C L O S E R || hwang hyunjin

together

The words that Hyunjin had said to me, the words I didn't expect to hear. The way I felt my love growing, the way I felt my heart racing. 
I laid in my bed with the thoughts rummaging around in my brain. I giggle to myself as I curled up. I couldn't stop smiling. 
"Did he really say those things?" 
I had a flashback to the night before as the words "That I love you." left Hyunjin's mouth. 
I stood there and gulped lightly. I felt my face getting red. He stood there, staring at me. 
He looked down shyly. "Did I say it at the wrong time?" He scratched his head.
"No, no.. I am just in shock!" I started to panic. I fixed myself up confidently. "I wanted to say that too." I looked away shyly. I could feel my heart trembling.
"I know." He muttered. "Our hearts are connected so I can feel everything that you feel. When your heart aches, when it flutters, everything." 
Hyunjin looked up at the stars in the sky with a light smile. 
"So that's how you knew when I was in trouble and feeling ill?" 
"Yeah, that's how I grew my love for you too. The love that's deep inside you. I understand." Hyunjin started to skip away with the biggest smile on his face. I felt my heart starting to rush even more. "Uhhh, well." I followed behind him. "I didn't know that.." I looked down. 
We walked together, with our hearts growing. I felt a bit embarrassed around him, but all so happy. Even in silence, his presence was warming to me. 

I smiled at the memories running through my brain. "What do we do now?" I quickly looked at my phone waiting for a text from him. I kept putting it down and picking it up. I ran my hands through my hair. 
"Maybe at school today!" I quickly got up with excitement. I felt happier than I have for a long time. I skipped on the way to school and I felt like it was a bit warmer out. As I got to campus I saw people gathering around in their groups. I was looking around to see if I can see Hyunjin anywhere. "Maybe I should've asked to walk to school with him.." I muttered to myself as I grabbed hold of my backpack. Someone quickly came up behind me and pat the top of my head. Then I saw Hyunjin quickly pop his head in front of me. "Good morning." He said with a shy smile on his face. "How was your sleep?" I asked him.
"Good." He nodded quickly. We walked in together. I kept looking down at his hand. I shook my head. "No, it's too early for that." I pulled my hands away. As we were about to enter the class Hyunjin grabbed a hold of my hand. He locked his fingers with mine. I felt my face grow red. I quickly smiled at him. We entered the classroom with our hands locked together. Everyone's eyes were following us as we sat in the back of the class. "How did I know you guys would end up together?" Minho shrugged. 
"Bruh, I thought they were together already." Felix laughed. Jisung looked back and forth with his eyes widened. 
"Hey, Why didn't you walk to school with me, Annie? Because of him?" Jisung crossed his arms. I giggled at the thought. "Sorry I got up late." I scratched my head. Chan quickly entered the room.
"Good news! A surprise pop quiz today." He winked as he handed out papers to everyone. 
"Ahh...with all this passing time I haven't been able to study properly," I stressed as I grabbed my head. 
"Don't worry, if you need help I will help you." Hyunjin looked through the papers. 
"Thank you." I started to feel worried because I had so many things that I was juggling.
"Glad to have a full class again." 
I looked ahead to see Rylee looking back at us with a glare on her face. I scratched my head because I felt like people were staring at me. 
I held my head low and just looked at my papers. Hyunjin looked at me and could tell how stressed I was. After the bell rang we all handed in our papers. "Will let you know the scores tomorrow. Have a good day everyone." Chan shuffled with his things. 
I laid my head down on my desk because I felt so sleepy. 
"Hey, do you want to go out today and do something? Maybe it can help you." 
"Yeah, I would love that." I smile grew on my face. "I do have some work a few hours after school, though.."
"Another late shift?" Jisung looked back at us. 
"Yeah." I pouted.
"Ah, I will pick you up then?" Hyunjin suggested. "Sure." I nodded. 
I looked down and played with my hands. I was thinking: "I would've never imagined my life to be like this in the beginning, I am glad I decided to change." 
