stardust | park seonghwa - Chapter 21: Chapter 21

"GOOD morning!"
My eyes snap open. I screech, tumbling off the bed with a flail of my arms to keep myself from falling. However, I still land on the floor, face first, with a thud. There's an amused snort from somewhere behind me over the other side of the bed.
That doesn't sound like Yeosang. Nor does the carpet definitely look like mine. My face frowns, picking on the strands of thread.
But a sting on my nose takes my attention off the tan carpet and I heave myself off the floor, pinching the bridge of my nose. "Oww..." I groan, wincing a little at the pain.
Seonghwa chuckles, rushing to me in an instant and tries to make me face him. But I huff, turning away from him, wiggling my nose to get myself used to the feeling. "I'm sorry!" he exclaims. He doesn't sound so sorry, though, as he continues to try and bite down his laughter.
"You're so mean, why did you scare me like that?"
"Obviously I didn't know you were going to leap off the bed like that!"
I plonk back on the bed, letting myself fall on the messy blankets. My fingers still pinch my nose and out of the corner of my eyes, I see Seonghwa starting to look more concerned.
"Does it really hurt that much?" he asks quietly. He shuffles on his spot, nervously biting his lip.
I don't answer. Seonghwa quickly sits down next to me, pulling me up to sit and observes my face. His eyes scan me, placing a hand on my jaw and tilts my head for a closer look. That gesture, of course, making my face flush red and I panic. My mind flashes back to the last time he was this close and feel my heart speed up rapidly.
When he leans a little closer, I shut my eyes and push his forehead back, giggling as I roll off the mattress.
"No, I was just messing with you," I laugh when Seonghwa shoots me his iconic grimacing look.
"No breakfast for you," he mumbles, shuffling out of the room.
"What!? Come on!" I follow after him, jumping on his back, almost throwing him off balance.
Morning has completely taken over the house, it seems, as the fresh golden streaks of the sun washes over the floor. And it looks life Seonghwa himself had just gotten up, judging from how the blinds in the living room were still closed and the lights were still off. He was wearing the same thing last night; a simple hoodie and his shorts, walking barefoot. From what I've seen earlier, his eyes were still puffy and his cheeks were still tinted a little pink with natural blush.
Pretty.
Pretty but annoying. Seonghwa completely ignores me as he pushes the lever down on the toaster, as he gathers a few eggs from the pantry, and collects a carton of milk from the fridge. I sigh exaggeratedly, sticking my bottom lip out as I take a seat on a stool.
"I'm the one who's supposed to be annoyed at you, you know?" I talk to him, watching him carefully from the other side of the island as he fries his eggs. "I was having a pretty damn good dream, why did you have to wake me up?"
Seonghwa flips his egg.
"Okay, since you're clearly not going to say anything, I'll tell you what I dreamt," his eyes twitch after hearing me, a sign that he's so tempted to respond but he keeps holding it back. I lean back on my stool in satisfaction after seeing him crack a little.
I wave my index finger at him. "You listen, okay? So... in the dream, I was in this cave kinda thing, it was scary. And the only way to get out of it is to fly. So I did, but I had to kick my legs to propeller myself out of there, like I was swimming or something. I know, crazy right?"
A smirk makes its way on to myself seeing him bite down his bottom lips.
"And on top, it was snowing and I saw someone talking to a penguin so I was about to go 'hey you can talk to penguins? That's cool, what's hi in penguin', right? And guess who it was," Seonghwa grips his spatula tightly. "It was you! But you were crying, you poor thing! So I asked you why you were crying and you said 'the bed'!"
The man in front of me inhales sharply, but I continue on.
"So I asked, 'what bed?' and you said someone was sleeping on your bed! So we went to look for the person who slept on your bed and they turn out to be leprechauns!" I watch amusingly as Seonghwa butters his toast with jam and places them on a plate, "but then the leprechaun's face changed and turned into San and I swear your face had fear written all over."
"You asked where your bed was and when San said he threw it off a cliff, you were sobbing. Poor little Seonghwa sobbing because leprechaun San threw his bed off a cliff!"
That was his breaking point. Once the egg was finished, he places it on the plate along with the jam toast and slides it to me. "Shut up you're so weird," he mumbles before cringing himself. "That doesn't even sound like me, what the heck!?"
I crack a grin. "Crybaby," I tease, picking the toast off the plate and bite into it, feeling a small sense of victory inside me. "New year, new me, right, Hwa?"
