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vampwrrrmistresslist · 5 years

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No Such Thing 2

A/N: This is the second chapter for a finished series, the links for which are on my mistresslist.

Over the course of the next few months, you and Xiumin became fast friends. Though quiet, he had a great sense of humour, and once he became comfortable around you, he began to talk a lot more. Once he began to open up, you realized that he was quite funny, and surprisingly mischievous. He loved to play light-hearted pranks on you, and in general, annoyed you almost as much as Chanyeol did when you were growing up together.

From replacing your conditioner with cooking oil, to replacing your mouthwash with oral laxative, to once hiding every single pair of socks you owned. “Where did you even put them all?” you wondered out loud as you searched the apartment.

Xiumin lounged on the couch, watching a drama about a sleep-deprived gwishin-whisperer who falls in love with a dyslexic chaebol who owns a shopping mall. “That’s for me to know, and you to find out, grasshopper,” he said distractedly, leaning forward as the main couple leaned toward their first kiss.

“You are such an ajumma!” you said, grabbing a stuffed animal, and smacking him upside the back of his head.

“Yah!” he yelled. “You’re going to make me miss the best part! Besides, violence isn’t going to get you back your socks!”

“Child!”

“Automaton!”

“Brat!”

“Robot!”

“Ajumma!”

“Sockless wench!”

“Oh!” you huffed, stomping off to the sound of his laughter, to search the kitchen. You finally found them, all packed tightly into a ball in a gallon freezer bag, in your 25 lb bag of rice.

Flopping on the couch, you tossed the bag to him. “Found them. You know, I liked you better when you were invisible.”

He flashed his billion-watt smile at you. “Don’t lie. I’ve seen my reflection. I know I’m handsome!” Leaning against the arm of the couch, he turned teasingly to you. “Look all you like!”

“Sorry, you’re not my style. I’m not attracted to squid!” You ran away laughing as he threw the bag of socks at your head.

***

Another night, found you watching scary movies. The sudden appearance of the monster startled Xiumin, and he jumped, and clutched your arm.

You looked over at him, your expression deadpan. “Really?”

“What?” he responded, eyes still on the screen.

Not saying anything, you waited until he turned to you, then looked down at his arms wrapped around one of yours.

He followed your gaze, then looked up, grinning endearingly, but still not moving.

You made a fist as if to hit him, but he just held your arm even tighter, pouting down at you. “Seriously?!” you asked.

“It’s scary!” he whined.

“How are you scared? You’re dead. You’re the thing that makes people scared!”

“Okay, well, yes, I’m gwishin, but I’m not scary gwishin!”

Pausing the movie, you turned to him. “Have you met any scary gwishin?”

He shook his head, shivering. “I haven’t met any other gwishin.”

“Really?!”

Xiumin nodded.

“Wow.”

“That’s why I kept trying to interact with everyone who moved in here. I was lonely.”

Your mouth involuntarily turned down at that. It was just so sad. “I have to tell you, before I met you, I could see…spirits, I guess, but never any that interacted with me. Watching them was like watching a clip of a film repeating itself. I don’t think that they were gwishin, not really. I call them echoes, actually. Before you, I never believed in gwishin.”

“I’m gwishin, and I don’t know if I believe in gwishin. How can I be the only one?”

You shrugged. “I don’t know. Oh, wait, I never thought about it, but should I…I don’t know, offer you food, or something?”

He shook his head. “Not hungry.” Then sighed. “I miss being hungry.”

“You miss being hungry?”

“Not hungry, like starving, but I miss the anticipation of eating. The relief when you start. The satiation afterward. I miss tasting, and chewing, and swallowing. I miss walking into a store, and having people look at me. I miss being able to help people without frightening them. I miss schedules, and plans, and knowing who I am, and having a future.” By the time he was finished, his eyes were red-rimmed, and he was flushing.

You didn’t know what to do. So, you thought about what you did when Chanyeol was upset. Turning toward him, you pulled your arm from his now listless grasp, and slid your arms around his waist, laying your head on his shoulder. “I’m sorry, Xiumin-sshi.”

He didn’t say anything. Then, slowly he wrapped his arms around you, and curled his body closer to yours.

You stayed like that for a long time.

***

A few days later, you accosted Xiumin while he was tidying up the dishes you had left in the sink. Another awesome perk of having him as a roommate is that he was almost obsessively clean. You didn’t want to take advantage of him, but you had to admit that you were living the dream. “Let’s go out.”

“What?”

“Let’s go out tomorrow!”

