against his chest and close my eyes. A warm sense of comfort and safeness surrounds me as I listen to his calm, rhythmic heartbeat. I haven't felt like this in a very long time. It's beautiful.
As much as I want to stay with him like this for the rest of the day, I need to take him to the hospital and get his wounds treated as soon as possible. So I lightly nudge his hands and call his name. He squirms while mumbling some obscure words. He's so not cursing me for waking him up, is he?
"Stop pretending, wake up now sleepyhead." I chuckle. His eyes open fully and meet mine, "Hey." He mutters, a sweet grin spreading across his face.
"How does your head feel?" I say.
"All right. I'm strong you know."
"We'll see how strong you really are when they apply antiseptic on those wounds."
"They?"
"Mhmm. I'm gonna take you to the hospital, then somewhere to eat and spend rest of the day. Oh no, not rest of the day actually. You probably need to go to the company." I remark.
"Can't you just put a band aid on them?" I hate hospitals and I hate doctors." He scrunches up his nose and makes a long whining sound, causing me to giggle. God, he's adorable.
"Bold of you to assume that your injury is minor enough that only a small plastic band aid can cover it up. You need bandages. Big bandages."
"Fucking hell, I can't imagine wearing those ugly things around my head and walking up to my office."
"You don't need to imagine. You're gonna live it in an hour or so." I say and pat his shoulder.
He cocks an eyebrow, "Is that how you console people?"
"Not people, just you." I state sarcastically, earning a small laughter of appreciation from him.
"How was your vacation by the way?"
"Vacation? What vacation?"
"Weren't you on vacation for the past few days?"
"Me on vacation? I still haven't had the luxury to spend one. I was on a bussiness trip in Tokyo. Who told you that piece of crap?"
So that's why I couldn't reach him. Here my dumb ass thought he was running away from me on purpose.
"Your secretary, Ms. I-don't-like-atall-Manoban." I reply.
He groans and throws his head back. "Holy nightmare, that woman. What do I do with her," He strokes my hair and asks, "You reached out to me?"
"Yeah, I was looking for you like crazy."
"Aww really? I'm sorry on Lisa's behalf." He says and kisses my forehead. "It's okay. Not your fault she hates me." I shrug.
"She doesn't hate you. She is just . . . not so friendly. I want to but I can't fire her. It's hard to find someone as skilled and accomplished as her in this field, and she yet hasn't done anything that gives me a reason to fire her. So just try to get along with her, don't be too bothered." Just try to get along with her, don't be bothered by her; easier said than done.
Her topic makes a flake of memory flash in my mind. Memory of the day when she asked me that bizarre question about my identity. I still can't wrap my head around it. Could she have possibly known or heard about me from somewhere aside than work?
"Can I ask you something about her?" I say.
"Lisa?" I nod. "Sure, go ahead."
"Do you know if she's someone I used to know back in the days? It sounds weird, but I don't really remember much about my early life. Almost nothing."
"One hundred and one percent no. I clearly recall it being written on her profile that although she worked with many foreign companies, she was born in Thailand and had lived there all her life." He says with utmost certainty.
"Wait, she's not from here?"
"What part of Lisa Manoban sounds korean to you?"
I fall into silence. I never thought of it like that.
I wonder how dumb I really am.
"Well . . . " I trail off, unable to find any sensible words for counter attack. He shakes his head and tightens his grip around me. "Glad to know your level of stupidity is still the same." Resting his chin on top of my head, he remarks with a titter.
"You're not winning any prizes in the sector of smartness either, so stop mocking me." I retort.
"Get used to it babygirl."
"Mingyu I swear-" I pause as I hear abrupt footsteps approaching at our direction.
"YEONNIE IT'S 11, GET YOUR BUTT OFF OF YOUR BED RIGHT NOW."
Hoshit, it's Joshua. Trouble trouble trouble.
"We can't be seen together now." Both Mingyu and I say at the same time. Panic is all over his face and I'm no different.
We get up as fast as our body can move. "What do I do? Where do I go?" He rambles. Joshua's footsteps are coming more close to my room and I know for sure that he'll come inside. He does this every morning.
Mingyu needs to hide. Right now.
"You, you . . . Uhhh there! Hide behind the curtains. Oh no no not the curtains! Hide under the bed!"
"In case you haven't noticed yet, your bed has no space underneath it."
"Then what about that box over there? Hide inside that."
"I won't fit!"
"Cut off your legs then!"
"You're not helping."
"The bathroom! Hide there and do not come out until I tell you to, QUICK."
He jolts inside the bathroom in a wink of an eye. When I'm about to close the door, he suddenly shrieks, "There's blood on your sleeve! You can't explain that to him."
Good grief, it must've happened last night.
"What am I suppose to do?"
"Get inside dummy!" He swiftly pulls me inside before I can even say anything and locks the door. We hold our breath until we feel Joshua's presence inside the room.
"Yeonnie, are you in the bathroom?" He says.
