Caratland [Seventeen FF]

-35-

It took us exactly 15 minutes to get there. I could feel that Jihoon felt a lot more comfortable since the streets were less crowded. It was dark and cold. Luckily the wind didn't blow that hard. It was loud around the club. People were about to go in. Only my sister and her friend sat on the borders, freezing and waiting for us.
"Hi, Soonyoung!", her friend's face lit up as she recognized me.
"Hi, Soomin", I greeted her, not able to show her the same joy as she felt. My sister sat next to her, completely in a mess.
"Sorry for calling you, but my parents said it's an emergency so I can't keep her at mine", Soomin got up and apologized.
"It's not your fault. How did she even get that drunk? It's not even midnight yet", I sighed, crouching down to her. I noticed how awkward Jihoon and Soomin stood there so I kept talking. "That's Jihoon by the way. A good coworker and friend. Jihoon that's Soomin, the best friend of my sister", I let them know each other and pulled my sister up by her arm. "And that's my sister Minkyung", I supported her to let her at least stand.
"Will you three get home safely?", Soomin asked, her face looking really apologetic.
"Don't worry too much. It's not the first time, right?", I smiled. I tried to get Minkyung on my back and that's where she first talked.
"Wooh, I'm getting piggybacked!", she exclaimed and jumped on me, making me almost lose my balance.
"You're fine?", Jihoon and Soomin asked at the same time, then looked at each other, surprised by the other's voice.
"Yeah, I'm good", my sister slurred, while laughing loudly, making us chuckle a little.
"Have a good night y'all", she bid goodbye. We did the same and parted ways.

"You're so awkward with people, you don't know", I laughed as we walked the dark path to my Minkyung's apartment.
"I'm not used to people I don't know", he scoffed, looking away.
"No, you just happen to know everyone on caratland, including the customers", I joked. My sister already fell asleep at that point.
"That's something different!", he argumented, making me laugh. We both kept quiet for a while. "Are you okay?", he asked after some time of silence.
"Yeah, why?", I asked confused.
"I don't know. Maybe you're exhausted", he shrugged his shoulders. Ah right, he had to do the same thing. "Who takes care of your sister if you're not around?", he asked.
"Usually Soomin does. My sister knows her limit if no one is there to protect her", I replied.
"You said it isn't the first time. When you were still living in the city, did you always have to take her home like that?", he asked.
"Yes, I did. But it doesn't happen that frequently though since Soomin is usually always around her", I told him.
"I can't imagine having a sibling like that", he thought aloud.
"Well, I can't blame her. There's a lot of weight on her shoulders", I sighed.
"What do you mean?", he questioned.
"When my father died, I acted as if only I lost a precious person. For me the world turned around myself. I completely forgot that my mom and sister lost someone too. My mom tried to calm down my sister since she was older and in a better position to understand things well enough. That kind of resulted in my sister always putting up with my outbursts. I can't blame my mom either. I mean no one knew exactly what to do in such situations. My sister never had the chance to have an outburst like me. She always had to put up with the situation, boiling all her frustration up inside her. So my mom and I let her do the things she wants to. I'm just glad that she's just clubbing and not doing something worse", I explained. Jihoon quietly nodded and silence fell again until we reached the building.

We went up the stairs, which was pretty hard with my sister on my back. Jihoon opened the door and quickly after entering I let her fall down on the couch.
"Be careful!", she whined, but closed her eyes shortly after.
"Will she remember this?", Jihoon asked as he furrowed his eyebrows.
"Not a single thing. Why? Do you want to try out some wild things or what?", I tried to make him flustered, but he caught on and just looked at me with a judging expression.
"She needs water and a lot of sleep. We need to make sure that she gets a hearty breakfast, if possible with a ginger tea. Nuts should be a good snack too if you have some", he changed the topic. I blinked a few times, surprised by Jihoon's knowledge about Hangovers.
"How do you know all these things?", I asked impressed.
"My father was an asshole, but he was still my father. I'm pretty confident in getting rid of hangovers even though I've never gotten drunk before", he explained.
"Right, forgot", I murmured to myself and walked over to the kitchen to get a bottle of water.
"Tiger, bring me into my bed", my sister suddenly wailed and stretched out her arms like a baby, which wants to be hold.
"Don't call me that! That was just a phase in my premature years!", I complained, this time my cheeks turning pink.
"Tiger, little tiger, baby tiger", Minkyung continued mocking me.
"Go to sleep. Jihoon said you need plenty of sleep", I pulled her up and pushed her into her room and then closed the door. "Please ignore everything that just happened", I sighed.
"Baby tiger", he giggled, making me complain even more.

