"Noona!"
"I've got you, I've got you."
"Can you hear me?"
"Please stay awake."
"I'm going to get you some help, I promise."
"I'm going to pick you up now, okay? Hold on you look very uncomfortable let me just—there."
"Sir this is my stop."
"I think he thought I was kidnapping you."
"Please hang on just a little bit longer."
"Crap!"
"Noona?!"
"Please breathe."
"Please, I can't—I can't see this again. Not again."
"Seungmin pick up!"
"I'm going to get you help, Noona. Please just hang on!"
"Please keep breathing. Please keep breathing."
"I'm almost there, I promise."
"Please wake up."
"Seungmin! Where are you?!"
"Hey Innie, I just saw your ca—is that a girl?"
"Please help her, please! She—She passed out and I caught her and I g-grabbed all her stuff and everything, a-and she was sick and there were a lot of f-flowers but she didn't want anyone to know so I k-kept it a secret but now she's—she's worse and I think I-I killed her. I think I killed her Seungmin!"
"Hold on, hold on. Calm down Innie. Can you lay her down so I can help?"
"Y-Yeah."
"She's still partially conscious. Burning up though. How long ago did she collapse?"
"Maybe fifteen minutes ago? No, twenty. I'm not sure."
"Any other symptoms?"
"....I don't know."
"That's okay, thank you Innie. You did a good job. Can you watch her while I go get an ice pack?"
"Yes."
"See? Told you I knew someone who could help!"
"You'll be okay."
"Seungmin? Someone keeps calling her phone."
"Seungmin?! She stopped breathing! She stopped breathing! What do I do?! Seungmin? Seungm—?!"
- - _ - - _ - - _ - - _ -- _ - - _ - - _ - - _ - -
Everything hurt.
I took a deep, rattling breath, scrunching up my nose as light filtered past my eyelids. Did I forget to close my curtains? And what was so cold on my forehead? I opened my eyes, removing some cloth from the upper half of my face and blinking rapidly as it was attacked by the sun. My vision finally focused on the ceiling above me, and I immediately frowned.
Where were my stars?
Did they fall down? Chan and I had put those up when I moved here. And when did I paint my walls grey?
My body stayed still as my eyes flitted around the room. Finally, they caught on something that most definitely was not mine.
I don't remember ever owning boxers.
I've never sat up so fast.
I've also never regretted a decision that fast.
An involuntary groan slipped past my lips as pain shot through my entire body. My chest was tight and almost felt bruised. I don't know how else to describe it. My back and shoulders were still sore, and my headache immediately came back in full effect. I moved to lay back down as my head swam.
"Are you stupid?"
A hand was placed on my back as it gently guided me into a sitting position, resting my back against the headboard.
Wait.
A hand?
People have hands.
A hand I do not know connected to a person I do not know inside a room I do not know?
I opened my mouth to scream and immediately choked.
Almost instantly the hand was back on my back, softly patting as I coughed. Another hand quickly reached out and grabbed the pink petals as they landed on the faded blue blanket over me, wrapping them in a tissue and putting them somewhere out of my sight.
"Are you stupid?" The person repeated, and my eye snapped up to meet their's.
The first thing I noticed was the look he was giving me. His eyebrows were raised and his eyes were filled with judgment, narrowed slightly as they looked at me. The corners of his mouth were turned down, his lips slightly parted. Truthfully, I couldn't decide if I should feel bad or be offended.
"Who are you?" My voice came out raw and I winced.
He crossed his arms over his chest. "Oh I don't know, just the person who saved your life."
I raised my eyebrows.
Well dang if he was going to be this sarcastic he should've let me collapse in peace.
I didn't realize I mumbled until the mystery boy repeatedly shook his head. "Nope. Absolutely not. There will be none of that after I used my precious time getting you to breathe."
My eyes widened at his words. Getting me to breathe? What was he talking about? I really don't remember much outside of feeling pukey on the bus and then watching my vision fade to black like the ending of a devastating tv episode. I did hear bits and pieces of people talking, but in my drugged feeling mind I couldn't make sense of it.
The boy must have noticed my expression as he sighed before taking a deep breath, almost like he was readying himself to speak.
"Oh, yea. You stopped breathing a couple of times last night. I had to do cpr at least twice."
"You WHAT."
"I had to do cpr—"
I waved my hands around in the air. "No no, I heard that part."
"Then why did you ask?"
I scowled at the brown haired boy, who was giving me an innocent smile like he didn't know exactly what he was doing. Jokes on him, I hang out with Lee Minho and that's at least ten times worse. I could spot that devilish twinkle in his eyes a mile away.
However, my mind was completely occupied by something entirely different.
"Cpr? So you..." I trailed off as I felt my face grow hot.
"What? Had to do chest compressions? I mean yes, but not for very long." He tilted his head confusedly as I rejected the idea.
"I mean you....and—and I...." I stopped again, not able to say it.