“Uhhh, okay? To do what?”

You shrugged. “We’re always stuck inside the apartment. Let’s just go do something outside of this place. All I do is go to school, and come home. I want to breathe fresh air. Let’s spend all day away tomorrow. And I want to see a movie. Call?”

Xiumin nodded. “Call.”

***

When you shuffled from your bedroom the next morning, Xiumin was pressing the buttons on the rice cooker to reheat your rice. Walking over, you turned it off. When he looked at you quizzically, you shook your head. “Eating out today. I’ll be ready in a half hour.”

An hour later, (What?! You had asked, to his rueful look), you were ready. As you were leaving your apartment, you put a Bluetooth headset in your ear. When you didn’t make any calls, he looked at you quizzically, and you said, “This way, I can talk to you, without looking crazy.”

“Ah…” he said, nodding. “You’re clever.”

Blushing, you shook your head. “I just don’t want to be carted away for a psych evaluation before dinner.”

You took him to your favourite coffee shop for breakfast. “Good morning!” you called, as you entered, causing everyone to look up at you. The baristas smiled, and bowed, and you bowed back, as you approached the counter. Gesturing slightly to the board, you asked Xiumin, “What would you choose?”

After carefully perusing the entire menu, he seriously answered, “Medium French press, no cream, no sugar.”

Making a face, you said, “Do you have no taste buds? So bitter.” Moving toward the front, you ordered a caramel latte, with extra caramel, easy on the foam.

After you ordered, he made a face at you. “So sweet!”

“Like me!”

He plucked you on the forehead, and you frowned, unable to react without calling attention to yourself.

After breakfast, you went to a sports equipment store. Other than dramas, you had discovered that Xiumin loved watching soccer, and when you would come into the living room in the mornings, what he was watching would be a toss-up between the most tooth-achingly sweet romantic dramas on the TV, or old World Cup games on your laptop.

He raised his eyebrows in surprise, after you greeted the employees, and began looking around the store. “You like sports?”

“Not particularly,” you answered. “But oppa likes soccer, so I’m thinking of getting him something from here for his birthday.”

Xiumin tilted his head in consideration. “He…doesn’t look like a soccer player.”

You shrugged. “You don’t look like a bodyguard and yet, thanks to you, I’m still around.” He fell silent, and you made a beeline for one of the employees. “What should I ask?” Over the course of the next three hours, he fed you questions for the employee–with tangents to discuss soccer games past–and by the time you left, you had bags full of apparel, shin guards, cleats, gloves, and a particularly obnoxiously bright soccer ball.

A flyer on the window of the store caught your eye. “Looks like there’s a pickup soccer game at the park in a half hour. Do you want to go?”

He looked at you sideways. “Why?”

“You know, I’ve been thinking about it. I need to pick up a sport. For exercise. I’m getting a little soft around the middle.”

Xiumin eyed your waist. “You look the same, to me.”

“I know my body!” you yelled, stomping off toward the field.

When you were almost there, he asked, “Are you really going to play?”

“Of course not!” you scoffed. “Do I look like I want to be embarrassed, and beaten to a pulp at a game today? I’m only going to watch, so that I can learn the basics. You’ll explain it to me, won’t you?” You looked up at him, pleading with your eyes.

Looking down at you, he suddenly blinked. Swallowing hard, he took a small step back.

“What’s wrong?”

Smiling, he shook his head. “Nothing. I just…yaaah, you really shouldn’t try to do aegyo. It looks weird on your face.”

Wrinkling your nose at him, you riposted, “Your face looks weird on your face!”

You both watched the game which, admittedly, wasn’t as boring as you thought it would be, especially once he explained the rules to you.

“Wanna make a bet as to which team will win?” you asked.

“You’re on. How do we choose?”

“Kai Bai Bo?”

“Call!”

Hands behind your back, you faced each other. “Kai Bai Bo!” He had bai (rock), and you had paper (bo).

“I win!” you crowed.

Xiumin groaned. “Best two out of three?”

“Call!”

You still won. You picked the team with the red belts, leaving him the team with the black.

After the game was over, you had won the bet, and you turned to him in victory. “So, I get a wish?”

He rolled his eyes, but he was grinning. “Sure. What do you want?”

“Are you kidding? I’m going to save it!”

“Save it for what?”

“For hard times. Just remember…” you shot a finger-gun at him, clicking your tongue “…now you owe me a wish!”

After that, you went to a neighbourhood bakery for lunch. “Hello!” you sang as you entered.

The baker smiled at you, as she emerged from the back, her eyes crinkling as you approached. “Do you know what you want?”

