< hey, can you call me back, please? I want to talk to you ]

I sigh and move my legs out of anxiousness, feeling horrible for willingly ignoring her. I still decide to lock my phone and leave it on the desk.

"I can see that you want to answer her, you can do it. I won't act like I did the other day," she thinks that she can read through my soul, not knowing how much more she means to me than her mother does to me. "I don't. I want to focus on you and no one else," I slide my hand up and down her back but feel some pleasure spread through me when the cheer brightens her pretty features.

"I forgot I wanted to show you something," she leaves my lap and causes some coldness on my thighs to walk towards her dressers. The sound of my phone ringing for new texts bothering me, I ignore them and gaze at y/n, who is looking cute in her romper and cat ears, she opens a drawer, and I draw my attention down to her legs while she is turning her back to me.

Because of my rarely tall height, she seems so small to me, and every time I look at her, my heart melts, and I cannot stop thinking about how much her body in my arms unknowingly offers me so much comfort.

"Here," she comes back, so I raise my eyes up to her hands and check what she is holding. "Do you think this looks good, or you like the chain I wear more?" she shows me two black chokers and stands right between my spread legs. I grab one of them to have a closer look but cannot help having certain thoughts about this type of accessory. "I love chokers a lot, they make a woman look very...attractive," I avoid using the word 'sexy' as if it was forbidden in front of her, and I look up at her. "Come here," I hold the choker up to her neck, and she does as told and lifts her hair in a ponytail to let me close it around her throat.

The smell of her soft and fresh fragrance fills my nose, and I move back to see how this looks. With no surprise, she is even more appealing. Having her dressed that way makes it terribly hard to not have my eyes on her.

"What do you think?" she snaps me out of my thoughts as I fell a bit too deep in them. "I love it a lot."

"Good I keep it then," she grabs the other one she brought but goes back to the drawer she has not closed, and she puts the choker back in it to tidy up and comes back to me.

"You're not going to sleep with that, are you?" I quietly laugh, but she sits down on the chair right in front of me instead of getting on my lap. "Why not? I could, but I don't want to damage the ears. I love them too much."

"I thought you didn't back at the mall," I remind her of her words, and she smiles but becomes a cutie again. "Oh, well. I change my mind after I heard you."

"Hm, I'm glad to hear that," I nervously and unconsciously bounce my leg, feeling the need of nicotine kick in. I keep staring at her sparkling eyes, the tension in the room sharpening. "Does the chair feel better than my lap?"

She shakes her head. "No...I was just overthinking again and thought I might have made you uncomfortable since I did not ask for your permission."

"Y/n," I breathe out in a laughing way, and moan with frustration. "I'm telling you, so that you stop overthinking whenever you're near me. You can touch me, you can sit on my lap, hug me, kiss me, do all the things you want without having to ask for permission because I'll always agree and be alright with it. I love when you do those things, okay?"

She expresses some great astonishment but relief as well, and she suddenly rises from her seat and comes back on one of my thighs, giving me what I wanted without knowing. "I love this spot more," she gets comfortable on me, and I hold her by the waist to keep her still.

"Why do you love the cat ears and choker?" she asks me, out of blue, seeming either innocent or hoping for me to hear it from me. "Because I love the look," I do not give her the straightforward answer, but she stares and undoubtedly hides her smile with some nibbles on her inner cheek. "Hm...but what do you love about this look?"

She is good at this. "How cute it is," I make it harder for her to try a little more and get me to fall for her cuteness. "That's all?" she scratches her thigh, and I peek down at her lips, but she does not leave me enough time to find a good reply. "You said a choker makes a woman very attractive. Not cute."

She is slowly getting her way, I do not even know what to say anymore to win. "You're right. I find this look very sexy."

This straightforward answer affects her entire body, and she glances down. "Why do you drop your look like that whenever I compliment you?" I put my finger under her chin to raise it up. "Look at me and stop breaking eye contact."

"How can I?" she giggles, nervously. "I can't do that, your eyes are...I cannot."