"Whatever, just eat."
As annoyed as he may sound, there's faint smile on his lips as he cracks another egg on the pan and pushes more bread down the toaster.
After breakfast and a mini marathon of Home Alone, Seonghwa waits for me by the door, twirling his car keys in his fingers. He said I should head home, take care of Yeosang who probably has a hangover right now. Which is kind of true — I saw all the drunken texts Yeosang spammed me last night. He was annoyed about how I left him alone in the party. Boy threatened me that he'll run my car into a wall and crash it. Seonghwa was reading his messages along with me and insisted that he should drive me home since it's almost in the afternoon.
Which like, oh, okay cool but still. This is Park Seonghwa we're talking about, there's nothing 'oh okay cool' with him.
When he finally succeeds in dragging me off his couch and out the door, I feel his fingers brush against my mark as he drapes an arm over my shoulder. A sudden chill makes me shiver and I stop abruptly.
"Something wrong? Did you leave anything?" he asks.
I shake my head, furrowing my brows and I motion for him to continue on. "Nothing," I say.
Just as we get into the car, I pull out my phone from my pocket and see the reflection of my eyes and how they're sparkling with a hint of blue. I shouldn't really get my hopes up but it's got to be a sign, right? There's still a million reason why he's not but it makes more sense that he could be my star mate, right? I know I can ask him right now and... no that's too scary. But that doesn't explain the random flashes of colours in my eyes, and the sense of burning on my mark and how I feel like it's Seonghwa.
Sometimes, when I'm at home thinking, I could easily imagine in my head about how I'd go up to him and ask if he could lower the collar of his shirt for me to see. That's all in my head, all the courage and confidence I have is just something I wish I had. Yeosang told me I should suck it up and ask him anyway. He doesn't understand.
A hand places itself on my thigh, rubbing it soothingly. My body tenses up, pulling myself out of my thoughts and eyes straight on to the road. "Are you sure you're fine?" Seonghwa asks me, rubbing small circles with his thumb, "you're thinking way too long."
Go on, Hyeshin, say it.
"There's something I've been meaning to ask..." I begin quietly, not being able to look at him. I brace myself.
Anyone who knows him will know that in situations like this, he will tilt his head to the side and hums. A sign for me to continue.
Music from the radio fills in the room, faint honking of cars from faraway streets fill in the empty spaces of silence. He's waiting for me to talk, I know that, but he doesn't rush me. Voices in my head argue with its other self and second thoughts wash over me.
We come to a stop at the traffic light. Seonghwa leans forward on his seat a little, almost placing his head in the middle of the steering wheel just to look at me. "Is it about last night?" he finally asks.
My eyes quickly averts from the road ahead to give him a slightly bewildered look. What makes him think that?
No! "Yes."
Okay, kind of. Ish..?
I widen my eyes when I realise what I said and open my mouth to voice out an excuse but Seonghwa reaches out to me first, taking my hand in his and gives me a reassuring smile. I hate how he does that so easily and thinks that I'm totally one hundred percent okay with that. I maybe am, physically, but all my brain cells stop working by that point and all I do is stare.
"You really had me worried," he tells me. "And I wont rush... if that's what you want," he adds quickly.
"No! It's fine, you're fine!" I say quickly, "just some other things too." He gazes at me expectantly.
Think, think, think, Hyeshin. Change the subject. There's a rapid mental keyboard smash in my mind, brain going !!!! along with that. My legs bounce up and down, eyes darting everywhere but him and I try to remember what day it was and what month it is.
Wait, January first, is it?
"Seonghwa, B-TEEZ tickets are going to be on sale this afternoon!" I exclaim, finding myself in genuine shock when I come to realise.
"Oh wait, really? I completely forgot!"
"Same! I have to dig around for my money! I hope I have enough, I already spent a little bit of my Christmas money..."
Seonghwa nods his head, "so you're going, right?"
"Of course I am, wouldn't miss them for the world! I'm aiming to get below VIP but it depends on whether I have enough money. Why?"
The brunette shakes his head, tilting his head to the side and the corner of his lips tugging up slightly. "Nothing." And he steps on the accelerator to cross through the intersection, one hand lazily resting on the wheel.
I eye him curiously.
I slam the door shut, quickly taking my shoes off and storm into the living room to see Yeosang where I'd expected him to be — lazily snoring away on my couch. He has one leg on top, the other dangling down, arms thrown over his head and he looks completely worn out, yes, but that's not going to stop me from shaking him awake.
