Luminous • Jisung

15 • Odd

• Chapter 15 •

Cho-a hesitated when trying to clean the cut on her cheek. 

The disinfectant stung and she was too whiny to be a little rougher on herself. She just couldn't bring herself to do it. 

Standing in the doorway to the bathroom, watching her reflection in the mirror, Jisung frowned. 

"So this is where you draw the line?" he asked, an eyebrow raised. Cho-a didn't look at him, she just rolled her eyes. 

"What do you want me to say?" 

He shrugged. 
"You got beaten up by one of the strongest grim reapers I know yet here you are whining about a small cut," he noted pejoratively. 

The girl stayed quiet. She focused on her own reflection, focused on the cut that stretched over the entire length of her cheekbone. It might not have been all too big considering the circumstances but it still hurt. 

Sighing at the sight of her struggle, Jisung stepped into the room. He grabbed her shoulders and turned her towards him before he took the cotton pad, a little wet from the disinfectant on it, from her. 

Cho-a didn't stop him; she was happy someone else was willing to do it for her. That didn't mean, however, that she was any less whiny than before. 

So at Jisung's first above-average-pressure touch, she moved back a little. 

"Just stay still," he ordered, placed a hand on her back and pulled her a bit closer again. 

The girl hummed in agreement, then just stood there silently, her eyes fixated on Jisung's. 
"How are the others?" she asked quietly in their close proximity. 

"Good," Jisung said, then paused all of a sudden. He held the piece of cotton in the air as he stared at the blood on it thoughtfully. He bit the inside of his cheek. "Thank you." 

"Huh?" she pushed out in surprise. "You are thanking me? Wow." 

The boy rolled his eyes, just continued doing what he was doing. Soon it was all cleaned up, the cut straight and neat and also deeper than Jisung had thought. 

He reached to the side, grabbing a plaster. 
"Why did you tell them to call me?" he asked curiously, eyes jumping up to meet the girl's momentarily. 

And that surprised her - when he looked at her. 

Because his eyes were soft and his voice was just a voice with no trace of its usual dismissive, annoyed, rude undertones. His question was sincere, his gaze fragile as if he wasn't sure what to expect. 

It felt odd. 

Quickly his eyes jumped back down to her cheek where he put the plaster on carefully. 

Cho-a shrugged. 
"You were the first one that came to my mind," she said earnestly. "I didn't want to bother Renjun, and Haechan had tutoring. Chenle was working." 

Jisung moved his thumb carefully over the sticky side of the plaster, pushing it onto the girl's skin. 
"I called Renjun though." 

"Yeah, I figured," she said with a sigh. "Anyway, thanks for helping out." 

"Sure," he said under his breath, stepping away, getting a better glimpse of the girl. He watched her intently as if he tried to figure something out. 

She thought it must've been the same as usual; just Jisung trying to make the right guess. 

"You look like you have questions." Jisung nodded. "You can ask." 

"You won't give me an answer anyway," he replied, his voice suddenly somewhat bored. 

And it grew silent inside the room whilst Cho-a wondered what was going on inside the boy's head.

Through the somewhat tense atmosphere pushed a sudden noise. 

"Where is that idiot?!" he shouted, far away, somewhere downstairs. 

Cho-a closed her eyes for a moment, took a deep breath as she considered not to answer. 

"She's up here!" Jisung shouted in return, leaning against the wall behind him with a smirk. Looking at him, she faked a smile and nodded gratefully. 

"Thanks," Cho-a said sarcastically and Jisung looked at her, proud of himself. 

"Sure thing, darling." 

• Odd •

I opened soft hours for this chapter