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After about 2 minutes, we entered the hotel lobby. Every inch of our bodies was dripping and, we left a trail of water no matter where we moved.
"What the fuck was that?", I laughed and purposefully moved my hand in slow motions as they finally seemed to thaw.
Heeseung went to the entrance again and wrung out his jacket as best he could. "I didn't expect it to be this intense.".
Only now did I realize that no one was sitting at the reception desk. There was a still some light and a door to a back room has been left open, but there was no one to be seen.
As if by itself, I started whispering. "Don't they have a night shift here?
But he just shrugged his shoulders and brushed his dripping hair out of his face. "Maybe in the bathroom.
As I walked past a large mirror, I saw in the corner of my eye how messed up I looked. My hair literally was a bird's nest, and you'd think they had never seen a hairbrush before.
This realization hit me even harder when we entered the mirror-strewn elevator and I had no other option but to look at my ugly face.
"You wanna give me your Jacket? We should put them on the heater.", he said, while I slipped out of it without hesitation.
With every step, I noticed how the water squelched out of my socks, which was by far one of the most disgusting feelings in the world. I wanted nothing more than to get rid of them.
Heeseung opened the door with a card and I followed after him. The room was pretty small and apart from a bed, a wardrobe, a cupboard and an armchair, there wasn't really any more furniture. He hadn't even cleared out his suitcase, although I had to admit that this wasn't really worth it during this short stay.
"You know that's illegal.", I grinned and supported myself on the wall while kicking out my shoes.
"What's illegal?"
"Sneaking in an overnight guest. You could get kicked out for that.".
Heeseung crouched down to his suitcase and turned his head to me, grinning. "Who says you get to sleep here? Maybe I'll kick you out first.".
I gasped indignantly.
"Just kidding.". I exhaled in relief. Right now, I would avoid nothing more than to have to go back out there in this rainy winter weather. I would even rather sleep in an animal stall.
"Black or blue?".
"Huh?".
"Black or blue? Color.".
A thoughtful hiss escaped my teeth. What was he wanting from me now? Paint by numbers? "Black. I don't know," I said, without thinking much about it. "No, but seriously. I don't want you to get in trouble or anything if I stay here...".
All of a sudden, a balled-up sweater landed in my hands. "What's that for...", I held it slightly away from my body so that the piece of clothing unfolded, and a black oversized hoodie appeared in front of my eyes. Well, maybe not oversized, but men sized.
"Go change.", he said and pulled out a blue sweater and gray sweatpants as well before throwing it on his bed. "Your clothes are completely wet. You can't tell me you'd rather keep them on.". I blinked a few times as Heeseung closed his suitcase again, sank down on the mattress and made an effort to pull down his soaked pants.
I immediately turned around in shock. âI will be right back.". My voice sounded hoarse, although I tried to sound as natural as possible.
How could anyone be that shameless? Like, where did I get myself into? I disappeared into the bathroom and locked the door behind me. There was that strange feeling in my stomach again. The one I hadn't felt for so long. A mixture of excitement because of the unknown, which accelerated my pulse, but also a touch of nausea from nervousness.
I held the sweater to my body in front of the mirror. It looks cute. With some knee-high boots, I could almost pass for Ariana Grande.
After changing, I spread out my wet clothes in the bathroom. I hung my pants over the shower while my sweater dried on the heater.
âIt smells like you.", I said while closing the door behind me, causing Heeseung to turn around for a slight second.
He could help but chuckle at my sight. âNot possible, it's freshly washed.".
âBut it does!", I insisted, and walked over to him to hold out my arm.
âI can't tell.", he said and I rolled my eyes in annoyance, making me sniff the fabric again. âI swear, it's so good.". I almost sighed, but was able to shut my stupid mouth before letting it out.
"Yeah?", he asked and lifted one eyebrow, making me hum again.
But suddenly I noticed how his hands grabbed the hem of my sweater and tried to pull it further down, making my mouth dry and unable to speak for a second.
