AFTERGLOW.| CYJ

37

Joohyun flinches.

He almost hits her.

His hand is stuck in the air while she covered her head scared of getting hit. She was vulnerable and he succumbed to it.

She feels numb. The silence of the dorm makes it worse.

He tried to hit her.

She grabs her phone from the table immediately and rushes out of dorm. It was too dark scary to go out alone late night. It was cold too and she had only worn a single layer of jacket. She dials a familiar number while walking towards the main road. Heeseung's. But he isn't picking up. Her hands were trembling as pulled up another call. Any place was better than the dorm. She just needed to feel safe.

She stumbles across a taxi at the corner. Tne driver looks at her from top to bottom , glancing at the tears on her face. The yellow streetlight is reflecting off her cheeks outside his taxi window. She begs him for a ride. The taxi driver agrees to take drive her wherever she wanted to go.

She nearly feels just as scared in the closed late night taxi as much as she did at the dorm. Her heart had stopped beating loudly, but she was still scared the entire time she was in the taxi. She was texting Heeseung on the way telling him about the things that happened.  Recalling the events makes her tear up even more. The taxi driver looks at her in his rear view mirror, and was just a turn away from dropping her off to the police station, worried.

But at the end, he drops her ofd safely. He even reconsiders payment. His kind hearted soul wanted her to go somewhere safe. She gets down and walks to a duplex unit. It has a vintage brass ring knock. Her instincts tell her that it's the right place to be tonight. She knocks on the ring, waiting patiently and uses this time to text Heeseung again.

The door opens. Sunghoon stands behind it.

"Love?", he asks surprised.

Joohyun rushes inside to hug him.

"He tried to hit me. He tried to hit me. I'm scared..", she cries, her voice has almost dissolved in her misery. She had never imagined running up to him for comfort. He holds  her gently as he walks her inside and shuts the door close. He hugs her warmly. His arms wrap around her, his hans patting the back of her head as she cries on his shoulder. His embrace is surprisingly warm, as though he were human. He somehow makes her feel complete.

He takes her to his room to warm up. He gently guides her to sit on the bed. He notices her shivering because of temperature of his room. He doesn't know how long she's been outside. The cold had taken her hostage. He places his hand over her forehead briefly to check for a fever. His cold palm picks up the contrasting warmth of her body and misguides him to thinking she has a fever. He immediately clutches on to the hem of his hoodie and strips.

He's wearing a plain white tee underneath. He gently slides the hoodie through her head and helps her get into the rest.

"Better?", he asks, "Do you want something warmer?—Wait", he says as he raises up from the bed immediately going to his closet to look for another jacket. He returns to drape the second jacket over her shoulder. Joohyun is just accepting whatever he is providing her. Deep down, she needed this, she wanted someone to care for her unconditionally. There are a lot of thoughts running in her mind but she decides to remain quiet as Sunghoon drapes the thick white comforter over her legs, completing the sandwich of warmth. He reaches out to hold her hand to comfort.

"Are you hurting somewhere?", he asks softly, upon her quiet reponse, he bends forward to kiss her knuckles to help her open up.

Moved by his quiet care, Joohyun gently tugs on his shirt, her fingers trembling slightly. He draws closer without hesitation, and the space between them disappears as his arms envelop her. She feels the steady rise and fall of his chest, his warmth seeping into her weary bones. His chin rests on top of her head, a soft weight that grounds her, and he pulls her in tighter, protective yet tender. "You're safe with me" he whispers, his voice low, soothing, as his hand glides over the back of her head in slow, comforting strokes. But Joohyun, drained from the day’s battles, can't think about love—only about how safe she feels in his arms, too tired to hold onto anything else. In just a few minutes, he hears her soft snores. He pulls out her embrace carefully without disturbing her and lays her over the mattress.