To Make You Smile

When You Walked Away (Pt.2)

~*~ When You Walked Away (Pt.2)

I woke up after a night of fitful sleeping. The apartment was quiet and, by the amount of sunlight streaming in through the windows, it was already mid-morning.

I carefully picked myself up off of the couch so as not to awaken Chelsea if she were still sleeping. My clothes from yesterday were folded in a neat stack on the coffee table so I picked them up and walked on my toes to the bathroom to get a shower.

The door opened just as I was getting ready to push it open and Chelsea walked out, a cloud of steam following in her wake. "Good morning, Sleeping Beauty. I didn't want to wake you so I let you sleep in a little later than usual."

I looked at the clock on the wall. It was a quarter til eight o'clock... "Eight o'clock is sleeping in?" I asked, rubbing at my tired eyes. I usually didn't have to go to work until nine so eight o'clock was a typical time for me to be awake.

"Sorry, I'm used to waking up at five with Yongguk. He thinks I go back to sleep when he leaves but I miss him, you know? After he leaves, I always get out of bed and start my day..." Hearing Chelsea talk made my heart hurt again. "Sorry! I didn't mean to... you know..."

"It's fine, Chelsea. Really. I'm going to get in the shower, okay?" She nodded her head and I stepped into the bathroom.

My reflection was looking a little better than it had last night. My cheeks had regained some of their color and my eyes didn't look so bloodshot anymore.

After I showered and changed back into my sweater and blue jeans from yesterday, I added a bit of Chelsea's mousse to my hair just to shape my curls. I ended up tying my hair in a low, side ponytail and was almost impressed with myself now. The shower had cleared up my eyes a little more and, just by looking at me on the outside, you would never guess how broken I felt on the inside.

Chelsea was in the kitchen when I came out of the bathroom. She was in front of the stove doing something, humming something as she did. It didn't take me long to pin down the tune as "Haru Haru" by Big Bang and I felt my emotions start to rise again.

I went to lean against the counter next to Chelsea and I noticed she was pulling a pan of muffins out of the oven. She took them out of the baking tin and set them on a rack to cool on the counter. When she turned to me, her nose twitched. "You smell good."

"I just got out of the shower...?" I said, taking a muffin and sitting down at the bar to eat it.

"Obviously!" She rolled her eyes at me and smiled. "But you smell really good." She came over to me and sniffed my shoulder.

"What are you doing?" I asked, laughing at her actions as I took a bite of my muffin. A small moan escaped me at the taste of her muffin. "How do you bake so well?" Chelsea always made the best baked goods and her blueberry muffins were outstanding this morning.

"A good baker never tells. How do you smell so nice?" 

"A good shower-er never tells." I said, shoving the rest of my muffin in my mouth to prevent any further conversation from taking place.

"You used Yongguk's shower gel!" Chelsea said, finally placing the scent.

I made an innocent face and shrugged my shoulders, feeling happy to finally feel almost normal again. Joking with Chelsea brought me back to a happier time and I was able to forget about the aching in my chest long enough to return to myself, even if it was only briefly.

After I'd finished my muffin, I told Chelsea I had to go and collect my things from the apartment that Zelo and I shared. Used to share, I corrected myself mentally. Past tense.