cold coffee / ijb

+ seven

chapter seven
***

the next morning aera woke up to jaebum untangling himself from her. before he could get up, aera pulled him back down, pinning him to the mattress and hovering over him with a scowl.

"eight times?" she asked menacingly.

"why are you comfortable with me all of a sudden?" he asked, pretending to be clueless.

she rolled her eyes, pushing him back down when he tried to sit up.

"jaebum, i was awake last night."

"ah, ah, ah," he scolded, leaning upwards so his mouth was almost to her ear. "oppa."

"ugh!" aera exclaimed, stepping back. "stop trying to change the subject!"

"what subject?" jaebum shrugged, struggling under her weight.

baek aera's palm met her forehead with a smack.

"the subject? the subject is that we..." aera's voice dropped down to a whisper and she glanced over her shoulder towards the door "...cuddled..."

aera felt jaebum cringe beneath her.

"we did not cuddle," jaebum assured in disgust, eyes narrowing.

he pushed her off of him and she landed laying beside him. aera let out a frustrated huff, laying still until she was yanked back towards jaebum by her wrists. aera's body fell into a state of paralysis as jaebums hand wrapped around her thigh to bring her leg over his hip. he moved her hands up his chest, enclosing her fingers around his shirt. he tucked her head into the crook of his neck so that the tip of her nose was pressed to his throat. his arm snaked around to the small of her back to bring her hip bones to his own.

aera wasn't sure if she was breathing anymore. in fact, the only thing that she was sure of in that moment was that her heart was without a doubt, beating at a mile a minute.

"is this cuddling, baek aera?" jaebum asked.

she felt the pressure of their hip bones pushed together harshly. such a tight embrace couldn't be compared to the soft and warm one that lovers share.

mild waves of pain resonated throughout her but surprisingly aera did not find it bothersome.

still partially paralyzed, baek aera mustered up enough energy to stutter out a string of words.

"no, i'm sorry," she said against the line of his jaw.

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baek aera mindlessly wiped down the counter, thoughts swirling out of control inside of her skull. she sipped from a water glass in hopes that it would wash away the fact that her and jaebum had been holding each other every night since his arrival.

aera grasped the wet rag in her shaking palms, chewing on the inside of her cheek.

"something wrong?" a low monotone voice rang out close behind her.

"no. i'm just thinking," she mumbled without turning to face him, moving to dry the counter with a paper towel swiftly and toss the crumpled paper in the trash.

she flinched at the feeling of jaebum's tight grip on her waist. he spun her around, lifted her, and placed her on the counter.

"i can't hear you when you mumble like that," he said, without an expression to hint at just what was going through his mind.

"sorry," she reluctantly tilted her chin up to face him, shyly looking at him through her eyelashes.

"why are you acting so nervous, aera?"

she wanted to turn away from him and pretend to look around for customers but she had already closed the café.

"you..." aera started carefully, not wanting to trigger a loss of temper from jaebum. "you make me nervous, sir."