Especially when the mystery boy was looking at me so intently.
Frustrated and red, I pointed at his face and then pointed at mine.
For a moment, he just stared at me with his face completely blank. The more he stared the more I wanted to scream. Don't tell me I'd have to play a more graphic, cursed version of charades! I might actually jump off a cliff.
And then his cold facade crumbled into laughter.
It was the first time I had seen him smile since I met him, and wow was it adorable. I could honestly say it might be the second most beautiful smile I've ever seen. He leaned back in his computer chair, eyes tightly closed as he laughed, and if possible I blushed harder.
I bit my lip as he met my eyes, calming down a bit. "If you count mouth-to-mouth resuscitation as a kiss the yea, sure we did," he teased, making me red as a flare.
I buried my face in my hands.
This is it. This is my last straw. When Jisung gets back, I'm going to ask him to show me all the bridges he looked up and which one he recommends.
"At least your face is red from embarrassment now and not a fever," the boy's voice came. "I don't know how many times I had to put that cloth on your head."
"You just had to add that first part, didn't you?"
"I couldn't help myself."
I peeked through my fingers at the boy at the bedside, suddenly noticing how bad off he looked. He had dark circles under his eyes, and his brown hair was messy across his head. He didn't even have an weird wrinkle in the simple pajamas he was wearing.
He looked exhausted.
I had to stop myself from gasping when I finally realized what he had done. Did this random boy really stay up all night? How stupid is he? I've had enough experience with Chan to know that all-nighters are one of the worst decisions of my life. I almost wanted to scold him. He really should've just left me on the bus I swear. I can't help but mess up people's lives nowadays, can I?
But I bottled all the words I wanted to say deep down and decided I would be nice.
"Thank you," I said. "For taking care of me, and finding me on the bus I guess."
He gave an amused expression, followed by a short laugh. "I didn't find you on the bus."
I knit my eyebrows together. "Then who did?"
The boy tilted his head to the side, staring at me for a moment before saying, "Wow. You really were out of it."
I almost decided to throw being nice out the window as sarcasm threatened to climb up my throat instead of petals.
The boy stood up from his chair, gesturing for me to stand from my spot on what I now assumed to be his bed. He held out his hand as I stumbled, catching my hand to steady me on my feet. I shook my head a bit to clear the dizziness and fog. He motioned for me to follow him, and I took the opportunity to fully take in his room as I did so.
The room itself was very organized, his desk and what I could see of his closet very clean and coordinated. He had a small lamp on the table beside his bed, a small bookshelf of what appeared to be albums, and no curtains on the window, which explains why I was attacked by the sun when I woke up. I smiled a bit when I noticed a couple of Day6 posters attached to the wall. I bet that's what a lot of the albums on his bookshelf are for. However what really stole my attention was the wall above his desk where pictures and Polaroids had been taken and pinned in random places. It was messy and disorganized, sticking out in the otherwise ordered room. I was only able to catch a glance as the boy opened his door, but it was enough to see how professional they looked.
The brown haired boy opened his room door, gesturing for me to follow him. I reluctantly tore my attention away from the photo wall and followed him out the room.
I kept one hand on the wall, watching my feet as I moved as I really don't feel steady on my feet. I wasn't feeling as disoriented as yesterday, but can I even compare it? Yesterday I passed out. This, however badly I felt, was leagues better.
I don't know what kind of witch doctor-y type stuff the mystery boy did while I took a nice involuntary nap, but dang did it help.
Suddenly, the boy stopped and let out a sigh. "I told him not to sleep there, the two of you are going to make me run out of ibuprofen."
He pointed in front of him. "There's your bus boy."
My eyes widened at the familiar black fringe and eyes.
"Jeongin?" I whispered.
The boy hummed. "He was in complete hysterics when he came in last night. Imagine my shock when when I tried to calm him down only to see you impersonating a corpse in his arms." His voice lowered, not wanting to wake up the sleeping boy. "He was on edge the whole time I was trying to help you. It's like he couldn't tear his eyes away. I finally started giving him small tasks to do so he would calm down, and when you slowed down your little episodes I told him to go to sleep."
The two of us looked at the younger boy, looking so small curled up to fit on the dorm's small couch, a thin blanket draped over him with his head at an awkward angle.
"I guess he wanted to be close," the brunette boy muttered. "Just in case."
I frowned at his words. I felt guilty.
I told this boy that I didn't need his help.
I told him to forget about me.
And yet here he was, refusing to be more than two doors away and sleeping on a hard couch so he could make sure I'd be okay.
"I'm so dumb," I mumbled.
The boy beside me snorted. "I thought we already established this."
I shot him a glare as I took a step forward, wanting to check on the uncomfortable looking sleeping boy.
Several things happened all at once.
My foot caught on the edge of a rug and, still severely disoriented, my self preservation instincts did not kick in.
The mystery boy let out a little gasp as he barely managed to steady me, slinging one arm around his neck as his hand found the area just above my hip.
