It had been some days since the members shifted to the new dorm. They had become comfortable in these few days already. They woke each other up, ate together, went to the practice together and enjoyed their time together.
it was one of such usual days. The kids were sleeping soundly in their rooms.
Hyunjin's eyes opened in the middle of the night. He woke up to get a glass of water. Stepping out of his bed, he almost exited the room but his legs naturally stopped in their way. He went back to his bed standing on it, holding the handle of the stairs which made their way towards the upper side of the bunk bed. They had a bunk bed in their room along with a single bed. Aera slept on the upper side of the bunk bed and Hyunjin slept on the bottom one whilst Changbin slept on the separate bed.
I guess this explains why he did that. He always did that whenever his eyes opened in the middle of the night somehow. He would check up on Aera. He would just stand like that staring at her sleeping figure. Even on days when little snores came out of her mouth, he would just smile at her and stop by. He would sometimes fix her blanket for her or tuck her hair behind her ear and she would know nothing about it. He tried to stop himself alot of times thinking how she would get scared if she woke up to see him staring at her like that but still at the end he ended up doing that.
But the view that he saw made his eyebrows furrow in confusion. He frowned at the sight of finding no one on the bed. Where is she? His mind asked him. He slowly got down from his bed making sure to not make any noise because Changbin was sleeping really peacefully. He went to the washroom to check if she was there but the washroom was locked from the outside.
He stepped out of his room and went to check in the other rooms in case he finds her there. Slowly and quietly opening the door to each room he found just the members sleeping peacefully.
He was on his way to the living room but something made his steps come to a hault. His ears caught some noise. The noise was from the living room. But all the members are sleeping. So is Aera in the living room? again he asked himself. The noise was of some light footsteps. He gulped as his mind wandered to things that it shouldn't go to. Did someone break in? Is Aera okay? shit why do you have to do this Aera-yah ugh.
Cursing under his breath, he went back to his room and picked up a shoe that was not even his. It was the closest to him and he decided to use it as a safety item. The brain this guys has *sigh*.
He held the shoe up as he walked downstairs to the living room. Reaching the living room, he found no one but an empty room. He didn't know whether he should calm down that no one broke in or whether he should panic that Aera was not even here.
He turned to his left to go to the kitchen but- BOOM!!. He bumped into someone. His mouth opened in order to let out a scream and his hand raised to hit that person with the shoe but the person was quick enough to hold his mouth before he screams and tell him that she was the one he was looking for.
"Sshhh I'm Aera don't scream" She whispered. The only light in the room was coming from the window that was kept open. He saw her face in that light recognizing her and she noticed his eyes that relaxed and the breath he released that he was holding for some time now. "What happened? and why are you holding my shoe?" She whispered again.
Hyunjin eyed her gesturing to her hand that was on his mouth. "Oh sorry" And as she removed her hand from his mouth, his knees felt weak as he walked towards the couch like his legs had given up and sat on it throwing his head back and panting.
Aera sipped water from the glass that she was holding in her free hand while walking towards the couch. "You scared me!!" Hyunjin exclaimed dropping her shoe on the ground and clutching his heart from his right hand. "Stop being dramatic. You reacted as if you saw a ghost" "You are less than a ghost?" And he received a done look and a smack on his shoulder.
"But seriously- why were you walking like you are a thief or something? and why do you have my shoe with you?" "Ahh..you see..I heard some noise upstairs so...I thought that someone broke in...so I came to check up and the shoe was a..safety item" Aera cracked up hearing him. "A shoe?? as a safety item??? wow! You were going to hit the person who broke in with it or make him or her smell it huh?" She was still laughing at Hyunjin who rolled his eyes at her but her face suddenly turned to a serious face. "Wait- you got just my shoe to take as a safety item?!? What if the person who broke in stabbed my shoe instead of you and then my shoe would tear up and its my favorite shoe...yah you-"
"Oh hello mam!! No one really broke in!! Which conclusions are you reaching up to?" "But still-" "Okay fine..Im sorry alright? I will see to it that next time if someone breaks in I will look carefully and never pick up your shoe okay? is that fine now?" "Hmm...that's okay I guess" Hyunjin just shook his head in disbelief. "Wait- so its okay if someone stabs me but it isn't okay if someone stabs your shoe?!?" There he goes again. "Mhm" Aera replied calmly to his question. "Wahh what a friend you are" "But....it could have been one of the members also..why did you think that someone broke in?"
"Ah..that..uh just...my instincts told me that..anyways you leave that you tell me what were you doing here this late though?" He didn't wanted to reveal it to her that he was looking for her and searched every room just to find her and Aera panicked not even questioning him back about his 'instincts' but thinking of how she could hide the truth from him now. "No..nothing..I just came here to get...some water" Hyunjin's eyebrows knitted in suspicion. He went closer to her to take a look at her. Finally noticing her sweaty face and neck. He touched her t-shirt and even it was wet. "Yah- yahhh what are you doing?" She yanked his hand away but it wasn't of any use now.
"You know you can't lie properly right?" "Hmm? what??" "You just came to drink a glass of water and you are sweating so much?? Did you by chance run to the JYP building to get water and then run back here?" Aera just sighed in defeat. Maybe he isn't really that dumb.