“Oh, not, yet–I think that I’m going to have a hard time today–everything looks so good!”

She smiled again at your compliment. “If you don’t mind, I was frosting a cake. Just call for me when you’ve decided!”

After she had gone, you asked. “Doesn’t everything look delicious?”

Xiumin nodded.

Watching where his eyes rested, you decided on the mocha bread, a steamed pork bun, and a roll of tuna kimbap. After you had purchased your food, and were sitting, you asked, “So, what movie do you want to see?”

“Mmm, Logan?

“Oh, I heard that it’s sad!”

“Do you want to watch something else?”

“No, I do want to see it, I just know that I’ll probably cry.”

His eyes softened. “Well…you can cry on me.”

Looking up at him, you were suddenly nervous, so you quickly tore a piece of your mocha bun, and stuffed it into your mouth. “Oh, really?” you asked through a cheekful of bread. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

***

Logan was heartrending. And you did cry. And, true to his word, Xiumin let you cry on his shoulder.

As you were leaving, a tall, handsome boy approached you. “Hi! I’m sorry to bother you…I don’t normally do this…but I noticed you crying during the movie, and it was just so sorrowful, and lonesome that I had to come over and make sure that you were okay.”

You stared at him in surprise, glancing at Xiumin. Alone? Couldn’t this guy see that you were with–

Oh. No. No, he couldn’t. Smiling, you shook your head. “Thank you, but I’m fine. I just always cry at sad movies.”

“Oh, really? Then…why do you watch them?”

Gesturing vaguely, you looked off into the distance. “Sometimes…tears can be cathartic, I guess.”

“Really? I’ll have to keep that in mind. I’m Ong Chang Wook, by the way.” He reached out to shake your hand, then withdrew it awkwardly, when he saw all the bags you were carrying. “Do you need help with those?”

You flashed him a grin. “It’s fine. I’ve been carrying them all day. They’re not that heavy.”

“A nice girl like you shouldn’t have to carry her own bags.”

A blush started at your neck, and slowly crept up your cheeks. “Ah. I don’t…really know how to respond to that.”

“You could…give me your number? Let me take you on a date?”

Your eyes widened in shock. This was awkward. Xiumin was standing right next to you, glaring at the guy as if his gaze could light the other man’s hair on fire. Furthermore, you were surprised at your own reaction. This guy would normally be just your style. He was tall, handsome, with bright eyes, and a sweet smile, and, despite the cliche of the meeting, sincerity shone through his gaze. And you felt…nothing. “Ah, well, normally, I would love to, but I…I…”

His face fell. “You have a boyfriend?”

You nodded, looking away from his eyes, “Something like that…”

“Of course you do, as pretty as you are, and with such a sweet heart.” He ruffled the hair on the back of his neck. “Ah, well. I hope that he knows what he has. Listen, if he ever lets you down, just come here looking for me. I love movies–I’m here all the time. I’ll treat you well.”

Face flushing even hotter, you looked down and nodded.

After watching you for a moment, he smiled and nodded back. “Okay! Are you sure that you don’t want me to carry your bags somewhere? Hail a taxi for you? Walk you home?”

You shook your head.

“Alright, then. Well…enjoy the rest of your night!”

Looking back up, you flashed him a sincere smile. “Thank you! You, too!”

He nodded decisively, and then, shoving his hands in his pockets, he turned around, and walked away.

Both you and Xiumin were silent on the way home. You had wanted to suggest having dinner out, but the evening’s mood had somehow taken a more pensive turn.

Suddenly, you heard deep barking and growling, indicating that something of considerable size was approaching at an accelerated rate. Looking around, you spotted a huge dog bounding toward you, a tall child running after it. Without thinking you shrieked in surprise, and jumped behind Xiumin, dropping your bags to scrabble at the back of his jacket.

He stood in front of you in a defensive stance, partially crouched, as he growled back at the approaching dog.

Said dog stopped in it’s tracks, as abruptly as if it had hit a wall, with its back legs shooting between its paws. Scrambling backwards, its tail between its legs, it slinked, whining, back toward its master. The boy grabbed it by the collar, scolding it, before bowing to you in apology. Returning the bow, you watched as he led the dog away, its back end almost dragging against the ground in the dog’s effort to display submission.

Once they had turned the corner, Xiumin turned to you, looking worried. “Are you okay?”

Mutely, you nodded, embarrassed at your reaction. “I’m sorry; I panicked.”

