Closer than Ever

Chapter 81 - Devastation

I grab my phone and glance at the time as soon as I wake up, then have a moment of panic, feeling like I'm very late for work. It's after 2 pm! But it's Sunday today, I remember, and anyway, I rarely need to physically go in to work unless I really want to. I wonder if I'll ever get used to it.

I glance over at Tae, who is sleeping flat on his stomach beside me, and smile fondly. His face is squished into the pillow, his mouth puffed out into duck lips almost like when he chews noodles. I very gently push his bangs back from his forehead and he doesn't even stir. His eyelashes are so long and dark against his cheek. I watch for a moment to make sure he's breathing, because he's lying so still.

My mind wanders back to the drive home last night. He was really sleepy after all of the, er, hiking, plus at least three glasses of wine, so I drove us back to Seoul. We chatted for the first half-hour or so, joking about how our love-making had been so noisy that local villagers probably thought there were werewolves or unrested spirits haunting the mountain. "We're lucky they didn't come with the..." My Korean vocabulary failed me and I had to make up new phrases.

"You know, the big wooden flashlight fire sticks and the large forks for grass?"

"Tochi and geulgeo ollida?" he supplied, laughing at me.

"Yes, those. For chasing werewolves."

Taehyung threw back his head and laughed, then gave his best wolf howl and told me that I was cute.

He knocked out hard not too long afterward, without even laying the seat back, and I worried about his poor wobbling head hitting the window every time the road curved to the left. There was very little traffic outside of the city at that time of night, so I glided smoothly through the turns, trying to process everything that we had said and done. My brain was too tired to focus properly, though. My typical deep analysis and over-thinking would have to wait.

We were back at the apartment less than an hour later, and by then he was sleeping so hard that I couldn't get him to wake up even by shaking his shoulder and yelling his name. I opened his car door from the outside, relying on the seat belt to keep him from toppling out onto the concrete floor of the parking structure. He woke up just enough to stumble to the elevator, key in the code, strip off his clothes and tumble into bed. I washed my face and brushed my teeth, then joined him. I recall how even while sound asleep, he managed to reach for me and pull me close to be his little spoon, his leg thrown over mine.

I glance over at his sleeping face again, and a wave of love for this amazing, strange, magical man catches at my throat and makes me want to cry. How does he make me feel so many things that I've never felt before? How could I ever possibly live without him?

I really want to wake him up now, so I can see his big pretty eyes, but I control the urge and roll out of bed instead. He needs his sleep, and I need to pee. I nearly step on Lulu, who has darted out from under the armchair directly into my path to the en suite bathroom, and I cuss her out quietly for tripping me.

Business attended to, I throw on a t-shirt and yoga pants and wander into the kitchen, trying to squash an amorphous sense of worry that is nagging at the edges of my mind. Breakfast would be good, I decide, then wonder if it's still breakfast if you eat it at 2:30 pm. "Breakfast served all day!" I remark in English, to nobody in particular.

Coffee is percolating in the machine, bacon hisses and spits on the griddle, and I optimistically crack five eggs into a bowl to scramble, hoping that the smell of food will wake up Taehyung. Lulu winds between my feet, yowling at me angrily because her dish is empty. I give her some wet food, wash my hands, and begin to whisk the eggs, when suddenly it strikes me: We forgot to use condoms last night!