Stray Kids Comfort Collection

2. Hyunjin: Sleep Aid

Staring blankly at the screen, unsure if I was understanding anything that I was watching, I sat in the middle of my couch. I could feel the bruises under my eyes growing deeper in hue as the minutes ticked by. My body was lead, drained of all energy in an effort to fight for what it so desperately needed but just could not get: sleep.

Day 5 of this current insomnia episode.

My phone rested on the cushion next to my thigh, completely forgotten as the screen remained illuminated with my one word reply to his last text "Still awake?"

Yes.

I didn't even remember sending it. I was on autopilot. I was also on the verge of becoming very ill if I didn't get more than 2 hours of sleep tonight. My body was already breaking down and I started feeling feverish earlier this evening when I got back to my apartment after work. I'd immediately stripped out of my work clothes and threw on a hoodie and some pajama pants before waiting for the adrenal crash from being home from work to hit me like a brick wall. The crash arrived not long after I'd eaten dinner and tidied up around the apartment. It hit hard, but no sleep came with it. Just tired.

I almost didn't register the soft knock at my apartment door. The doorbell rang a moment later, and it clicked that the sound wasn't on the television. I groaned, willing myself to get up and answer the door, not even caring that it was after midnight, and I could well enough open the door to come face to face with a murderer. Honestly, I would prefer it if it meant that I could get some real sleep. I really hated insomnia.

I fumbled with the lock and slowly opened the door.

Hyunjin's pout and concerned eyes greeted me first, followed by his deeper soft voice, "Jagiya..." He didn't even wait for me to welcome him in. He stepped through the doorway with a small tote bag in hand and wrapped his arms around me, the contents bumping against my back as he hugged me. His embrace was enveloping, and I sighed into it. The faint scent of soap and aftershave and laundry detergent mixed with his own body chemistry was a bouquet specific to Hyunjin, and it represented comfort to me.

Pressing a plush kiss to my temple, he squeezed me in his arms then let go. "Your forehead's warmer than it should be."

I closed the door behind him and asked, "Hyun-ah, what are you doing here so late?"

He had walked past me and into my small kitchen. He was emptying his tote when he replied, "I wasn't ready to go to bed and I remembered you saying you were struggling with insomnia again. I figured you wouldn't hate some company, and maybe with me being here you might get some sleep. I brought some things from my place that might help too." He held up a bottle of Zzzquil, a sleep aid herbal tea blend box, an expensive looking sleep mask, and what looked like a small box of earplugs.

Tears sprung to my eyes because I was too exhausted to hold my emotions back. I chewed on my bottom lip and said with a voice that sounded so small, "Thank you."

He found my tea kettle and was filling it with water. "Go sit back down. I'll bring this to you when it's ready."

"Okay." I didn't know what else to do but listen. I went to sit back down on the couch, mindlessly watching whatever it was that I had turned on a couple hours prior and just let play. It took nothing for me to zone out again.

Before I knew it, Hyunjin was standing in front of me with a medicine cup half full of the Zzzquil in one hand and a steaming hot mug of sleepy tea in the other. He handed me the medicine, watched me drink it, held his hand back out for me to place the empty cup in, and then offered me the tea. "I'll be right back," he said, walking back toward the kitchen. He soon strode back in with his own tea cup, the mask, and the small container of ear plugs, and set them on the end table. Without stopping, he disappeared toward my bedroom. When he returned, he had my pillow and my blanket in his arms.