[8:31pm 💌] 'would you tell me if you were sad?' Her voice came from the other side of the line, the other side of the continent like sticky sweet syrup, lilting over the static from being so far away and whatever movement she'd just made. He'd just wanted to hear her voice and as soon as the thought had formed maybe, her name was dancing across his phone screen and her favourite song was chiming beneath the covers where his phone was buried. Like she knew he needed her.
She'd always joked about it and they'd laughed it off together, attributing it to her arrogance. He was beginning to think she was a witch.
'Why, what would you do about it?' He chuckled in retort, sinking into his pillows and into the sound of her soft breathing, the comfort of the two. It was so easy to talk to her, even easier to hold her and breathe her in but only one of those was possible right now. He tried not to think about how frustrating it was.
'I dunno, suck it out of you.'
'You're disgusting.'
'You like it,' and he could hear her smile, hear the teasing lift at the end of her words. The response didn't catch him off guard in the slightest. One of her favourite solutions to his moods was always something physical. Hanbin didn't mind; he liked being taken care of by her. She was always so careful with him. It was nice to feel precious to someone. And yes, he did like it.
'Is that why you called me? Are you horny?'
'I miss you. I'll be back home soon.'
'I know. I miss you too.'
'Show me how much then.' And without hesitation he took the phone away from his ear to find a way to switch their voice call to a video call, mouth already salivating at the eventual outcome.
Two sets of eyes glared at each other in the distance. The body of the owners were casually standing across from each other allowing the space between them to wrap the words into the ice cold argument they wanted to bring about. Not even the loud sigh that escaped another person’s lips broke the staring contest going on between the two of them.
‘’Uhm… sir… your order?’’ the waiter who was standing by the wooden table the group of three had sat on asked as politely as possible probably for the third time. If it wasn’t the third, then probably the fourth or fifth time but the waiter had decided to ignore that. The tension raising between the male and the female whose eyes seemed glued to each other got him uncomfortable; his eyes quickly switched to who seemed the only normal person standing there. He wished the male could get him out of that situation.
Upon noticing none of his friends would speak, Yunhyeong sighed quietly. Probably he had sighed as many times as the waiter asked for their order. ‘’A toast for me.‘’ the elder started, nodding his head just to notice how the waiter’s features immediately light up out of relief as his fingers held the pen that scratched the blank paper he held onto for the purpose of remembering exactly what the customers asked for. ‘’Hm… I’d like an americano as well.’’ he continued, watching the male nod his head slowly as he shortly wrote the words falling from Yunhyeong’s lips. ‘’The kids would like a strawberry smo-’’ before he could finish, Hanbin’s eyes ripped away from the female’s.
‘’She’s allergic to strawberries.’’ he called out, earning a softer expression from the female but it didn’t last long as his eyes went back to glaring at hers. Yunhyeong showed a side smile, nodding his head to the small achievement of his. ‘’Right right, forget the smoothie.’’ he hummed, only now taking a look at the menu. ‘’Maybe a slice of chocolate cake would wipe away this saltiness.’’ this earned him both the human’s glares. ‘’And one iced americano, get me two straws on that.’’ with this, the waiter rushed away.
On the other hand, the two people who had once asked Yunhyeong the obvious answer to ‘’What is this person doing here?’’ when their gazes fell on one another, had their glaring intensified at the elder who didn’t seem bothered by it.
‘’Are we going to spend the whole day glaring at each other or are we going to talk?’’ Yunhyeong asked, taking a peek at them, first at the female and then at the male who had decided to act more childish than it was necessary. In her point of view, he was wrong and in his point of view, he was just trying to figure out what had went down. He didn’t like the way she acted towards him but that didn’t stop him from trying to understand her side.
Just when he was about to speak, her features softened. The female looked uneasy as if she could read the question that was about to fall from his lips along with the scrunch his nose always seemed to collide into when his thoughts were a mess. Nothing really had changed between them, not even the fact they were fighting over meaningless stuff like he had called out just a couple times. Yunhyeong noticed the slight change in the couple, feeling quite relieved. However, the two of them only looked opposite ways. It was like they couldn’t even face the same direction. Was it even wrong trying?
The moment the food came, nobody moved. The waiter himself noticed how heavy the environment was -- the tension between them had grown quite significantly -- which caused him to rush. His hands worked fast, leaving behind the order Yunhyeong made in their rightful places without asking what belonged to whom. Even his soft whisper of ‘’Call me if you need anything else’’ was rushed, unwanted and almost inaudible. He just didn’t want to be there. None of the three wanted to be there either.
Yunhyeong was the only one who bowed to the waiter as he went away and almost immediately digged in, watching quietly the couple who didn’t seem interested in the food. It was almost painful to watch.
