𝔇𝔢𝔞𝔯 𝔏𝔬𝔳𝔢𝔩𝔶 ᴊᴇᴏɴɢᴄʜᴀɴ

f o u r t e e n

"Hey, darling," Jeongin's husband smiled.

"Hi."

The car started, slowly reversing, accompanied by the slight beeping sound. It was quiet inside, with the bodyguard, Changbin, focused on driving while Chan was on his phone.

"Just a minute, darling," he said, still focused on sending a message to someone, as Jeongin glanced over from the corner of his eye.

"How was your day?" Chan asked, finally putting the phone back in his pocket.

"It went alright," Jeongin replied, looking over at him. Chan smiled. "Tiring as always," he added.

The elder nodded. Jeongin observed Chan. He wasn't wearing a suit or anything formal, but rather a black jacket over a sweatshirt paired with simple jeans.

"You don't... have work?"

Chan leaned his head back on the seat, a dimple appearing on his cheek.

"I want to take you out for shopping, and lunch too."

Oh, well, recently Chan had been spoiling him quite often.

"Again...?" Jeongin saw Chan frown, but playfully.

"Whatever, I do what I want," Chan quickly said, looking through his side mirror.

Wow. Jeongin sighed, also leaning back and looking out through his side mirror, but he was smiling. Smiling at Chan's pouty lips.

Maybe Chan noticed, but Jeongin wouldn't know.

Well, anyway, shopping went well. With everything around him and Chan's credit card, Jeongin didn't know what to buy first or where to start. He didn't even know what he really wanted. Chan insisted, saying it was perfectly fine for Jeongin to use his credit card as much as he wanted. But come on, he wasn't going to spoil himself like that. It would be foolish for him to use Chan for money. After all, his mother-in-law wouldn't approve.

"Darling, are you sure you don't want anything else?" Chan asked, glancing at the shopping bags Jeongin held, which he soon took over himself.

"Yeah... I don't need much."

He only bought a few clothes, a gift for his two friends, and not much else. Chan seemed surprised. He wanted to give him everything. But Jeongin? He didn't need much, right?

After having lunch at a fast-food restaurant, Jeongin insisted on going home, shocking Chan once again. How could he not get feral over using his credit card? Jeongin could have bought anything he wanted.

The truth was, he was tired and exhausted for the day. Plus, he had never been the type of person to go out often on shopping sprees.

The house had been unusually quiet ever since the argument with his mother-in-law. The large living room was occupied only by two maids cleaning up.

Chan's younger siblings were always either out or studying. Jeongin never really got close to them, as they had always kept to themselves.

He lay on the bed, exhausted after changing into his nightwear. It had only been a few weeks since they got married, but so much had happened. Improvement—from being terrified and hating Chan to feeling more neutral. Or maybe he no longer felt the same level of hatred as before.

Oh well, he drifted off to sleep. University had been tiring as heck. He fell asleep as soon as he hit the bed, not even caring about studying for today.

It was around the middle of the night when Jeongin seemed to have a really bad nightmare. Strange. He was fine before sleeping, so why all of a sudden? Oh, this one seemed too real. Too frightening. He felt like he was suffocating, as if something was preventing him from breathing. His face felt sweaty, even though it was obviously snowing outside. The boy whimpered as if saying "no." The room was dark, without even a single night light on.

Jeongin felt like he was suffering for hours until his body finally allowed him to gasp for air as he sat up straight. Chan, who had woken up from all the movements, quickly turned to his husband. He turned on his side lamp, dimly lighting the room, and saw Jeongin sitting up, breathing heavily.

"Darling? What's wrong? Are you alright?" Chan asked with concern, rubbing the sleep from his eyes as he looked at the panicked boy.

Jeongin was too shaken. It had been so long since he had a nightmare, and never one this bad. So bad, it made him sob from fear. He was shaking, his trembling hands tightly gripping the blanket as he stared at nothing but the darkness ahead.

"Jeongin... honey," Chan held onto the trembling hand, which was extremely cold. But how? Wasn't he sweaty just now?

"Darling, look at me," Chan squeezed his hand, trying to warm it.

The younger still couldn't process what was happening. Why was he having a panic attack? It couldn't be sleep paralysis—he was sure of that. But he was terrified. Chan could hear how Jeongin sobbed, his voice filled with immense fear.

Jeongin looked over to his left, where Chan was, where the dim light was coming from.

"It's okay... I'm here." Jeongin felt his hands being interlocked with someone else's, which made him stop trembling. His cold hand began to warm under Chan's touch.

He couldn't help but cry out, but this time, so silently.

"Come here, darling... it's alright. Nothing's real, okay? It's all just a nightmare," Chan assured him. Those comforting words seemed to hypnotize Jeongin, who obeyed, letting Chan lay him back down slowly, closer to his husband's presence. Chan's hand stroked the boy's back, trying to ease his crying. He pulled the thick blanket up to cover Jeongin's ice-cold body. Yes, he was freezing, which only Chan could feel.

Chan kept reassuring him with phrases like "I'm here," "It's going to be alright," and "Nothing's real."

Jeongin was being comforted by a man he had known for such a short time, yet here he was, silently crying onto his husband's shirt, curled up inside the blanket as the elder tried to silence his sobs. Even though Chan was exhausted, he still patted Jeongin's back until he felt the boy fall asleep again. He then partially hugged him, so Jeongin would continue to feel comforted.

Chan pressed his lips against Jeongin's forehead as he gently stroked his hair. The younger's breathing returned to normal, and the grip on Chan's shirt loosened.

A dream about being kidnapped. If you think about it, being kidnapped is actually terrifying. Jeongin dreamt it so vividly—being outside, probably shopping. When he was alone, without his bodyguard, he was grabbed by some people, with a cloth wrapped around his mouth and hands snaking from behind to capture him. He couldn't scream or call for help. In his dream, the next scene was him tied up, unable to escape. It felt so real, and it was horrifying as fuck.