Hoseok kept his eyes on the figure wrapped up in a king-sized blue blanket on a single bed. The girl had always wanted to cocoon herself in her blankets while sleeping; on a regular night.
Wendy would usually sleep with all of the blanket draped on her body, and the next day it would be pooled on the floor beside her bed.
Hoseok gave out a deep sigh, both of exhaustion and relief. She's been out of it for three hours already and he cannot leave her side even for a moment.
For her sake, but more so for his own sake and sanity as well.
He doesn't know how will she react when she sees that discoloration on her neck.
Heck. He doesn't even know if she's been kissed when she's all aware and in the right mind.
Hoseok wrung his hands, fidgeting and fiddling with anything that he sees in her room, a trinket on her desk, frames on her bedside, books in her shelf, and finally Wendy's hair.
No matter how he tried not to touch her again, he seems to be especially drawn to her now more than ever - probably the effect of the kiss- but mayble it's more of his natural flair to do anything opposite of what he intends to do when it comes to his bestfriend.
Don't annoy her in school. Check. He made her reach her wits end on a daily basis.
Don't make her worry when he practices too much. Check. She basically became his physical therapist, alarm clock, nutritionist to keep him in check.
Don't let her fall sick again. Check. She's now ill because she got rained on when she got held up in detention.
Don't fall in love with her. Ah. Hell. Check. He's been falling deeply into that pit, with a no known end.
He gently removed a lone stand of hair away from her face. Her breathing is more even now, and he can hear the air escape from her nose and create soft whistling sounds.
He smiled despite himself, and traced the way her hair fell on her shoulders and moved it to expose her neck. But instead of it being a soft and fond moment, Hoseok felt he was smacked as he was yet again faced with his problem.
There on her still pale and once pristine skin, the hickey came to say hello.
Hoseok immediately moved his hand away from her and jerked back as if scalded by her. He sat on the floor beside her bed, it was not as if he didn't search for a fast 'cure' for a hickey, it's just that everything he searched up could wake the girl up, needs to be bought outside or sounded ridiculous.
Who puts a banana peel on a hickey? He thought, as he placed his head on both hands.
It boils down to letting the skin 'rest' while it heals, meaning he would have to lay off the biting and sucking.
Oh god. Heaven forbid I try to do that again.
He whimpered then tousled and pulled his hair to punish himself more.
▪▪▪○▪▪▪
"Yah!" Wendy shouted as she touseled then pulled Hoseok's hair, forcefully dragging him away from the barbeque grill.
When they were in an area where a few of their classmates lingered she whisper-shouted at him, "You said there won't be alcohol!" She said while gritting her teeth.
"Ahh. ㅖ뻐! ("Pretty!") Hoseok slured in his speech, caressing Wendy's face before trying to plant a kiss on her lips which she expertly dodged.
"Aish!"
If I haven't been trapped between those extroverted people he wouldn't be this drunk.
"Idiot! We are going home!"
"But~" he pouted.
"No." She said a sternly, which seemed to reach the boy's subconscious and made him nod his head.
They walked home, well, Wendy half-walked, half-dragged Hoseok as the boy kept fumbling on his own feet. They have been invited by their dance coach for barbeque as a celebration for their win, but Wendy is against underage drinking so she decided to drag him home. It's not like Hoseok is also the best at handling his alcohol, for all she knew the only alcohol he's been allowed to drink is when the two families get together or when it's Chuseok.
She held his hand saying something about being a responsible drinker and that he's going to ruin his body drinking alcohol.
When they reached the door of Hoseok's house Wendy finally hooked her arm on his waist and placed his arm over her shoulder as she fished for the house keys on his pocket.
Hoseok drunkenly giggled, "Tickles." And kept on moving his legs, as Wendy nudged him, "Hobi, stop moving!" When she finally got the keys she huffed annoyed of the boy's drunken antics.
"We are going to bolt inside, okay? But don't make any noise, we cannot wake your parents up."
Hoseok tried to look at Wendy with unfocused eyes, he nodded his head once, twice, thrice - until he's satisfied she understood that he got the plan.
A click was heard and the door opened as Wendy once again hooked her hand on his waist, opened the door wider and took steps inside before Hoseok decided to plop on the floor with quite loud thud.
"Dude! Get up." She closed the door and pulled on his arm.
"Guh?
"You have to get up!" She yanked him up harder and the boy tried to push himself off the ground, and then together they took laborious steps toward the stairs.
Hoseok let out a "Ugh. Eung." As Wendy ploped him down his bed, or more accurately, she tossed him on his bed where landed face down. But his hands automatically looked for a pillow to hug.
"You're making very weird sounds."
"Wan-ah! Come and join me in bed." He said as he patted the space beside him.
"How about no." She grimaced, but still she sat on the edge of his bed, "you smell, what are you even thinking you're going to get a beer belly and you won't have the confidence to brag about your abs."
"A baby belly?"
"A beer-oof" Wendy was cut of as Hoseok's arm snaked around her and pulled her back so that she's now lying on the bed with him just like what he wanted.
But he didn't stop there, he tried to raise Wendy's shirt to touch and actually poke at Wendy's belly, "Wanna be my baby mother?"
"What the frick-frack are you doing?!" She said as she lowered her shirt and smacked his hand.
He laughed at her as she felt heated and blushed profusely, immediately trying to stand up. But Hoseok tugged at her, "Please? Can you just stay here."
"Fine. But don't anymore poke my belly." She surrendered, thinking that the man didn't actually mean what he is saying at the moment.
"Roger." He said, albeit in a teasing tone.
"But I wanted my question answered." He said, trying to hide the teasing drunken tone, as if his waking thoughts have really seeped in into his drunken one.
"Are you serious?"
He nodded, his face buried in the mattress.
