Touch you (Summerz)

2

Unsurprisingly, Chaewon spends her Friday night someplace other than the Nakamura's house, and she's still out by Saturday afternoon. This grants Kazuha the whole day of peace and quiet, and she decides to celebrate by testing her new nibs after a blissfully silent dinner.

She got into calligraphy when she was in eighth grade and to this day it's an extremely soothing and satisfying hobby of hers. Maybe she should introduce Chaewon to it. Sometimes, she sounds like she needs it.

She grits her teeth, willing the image of the infuriating brown haired girl away. Even absent Chaewon somehow manages to mess with her day. She won't let her. With that decided, Kazuha retrieves the package from her desk, excitement in her fingertips as she takes out the nibs and the lighter. Most people get rid of factory coating on their nibs by rubbing them with alcohol, but Kazuha uses the flame method, holding the nib over fire. It feels more authentic.

She's almost finished with the first nib when a loud door slam downstairs startles her, making her burn her finger. Chaewon is home. Kazuha listens carefully for a moment. Home, and not alone, either. But the sounds are different from the ones that usually resonate through the house when she's with a 'date'.

Kazuha tries to get back into her calm mindset, but her fragile peace is gone. Chaewon and her guests put music on and loudly tell each other jokes Kazuha has no interest in understanding. Kazuha's not one for making assumptions about people, but Chaewon and her friends are so, so typical at times. Loud music and loud laughter and loud fucking, all without real substance. Without essence and care for anything.

When she marches down into the living room, she's greeted by two people she wants to see even less than Chaewon. Aeri Uchinaga and Lee Chaeryeong, high school juniors, suspected delinquents, and of course Chaewon's best friends are sprawled out on her spacious couch, and they aren't happy to see her, either. The dimming of Aeri's smile and Chaeryeong's exaggerated eye-roll let her know as much. Kazuha ignores them.

"Chaewon," she grits through her teeth. The brown haired girl is the only one in the room whose good mood is still present. "Could you please be quieter? I'm trying to study." She puts and emphasis on trying just in case Chaewon misses it, and watches as Aeri joins Chaeryeong in excessive eye-rolling. Kazuha thinks it's a pity they can't actually get stuck that way.

Chaewon cocks her head to the side, letting her brown hair fall over one shoulder. She's still wearing her sunglasses from outside, and she's got bedhead, like always, brown tresses brushes through with impatient fingers. If they were hers or someone else's hungry ones this morning, Kazuha's not sure. It still looks unfairly good.

"Well," Chaewon says. "You have headphones, don't you?"

Kazuha locks her jaw, glaring at Chaewon silently, but all she gets in response is a lazy, amused smile.

Chaeryeong snickers in her hand as Kazuha turns around and leaves.

"Your sister's kind of a bitch," she hears Aeri say as she climbs the stairs.

"She's not my fucking sister," Chaewon snaps, and Kazuha definitely catches steel in her voice.

She wonders, not for the first time, what she could've possibly done to offend Chaewon. She's been nothing but coldly polite when she asked Chaewon to stop having sex so loudly. Maybe it's the 'coldly' part. Or, maybe, Chaewon's just kind of a bitch herself.

Kazuha enters her room and maybe she slams the door behind her a little harder than necessary, but it's not like they'll hear her, too engrossed in whatever it is average junior high school students do on a Saturday evening.

She's assumed Chaewon would be out partying the whole weekend. She sincerely hopes this doesn't mean she's brought the party home. But Aeri and Chaeryeong leave rather quickly, and Kazuha sighs with relief as the house once again grows quiet, save for the occasional noise coming from Chaewon's bedroom. As long as it's not moans, Kazuha doesn't mind much. Her standards are that low nowadays.

Since Chaewon has decided to take it easy tonight, Kazuha manages to squeeze in a little bit of calligraphy pratice before bed. Her mood elevates even higher when she emerges from her night shower, fresh and squeaky clean, and she's surprised to find herself humming under her breath. All that music, she laughs under her breath.

Suddenly overcome with desire to listen to her new playlist before falling asleep, she reaches for her phone, only to find it isn't there. She must've left it on the kitchen counter, or in the living room. Kazuha would've been content with leaving it there, but she has to wake up earlier than usual tomorrow, and she won't hear the alarm all the way from downstairs. So she sighs and throws her sleeping shorts on, not bothering with wearing anything else. The house is quiet, so Chaewon must've left. Fascinating, she thinks - how quickly she was conditioned to think 'quiet' equals 'no Chaewon'.

She pads to the stairwell, lazily toweling her hair dry and looking under her feet. It's only thanks to her fast reflexes, fostered through fencing and lacrosse, that she manages to grab onto the rail and not tumble down the stairs when she hears someone gasp. Well, this serves as a reminder that being conditioned to think something doesn't necessarily make it true. Exhibit A: Chaewon standing on the middle of stairs and gaping at her, both of them surrounded by complete silence save for Kazuha's thumping heart.

'Quiet' doesn't equal 'no Chaewon', after all.

Kazuha scrambles to put the towel around her chest, but those praised reflexes fail her when she needs them the most, and she watches, mortified, as it falls to the ground. Leaving her standing practically naked before her step sister. She thanks her past self for at least tugging her shorts on. She also promises to throttle her for thinking it was a good idea to wander around with nothing else on. Kazuha keeps forgetting she's not the sole owner of this house anymore.

Chaewon's eyes are wide and her jaw is slacked as it hits the floor like the towel did a moment ago. When Kazuha bends to retrieve the traitorous piece of cloth from the ground, Chaewon sucks in a sharp breath and then looks like she isn't breathing at all. Kazuha freezes, again.

Chaewon's eyes are the only part of the brown haired girl that moves all over her body. Her step sister is unashamedly drinking her in, and Kazuha's never felt more exposed than in this moment, despite being (barely) covered by a towel and underwear.

Chaewon's still not blinking and not breathing, and her eyes are still roaming over her. Kazuha scowls.

"Can you turn around?" She snaps, not even bothering with pretending to be polite.

Politeness can be overlooked when one is practically violated. For once, Chaewon listens, mutely turning her back on her and standing perfectly still. She's tense and coiled, gripping onto the rail, but Kazuha doesn't have time for her step sister's inner turmoil. She practically runs away, clutching the towel to her chest and exhaling shakily once she's within the safe confines of her room. Her cheeks feel hot, as do the tips of her ears.

Well. That was eventful. Kazuha forces herself not to think about Chaewon's astonished gaze as she frantically puts a duffel bag together for tomorrow's fencing practice - usually she does it in the morning, but if she doesn't busy herself with something, she'll probably burst. Knickers - check. Chaewon's eyes were almost comically wide. Perhaps, she'll find it funny once the mortification wears off. Jacket - check. Why did Chaewon even stare at her? Why didn't she avert her gaze? Would Kazuha have done it if roles were reversed? That's too many questions and she can't find her water bottle. She stuffs her gloves inside next. Gloves - check. A mask. Mask - check. Chaewon looked beyond shocked, as astonished as Kazuha felt, probably. But something in her gaze left Kazuha's stomach unsettled. Almost primal. Almost hungry.

Kazuha curses as her finger gets caught in the bag's zipper, and gives up on trying to locate her water bottle. She'll do it in the morning.

It's only once she slips into sweatpants and a t-shirt that she realizes she completely forgot about her phone, but she's already in bed and frankly dreading facing Chaewon again after what just happened.

Chaewon is quiet for the rest of the night.