"My eyes are what? There's nothing special about them. Your eyes are gorgeous as well, yet I can make eye contact with no problem," I tease her and pretend to not know what is the reason for this agitation. "You don't know what it is to look into yours. If you did, you would understand how hard it is to maintain eye contact with you."

"But I want you to do it," I do not take this as a valid answer, and she smiles, but her cheekbones start to turn pink, and she glances away anew as if she could not control her actions. "See, you're doing it again," I take pleasure in filling her with shyness, and she giggles but gives a small tap to my torso. "Stop. You're torturing me."

"I'm teasing you, that isn't the same, sweetheart," I do not agree, and she fidgets on me nonstop. "Well then, stop teasing me," she asks me to do. "I mean, don't, but give me small breaks to let me breathe."

I scoff, and we both hear someone ring the front bell of the house. I remain silent for a moment, feeling like I know who is here. I lay my eyes on y/n, and we look at each other. "I was supposed to go and check up on Joonha, so you can leave. It's okay."

"I don't know who it is, so I'm a bit worried," I wait for her to move away from my lap to stand up, and I take my phone to look at my screen but realize I have received a few texts from Harin. That is her for sure then, but no matter how much I want to stay with y/n, I cannot pretend that no one is here.

"I'll be in Joonha's room if you need me," she stands on her tiptoes to press a kiss on my jawline since she is too small for my cheek, and I pet the back of her head, before seeing her go out.

I follow the same way to not remain in her room, and I look up at her as she is heading upstairs. Once she is out of sight, I move towards the door but read the texts first.

< I don't know if you are busy, but my friend and I fought, and I got kicked out for the night so I wanted to ask if you'd be okay with me coming back to sleepover at your house one last time? ]

< I hope you're okay, I'm not used to not getting an answer from you ]

< Also, I forgot to tell you but I left something in the fridge for you that I bought this morning. Love you ]

I do not answer since it would be obvious that I ignored her, and I open the door.

"Good evening, I'm so sorry to disturb you in the middle of the night, and I'm not sure you saw my texts, but my friend got mad at me for a dumb reason, and he— she kicked me out," she corrects the gender as of it was necessary, and out of obligation, I step back. "It's alright, you can come in," I do it, despite how uncomfortable I am since I told y/n she would not be here. "Are you okay? Are you sure you don't mind?"

"I'm sure, don't worry," I reassure her and close the door. "I'm sorry that I couldn't answer your texts, by the way, I was sleeping on the couch," I tell the best lie I have in mind, and she smiles at me. "It's fine. No need to apologize, this is my fault," she takes her high heels and jacket off but reveals a fancy black dress. "Oh, and look," she lifts a bag up. "I passed by the convenience store to buy you some grape juice because I noticed you have a lot of it in the fridge."

Gosh.

"Oh, that's not for me, it's for y/n. It's her favorite," I awkwardly tell her but see the discontent darken her face. "But thank you so much, that's very considerate of you," I still end up taking it to not make it even more uncomfortable for her. She does not say anything as if she had no excuse to explain the fact that she does not even know about her daughter whom she claims to love so much, and she clears her throat. "I thought we would drink this and talk in front of a movie."

"We can, I love it, so I don't mind drinking this with you," I do not show refusal since it is a good drink, and she smiles. "Great."

"You can get on the sofa, I'm coming with two glasses," I comb my hair back and walk up to my kitchen to get two glasses out. "There's a dessert for you in the fridge, I didn't tell you," she repeats what she said in one of the texts, so I look for it. "It's the black box with a red ribbon around it," she describes to help me find it, and I take it out. I grab two spoons, place them over the box, and I join her with everything.

"Here it is," I put down all that I brought, and she opens the box while I am filling the drinks. "I hope you'll like it," she gets the dessert out, so I check what it is but see a piece of red velvet cake. "Oh, that is one of my favorites," I smile, eager to eat it even if I already had enough with the meal I ate with y/n earlier, and the ice cream she shared with me. "I'm glad I picked this one then."

