Colors ♡ Kim Hongjoong

ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ 8

After everyone had gone home for the night, I lay in bed. I was unable to sleep and I didn't know why. At first, my headache seemed to return but it traveled to my chest. My chest began to ache. At first, I thought perhaps dinner didn't sit well and was making me feel off. Or maybe I'd had a stressful day.

The pain only continued to grow so I climbed out of bed and poured a glass of water in the kitchen. As I climbed the stairs, I was out of breath. I barely managed to reach my room before my knees buckled. I dropped my glass, water spilling everywhere. I clutched my chest, my body trembling.

There was a bottle of painkillers in my bag. They had to do something to help me. I had never experienced this kind and level of pain before. I crawled toward my bag and took out the small bottle, spilling the pills onto the floor. I grabbed a few and shoved them down my throat. Something was terribly wrong.

I curled into a bawl on the floor, tears pricking my eyes. This must be a soulmate thing. Maybe this happens when your birthday nears and you subconsciously miss your soulmate. I hadn't a clue but that was the only explanation I could think of.

My bedroom door opened and I craned my neck to see Yeosang. He stood at my doorway, frozen and worried.

"Yeona, what's wrong? I heard a thud," he swiftly stepped inside, picking up the glass and setting it on my desk before kneeling beside me. "Are you hurt?"

"It hurts," I groaned, still clutching my chest. "My heart, it hurts so bad."

Realization struck him, "You're longing for your soulmate."

"What do I do?"

"There's not much you can do, just wait it out," he answered, "It'll go away eventually."

"Can you stay with me?" I pleaded, "I'm...I'm scared."

"Yeah, of course," he nodded, pulling the blanket from my bed and wrapping it around me. "I'll stay with you."

After a long while and after the pain had gone away, I was asleep. He wrapped his arms around me and stroked my hair, allowing me to use his lap as a pillow. This was only the first night of my pain.

Date: November 15

The next morning, I awoke to Yeosang by my side. He had propped himself against my back and fell asleep. I felt a little guilty that I had kept him from his own bed. He'd be sore all day now.

"Yeo," I nudged him awake. His eyes fluttered open and he sleepily looked around.

"Oh, I fell asleep in here," he observed, "Are you feeling better? I didn't know that they could be that bad."

I nodded, "Yeah, I never wanna experience that again though."

"Good luck with that."

We both got ready and left for school. Wooyoung caught us on the sidewalk and was very chatty. A little more than usual.

"We're not really in the mood to talk, Woo," Yeosang stated, giving him an apologetic look. "We had a rough night."

Wooyoung looked at us quizically, "What happened."

"Soulmate pains," I mumbled.

"Wait, really?" he looked shocked.

"Just give her a break," Yeosang requested, "They were really bad."

"You should have called me over," Wooyoung pouted, "I could have helped or something."

This made us smile.

For the rest of our walk to school, Wooyoung was respectful and stayed mostly silent. I kept lightly touching the place over my heart, queasy from the pain that had been there the night before. Yeosang had said that he'd never heard of soulmate pains being that painful before. His had just felt like little prickles and sometimes an aching, but never something that made him react as I did.

I wondered if my soulmate was very far away. Maybe if he was far away, then it hurt badly. What if he was so far away that he lived abroad? How was I supposed to find him then? I shook my head, letting out a sigh as I approached my classroom.

Hongjoong and a few other students were already seated. I took my seat and hung my backpack on the hanging clip, yanking out one of my textbooks to study. A sudden pain stabbed my heart but it quickly left. I placed the textbook on my desk heavily, exhaling shakily and rubbing over my heart as I had earlier.

Hongjoong noticed and scooted his chair closer, "Hey, are you okay?"

I waved him away, "Yeah, it's nothing."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm sure," I confirmed, shaking it off. I'd have to get used to this.

"If you say so," he scooted back to his desk, his eyes still on me. "Yesterday was fun."

"It was nice," I agreed, remembering the two of us going through my package. "Maybe we can do it again sometime."

"I'd like that."