Saturday | April 6th, 2024 | 9:11 AM
"Mmm," The soft, sweet groan came from behind me as I slowly turned my head back. Chaewon was starting to stir. The sun had painted golden stripes through her window and across her bed, one of which now fell directly across her face, making her nose crinkle cutely as her eyelids started to flutter open. I turned my phone off from where it had been up near my face, setting it aside after my morning doomscrolling while I waited for the sleeping beauty to wake up.
I rolled over onto my other side to face her, not trying to wake her entirely with my movement. My eyes drank in the sight of her messy brown hair spread across her white pillows. The peaceful, utterly serene expression on her face. The way her cheeks puffed out slightly as she breathed. God, I don't deserve this.
Her quiet sighs were basically hitting against my face. If I'm being candid and honest, her morning breath wasn't the most perfect but I could care less. Being here with her like this was heaven. Every second that passed by was another second of me pointing out the bits and pieces that made her face. She really is perfect.
She let out another sleepy groan and blinked a few times, her slowly focusing on my face. A small, warm smile bloomed on her lips. "Morning," she rasped, heavy with sleep.
"Morning," I raised an arm from under the blanket, my index finger hooking a stray strand of her hair. I didn't try to fix it. I just curled it around my finger, letting my palm rest against her cheek.
She hummed and leaned into my touch, her eyes closing again, basking in the warmth. I could stay here all day and just hold her. Her lips parted slightly as she sighed. There was a slight shift and she scooted an inch closer to me. There it was. That feeling.
My world shrank to this bed, to this space between our bodies. Nothing mattered more than this. I would let the world burn down if it'd saved us for last. She moved an arm lazily over my body to my stomach and rested her head right under my chin. I squeezed her tight in return and buried my face in the crown of her hair, taking a deep breath. That sweet, gentle scent.
I looked over her head, straight at the empty bed opposite of us. "Sakura's not back yet," I murmured.
"Mmm, no," Chaewon whispered, still not opening her eyes completely. "She's sleeping over her boy thing's house." I hummed in acknowledgment, letting that information sink in. An entire night and a whole morning. Just us. It was selfish, but I was happy to hear it.
"That's good," was all I could say as my arms wrapped fully around her petite frame. I held her close, my hands flat against the soft fabric of her t-shirt, right at the base of her spine. I took a deep breath, breathing in her scent again. Vanilla, strawberry, something clean and soft.
"What do you want to do today?" she asked, her words muffled by my skin. She placed a soft, gentle kiss against my neck. "It's Saturday."
"I don't know, up to you," I said softly.
I could care less about what we did. Anything was fine by me, as long as it was with her. We could go to a park. A museum. Or just lay in bed and talk, or not talk, for the next ten hours. The specifics didn't matter. The past week had been stressful to say the least. My days and nights were consumed with anxiety. That's why I needed this weekend to revolve around her. I had needed an escape, and this was the only thing that worked wonders for me.
Her head shifted and I looked down to see her looking up at me, her eyes still soft and sleepy. Her finger started to make small, absent circles over my heart. "We could..." she drifted. She was glancing around the room in thought. "We could stay in bed. We could catch up on the show we started... We could...I don't know, just go out and find something."
"The park could be nice," I suggested.
"The park," She said to my chest. "Nah, that'll be boring. Maybe some other day."
"Sure, yeah," I whispered.
"How about downtown," she said. "Maybe find a good café? Go thrifting? Something like that?”
"That sounds perfect," I agreed, running my hand back and forth slowly over her back. "Should we get some breakfast, then?"
"Yeah..." she yawned, a long, drawn-out sound that was contagious. I had to stifle my own. After letting out a sigh, she tilted her head back, her sleepy, beautiful eyes finally open and properly looking at me.
Her smile widened, and she leaned up to press her lips against mine. The kiss was slow and sweet, a gentle hello that faintly tasted of her minty toothpaste from last night. A simple, loving kiss. For a fleeting second, all the rot and decay that had been festering inside me just... dissolved. Just vanished, leaving only this feeling of pure, unadulterated rightness.
