betwixt - enhypen

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐲: 𝐨𝐡 𝐦𝐲 𝐠𝐨𝐝

"oh my god." 

as quickly as she could, joori scooped him up in her arms, holding his body close to her chest, and slowly began to bring him back up to her room. he looked pale, sick even. he didn't look good. 

joori could barely hear his breathing--that was if he was even breathing. the moments in between finding the boy in an unconscious state and him regaining himself again was torturous for the girl who was infatuated with him, who sat at his side patiently, desperately, waiting for him to heal. it was the middle of the day and he was gracefully taking up most of the floor space in front of the doors to her whole block: it wouldn't be long before a crowd gathered.

immediately, she rang the hospital. she wasn't sure if the lady answering her could make out what she was saying while she was weeping, yet she assured joori that there would be help soon, as a vehicle had been dispatched, and was on the way.

-

few customers arrived the following days. the smell of cleaning products was almost overpowering the smell of freshly brewed coffee, and the demographic of students entering was dwindling due to how many people had stopped coming after exam season.

heeseung wiped the table in front of joori. she was doing the same, but at a much slower rate due to the endless spirals going deeper in her mind. what if she wasn't there, what if sunghoon died?

"are you sure you're okay? you seem a bit shaken up." the brown-haired boy looked concerned, with furrowed brows and heavy sighs.

"i just didn't expect to see him like that, that's all."

it wouldn't be a stretch to say that he had been on her mind a lot in the past weeks, or even to say that he had been a tattoo etched in her mind permanently since jay had up and disappeared. this was something new though, a fear that something bad could happen to sunghoon at any time, without warning; it was something she couldn't just shake off.

-

as soon as he had recovered, sunghoon arrived at her doorstep. still dressed in a hospital gown from the short while he had been admitted to the facility, he had deemed seeing her more important than how his peers saw him.

"i didn't expect you to see you so quickly."

"i could have been here an hour ago if i acted sooner."

obviously, joori had been worried about him. pacing the apartment, she had already gotten two noise complaints from the creaking her floorboards produced. she couldn't help herself though, the paranoia and the unknown was making her behave erratically.

upon opening the door to be greeted with his face, she felt relief more than she had ever done before. that being said, she usually let things go pretty quickly, so it wasn't like there was much competition. the tears in his eyes glistened as he lifted his head up to glance at her, and his lips immediately created a smile, before sunghoon could even realise what he was doing.

"joori, i am so sorry. i am so, so sorry you had to look after me. jay calls you sunshine, but you're really my angel."

in that moment, she simply hugged him. no words could express her relief or how his words made her eyes well up more than she could take. it wasn't yet joy, but it seemed ecstatic and overwhelming.

"i guess i just felt like i'm just jay's replacement."

"you've never.." joori tried to interrupt him, but decided against it. the boy was stubborn, a rare negative personality trait to balance out his charming wit and gorgeous appearance. 

"fuck, i mean, i did always do what he did. god, i even started calling you sunshine."

"that doesn't mean i'm comparing you though. i love having you around. ever since you saved me. you're my prince. that's what you mean to me, you're not jay's replacement. or at least, you're not just jay's replacement," she joked, evidently uncomfortable at how tense the atmosphere was, with sunghoon previously looking as if he was on the edge of tears ready to flood the riverbanks.