"Let's go to the study hall together, ya?" Changbin looked back at us. "Sure." We all nodded and walked together. I felt happy to be around everyone. Minho looked around at all of us. Noticed that Felix and Macy were holding hands and that Hyunjin and I were holding hands too. 
"Ah, seems like all of us are getting together now huh?" Minho shrugged. He quickly looked over at Changbin. "Want to date?"
"Ew no." Changbin pushed Minho away and they both laughed.
"Yeah no." Minho agreed. We all laughed. As I held tightly onto Hyunjin's hand, I couldn't help but look up at his face. He looked so radiate to me. 
I smiled as we continued on. As school came to an end, I made my way out the doors. I saw Hyunjin at the bottom of the steps. 
"Hey!" He smiled widely while opening his arms. 
I stood right in front of him, all I could do was smile. Then I started to feel lightheaded again. I blinked quickly to try to get rid of the dizzy feeling.
"Hey, are you okay?" Hyunjin tried to look into my eyes but I could barely focus on him.
"Be easy on yourself." He let out a sigh and tried to support me.
"It's okay." I regained my focus. I brushed my hair behind my ear. "Should I take you home?"
"No, no. It's okay! I want to go places with you." I focused once again.
"Okay, but if you start feeling bad, just tell me. Okay?" He asserted.
"Yes yes." I quickly nodded.
"Goooood." He said as we started to walk. "Where did you picture your ideal date to be?" 
"Uh.." I started to picture. "I never really thought about it. I guess I was never interested in type things before. But, I really like watching the sky and coffee." made a nervous laugh.
"I know what to do now." Hyunjin held onto my hand and started to run. He dragged me to the bus stop. We quickly got on.
"Ah, where are we going?"
"You'll see." He made a quick smile. 
"But I want to know." I pouted.
"Somewhere you'll like." The bus started to drive through the city and into a countryside type of area.
"I have to be back in time.." I looked at my watch.
I saw him reach over and cover my watch with his hand."Don't worry about that today, okay?" 
"You're right." I made a quick breath. "I don't want to worry. With you, I know I don't have to." I smiled gently as I watched out the window. We got off the bust stop and all around us were hills of grass. "This is a nice place. I used to drive here when I needed a break from my house." He led me off the sidewalk and onto the grass. We marched up a hill that a tree stood on the very top of. There was a great view of the sky. I felt amazed when I saw how open the sky had looked. 
Hyunjin quickly took off his jacket and laid it on the grass. "Would you like to lay and look up together?"
I nodded. We both laid side by side, hand in hand, we looked up to the sky together. I felt so comfortable, so at peace. I closed my eyes at the beating of my heart.
"When I was younger I couldn't do things like this." Hyunjin brushed his hair back. "I always imagined doing this with someone, but now it's actually happening it feels different." I heard his light breath.
"Yeah, me too. I would've never imagined myself like this without you."
"I am glad we talked that day." Hyunjin's eyes slowly closed. By his words, I knew exactly what he was talking about. The memory in the rain came back to. Remembering the way I was drawn towards him, the way our hearts connected, I smiled at the thoughts.
"I am glad too."
"How are you feeling?" He asked me.
"I am okay now, why are you asking?" I looked over at him, with my head lying close to his. He slowly opened his eyes. 
"Ah, I just want you to enjoy your time."
"Of course. It's always a good time when we are together. Do you feel the same way?" As I looked at his face I noticed that he looked worried. He looked like something was on his mind.
I looked back up at the bright blue sky. I released a breath. "This released a lot of stress so thank you." I felt so light with him. I didn't think of my time passing by. I felt my heart start to grow more and more.
"I always wondered what it would be like to really be with someone. Since I was young I always afraid to love or be loved because of what my father had told me about." Hyunjin let out. "That's why I am always worried about you. Worried about getting closer to you. I thought I could pull away and save you but I was too late." There was a strain in his voice. 