‘’Is this how you’ve been spending your days, lately?’’ the female finally spoke. Her eyes landed on the drink that was right in front of her like she was afraid to face the male sitting in front of her. Hanbin seemed to fail to understand what she meant through such words. He raised an eyebrow as he was even surprised she made the first move -- he had learnt from their previous fights that he did have to take the very first step to work things out -- it was surprising she decided to break the silence. Did she miss him?
With this, he reached for his drink and took a sip, humming out; this was his answer even if he didn’t quite catch the meaning of the question. Her head bobbed twice to his response as a bitter taste swiped across her tongue. They were almost like strangers in this situation, he didn’t seem to want to make it right. He wasn’t trying. But then again, she never really knew how it felt to be the one to take the blame.
Yunhyeong kept quiet, watching the two of them, even trying to sip and chew quietly in case that’d drag the conversation they seemed to be having, down. Her fingers tapped on her thigh; she didn’t even dare to reach for the drink the elder nicely ordered for her. ‘’Does it feel better like this?’’ again, her senseless question got the male thinking. Was she trying to prove her point? Her language was confusing, unknown and even bothersome to him.
It was like she had passed the bomb to his hands. Yunhyeong’s eyes flew across the table to the male’s features, finding a concerned Hanbin trying to elaborate his answer inside his brain or at least surpass that first hum. Unexpectedly his lips grew dry, like his body sensed he was in a dangerous situation and the heat started raising. The male gulped down. ‘’The air feels the same.’’ this answer was just as senseless as her question. Yunhyeong’s features scrunched as for him, it was the wrong answer.
The scoff coming from the back of the female’s throat accompanied by the eye roll only proved Yunhyeong he was right. He still didn’t dare to speak. ‘’What did I say wrong, this time?’’ Yunhyeong suddenly shifted in his seat at how the conversation bumped into such topic. He was sure none of them noticed it since the female’s head had turned to see her boyfriend whose eyes were glued on hers. She didn’t call out any word. ‘’Don’t look at me like that. What did I do wrong this time?’’ he continued, acting offended for a second before his features relaxed. He had asked that question way too many times before, it was almost like it was the most comforting question that would come from his lips.
Her eyes could almost dig two holes in his own. Was he forcing her to answer such question? He should know what he did wrong. As she parted her lips to speak, the male shook his head like he was already disapproving what she was about to say. ‘’Do I mean that little to you?’’ her question caused him to scrunch his features -- how did they go from a simple glaring contest to such conclusion? Hanbin snorted, rolling his eyes as he understood the meaning behind her words; after all, they have been together for a while, it was enough for him to know what was up.
‘’Am I a dog for you to keep?’’ now it was his turn to ask questions she didn’t exactly know how to answer. ‘’Am I?’’ he insisted, leaning forward as his index finger tapped the table right by her drink where her eyes laid their glance on. Upon having no answer to his question, he nodded his head, leaning back on the chair comfortably.
‘’Up until today I realized it has always been me who ran after you asking for apologies even if I knew I was not the one who did wrong. Isn’t that what a dog does to it’s owner? Seek for appreciation? I did nothing wrong so would you please cut the crap and let me know… what the hell was my wrongdoing this time?’’
Words were hard to find especially for the female who understood that she was pulling her feelings before his. Of course sometimes she didn’t get to meet him for a long time and that was something hard for her, of course she missed him but that didn’t give her the right to doubt he felt the same way, did it?
Her eyes landed on her lap as she didn’t pronounce any other word. Yunhyeong’s features collided into a frown -- he wanted to help both out but there was not much he could do since he knew both would keep on the silent war if they didn’t speak in that moment. Both would regret it.
A sigh escaped Hanbin’s lips; he wasn’t the one to give in that easily but he had managed to have her seeing his side of the story as well, which was itself a win. His body leaned forward on the table, having his hand pulling her drink away so his arms could freely reach for the female. ‘’Oi, I’m up here.’’ his soft tone asked for her attention. ‘’I know it’s hard for you right now. It is for me as well.’’ he continued, relaxing a bit as her eyes climbed the table to meet his features. On her side, Yunhyeong sighed in relief before excusing himself to the bathroom since they seemed to be following the right path or at least the one he wanted to push them towards.
Hanbin’s hands handed on the table, his palms facing upwards as the back of his hands rest over the table like he was asking for her hands. ‘’I don’t like being controlled. I need space to breathe.’’ a nod came from the female’s side encouraging the male to keep speaking the feelings he didn’t usually let out. ‘’I like you a lot. I really do and I don’t want things to end here. I think that the distance we pull between each other sometimes should be reason for you to think like this too. It’s not the distance parting us.’’ her nose scrunched at how right his words were.
