𝓈𝒾𝓃𝓀𝒾𝓃𝑔 ─── ˢˡᵒʷ ᵘᵖᵈᵃᵗᵉˢ

⁰⁵. 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐚 𝐬𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐭 𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐚 𝐛𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐨𝐨𝐧

''  ʰᵒʷ ᵃ ˢʷᵉᵉᵗ ᵈᵃʸ ᵗᵘʳⁿᵉᵈ ᶦⁿᵗᵒ ᵃ ᵇᶦᵗᵗᵉʳ ᵃᶠᵗᵉʳⁿᵒᵒⁿ ''

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Nari woke up to the smell of something sweet wafting through the air. She stretched as she sat up, sleepily looking around the living room which she noticed was considerably tidier than it had been when she had fallen asleep. As she looked down at the space beside her, she found that Sunoh was missing.

It didn't take long to find him—he was standing at the stove in the kitchen, flipping a pancake. Nari shuffled towards him as she rubbed her eyes, still half-asleep. She always struggled to wake up in the mornings, especially after a good night's sleep which is exactly what she got last night thanks to the warm embrace of the Hwang boy. It was the first time that she had slept so soundly ever since she began to struggle with insomnia about a month ago, and she was thankful for Sunoh being there to help her get the quality rest that she had craved.

She came to a stop behind him and rested her head against his back lightly as she closed her eyes, far too sleepy to keep her head up. Sunoh jumped slightly at the sudden contact, but when he heard her familiar voice mumble a soft 'good morning' to him, he relaxed.

"Good morning," he responded as the pancake he had been flipping joined the stack of those that he had made before which was standing nearby. "I found a spare toothbrush and towel in your bathroom so I used them to wash up—I hope you don't mind."

Nari shook her head lightly, not moving from her position.

"Okay, good. I also ran down to the grocery store to buy some more stuff because your fridge was empty," Sunoh continued as he poured pancake mixture into the pan and began to fry a new pancake. "I thought you might want some actual food instead of surviving on the noodle stack that I found. If I shouldn't have—if it pressures you in any way—like, if you're uncomfortable with me doing things like that, then tell me. I won't do it again."

Again, Nari shook her head lightly.

"Are you sure?" Sunoh asked, needing confirmation.

Nari simply nodded against his back.

"Okay, good. I just—I don't know—Jojo never really approved of me doing stuff like this, so ... " he trailed off, frowning slightly as he remembered how many times Jojo had refused his help and gotten upset at him for doing things which he had hoped would make her happy. Sadness washed over him, but before he could succumb to it he was pulled away from his melancholy thoughts by Nari's voice.

"I'm not Jojo," Nari mumbled quietly, moving her head away from his back as she blinked sleepily and rubbed her eyes again in an attempt to clear her blurry vision. She thought that it was about time she stopped forcing her weight onto the Hwang boy and made an effort to wake up.

Sunoh dragged his gaze away from the pancake to look over his shoulder at the short girl standing behind him, catching sight of her rubbing her eyes. Thinking that he had upset her, he reached out to grab hold of her free hand and pulled her into his side, wrapping his arm around her shoulders and patting her head gently.

"I'm sorry—I didn't mean it that way," he apologised quickly. "I wasn't thinking—I didn't mean to compare you or anything like that—"

"I know," Nari mumbled, cutting his rant short when she noticed his panicked state through the haze of sleep clouding her mind. "I'm not upset—I know what you meant."