The morning light was near painful as Cho-yeon woke up, rolling over the white sheets in bedhead confusion. What had woken her... an incessant ringing continued to blare in her ears. She groaned, snatching for the phone on her nightstand and scrolling for the caller idea.
Baebae <3 blinked across the screen until she eventually picked up.
" Nam Cho-yeon! It has been fifteen minutes of me calling!"
Cho-yeon sighed sleepily, swinging her legs over the side of the bed. " Good morning to you too, Yuka."
"Good morning?! Cho-ah, it is eleven!"
She smiled at the nickname despite the exasperation in Yuka's voice. Bae Yuka had been her best friend since they were six, and only she had ever bothered to call Cho-yeon by the little nicknames they'd created for each other. Though she doubted she could call Yuka “Yuyu” like she used to and live now.
"I'm sorry. Why were you calling?" She stretched and walked out of her room, padding down the hall into the living room. Her head was pounding like a kickdrum, what had she done last night to make it feel this bad?
She could practically hear Yuka's smirk on the other end. " Don't tell me you forgot that I'm coming over in an hour?"
Cho-yeon laughed nervously, rubbing her temples as she suddenly remembered that illusive calender. " Of course, I did! I just worked late so I’m a little tired but I'm all ready-"
But as she walked into the living room she suddenly saw a male form lying on the couch, bandages littering the floor, and cleaning supplies scattered about the apartment. The events of the night before flooded back to her as her eyes shot open and her headache increased tenfold.
" Aisshi!"
1800 Woodbridge Apartments?
Fine, get in. But don't let him track anything in my flatbed.
Sir, I’m going to relocate your shoulder, ok?
No serious wounds but this does need stitches and I only have numbing gel, is this ok without anesthesia?
Just sleep here, ok? No way can you walk or get in another car.
Every part of the chaotic night before crashed into her mind as she stared at the blonde, bandaged, sleeping man on her couch.
Park Jimin. Park Jimin is asleep, hurt, on her couch. There’s an injured K-pop idol, ON HER COUCH!!
“ Cho-yeon? Are you ok? What happened?”
She inhaled sharply, remembering she was still on the phone with Yuka.
“ Heyyyy, so we can’t hang out today….” Cho-yeon trailed off nervously, holding the phone between her ear and shoulder as she frantically tried to clean up all the bandages and supplies.
” What, why?”
”Well, umm…” She wracked her brain for an answer, then suddenly seeing an empty painkiller bottle in the trash, got an idea.
” I’m sick!” She began to cough incessantly while putting things in the cabinets. “ I’ve just thrown up, you do not want to come over.”
” Oh my gosh, how did you get sick, you never go out!”
Before she could answer, a creaking noise caught her attention and she spun. Her eyes widened. Jimin was awake AND attempting to sit up.
*, He’ll pull all his stitches!
” I don’t know, must have caught something at work.” Cho-yeon answered while silently running into the living room.
” That’s still insane, you’re like the cleanest person I know.”
Hah, You should see my apartment right now.
“ I know right, so weird.” She began frantically gesturing at Jimin to lay back down, who only gave her a weird look and continued trying to sit back up.
“Aisshi!” She walked over and pushed his chest gently back down in exchange for an incredulous look.
” You ok?”
” Oh I’m fine, just coughed a little too hard.” Cho-yeon gritted her teeth and covered the speaker, whispering “ stay down or you’ll make it worse!”
“ How long till we can reschedule?”
Jimin began to point to the phone and speak, “ who’s tha-“
Cho-yeon quickly covered his mouth, shaking her head relentlessly.
“ Wait, is someone else there?”
” No, no, my voice just dropped a bit because my throat hurts. Also, I’m not sure about rescheduling, I work most of next week-“
” Cho-ah, we need to work on this! It’s my job to make sure you still have a life, you know. Outside of work. I’m here to make sure you don’t become some crippled workaholic.”
” I know, I know. I’m sorry, Yuka.” She slowly removed her hand from Jimin’s face, a warning look painted across her face. He leaned back, pretending to lock his bruised lips with a key.
She rolled her eyes and walked away a step or two. “ We’ll meet up soon, I promise. I have to go now though.”
