Sanity vs. Soulmate | JeongCheol

42

Cheol did not lead me into a dark alley to murder me. Quite the opposite. It didn't even take us five minutes to reach a normal looking apartment building with at least five illuminated windows. The sight of this alone soothed my nerves.

In the blink of an eye, I found myself standing in front of an ordinary brown door. The sign underneath the apartment number, a crooked seventeen, read Kim. This must be it.

Please don't let him be as handsome as I remember. Please, please, please! I always thought of myself as someone who had a hard time falling in love, but after the whole Wonwoo incident I don't know anymore. I basically developed a tiny crush on the man the second I saw him. Same goes for Seungcheol. So yeah... At the moment I should really avoid meeting gorgeous people. My heart can take only so much.

I knew I was fucked the second the door opened and his tall figure filled the doorframe.
Wide shoulders, brown, slightly curly hair that reached just over his eyes, a light, glowing tan and sparkling eyes that seemed to hold the universe.

Yep, that man was definitely still dashingly handsome and I was fucked. FUCKED! WHY IS EVERYONE SO FREAKING GORGEOUS??

Back in the day, before I lost my hearing, we all looked like a bunch of mushy, brown bananas, owned three loose shirts with undefinable stains on them and thought those weird mushroom haircuts made us look cool. And now all of my friends could be modelling in their free time for all I know, and literally every new person I meet is drop dead gorgeous??? Is this a joke?? Hidden camera prank or something?
I swear, this feels like somebody is messing with me...

It took me a second to snap out of it, but once I did, I realised Cheol hadn't lied. Mingyu wasn't inconvenienced by my intrusion in the slightest. It was easy to see that the man was over the moon to meet me again. "Jeonghan? Is that you?" His eyes sparkled with genuine excitement and a wide puppy grin appeared on his face. "Yep. In the flesh..." "Woah... That's so cool! S.Coups never mentioned he was bringing you along, but I'm so happy to see you! I have so many questions!" He grabbed my arms and started bouncing up and down, forcing me to go along with the movement. I couldn't help but grin at his hyper energetic behaviour, although I was a little concerned for his safety. This giant puppy would bump his head on the doorframe in no time if he continued jumping like this.

"Your hands! They are terribly cold! Get inside, get inside. We'll get you something to warm up! Does hot chocolate sound good to you? Yes, of course it does. Who doesn't like hot chocolate after all? So, tell me..." And with that Mingyu started bombarding me with a series of questions, while ushering me inside, leaving the door for Seungcheol to close.

I followed him helplessly, clueless as to how to stop the flood of words that just kept pouring out of Mingyu's mouth. I glanced over my shoulder to Cheol, but he just laughed and gave me a thumbs up. Thanks for the help, man.

Luckily Mingyu didn't seem to expect any answers from me. I wouldn't have been able to give him some anyway. You guys try speed-lip-reading while being shoved around an alien apartment... Good luck with that.

In no time, I found myself seated on a very small but comfy couch, tightly wrapped in a soft blanket and squished between Seungcheol and Mingyu. In my hands I held a cup of steaming hot chocolate and a plate with small bakery pieces was put in front of me. I already felt the heat returning to my frozen limbs. Anxiety aside, this was definitely so much better than walking home by myself...

I allowed myself to relax into the couch and close my eyes for a second, letting the all too familiar darkness and silence envelope me and swallow me up. Only Cheol's faint breathing brushed past me and I found myself getting sleepy listening to it.