grounded | 민 윤기

iii.

he wakes with a start.

  steadying his breath, yoongi adjusts his vision and sighs quietly, breathing in her scent. he relaxes into jia's bedsheets as he glances around the familiar bedroom of his neighbor, halting when he spots her brushing her teeth in the full-length mirror outside her bathroom.

  his cheeks warm as his eyes trail down her figure in—wait, his hoodie? his embarrassment transitions into confusion as he wonders how she got hold of his garment. Strange, he ponders, even stranger that it looks so natural... like, there is nothing unusual about her carelessly donning the material i'm always sweating in? and that she's dripping toothpaste on it without a second thought. he drops the smile that was spreading across his face and rolls his eyes. does she know that i don't do my laundry for another week? i swear, this girl—

  jia gargles and spits out the contents in her mouth. the sight of her in the morning was truly one to remember. what with her dark hair sticking up in all directions. her makeup-stained face that she never washes after a night out. on occasion, clothed in her social attire, due to being too exhausted the previous evening to peel them off. in this rare case, however, she must have snatched yoongi's hoodie in the middle of the night. had she gotten a chill? he questions. I must have brought it with me for a reason if it was just lying around for her tiny hands to grab.

but it's not even cold in here, he argues with himself. and i don't even remember taking it off last night!

  the boy swings his legs off the mattress and pushes himself into a sitting position. he rubs his face with his palms and runs a hand through his hair before stepping barefoot onto the carpeted floor. he stretches out his limbs and glances at the clock.

9:47 am

he groans. he was late to class—again.

jia's head pops out from the doorframe and she breaks into a toothy grin.

  "morning sunshine!" she sings as she flips off the light switch and makes her way toward said rayon de soleil, the latter offering a weak smile. She glides across the carpet and yoongi's eyes are yet again magnetized to her bare legs. damn, he notices their tone, almost as nice as mine. almost—

  "excuse me?" she dramatizes, her mouth forming an o, "what makes you think those albino chicken-legs are comparable to mine?"

oh, he wasn't as quiet as he thought.

  he chuckles, averting his eyes while scratching his neck. "morning, noona," he shakes himself and straightens his face, "and speaking of which, what happened to your pants from last night! and when did i give you permission to borrow my sweater!"

  that cheeky grin returns and she lifts the hem of the garment, revealing drawstring shorts. "to answer the first question, it got warm with your body under my flannels." she pulls it over her head and slings it around her neck, showing her typical black tank, "as for the second, don't you remember shaking on that deal?"

"what deal?" yoongi narrows his eyes.

  she laughs, a mellifluous sound that reminds the other temporarily of an oh-so-far-away summer. "yah, you never remember anything in the middle of the night do you?"

  "does anyone?" yoongi quirks an eyebrow and shuffles over to her couch, on which he flops down. "and i thought we established that i can't be trusted between the hours of—"

  "yeah, yeah, only if you don't take your meds," she waves him off as she grabs a water bottle from her refrigerator in the adjacent kitchen. "which, i just so happened to grab for you before you crashed on my couch. you're welcome, sir." she walks over to him and hands yoongi the plastic bottle, "i needed some coffee and you told me to use your card, but only if i got you some liquor." jia sighs and rests her hands on her hips.