BATHROOM ; J.JK

twenty-three.

the two talked about their lives until deep into the nighttime, when they didn't even know what the time was. turns out that jeongguk won an art competition that gave him a big money prize, helping his college funds. minhee turned out to be a sprinter and was one of the fastest runners in her school history.

jeongguk was telling minhee about how he was forced to use a flip phone for a month after his mom grounded him when he broke his phone, but was interrupted by a yawn made by minhee.

"i swear my friends kept looking at it and-- oh you're tired?"

minhee nodded sleepily, her eyelids getting heavier.

"well we don't have a bed... oh! is the bathtub dry?"

she looked at it. "i don't think anyone has used it today besides me in the morning. why?"

jeongguk took two towels off the rack. "are these yours?"

"yeah, why?"

he started rolling up one of the towels into a cylindrical shape and placed it at the opposite end of the bathtub.

"you said you wanted to sleep on a bed right?" jeongguk asked, laying the second towel onto the floor of the bathtub.

minhee nodded slowly, examining at what jeongguk was doing.

"well," he smoothed out the bottom blanket. "not exactly the most comfortable, but here! a bed!"

she blinked and took a good look at the "bed".

"it seems uncomfortable..." she muttered.

"well would you rather sleep on a toilet sitting up or sleep in that lying down?"

"but where will you sleep?"

he shrugged. "i'll just sleep on the toilet."

"but that's also uncomfortable,"

"you wanna switch?"

"fine," she murmured and got into the bathtub, lying down on the towel-pillow. she yawned again and felt something covering her body.

"use my hoodie as a blanket." jeongguk whispered. minhee clutched on the hoodie and covered her body with it, absorbing the warmth.

jeongguk switched off the light and tried to make himself as comfortable as possible on the toilet seat, the shuffling heard by minhee.

minhee no longer heard shuffling and thought that jeongguk finally had gone asleep.

minutes went by, but minhee wasn't sleepy, she just seemed tired but couldn't fall asleep. she turned around and around in the "bed", but all attempts failed, even counting sheep or blessings didn't help. she huffed.

"minhee?" jeongguk whispered groggily.

"i can't sleep," she whispered back and sat up in the bathtub, pushing the shower curtains to see a sleepy jeongguk. "sorry if i woke you,"

"it's fine," jeongguk said.

minhee stared at him, his eyes closing on and off due to his sleepiness. the moonlight illuminated his features, making minhee examine his facial features even closer.

"what...? something on my face?" jeongguk touched his cheek and chin.

"no it's just that," minhee looked down. "there's space here for two... can you, like y-y'know, like, if you w-want to, y'know just k-kinda,"

jeongguk smiled sleepily. "no need to say no more." he said and climbed into the bathtub and lied next down to minhee.

"ahhh you're so tiny it's so cute,"

"you're lucky i don't have the strength right now," she yawned and lied down. "to punch you."

he hummed and draped his arm over her, hugging her close.

"you're like a real-life teddy bear," he whispered, settling his chin on her head. "so huggable and cuddly."

even in her sleepy state, minhee's cheeks spread a pink hue. she gently placed her hand on jeongguk's and intertwined their fingers, absorbing his body warmth and letting it blanket her in comfort her.

as she smiled lightly, minhee felt her eyes getting heavy for the first time in the night.