I wake up to the typing sound. Oh geez, I fell asleep. My mind focuses on the sound almost instantly, Seven still continues with his work. I find him at the corner of the room. Slowly, I get up from sleeping form, and only then a smooth caramel-colored fabric with starry accents slides down my form.
My blanket!
Oh, right, I have just washed this one. I was planning to iron it along with other clothes last night but I guess I forgot it altogether.
My hands slide through the fabric and I can tell that it's been ironed from its smoothness. I immediately turn to the typing redhead at the corner of bedroom, a giddy feeling finds itself resurfacing in me.
He did this for me, even though his words were nowhere near pleasing to hear. I smile to myself.
I was right.
He cares. In a roundabout way, though.
I take the lying phone near me and look at the time. It's past midnight. My hand moves itself opening the RFA app. Jaehee was online last night, too bad I slept through that.
Then a new chatroom pops up, the indicator shows that Zen is online. I snicker silently as I remember how he freaked out yesterday evening and I cannot help the urge to tease him again. And with that, I log into the chatroom.
And yeah, Zen starts the chat with a topic about Seven. I almost laugh out loud when I glance at the redhead across the room. His earphone is now on his ears, and the typing sound is steady. I stare at his back incredulously then type my answer to Zen, "He kept glancing at my pajamas earlier, do you think something's up?" with smiling kaomoji.
I stifle a laughter when Zen immediately send me the surprised emoji, followed by him shouting at me to give the address. God, it's so easy to rile him up. I am about to tease him further when Jaehee entered the chatroom. I look at Seven's back when the chat somehow shifts back to my current issue of being almost kidnapped by the hacker, and that the hacker is supposedly as talented as Seven.
When Zen starts to ask me whether Seven is being good to me or not. I sigh, should I tell him that he's been into tsundere paradox realm? But he was nice enough to iron my blanket, and draped it on me, I tell myself. If he's up to something funny, he wouldn't let the chance of getting an advantage on me when I was sleeping.
I am pretty sure that my skirt must be accidentally revealing something more when I was sleeping, I slap my head.
But then again, my pranking-button is still switched on.
With that, I type another teasing answer, "I am a bit disappointed that all he's doing is work," and Zen quickly type, "Then just come here, I'll always be here for you," with his signature flirting emoji. I giggle, knowing that he is merely kidding with the invitation.
Or not.
The unicorn-prince starts to flood the chatroom with big-sized description of things I should be careful of while having Seven around. Like, when he's panting as if he's run a mile. Or, when his eyes are half-closed. I cannot help but laugh a bit loudly at Zen and his seemingly unnatural argument of 'all men are wolves' are on the move again. Though finally I manage to assure him that nothing is going on, I still find it funny.
And heartwarming, to be honest.
I can grasp the fact that Zen is just worried about me. Similar to Jaehee and Yoosung too. And I can vouch that Jumin, in his own special way, is also worried about me.
I smile at the home screen of RFA app. If it's not because of their sincerity, I would have left this apartment and ran away to my version of safety. But I feel the genuine care they have for me, so I cannot help but staying.
I glance back at the redhead across the room when the typing sound paused.
What's in your mind, Seven? I silently ask his form.
I stare at his back for several more minutes, then he starts typing again. Slowly, I climb down the bed and walk to the bathroom to wash my face. Near the bathroom door, I see the pile of unwashed clothes on the basket. Rubbing my eyes, I decide to wash them since I am not really fond of having dirty clothes around. With that, I change my skirt into a more comfortable short and pull off my brown sweater, revealing the black shirt I wear beneath.
I am about to start the washing machine when a thought comes to me. Seven will not freak out for not finding me on the bed, will he?
Maybe I should tell him that I'll be away from bedroom.
With that, I walk back to the bedroom.
Only to find his typing speed has gained more speed. I contemplate a bit, then reach out for my phone, open the app then quickly find his name and hit the call button. I intently look at him as he reaches for his phone while typing with one hand then stare at his phone screen, as if debating with himself to pick up, or not to pick up.
But he picks up after the third ringing tone, with an irritated sigh, "…Why do you like calling me so much? You can just talk to me directly…"
I tilt my head a bit, "You didn't seem like to want to talk to me directly,"
He groans without while turning around, I can see the annoyance dances in his yellow orbs, "That's because you keep talking about useless things. You like my hair, you want to take off my glasses, and all that. Why do you want to anyway?"
"Because your hair is pretty, and your glass is so intriguing. So, can I touch it?" I ask as I move closer to him.
"Oh wait, don't come closer to me. Uhm… it's uncomfortable, okay?" he abruptly makes a gesture with his hand and completely stop my track. He sighs, "Anyways, you're so strange. You're so playful all the time,"
Me? Playful all the time? Well, yeah, I won't tell you that I cried a little back then. Sighing to myself, I decide that he doesn't need to know that I want to do the laundry. "Right, sorry to bother you," I say in a fake cheerful tone and walk away from the bedroom.