Smiling, he tilted his head, so that he could look directly into your eyes. “Sorry, for what? It’s not like it could have hurt me. Besides, I don’t mind if you think of me as your protector. I rather like that.” He leaned closer, wrinkling his nose teasingly, “Makes me feel all manly.”

Snorting, you picked up your bags, and pushed past him. “Don’t let it go to your head. Anyway, I’m hungry.”

“Hi, Hungry, I’m Xiumin!”

You ended up eating at the neighbourhood pojangmacha, with Xiumin convincing you to try the liver, so that you could let him know what it was like. “Sadness. It tastes like sadness. And tears. And a high iron count.”

He snorted. “It’s good for you.”

“Just because something’s good for me doesn’t mean that it’s good. I’d rather lick Bubba than eat that again.”

“You should take better care of yourself.”

You sat back in mild offense. “I’ll have you know that I take excellent care of myself!”

Xiumin raised a brow, and started ticking off on his fingers. “You never eat organ meats–”

“–Because they taste like sad!”

“you get an average of 4 and a half hours of sleep a night–”

“Hello! Grad student!”

“your breakfasts are woefully small–”

“I’m not that hungry in the mornings!”

“you often skip dinner–”

“Everyone does that occasionally!”

“you don’t drink enough water–”

“I prefer tea.”

“you always say yes to anyone who asks for a favour, no matter how much it puts you out–”

“–and now I have an army of minions who owe me favours.”

“you don’t take vitamins–”

“I eat enough vegetables…”

He stopped, giving you a look. “You have a quick-witted answer for everything, don’t you?”

“Admitted.”

He leaned forward, his arms crossed on the table. “What am I going to do with you?”

“Enjoy me. I am a delight.”

Xiumin smiled, but said nothing.

Suddenly, there was a skidding noise, and a middle-aged man fell off of his bicycle, onto the sidewalk. Jumping up, you rushed over to ensure that he was alright, which he was–just a bit shaken. Upon investigation, you all discovered that the air pressure in his tire was too low, and he had run into a small rock that, with normal pressure, the bike would have just gone over, but with with the low pressure, turned into a hazard.

“I…think I know what to do,” Xiumin said.

You raised an eyebrow.

He nodded.

“Okay, do you know how to fix this?” you asked the man.

He shook his head. “The bike was a birthday gift from my daughter. I have a little toolkit in the basket, but I never really bothered to figure out how to fix anything. She usually just does a checkup for me whenever she comes by, and fixes whatever is wrong, but she has been a bit busy, lately.”

“I think that I can help you.” Moving over to a small patch of grass on the corner, you listened to Xiumin’s directions, and within an hour, had the bike up and running for the ajusshi. He rode off after thanking you profusely, and you watched Xiumin watch the man go, a small smile on his face. “So, you know how to fix bikes.”

“I guess I do.”

“That’s pretty neat.”

He looked down, smiling modestly, then back up at you. “Come on. Let’s go home.”

***

Upon your return home, you collapsed on the couch, arms and legs splayed everywhere, like a starfish.

Xiumin lifted your legs, and plopped beside you, resting your calves on his lap, his hands resting on your shins.

Your eyes were closed, and you were drifting off, when you heard a soft, small, “Thank you.” Roused, you looked at him through half-lidded eyes. “For what?”

“You know what.”

“For allowing you to look upon my glorious visage day in, and day out? Ah, so annoying! Why am I so aggravatingly good looking? Eh, you’re welcome; you’re welcome! Don’t mention it again; it’s too embarrassing!”

He rolled his eyes. “I’ll do my best to contain myself. But…don’t think that I don’t know what you were doing.”

You stilled. Then, throwing an arm over your eyes, you said. “I really don’t know what you were talking about.”

“Really? Let’s see, today, I had people greeting me, or at least greeting you, who was right next to me, I got to talk about soccer, watch a soccer game, have a schedule, make plans, help someone…am I forgetting anything?”

Sighing, you mumbled, “I tried to eat whatever caught your eye. Except for the coffee. You have horrid taste in coffee.”

“Philistine.”

“Pretentious snob.”

“Child.”

“Liver lover.”

He laughed outright.

***

A few weeks later, you both were huddled under blankets on the couch, watching a drama–he had finally sucked you into their world, and you had a standing appointment to watch the new episodes with him twice a week–when a feral thunderstorm knocked out the power. You sat in the dark for a few moments, before groaning, “Really?!”

Xiumin went to the window and looked out. “It looks as if the entire area is without power. I can’t see a thing.”

