WORDS. |Kim Seungmin

Twenty.

Seungmin's eyes widened once he came downstairs. It was just ten minutes since he left Aria in his small living room. He came back to find the place tidy and almost clean. The empty boxes, cans, and bags were nowhere to be found. His clothes were folded and stacked on top of his armchair. The floor was empty except for his briefs that were by the stairs that he just noticed when he got down. The boy panicked for a second, picked them up, and shoved them behind his shoulder to some hidden corner before Aria turns around and sees them. Poor him, he didn't know that she already saw them earlier.

Aria was sitting on the couch scrolling through her phone. Once she heard Seungmin's steps getting closer, she looked up. He was having a long-sleeved white clean shirt. His facemask was still hiding most of his face. He quietly sat next to her and looked at his TV which was still having a paused screen of the movie he was watching.

"I walked around your house," She said awkwardly. "Sorry for that. It's one of my habits. Before I could process it, I caught myself washing my hands and tidying up the place." She shrugged with an obvious embarrassment at what she did.

Seungmin shook his head repeatedly. He then pulled his phone to send her his reply. She held her phone, waiting for his message to be received. Once her phone dinged, she opened it.

"No, it's okay. Actually, I'm the one who has to be sorry that you had to see that mess. I'm not a neat person." He wrote.

Aria chuckled. "And that was surprising to me. You absolutely look like a neat and tidy person. But I guess you are just a typical guy." She said shrugging. He knitted his brows.

"What do you mean?" He wrote.

"Honestly, I thought your house would be clean and tidy, with all white and grey matte modern furniture and books everywhere. I thought there would be classic music too playing from LPs. I don't know. But you give those vibes." She giggled to herself before she looks at him to find that he was leaning on the couch and resting his head on his propped arm. Although his face was hidden by the mask, she could tell from his eyes that he was smiling. "Then I walked in to find a kid with a dirty shirt and messy home."

Seungmin chuckled silently at her words. Aria chuckled too. Silence wrapped the both of them. Aria's mind was busy with the fight she had with her friend followed by her brother that it wasn't hard for Seungmin to catch on her gloomy face.

Seungmin was busy with his nervousness about the whole situation and her presence inside his house. The house that he always kept locked. He was afraid that she might find out the secrets he wanted to hide. He wasn't ready yet.

Aria's little shiver pulled him from his thoughts. The girl looked cold as she rubbed her arms up and down mindlessly. Seungmin quickly pulled the blanket behind him and inched closer to Aria to place it around her shivering body. Aria was startled but she received the blanket thankfully, giving him a tight smile. Aria was busy wrapping herself with the blanket, not noticing that Seungmin was typing something on his phone. Her phone dinged, declaring that a message had arrived.

"What happened? You don't look okay." He texted her.

"Is it that obvious?" She asked. He nodded at her. She flashed him a broken smile. "Well, I'm about to whine and maybe cry a little. Is that okay with you?" She asked with her already shaking voice. He nodded again, giving her a comforting gentle smile. "Okay, I had a fight with Changbin then Felix." She started narrating.

***

It was almost two hours since Aria started talking. She whined and cried but Seungmin comforted her. Actually, he did nothing. He couldn't even say a word, but his silent presence was somehow comforting to her. He listened to what she said and gave her his opinion.

It was almost two hours but Seungmin never felt bored or irritated. He was usually a person who gets irritated by listening to people talking nonstop since all he could do was listening, but he didn't feel the same with Aria.

She talked about random stuff. Starting from her fight with her friend and brother because they were being assholes -in her eyes-, passing by what happened to her brother and how he got punished, and stopping by the old story of her friend's ex. She sometimes talked about nonsense too but Seungmin listened to all of that.

Seungmin was heading upstairs after he wished Aria goodnight. The girl was reluctant to go home and he sensed that so, he offered her to stay over the night. Aria slept downstairs cause according to Seungmin, his bedroom wasn't a good option for her to stay at and she guessed why.

Which was wrong.

Seungmin reached the door to the only room upstairs, opened it, and walked in, slamming the door closed behind him. He locked the door from inside before his hand finds the lights switch and flips it on to illuminate the room. He sighed resting his head on the door behind him.

The room was all empty with no bed nor any belongings or furniture, except for a loveseat in the middle of the room and some shelves in the corner with his clothes dropped carelessly to them. The walls were all white with the windows covered with thick curtains. One wall had a mirror. One wall had photographs.

The whole wall had photographs from top to bottom and they all were of Seungmin. Alone.

Seungmin walked to the mirror and looked at his reflection. He pulled down his mask and stared blankly at his face. He was examining the little difference in it that he was having this time. He sighed before his hand pulls a camera from the shelf below the mirror and positions it to take a new photo of himself.