Untouched [minsung]

Chapter 84

Chan POV

I paced back and forth outside of Seungmin's room for hours. The night had come and gone, but I still had no idea what to say.

I loved him, but he didn't want to be with me.

But that was before Jeongin was locked away.

Maybe things were different now...

But maybe they weren't.

I walked up and down the hall and back again and again trying to imagine which of those possibilities would be true when I told him where Jeongin was...when I told him that he didn't have to be afraid for me anymore or for himself...when I told him that I loved him and wanted to be with him.

But maybe what he'd told me was just a lie that he had fabricated to let me down more easily. Maybe he'd just been stalling for time and hoped I'd move on eventually. After all, he couldn't have known that we'd get Jeongin so quickly.

Mrs. Seo walked towards me in the hall, and I stood still and waited for her to close the distance. Her heels tapped on the floor one after the other.

"Chan, have you slept at all?" she asked. She looked concerned.

"No Ma'am." My eyes drooped slowly as I spoke. I hadn't been drinking but my speech was slurred, too.

"Chan go get some sleep."

I wobbled as I tried to stand still. "I-I need to talk to..." I pointed at the door and let out a sigh. "Seungmin."

"I know. You told me the same thing hours ago, and that was before I went to bed, woke up, had breakfast, and started a new day."

I just nodded lazily, and she pulled me in for a hug.

"Go in and talk to him or go to sleep," she said before pulling away. "But this hallway is now a Chan-free zone."

I went to argue, and she held a finger up. She became very motherly with me when she was upset.

"No, no...Make a decision. Now."

I groaned and looked between Seungmin's door and the room across the hall that was left vacant for me.

"Fine," I mumbled and went to the empty room. I wanted to be brave and ready to face Seungmin, but I wasn't.

Besides, what if he was asleep, and waking him up made him hate me more? Maybe my exhaustion would cause me to say the wrong things.

I flopped onto the bed with my clothes and shoes on and thought of every possibility that he could say as if I hadn't been doing that for the past nine hours.

I passed out immediately upon my head hitting the pillow.

—————————————————————————

"Chan," a voice sang in my ear, and I attempted to put a pillow over my face. I was too tired for morning.

"Chan, baby," the voice rang beside me and stole the pillow rendering me defenseless to the noise and the light.

"What is it?" I complained, covering my eyes.

"You're so grumpy this morning," they laughed and my eyes shot open. I knew that laugh.

"Seungmin, what are you doing in here?"

His eyes twinkled as he looked at me.

"You invited me, remember?" he laughed again, and I smiled at the sound but was confused. I absolutely did not remember inviting him to my room.

"Of course, I remember," I wasn't sure if I was meant to be flirting or acting platonically. I needed Seungmin to provide more context.

I sat up too straight and too still as he walked around the room and looked at the pictures on the wall. This was just a guest room since I hadn't wanted to use my old room which was farther away. There wasn't anything personal or exciting about the paintings, but Seungmin studied them as if they were The Starry Night or the Mona Lisa.

His finger grazed across one of the canvases as he felt the texture from the layered acrylic. To me, it seemed seductive, but I didn't know if I just seeing what I wanted to see.

"So what did you want to do today?" I asked him. One of his shoulders was still bandaged and he wore a partially buttoned flannel shirt over it.

"You said you'd take me to get settled at the house."

We had a new house?

"Oh right. Actually, let me go ask Mrs. Seo for that address again, and I'll be right back."

I hurriedly left the room and went down the hall to Mrs. Seo's office. Clearly, I'd slept walk or something and relived the moment Seungmin had moved in.

I knocked anxiously on the door and was still tapping when she opened it.

"Chan, what are you doing up so early? Didn't you just go to bed?"

I entered the room and tapped my foot nervously as I waited for her to sit at the desk.

"Well, apparently I sleptwalk to Seungmin's," I began, and Mrs. Seo let out a muffled laugh.

"It's not funny. I told him I would help him settle into the new house. Do we even have a new house?" I fell back onto the chair, and she watched me with amusement.

"I've never seen you so worked up," she grinned. "It's sweet."

"It's not sweet," I argued. I was too tired for professional pleasantries. "I'm sleepwalking again. I invented a fake house. I don't even know what else I told him. What if I told him I loved him? Oh no!" I began to spiral again, but Mrs. Seo hushed me.

"That's very unlikely. And, if it is true, he's still here, right?"

I nodded.

"Then just breathe. Besides, we do have a new house you can go show him. We bought it furnished, so I'm not sure if it's your taste, but you can take him over there today and have a look."

I breathed a sigh of relief. At least I wouldn't have to tell him that I was sleepwalking or had lied about the house just yet.

She scribbled the address on a piece of paper and passed it to me.

"There's room for all of you there, even Lee Know and Han if they want to stay. Make it your own."

I thanked her and headed back down the hall to Seungmin. I was still exhausted, but the new day had already started, and I couldn't let it leave me behind.

"Ready to see our new house," I smiled as I waved the paper with the address in the air.