STRANGER. － c.bm + k.dh

── [０６] ──

Bomin awaited the moment he'd spot his neighbour with trepidation, crossing the quaint lobby with his sight cast low and a distant feeling of nervousness hovering over his mind.

A second time, Donghyun held the elevator doors open for him, and a second time they avoided one another's gaze.

It wasn't all that uncomfortable for Bomin, really, but the other kept swaying on the balls of his feet, hands fiddling with the chain looped from where his belt was, and teeth playing with those black snake bite piercings as they were the first time Bomin had seen him.

He could practically taste the lingering words which would soon be uttered, smell the scent of a timid apology crawling up the other's throat and creeping onto his tongue.

"I'm sorry for snapping at you."

Ah, there it was.

Bomin painted a smile on his lips and looked to his right, directing it at the other who uncharacteristically met his stare and held it.

"No problem at all," he replied, shrugging it off with a sigh faintly underlined by his abnormal exhaustion, "I guess I was a bit rude."

At that, Donghyun's features abruptly flashed with guilt, but as soon as it appeared it vanished, burrowed only within his irises painted in the colour of a golden sandy beach.

"Oh, no, don't think too much about it. See, it's just that I don't . . ."

His words trailed off as he puffed his cheeks, as if searching for the right way to phrase what he wanted to say, and Bomin felt a twitch inside his chest at the scene.

"You don't want people to realise you're not as tough as you like to seem?"

The weakly blanketed assumption left the other astounded, jaw slacking to let out a murmur of syllables prior to a coherent sentence finally tumbling into the space between them.

"There's nothing that's not tough about loving your mum," He defensively retorted, and Bomin bowed his head in agreement, still smiling as his sight rose to the ascending numbers above the doors.

Two floors left.

"I'm glad we're on the same page then,"

Ding.

"It's your floor."

There was a beat of silence, and the dark haired male noted from his peripheral vision the way the older had apparently fixated his focus on him.

Strangely enough, it made him almost unsettled, and when he fully shifted to better face the man and their eyes met at the short distance, that twitch returned, and he had to forcefully stop himself from frowning in bewilderment.

"Right," Donghyun suddenly spoke up, breaking himself out of his evident stupor, but also Bomin of his own settling one.

Walking off, Bomin watched him go, until the latter gave a quick look over his shoulder accompanied by a miniscule wave.

"Sleep well."

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