[Hellion Brothers: Book #5] Verglas

Fifteen

Xiumin

I opened my eyes to the white ceiling of the room I shared with Chen. The fan was rotating at a very slow pace, probably adjusted at 1x speed due to the cold weather outside. I turned to look at the other side of the bed, only to come face off with Chen's sock covered feet lying on his pillow. He took up more than half of the space, his arms and feet stretched in different directions, somewhat reminding me of octopus tentacles. As long as he didn't cross my lane, I did not find him bothersome.

I sat up and reached out to the bottle of water on the side table, but it was empty. The time on my phone screen read 2:00 am. It was cold outside my blanket, so after a couple of internal debates, I finally decided to go and refill the bottle.

I took a peek outside the window. The rain had died down along with the loud noises of thunder and flashes of lightning. The only sound that could be heard was that of branches and trees moving and being carried away by the wind. It sort of reassured me. She would be okay now, probably sleeping peacefully and if anything did go wrong, I could always count on Gwen. I wondered how she'd make it through without someone to take care of her, considering the fact that she lived alone. How did she make it through before this?

I heard some sounds from the kitchen, an indication that someone was inside. I stepped inside to find Sarang drinking from a glass of water. As soon as she saw me, she jumped a little and dropped the glass on the floor. Her expression was a mixture of surprise and worry. She apologized, then picked the glass up before I did.

"You can't sleep?" I asked as I waited for her to finish cleaning up the mess she made. She didn't speak, just shook her head, then closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Why did she look so... nervous? "Is something wrong?" Again, she only shook her head.

"Thank you for earlier." Sarang finally spoke, her voice barely above a whisper. "Even though I didn't ask for it." She looked away, avoiding my gaze as her fingers played with the hem of her shirt. Her behaviour was odd, almost as if she was miserably failing in hiding something. I only stood there, looking at her as she looked at me in silence. It was supposed to be awkward, make us uncomfortable, but I didn't even feel anything close to it.

She took a few steps in my direction, shortening the distance between us. I didn't even blink as she stood on her tip toes to match my height and reached out to place her hands on my shoulders. "Why do I feel this way around you?" She whispered before caressing my lips with hers. I wrapped my arms around her waist, cherishing the moment while it lasted. I slowly pulled away to look into her eyes, but why did she look like Chen when he was judging someone?

"Stop pouting your lips in the air. It looks weird." Chen gave me a bored look from his side of the bed. He was still lying down, his hand on my shoulder. I immediately shifted away and let out a deep breath.

I hate how it was just a dream.

"What time is it?" I asked as I sat up, removing the blanket so I could fold it back neatly.

"Around 6:00 am. I doubt anyone is up yet." Chen said as he lied back down. "Who were you dreaming of?" I chose to overlook the laughter in his voice as I quickly cleaned our room and headed towards the bathroom. I should be glad it's just him because I feel less embarrassed around Chen.

"You better not tell anyone about this." I warned before quickly shutting the bathroom door so I wouldn't have to hear his response or the teasing laughter that followed.

It would take everyone a while to wake up. As soon as I came outside, I noticed that Chen had fallen back asleep and the living room was completely empty. I decided to let them sleep for some more time, since it's our vacation anyway. They should at least rest well during the limited holidays that we get. Suddenly, I heard some movement in the kitchen, indicating that someone apart from me was awake already. Now that I think of it, Sarang must've gotten the habit of waking up around 6:00 am so there are high chances it could be her.