His Stylist Noona

Chapter 6

Da-eun Pov

You woke up the next morning on a cloud. Everything was soft and fluffy and smelled faintly like vanilla. Groggy and still half-asleep, it took you a couple of minutes to realize that you were not, in fact, on a cloud, but rather in a bed. The most comfortable bed you've ever been in, come to think of it.

Tae's fancy, expensive hotel room bed

You frantically searched your brain for a memory of getting into this bed but found nothing. You looked instead for a recollection of leaving the couch but again came up empty-handed. Around and around you went, exploring every crevice of your mind for a vision of the ten-foot journey from there to here, but there was nothing, just a black hole where that experience should have existed.

The realization then hit you like a tidal wave; Tae must have carried you from the couch to the bed after you'd fallen asleep. From how securely you were snuggled underneath the covers, he must have taken the time to actually tuck you in, too. Your entire body immediately flushed with heat, mostly because you were embarrassed, but also because, fuck, he had carried you in his arms to his bed. The thought was entirely too erotic for you to handle this early in the morning.

Immediately sitting up and glancing to your right, you noticed that the other side of the bed was still perfectly made. You then quickly looked across the room and saw Tae huddled on the tiny couch, his mouth hanging open slightly and a pillow clutched tightly to his chest.

For a few minutes, you just sat there in awe trying to process everything. Him giving you the bed, and actually putting you in it, was an unbelievably sweet and thoughtful, and generous gesture. Part of you wished that you had secretly been awake for it, that you could have felt his arms wrap around you and gently lay you down, but the other part of you knew better. Merely imagining it was almost unbearable; experiencing it would have surely been lethal.

For a moment, you felt nothing but pure and unadulterated bliss as an overwhelming warmth spread through your chest, but as quickly as it came, it vanished, leaving your heart cold and brittle as you suddenly felt your throat tightening and a sting settling in behind your eyes.

Any minute now he would wake up and give you that adorable sleepy smile of his and your heart would shatter. That smile, the one you wished you could wake to every morning, was not meant for you to witness. You were not meant to be what he saw first thing in the morning. This was all just an accident, a mistake. You were not supposed to be here with him like this.

Waking up in his room, in his bed, and in his clothes, but knowing he did not actually want you in his room, in his bed, and in his clothes, was the cruelest form of torture imaginable.

You had let yourself get caught up in his sweet words and affectionate gestures before, only to be left hurting afterward when you inevitably remembered they weren't real, but this was different. This wasn't just some fleeting moment. This was a legitimate taste of the life that would never be yours.

How could you have let this happen?

All at once, the need was urgent: you had to get out of here. Now. Before you started sobbing. Before he woke up. Before this whole situation could become any more humiliating and heartbreaking.

Without making a sound, you got up from the bed, grabbed your clothes, and changed in the bathroom. When you were finished, you folded up Tae's pajamas and remade the bed. You then went to the door and checked the peephole and thankfully saw no one on the other side. After listening with your ear to the door for a few seconds and hearing no voices in the hall, you opened it as quietly as humanly possible. You peeked your head out just the tiniest bit to peer up and down the hall and again saw no one. Having determined that the coast was finally clear, you stepped out, gently closed the door, and ran as fast as possible down the hall.