"No matter what happens I am here with you." He gripped my hand. "You don't have to worry about me, I promise what is thrown towards me I will push through it," I told him.
"But, that what worries me. I am afraid you will lose all your time." Hyunjin lightly let go of my hand and released a light smile. The breeze hit our faces.
"I just want to be here with you." I lifted myself up and looking down at him. I smiled lightly. 
I saw peace fill his face. He grew a smile and reached his hand behind my neck, lightly brushing my hair back. "Thank you for being so kind to me." The way he was looking at me I had never noticed before. His eyes were sparkling. "I said the same thing to you not too long ago. I just do it because of how I feel." I quickly stood up with a shy smile on my face. I skipped around in the grass. Hyunjin pulled himself up. "What are you doing?" He made a small laugh.
"I just feel so happy you know?" I spun around with a smile. "I just couldn't hold it in."
Then I noticed Hyunjin quickly running towards me. "Come here." He opened up his arms with a small pout. I kept spinning.
"Come before I chase you." He glared cutely.
"But I like spinning." I laughed. Then he started to run after me, I quickly ran around in circles trying to lose him.
"I will get you." He chuckled. 
"No!" I yelled as my hair blew in the wind. 
I couldn't contain the smile on my face. Suddenly we both stopped across from each other, he was still trying to catch me.
"Why are you running from me?" Hyunjin pouted. 
"I am not running," I said out of breath.
"Then let me catch you." I grin appeared on his face. My eyes widened and I started to run again. He chased me down the hill until I felt a bit lightheaded again, I started to get slower and slower. He quickly came up behind me and hugged me from behind. I felt my heart pounding rapidly in my chest. I felt like a rock was hitting up against me. 
He nuzzled his head on my shoulder with a cute smile. "I got you-" Then he noticed my quivering breath. I started to feel more and more nauseous and dizzy. Hyunjin caught me before I had fallen. "Hey, hey hey. Let's calm down, okay?" He held onto me. "I am okay, don't worry." I took a breath as I tried to regain my strength. Then suddenly my watch timer was going off. 
"I am going to be late for work." I tried to stand up but my balance was messed up.
"Don't push yourself. This is dangerous for you." Hyunjin started coughing. My eyes quickly focused on him. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, it's just dry air so don't worry about me. Okay?" He lightly brushed my hair back behind my ears. 
He helped me back to the bus stop. 
"This is what I was afraid of." I felt my heart pounding as I tried to catch my breath. "He is sick too but he isn't telling me." I looked over at his tired face. He was holding onto my hand. 
"Who knows what's going through his mind..? I wanna be like this with him forever but, what if it isn't possible..?" At the thought, I started to tremble. "Maybe we should-" The bus quickly stopped in front of us, interrupting what I was saying. We both struggled as we got onto the bus. I closed my eyes and laid my head on his shoulder because all I felt like doing was going to sleep.
"How can we fix this? There has to be another way." I muttered.
Hyunjin didn't say anything. "There has to be another way than separating from each other, even away from him I can't bear it. I have experienced it before. We are connected so what can we do?" My mind started to wander back and forth.  I was stuck between two answers, even though I knew deep down I would have to put down my feelings to save Hyunjin in the end. 
I fell asleep.

 "I can't disregard her safety. I want to be with her but why do I feel so uneasy when I am?" Hyunjin thought as he glanced out the window. Seungmin's words kept going around in his head. "I tried it before, why would I think it would work now?" Hyunjin glanced down at me while brushing the hair out of my face. 
We carried our way out of the bus. I rubbed my eyes with a yawn. "Ah, I should get going to work." I bowed to him as we stood outside of the building. 
"Ah, yeah. Remember to be safe, okay?" Hyunjin waved with a nervous smile. I walked away with an uneasy feeling. I wasn't sure why but being with him always made me worry about his health and what's really going on. I scratched my head. "We have to find a cure for this.." I carried my way up the elevator and to my work station. Seungmin looked over at me with widened eyes. "Why didn't you come to work yesterday?" He appointed. 
