You Make Me | Lee Eunhyuk

18

Jisu moved limply into the main lobby, blood streaming from her nose. Her mouth made noises similar to chalk scratching a blackboard, resulting in shrieks. Jisu approached them clumsily, and the jingum-wielding siblings stood blankly observing her. A net caught the girl in the air as she stood a metre away from them, prompting the siblings to withdraw their weapons and the rest of the tenants to relax.

"All right, that's enough for today!" Eunhyuk yelled as they finished their fifth infection emergency drill.

Jaeheon went to the convenience shop, while Jiwon went into a quiet room for some alone time.

Tonight, the tenants' temperatures would be taken to ensure they didn't have a fever, which made the girl nervous because she was never sure what results would occur.  She had intended to discuss her worries with Hyunsoo, but he had been upstairs since the morning.

But, the girl's solitude was short-lived as Eunhyuk came to get her.

"Hey, according to the buddy system, you need to stay close to me, okay?" Standing at the door frame, he said.

"Yes, sorry, I was just going to come to find you," she said with a tiny smile.

Eunhyuk approached the girl and extended his hand to help her up. He carefully raised the girl off the ground while holding her hand. The girl came to a halt a few inches from the boy's face. Seeing her best friend always made her smile, so her tiny smile grew into a broad grin. The girl grabbed the boy's cheek and teasingly pinched it.

"We weren't paired because of a random draw, was it?" Jiwon wondered.

Eunhyuk put his hands against the sides of her face. "Of course not, but if we're always together, what difference does it make anyway?"

Jiwon chuckled at the disparity between Eunhyuk's actions and his voice, which remained nearly as monotonous as before.

"I guess you're right. "Well partner, shall we make ourselves useful?" Jiwon declared, then received a solid nod from the boy as a rare small smile spread across his face.

"All right, then, let's go!" She said hurriedly, spinning Eunhyuk around and placing an arm over his shoulder, forcing his hands to slip off her face.

When the pair exited the room, they could feel heat crawling up their necks and onto their faces, both praying that the other had turned aside quickly enough to avoid seeing the other's flustered appearance.

"Eunhyuk stop watching the security camera, nothing has moved in two hours!" Jiwon muttered as she laid her head on his shoulder, dozing off occasionally.

"Just sleep, Jiwon," answered Eunhyuk.

Jiwon lifted her head from the boy's shoulder and turned to face him.

"Look at your eyes, you're the one who needs to sleep," she remarked, delicately lifting his chin to move his gaze toward her.

Eunhyuk was taken aback by the girl's actions as he seemed to do quite frequently recently, so he simply stared back at her, his eyes somewhat wide. The girl smiled as she reached up and removed his glasses before turning to place them on the table. When Jiwon continued to interact affectionately with Eunhyuk, his face began to flush.

Jiwon placed Eunhyuk's head on her shoulder and positioned herself so that he was comfortable.

"Can you just get some rest? "I'll wake you up if anything happens," she said, peering over her shoulder at the boy.

"All right, alright," he muttered, shutting his eyes, the back of his neck still red.

While Eunhyuk "rested" he couldn't help but think about Jiwon, the two were always busy, but it seemed that whenever the boy had free time, he thought about Jiwon. They had grown up together, shared countless memories, and supported each other through the ups and downs of life. But recently as he spent more time with her, he understood that his feelings were changing.

He found himself anticipating their chats, wanting to be near her, and feeling envious when she was with other guys. This had started before the world began to end, and he attempted to ignore his sentiments, telling himself they were simply transient thoughts, but they persisted.

Eunhyuk first struggled to grasp his emotions, so he began to investigate their connection more deeply. He observed the tiny things she did that made him smile, how her laughing made him happy, and how her presence put him at peace.

It was at this point that Eunhyuk realized he was in love with his best friend. He couldn't believe it at first, but after some contemplation, everything made sense. He had fallen in love with the one person who had always been at his side.

But, with this insight came a fresh set of concerns that had been bothering him for days. What if she didn't share your sentiments? Will admitting his feelings jeopardize their friendship? Eunhyuk knew he had to walk cautiously, but he also knew he couldn't hide his emotions forever. He suspected, based on Jiwon's previous behaviour, that she had discovered his love for her.

Eunhyuk had fallen asleep without his knowledge, and it had been an hour before Jiwon nudged the boy awake.

"Hyuk"

"Hey, Hyuk, we need to take our temperatures," she said gently.

Because the boy was a light sleeper, he awoke readily, and the two proceeded to the lobby.

Jiwon had not obtained a single high temperature reading, confirming that the test did next to nothing to identify infected people, but she couldn't say anything since her situation would be known. Despite this, her palms were usually sweaty when she sat to get her temperature taken.

Hyunsoo strolled by while she was doing so, returning from his trip upstairs. As Jiwon's temperature recorded as normal, the woman lowered her hand from measuring it. Jiwon and Hyunsoo exchanged recognition nods as the boy strolled up to Eunhyuk's table and dropped the bag he was carrying. Jiwon saw that Hyunsoo appeared more dishevelled and bloodied than usual in the brighter lighting. As he finished his work, he headed back to the room where the infected stayed.

Jiwon felt bad since she and Hyunsoo were in the same predicament, but he was treated unfairly while she was not because she lied and continued to lie. She couldn't express the truth, though, since she hadn't even accepted the reality.

[author's note]

Hello readers! Sorry, this update took so long, I was super busy with assignments and exams. I will try to update more frequently, as there are not many chapters to this fanfiction left. Anyway, I hope you all are doing well! Thank you for reading and don't forget to vote and comment <3

[Also! I just released a new fanfiction called "Memento Mori", it's about Attack on Titan if any of you are interested!]

Anise     :)