I am about to put down the phone on the kitchen table when he talks again, "Wait… Why are you walking around in the kitchen?"
I turn around and see him on the bedroom's doorway. I look at him and point out the basket near the bathroom door, "The laundry keeps bothering me. I want to take care of it before going back to bed,"
"Laundry?" he turns to the pile I'm pointing at, then turns exasperated, "No! Don't touch that pile!" he raises his hand with a mortified expression.
I blink, "What?"
"I'd take care of it!" he half-shouts across the room, "Just leave that pile alone,"
I shake my head a bit, "It's alright, you have a lot of work to do anyway,"
His face shows complete disbelief, "Are you teasing me right now?"
"No! Why should I?" with that I pin the phone between my ear and my shoulder, then proceed to pick up the basket.
"GAHH!! JUST LEAVE IT! I have my shirts and my… my everything there! I can't let you do my laundry!" and the basket is snatched away from me in lightning speed. I turn at the exasperated redhead that is now standing right in front of me, cradling a basket in one hand, and keeping the phone on his ear with his other hand.
When he meets my eyes, it is a pure bewilderment that I see in his eyes. "Please, I'm begging you, just sleep. Drink things in the fridge. Don't eat things that are scattered around me," he says quickly.
And I stare dumbfoundedly at him. Did he just… contradict his words again?
"… and, stop staring at me all the time," he continues. Twinge of red dances on his cheeks. I swear I see that.
"It's not all the time! You knew I was sleeping!" I defend myself.
"AND!" he doesn't seem to take my words into account, "If you keep calling me here, someone might tap us so please stop. I don't have time to fight against that too. Things are dangerous enough already…"
Then you can drop the call and say it to me directly instead of keeping on with the call when you're practically within my reach… is what I want to say to him. I decide to swallow it down just in case he still doesn't want to talk to me directly.
With another sigh, he walks away from me, taking the basket with him and enters the bedroom, "I'm just gonna stay quiet over here so you go to bed. That's helping me,".
I trail behind him into the bedroom and climb over to the bed, the phone call is still on, "Tell me an old story," I say to him, my voice comes out like both whine and challenge, "Like the one your mom told you in the past,"
He groans and gives me an annoyed look. He sets the basket down and sits back on his previous spot. He visibly inhales and exhales, trying to calm himself down.
Okay, this is going too far. I open my mouth to apologize—
"A long long time ago, there was a princess," he starts with flat tone. My jaw slowly falls as he continues, "The princess liked to sleep and slept well every single day. She faced dangers but they all disappeared while she slept and then she lived happily ever after. The end! Happy now?" he snarls at me, still with similar annoyed expression.
I stare at him in disbelief, then I feel my lips twitch.
Several seconds later, I end up smiling and giggling at the same time. I look back at him, finding his eyes glued at me with unreadable expression, and then I nod enthusiastically several times, "Yes! I'm happy!"
He tears his eyes off me and rubs his forehead, "Seriously… don't be a baby right now," his tone softened a bit. I feel giddier and cannot help but giggle some more.
"Go to bed. I have to get back to work…" his tone gets softer while he shifts his position so now he is leaning on the wall, facing me with his laptop on his lap. He looks back at me, gentleness emanates from his orbs, "I'll be watching you sleep…"
His eyes catch mine and I gasp silently. Wh-what's with that expression? I cannot tear my eyes when affection exudes so strong from his facial expression. I almost choke my breath. Does he do it unintentionally? Or intentionally?
"…so don't worry and sweet dreams," he says slowly with a finalizing smile and something in my mind goes haywire. This is the first time he uses that voice tone on me and it literally stops my brain from working properly. And his smile… he is… actually smiling at me. He keeps my gaze as he slowly put down the phone and I tell myself that I need to do the same.
Wait. This man is an agent. He must be familiar with techniques of captivating people, right? He must be more than capable to read and handle and control and persuade people to do what he wants. I should never let him sway me with his words, or his expression, or his tones, or his eyes, or… or…
Or his voice that has to start resounding in my head.
And he is in the same room with me. So, the voice gains twice of its usual amplitude.
Stop.
Stop this. I shake my head a bit, effectively tear my gaze off of him. I put down my phone and answer half-heartedly, "Alright, I'll sleep,"
"Good," his voice is heard again, still with the same voice tone and this time it is full of relief.
God, this man can kill me with his voice only, I mentally slap myself. Not wanting to look at him anymore, I dive into my blanket and turn around, so my back is facing him. I throw the blanket over my head just in case my ears are giving off some steams.
Wait.
I abruptly get up from my sleeping form, then turn around, only to find him look still looking at me.
"Seven," I start slowly, "Thanks for… the blanket,"
I watch as his eyes are widened in surprise, "W-Well, it's… it's alright," he looks anywhere at the room but me, the tinge of bashfulness is too adorable for me to ignore. I smile at him again and curl up on my side, "Good night, Seven,"
After several second of silence, he answers me softly, "Good night,"
With his voice keeps resounding in my head, I fall into deep, dreamless sleep.