You groaned again, and flopped backwards on the couch, pouting. “It was just getting good!” About to direct him to get the candles and matches, you saw that he was back with them already in hand.

Lighting three, he placed one on the living room table, one on the sideboard in front of a mirror–creating even more light–and one on top of the television, and came back to sit next to you on the couch. While dim, there was enough light to see everything, so there would be no danger of you hurting yourself as you maneuvered around most of your apartment.

“Now what?” he asked.

“Wanna play Godori (Go-Stop)?”

“Not enough light. You’ll strain your eyes.”

“Yes, Oemma,” you muttered under your breath. “What about Truth or Dare?”

Shrugging, he nodded. “Why not? You go first.” You both turned to face each other, bringing up your legs to sit cross-legged under your respective blankets.

“Okay. Truth or Dare?”

“Mmm…truth.”

“Okay…” You looked around. Without his memory, this would be harder than you had previously anticipated. “So…who has been the best tenant here, so far?”

“Bubba.”

You slapped him on the arm.

“It’s the truth! She’s my favourite! She’s cute, she’s cuddly, she purrs when she sees me. And, didn’t you say that you were going to pick up more cats? I’m waiting!”

“I do need to do that,” you mused. “Will you go with me, to choose?”

His eyes softened. “Really?”

“Of course! You live here, too! We should pick out cats that we both like!”

“Okay!” he said, giving you a high five. “It’s your turn. Truth or Dare?”

“Let’s see…truth.”

“Copycat.”

“Keep it moving, old man.”

“How do you know I’m older than you? You could be my noona!”

Grinning, you said, “I could be. Maybe you should start calling me that. And then you can do whatever I say.”

He wrinkled his nose, and said, “Or, I don’t know, maybe I’m older than you; who knows?”

“So, maybe I’m your dongsaeng?”

Xiumin nodded.

“Okay, Gwishin Oppa.”

He shook his head. “You are so annoying.”

“I’m a professional. I’ve been annoying Chanyeol oppa for years. Decades, at this, point.”

Reaching across, Xiumin plucked your forehead. “Alright, let’s get back to it. Truth. Let’s see…what did you think when you first saw me?”

You mused. “Well, remember when I first saw you, I had a concussion. I thought that, maybe I was hallucinating.”

“What did you think of me?”

“Of you, personally?” He nodded. “I liked–like–your outfit. You’re lucky that you’re gwishin, or I would have borrowed that jacket a long time ago.”

“Is that all?”

You were silent for a moment. “Okay, so I have eyes. You’re handsome, what of it?”

He crowed. “See?! I knew it! Squid, BS!” You rolled your eyes, as he celebrated, then calmed himself, running a hand over the side of his hair, as if to smooth imaginary out of place locks. “Your turn.”

“Truth or Dare?”

“Truth.”

“Well, this is going to be a fun evening.”

Xiumin waved a hand at you. “Just get on with it.”

“Right. What does it feel like? Being gwishin?”

Thinking for a moment, he drummed his fingers on his knee. “Honestly? It feels like…nothing. I don’t get cold…I don’t get hot…I don’t get hungry… Nothing in my body aches–you know, all those little random pains, and twinges you get throughout the day? None of that. It feels like…it’s like floating in body-temperature water, only without the feeling of the pressure of the water. Unless something major happens, like someone kicks me, or I don’t know, hits me with a broomstick. That hurts. At least, for the moment. Once the sensation passes, however, it’s like it was never there. Does that answer your question?” You nodded. “Truth or Dare.”

“Dare.”

“Okay!” He rubbed his hands together, a mischievous smile on his quirking his mouth. “I dare you…to take a serving of each one of those vitamins and supplements that your oemma brought over the other day.”

“What?! That’s not a real dare!’

“I said, what I said.”

“You’re ruining it!” you moaned.

“Do you forfeit?”

You glared at him. “No!”

“Then go do it! Go on. Run along.”

Giving him the evil eye the entire way, you took the vitamin. “Are you going to be like this all night?”

“I don’t know,” he cackled. “Am I?” He wiggled his brows, and you rolled your eyes.

“My turn! Truth or Dare?”

“Dare.”

“Alright! Let’s see…” You were silent for a moment. Then it hit you. What were you supposed to dare him to do? No one could see him. He couldn’t eat. He couldn’t drink. That crossed off both public humiliation, and ingestion of repulsive substances. Then again… “Alright…you know that song I like?”

“Which one? You listen to a lot of songs.”

“The one that I was obsessed with.”

“Yeah?”

“Dance to it.”

His grin dropped. “What?”

