strawberry sunday ❧ k.jw | ✔

eleven

WEDNESDAY

"Hey," Jungwoo's voice startled you out of the solemn and lonesome reverie you'd been in.

After sleeping like shit last night, kept up ruminating on your conversation with Taeil and Doyoung, replaying memory upon memory of you calling the fairy by that nickname, and now feeling like a horrible person about it, you ended up being awake before the Sun in addition to everybody else. So, you'd made yourself breakfast to take down to the beach, eat by yourself, and watch the sunrise. You'd even made sure to sit in the chair that wasn't visible to the house behind the umbrellas, not wanting anybody to join you out here. But you'd been found, and you didn't have it in you to turn Jungwoo away now that he was with you.

"Oh, hey," you gave him a half-hearted smile, gesturing to the chair beside you for him to sit.

He had a steaming mug in hand, his hair still tousled from sleep, and he was in pajama pants and a t-shirt.

The sunrise coming over the ocean was beautiful, burning oranges and yellows that reflected along the water. You popped a piece of fruit in your mouth. He took a sip from his mug.

"You didn't come back last night. After going up to the beach house to get more drinks with Taeil," Jungwoo said quietly.

You winced, "Oh, sorry, Jungwoo, I—"

"Who?" He cut you off abruptly.

"Huh?" You blinked, entirely thrown off from your lie about not feeling well or whatever.

"What'd you say?"

"Jungwoo—"

"Who?"

"J—"

"Who?"

"What are you, an owl?" You huffed, annoyed.

Jungwoo's brows were knitted together, clearly as frustrated as you were, "Why are you calling me that?"

"What? Your name?"

"Yeah, which you haven't called me since like August. It's weird."

"Everybody else calls you that."

"You don't."

Your words were losing steam as you struggled to process what he seemed to be implying. "Am- Am I not everybody else?"

"No, you're not," he was calming down too, look at you more studiously than upset. "And you're not passive-aggressive either, so I don't think you're mad at me."

"No, of course not, W—!" You stopped yourself before the nickname could come out habitually, quite literally biting down on your tongue in your mouth.

"There! You were about to say it! Why didn't you? Did someone curse you or something?" He leaned forward, eyes scanning your features as if he could see any remnants of a curse or hex on your face. For all you knew, maybe he could.

"No, I think," you frowned thoughtfully. Your voice was getting smaller and smaller as you admitted, "I just... don't want to be rude."

"You don't..." Jungwoo's head tilted in confusion, before his mouth and shoulders dropped at the same time, realization dawning on his face. He sighed, "Taeil and Doyoung?"

You nodded meekly.

He set his cup down on the small table propped up out there, then gently lifted your chin up until you were looking him in the eye, "While I think it's very cute and endearing that you were talking to my roommates about me, they clearly failed to mention the part where I like you calling me that. They say that?"