We were awake till late in the night. After bringing my sister to sleep, we ate double spiced ramyun, while watching all the well known movies that Jihoon wasn't able of watching.
"I don't get the end. Yeah, it's all cute and stuff, but why hiding in the first place? She could've just told him that she doesn't like him anymore", Jihoon commented after we finished watching 'to all the boys I've loved before'.
"Oh, trust me: If you don't like this end you would hate the continuity of this film", I laughed, thinking of the second part.
"Why? Does someone else randomly appear and she gains a new crush, leaving her boyfriend behind?", he asked grinning.
"Basically yeah. The end is just a little different from your speculation", I agreed.
"Gosh, someone needs to teach her a lesson about loyalty", Jihoon shook his head, making me laugh.
"I don't think you want to watch the second part, so let's just go to sleep", I assumed, stood up and turned the tv off.

We both made ourselves ready for bed, Jihoon in the bathroom and me in the guestroom, and played a little game on the phone.
"But, Soonyoung", Jihoon started as we were in the middle of a round.
"Mh?", I replied, still focusing on winning the game.
"Who gets to sleep on the bed?", he asked and looked up from the phone as the round finished off with no one winning. I also looked up.
"You of course. You're the guest after all", I replied as if it was obvious.
"No, I can't let you sleep on the sofa in your own home. You can sleep on the bed", he replied.
"Firstly it's not my apartment and secondly I don't want you to sleep on the sofa", I shook my head.
"But the sofa is uncomfortable."
"It's just for one night."
"You sleep on the bed."
"No, you."
"That's ridiculous, Jihoon."
"So let's not argue any further and you sleep on the bed."
"I won't unless you sleep on a bed too."
"Then I'll sleep on the bed too."
"What?"
"What?"

Silence fell after the last sentence. I looked at him surprised. He did the same, while looking shocked, his cheeks turning all red up to his ears. We both understood the person in front of us well so he quickly looked away.
"Wait! I didn't mean to- uh that was- no. Well, I just-", he tried to find the right words in his embarrassment, but kept his mouth shut as he didn't find any. I started grinning all over my face.
"I didn't know you liked skinship that much", I mocked him, making him even more flustered.
"Don't make it more awkward than it already is!", he complained, throwing his fist at me. I quickly caught up on him, grabbing both his arms and making him unable to move. I laughed, while pushing him back, but he didn't fight back. He did the opposite. He laid there, his eyes in shock and his motions all frozen. I could hear him breathe pretty loudly and he seemed stuck in his mind.
"Jihoon, are you fine?", I asked and reached out to him, but he didn't respond. He didn't even seem to hear me. I started panicking, when he quickly stood up. He looked on the floor, but I could still see his face. He looked irritated, maybe even a little scared.
"I'll sleep on the sofa", he just murmured, grabbed his hoodie and ran back to the living room, closing the door after him. I wanted to follow him, but I thought it's best if I stay.

What just happened? I couldn't process anything that just happened. What was wrong? What did I do wrong? Why did this happen? I was thinking too much of it, but I was concerned. It felt like it was the same as in the show off room where Jihoon kind of spaced out. Did he really space out? I was concerned. Something was definitely off at that point, but I didn't want to ask. It seemed like it burdened him more when I asked. But I didn't want to stay quiet too...

Jihoon, what's going on inside your head?