park jinwoo ; ethereal [ ✔ ]

chapter 7 ; jinjin

When I wake up, my head is throbbing and I groan about it. My hands go to move, but one of them is too stiff and heavy. I slowly open my eyes, groaning again thanks to the bright light, and the person before my eyes and holding tightly to my stiff hand is Jinwoo. Instantly my face is burning.

I end up staring at him because I have no fucking clue what to do. I don't want to wake him up because he was probably up all night thanks to my dumb ass. I whine quietly in helplessness and shut my eyes, trying to think through my horrid headache.

"Emily? Are you awake now?" Jinwoo's waking up, face a little puffy and his hair kind of a mess. It's also kind of flushed, and now I find myself staring at him for a totally different reason. My face is definitely red again.

My voice is faint and rough (this is when I realize just how dry my mouth is) as I give a little nod, "I-I'm awake..." He lets out a sigh and lets go of my hand to rub his face with both his own. "I'm sorry... This is my fault..."

His head lifts up slightly and he looks through his bangs to rest his gaze on mine. Then he snorts, shaking his head as it drops again, "Bullshit. If it's going to be anyone's fault, it's fucking Cha Eunwoo's."

As I continue to stare at him and this mood I haven't seen him with before, I begin to kind of worry for Eunwoo. "N-No, really. It's my fault. I shouldn't have had all that alcohol..." I'm frowning when I speak and avoid looking at him.

He sighs and stands up with a hand moving to his hip as he must finally be noticing the dried vomit on his clothes. His gaze flits to me and he merely snickers. "Okay. I'm sure they left even though those shits weren't able to find you. I'll take you to my house first so I can change— you can also shower and borrow some clothes."

My eyes widen at everything he says except for the first sentence. His house? And he's letting me borrow his clothes and take a shower? AT HIS HOUSE? What the fuck is going on.

He notices my expression and chuckles, "I'm not gonna try anything. I'm just worried about what your mom would say if you walk in covered in throw up and stumbling around." Jinwoo stares at me for a while before looking away and carrying on, "If you feel more comfortable with Bin, I can take you there instead... but I'm not sure if I want that..." He's mumbled the last part and I just barely heard it. I wish I hadn't. My ears and cheeks are in flames.

Then my mind reminds me just how bad my head hurts by letting it throb again. I groan quietly as I force myself to sit up through the pain. Honestly, as much as I would love Bin to comfort me now, I already know that the first thing he'd do when he sees me is lecture me. "Don't take me to Bin's... He'd just make my headache worse with his worrying," I let my voice come out as a hoarse breath.

Jinwoo nods slowly as he moves over towards me, helping me by wrapping one of my arms around his shoulders and placing his hand hesitantly on my waist. Now I'm feeling exhausted and my head hurts too much to react, so I simply walk down and through the house to get outside, all thanks to him. He even helps me into the passenger's seat.

He's glancing at me once he gets in the driver's seat, looking as if he wants to hint at something, but my mind is too frazzled to think. He lets out a sigh and leans over, buckling my seatbelt just like Bin did yesterday. I don't feel the same panic though. I feel safer more than anything and it makes me smile like an idiot. "Thanks," I say this softly and I turn my head just a little to squint at him.

Jinwoo's throwing back a faint smile, and he keeps it even as he turns ahead to start the car and take us to his house.

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About halfway of the drive, we stop being quiet since I can't stand it anymore. "Jinjin..." I say it quietly, mostly just testing it out. He must notice me whispering to myself because he's glancing at me sideways.