.·°¯°·.¸.->Autumn Leaves<-.¸.·°¯°·.

8

All the windows and curtains had been closed, sealing off Hyeri and Jay from the rest of the world. It was one of those days, where mother nature had decided to randomly bless everyone with rain, flourishing the half dead grass and providing water to trees. For the time being, however, it seemed like a curse to the duo who was stuck inside.

It also happened to be one of those days where Hyeri and Jay were missing their beloved friends and family. Hyeri had gotten up early, woken up by the pitter patter of heavy rain drops, followed by Jay, who missed the lack of warmth that Hyeri's hand had provided all night long.

Jay had resolved to lounging around in his room all morning, on an extremely important call with some guy named Jungwon.

"she's trustworthy and nice, she's taken care of me this whole time, nothing weird at all." He kept reassuring his friend. "Deadass, she doesn't know who I am. I think she's one of those weirdos that vow to never be a part of society because social media will brain wash her or something." He joked, earning a loud 'Hey!' from Hyeri.

Hyeri on the other hand had tried to call her mum but was met with a robotic voice telling her to leave a message after the beep. 

"It's probably just because she's busy or something." she thought.

It was days like this that she especially missed her cousin, Yena. Hyeri picked up the pink bear that sat opposite her and breathed in its scent. The girl had lied. She had actually stolen the bear from her closest cousin when they were 10. Joined at the hip since they were born, it was only natural for the two to have the same interests, wear the same clothes and beg for the same toys. Only, there were two things that Hyeri's cousin had that she didn't.

One just so happened to be the pink bear. She couldn't help it, really. It was just so pretty, and Yena had been receiving a lot of attention around that time that jealous girl was driven to steal in order to gain some sort of leverage. The second thing Yena had was Cancer, she passed away at the hands of it a year later. Of course, Yena had realized that Hyeri had the bear, but instead of fighting to have it back, Yena insisted that Hyeri keep it.

"Look at it when you're sad and remember me ok?" The toothless 10-year-old had advised Hyeri at the last time they had met. 

Hyeri reminisced at her happier memories, slowly falling asleep on the kitchen top counter.

Jay found her half an hour later, silent tears streaming down her face as she desperatly clung onto the toy.

"Oh, you poor thing. Let me take away your pain, my angel"

-

When she woke up later, she had found herself in her room. The pink plushie was no longer in her hands. The freaked-out girl jumped out of her bed and wasted no time in tracking Jay down, only to find him working out in the middle of the apartment? Hyeri wasn't one to judge, it's good for your health to stay active, but all of a sudden? Jay had the urge to sweat?

"Oh, Hyeri. I hope you don't mind, gotta take care of ourselves, you know?" He said, stopping everything. "The bears on the shelf again."

"How did you know-"

"Well, you almost scratched me when I tried to pry it away from you. Must be reallly important huh?"

"Yeah well..." Hyeri failed to smoothly change the subject as she focused on Jay properly. He was wearing a sleeveless top, with black shorts, easily displaying every muscle in his body.

Jay, unfortunately, mistook Hyeri's attention on himself as her way of saying 'Jay! I wanna exercise too! let me join!'

And that's how Hyeri found herself dying after completing 5 burpees.

"Jay, just let me die young. I don't wanna live a long and happy life."

regardless of her complains, the duo pushed through an hour of sweating like crazy.

"That was fun partner, let's do it every day."

Hyeri, who was lying face flat on the floor groaned in defiance. Jay hauled her up and pushed her towards the shower mumbling 'you stink' and 'please go wash up' teasingly, to which he earned a punch in the shoulder. 

"You did well." he finally praised Hyeri at lunch. "Please be my gym bro, it's so much fun." He added, pleading.

Hyeri feigned innocence. Of course, she would, Hyeri had nothing else to do during lockdown so she might as well get stronger with Jay. "I'll think about it, what will I get in return?" she asked.

"My love and devotion to you. Infact, let's just get married right now. I'll treat you well, Hyeri." Jay teased, sitting closer and closer to Hyeri until there was no space left between them.

"You weirdo, you didn't know? I'm gonna get married to someone rich and famous. Let me emphasize the 'rich' part." Hyeri rolled her eyes at the boys teasing.

"Then it's settled, let's get married." Jay earned a light smack on the back of the head. "Jeez, I was kidding. I think."

If looks could kill, Jay would be dead by now.

"No, I'm sorry. I really was kidding." Jay begged as Hyeri got up, entering her room.

"Wow, it's been a while since I spent some alone. Maybe I should do that?" Hyeri muttered loudly.

"No, please!" Jay raced into his room, returning with a handful of cash. "I'll give you money. look, $43, happy?"

"You're gonna pay me to hang out with you?" Hyeri asked in disbelief. 

"Well, when you put it like that..."

"It's ok, I'll play with you Jay. Play with Jay. Jay's Playtime." Hyeri started giggling uncontrollably. "I'm good, right?" She asked in between fits of laughter.

Jay's eyes widened in disgust. "Thats so not funny..."

The rest of the day was spent teasing each other, giggling over random things and making a mess of the entire house, just for fun.