Kintsugi // ATEEZ [Ishihara Sequel] ✔

33 Comfortable

Suria knocks on the door to the bedroom, but even as she continuously knocks, there's no answer. She's starting to get slightly worried that Wooyoung is not responding, fearing that something might have happened to him. Slowly, she opens the door to the room, looking around but not finding him anywhere. Just as she's about to reach out her hands to put down the stuff she had brought, the bathroom door swings open and she drops everything in her hands as she sees Wooyoung.

Wooyoung steps out of the bathroom, half-naked as he's already taken off his shirt and discarded it, finding it more comfortable to walk around with only his lower body covered. He doesn't notice that Suria is currently standing frozen at the door, the scene too shocking for her - something that she's not used to seeing.

A croak comes out of her mouth before her hand flies to cover her eye, and only then he notices her standing there.

He runs a hand through his wet hair, already getting rid of the dried slime. Staying nonchalant to how Suria is flustered at seeing his body, he utters, "I'm sorry I didn't hear you knocking just now. My body and hair felt too disgusting so I had to get rid of the grime first. Are those the clothes that you brought for me?"

He walks over to her, and it takes a moment to realize why she's still looking at him - she did bring a hand to cover her eye, but her stupid and flustered self covers her eye that is already covered with her eye patch. Still, her hand doesn't move to cover her exposed eye as she only watches Wooyoung in all of his glory, slightly gulping as she thinks, can a body look that good?

He bends down to pick up the items one by one, gathering it up in his arms before he stands up in front of her. He waves a hand over her eye, and she snaps out of it.

"Y- yes," she utters, finally looking away. "You can change into those clothes."

"Thanks." He smiles before putting the items on the bed, exposing himself once more until she can't stop staring at him. He stops when he sees that Suria is still not moving from her spot, staring at him as she presses her lips together. "Is there... anything else that you want to say to me?"

"Ah, no. I just-" She takes a deep breath, slowly backing up and fumbling to find the door handle. "Come down to the dining hall after you're done showering."

He nods as he gives a small smile. "Sure, and thank you again. We're forever indebted to you."

"This is nothing," she counters, taking one last look at his body before slamming the door shut in a hurry.

He blinks as he hears the door being slammed shut before chuckling. "Cute," he says under his breath.

He steps into the shower, stripping himself off his clothes completely before letting the water flow to bring together his fatigue and worries away. He looks at his reflection on the mirror before he completely breaks down, tired of hiding his own feelings towards what's happening now, which just feels like it has no solution to. He doesn't like crying in front of other people because he hates the fact that he knows that he'll garner pity from them; a feeling that he refuses to have people directing to him.

"I need to be strong for everyone," he mutters to himself. "If Akira can be strong, I can too. I can."

He keeps muttering to himself until he feels like he has spent at least half an hour in the shower; until all of his fingers have shrunk and all the grime and dirt have been washed away. He rips the towel from the rack before wrapping his lower body with it, stepping out of the shower to change into the clothes Suria has provided him. The clothes are slightly too big for him as the sleeves go past his hands and he has to fold the end of the pants, but they're comfortable nonetheless.