Not Quite an Angel || Shin Hoseok/Wonho

Call Me Wonho

"What- what happened to you, Hoseok?" Areum asked, wiping her tears.

Areum shifted her legs on the wooden bench. She held Hoseok's hands as if she were let go he'd disappear.

"Can we not... I'd rather not talk about that right now. Can we just, can we just be with eachother." Hoseok said, struggling with picking the right words.

"O-oh, okay. But, please tell me I'm not dreaming. Don't leave me. I've waited so long." Areum let out soft whimpers.

"Shhh, I'm not going anywhere." He wiped Areum's tears, "and another thing."

"Yes Hoseok?"

"From now on, please call me Wonho."

Wonho and Areum wandered around the neighborhood, hands linked together. Areum was still afraid to let go of Wonho even after fully accepting he was back. She tried to push off the voice in her brain that was dying to ask Wonho questions. It really wasn't hard to do with the adrenaline running through her veins. She began inserting the tip of her nail into another nail to separate the skin and nail- which was her habit she learned a long time ago.

"Are you okay?" Wonho asked Areum, sensing her agitation.

"Yes..." She quietly told him, "Hoseo- I mean- Wonho, do your parents know you're back?"

"..."

"They don't?"

"Look, it's a lot more complicated than you think. Let's find somewhere to stay and I'll explain everything to you." Wonho gripped Areum's hands even tighter.

Areum sighed. It was strange- having him there in front of her. He was like exactly how he was before. She felt the same way about him as she did when she was six. Yet, he felt like a stranger. She felt like she new a lot about him, yet very little at the same time. It was an unsettling feeling.

"You know, you can come to my house... My parents left for a trip today and will be staying there for two weeks. You can stay at my place..."

Was it okay to say this to him? It kind of felt like inviting someone you just met to stay at your house. But it also felt like your best friend spending the night. Areum thought that maybe the feeling would pass in time, once it really sunk in that it's actually Hoseok.

"Why didn't you tell me earlier? We wouldn't have to be just walking around!" Wonho jokingly scolded.

"I forgot! You know you showing up out of no where is kind of a surprise!" She laughed and showed him the way to her house.

"Nice place." Wonho commented as he walked into the cold home with Areum following shortly behind him.

"Wonho it's the same house I've always lived in." Areum laughed as she locked the door behind Wonho.

"Oh yeah..." He shyly mumbled and crashed on the couch like it was his own house.

"Hungry?" Areum made her way to the kitchen before Wonho could reply.

"I guess."

Areum began her easy work in the kitchen while Wonho surfed the channels on the television.
What Areum didn't know was despite Wonho's confident charade, he was really nervous. He was already surprised that Areum took his arrival so well and fully accepted it by now. What really made him on edge, was the truth of what really happened to him.

After a few minutes, Areum came out with some kind of American snack on a plate.

"What's this?" Wonho asked.

"They're pigs in a blanket. Well that's what they're called. It's just sausage wrapped in bread. Trust me, it's good." Areum smiled and stuffed the snack in her mouth.

They ate the food in a tense silence, which brought Areum back from her cloud nine and to what's really important.

"Wonho," Areum spoke carefully, "You haven't told me how you got here."

"...If I tell you, you have to promise to believe me."