“I want you to dance–and sing–to Monster!”

He sighed deeply, as if you had sentenced him to walking the plank.

Clapping your hands, you chanted, “Do it! Do it! Do it! Do it!”

“Give me the music, at least.”

“Oh, I’ll give you the music!” you cackled, grabbing your phone, and bringing up the song. You raised your knees to your chest, wrapping your arms around them, as you watched him get into position. “Ready?” you asked, an avid grin on your face.

Xiumin sighed again, looking skyward. “Ready.’

You queued the music, and then watched him go.

To say that his performance was a disappointment would be an understatement.

He was…good. He was really good. He didn’t miss a step. When the music was over, he was kneeling in front of you, a cocky grin on his face.

“Well, that was certainly…upsetting.”

He barked a short laugh. “Disappointed that I didn’t make an idiot of myself?”

You sniffed. “Quite. How did you do that?”

“Like you said, you were obsessed with that song. I don’t know how many times you watched it. I just picked it up.” He brushed a piece of imaginary lint off of his shoulder. “It’s not like it was hard.”

“I hate you.”

“You should appreciate greatness, when you see it.” He grinned. “My turn.”

You groaned, and waved a hand languidly. “Continue.”

“Truth or Dare?”

“Truth.”

“Now, who’s being a coward?”

You glared. “Fine. Dare. What are you going to do, ask me to drink a bottle of water?”

He cut you a look. “Don’t tempt me.” You closed your mouth with a snap. “Let’s see…I dare you…to call Chanyeol, and tell him that we’re dating.”

“WHAT?!” Xiumin guffawed, wrapping his arms around his middle, and falling over on the couch. “ARE YOU INSANE?! YOU WANNA DIE? YOU WANNA GET ME KILLED?!”

“Do it, or pay the forfeiture penalty.”

“What’s the penalty?”

“Uh, we never decided. So…that means that I get to come up with one right now.” You squinted at him. “The penalty is that you call Chanyeol, and–”

“Yah!” You threw a stuffed animal at his head. “It has to be a penalty that would work for both of us!”

He ducked, laughing, then held up his hands. “Okay! Okay! The penalty is making up your bed for three months.”

You gasped. “You’re a monster!” You detested making your bed, finding it pointless.

Xiumin tapped his fingertips together. “Decisions, decisions.”

Grabbing your phone, you glared at him, trying to stare him down as you made the call. It didn’t work.

He hid behind your stuffed animal, peeking over the top, with a naughty glint in his eye.

“Hello?” you brother answered the phone.

“Heeeeey! Oppaaa! How’re you dooooing?”

“Are you drunk?”

“No! No…just, uh…just calling to see how you were…”

“I’m fine,” he responded, his voice deepening in suspicion. “How are you?”

“Me? Oh, I’m great! Great! Everything’s great!”

Real concern tinged his voice. “Is everything really okay?”

Realizing that you were freaking him out, you closed your eyes, and bit the bullet. “Remember Xiumin?”

“Yeah, that creepy guy who lives in your house, and probably watches you sleep?”

“Don’t be mean.”

“Okay, that totally not creepy dead guy who lives with my sister rent-free?”

“Uh, yeah. Him. Hey, listen…we…we’re kind of…uh, sort of…y’know…dating, if you w–” You couldn’t finish your sentence through the incoherent screaming blasting through your phone, threatening to damage your speakers.

Xiumin winced. “I can hear that from all the way over here.”

“Can I tell him that it’s a dare?”

Xiumin waved his hand magnanimously. “You may. As angry as he sounds, he might pop an aneurysm, just to come after me.”

“Haha, justkiddingoppait’sajokewe’replayingTruthorDaresonevermindhaveagoodnightbye!” You hung up the phone, cutting off Chanyeol’s tirade. He hadn’t even taken a breath. After a moment, your phone began to ring. You both looked at it in horror. Tossing it to Xiumin, you lifted your hands. “You did this!”

He took the phone by a corner, swiped right, and carefully brought it up to his ear. “Hello?” he asked, his voice tentative. Another blast of baritone fury ripped through your speakers. His eyes widened, and he looked at you, whispering, “Your brother has quite the vocabulary!”

Grabbing the phone, you turned away from Xiumin to take ownership of the conversation. It took twenty minutes, and a lot of explanation and pleading, but you finally got your oppa to calm down, and disconnect the call.

When it was over, you turned back to Xiumin, and stared at him, wide-eyed. “You so owe me. He was on his way here with red beans. So, now, it’s my turn. Truth or Dare.”

