Warning: Mature content ahead
Seri convinced Jeong Hyeok that it would help with the bad dreams if he is beside her and so she doesn't have to ask twice and he agreed to spend the night in one room. They had been touring the island since 5 am and it was already evening when they reached their place and so the exhaustion kicked in as soon as they settled in bed.
So it is quite a miracle that they are still both awake, lying side to side in bed, barely making any contact or whatsoever. They have maintained a safe distance between them as they lie on their back not saying anything as they stare at the ceiling. Jeong Hyeok tried to close his eyes to pretend to be asleep but it did not work. It's been probably thirty minutes when he finally said something, "Are you still thinking about what I said?"
Seri glanced at him before she went back to staring blankly ahead, "No. I just could not sleep." she lied. He nodded then kept quiet again. He again tried to close his eyes to avoid the sudden awkward atmosphere until she broke the silence this time around, "Okay, maybe I am."
She turned to face him, still maintaining the distance but she curled her body and supported her head with her hand to look at him better, "I'm sorry I said it." he said not even opening his eyes. "Why are you saying sorry? Did you not mean it?" she asked which made him open his eyes to look at her with disbelief.
"Of course, I meant it." he said pouting, "But I still should have not said it....I didn't mean to pressure you."
She sighed. He's right, she did felt the pressure to say it back, or worse, now that he actually said it, she started questioning her life decisions and priorities which is keeping her from sleeping. "Stop thinking about it and go to sleep." he said.
"Why are you awake then? Are you also thinking about it?" she asked. He moved and turned to face her too, "Yes, and also, my brain has this countdown, you know? I'm trying to slow down time." he said. He noticed the change in her eyes with what he said. Her eyes were always so expressive that he could always, always see right through her. He knew this was also hard for her.
She fixed the blanket around her as she moved closer to him. He wrapped his arms around her instantly, they kept their eyes fixed to each other, "Can you try harder?" she said. "Slow it down for us."
He tightened his arms around her as she settled into his arms to find a more comfortable position, "Tell me a story." she requested.
"What do you want to know?" he asked.
"Anything...about you."
"You know all my stories already..."
"I don't think that's true. Well, maybe I could ask you a question... where do you see yourself in 10 years?"
He looked at her for a while and then pulled her closer to his chest before he answered, "Well I should be a lawyer by then..." She hummed asking him to continue, "I don't know...all I ever think about is to earn more money. If I were to become a lawyer, I should be more financially stable... but aside from that, I don't know."
"You could have a family by then.." she added, answering for him. "I could picture you being tired from work... working overtime since you're still a workaholic by then but as soon as you enter your house, no, by then you would have already bought your own mansion.... then as you enter the door a little girl would run to you and ask you to carry her then you'll feel a hundred times better... and then her oppa who resembles you would run behind her."
"Two kids? at 34?" he asked, smiling with the idea. He could not stop imagining the little girl in the story as someone who would definitely resemble Seri but he didn't want to say that out loud. "Why not? Don't you want kids?" she asked, at this point, she is close to mumbling and Jeong Hyeok could tell she is falling asleep.