"Now. Will you tell me what you were doing here? I even heard some noises upstairs" "Ah fine. I was...practicing.." "What?!?! you were...you were practicing?? in the living room?? at what.." He shot his head towards the clock that was hanging on the wall in front. "at 2:50 am?!?!! Yah- are you okay? is something wrong? you know you can tell me right" "Aisshhh ssshh!! quiet!! or else everyone will wake up!" She whisper yelled at him. "I was just...polishing..? my movements...?" "We all already practiced everything together. And you are doing good so why are you again practicing like this?"
"I don't know Hyun...tell me honestly...am I really talented enough? to be with you all?" He sighed at her. "And what is making you think all this?" "You...you know what Jisung said that day.." "Aera? you are still stuck on that? Come on!! Don't doubt yourself just because Jisung or anyone said something. You are talented. Talented enough!! That's why Chan hyung and JYP chose you and that's why you are here! And don't mind him too much. Even we don't know what is wrong with him"
"But-" "Sshh no buts now. You are one of the best and one of the most talented people that I know so don't think something like this again. And don't you dare think of practicing like this in the living room again. What if you scare someone huh?" "okiee.." She agreed in a small voice looking down.
"Come on now. Let's go to sleep" Hyunjin proposed after a moment of silence "But..I am not sleepy...dancing just made my sleep go away" "Hmm...okay then..come with me...let's go to the convenience store" "Convenience store? at this time?" "Yeah why?" "Are you sure?" "100 percent now come on get up" "But why to the convenience store suddenly? and what about Chan oppa?" She spoke chuckling at the sudden idea that Hyunjin came up with "Don't think about those things too much. Just join me" He said dramatically forwarding his hand towards her. To which she smiled keeping her hand on his. "Okay if you say so"
She got up from the couch as the two made their way towards the convenience store. They walked till the store because it wasn't really far. It just took 5 to 7 minutes by walking. The night was cold and breezy and the stars were shining brightly in the sky. Being the Astrophile that she was, her eyes were more on the sky than on the road ahead. And Hyunjin's eyes were on her. God knows how the two didn't get hit by a car.
They reached the store grabbing a pack of cup noodles to eat there. They were just walking around grabbing some chocolates as well when Hyunjin saw Aera casually taking a can of chilled energy drink as well. "Yah..you are a minor you know that right?" Hyunjin warned her. "Yeah so what?" "So you are not allowed to drink that..?" "Aish. Don't worry too much. Its okay once in a while and plus this is non-alcoholic" Aera had spent her childhood mostly by being alone. According to the Korean age she was 17 at the time and was going to turn 18 in some months. She knew her limits and it was just once a month or mostly not even that.
"There is some alcohol percent tho" "Its just 0.2%" "But the store manager won't let you take it without showing an id" "You think so?" "What do you mean by that? Its a rule so ofcourse you can't have it" "Just give me a minute" She handed Hyunjin her chocolates, snacks and cup noodles as she opened her hair setting them up. She made sure the store manager didn't have his eyes on her while she did it. She wore a mask and moved towards the counter after taking her eatables from Hyunjin.
"Follow me" She whispered to Hyunjin before going ahead. She changed her posture walking like a model. "Yah...the professor's lectures have been so boring lately...its so tiring" Her voice also changed? to a rather mature one...? "Mhm" was the only thing Hyunjin could say while following her movements. "You know the new student representative of the college asked me for lunch today" "Ohh...nice" She was loud enough for the whole empty store to hear her voice.
Reaching the counter, the person in front of her did her billing. "ID please" He asked as he billed the final item which was the energy drink. She opened her wallet where she obviously didn't have her ID. "Huh? oh shit. I forgot my ID..do you have yours?" She asked Hyunjin who just shook his head in a no. "Uhh..can't you just ring us up? we're in college" "Which college?" "Seoul National University. Second year." "What department?" "Music. Composition and vocal" "Who is your home room teacher?" "Mr. Bang Christopher Chan" She was quick to counter all the questions and Hyunjin at this point was amazed. "Ohh..okay. Here is your bill" "He will pay it. Thank you" And she walked out of the store with her snacks leaving Hyunjin to pay everything.
He just smiled at the store manager paying the bill and ran outside. Aera was casually standing outside sipping onto her beer. He reached her opening his packet of chips. "Wahh...so smart" "I know right" She dramatically flipped her hair. The two sat on the wall that wasn't really high. Digging onto their cup noodles and snacks. "You know...when you fought with Jisung...everything you said was correct except for one thing" "Which one thing?" "You said that you aren't a bitch" "So you are telling me that i'm a bitch?" Hyunjin nodded his head finishing the noodles inside his mouth. "Wooowwww. So that is what you think of me?" "A correction: You are a bitch...but a bad one" He joked while winking causing Aera to chuckle and hit him.
"And you know what you are?" Aera started this time. "Your boyfriend?" "In your dreams" "Ouch...that hurt you know" "Anyways I was saying that if I am a bitch but a bad one...then you are...just a bitch" "Yah you-" She clicked her tongue to him before throwing the empty cup inside the trash can and running for her life as Hyunjin ran behind her.
Luckily the two didn't get caught sneaking inside the dorm. Or maybe someone saw them and didn't tell about it to anyone. Who knows?
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All the events in this story are fictional and are NOT related to anything in real life. So kindly take this just as a fictional story. Thank You ^^
Thanks for reading! <3