Chapter 19
"Pain killers"
When Na Ri opened her eyes, all she could think about was the hard hitting headache she felt and she quickly reached for her head while slowly forcing herself to sit up. Her eyes got blinded by the sunlight and she wondered if she had forgotten to close her curtains when she came in last night.
That's when she realized it. She couldn't remember anything from last night. The last thing she remembered was singing a duet with Min Ji before she poured her another glass. How did she get home? What happened?
"Jungkook no need to follow me home anymore," Na Ri heard her own voice loud and clear inside her head, "I'm a big girl!"
"Yes I know," Jungkook said with a sigh, one sounding like it wasn't his first sigh that night, "but at least give me your phone number so I can call you and make sure you got home safe."
"Nah uh!" Na Ri heard herself giggling and a faint memory turned up inside her head. Jungkook's tired eyes, her body that felt so full of energy. Her constant giggles and ability to dodge Jungkook every time he tried reaching out for her phone.
"The train is here!" Na Ri shouted and raised her hands in joy.
"Yes, so hurry and give me your phone," Jungkook replied and walked towards Na Ri, but she felt her rebellious spirit take over once again as she ran towards the train when the doors opened, still giggling while watching Jungkook stay back with a look of defeat on his face.
Na Ri felt her head hurting even more after thinking so hard and she again reached for her head. Once the pain had reduced a bit, she opened her eyes again and this time she noticed a glass of water on her night stand next to two pills. Was drunk Na Ri really considerate enough to put out pain killers in advance?
Na Ri didn't think about it for long and simply swallowed both pills in one go. She leaned back in the bed and closed her eyes, waiting for the effect to kick in.
While sitting with her eyes closed, Na Ri wondered where Cat was, did she annoy her last night when she was drunk so she didn't want to sleep by her side?
A loud noise which brought back the headache from before, interrupted Na Ri in her thoughts and she opened her eyes in shock, only to get an even bigger shock when she looked up and saw Namjoon standing right in front of her.
"Good morning," Namjoon said with a somewhat nervous smile, but Na Ri didn't even have the strength to force out a smile.
"How are you-"
"What are you doing here?" Na Ri blurted out and Namjoon widened his eyes, but then let out a slight chuckle which made Na Ri look at him in confusion.
"I'm getting flashbacks from last night," Namjoon said, "Na Ri-ssi take a look around." Na Ri didn't understand what kind of nonsense Namjoon was spouting, but she did as he said and looked around the apartment. His apartment.
Na Ri nearly fell out of bed as she tried to get up too fast and Namjoon ran to her side, only to be met by two horrified eyes and he quickly let her go.
What happened? How did she end up in Namjoon's apartment? In Namjoon's bed? Her mind was filled with a million questions but no words came out when she opened her mouth.
"Na Ri-ssi." Na Ri looked up by the mention of her name. "Why don't you sit down again, I'll walk you through what happened last night." Na Ri just stared at Namjoon, feeling like her entire body was glued to the floor and all her joints were frozen.
"Na Ri-ssi... Please," Namjoon gently put his hand on Na Ri's shoulder, and surprisingly, her body followed along as he slowly pushed her down until she sat on the bed again.
"Okay let's start with the beginning," Namjoon said after dragging a chair from his dinning table and placed it in front of Na Ri.
"I woke up last night by the sound of someone trying really hard to unlock my door. At first I thought it was a thief, but when I neared the door I could start making out the words of struggle from the person on the other side. And when I opened the door, I found you standing outside, looking at me with eyes just as surprised as mine."
Na Ri started to remember the surprised look in Namjoon's eyes when he opened the door. She also remembered the very eager, very easy going reply she gave.
"Namjoon-a!" Na Ri exclaimed and let out a giggle as she looked at Namjoon standing in front of her wearing a blue striped pajamas.
"Namjoon-a?" Namjoon replied in confusion.
"Nooooooo!" Na Ri said and gently hit Namjoon on his arm, "I'm not Namjoon-a, I'm Na Ri-ya!"
"Am I dreaming?" Namjoon whispered to himself when suddenly he felt Na Ri pinching his arm hard.
"Ouch!" Namjoon exclaimed.
"Nope, you aren't dreaming, Namjoon-a!" Na Ri said and started laughing again, "but why are you in my apartment?"
"This is my apartment," Namjoon replied, still trying to make sense out of the situation, "did you drink?"
"Only a little bit...." Na Ri said and showed with her fingers how little she meant, but Namjoon didn't believe it one bit.
"Well, this isn't your apartment, this is my apartment," Namjoon said, trying to look past this very strange behavior from Na Ri, "look, your apartment is right down the- woah what are you doing?" Na Ri didn't reply as she just continued to walk inside Namjoon's apartment while looking around in awe.
"This isn't my apartment," Na Ri said while looking around in the small apartment, "but it still feels comforting."
"Well I'm glad to hear that," Namjoon said and realized he was loosing sight of what's important, "but... you have to leave now, it's very late and you should be at home sleeping."
"OH FRIENDS!" Na Ri yelled while pointing at the TV where an episode of FRIENDS was paused. In the flash of a moment, Na Ri walked up to Namjoon and looked him straight in the eyes while giving him the biggest puppy eyes he had ever seen in his entire life.
"Can we please watch an episode together?"
