The Drug of a Sinner // Jung Wooyoung

31

A big smile appeared on Y/N's face as she reread over and over the mail from the university she had longed to enter. It had been one of her main goals for years, and she had just been accepted. She had made it.

A warm feeling ran through her body, filling her with pride and satisfaction; she finally felt that her efforts to return to the city to study were worth it. She could feel the excitement her parents would feel when they heard the new news. After all, they were proud of her for the simple fact of studying, just seeing her making an effort, but this time it would be different. She herself accompanied the feeling; without a doubt, having worked in that pawn shop to pay for her studies from the beginning was worth every second.

The pawn shop.

Then the present fell on her like a glass of cold water. Only it wasn't a glass, it was an Olympic pool, and it wasn't cold, it was frozen.

The reality was that she no longer had a job, she had lost it a long time ago, and it was not she who paid for her studies, Jung did it for her.

Wooyoung.

At that moment, Y/N's smile was petrified, obtaining a completely different emotion than seconds ago, vanishing after the boy's face appeared in her mind.

Jung.

There it was again. The boy with whom she had shared so much time ago, for whom she felt so much and so much had to let go. Back then, Y/N and Wooyoung seemed to have good chemistry and their attraction to each other was more than evident. However, everything disappeared when the situation led her to leave the city with her parents. Y/N remembered that day more than what she would have expected; the regret of not having said goodbye to him properly continued inside her.

That is why, after everything that happened, the fact that she was back in the city and she could get back together with Wooyoung, was special to her. They had never expressed what they felt for each other in words, but, to tell the truth, they never needed it. That was their power.

Now, with the present image of the boy in her mind, her emotions collided with each other, overwhelming her thoughts. After all, she had been living together with Jung Wooyoung and she had already gotten used to his presence. To the look of him, the touch of him, the winks of him that always caught her off guard, the way he was and... to that damn smile.

Ever since her parents encouraged her to continue her studies despite the family's financial situation, her ambition had come back with a lot of conviction. However, the game had changed again.

Was she ready to change her current reality once more?

Then, Y/N closed her laptop and kept her eyes lost in the darkness of the place. Her mind was wandering, her ideas were a mess, and to complete the chain, she had once again wondered about Wooyoung's situation at that time.

Between theories and plans, and entanglements, and unnecessary thoughts, the hours passed. Y/N only left her bubble when three knocks on the door forced her back down to earth.

Puzzled, the girl checked her cell phone, discovering then that she had spent the night awake and it was already 9 in the morning. Indeed, if it hadn't been for that sound at the door, she could have spent the entire day locked up without even noticing.

So she headed for the entrance. Now that she had caught on to the time, her energies were starting to fade; for some reason she hoped that whoever was outside her house would be Sam or Chris to help her walk to the university and stay awake the rest of the day.

However, when she opened the door, those were not her eyes that she found in front of her.

"Jung?" Although her eyelids were heavy from exhaustion, she stared at the boy in disbelief.

"Did you miss me, love?"

There was that smile once again. Y/N looked Wooyoung up and down as the corners of her mouth slowly rose and then she hugged him. Wooyoung's arms wrapped around her body, reciprocating the action immediately and making sure to keep it close to him. The girl closed her eyes, letting his presence be everything at that moment. His warmth was finally back with her. The touch of him, the look of him, his everything.

"Are you okay?" She asked then, pulling away from him a bit to make eye contact.

Before answering, Wooyoung kept his eyes on her, noticing that slight shadow under her eyelids.

"Y/N... are you-?"

However, before he could finish the question, the girl nodded slowly as her eyes closed completely and the strength left her body. Jung was quick to catch her and pull her close. There was no doubt that the stress and anxiety had led to greater emotional and physical exhaustion than she realized, eventually causing her to pass out.

Without hesitating for a single second, Wooyoung scooped the girl up in his arms, making sure to lock the door to her apartment before heading to his car.

When Y/N woke up, a couple of hours had passed and her body was resting on a bed that was not hers. She gave a confused look at the ceiling of the room and a slight frown on her face as she tried to remember what had happened. But her doubts drifted away as she turned her face and met Jung's gaze on her. She could not help but smile at the closeness of both of them and the way he hugged her around her waist, keeping her close.

"W-What time is it?" She asked as soon as she could, still not assimilating what had happened.

Jung smiled at the sudden question and brushed a strand of hair away from her eyes.

"Three o'clock I think," he murmured in his deep voice as he watched her, "why?"

"Three-?" She woke up. "And why are we-? The University-"

Immediately, Y/N's body rose on instinct, however, Wooyoung reacted by holding her shoulders, pulling her back in and laying her down once more.

"Where do you think you're going?" He let out a laugh. "Y/N, you fainted from exhaustion as soon as I arrived at your apartment this morning."

Then, hearing those words, the girl froze. Despite not having specifically detailed memories, she remembered the moment she had seen the boy in her doorway, along with his embrace; however the rest was only darkness.

Y/N looked around carefully, confirming that she was in Wooyoung's room, and turned her gaze to him.

"Are we at your place?" she asked innocently, fixing her attention on every detail of his expressions. "Is it safe?"

Wooyoung tilted his head slightly and smiled lopsidedly.

"Do you think it would put you in danger?"

"No, I-"

"Don't worry, they've removed all sorts of charges," he added. "I told you I was clean. I would never keep the merchandise here," he denied. "The case remains a false accusation and I am exempt from suspicion."

Y/N's body released her tensions as soon as she heard those words. Although at no time had she thought that he would put them in danger, she did not know the status of the case in which he was involved, until then. The girl moved in place, settling into his arms and closed her eyes.

But then she sighed in irritation.

"I want to kick that girl."

Wooyoung let out a laugh at her words and slowly nodded.

"Sure... but first you'll have lunch and then you'll have another self-defense lesson. Okay?"