estrange ✶ huening kai

twenty-four.

"dad, i told you i can do things by myself," sora whined again, reaching for the remote to her bed, which he held in his hands.

"honey, just let her do it herself," sora's mother scolded, as she continued to knit the scarf she had been working on ever since sora was admitted. she hoped to finish it for her daughter before she had to go back to school.

sora's father sighed, before handing it to sora. "sorry, sorry."

"do you guys really have to sit in here with me like this? i promise i'm completely okay now."

the two looked at each other, then at their daughter. "we're just worried is all," her mother told her, grabbing the girl's hand in her own.

a knock sounded at the door, causing the three of them to turn their heads toward it.

"come in," sora told them, as her group of friends slowly poured in. "oh, what are you guys doing here?"

yedam gave her a smile as he took an empty seat next to her bed, "we wanted to check on you, of course."

walking towards the door, sora's parents waved as sora's mother said, "we'll give you guys time to catch up."

"so.. did you do it?" doyoung asked, as taehyun lightly nudged his shoulder.

laughing, sora nodded, "i'm all cured, now."

"well, now that it's over, can you tell us who caused you to have hanahaki?" jeongin urged, his eyes eager as he waited to hear the answer, "i can't wait to beat that jerk up."

"how dense are you? she doesn't remember who the person is," beomgyu reminded, while struggling not to roll his eyes at his friend's antics.

"wait a minute.." sora rose a brow, looking at jeongin, "who are you?"

feeling his heart drop to the bottom of his stomach, jeongin gulped, "you can't be serious.." he stood quickly, "i-it was me? i put you through this?" breaking into a cold sweat, he dropped to his knees next to her bed, "i'm sorry, sora! i'm so sor-" he cut himself off, when he noticed that she had began to laugh. "w-what's so funny?"

"you should've seen your face!" she slapped her leg, trying to speak between her laughs, "you really- thought that- i was in love with you?"

the rest of the group laughed along with her, feeling relieved that she seemed to feel better.

"looks like sora really is back," yedam grinned, "she's even joking around."

jeongin stood from the ground, his voice raising in volume as he lectured her, "damn it, you really scared me!" he held his chest to soothe his fast beating heart, "just you wait, i'll get you back."

"ah, i completely forgot that i told my mom i'd help her close the store tonight, so i'd better get going," yedam announced.

"beomgyu and i also have to go. we have a date with destiny tonight," jeongin told the rest of them as he looped his arm around his best friend's shoulder.

"a date?" doyoung asked, "you two? gosh, might as well say you're walking on water."

"not an actual date. as if we have time for that," beomgyu gestured with his hands to emphasize the importance of what they were going to do, "me, jeongin, internet cafe, valorant. it's the battle of our lives."

"anyways, we're leaving! see you at school, sora!"

after those three left, it was just doyoung, taehyun and sora. looking between the two in front of him, doyoung sighed softly. "i, uh- i'm gonna head off, too."

"oh, okay dobby! see you at school, then," sora waved, watching him leave the room. after the door closed behind him, her gaze slowly shifted to taehyun, who fiddled with his fingers. "are you not gonna say anything?"

"huh? oh- uh.. hi," he only offered a shy smile, as he slowly sat in the seat next to her bed. "uh.. how are you feeling?"

sora grinned at him, before looking around her bed, "ah, could you help me find my tv remote? i'm sure it's around here somewhere."

taehyun stood and quickly began searching around the edges of her bed. after a minute or so of looking, he finally saw it on the side opposite from him. reaching over her, he was able to grab it. "here it is-" his voice caught in his throat when he felt the light touch of lips on his cheek. taehyun slowly turned his head towards sora, who continued staring at him with the same warm smile on her lips.

"thank you, taehyun. for everything."

taehyun sat back down in the chair, too shocked to do anything else. he could only stare back at her as his ears and cheeks burned from the blush that spread across them.

the two teenagers, continued to sit there in silence. however, it was a comfortable silence. a pleasant one, if you will.

taehyun, once he finally worked up the courage to respond, placed his hand over sora's, "you don't need to thank me. i'll always be here. always."