inside it was quiet, well it was quieter than it was outside where everyone was. i could still hear their loud laughter and their voices coming together as they were talking.
i've never really been particularly fond of parties, even when i knew some of my friends were attending said event. i preferred to be home watching whatever series had caught my eye instead of spending the night out until the sun was rising.
and yet here i was, at a party because i was somehow convinced to come along. well more like forced to go and dragged here.
it wasn't that bad to be completely honest; it wasn't a full blown house party and didn't contain a large group of disoriented people practically fucking whoever on the dance floor. it was more of a get together with a basically all the people i had become friends with over the years.
even if it wasn't as bad as a house party i still didn't want to be outside in the backyard with them; i just wanted to be alone for a few minutes before joining everyone else again.
loud laughter and what sounded like a shouting fit from heechul reached my ears through the walls of the house. they're always loud when we're all together so it wasn't anything unusual. it was actually kind of comfortable and familiar, but maybe that was just me.
i stayed seated at the stool by the kitchen bar for a few more minutes, alternating between staring off into space and scrolling through my phone.
the house was completely silent and almost dark, the kitchen light being the only one on in the entire house. it was dim, definitely not as bright as it was before.
i'll have to remind jungsu to buy new lightbulbs., i thought to myself while mindlessly scrolling through countless posts i had already seen, trying to get rid of my boredom.
i heard the door to the backyard slide open and for a moment their voices were amplified, i was able to catch yuri and hyukjae telling a story about that time they fell over a boat, some more laughter, then i wasn't able to hear everything because the door closed and their voices became muffled once again.
footsteps walking towards the kitchen and for a moment i thought about who it could be. they weren't heels clicking against the tiled floor and they weren't as light at hyoyeon's footsteps in sneakers. it must be one of the boys then, probably jungsu or heechul coming to check up on me.
then the footsteps halted when they were near me and i was ready to tell either person i had in mind that i was fine in here. except it wasn't either one of them.
"you ok there, doll?"
"i'm fine donghae."
"are you sure? because you just got up in the middle of a conversation and went inside."
"being with all of you tires me out, i just needed to breathe for a bit.", i explained myself and looked forward, staring off into space yet again.
there was silence between us when i closed my mouth and usually i don't really mind since it was always a comfortable silence. however, this one was a bit tense and bordered on being awkward, i could also feel some sort of hesitation from him and so i asked myself if there was anything on his mind and if i should try and probe for answers.
"you don't have to stay inside you know? go back out there and have fun like you were before."
"i don't want to leave you by yourself.", he spoke and pulled out the stool next to me, taking a seat and turning to face me.
i turned to look at him and a long list of thoughts ran through my mind.
i never knew what to think about him. well i knew what he was like, his nature, he was almost like an open book to me.