"Fine." She said, annoyed that he would only ask such questions when he actually cannot understand her answers, she humored him telling him what she actually feels.
Let him figure it out himself if I am telling the truth.
"Sure. I'd like it if you want it also."
Hoseok peered at her from his bed and she turned to look back at him.
He suddenly felt sober. At that moment Hoseok felt the urge to let out all the feelings he had kept buried under lock and key.
He wanted to do away with his scaredy self.
Remote from all apprehensions.
Stripped from all pretensions.
Abandoned of all what-ifs.
Bare from restraint.
He wanted her.
But he cannot stop with just wanting, she deserves more than that. He did not even try to counter her asnwer with a funny remark he just continued to look on.
▪▪▪▪○▪▪▪
Wendy looked on as the boy beside her bed seemed to be in a fight with himself. He didn't even notice his patient shift and open her eyes.
"Hobi." She croaked. "Why are you here?"
The voice made the boy whip his head towards her, with a face that seemed to be saying I-was-caught-doing-something-bad-but-I-can-charm-them-away, because one second his eyes were shaking and the next they're drilling her with intensity adding a raised eyebrow, as if asking her what question did she just ask.
"Someone decided to be sick." He said matter-of-factly, "so I being an angel decided to take care of the said person."
She squinted her eyes at him, then to her surroundings, it was very bright outside and it is sweltering hot in her blankets, she now sweating. Hoseok froze a bit, not knowing if he should point that mistake he did or if he should let her figure it out.
"M-me?" She asked curiously pointing to herself.
"Good job, Sherlock. You figured it out." He said cheekily.
I won't have enough sass later on when she figures it out.
"Who called you? Mom?"
"Hmm." He nodded.
"I wasn't much trouble was I?" She peered at him, her eyes swollen from her sleep. She's asking for a lie here.
You have no idea, woman.
"Psh. You've always been trouble, sick or not."
"Yah! Am not! You're a bigger baby when you're sick."
Hoseok has nothing to say to that. He is a baby when sick, he's probably done more damage to his image than she does hers when he is sick.
He glanced at her, assessing her with his soft gaze. Scanning from her head to her torso. If she just slightly tilt her head the hickey will be revealed in all its glory. But she seemed like she's not going to notice anyway.
His escape plan was easy: Plan A: if she notices and asks about it, he going to say a ginormous mosquito decided to land on her neck - it's summer anyways.
Who doesn't know what a hickey looks like?
Wendy doesn't.
Probably.
Plan B: If she doesn't notice it, he's gonna thank the heavens and the earth.
A freaking coward. He berated himself.
That's easier and better than a half-assed confession. She doesn't deserve such impetuous confrontation.
No. No. No. He thought.
She deserved to be loved without reckless abandon. She deserves to be looked upon, like the person wanted her his whole lifelong, without questions and apprehensions - because he's sure she is all he wanted.
He thought it is the kind of love she deserves.
But Hoseok wasn't like that. He loved her with all his apprehensions, questions and insecurities. He loved her in big ways but more so in his little ways. He loved her when she laughed her heart out or cried with snot dripping down her nose. He loved her in her peace and loved her in her mess. He loved her when she's kind and when she's not.
He loved her even when he's unsure.
He looked at her stretch on her bed, an insolent yawn making it's way out of her mouth. She watched her crane and crack her neck massaging it - "Oww."
She rubbed at a tender spot on her neck, "What's this?" She said trying to crane her neck towards her mirror on her dresser, but it was too far and Hoseok leapt on his feet to try to intercept, "Let me see." He said as if noticing it for the first time.
"It looks like a mosquito bite." He said cooly, his voice rehearsed.
Wendy bent her neck for the boy to see more of what she pointing at, lightly running her fingers over the sore spot, trying to figure out what actually bit her.
"These mosquitos seemed to descendants of dinosaurs when it's summer."
Hoseok forcefully chuckled his eyes fleeted from her face to her neck to her reflection in the mirror, "Yes. They seemed that way."
A door opens downstairs followed by Wendy's mother's booming voice, "Hobi-ah, are you still there with Wendy, I bought some peaches for you."
The two laughed. "Remind me again who's her child between us." Wendy begrudgingly said as he eyes the male who stood beside her bed.
"Your mom clearly plays favorites." Hoseok stuck out his tongue before saying, "네, 이모 (Yes, auntie) she seems better now." He shouted to Wendy's open door.
They heard thudding noises as her mom walked up the stairs, a paper bag on her hand as she poked her head inside her daughter's bedroom.
"Aigoo. What would we do without out Hosokie, huh?" She cooed, as a Wendy made a repulsed face when her mother was not looking, making Hoseok chuckle at her childish antics.
"Here. Take this with you. Eat it with your parents." She handed him the peaches that is in season, and gave him a hug which Hoseok curtly returned.
"Now go. Thank you for taking care of Wendy. Enjoy the rest of your weekend." Her mother continued when Hoseok lingered and eyed Wendy.
"What? I'm not dying. Thanks dude." She said as she lifted a fist for the boy to gently bump it.
"I'll see you around."
"'Course." She smiled at him then her mother spoke out, "I'll accompany you to the door."
"Thanks 이모." He said and waved one last goodbye to Wendy before his head disappeared behind her door.
Wendy sighed on her bed and stood up, going to her dresser rubing on her nape and neck. She took one long glance on her own reflection.
"A mosquito bite huh?" She muttered under her breath.
What a coward.
She didn't know if that's meant for the boy or the reflection staring back at her.
《----------------》
Overthinking led me to delaying publishing of this chapter.
I'll make a better one next time. A happier one. 😄
But sometimes happy endings doesn't satisfy me so I try to experiment. Plus, this isn't the last of Wenhope. 😊
- Divs 🍀
Date: VI - IV - MMXVIII