Darkness Ethereal | K.TH

Open Your Eyes

V's POV

I wake up gasping, sweat pouring down the side of my face and shirt sticking to my back. The bedsheets are rustled so violently that they are half-torn from the bed frame.

Nightmare.

Obvious.

The cell phone that Tzuyu had given me glows a soft blue in the darkness, and I see that it reads 2:45. Which meant still early morning— and I couldn't wake Tzuyu up.

Sighing, I rip the blankets coiled tight against my body and abandon the bed. The temperature in the room is nearly suffocating— and every time I swallow, my throat feels dry and parched.

The living room is dark as I make my way to the kitchen counter, where I know there's water. Before I'd gone to sleep I'd caught sight of a water bottle she'd set out and had forgotten about.

My hand wraps around the neck of a bottle, which is surprisingly hard glass instead of the crackly plastic I'd been expecting. But when another bead of sweat rolls down my forehead, I jerk the cap open and push the opening to my lips.

I down the entire bottle before I realize I'm drinking fire instead of water.

The bottle slips from my grasp, shattering on the wooden ground with a piercing noise. Despite all my efforts to keep everything quiet, that had to have woken her up.

A wave of dizziness slams into my head and I lean heavily against the counter, cursing softly. That must've been alcohol— and I suck my bottom lip in harsh regret.

I should've thrown the entire thing into the trash when I'd first laid eyes on them. And now I was paying the price for my ignorance.

Then I hear the door click open in the far side of the house, and lift my pounding head to see a blurry figure emerge from her room.

The last thing I hear is my name.

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Tzuyu's POV

"V!"

Panic wraps around my neck in stiff tendrils as I rush to the collapsed figure, the fear growing even worse when I see the sparkling shards of glass on the darkened floors.

Then I realize.

Oh.

My breathing gradually returns when I recognize the pale green shards of the alcohol bottle, and the drunken boy on the ground. His eyes are fluttering open again, but it's clear that V is definitely not himself.

He must have a low tolerance.

"Why am I here," He slurs, slanted eyes so completely relaxed that it shocks me to see the contrast. They were usually so icy and firm that it was like seeing fire for the first time after living under snow for a lifetime.

"You." He rasps again, pointing at me. "Who are you?"

I giggle under my breath, careful to steer him away from the shards that still remain on the floor. The last thing I wanted was for him to get cut and start spilling blood.

"I'm a helper." I say as I offer him a hand. "And you are a sleeper. Which means you need to get some sleep— like now."

"No."

His eyes scrunch up into cute crescents, and I silently resist the urge to shower kisses all over him when he shifts to hug the leg of a chair next to him.