I let out a yelp as a searing hot pain spread through my hip to my ribcage.
And my little yelp took Jeongin by so much surprise that he immediately woke up, fell off the couch, and then let out the most ear piercing shriek I have ever heard in my life.
The brunet's hand disappeared as he heard my yelp, eyes quickly scanning over my body for an injury. He stopped as his gaze caught something, and I looked down to see that in his hurry to catch me, his hand had drawn my shirt up on one side, revealing the soulmate mark on my hip.
I had been trying not to look at it these last few weeks, just seeing it making me replay the moment I was rejected over and over again. But as I caught sight of it now, I wanted to gasp at the difference.
Where the markings had been black, they were now a dull grey.
And outlining all the letters was a painful, raw red line.
"You're unrequited," came the boy's voice.
And for the first time in a long time, I felt genuine fear.
I quickly pulled down the edge of my shirt, feeling tears spring to my eyes. Here comes the pitying eyes hiding judgmental looks, the slamming door, the sympathy from a distance. The "I'll be here for you" but never side by side. Fear has always had a tight, unshakable grip on those who believe in soulmates. To those waiting for theirs, petals were contagious, and anyone seen around an infected person was cursed to become one themself. I had never believed that. How ironic that it's true.
"I-I'll leave now," I said, eyes swimming with unshed tears. I quickly took several steps back so I wasn't close to the brunet or Jeongin, who was watching wide-eyed with his feet still tangled in his blanket.
A scoff. And then, "Why? Because you think I'm worried about being infected?" My head snapped up to see the brunet's smirk. "I hate to break it to you, but I don't believe in that crap."
The boy continued. "It's so dumb how people treat being unrequited like it's some form of leprosy. How stupid can you be to believe you can catch the disease from outside your own soulmate bond. I might just start carrying petals around and throwing them at people who annoy me. Watch them scream in terror as they run away."
I let out a laugh, feeling the guard I had put up slowly crumble. I wiped my eyes and looked at the two boys, one who was giving a bright smile, and the other who was trying not to with his arms crossed over his chest. There were no looks of sympathy, no pity. No believing that my soulmate was nonexistent or dead, no hiding the truth. They knew, and they didn't run.
Without wasting another second, Jeongin freed himself from his blanket prison and crossed the floor, wrapping his arms around me. "I'm so happy you're okay! I was so worried," he exclaimed.
"Be careful of he mark, Innie," the brunet said.
I peeked over Jeongin's shoulder with furrowed brows. "Why? What's wrong with my mark?"
"I think we need to sit down before I get into all that."
"Well dang. I think I'd rather just have you tell me it looks awful."
"Fine. Your mark looks awful. There. You happy?"
"Should i be?"
He shrugged. "You asked for it."
Jeongin let go of his careful hold, looking at the other boy. "I think the phone is ringing again."
The boy sighed. "It's in your pocket. You don't have to say I think. And you can just hand it to her now."
Jeongin nodded and then reached into his back pocket, pulling out a familiar phone case.
My face broke out in a grin. "You saved my phone? Thank you, Innie. I thought I lost it when I passed out!"
"That makes sense. You thank the phone saver but not the LIFE saver?"
"I didn't ask you to save me."
"You're right. Next time I won't."
"Guys!" Jeongin gasped, offended.
I laughed to myself before making the mistake of checking my phone.
45 missed calls.
Over 100 unread messages.
All of them from Minho and Chan.
Ah.
I'm dead.
"What's wrong?" Jeongin asked, seeing my face.
"You both should have just let me die, because I'm about to be murdered."
At that exact moment there was a knock on the door.
The three of us froze. "What if it's a murderer?" Jeongin whispered.
"I seriously doubt that. Think more realistically," the other boy shot down, not moving an inch.
"Dorm inspection? That's better right?"
He gave Jeongin a look. "I think you're forgetting the fact that she's not allowed to be here."
As they bickered, I stared at the door. There's no way, right? Surely it's just some neighbor? But if it was just a neighbor, then why was I getting such an ominous feeling?
There was another, harsher knock. "What if it is a murderer?" Jeongin repeated, quieter this time.
The brunet looked from Jeongin, to the door, and then back to Jeongin. "I sure hope so."
Then, rolling his eyes at Jeongin and I's frozen states, he swung open the door.
"MIN HAEWON!"
I winced.
Lee Minho stood in the doorway, looking absolutely murderous.
"You have exactly ten seconds to explain yourself, starting with why you are in an all-boys dorm."
- - _ - - _ - - _ - - _ -- _ - - _ - - _ - - _ - -
Well she's screwed.
What do y'all think will happen next?
*Haewon specifically asked Chan to help her put the stars on her ceiling because the few times she visited his home (in Australia or Korea) there were stars on his ceiling. It made her feel more at home than her home ever did. Chan still doesn't know the real meaning behind the stars*
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