radiant | jung hoseok | ✓

chapter eleven | old fashioned coffee

"Hoseokie hyung, Finley, lunch is almost ready," Jimin announces, poking his head through the doorway. He notices us sitting on the bed together and smiles secretively. "Aww am I interrupting?"

Hobi looks up from the booklet, still pressing his shoulder into mine, practically leaning against me. He scrunches his nose and quickly shakes his head, "Aish, get out of here," he scolds in a teasing voice.

Jimin's lips form a wide grin and he giggles softly, hanging on the doorknob. He swings the door back and forth a few times and studies us. "You look so comfy," he continues playfully.

I fight my rising smile and cover my mouth with my hand, "It's... it's no big deal," I answer hesitantly, not wanting to deny how I am feeling at this moment.

I have no idea how Hobi feels towards me, but I don't want to shoot myself in the foot by rejecting him. I don't want to friendzone myself when he actually feels something towards me.

I, for one, hate miscommunication and I won't allow it to ruin my first shot at a relationship.

In the corner of my eye, I notice Hobi's eyes lingering on me before quickly looking away. It might have been the lighting, but I swear his cheeks flushed pink. He sits up straight but doesn't pull away from me yet. He shoos Jimin with a quick flicking of his wrist, "We'll be down in a second. And go wash your hands, I can smell the garlic on your hands from over here."

Jimin rolls his eyes, grinning, "You're so sensitive." He dramatically shows his palms to us, "I already washed them, hyung, you're smelling it on my clothes."

Hobi only wrinkles his nose. "Go change."

Jimin giggles and begins to leave, "Alright..." he pouts mockingly over his shoulder. Then he disappears into the darkness of the hallway.

I sniff the air quietly and frown to myself, unable to smell the garlic Hobi is smelling. He must be a highly sensitive person. My mom is like that. Her is nose is extremely sensitive and she doesn't have nose-blindness as often as the rest of our family. She can smell the must in the storage room when none of us can. She can tell if one of us was standing next to a person who was smoking hours later. She says it is both her superpower and her curse.

Hobi smiles apologetically, "Sorry about him." He shakes his head with a look of disbelief, "I love him but he can be embarrassing sometimes."

"Like a little brother," I assumed.

He laughs, "Yes, exactly like a little brother." He looks to the empty doorway again, "We should probably head downstairs now."

I nod in agreement, "Yes, we probably should..." I stand up from the bed but pause when I realize he hasn't moved. I watch him expectantly and glance between him and the door in silence.

Hobi's gaze becomes far away from a moment, zoning out before his awareness returns to him. He looks up at me as he sets his book of recipes down beside him. "Before we go down... I was meaning to ask you something."

I blink in surprise and school my features to remain calm. My heart begins to race inside of my chest with unknown anticipation. "Yes?"

Hobi stares at me for a moment and hesitates with his request. He clears his throat and quickly averts his gaze, "I... I was going to ask if... if you had a boyfriend...?" Hobi's brown eyes shake with uncertainty as he searches my feet for an answer. "It's totally fine if you do, I was just curious if you did," he adds in a rush.

I take a steadying breath as my heart thuds loudly inside of my chest. "I don't, actually. I'm single," I answered evenly, suddenly finding it difficult to remain calm.