Gulping down the lump in my throat, I raise the volume of my voice. "Y-yes. I'm cleaning up."
"Strange."
"W-what's strange?"
"You, waking up by yourself. You never do — Jesus Christ, why's there blood on the floor? Are you okay?"
I immediately shoot Mingyu an accusing glare. He glares back and mouths, 'What?' innocently.
I grit my teeth and sigh, "That . . . Umm . . . "
Forgive me merciful Lord.
"Girl problem Joshua. No need to worry about that."
Mingyu covers his face with his hands and tries to keep his balance by leaning against the door frame. His eyes are squeezed closed and his shoulders are shaking frantically.
He's practically dying out of laughter.
He can't be serious.
"I think I just heard Brownie barking — she must be hungry. I'll go downstairs. Take your time. Tell me if you need something warm to drink or eat. Don't you dare go near the kitchen alone." Says Joshua.
"Yeah yeah s-sure, feed her well!"
I feel his footsteps heading outside the room and when he's completely gone, I clutch the fabric near my chest and let out a sigh of relief. Mingyu is still laughing, a little louder and harder this time.
"WHAT ARE YOU LAUGHING ABOUT?" I growl.
"GiRl pRoBlEm." He barely says in between his gleeful laughter, which I'm finding incredibly incongruous.
"I'm gonna slit your throat if you don't stop your shamelessly preposterous laughter session, and I'm not bluffing. I'm extremely serious."
He is showing no signs of stopping. That's it. I'm killing him. I don't care if murdering him sends me to jail or if his unpleasant ghost haunts me at night. I. Am. Killing. Him.
"Come on Mingyu, I am giving you bestial life threats here and you're still laughing. Give me and my threats some attention! Really, what's so funny about girl problem?"
"It's not about that. It's just the way you said it, you should've seen your face HAHAHAAAAA."
Just how hard did he hit his head last night?
***
"Okay now, go to your room and change those clothes. Wait for me near the bus stop at the end of the road. I'll meet you there in about 10 minutes." I say while sticking my hands to my hip and sighing endlessly.
I can feel my face curving into multiple wrinkles the longer I stare at the floor. There's not just one-two drop of blood, there's alot. Please, I hate cleaning so much.
"I can't go out like this. Not at this hour. My room is far from yours, someone will see me and we don't want that." He blurts out.
"Then go out of the window." I say, eyes still fixated on the mess right infront of me.
"Are you serious?"
"Do you have any better idea? One by the way that doesn't involve me digging up a fucking hole starting from this room and all the way to the end of the road so you can escape underground?"
"Yes I have! Anything is better than jumping out of the window and breaking my legs," He affirms. "Do you have any oversized hoodie?"
"What are you gonna do, strangle yourself with it? So that your way to the hospital becomes even more clean? Or should I say the way you ending up inside a freaking casket?"
"You talk way too much when you're in trouble you know that? Get your shit together and just give it to me."
"Hah, as if any of them will fit."
"Miyeon. I'm warning you, don't test my patience."
"Fine!"
Stomping my feet, I take out the largest size of hoodie that I own and throw it at his direction. Little did I know, my throwing skills suck and it'll hit his face.
"GEEZ MIYEON YOU CAN BE A LITTLE NICER!" He shouts in a whisper.
"I'm too frustrated to act nice now. Deal with it." I exclaim. "Real talk, what are you gonna do with it?" He doesn't say anything. Instead, he does what he was planning on doing. I watch him with my brows knitted together into a tight frown and my mouth agape.
He puts it on like it's the tightest piece of clothing he has ever worn and stands before the mirror. He takes it off in a matter of seconds and begins to shake his head repeatedly. "Nope. Not gonna work. It's like a crop top on me." Avers he.
"I told you it won't fit. Nice try though."
"Why are you so small?"
"Why are you so big?"
"Ughhhhhh! You have something else that can help me cover this wound here?" He says, pointing at his forehead.
"I have a bucket hat and a mask, if that helps." I reply.
"Yeah. It'll help. Better than the hoodie actually."
It takes me another 10 minutes to find my only bucket hat from the pile of clothes and many useless things. It's not like I'm taking my sweet time to find it, I am just not a very neat person to begin with.
This time, I directly hand the hat and the mask to him. I don't want to cause another squabble over me not being nice enough.
He hurriedly puts them on and views himself in the mirror once again. I walk to his sides and scan his reflection.
"Why am I getting major criminal vibes from you?" I interject.
He pulls the hat down and faces me, "Because you are strange. And delusional." He says.
"Yeah right. Get out now." I remark with an abundantly fake smile.
He slowly proceeds towards the door. He opens it with cautiousness. He glances at his right and left and literally hurtles in the direction to his room, causing me to slap my forehead because he just knocked off Jeonghan's favourite flower vase and an antique showpiece on his way.
I screech miserably and close the door. I massage my temples and release a long breath through my mouth.
It's gonna be a long day.
***
Going seventeen is back fam fovidiiffisssfllf