[on hold] ANTI-ROMANTIC ; lee heeseung

16

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☾ ! ANTI-ROMANTIC ! ☽
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
maybe, true happiness is when
we are happy with ourselves
faraway
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Monday, 9 May 2022
(day 19)

   GOEUN HAS NO STRENGTH TO GET HERSELF out of bed the next morning. Her head is pounding, as if someone dropped a thousand bricks atop it and her nose is blocked, like a dam holding up water.

   It was almost one in the morning when she left Heeseung's house. His mother would not let her leave, claiming 'it's nice to finally have a woman to talk to in the house' which made Goeun not want to leave at all but she had to because by nine o'clock, the headache, even after taking two Paracetamols, wouldn't disappear. She promised his mum that she will come back again but when, she couldn't say. Goeun doubts she'll ever go back, seeing as Heeseung and her are breaking up in two weeks.

   Heeseung's dad drops the pair back off at the university campus, Goeun asking Heeseung if she can borrow the book she was reading earlier at the park. He handed it to her without a thought, telling her to update him with what's happening in the book, which immensely touched Goeun's heart. He was being too romantic and it was tearing her apart.

   Before they said goodbye to each other, Heeseung does the sudden thing of wrapping his arms around her, pulling her into his chest, his head resting atop hers. She had no choice but return the gesture, her hands snaking around his lower back, inhaling in his scent. She could've intoxicated herself in his scent.

   By the time she got into the house, it was half-one. She quietly trudges to her room but not before she's stopped by Seohyun, who questions her about her change of clothes to which Goeun answers her honestly, knowing if she lies, it will eventually come back to bite her in the ass.

   Seohyun doesn't say much, allowing Goeun to exit into the comfort of her room. She has a quick wash, brushes her teeth and climbs into bed, not bothering to charge her phone or clean her room; making a note in her head to do it when she wakes up.

   Now she's awake but she has no energy to pick herself out of bed. Her whole body is aching and Goeun knows she's going to be on her time of the month in a few days; if her back pains and knee pain was any indication.

   She picks up her phone to check her emails but her phone is dead and the charger is too far away from her for her to get up and walk to. She throws her blanket over her head, scrunching her legs into her chest. Tears well up at her eyes, for no reason at all.

   She sobs quietly herself, dabbing at her tears with her blanket, but the tears don't stop. She doesn't know why she's crying like this, so suddenly. It was definitely not because she was ill. She never cried like this before. She feels herself drifting off to sleep again when she hears knocks at her door.

She ignores it first, not caring about who is knocking, silently praying they'll leave once they realise that she's not going to be opening the door anytime soon but the knocks become more persistent. So, Goeun has no choice to but to pick herself off her bed and grudgingly walk to the door, unlocking it open slightly.

"Yeah?" She asks, her voice hoarse, as if it's about to give out on her any second.

"Pinocchio? You good?" Heeseung's voice brings her a sense of serenity.