I scratched my head. "What do you mean? Wasn't I off because of the weekend...?" 
"Uh..it's the middle of the week.' Seungmin made a light laugh while hiding his face in his computer. 
"Wait..but what?" I yelled and everyone in the room started to glare at me. "uh.." I lowered my voice. "But..he confessed yesterday? right?" 
"Oh, your time must be speeding up again.. did anything happen that could trigger that?" Seungmin whispered.
"Well.." I wanted to say something but couldn't. "Why didn't Hyunjin tell me that I was absent for so long and everyone at school was acting like it was normal?.." I shook my head trying not to confuse myself. I looked at the date and he was right, days had passed and I wasn't sure what I was going to do. I grabbed onto my head with a sigh of frustration.
"Is there any way you can help me..?" I said lightly while turning my head over to Seungmin. "Yeah, I can try. I have done a lot of research on it already and there is not much info about it because there was only a special line of people."
"Ah. I will just have to figure it out myself." I scratched my head. "I will be sure to figure this out. I don't want it to come to me having to leave Hyunjin, but if it's for his safety then.." I shook my head. I was carrying things to the meeting rooms and I kept feeling dizzy. I felt unmotivated and tired. One of the managers noticed the drained look on my face.
"Hey, is everything okay?" She looked at me.
I waved my hands. "Yeah!" I laughed nervously trying to gain my vision but I could barely focus. She came up behind me and rubbed my back gently. "Hey, you sure you don't want to take the rest of the day off?" She helped me. 
"Ah, maybe I should just sit down." I sat at the large table and laid my head down. "I will go get you something to drink." She told me and hurried off.
I closed my eyes with a light breath and felt myself drifting off into a dream. In that dream, I saw Me and Hyunjin in the restaurant where we first started talking. He was holding an umbrella over me while it was raining. He was looking down at me, tears running down his face, but also a light smile. He lightly wiped the tears from my eyes. "I am willing to change anything for you." I heard his words muffle.
I then started to feel my arms shake, my eyes started to open slowly. I saw that Seungmin was waking me up. I looked back outside of the window, and it was dark outside. 
"What are you still doing here?" He whispered to me. I regained my focus and got up quickly. "I only closed my eyes for a minute." I shook my head. 
"You know you can't trust that," Seungmin said to me.
"Can't trust what?" I looked ahead and saw someone enter the room. 
"Why are you here Changbin? How did you know I was here?" I scratched my head.
"AH, I called you and you never answered, and Macy said you didn't reply to her either so I came to check on you. What is it you can't trust?!" He shrugged back.
I took a big breath. "Well..I can't trust myself." 
"Yourself?"
"It's hard to explain.." I was trying my best not to say much, not to tell him what was going on. But, I felt like it was too late. Changbin walked up to us, glaring at both me and Seungmin.
"So?" He raised his eyebrow.
"I wasn't expecting to tell you this so soon but..Hyunjin and I, our hearts are connected-" I was trying to say but Seungmin cut me off. "Don't, I don't know if Hyunjin wants him knowing," he whispered.
"No, just let me do it," I told him.
"Hyunjin has this special ability passed down to him, no one knows where it started. But his father wrote many books on it even though not many believed him." I gulped.
"An ability?" Changbin looked confused.
"Yeah, I know it sounds like a thing of comics but it's an ability that whoever is connected to him, their time around them speeds up even though they feel like they're in slow motion and it has a bunch of different effects. I am experiencing that. All the effects." I said firmly. 
"So that's why you've been late and missing school?" Changbin's eyes darted around the room. He was trying to grip at it all. "Ah, this seems so unreal. Are you sure you aren't trying to cover something up? Like you can't trust Hyunjin because he did something bad to you? Or something else?" Changbin took a deep breath while looking up at the ceiling. 
"I promise I am not covering anything up. Please just trust me." I lightly placed my hand on Changbin's shoulder. His head lowered to look right at me, with a hesitant face.
