"Hey, Renjun told me to ask you if you wanted to come with us to this art fair downtown." Jaemin says, peeking through the door gap. Dahee's head is the only part of her body he can see, and she looks like she just woke up.
"No thanks," she says through a yawn. "Don't wanna be a third wheel, but have fun though."
"Okay then," he shrugs and turns around to inform Renjun who is waiting on the couch. "She said she doesn't want to go."
"Enjoy rotting in your room then!" Renjun says jokingly before Jaemin can close the door.
"I will!" She retorts and snuggles deeper into the comforter she had cocooned herself in.
For the first time, she finally pushes through with her plan of sleeping the entire weekend. Since Friday afternoon─when she was forcibly driven home by Jisung from college─she has been spending most of the day in her room, and it is now Sunday. A massive wave of exhaustion came over her on Friday night, and she let her body catch up on the sleep she didn't know it needed.
She hadn't noticed she has been neglecting herself as she buried herself in schoolwork and group projects that aren't even due for a month until Jisung said something about it. Apparently, he noticed before her and decided to voice out his worries the afternoon he joined her in the library to study.
"Shouldn't you take a break? You should rest, even if it's just for a few minutes." He had said as he watched her hyperfocus on the textbook in her hands, her teeth caging in her bottom lip to prevent a yawn.
"I will," she replied and looked up at him with droopy eyes. "You're worrying about me, huh?"
"Who wouldn't?" He sounded really serious, a tone she had never heard him speak in. "I've noticed the past few days that you've been overworking yourself. Those dark bags under your eyes make it really obvious, and you're not even eating properly. The salad you ate at lunch isn't enough nutrition, and that's your fifth cup of coffee today. Jaemin hyung has been rubbing off on you lately. And also─what? Why are you smiling like that?"
"So, you've been watching me, huh?" She raised a brow, a giggle escaping her lips as she leaned her head against her palm.
"That's the only thing you got from everything I just said?" He rolled his eyes before starting to gather her things. "I'm driving you home now. You're taking a rest whether you like it or not."
"Okay, mom," she said jokingly then corrected herself. "No. I mean, dad. Okay, dad. Mom never cared about me the way you are right now."
"Well, I'll always care about you," his gaze was soft, but his smile was softer and she really felt like she was gonna melt. "Now, let's go home, Bǎobèi."
She doesn't know if she heard that correctly or imagined it due to the lack of sleep, but butterflies swarmed her stomach nonetheless. Even simply thinking about it makes her insides all mushy. And she wonders if this is what love feels like. Maybe it is, maybe it isn't. But─whatever it is─she likes how it makes her feel. She likes how he makes her feel.
Upon that realization, her heart that was just fluttering a moment ago sinks and she begins questioning herself again. If she is starting to fall for him, she still isn't too sure. And honestly? She is scared to find out. Before she can muster the courage to try and sort out her confusion, her phone rings. His name lights up the screen and her heart skips a beat.
"I was just thinking about you." Is what she almost says, but she stops herself before the words she might regret later escape her mouth and goes for a simple "Hey!" instead.
"Uh, hi," he says and she can clearly hear the nervous lilt in his voice. "Can I, um, come over? I just really need to tell you something and I can't wait until tomorrow."
"Sure, sounds urgent." She says and he ends the call almost immediately without another word.
What he is itching to tell her that it can't wait until the next day makes her grow nervous and, again, she doesn't want to assume things, but she kind of has a feeling of what he terribly wants to tell her (she has already been through it twice). She throws the comforter off her and gets up from her bed, wanting to brace herself for what he has to say. But the doorbell rings before she can even ease her nerves. There is this sinking feeling in her stomach as she makes her way to open the door. She can't tell if it is butterflies or dread.
Taking in a deep breath, she twists the doorknob open and feels her breath hitch when she meets his eyes, "Come in─"
"Dahee, I lost the game." He blurts out before she can even finish her sentence, unable to keep the heavy words in any longer.
"What..."
"I lost the game," he repeats softly. "I'm in love with you."
Although she saw this confession coming, hearing it still makes her freeze in shock. She tries to find the words to say, but she just stands there, silent and tongue-tied. Until it finally sinks in.
"You're in love with me?" It comes out in a whisper, but he hears it clearly and nods. "How... how did you know?"
"Falling in love with you was so easy, and so was realizing it," he says. "Maybe because I've felt this before─but not like this. I only liked Rose, but I love you. I knew it the night I brought up how we forgot about the game. I knew it when I called you Bǎobèi for the first time just to see if it makes you flustered. I knew it the day we drove to the Han River to watch the sunset after having chicken waffles at the diner while I told you about the confrontation with my dad."
"But how?" She asks again. "How exactly did you know you're in love with me?"
"It's simple, really," he answers. "When you made my heart race and my insides feel all warm and fuzzy for the first time... and a hundred more times after that, I knew that I was in love with you. Everyone has their own definitions of it; I had one back when I thought I fell in love with Rose. But if you were to ask me now, I'll have a very different answer from the one I had years ago."
His words prompt her question, "What's your definition of love now?"
"You," he grins. "You are love."
Unable to utter anything, she decides to pull him into a kiss instead and hopes that will be a good enough answer to his heartfelt confession.
ઇઉ
wrote this when i was struggling with a fever and turns out sick me was more productive than normal me could ever be. anyways, how does it feel to have everyone be in love with you, miss dahee?