She was being childish, his words hit her harshly in the less horrible way possible. They made sense inside her brain. ‘’I just missed you’’ she defended herself, watching her boyfriend’s fingers wiggle in the table like he was asking for her hands to join is. Slowly she reached for them, landing her palms on his like he earned her trust.
Hanbin’s lips broke into a smile as she finally allowed him to pull her with other than words. ‘’I missed you too.’’ he confessed, nodding whilst his eyes landed on their hands that held onto each other gently. ‘’It’s the distance that makes me realize how much I need you and how much you mean to me. It’s the fact I’m not always around you that makes me want to succeed so I can show up in front of you and make you proud...did you know that?’’
The way he spoke such words, so passionately had the female’s cheeks coated with a light pink. A smile crawled to her lips. It was just impossible not to fall into his charms. He was good with words after all. It was easy for him to put meaning into the least interesting word, it was easy for him to go on talking about what she could swear was a small little unnecessary argument. It was Hanbin after all.
As his eyes caught the smile threatening to grow bigger in the female’s soft pair, he grinned. He felt like a huge weight was lift off his back. Even the air surrounding them seemed easier to breathe. It was like everything had been pushed into the right place. His thumbs carefully traced the shape of her hands before pushing his and hers up enough to rest his elbows on the table in order to intertwine their fingers. He wasn’t even sure of how long it had been since he was able to hold her hand but he knew that the fluttering heart of his was due to the way her skin felt against his. It felt great.
None of them was able to hide the happiness -- anyone could see by the huge smiles glued to their features and the brightness irradiating from their faces that this couple was happy, in love if you may. It was that one feeling people were tired of seeking for. They had it right there. Easily wrapped into the warmness of their existence.
A chuckle escaped the male’s lips as he lowered his head a bit upon noticing something. ‘’What?’’ he was asked by the female who tilted her head slightly. He didn’t lift his head, instead, he rest his cheek by his shoulder and peeked at her features. ‘’What’s wrong~’’ he sang out loud to his girlfriend who snorted once she realized what he was doing. ‘’I guess you were predicting what to say-’’ she stuck out her tongue, taking her hands away from his just to reach for her drink and sip on it happily.
The male, on the other hand, pouted at the parting, being caught of guard when the female called back the same words at him. ‘’What’s wrong~’’ she also sang, earning a loud snort from him.
Hanbin was in a rush, first thing in the morning. It had been like that for the past two or three months, ever since his wife discovered she was pregnant. The baby wasn’t planned but it was fully welcomed into their household that was probably a bit too silent. Yes, the baby would require a lot of time, attention and money but that was the least of their worries in the moment.
Hanbin’s wife sat up on the bed, feeling glad she already knew how to deal with the morning sickness - she’d rather know how to deal with her husband that looked like a headless chicken, running here and there because she wasn’t feeling great. She was thankful for him, though.
The sickness didn’t go away just because of his good intentions, it actually made it worst when the male started rushing here and there. It made the female get dizzy at how quick her husband was on his feet.
As he finally stopped by her side, she glared at him - he was aware of what she was going to say but even if she nagged at him, he didn’t mind; he was excited because of their baby and very worried as he wanted everything to be perfect. ‘’I’m pregnant, not dying.’’ she commented, sighing as she looked at the male who showed off a troubled smile - the poor baby wasn’t born yet and he was already a fool for it.
‘’You know I can’t help but worry for you, though.’’ he fought back, pecking her forehead as he crouched down in front of her since she had sat up and kicked her legs out of the comfortable bed. ‘’I thought I could get you something to drink, I read online that it helps with morning sickness’’ he revealed his good intentions towards her who couldn’t help but share a soft smile with him. She sighed quietly, nodding her head slowly as if telling him it was okay for her to try it out.
Proudly, he reached for a mug, where he had previously poured the drink he was talking about. ‘’Here, drink this, you’ll feel better.’’ he added, setting the mug in the female’s hands just to watch her take a sip of it. His eyes watched her carefully, wondering if it tasted good. But the female’s face scrunched. ‘’Hanbin…’’ she coughed, holding the mug out to him once again. He frowned, wondering what was going on. ‘’I think you put salt instead of sugar…’’ she whispered, hating the taste of what he just gave her.
The male gasped loudly, wondering just how clumsy he had to be to do something like this. ‘’I’m so sorry baby!’’ he started, rushing downstairs to start it all over, making sure to get the sugar in instead of the salt. On the other hand, the female was left behind, laughing quietly ‘’Yes, this is your father, baby.’’ she spoke, looking down at her baby bump ‘’And guess what, this is certainly not the last time he’s going to forget to check if he’s using salt or sugar…’’ she continued, shaking her head slowly ‘’My baby, you have a long way ahead of you…’’
