The house was engulfed by darkness, filling every single tiny hole and crack.
Maybe if it wasn't the middle of the night, the silence so deafening that it allowed the smallest of sounds to be heard, the almost soundless creaks would have gone unnoticed. Those were emitted by a pair of small, bare feet that did it's best to step as lightly as possible.
Yet Soomin couldn't really care as soon as she got to the kitchen, turning on the light above the stove and squirming her eyes at it.
Then, the girl carelessly walked over to the cabinet and grabbed a glass to get herself some water.
Again, she couldn't sleep. There was no reason for her not to, she was exhausted and in desperate need of slumber. But she felt cold, numb and most importantly: in an extremely strange case of sadness. As if everything around her was a blur that she constantly attempted to wipe off, but it never worked.
Soomin sighed, finishing the cold water and putting the glass back on the counter. After sleepily zoning off for another minute, she turned in an attempt to turn off the light when suddenly she jumped back, almost screaming.
She was now wide awake, huge, vulnerable eyes landing on the dark, shadowy figure that stood in the hallway. Their rather long hair covered half of their face, some of it tied back into a bun at the back. He wore a low-cut, baggy hoodie and similarly designed sweatpants, as well as a pair of fancy looking dark slippers.
His eyes were laced with hers, giving off a strong sense of power and his strong sense of alert.
After taking in a few deep breaths, Soomin finally relaxed her limbs and even managed a short but sweet smile. "Oh, you scared me Yuta."
Yuta didn't respond, not even with a single word of acknowledgement. But unlike usual, where he would just completely ignore her existence, his intense gaze still laid upon her making the girl extremely uncomfortable and worried.
Soomin chuckled nervously, having that as a reflex whenever she combatted awkward and nerve-wrecking situations. "Can I help you?"
"I-..." Yuta began, his sore and low voice barely coming through to her despite the unbearable silence around them. He seemed to be re-evaluating his words 10, no, maybe 100 times in his mind but didn't utter any of them aloud.
Whilst she stared at him with interest, the boy moved his feet anxiously, thinking and thinking and thinking, until finally letting out a giant sigh.
"I'm sorry." He exclaimed, a little bit more harshly than intended but he still managed to get his message across.
Soomin was stunned, mouth almost falling agape as she stared him down with shocked eyes. Yuta didn't take her being speechless too well, his surprisingly light expression quickly falling into his habitual, wrathful glare.
"Well if you don't want to take the apology, then-"
"No! Who said I don't?" The girl interrupted him a bit too loudly, frantically waving her hands in front of her. "I was just a little surprised, that's all."
"Oh." Yuta came through with his iconic, short line making Soomin immediately more cautious.
"But... I have a question." She voiced very quietly, earning herself a hum from the other. "Why are you telling me this why?"
A short silence ensued as Yuta drifted off into thought, wondering what exactly he could tell her.
In the end, he let out another dramatic sigh, making sure to not look her in the eye as he responded.
"I was feeling bad."
"For what?"
"About being an asshole when I knew close to nothing about you, how my apology came way to late... for so many things." Yuta unknowingly began opening up, his fingers uncomfortably fidgeting inside of his pocket.
Suddenly, he took a deep, short breath as he felt two arms wrapping around his torso, and Yuta had no time to break free when he also felt the head on his chest. His heart began thunderously booming with shock at the long-lost feeling. He was frozen.
Soomin didn't know what was happening either. Few hours ago, she would've never expected herself to be hugging Yuta of all people. But here she was, comforting him as best as she could.
And Yuta accepted that. A bit too wholeheartedly too. He melted into the comfort of reassurance and affection the young girl offered him, and soon enough, he did his best at trying to return the gesture.
Soomin unconsciously smiled, her herself also cheering up. "You're actually pretty nice."
"No I'm not."
"Yesh you are."
"No."
"Yesh."
"It's yes, not yesh."
"Are you admitting to it?"
"No."
"Aw. How boring."
"Okay that's rude." Yuta complained, although it wasn't whiny and he did not seem offended at all.
And that was the tale of how Soomin hugged the coldest, most unapproachable member of NCT.
Lowkey kinda dry chapter but awww
Been waiting forever to develop their relationship
Also, we're almost at 100K with this story vkvjnsvnsjvbs what the fuck