“Dare.”

“Take off your jacket.”

He looked at you quizzically, covering his upper body with his arms, and partially turning away from you.

You looked him up and down. “What are you thinking? I just want to see what happens.”

He cocked his head. “Actually, I’ve never done it before. I don’t know what happens, either.”

“So, let’s see it.”

Standing, he slipped his jacket off of his shoulders, and tossed it toward the couch. As soon as it left his fingertips, it dissolved into black mist, and reformed around his body. “Well,” he said.

“Well,” you repeated. “Now we know. Your turn.”

“Truth or Dare.”

“Truth.”

“Why didn’t you take that guy’s number at the movies?”

Your face flushed. “What guy?”

“Oh, you remember him. Tall, charming, really, really, ridiculously good-looking.”

“Oh, that guy,” you said faintly.

“Yeah, that guy.”

“I don’t know. I guess that he just wasn’t my type.”

“Tall, handsome, and polite isn’t your type?”

“What’s the point of being so uselessly tall? It just makes him harder to reach. Why do you ask?” you queried, turning the tables on him.

His face flushed crimson. “No reason. Just curious. It’s your turn.”

“Truth or Dare.”

“Dare.”

“I dare you to tell me the truth about why you asked me that question.”

“That’s cheating.”

You pointed to your phone. “Do we need to rehash what I’ve already gone through tonight?”

He chuckled softly, and shook his head. “No. But that was funny, though.”

You kicked him. “Speak!”

He rolled his eyes. “I just wanted to…make sure that you didn’t turn him down…because of me.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah…”

“Well, I didn’t.”

“Okay.”

At that moment, the power came back on. “I guess…we can stop playing, now,” you said, slowly.

“I guess we should.” You looked at each other for a while, then he smiled, and turned on the TV. “Let’s see if we can catch the last bit of the drama, shall we?”

***

You were having a crap day. A terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. You had been tasked with a presentation which you had been working on for weeks. It had taken all of your spare time, and even more of your sleep, much to Xiumin’s constant, silent, judgemental disapproval. Even though you had been allotted a budget to create it, you wanted it to be perfect, so you had, admittedly, gone a bit over budget, and had yet to even be reimbursed for the portion that your partners had already agreed to pay.

The presentation was due in three days, the same amount of time in which you hadn’t slept, and you just found out that, despite all of your hard work, they had decided to go in another direction–without telling you. In fact, when you confronted them, they lied, saying that they accidentally lost the thumb drive with your most recent update on it, and so decided to just come up with something else. True, you still had an earlier version saved on your computer, but unless you forfeited going to class, and teaching, and sleeping until it was due, you didn’t have enough time to redo all the work you had lost.

The day was grey, which matched your mood perfectly. You don’t think that you could have taken it, if it had been sunny. You morosely wandered around campus, trying not to cry every time you thought of what had happened. It wasn’t just the loss of the work, or the fact that they had decided they wanted to change the subject. It was the fact that they had lied. They had lied to your face, grinning as they shovelled their bull-crap, and expected you to believe it. Or maybe not. Maybe they didn’t even care whether you believed the lie, they just didn’t want to have to undergo the awkwardness of a conversation where they told you that the last six weeks of your life had been mostly pointless.

Then there was the guilt. It burned. Had there not been enough meetings? Had you not explained your plans well enough? Had you not told them what you were doing in enough detail? Was your work really that subpar? The questions swirled inside your head in an endless refrain. You couldn’t even begin to answer them.

So, you wandered, for hours. You didn’t want to go home. Xiumin would probably be there, and your facade just wasn’t ready, yet. For the first time since you had met him, you wished that you lived alone. Making your way down to the lake, you sat on the shore, drawing your knees to your chest, staring at the mist drifting over the water, and thinking. After a while, there was movement to your right, and one of your students sat down beside you.

“Hey,” she said.

“Hey, Hangah” you responded.

“What’s wrong?”

You flashed her a smile. “What makes you think that something is wrong?”

She turned, pointing to the building whose back faced the lake. “That’s my dorm. I like to study at the window, and I’ve watched you wander listlessly back and forth, for the last three hours.”

You snorted, then sighed. “That’s what I get for having perspicacious students.”

She scoffed, and tossed back her hair. “I’m a senior. I’m only one year younger than you.” After watching your face for a moment, she turned back to the water. “For the rest of today, pretend that I’m not your student. Pretend that you’re not my TA.” She was silent for a long moment. Then. “Unni, what’s wrong?”