"Yeosang, Yeosang!" I call out, shaking his shoulders to try wake him up.
Expecting a roll, or a shift in position, I was instead met by the smack of Yeosang's arm on my face. "Sang!" I cry, rubbing my forehead and he groans.
"Go away, I want to sleep," he mumbles against the couch, nuzzling in a bit more.
"Sang, I have so much to tell!"
Yeosang grunts, waving his hand at me as signal for me to go away. Huffing, I stand up from my crouched position.
"I'm getting you a glass of water, it's almost twelve since you need to get up anyway," I say, sounding more like I'm talking to myself. "Oh! And! B-TEEZ tickets go on sale this afternoon! You're supposed to fight for it with me!"
My best friend whines but I pretend to block my ears and make my way to the kitchen.
However, I'm shocked to find another figure in there. He is slumped on the chair by the dinner table, arms crossed in front of him and had his head buried in them. I know that blonde hair anywhere, even at a distance, everyone would know that it was San.
What's he doing passed out on the kitchen table? Especially still in his clothes last night, he could've easily gotten something from Yeosang's collection of clothes stored in my apartment. Or taken his jacket off. Either way, he could've done something as the position he's in right now looks so incredibly uncomfortable.
As I wait for the kettle to heat up some water, I take a seat on the chair next to San's and poke his shoulder.
"San."
Sighing when he doesn't say anything, I ruffle his hair a little and rake back the strands that had fallen over his face when he moved his head.
"Sanie, wake up."
The blonde wakes up with a jolt, startled at my slightly higher tone. San straightens his jacket at the sight of me, rubbing his face to chase away his sleepiness. "Shin!" he exclaims.
On his cheeks are the imprints of his jackets, making me frown and I gently tap on it. "How long have you been sleeping here?" I ask.
"Eh..." he rubs his neck nervously before groaning painfully, slamming his forehead back against his folded arms. "Must've fallen asleep here, sorry."
I grimace. The kettle turns off with a pop and I hurry on over, mixing the hot water with some cold to make it slightly warm, one for each of the boys and a pill for them to take.
I slide the glass of water closer to him and place the pill into his curled palm. "Drink this," I tell him but he shakes his head and lifts his body up to sit properly.
"'Think I'm good, I didn't drink as much as Yeosang did but  I'll take the water though... if that's okay?"
"Are you sure?"
San nods, bringing up the cup to his lips.
I watch him intently and I could almost feel his relief at the taste of warm water. I mean, I would feel much greater too, if I had a warmer temperature water than cold. It feels like the heavily knotted ropes around your head loosened a bit and it brings a nice feeling to your throat and stomach. It's all written on San's face and it makes me smile.
San leans back on his seat, crossing his leg over his other thigh and waves his finger at me accusingly. "I heard you when you came in," he says, craning his head back, "I thought it was only a dream, probably that's why I slept again but you sounded excited."
I blink.
"Come on, I can tell you're over the moon, your face is basically screaming it," he nudges me playfully.
A dangerous smile makes its way on to my face and I have to mask it with a groan. I was hoping just this once for San to miss it (he notices everything I do) but I know he wouldn't. Heaven forbid he never notices, his knowing maniacal (almost) giggle says it all.
"Okay, let me guess, you and Seonghwa hyung kissed? Oh no no no, that'd be impossible, hyung is too chicken to do —" he stops.
San sees my expression, eyes widening.
"You're kidding," he breathes out, voice dripping in disbelief.
"Well..."
"Well?"
I sigh. "Last night, yeah."
Something churns in my stomach, it twists so tightly it scares me. San is bewildered, to say the least. Eyes wide, jaw hung open and he freezes. His chocolate eyes shake but it's gone as quick as it came, masking it with a strong nod and serious brows.
The way he reacted made me want to halt as my mind wanders back to barely half an hour ago, when Seonghwa had smiled ever so warmly at me and told me to take care and pressed his lips on my forehead and how I almost screamed when that happened and now the tingles are still there.
"San?"
The blonde recomposes. "Sorry, it was a bit unexpected, I didn't see it coming."
Call me an over-analyser, but the expression San is wearing is a little off right now. Shock? Maybe, just a little bit, but there's something that I know but just can't quite pinpoint. So I tuck a strand of my hair behind my ear, playing around with the empty cup San had drunk from.
"Yeah, me neither."