” Ok, love you bestie, feel better soon. And then we ARE going somewhere.” Yuka chirped through the other side. A beep signaled that she’d hung up and Cho-yeon sighed in relief.
“ I assume I’m allowed to speak again?” His voice rang out. Rough and sore, but not much different from the night before.
“ Yes, you can. But no sitting up.” She explained with a sigh as she put down the phone to get back to cleaning.
” I figured that out when you shoved me.” He deadpanned, folding his arms across his chest and plumping his pillow.
Her cheeks inflamed. “ Ya! I did not “ shove” you. I gently pushed you back down so you wouldn’t hurt yourself.”
“ Ha, sure! Gently! If that was gentle than I’m the rapper.”
It took Cho-yeon a moment to realize what he meant, and she froze.
Crap, she kept forgetting he was an idol. She PUSHED an idol. And forbade him from speaking or moving. Was there like some kind of fee for that? He was in her house too, what if he felt like she kidnapped him or something…
” Ya, you good? I’m pretty sure you actually have to put that spray bottle IN the open cabinet.”
She rolled her eyes somewhat anxiously, putting the last stuff away and turning around. “ Is there someone I should call for you? Like to come get you?”
He started push himself up.
” Ya! What did I say about that!”
” I need to get to my phone, Pabo.” Jimin returned, exasperated.
“ Oh. Well, I guess that’s fine.”
After a few moments of awkward silence, he let out a loud, painful groan.
“ What happened?” She blurted, rushing into the room, expecting to see ripped stitches or blood on her couch. Hopefully not the latter.
“ Stupid protective hyungs.” He cursed quietly, staring at the phone screen.
” Ummm, are you good? Am I interrupting something?”
He sighed before resuming his furious typing. “ Some of the other members came up with this ELABORATE lie about where I was as a cover for me.”
”And? That’s bad why?”
” And according to this lie, I’m not coming back to the Dorms for another week.”
Cho-yeon stopped. “ What.”
Jimin nodded. “ Exactly.”
” Not to be offensive, but I work for the rest of the week. You have nowhere else to go?”
” Nope! Guess I’m stuck here.” His voice bordered on sarcastic and frustrated as he flopped dramatically against the couch.
“ Stop moving! I’m not exactly thrilled either but you don’t need to make your injuries worse!”
She began to pace, brainstorming ways out of this. “ I could ask Yuka to board you, but then I can’t keep an eye on your injuries, I could try to call out but Mun-sa would kill me if I tried to take a whole week off-“
” Why don’t you leave me here?”
”Huh?”
Jimin rolled slightly, pushing his hair out of his eyes.
” Well, you can’t miss work. Just leave me here. You can leave food within reach, and the remote preferably and I’ll be fine.”
“ You want me to leave a complete stranger, home alone in my house, multiple days in a row.”
” I’m not a complete stranger. I’m Korea’s sweetheart,” He winked.
Cho-yeon snorted, sitting across from him on an ottoman. “ Yes, I now trust you with entire access to my house because you’re cute.”
” Not your whole house, just your couch. I’m not able to move remember? Also… you think I’m cute?” His voice perked up, eyebrows raising.
” Ugh no! Blanket statement!” She tried to backtrack, face heating up.
He only smirked. “ Sure. So, do we have an agreement?”
Cho-yeon sighed. “ I don’t really have a choice. You’ll be staying here. Understand that I’ll be getting home around twelve each night and the rule is that nothing else is yours to touch.”
She felt weird ordering around someone so famous, but then again, none of this situation was normal.
He smiled slightly. “ Perfect. Oh, and I never caught your name?”
She suddenly became skeptical. What would he do with her name? Report her? Get her in trouble for holding him here instead of a hospital? Would she be publicized?
“ I’m not sure that’s a good idea.”
Jimin frowned in a pout. “ No fair, I gave you mine.”
” I would have figured it out anyway, you’re famous!”
” Still told you. How am I supposed to live with someone for a week I don’t even know! Your turn.”
He did have a point. A pit feeling churned in her stomach, but she swallowed it down. “ Fine.”
” Cho-yeon. Nam Cho-yeon.”
He grinned. “ Well, Nam Cho-yeon ssi. Guess we both got a new roommate!”
She groaned slightly but nodded. “Roommates it is.”