Your face crumpled, and you buried it in your knees as you began to cry. “I’m sorry! I’m so sorry!”

She didn’t say anything, just leaned against you, with an arm around your back, until the storm had passed.

When it was over, you lifted your head, and sighed.

Hangah tilted her head to look at you, and said. “Wow. You look like crap.”

You burst out laughing.

She dug a crumpled paper towel from her pocket, and handed it to you. “It’s fine. I just used it to dry an apple that I washed.”

You wiped your face, and then blew your nose, and sighed. “Thank you.”

“Are you ready to talk about it?”

Nodding, you told her the whole story, also explaining how guilty you felt over the fact that you hadn’t been able to do what they wanted. She listened wordlessly, and when you were finished, her brow wrinkled. “You apologize a lot. It seems like you think that this is all your fault, but in reality, if they didn’t like what you were doing, then they should have told you sooner. They shouldn’t have let you pour yourself out like water while they were deciding that they wanted to do something else.” You looked at her in shock, and she gazed back at you steadily. “It’s not your fault.”

You blinked.

“Take it in, unni. This…was not…your fault.”

Your face twitched.

“All they had to do was say, weeks ago, that they’d rather do something else. Why put you through all of that work, only to change their minds at the last minute?”

You looked over the water, your face perplexed. You didn’t even have a response. You were so used to taking responsibility for everything, that the idea that this wasn’t all your fault hadn’t even occurred to you.

“Unni?” Hangah’s soft voice brought you back to the conversation. You turned back to her. “Are you hungry?”

***

Later that evening, you returned home, stuffed to bursting with the treats with which Hangah had plied you, saying that the best cure for sadness was something sweet. She had fed you, and made you watch funny movies until tears were once again running down your face, though these had been of laughter.

Xiumin was nowhere to be seen, so you showered and changed into pajamas, and decided to treat yourself by curling up in bed with a book. After all, without the presentation looming over your head, your next few days were homework free. The mist and fog had turned into rain, which pattered steadily, comforting you as you cuddled under your blankets, with Bubba curled against your stomach, purring steadily.

A knock sounded against your door.

“Come in!”

Xiumin poked his head inside, about to ask if you were ready to watch your drama together, when he frowned. “What’s wrong?”

You put down your book. “What do you mean?”

He came inside, and sat on your bed. “Your face…it’s all…I don’t know. Something’s wrong. Your eyes are wrong. The way that you’re breathing is wrong.”

Sighing, you looked away. “Something was wrong, but it’s okay, now.”

He stared at your comforter, tracing imaginary patterns on it, with a finger. Lifting his eyes to you, he asked, “Could you tell me, anyway?” Smiling ruefully, he added, “Otherwise, I’ll just worry.”

You smiled at him, and told him the story of your day. Though hanging out with Hangah had gone a long way toward making you feel better, the negative feelings of the situation were still too fresh to be completely gone, and you found yourself tearing up again as you told him everything.

When you finally couldn’t take it anymore, and your voice broke on a sob, he shook his head in panic, and moved toward you, climbing behind you, and wrapping his arms around you to hold you close. He whispered compliments in your ear, about how you were such a hard worker, how conscientious, how assiduous, how intelligent. You fell asleep to the soft sound of his voice, soothing, and sussurant.

It was dark when you awoke. You turned over, to see Xiumin watching you. “Oh, that’s right. You don’t…sleep.”

He shook his head, smiling ruefully. “Do you feel better?”

You nodded.

“Good,” he said, watching your face. “I’ll go, then.”

You nodded again. “Okay.”

Xiumin swallowed hard, as he watched your eyes in the darkness. “Did you know that you have little ripples in your eyes?” he asked.

“I’m…sorry?”

“In the colour,” he clarified. “It looks like a sandy beach after high tide. Pretty. It’s pretty.”

“Thank you.”

“You have a…small mole under your chin.” You blinked at him. “That’s…something else that I noticed. That you may not know. I thought that you should know.”

You smiled. “Now I know.” Blinking, you realized that, he was slightly closer.

“You also have a mark behind your right knee. It’s shaped like a wide M.”

“I always thought that it was shaped like the US state of Florida.”

He shook his head. “No, it’s definitely an M. I spent an entire afternoon staring at it while you were taking a nap on the couch, one time.”

You quirked an eyebrow.

“It was before we…you know. Met properly. I had nothing else better to do.”

Nodding, you blinked, trying to focus on his face, which had come even closer. “Xiumin-sshi?”

“Xiuminah,” he whispered, just before his mouth met yours.

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