Secretly Yours, (Enhypen Jay X Female OC)

Ch. 21: The Weather

On the way home, I ended up sitting next to Sawol with her sitting right next to the window. On the other hand, Sunghoon and Yunjin sat on the seat in front of us, and at some point, they both fell asleep, on each other's shoulders, which was one little detail that Sawol decided to talk about with me.

"Hey. Jay."

"Hmm?" I turned to her after she called my name and tapped on my shoulder. As soon as my eyes landed on her, though, I saw her mischievous smile and her finger pointed right in front of us, and I turned to see what she was pointing at.

"They look cute, don't they?"

A smile immediately formed on my face at the sight. "They do."

It was an unusual sight, what with how often they tend to not agree over a lot of things, so of course it didn't take long for me to be smiling at the sight of the two. Soon enough, my smile turned just as mischievous as Sawol's, and I continued speaking with my tone contracting the same playfulness that showed on my smile.

"You know, if I didn't know any better, I'd say they were dating," I teased while I could (while Sunghoon is still unaware), and I giggled at the same time Sawol did, before I turned to her just to see her do the same at the same time.

Our eyes met again, and Sawol suddenly fell silent as I blinked before I found myself feeling flustered again. I quickly looked away as a result, softly clearing my throat while I felt Sawol shift in her seat beside me.

Silence took over the atmosphere again, and I almost regretted turning to look at Sawol. I felt like I killed the mood by doing all that... Did I overreact?

"Today was fun." And then Sawol started a conversation again.

I brought my hand to my nape as I replied, still looking away from Sawol and out the window beside me. "Yeah... I'm glad you enjoyed it."

Sawol giggled again, and I felt a shy smile forming on my lips as I lowered my gaze. And then she proceeded to ask a question. "Did you enjoy it?"

... Hmm?

Slowly, I turned back towards Sawol, though avoiding her eyes this time as I, instead, focused on the newly-bought rose keychain hanging from the zipper of her bag. It took me a while to respond, and it took a bit more courage to do so without worrying whether I'll stutter or not.

"Yeah..." I replied with a smile, before I slowly raised my gaze to meet Sawol's. "Definitely."

She smiled back at me, probably wider and brighter than I did. Well, hers was more sincere, after all. "Cool," she told me, before she paused, probably because she didn't know what to say next or she was hesitating to say something.

I waited patiently, watching her before I shifted my gaze again, this time, to the rose I gave her, wrapped in paper and peeking out of her bag.

"I'm sure you've already read the last letter I wrote you."

I looked back up at Sawol when she finally spoke again, but shortly after I did, she suddenly proceeded to ask another question.

"Remember how I said in it that you can tell me about your problems?"

"... Yeah? Why do you ask?" A nervous smile formed on my face once again as I asked hesitantly. I think I already knew where this was going.

"Don't you have anything you want to tell me? Anything that's bothering you?" Sawol's eyes looked big as she looked at me, waiting for my response. It almost seemed as if this was the question she was the most willing to hear my response to.

But... what exactly has been bothering me lately?

Well, I mean, I'm bothered by my feelings for her that I'm still not ready to show, I guess...

And I'm bothered by how things could be like in Sawol's house... Is she actually okay? Is she well? Does she feel safe in that place?... Is she hiding more than she lets me know about how she actually feels about her place?

I paused as I thought about it. And I even looked away from Sawol again, as I hummed and thought hard about her question.

But... she really does seem to be in so much of a better mood now.

"Well... I guess nothing much bothers me as of now," I eventually replied as I looked back at Sawol. "I mean, so long as we're all okay and nothing bad has happened, then it's definitely gonna stay that way." I paused, and then I looked towards Sawol like I was just about to catch her doing something wrong. "But, hey! You better not be using that as an excuse to hide your problems from me!"

Sawol laughed in response, before she nodded while a playful smile remained on her face. "Yeah, yeah, I know." And then she shifted her gaze towards the window behind me, and for a moment, I saw her eyes sparkle before she gasped in delight at the sight outside. "It's grey weather!"

"H-huh? What do you mean-" I turned around cluelessly to look out the window, and then I saw what she meant.

The view outside was grey, alright. Clouds had filled up the sky, but no rain fell from them. Fog, however, crawled over several of the mountains in sight, and slithered through the trees. The sight looked sad, lonely, and dull...

But, I guess...

To a peace-seeker like Sawol, the scene looked calming and safe. Slow, steady, and inviting all around it to stop working for a moment and maybe fall asleep.

Grey weather...

.

.

.

It still remains one of the things Sawol loves that I never forgot. And as a result...

A sigh comes out of me as I turn my head and look outside the window, where the weather hasn't changed at all, other than the fact that it's stopped raining now, leaving the scenery damp and dull and foggy.

I guess I did end up learning to love this weather, too.

It looks nice... It feels nice.