The more memories Na Ri got back, the more she felt the sweat drench her body and she nervously started rubbing her hands together while avoiding all sorts of eye contact with Namjoon.
"So, we ended up watching a few episodes. I must say, you can laugh really loud," Namjoon said and let out a slight chuckle again, one that made Na Ri's cheeks lit up, "I know I should've made you leave, but you kept begging me to watch FRIENDS and said you couldn't watch it at home because you didn't have a TV. So I couldn't bear say no." Namjoon stopped talking and looked at Na Ri who was still diverting her eyes from his and he let out a sigh, wondering if he was doing the right thing in revealing everything.
"Oh and I should probably give this back to you," Namjoon said and Na Ri got a little startled when a hand suddenly showed up in front of her face. A hand which held her phone in it. She quickly grabbed it, but without getting into any form of physical contact with Namjoon.
"I'm sorry I took your phone," Namjoon said in a soft voice, "but you kept calling someone who wouldn't pick up and you were slowly becoming more and more sad because of it. So I thought it was better to take you phone away."
With a tight pressure in her chest, Na Ri hurried and unlocked her phone whereafter she went into her call history, something which only added to the tight feeling in her chest.
Not one. Not two. But seven outgoing, unanswered calls to her dad. Seven.
"Ugh why won't he pick up!" Na Ri could hear her angry voice inside her head and remembered how she just dialed the number again, "pick up, pick up, pick up, pick up!" Still no answer. The tears were pressing on the inside of her eyes.
"Don't you dare think I'll give up that easily," Na Ri said to herself, completely ignoring Namjoon who was standing right in front of her while the TV still ran in the background. But once again, the phone rang and rang until it went to voice mail.
"Why?" Na Ri said with tears in her eyes, "why won't you talk to me? Why? What should I do? Tell me what I should do!"
"Hey hey easy there," Namjoon said and grabbed Na Ri's phone just as she was about to throw it on the ground, "don't be sad, I'm sure the person you're trying to call is just sleeping. It's very late, most people are in their beds by now."
"No," Na Ri said in between her sobs, "he won't talk to me. He never take my calls. Never." A uncomfortable silence appeared between them, the only sound visible was the TV and Na Ri's consistent sobs.
"I'm... I'm sorry to hear that," Namjoon said, feeling unable to think of anything better.
"Why am I not good enough?" Na Ri cried and Namjoon felt his heart break into pieces when he looked into Na Ri's puffy eyes which were hidden behind those big round glasses.
"You are good enough, don't be sad," Namjoon said and gently padded Na Ri on the back, ready for her usual counterattack of quickly distancing herself from him, but instead, she leaned in and rested her head on Namjoon's shoulder.
"Namjoon-a," Na Ri said.
"Yes?" Namjoon said while his heart kept beating faster and faster inside his chest.
"You're such a nice guy."
Feeling her insides burn, Na Ri got up from Namjoon's bed and rushed to the balcony, taking in long and deep breaths so fast it sounded like she was on the brink of death.
"Hey, what's happening?" Namjoon asked as he rushed to her side, only to be met by her usual cold shoulder as she moved away from him.
"Don't touch me!" Na Ri said with fear plastered all over her face.
"Okay but talk to me, I don't want you to pass out again," Namjoon replied while staying in the same spot."
"I'm not... passing out..." Na Ri said in between her breaths, "I'm... embarrassed..." Namjoon looked at Na Ri and suddenly noticed the red color on her cheeks and the distant look in her eyes. And then Namjoon couldn't hold it in anymore. He let out a loud and uncontrolled laughter which made Na Ri look at him again, this time with even more fear in her eyes.
"Why... why are you laughing?" Na Ri stuttered and Namjoon wiped a tear from his eye before replying:
"Because... you're cute." Na Ri looked more insulted than embarrassed when those words left Namjoon's mouth, but it wasn't enough to hide her blushing cheeks.
"I just mean... I don't see this side of you very often," Namjoon then said after he had calmed down, "It's interesting." Na Ri didn't say anything in reply and Namjoon didn't have anymore left to say so both of them just stood outside on the balcony this cold Sunday morning.
"How about we go inside," Namjoon then said, "it's not summer anymore, we'll get sick."
"I'm sorry!" Na Ri suddenly blurted out and Namjoon looked at her in surprise, "...for... all the inconvenience I've caused you." Namjoon just looked at her with a smile as he said.
"It's okay, don't worry about it."
After a few more apologizes from Na Ri's side and a few more chuckles from Namjoon's side, they decided to part ways.
"I guess I'll see you at Uni tomorrow," Namjoon said just before Na Ri opened the front door. She just gave a quick nod and then disappeared outside the door. Standing outside Namjoon's apartment, Na Ri reached for her heart and let out a huge sigh, one she had been holding in this entire morning.
We all have moments we regret the most, moments we wish we could go back and change or moments we at least just want to forget ourselves. This, was indeed one of those moments, but Na Ri knew she would never be able to forget, let alone forgive herself for getting into such a situation. But her regret grew even more just two seconds later, when a familiar female voice made her turn around in shock.
"Na Ri-ya," Min Ji's voice was loud and clear, coated in confusion and disbelief, "why are you coming out from Professor Kim's apartment?"
Hello everyone!
I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Remember to stay warm and eat healthy and take care of yourself. Stay safe.
Also, don't forget to leave a comment down below.
Love, Annalise~