I Was First | Joshua Hong

Chapter 17

As time went by, the sun went on to set, and soon, night fell. There wasn't any evident stars on the sky nor was the moon could be even in sight, grey clouds covered them, and along with it, rain started to pour vigorously.

It has already been awhile since Joshua's parents came back home and they didn't get that quite surprised when they saw Hiah lying inside his room, fast asleep. As his parents, they knew how close they were and Joshua gave them an explanation on why Hiah was suddenly under his blanket.

Hiah had a good three hours of sleep, yet it wasn't enough considering that the reason for her sleep was far from normal. But since she kept hearing Joshua's constant mumbles, she was forced by her confusion to wake up from her already deep slumber.

Her eyes flew open, and when she got to look at her side, she saw Joshua there standing, holding a phone on his ear. She stretched her body, and groaned, she actually wanted to gain Joshua's attention, but it seemed like she failed since Joshua didn't move an inch and remained standing there.

"No, uncle. We won't mind.", Joshua awkwardly chuckled. "Hiah has been here tons of time, spending her whole night here won't cause any trouble."

"Since it's raining so hard right now too, I'm afraid that it would be hard to fetch her from there.", Said the person on the other line — it was her father. It appears that Joshua has been talking to her father over the phone not that while ago to let her family know that she was at his home and was not feeling well.

"Dad, do you know where Hiah is? She's still not home yet.", Lily's voice was suddenly heard from the line. And Joshua just grinned. He knew that even though Hiah and Lily would quarrel a lot, they would still worry for each other and would still have that sisterly bond.

"She's sleeping over at Joshua's.", Her Dad quickly answered her. "Sorry, son. Lily suddenly asked.", He now said to Joshua.

"No, uncle. It's okay."

"Why?", Lily asked again.

"It started to rain before she could get home, but please, save your questions later, I'm talking with someone on the phone.", Joshua couldn't help but still have his smile. By hearing Lily and her Dad right now, he remembered how he bordered his father too when he was still young even if his father was on the phone.

"I think Hiah can't go to school tomorrow, I'll just fetch her tomorrow there, does that sound okay?", Hiah's Dad continued with his talk with Joshua, and Lily eventually stopped bugging him questions anymore.

"Of course uncle. Whatever you please."

"Alright then. I'll talk to your father too after this."

After bidding their goodbyes, the call ended. Joshua brought his phone back inside his pocket, and before he could go back to watching after Hiah, he first took a deep breath. He didn't know why, but he got quite nervous.

He calmed himself first for a short moment, but when he turned around and got to see Hiah, the nervousness that he washed off just now came back when he saw her awake.

His eyebrows twitched by the sight of her not sleeping anymore. He wanted to ask her since when and why she was already awake but she still looked tired, her eyes were half closed and she wasn't moving at all that he just set aside his question. He walked closer to her and when she got to open her eyes more, an unknown slight smile was plastered on her face.

Her eyes kept feeling heavy that she constantly closed her eyes, but the smile she had didn't leave her  face.

He found it weird and unanticipated, but he just eventually smiled too by the way she's acting right now.