Artificial Water

Chapter 5🥀

Kyungsoo

After dinner I found myself rereading the words I had written while sitting in the shop. I understood why Jongin complained about the fact that nothing happened, but I liked the peace. The biggest reason why Jongin had not much to do was because his sister didn't trust him with big deliveries and did them herself so all Jongin had to do was help the few people coming in. In my opinion it was much better than spending time in school. I flipped through the pages and sighed deeply before throwing them away from me, resting the back of my head against the couch with my eyes closed.

"Something wrong?" Jongin asked as he looked down at me. He dried his hands on a cloth before throwing it over his shoulder and kneeling down so he was across from where I was sitting on the ground.

I opened my eyes again but didn't reply and watched him collect all the sheets. I had expected him to read them like he had tried before, but he just piled them up and moved so he was sitting next to me, his shoulder softly brushing against mine. The skin immediately started heating up like Jongin was fire. It made me shift uncomfortably but he didn't seem to notice. "Want to talk about it?" He asked, still holdig the pile.

I faced him and tried to see if he was honestly trying to figure out what was wrong or just acted like he cared. His warm eyes were looking back at me and a small smile appeared on his face, assuring me it was okay to talk. Although I wanted to tell him about my problems I coudn't bring myself to do it. The words just didn't want to come out of my mouth. Jongin turned to face the small coffee table and said, "I get it, you are not ready for it."

I expected him to stand up again and leave, but he kept sitting. His knees were almost pressing against his chest as he rested his arm on top of them. He was still holding the pile with his other hand and I didn't dare to take it from him. I didn't want him to read it, but somehow I was scared to make sure he indeed didn't. "I think everyone has been through bad times, one person worse than the other. But there's one thing I don't understand and didn't really think about until I met you."

I stared at his side profile while listening to what he was saying. His voice was deep and soothing and I found myself being pulled further into it, far past the words. My fingers found their way to his hand as I took a hold of the papers. He looked down at it and let them go so I could take them. "Are you gonna tell me what it is?" I asked softly.

"You'll find out," he copied the words I had spoken earlier when I told him I had a habit. He stood on his feet and said, "try to get some sleep."

I nodded and watched him clean up the last things in the kitchen before going into his bedroom. He had given me a pillow from his bed and a thicker blanket so I could sleep comfortable on the couch, but it took a while before I was able to drift off to dreamland and ended up in a restless sleep.

I woke up a few hours later. Everything was dark except for a dim light that came from outside. I got up and slowly started walking towards Jongin's bedroom, taking a deep breath before opening the door. I could see his sleeping figure in the bed and moved a bit closer. He was laying on his back, breathing softly. Once I was sure he was breathing normally I turned around to leave but the floor squeaked softly underneath my bare foot and a moment later a voice asked, "Soo?"

I faced Jongin again and saw he was looking at me with half lidded eyes. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm sorry," I whispered. "I didn't mean to wake you up."

"Are you okay?" He asked while running a hand down his face. "Is something wrong?"

"Yes and no."

"Then what is it?"

"I was... scared..." I admitted and looked down at my hands. "I'm sorry for waking you up."

"Come here," Jongin almost ordered me. I inched closer to the bed, still not looking at him as I sat down. "Tell me what scared you."

"It's nothing." I wouldn't have admitted it if I knew he would ask further and I regretted saying it now.

He sighed loudly before I felt his warm hand grasping my arm. It pulled me back to the moment he had done it in the water while I was trying to fight him off. I gasped as my mouth filled with water. Everything was black and I couldn't feel anything except for the cold clinging onto my body. I couldn't breath and panic started to seep through to my brain. Suddenly all the air was back at one go and I gasped again, coughing loudly.

"Kyungsoo." Jongin's voice sounded urgent and in the middle of the blackness his face appeared. I moved forward and hugged him tightly, pressing my eyes closed, hoping it would go away if I didn't see it. A pair of strong arms held me close as I tried to catch my breath. "Shhh, it's alright." I pressed my face in his neck to get more of this safety until his scent was all I could focus on. "Whatever you are seeing is not real."

I took a shivery breath and felt my body calm down again. I wasn't ready to let go yet, but I felt him pulling away and a "no" escaped my lips. Jongin however pushed me away gently and pulled the sheets over my trembling body, before holding me again. "I'm here."

I buried my nose in his shirt and for the first time in years I felt safe. There was no other urge than the need to be held and after a while I fell in a peaceful sleep.