Fate's Little Bell

Chapter 25

 Jeongguk finally woke up a little after eleven. I'd been leaning against his bed, going in and out of day dreams until I heard him start speaking. In Korean.

I sat up, rubbing my eyes, and looked over at him. Gosh, he looked like crap. Handsome crap, but crap nonetheless.

"Um, hold on," I said, getting up. "I'll go get Namjoon."

Jeongguk grabbed my wrist and mumbled something. As I turned back toward him, he looked around in confusion, his eyes finally settling on me again. He asked me something, but once again I couldn't understand him.

"Jeongguk," I murmured, stepping closer to him, "I don't know what you're saying. If you're not going to speak in English, I won't understand, so let me get Namjoon."

He slid his hand around my waist and pulled me up against the bed. I gazed down at him, fidgeting with the hem of my sweater, too afraid to touch him, lest he break.

"Jane May." He said it like a wish, in a slightly sing-song manner. "Stay."

I smiled at him. How could I refuse? "Alright. But let me call Namjoon at least."

He nodded solemnly. As I pulled out my phone from my pocket, he asked, his words slightly slurring together, "Wha appened?"

I looked over at him, his doe eyes locking onto mine. "You were in an accident," I whispered, putting my phone to my ear as it started to ring.

"Hi," Namjoon answered, picking up after the third ring. "I tracked down his stuff."

"That's good. Jeongguk just woke up."

"Oh! How is he?"

I glanced over at him. "He seems okay. Jeongguk, do you want to talk to him?"

He nodded and I handed him my phone. As he started speaking to Namjoon, I moved my chair closer to the bed and sat down. Crossing my arms on the mattress beside his waist, I put my head down, gazing at Jeongguk with admiration. After a couple moments, I closed my eyes, letting his soft voice roll over me like waves at the beach, more than capable of drowning me yet somehow making me feel safer.

His hand found my face and I flinched slightly with surprise. He caressed my cheek, drawing little swirls across my skin. I smiled gently, keeping my eyes closed. With the tips of his fingers, he traced the lines of my face, leaving tongues of fire everywhere he touched. The routine beep of his vitals monitor started to happen a little more rapidly and my cheeks grew warmer as my brain registered why. He didn't stop though, and ran his thumb across my lips, dragging the lower one down until they parted. I opened my eyes, immediately noticing the way he was staring at me. At my lips. The longing— the lust?— in his gaze was more than enough to set my body aflame and as I watched him bite his lip, revealing the cutest little freckle, I had a sinking suspicion that my eyes were saying the exact same thing.

Jeongguk took my phone away from his ear and, reluctantly removing his hand from my face, hung up before passing it back to me. "Hyung's going to... get some things for me."

"Okay." I sat up, carefully keeping my eyes on his face, more than a little scared of the prospect of seeing something I shouldn't. "Do you want to sit up? There's a button thingy for the bed."

"A button thingy?" He raised his eyebrows.

"Yeah, hold on, lemme find it." I looked down by the side of the bed and when I didn't see it, I stood up and went around to the other side. "Aha! Found it!" I bent over to pick it up. "Here ya go."

Jeongguk examined the remote with curiosity while I made my way back to my chair. He experimented with the arrow buttons, his eyes widening in innocent surprise as the upper portion of the bed lowered and rose under him, depending on which button he pressed. I giggled at him, grinning stupidly as he played with the buttons like a toddler.