Sigh - Nishimura Riki / Ni-ki

𝓒𝓱𝓪𝓹𝓽𝓮𝓻 𝓣𝔀𝓮𝓵𝓿𝓮

Juyeon's POV

I slowly started gaining consciousness again, my senses coming back one after the other. First, smell. I could smell a calming cinnamon odor, not too strong but just enough for it to enter my nose and make me feel comfortable. Then, sound. I heard a fan making a rhythmic and repetitive noise as it circled around itself again and again. Eventually, I could feel, too. I felt a comfortable, soft blanket under my lower body, and a rough towel under my upper body and head. The contrast of textures made me uncomfortable, and I shifted sideways.

Suddenly, after I moved, I heard footsteps coming my way. The footsteps started from very close by, meaning that the person was in the same room as me since I woke up. As the footsteps got closer, the cinnamon smell also got more prominent, taking over my nose. I was finally starting to gain my vision when I suddenly felt hands touching my head, ever so gently, bringing it back where it was at first. The moment the hands touched my head, I felt a sharp pain in the same area, making me whimper and go limp. The person immediately froze and I did too, waiting for my vision to clear so I could finally see my surroundings. Yet, when my vision came back, I was even more confused than before.

I was in an unknown bedroom, a quite large one, with a huge window on one wall and a door leading to a private bathroom on the other. The owner of the room was obviously quite privileged, as not only was the room spacious, but the furniture was luxurious as well : a king sized bed with a beautiful duvet. The duvet cover was ivory with a black diamond pattern, giving it a chic look. There was a white leather couch, covered with a soft ivory blanket, matching the duvet cover. The desk was large and white, it had a blackboard on one side and some shelves on the other side. I expected the blackboard to be filled with math equations or something, but to my surprise, there were only a bunch of drawings of Shin-chan.

Finally, I looked to my right and saw a familiar face. Recognizing the boy I had been seeing too many times lately, I covered my mouth with my hand and stared in shock. Immediately embarrassed by my reaction, I quickly removed my hand from my mouth and looked away, trying to get myself together. After a few seconds, I realized that Riki wasn't going to say anything, so I spoke up. "W-why am I here..?" I internally slapped myself for stuttering and making a fool out of myself once again.

I expected the boy to have some sort of stupid reaction, like a smirk or a giggle. Instead, when I turned my eyes to look at him, I was met with a genuinely worried gaze, asking if I was alright with his eyes. Shocked, I started back at him, wondering what the hell was happening.

Finally, he spoke up.

"Yeah so umm... you fainted in the street. Your damn hoodie gave you a heatstroke. Why the hell were you walking in a heatwave with that ginormous thing on? Are you crazy?" His tone got more and more aggressive, his voice more and more loud. It kind of scared me, to be honest, but I saw that he regretted being so abrupt, as his eyes changed from being angry to being concerned. "Sorry, didn't mean to be so rude. But like, if I wasn't close by, you could've died there. Your head opened up and everything." As he said the last part of his sentence, he looked at my head, worried. That's when I realized that my head was bandaged. I guess that's why there was a towel under me, so I wouldn't get blood everywhere. Suddenly, I started feeling guilty. He really didn't have to bring me into his house, treat me, bandage me up and wait for me to wake up.

As I was thinking about all that, I suddenly snapped back to reality. Why was I being so calm? I was in Nishimura Riki's house. The playboy. The heartbreaker. A member of Enhypen. Someone that isn't Eunbi. What if I made a bigger fool out of myself? What if I said something I'll regret? What if I look really stupid right now, and he's gonna take a picture of me and send it to everyone in school? What if I get bullied for it? What if one of the rich kids bribes the principal and gets me expelled? What if-

"Choi Juyeon, I'm talking to you. Are you listening?" He interrupted my anxiety. He gently took a hold of my chin and tilted my head towards him, making eye contact with me. I knew I had to say something, but my mind was blank as I felt my cheeks get redder and redder.

"I know you're shy, and you're probably not really comfortable around me, but this is not the time to blush and be quiet, okay? You're hurt, and your parents are probably looking for you right now. Here, your phone was in your hoodie pocket," he says, passing it to me, "you should call your parents and tell them where you are."

I froze, thinking about my parents. They were most definitely still at work, not caring about their two children. As usual. But I had to find a way to tell that boy. I couldn't tell him the truth, what if he told all his friends that I was a loser who's parents didn't care about her? What if-

I stopped myself, not wanting a repeat of two seconds ago. I took the phone, mumbled a little "Thanks.." to Riki and opened the conversation with the mom. Noticing how many unanswered messages I had sent her, I quickly closed the tab and opened my father's. Realizing the situation was the same, I shut off my phone altogether and looked back at Riki shyly.

"I, uh.." I searched for my words, "I don't need to text them, I mean, they don't need to know. They're out at their friends' house tonight," I lied.

I saw him sigh and look at me, clearly not believing my excuse.

words: 1047