I was still smiling into the kiss, which she took her sweet precious time to break. Her eyes were open and sparkling when she pulled back, just an inch from my face. "Come on, lazy butt, let's get food," she gently pushed away from me with a quiet laugh.
"Lazy butt," I echoed, "I was waiting for you to wake up for like half an hour."
"Mmm, thank you for waiting, then," she pecked my lips again and gave me that teasing smile. With a groan that was a little too dramatic to be real, she threw her legs over the side of the bed and sat up. Her body arched as she stretched her arms above her head, her back making a few satisfying popping sounds. That t-shirt she slept in, an old gray university tee that was probably two sizes too big for her, rode up, revealing the smooth expanse of her lower back.
Not only that, I grinned at her mint green cheeky panties that decorated her cute little butt perfectly. I couldn't help myself as I reached over and gave her a light smack and a squeeze on her right cheek. She jumped in surprise, turning to look at me with an indignant smirk playing on her lips. "Hwang Minjae," she warned, but her eyes were dancing. "Don't start something you can't finish."
"What's that supposed to mean?" I chuckled with mock-offense.
"It means," she started as she turned her back completely on me. I saw my opportunity. I lunged forward, quickly grabbing her by the hips and pulling her back down onto the bed, holding her tightly against me.
She squealed with laughter, squirming in my grip. "No! Let me go! We have to eat," she gasped between giggles. Her fingers dug into my forearms as she playfully struggled. All it did was make me hold on tighter. "Okay! Okay! I give," she laughed, finally relaxing her body. I dropped my arms and let Chaewon get back to her feet. She turned back, pointed a finger at me, that pretty smile on full display. "You're terrible."
"You know you love it," I murmured, sitting up on the edge of the bed. Her knees touched against her thighs as she stood between my legs.
She rolled her eyes playfully, clasping her hands against my cheeks and looking down at me. Her bright, shining eyes that I was so obsessed with. "And I also love having my pants on in public. So chop, chop, get dressed. You can stare at me all you want later," she pecked me on the top of my forehead. "I'm gonna go to the bathroom."
She played with my hair for a bit before she gently pushed away. I stood up after her, watching her find her shorts to slip into. "How about I cook dinner for tonight," I suggested, stroking her hair and fixing her messy appearance for her. "We could go out, buy some stuff and bring it back to the upstairs kitchen."
"You don't have to," she said, gathering her toiletries.
"It's fine, I'll cook something for you and Sakura. It'll be nice," I continued, trying to imagine a nice dinner to make us for the night. I was on the fence of making pasta or some type of extravagant steak type of dinner.
"Is your little heart set on being a housewife for me tonight, Minjae?" Chaewon murmured, pulling out a towel from their closet.
"Yeah, no. That's exactly it. So be ready to be wowed with my cooking," I laughed. I couldn't get over the way her face softened. Maybe it's that she's never really had anything like this in a while, but I could tell she appreciated gestures like these. She gave a genuine smile.
"Okay," she conceded.
I stood there admiring the view for a bit, before sighing and dragging myself to my overnight bag that I'd thrown on the floor last night. My phone buzzed on the bed behind me, demanding my attention. A quick glance at the screen showed a slow slew of notifications, a growing waterfall of them crowding my home screen.
Chaewon chuckled, "I'll meet you in the bathroom in a bit. Remember to knock." She winked and she shut their dorm door behind her as she headed down to the communal bathroom. I laid back down on the bed once I heard the door close, looking down at my phone and finally gave myself an opportunity to address them.
It was the Goobers. Well, actually, it was a new groupchat. There was no name nor picture which told me this was just made. I looked through the members list first, recognizing everyone's names in it. Oh, actually, I see Nakyung here too. She actually wasn't in the original groupchat.
I also realized that one particular person was left out, the incoming messages telling me the reason why:
Yejihey guysss i know yall are just waking up but i wanted to ask as early as possible
jinhos birthday is next week and i was thinking we should do something
Haechan
im down
Wooyoung
hell yeah im down
Joy
like go out or something?
Saerom
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