ᴡʀᴏɴɢ ꜱᴇɴᴅ ┆|| ┆ni-ki

~forty eight~

Eunha stretched and rubbed her eyes as she sat up, still a little disoriented from her nap.

The sound of a gentle knock on the door pulled her out of her sleepy state, and Niki peeked his head in, flashing a sheepish smile.

"Hey, you're finally awake. It's almost six." he said, scratching the back of his neck. "I was thinking... do you wanna do something fun? Like, maybe make pancakes with me?"

Eunha blinked at him, still waking up. "Pancakes?"

He nodded, a playful grin forming. "Yeah, why not? Cooking in the evening is better than just being bored, right?"

Eunha rubbed the last bits of sleep from her eyes and swung her legs over the side of the bed. "Fine, I'm in. But if you burn the kitchen, it's on you." she said seriously, making Niki laugh.

They headed downstairs, Niki leading the way to the kitchen, and soon they had all the ingredients spread out on the counter, flour, eggs, milk, and sugar.

Niki handed Eunha a bowl to start mixing, but just as she grabbed it, he gave her a mischievous grin.

"You know, I bet I can reach the flour before you." he said, wiggling his eyebrows.

Eunha rolled her eyes. "What are you talking about—?"

Before she could finish, Niki grabbed the flour bag and ran toward the pantry. "Catch me if you can!"

Eunha couldn't believe it but found herself running after him, laughing as she tried to grab the bag back.

Niki kept darting around the kitchen island, holding the flour just out of reach.

But then, just as she lunged to grab it from his hands, she stumbled over a loose kitchen towel on the floor, her foot slipping out from under her.

She gasped, reaching out to steady herself, but it was too late.

Eunha fell forward, pulling Niki down with her. He yelped in surprise as they both went crashing to the ground, the bag of flour bursting open between them, creating a huge puff of white dust.

When they hit the floor, Eunha landed on her back with Niki landing right on top of her.

They both froze, their breaths catching as they realized how close they were. Niki's face was just inches from hers, his eyes wide with shock.

A second later, he burst out laughing, his voice echoing in the kitchen. Eunha blinked up at him, blushing, before joining in with her own laughter.

"See? I told you, it's your fault!" she managed to say between laughs.

Niki propped himself up on his elbows, still lying above her, his smile softening as he looked down at her. "I think we both lost this time." he said with a chuckle, his voice quieter now as he wiped the flour from her face.

Eunha's laughter died down, and she felt her cheeks heat up as she realized the position they were in. "Uh, maybe you should... you know... get up?" she suggested, her voice faltering.

Niki blinked, as if only just realizing it too. "Oh—yeah, right! Sorry!" He quickly rolled off to the side, lying on his back beside her for a moment, both of them staring up at the ceiling covered in flour dust.

Then they sat up, glancing at each other, still giggling like kids caught in a mess. Eunha reached over, brushing flour out of his hair, and Niki did the same for her, their hands lingering for a moment before they both pulled away.

"Okay, maybe making pancakes wasn't the best idea." Niki said, looking at the flour-covered kitchen. "But at least it was fun, right?"

Eunha smiled. "Yeah, it was."

He smiled, gently bumping her with his shoulder as they started cleaning up. The playful mood stayed with them as they tried to fix their pancake plan.

After the kitchen mess, they cleaned up most of it, though some flour was still left on the counter.

They laughed about it as they made a decent stack of pancakes, adding syrup and some fruit. It wasn't perfect, but good enough to feel like a win.

"Alright, I found a rom-com." Niki said, glancing back at her with a small, playful smile.

Eunha settled into the couch, wrapping the blanket around her shoulders as she took a bite of her pancakes. "Yeah, sounds good to me. Just don't blame me if I fall asleep halfway through."

Niki smirked, plopping down beside her with his own plate of pancakes. "Well, if you do, I might just steal your pancakes."

"In your dreams" she replied, grinning as they both laughed.

The room dimmed, the only light coming from the TV screen.

As the scenes rolled on, they relaxed further into the couch, the warmth of the blanket making it easy to forget the time.

Niki reached over, grabbing the remote to turn up the volume slightly when a funny scene came on, and Eunha found herself nudging his shoulder every time the characters did something particularly cringy.

Eunha found herself blinking slowly, her head starting to dip forward as her exhaustion from earlier returned. She tried to fight it, but her eyelids grew heavier with each passing second.

Niki noticed and nudged her lightly. "Hey, sleepyhead, you okay?"

Eunha glanced up at him, a sheepish smile on her lips. "Yeah, I'm fine, just... a little tired." She let out a yawn, barely covering it with her hand. "It's really comfortable here."

He chuckled softly, shifting a bit closer so their shoulders brushed. "You can sleep if you want, Eunha. I'll wake you up if anything interesting happens."

She leaned her head back against the couch, letting her shoulder rest against his. "You better not finish my pancakes." she mumbled, her words slurring slightly as she struggled to keep her eyes open.

"I promise I won't." Niki said, his tone gentle. He glanced down at her, noticing how her breathing started to slow, her head gradually leaning onto his shoulder.

He tried to focus on the movie, but he couldn't help but feel a warmth spreading through him, a comfort that had little to do with the blanket.

A few minutes later, Niki felt her head finally settle against his shoulder completely. He turned his head slightly, catching a glimpse of her sleeping face, her expression soft and peaceful.

For a moment, he forgot about the movie entirely, just taking in the way she looked so relaxed.

She was beautiful, really beautiful, and he couldn't take his eyes off her face.

He thought he was lucky to meet such a pretty and special girl, and he wanted to take care of her and make sure no one ever hurt her. He found himself smiling without even noticing, just by looking at her.

He shifted carefully, trying not to wake her, and adjusted the blanket so it covered both of them.

Then he leaned his head back against the couch, letting out a small sigh as he kept an arm draped lightly over the back of the couch behind her.

The movie continued playing, its background noise filling the room, but Niki's thoughts were elsewhere.

As the minutes passed, he found himself feeling sleepy too, the warmth of the blanket and the steady rhythm of Eunha's breathing pulling him into a sleepy daze.

Eventually, Niki's head dipped down too, his eyes closing as he drifted off beside her. The TV screen continued to flicker with scenes from the movie, but all that filled the room was the soft, even breathing of two people who had found a little moment of peace together.

✦•┈๑⋅⋯ ⋯⋅๑┈•✦✦•┈๑⋅⋯ ⋯⋅๑┈•✦

Thanks for reading!
Don't forget to comment and vote ✨