WHITE NOISE,

Ever since Riki gave the apartment's password to him, Heeseung had been spending every free moment with Juwon. He was there in the morning when she woke up, watching reruns of The Office on the TV. He was there when she came home from work, teaching Riki how to properly boil ramen (without burning it). And he was there when she went to bed, taking a nap on her couch with That 70's Show playing quietly in the background as white noise.

Juwon wanted to complain. She wanted to tell him that he had his own home and his own roommate to teach how to boil ramen without burning it. He had things he should be getting done instead of laying around her apartment doing absolutely nothing while she worked her shifts. She wanted to tell him to leave but everytime she saw him, the words wouldn't come out. She groaned, pouring herself the rest of the coffee Riki had made before going to bed.

"Why won't he go home?" she asked herself, frustrated. "I get that Jay isn't the best person to hang around but he's been here for three days already. Does he even shower?" She shook her head and paced back and forth in the kitchen, continuing to talk to herself quietly. "I bet Jay doesn't even care." She scoffed and shook her head again, taking a sip of her coffee. "He's probably having the time of his life without him."

Juwon continued that way for another hour, sitting down for a moment only to stand once again and walk around her apartment. She occasionally walked past Riki's room to check on him, always finding him asleep, before going back to the kitchen, wondering how long Heeseung would keep sleeping. It wasn't until she finished her third cup of coffee that she actually walked to where Heeseung slept and sat on the floor in front of the couch, watching the reruns of That 70's Show. Juwon leaned her head on the couch and sighed tiredly, bopping her head along to the theme song.

Another hour passed and Juwon didn't know what else to do. She knew she should already be sleeping — she had a class in the morning and a shift after — but her eyes refused to stay shut. She turned her body and reached for the remote beside Heeseung's head and scoffed at his peaceful self. "Of course, he remains unbothered," she said to herself, turning the TV off. "How typical of him." Juwon set the remote down beside her and sat facing Heeseung, hugging her knees close to her chest. She sighed again. "I wish I could be as unbothered as you," she said.

It was around one in the morning by now and Juwon's body refused to go to bed. Instead, it stayed on the floor, her eyes droopy but awake, watching over Heeseung. She knew that when he woke up, he'd be creeped out by her behavior but at this point, her body had given up on moving and she just couldn't look away from him. Seeing him at peace was equivalent to her being at peace.

"He's prettier when he's sleeping," she said, slightly rocking back and forth. "Maybe it's because he isn't talking." Juwon snickered, imagining his response. Then, it was silent again. Juwon buried her face in her knees, closing her eyes. "This is so weird," she mumbled. "You can't just watch him sleep, Cha Juwon — you have things to do in the morning."

Heeseung groaned, a sign that he was waking up. He opened his eyes, his line of vision blocked by Juwon, who was mumbling to herself. "What are you doing?" he asked confused, rubbing his eyes. "Go to sleep."

"I'm talking to myself," Juwon said, looking up from her knees. "Glad to see you're not dead, princess."

"Shut up," he said jokingly, sitting up on the couch. He inhaled deeply, stretching his arms. "How long have you been there?"

She shrugged, "I dunno. Two hours, I think."

"You're so obsessed with me," Heeseung smiled.

Juwon scoffed and got up from her spot, rolling her eyes. "Go home and bother Jay already," she said. Heeseung laughed as she took a seat on the couch beside him, slouching. She threw her arm over her eyes, sighing. "Are you still tired?" she asked him.

"A little," he said. "Why?"

"Can you take another nap with me?" Juwon asked, letting her arm fall and looking at him. "It's almost 2AM and I don't think I'll be able to go to sleep if I'm alone." He nodded and Juwon immediately rested her head on his shoulder, making herself comfortable. She crossed her arms and closed her eyes, mumbling a quiet "goodnight" to him. He only hummed in response and sat in the silence that followed.

It didn't take long for Juwon to fall asleep. Her breathing filled the living room and Heeseung could only listen as he sat there with her head on his shoulder. "You know," he started quietly, despite knowing she wasn't listening to him at all, "this is gonna sound random but I think you're beautiful, Juwon." He glanced at her, double checking that she really was sleeping and not secretly listening to him. When he noticed she was, in fact, sound asleep, Heeseung smiled and leaned his head on her head softly (just liked they'd done at the movie theater).

"You've always been beautiful."

• • •

juju tf away from me 👽

seung the rat 🐀
why would you do this
tell me why