karaoke machine | p.js

2.18

Naerin wasn't usually the type of person to be affected easily by things. She always managed to go on about her day with a bright smile and a laugh at small things. Except this wasn't a small thing, this involved her entire life.

Naerin had been grasping at the smallest bits of interaction with Jisung for the past week. It seemed like as December finally rolled around Jisung had completely stopped communicating with Naerin. It had been a month since the two saw each other in person. He would only reply when she texted first and even then the messages were short and spaced out by long hours of silence.

It wasn't hard for Naerin to understand that the company had told Jisung to keep his distance. But Naerin hadn't expected distance in every way possible.

The first week of December came and went at an agonizingly slow pace to the point where Naerin was reduced to nothing but blank stares and tired sighs.

The physical distance away from Jisung had stretched on for nearly a month now and Naerin started to think that maybe the soulmate medication wasn't working. Or maybe it was working and she was just feeling the emotional withdrawal of being apart from her soulmate.

When Kangdae burst into Naerin's bedroom, she had been tucked in bed, blankets pulled tightly to her chin. The curtains were drawn shut to block out any light from outside but it quickly changed when Kangdae stormed over and yanked open the curtains.

"Are you going to just stay here and mope all day long?" Kangdae sighed as he turned to Naerin and grabbed the bottom of her blanket. Without much warning, he pulled as hard as he could and Naerin went flying along with the blanket.

She collapsed onto the floor with her blanket but instead of saying anything, she curled back into it and closed her eyes to sleep.

Kangdae's eyes widened and he grabbed her pillow from off the bed.

"GET. THE. HELL. UP." He said, punctuating each word with a hit with the pillow.

"Oh my god! Stop!" Naerin finally sat up, her hair messily falling around her face as she pouted at Kangdae. "It's the weekend, why can't I sleep in?"

"It's Wednesday. Seriously, Rin? What's been up with you this week?" Kangdae sighed but he already knew the answer, "Let's get coffee before class,"

Naerin couldn't argue with Kangdae because he was already making his way to the door. As he exited, Inhyuk peeked into Naerin's room. His eyes fell onto his little sister sitting in a pile of her blankets.

"Oh, good, you're awake," he said, "Can you get me an iced Americano and drop it off at the station for me on your way to class? I'm running a bit late, thanks," he said before Naerin could disagree.

Once Inhyuk left, Naerin was left sitting helplessly on the floor of her room. She took a moment to look around her now brightly lit room and groaned, falling onto her back with a thud and throwing her arms over her eyes.

"If you don't get up right now, I'll drag you to class by your feet, bunny pajamas and all," Kangdae's voice called from outside of Naerin's room.

Naerin let out a loud groan as she flopped back down onto the ground, pulling the blanket to cover her head. She closed her eyes, letting sleep start to lull her back when Kangdae's sharp tone caused her to sit straight up.

"I'll burn your stuffed animals, Rin, I'm serious,"

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Jisung felt like he could breathe for the first time that day. He wasn't sure if the others felt the same way, but he felt like there was so much going on in his world that he couldn't quite process all of it at once.