"But, why are you doing this? Even if it causes both of you so much pain?"
"I don't know..I just love him-"
Changbin stopped me. "Sometimes when you love someone you have to do what's best for them right?" 
I couldn't argue for what he said was true. "You're right.." I muttered as I held my head down. "We should get you home.." As they both were leading me out we all saw someone standing in the hallway.
"Annie, let's go back. Okay?" It was Hyunjin, standing with both his fists clenched.
"Right." I hurried to him. But, I could barely stay focused. 
Then someone gripped onto my hand. I looked back to see Changbin with glaring eyes. 
"It's dangerous for you." Changbin stared into Hyunjin's eyes. 
"What do you mean..?" Hyunjin's eyes flicked when he realized what had happened. 
"You told him?" his eyes went down to me.
"It's hard to explain the whole situation!" Seungmin let out, but I couldn't say anything. 
"Go ahead and go with him." Hyunjin let go of my hand. "Be safe." He smiled lightly then turned away. I tried to stop him, but he just carried his way down the elevator.
"I-" I tried to speak but I couldn't. I felt my heart started to sink, I felt my head started to get foggy. I felt like I did something wrong.
"This is a curse. It's a curse." In the elevator, Hyunjin grabbed onto his head and kneeled down to the ground. "Why did this be put onto me? Why did this curse have to happen to me?" He cried out where no one could hear him. He was alone, he felt alone because he was carrying this burden his whole life, alone.


I tried to push through Changbin's arms and I quickly carried my way down the stairs hoping I could catch Hyunjin in time but he was nowhere to be seen. I felt my heart rushing as I looked around frantically. Changbin came up behind me with a big breath.
"Hey, let us just go back to your house. Your brother must be worried, ya?"
I turned my head back with frustration. All I could think about right now was Hyunjin. I tried to calm myself down, so I took a deep breath.
"Sorry, I shouldn't have been so angry about it." I looked down, feeling my heart tremble.
"I am sorry I forced you to do that." I heard Changbin say. "It's ultimately up to you but please be careful of your health. I am sure Hyunjin wants what's best too." I knew he was right but something felt off about letting Hyunjin go like that. I took a deep breath in the silence.
"You will take her home?" Seungmin made sure.
"Yeah, have a good night," Changbin said as he walked me home. Even though I had friends by my side, I somehow started to feel a bit empty inside of me. My eyes were hard to keep open. Changbin led me to the front of my door. "Be sure to rest well, you don't need to come to school if you don't need to."
"Nah, I need to. I have been behind in grades and studying, I probably failed the pop quiz too. I need to get back on track." I scratched my head.
"Maybe it's time to focus more on yourself. I will see you." He waved, stuck his hands in his pockets, and walked off. 
"I don't know..his timing was really weird..to walk in at that right time an Hyunjin right behind him? Am I crazy or did he plan that?" The thoughts were running around in my brain. I laid in my bed, curling up in my blanket. I didn't know how to feel. The whole day was filled with so many emotions. I wanted to go back to when Hyunjin and I were running through the grass together. I wanted to go back to holding his hand. But, I learned loving him wasn't so simple. My heart ached in my chest, I felt my head pounding, sharp pains running through me as I closed my eyes. "Maybe I can just sleep this off," I muttered to myself.

NARRATOR POV


Jisung looked at the time and saw that Annie wasn't up yet. "Maybe I should start waking her up every day from now on." He whined as he barged open the door. To see Annie sleeping. He shook her back and forth to wake her up. "Annie, Annie. Please wake up. You will be late for school." There was no response, so he tried again. "Annie?" Jisung shook her. But there was no response. He laid his head on her chest to see if he could hear her heart beating, he did but it was faint. He tried tapping her face but she still wasn't waking up. "Oh no, Annie." He started to panic, with his phone in his shaking hands he hurried and called an ambulance to take her to the hospital. He drove over as quickly as he could. With a deepness in his chest. "Why didn't I do anything sooner? She felt guilty over those things but I am the one who should be guilty of not doing enough for her this time." Jisung felt like he was about to cry out. With every ounce of his body, he hoped that there was hope for Annie. He quickly got to the hospital, pacing around the waiting room. A doctor came out of the patient's room.
