SHADOWS OF DECEIT

Chapter 34

The incessant pounding on the door made Joshua groan, his body still heavy with sleep. He blinked sluggishly at the ceiling, his mind barely processing the fact that someone had the audacity to ruin his morning like this.

Then he felt it—the dead weight draped over him.

Samuel.

Joshua scowled, shifting, only to realize that Samuel had practically melded into him overnight, his leg tangled over Joshua's waist, one arm lazily thrown across his stomach, his face buried somewhere against his shoulder.

The knocking persisted, sharp and unrelenting.

"Fuck's sake," Joshua muttered, lifting a hand to shove at Samuel's shoulder. "Move, you leech."

Samuel groaned in response, curling in closer instead, mumbling something incoherent under his breath.

"I swear to God—" Joshua didn't bother finishing the sentence. He braced himself, planted his foot against Samuel's thigh, and shoved.

The younger yelped as he was unceremoniously pushed off, hitting the mattress with a thud. "Hyung, what the fuck—"

"Someone's at the door," Joshua cut him off, already swinging his legs over the bed. "And unlike you, I actually have to deal with it."

Samuel groaned dramatically, pulling a pillow over his face. "Ignore it," he mumbled, voice muffled. "Probably some door-to-door salesperson—"

Joshua ignored him, trudging toward the door, rubbing the sleep from his face with one hand as he unlatched it with the other.

The second the door swung open, Joshua felt his entire morning officially go to hell.

Because standing there, her usual blank, unreadable expression in place, was Yusuke.

Joshua's stomach dropped.

Of all the people in the goddamn world.

He cursed internally, gripping the doorknob tighter. "What the fuck are you doing here?" he asked, voice rough with sleep, already bracing himself for whatever fresh headache this was about to bring.

Yusuke barely blinked, her gaze cutting straight past him into the apartment. "Samuel," she said simply, no elaboration, no greeting—just a name, like a goddamn summons.

Joshua exhaled through his nose, already regretting waking up.

Joshua sighed, running a hand down his face before giving Samuel a light shake. When that did nothing, he shoved harder. Nothing.

Fucking heavy sleeper.

Joshua sighed again before grabbing the nearest pillow and smacking Samuel across the head with enough force to make him yelp and jolt upright.

"What the actual fuck, hyung?" Samuel groaned, voice thick with sleep, one hand rubbing at his eyes while the other blindly patted around for his phone.

Joshua simply rolled his eyes and gestured toward the door with a tilt of his head. "Your best fucking friend in the world is standing at my doorstep."

Samuel let out a deep groan, flopping onto his back as he grabbed his phone from the bedside table. His eyes squinted at the bright screen before they widened slightly. "Shit. It's already past nine?"

Joshua, still half-dead from sleep, shrugged lazily before flopping back down onto his bed, reaching for his own phone. "Yeah, and?"

Samuel frowned. "Shouldn't you be at the hospital right now?"

Joshua yawned, barely looking up from his screen. "Night shift today."

Samuel raised a brow. "So you're basically free the whole day?"