Chapter 34

"When does your father get back?" We're lying face to face, my fingers lightly playing with his messy brown hair. "Two days," he responds. I nod my head and sigh. Two more days of freedom until he's basically locked up again; a personal guard dog for his mother. I hold onto his face and lean forward, just close enough so that our noses touch and the air between us constricts. My thumb rubs against his cheek as our lips very delicately touch, just enough to feel the grooves of each other's lips. We don't dare move further, we just relish in being so close to each other. My slow movements seize when I remember something. As his legs move to tangle with mine, the fabric of the pants snaps me out of my dreamlike state. "Pants," I say as I sit up. "What?" He asks, eyes still heavy-lidded. "I need to wash your pants before he comes home." Zen didn't come home last night—probably spent the night "out with the boys" or whatever. But he'll likely be here soon, and I can't sneak the sweatpants into the wash since, well, his room is the damn laundry room. Just like that, as if he telepathically heard me, I hear the front door beep. "Take your pants off," I hurriedly say as I push the sheets away from us. "Woah okay, I thought you didn't want to do it since, you know, your period and all but—" "Now is not the time for jokes." I open my hand, palm up, and gesture for him to take them off. "I'm sure he won't care." "They're his pants, his only and absolute favourite sweatpants that he basically cherishes and unfortunately were the only clean pair I could find. He'll care." Jaewook sighs as he groggily sits up in bed. Now I can hear the door close and my impatience heightens. "Wake up!" I whisper-yell as I lean over to hastily undo the waistband tie and tug them off his hips. He stares at me wide-eyed, completely frozen as I drag the grey cloth down his legs. The bathroom door closes, thankfully signalling that Zen is in the bathroom. Knowing his hangovers, he'll be there for awhile and likely will fall asleep on the toilet. I yank the sweats off Jaewook's feet and jump off the bed. Jaewook still stares at me, in a daze, as I slowly open my door and peak out. I tiptoe to my brother's room and toss his sweats in the washer, which is on the balcony of the room. I look around for his hamper and grab whatever is in there to disguise the sweats. I breathe a sigh of relief when the washer rumbles into life. I look out the window, momentarily enjoying the unglamorous view before leaving the small balcony and dodging the empty takeout containers in his room. When I reach my own room, I close the door and lean against it, already tired and ready to go back to sleep. "Noona?" Jaewook hasn't moved one bit. I drag my feet and fall onto my bed. Sure enough, not a sound has come from the bathroom since—my brother has likely fallen asleep. "Uh, is—is he in the bathroom?" "Hmm?" I ask with my head smushed in my pillow. "Yeah. Do you need to pee?" I do, I think as I start to get angry at Zen for inconveniencing me once again. "Uh, not really." I turn to look at him. His cheeks are splotchy with spots of red and his eyes look guilty, like he's trying to hide something. "Don't tell me—" Sure enough, his hands are over his boxers. I groan as I close my eyes. "You were kinda aggressive when you untied the pants—uh," he curls up in a ball. "I, I'm sensitive in the mornings so—" "Ugh, gees. One little touch?" "Sorry." I groan, genuinely upset because I need to pee and because I wish I didn't have my period right now. It's silent for a moment as I smash my head further into the pillow. "So, is he gonna be a while?" His voice is so timid as he asks, I can't help but laugh. "He's asleep on the toilet. It's gonna be awhile." He looks at the door, eyebrows lifted in worry. I sigh into the pillow and will myself to sit up. I stare at Jaewook's wide eyes and sigh yet again. "What—what's wrong?" "You owe me for everything you've put me through today," I simply say as I climb onto his lap, careful to avoid his growing problem. "Noo—" My lips touch his warm neck, barely skimming over his skin, but it's already enough to cause him to shiver. "Are you really so sensitive in the morning? I've heard it's a thing for males, nocturnal penile tum—something, but geez, I barely touched you. Maybe if you woke up sooner and took the damn pants off like I asked you to, this wouldn't have happened." His bottom lip slightly protrudes as I scold him. His eyes downcast. "Ugh, why are you the cutest thing I've ever seen?" I lean down to kiss his neck again. "Destiny, you should stop." "It's Noona." "Noona," he corrects himself. "And it's fine, there are other ways to take care of your problem." His eyelids lift even higher as excitement sparkles in his irises. "Are you gonna—" "Men are such simple creatures," I stroke his bed head hair. "It doesn't take much to excite you, hmm?" His teeth slightly protrude from between his lips as he smiles. "Alright, we have about 20 minutes until Zen wakes up. You'll know because he'll start shouting, asking how he got here." I roll my eyes and Jaewook chuckles. "Just sit back and let Noona take care of you hmm?" "Shit, that's hot." "Oh so now you're not stuttering like a virgin." "I didn't want to make you feel awkward, but clearly you're not." "It'll take a lot more than a boner to make me feel awkward baby. I study the human body for a living." . . . Sure enough, about 18 minutes later a loud noise is sounded from the bathroom—something fell on the floor. "WHAT! WHERE AM I?!" A disgruntled Zen shouts. "HOW THE BLOODY HELL DID I GET HERE?" Jaewook and I are already laughing, but once the tears seize, I run out of my room and slam on the door. "Get out!" "WHA—? WHO IS IT?!" The door opens. Zen's eyes are half closed and drool covers his chin as he looks at me. "I've held in my pee for long enough, move." I push him away and close the door. When I'm done, my idiot brother is still standing by the door. "Drink some water and go to sleep," I tell him. "Are you doing laundry?" "Huh? Oh yeah, I put some of your dirty clothes in the wash." I deflect my eyes and head to my room. "Really? That's awfully nice of you..." I'm afraid he'll start to doubt my kindness, but his hangover proves to be stronger as he hisses in pain and puts a hand to his forehead. "There are painkillers in the bathroom," I say before slipping into my room and closing the door. Jaewook is still sitting on my bed, as if he has no intentions of ever leaving it, with his chin propped on his bent knees. "Mission success," I say. "Noona's on a roll this morning," he cutely says with his head bobbing up and down on his knees. "Man," I crawl back into bed and sit in front of him, mirroring his position. "One moment I'm genuinely scared of you and your aggressive behaviour and the next I just want to squish you and feed you a paycheck's worth of food." "It's a skill," he says, his nose crinkling as he smiles. "A skill indeed." I lift my chin off my own knees and lean forward to kiss his nose. "Now, my talented shape-shifter, please go home. I need to get some work done." The pout is instantaneous. "Don't give me that look, I think I've fed into your deprivation of me enough in twelve hours." "Fine." He reluctantly stands up and grabs his clothing. I can't help but feed into my own deprivation as I watch his muscles flex with each movement, free from the obstruction of clothing. I can't help but really wish I didn't have my womanly gift, because my god, he drives me to fall into my most primal of desires. "I know you're staring," he says without even looking at me. "I'm just enjoying my view, don't judge me." His jeans cover his toned legs and I sigh. Falling onto the bed, I continue to watch him sideways. "Let me know when your period's over," he says with a smirk as his shirt covers his torso. "Why, why is this happening to me?" I ask myself while still zoned out on him. "Why have I turned into such an animal? Who was I before this? Was I even human? Are all couples like this? Why am I content at just staring at your body for hours on end? What is happening to me?" His body gets bigger as he comes closer to me, squatting down so his face is level with mine. "It's called chemistry. You should know a lot about that topic." He winks at me before standing back up and leaving my vision entirely. I stare at my desk with my mouth agape, wondering when this boy started becoming the smarter one in the relationship. ...