"Here's your drink," I hand her the glass, and she takes it. "And thank you for everything. That is sweet of you," I take a sip, and she shakes her head. "No, no need to thank me."

'YOUR P.O.V'

Lying down on my flat with Choco in front of my face, who is asking for some pets as his master is sleeping like a big baby next to him, I give him what he wants and pass my hand all over his fur, loving this cute fluffy ball. Probably liking this a lot, he barks and comes closer to cuddle up against me and tickle my skin with his hair, so I drop a kiss on his head and pamper him with attention and love.

— Next day —

Sunday, August 15th, 2021.

10 am.

A warm feeling never leaving one part of my body, I slowly open my eyes to wake up and leave my peaceful and amazing dream but quickly realize I am not in my bed.

I roll over but make sure Choco is not near, and I stretch to feel one of the greatest sensations in the world. Once my entire body is free from tension, I let go and let out a moan, and I take a look to see if Joonha is here.

He is not. Choco either.

I do not like being alone, so I stand up and take my phone to leave the room and walk down the stairs. Before getting into my bedroom to take a shower and brush my teeth, I peek at what is happening in the house but see Joonha, who is sitting at the table all alone, turn around as he must have heard me.

Without smiling at me or even saying anything, he turns back in the other direction but emotionally impacts me with this cold getting he never gave me.

I cannot do anything without passing by the bathroom now, so I hurry to go and have my morning routine.

30 minutes later...

After long minutes full of fear and anxiety, I leave my bedroom, not wearing the cat ears and choker anymore, I look for Joonha but do not see him at the table anymore.

What is happening today? Am I still dreaming? Having a nightmare?

Since I do not understand this dead silence, I use my phone to text Joonha and make sure I will not bother him if I get into his room.

[ hey, is something wrong? >

Not receiving an answer yet, I walk up to the kitchen and get the bottle of grape juice and drink the rest of it while heading up to the trashcan. Once there is nothing left, I push on the pedal to open it, and I crush the bottle as much as I can to throw it out, but for some odd reason, I take a look inside and catch sight of something familiar.

I freeze on my spot once I see what is in there, and my heart breaks under my ribs.

This is the ring and bracelet I gave to Mister Jeon. No time to even think or process this, I nearly hear my heart shatter onto pieces inside of me, and my eyes get flooded with tears. I throw the bottle in the trash and look around the house to understand why he did this.

There is a bottle of grape juice on the coffee table, two glasses, and two spoons. Why is he not awake yet? That is not usual at all.

This cannot be what I think it is.

My entire body shaking with pain and distress, I break down and cry heavily but receive an answer from Joonha.

< hey, nothing. Come to my bedroom if you're not busy ]

I hurry to head upstairs to finally have someone to talk to and tell me I am in a nightmare and not real life, and once I stand before his door, I wipe my tears away and enter his room.

He is not playing, not laying down on his bed. He is packing his stuff. "Can you close the door?" he speaks to me in a dull voice like he never did before. "What's happening, Joonha? Have you said something to your dad? Is he mad?"

"Can you pack your stuff and come with me? We're gonna sleep at Seunggil's house," he does not even answer my questions but ignores them. "Joonha. Tell me what is going on, I'm scared," I do not hold back anymore, I let go, and my tears abundantly roll down my cheeks.

He stops what he is doing, wearing the bracelet I left on his nightstand with a note last night before dozing off. His head never raising, his look remaining low, he bites his inner cheek. "Y/n...I..." he shakes his head, freaking me out by not telling me what is the problem. "I don't want to do this..."

"I'm about to faint, Joonha. I beg you, tell me what is happening, I'm so scared right now...Why did I see the ring and bracelet that I gave to your dad in the trashcan? Why did he do that?!" my voice quivers out of my mouth, and he glances up at me but does not seem aware of it. "What are you talking about?"

"He threw them out...!" I dissolve into tears and cry my eyes out, hating the sound of those words I wish were not true. "Why did he do that...? What did I do wrong...?"