"How is she? Is she okay??!" Jisung repeated anxiously. 
"Yes, we got her breathing back to normal..but, she isn't awake yet. It seems like she had a stroke when she was asleep and has yet to wake up from it. I have never seen anything quite like this but thankfully we caught her heart just in time before it was too late." The doctor told him. He felt relieved yet worried about what was going to happen. He quickly called over everyone from the class, letting them know what happened. They all ran into the waiting room, with anxious faces. 
"Where is she? is she okay?" Macy started to panic. "They haven't let me in to go see her yet but apparently she's in a coma." Jisung lowered his head down, while nervously pacing. 
"Oh noo...." Macy started to lower herself to the ground.
Hyunjin came running through the hallways as quickly as he could. "Where is she?" He asked. The tension in the room got bigger and bigger. Changbin couldn't help but feel frustrated and blame Hyunjin for what had happened. Even though Hyunjin couldn't control it. Hyunjin threw his arms back while trying to hold back his emotions. "This is my fault." He pulled at his hair.
"You're fault?" Minho looked up from his chair.
"Yeah. If only I didn't talk to her that day. She would've been okay." Hyunjin turned away to face the wall. He didn't want anyone seeing the desperate look on his face. 
"Maybe this is a sign.." Jisung was afraid to say. "I know it's difficult. But we are talking about Annie's safety here!" He yelled. 
"I know."
"What's more important here?!" Jisung started to cry out of frustration then they all noticed the door open, the doctor came out. "You can come to see her."
They all quickly carried their way into the room to see Annie laying in a hospital bed. With her eyes closed, and her expression blank. 
"Annie!" Macy cried out while running up and grabbing ahold of her hand. Hyunjin stared at Annie's face. Feeling his chest start to rip. 
"I did that to her. I made her in that ill condition. There is no way I could do this to her again." Hyunjin looked down and saw his hands trembling. "How can I be so naive?" He couldn't stay still. They all sat around Annie for hours upon hours until it started to get late. Minho heard his stomach start to rumble. "Maybe we should go home for the day and come back tomorrow?" He was scared to suggest. "Mhm." Felix agreed.
Macy was laying her head on the bed right next to Annie. Minho shook her lightly. "We should get going for now."
"I can't leave her." She mumbled. 
"Annie would feel worse if she knew you were behind because of her. Let's go get something to eat. I promise she will be okay." Felix placed his hand on her shoulder. She gently looked up at him.
"Just tell me one thing..how did this happen?" Macy said seriously while clearing up her throat. 
"Well.." Jisung looked down.
But then Hyunjin started to explain. "This ability..it caused her all this pain.." He ended with.
"You caused her all this pain and you didn't end it before it came to this?!" After so long of being silent Changbin got up, and grabbed him by the collar. "After all this time? You knew and you let it continue?!" Changbin couldn't keep in his anger, his frustration, and his worry. "I know, and that's why I am going to leave. I am going to leave the school. I am going to move away. My mom already suggested it but I was still stuck here. But, after this, I couldn't bear it anymore. Don't you understand?! I didn't want to do this. I couldn't control our feelings, I couldn't get rid of this wretched ability." Hyunjin brushed Changbin's hands from him. He looked away because he couldn't bear looking at them. He rolled his head around and shrugged his arms back. He looked back at Annie's face. He felt his heart rip, his heart pounding, the last thing he wanted to happen happened. The way he couldn't keep his eyes off of her. Because of all he's done to her, he couldn't keep his tears away. 


(A/N dw! it's not over, a new chapter will be this weekend, Happy Thanksgiving to all who celebrate! thank you all for all your love and support towards me and my book! <3)