âI thought you only wanted to change your sweater," he said, and it took me a few seconds to realize.
âOh, this. My pants, they are completely soaked as well...so I thought it's better to put them down to dry.". My head flushed red like a tomato. Gosh, why did I have to put it that way. âI will put them back on...".
âNever mind.", he grinned and removed his hands. âDo you wanna go for a round of switch?", He nodded to the blue-red controller on the bed.
âUhm...I think I would prefer to read a bit." I wiggled my phone in my hand. "I'm really on to an exciting book at the moment.".
Heeseung nodded with a smile. âWhatever you want, make yourself at home.".
I squatted down comfortably on the armchair and propped my head on my chin while I opened scrolled down to my bookmark. Reading had become my best friend in the last few weeks, since I hadn't pretty much other stuff to do. Currently, I was tied to this one drama. Even though I already finished it, I read some parts over and over again for good the 5th time now.
A handsome young man who has just been accepted into the rival motorsports team of the main protagonist's, aka, Ava's father. The girl is literally obsessed with his mystical aura, since she first saw him at training. He, on the other hand, is an arrogant, rich snob and plays unattainable, which pisses her off to death. But when suddenly another guy from her father's team, offers to help Ava wrap the newbie around her finger, her world turns upside down, and she gets caught up in a cycle of promises she can't keep. (A. N. ð)
I was sick of reading stories about love triangles, which is why this book put me under a certain spell in a strange way. For this reason, I had also lost all sense of time, and I looked up in wonder as it became noticeably quiet in the room. The music and sounds of his Nintendo Switch console had completely fallen silent and the switched-off device was placed on the pillow in his lap.
"Have you been watching me?", I lowered my phone, when I met his gaze.
"A little."
Damn it. What if I have done something weird without noticing? Scratched my foot, licked my lips or picked my nose?!
I adjusted my seat in the armchair, noticing my undergarments were showing. I tried to cover it inconspicuously with the sweatshirt I was wearing, but I could tell from Heeseung's quick downward glance that it was already too late for that anyway.
"What were you reading?". He asked.
"Just some kind of book. I don't know...doesn't matter.". the words immediately gushed out of me, and it sounded damn rude. But because of my sudden nervousness, I couldn't really do anything about my choice of words.
Heeseung squinted his eyes for a second, but fortunately nodded afterward. "Interesting".
"I'm going to brush my teeth," I tried to get out of the situation and got up from the chair to disappear into the bathroom.
Even if I was only alone in it for a few minutes.
Come on Hyeona. Don't make such a fuss. It's been months, but you've slept in the same bed with him before. Taking a deep breath, I went back out and purposefully moved to the empty side of the bed.
Heeseung lifted the bedspread on my side so that I could slip under it. Only the light on his bedside table and a LED strip above the bed dimmed the room in a soft yellow shade.
I laid on my back and stared at the ceiling. It was conceivably not a comfortable sleeping position.
"Hey, about earlier...", he suddenly spoke up, making me glare over. "What do you mean You wanna go home?".
In my head, I went over the situation on the basketball court again, recalling my words just before the downpour started.
"I wanna go home with you. I don't wanna stay here any longer."
I rolled over onto the side. He was still sitting quite upright on his side of the bed, plucking at the cover of the pillow with one hand and swiping through Instagram with the other.
"Just like I said. I want to go back.", I admitted. "It's not the life I had imagined. It's kinda...boring honestly.".
"Boring?", repeated Heeseung.
"And I miss you all so much. Like mom, Jungwon, you, ...". I hesitated and interrupted my sentence.
"Sunghoon?".
I fell silent for a second.
"It's nothing bad to miss your brother," he nodded at me encouragingly.
"But what will happen with us?".
"Sunghoon has absolutely nothing to do with what happens between us. We can just continue like this.".
"Keep it secret in public?", I asked.
"Yeah, because no one should actually care. It's our business.".
I hummed thoughtfully. "And just in case he eventually finds out, so be it.". A smile settled on my face. "I don't want to have to live my life according to him and others anymore.".
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