Moon Star (Moonbyul x Xiumin)

Chapter 16

Moon Byul's P.O.V

"Ah! If you press this button, the nurses will come and check on him." Chanyeol explained thoroughly for everything I needed to know while taking care of Xiu Min.

I quickly gave him an eager nod, acting as if I was just a normal kid trying to learn new things at school. Little did he knew, I was once warded strictly just like this- no, maybe even worse than this.

But of course, he's not going to know.

Sehun and Chanyeol took a few more minutes explaining and showing me how to take care of Xiu Min while they're gone. I curved a smile every now and then, my eyes looking focused as they have no idea that I wasn't there just to take care of Xiu Min.

It didn't took long before their manager popped his head at he door, urging them to be punctual for their music video shoot.

After a few goodbyes and reminders, the boys left the room with smiles and I went over to the door, locking it as soon as they disappeared.

Silence.

I swallowed a lump, finally able to relax from all the pretending to be chirpy with the two innocent boys.

When I turned back to Xiu Min, the boy was already staring at me with his round eyes. It took me back for a second, since I didn't expect for him to look this... annoyed?

Is he annoyed or is that just the effect of the car crash? Did he lose the capability to smile?

"What took you so fcking long?" He suddenly spat, with his arms folded and his lips rounding into a pout which made me raise my brows.

Yup. He's annoyed, you bet.

"Is that how you reunite with your guardian?" I snickered, but it ended as a funny chuckle as I went over to the flowers around his bed. "I thought you were going to be pissed if I came too early, you know."

"What?" He frowned.

"Why? I'm giving you a bit of your space before I let myself kidnap you all over again."

His eyes widened as his arms dropped to his blanket. "You mean-"

A laugh escaped my lips as I clutched my belly, my eyes closing and opening in a fast pace motion to see his reaction.

"No, dummy!" I wiped my eyes. "Why bother kidnapping a disabled kid? My job will be easier here than making you run here and there all the time, don't you think?"

"Oh my, you sound rude as usual. Funny how I missed that."

My laughter faded, but I didn't really caught his last words when I came to inspect his injured ankle. It looked pretty bad, considering how he couldn't move his whole leg at all.

"Must have hurt, huh?"

"A bit, ouch!" He shut his eyes when my hand touched the bandage of his ankle. "Yah! You're too harsh!"

"I thought you said 'a bit'." I shrugged, and sat down on the stool right beside him.

Xiu Min pouted his lips again, this time as if he's trying not to look at me when I sat close to him.

I still had a smile on my face when I tucked my hands into my casual denim jacket. My eyes were slowly running all over his face, and saw all these minor bruises of blue and black around his neck and head. The white bandage on his head seemed quite old, almost turning yellow.

I could feel my heart dropping low the more I looked at him.

If only he knew how much I wanted to rush to his side after the crash. If only he knew that it took me days to figure out how to convince his members that I can take care of him. If only he knew I had to pretend to be a cleaner for a few days and clean their practice room for the sake of bumping into EXO members frequently.

But he doesn't need to know.

All he needs to know now is that I feel terribly guilty for his injury.

My stare in the still silence must've made him notice and he slowly turned his face towards me. His eyes caught mine, and almost instantly I could see his face muscles flex as he gulped. Our eyes intertwined for a moment, and strangely I felt like I missed that look he had in his eyes.

It made me feel better after losing him back then. I couldn't describe how thankful I am to see him breathing normally even when he's this severely injured. The fact that he's still alive is touching my heart in so many strange ways.

"Moon Byul."

My heart shook to hear him call my name.

"Are you okay?"

I couldn't help but to find myself taken aback again.

"I should be the one asking you that." My brows dropped as I felt a sting in my chest. He stared at me, looking like he's the one worried sick about me.

But why would he?

"I let this happen to you." I gestured towards his body, and it made me lower my head. "I couldn't save you in time and look what happened? I was being careless. I shouldn't have left you at all."

"It's not your fault."

I lifted my head, looking back into his empathetic eyes. "You came, and that is all what matters. You're still safe and alive, and so am I. Everything is fine now."

I could feel something tugging inside me, or more like my heartbeat growing fast without a warning. All of a sudden I felt like something warm was embracing me just by the look he was giving me. We're just talking, but how come am I this touched?

He sounded like he sincerely... cared for me.

Moon Byul Yi.

What is this feeling?

It wasn't until I realized a hint of pink brushing over his cheeks and ears before I finally stood up from the stool and broke our eye contact.

"I- I'm sorry." I blurted, running a hand over my hair as I looked away. Oh my gosh, is this what awkward feels like? Why am I awkward anyway?

"For w-what?"

Oh my, he's stuttering too?

"For leaving you."

"Sorry is not enough, Moon Byul."

"I know," I ran my eyes back to him and he was busy playing with his fingers with his head looking down. "And that's why I will never leave you again."

"Never?" He squeaked.

"Well, technically until my contract with you is done." I mumbled, sighing at the end of my sentence as I remembered about the deadline. "I don't tell people about my kidnapping time period but I guess for someone who can't even walk, you're an exception. I still have 25 days with you, so until your company gets what they deserve, I will never let them hurt you again. You can take my word for that."

Xiu Min raised his injured head and shot me a rather blank look. "Hurt me again?"

"Yeah." I nodded, frowning as I glanced at his ankle. "They hired someone to eliminate you because of the drugs, right? That's why they took you and cause the accident right? I heard the kidnapper was gone when you were found, so they must have wanted you to die at the scene and expected people to assume the real kidnapper did it. Isn't that what happened?"

His eyes wavered for a moment before finally nodding. "Yeah, that must be it. Sorry, I can't quite recall what happened. My head still hurts so, you know."

I found myself frowning a little more harder. Something sounds off.

He noticed my silence and quickly smirked. "What? You gonna call be disabled again? Go ahead! Like literally, a head!"

I ended up chuckling, brushing off the mysterious feeling lingering in myself and laughed at Xiu Min's sudden uplifted mood.

Is it just me, or he's been making me laugh sincerely a bit too much lately? It's just like he can adjust to my sarcasm and even make a nasty joke like mine. He even curses now, which is not expected from a guy who appeared so innocent on the first day I took him home with me.

Either way, I'm going to make sure no one dares to touch him again.

Because I am Moon Byul.

And I am his guardian.

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