Y/N POV
The silence that followed was suffocating. I tugged the sheets tighter around me, suddenly too aware of how exposed I felt, not just physically, but emotionally. Changbin didn't say anything else. He just watched me, his gaze searching my face, as if he were trying to read my thoughts, figure out what I was thinking. Maybe he was just as confused as I was. Or maybe he wasn't thinking anything at all.
I couldn't take it anymore. I swung my legs out of bed, the cool floor biting at my feet, and stood up, the blanket slipping from my shoulders. His eyes followed my moments, but he didn't stop me.
"You don't have to rush out, you know," Changbin said, his voice calm but low.
I paused, my hand halfway to my scattered clothes on the floor. My heart thudded louder in my chest. The easy answer was to just gather my things and leave--get out before the awkwardness turned into something more painful. I could walk out of this bedroom and pretend it never happened, chalk it up to one of those mistakes people make when they're lonely or drunk or... lost.
But I couldn't move. Not yet.
"I'm not—" I hesitated, "I'm not rushing out. I just... I need to figure this out."
Changbin sat up, leaning on his elbows, the sheets pooling around his waist. He looked at me for a long moment, his expression unreadable, then ran a hand through his messy hair. "Figure what out?"
I wrapped my arms around myself, feeling incredibly small under his gaze. "Us. This." The words felt ridiculous even as they left my mouth. "I mean, we don't even know each other."
He gave a slight shrug, his lips twitching upward in a smirk that didn't quite reach his eyes. "We knew each other well enough last night."
Heat rushed to my cheeks, both from embarrassment and frustration. "Last night was... different."
"Was it?" he asked, his tone soft but with a sharp edge.
I bit my lip, not sure how to respond. I wanted to say yes, but the more I thought about it, the less I knew. There had been something about him, something in the way he had looked at me, touched me, spoken to me—it had felt real. But this morning? The awkward mess we were sitting in felt far from the kind of reality I was prepared to deal with.
"Look," he said, swinging his legs over the side of the bed and standing. He was taller than I remembered, the soft morning light casting shadows across his toned chest. He walked over to me slowly, stopping just close enough that I could feel his presence, the warmth radiating from his skin. "If you want to leave, I won't stop you. No hard feelings. But if you want to stay.."
His voice trailed off, and I looked up at him, my heart pounding in my chest again. "And if I stay?" I asked, my voice barely above a whisper.
Changbin's dark eyes locked onto mine, his expression serious now, the teasing smirk long gone. "Then we figure it out. Together."
The weight of his words hung between us, thick with promise and uncertainty. Part of me wanted to run, but another part—a much bigger part—a wasn't ready to let go of whatever this was. I didn't know what was waiting on the other side of this moment, but for the first time since I woke up, I felt like maybe... just maybe... I didn't want this to be over yet.
