YOOJUNG LEE

"Oh— is this your daughter?"

I look up into the smiling face of Mrs. Park, who clasps her hands together and laughs. "She's such a pretty one! And you said her name was Yoojung?"

"Yes, this is my girl." My mother says proudly, and I shift my backpack further up on my shoulder. "Where's your son? We should introduce them."

"Gosh— he's such a shy one." Mrs. Park says, shaking her head. "I tried for almost thirty minutes today to try to get him to come out of his room. But no luck. He doesn't do well at all with strangers."

Then the conversation just goes off to their vacation, and I'm left there standing awkwardly and occasionally nodding in agreement.

Finally, they're about to leave.

"Oh— Yoojung." Mrs. Park suddenly says, catching my attention. "I almost forgot to tell you. It's gotten better, but my son has problems sleeping at night. You might need to help him fall asleep."

And before I can even ask another question, the door closes and both of them are gone.

__________________________

I finally stand up.

Whoever Mrs. Park's son was hadn't even come down once until dinner time. I'd prepared for the both of us, and now it was just getting cold on the tabletop.

His room is the only close door upstairs, so I tap softly at it until he answers.

"Hey. You need to come down and eat, you know."

A muffled voice comes from the other side, and I have to press my ear to the door to hear him. He's talking so quietly.

"I'm okay. Thank you for asking, though."

My brows scrunch. That light, shy toned voice— it was somehow familiar.

And then I realize.

"Jimin?!"

The door swings open the moment I raise my voice from the shock, revealing the dark-haired boy I'd called. He looks as surprised as me, eyes so wide they're almost circles.

"Noona...?" He breathes, and I laugh in disbelief.

"Jimin! You're Mrs. Park's son?" I exclaim, thinking back to his surname. Then I realize I don't know it. "Park Jimin. You're Park Jimin. And here I was thinking I was going to have to break the door to get you to eat something."

After that everything goes smoothly.

"I can't believe you're my babysitter!" He says, smiling widely. His cheeks are rounded with the food I'd made.

"I should've known the moment I looked at your house." I say, wanting to slap myself for being so ignorant. I'd been too busy looking down at my feet and worrying than to notice Mrs. Park's
house was the same one I'd taken Jimin to last night.

Stupid Yoojung.

_________________________

That night, I'm asleep on the bed in the guest room downstairs when a loud noise comes from the ceiling right above me.

My eyes shoot open.

I'm on my feet in a second when a choked scream follows, running up the stairs almost three at a time to get to Jimin. It was his voice, I was sure of it.

I fling open his door, completely awake now as I quickly search for his figure with my eyes.

He's pressed to the side of the bed, trembling violently. He's whispering something over and over again, and I quickly wrap my hands around his shoulders.

"Please— please..."

"Jimin!" I yell, voice louder now as I shake him. But he won't look at me, curling up even tighter.

I start to panic when I notice tears spilling from his squeezed eyes.

"L-Leave me alone, go away." He says, terror tearing his voice. "I won't listen to you. I won't—"

"Jimin!"

His eyes snap open, harsh gasps tearing from his lips. It takes him a few seconds to find me, and when he does, he crushes me to his chest.

"Noona, noona...." He whimpers, and I can feel his entire body shaking against mine. "Is it here? Is it gone? Please keep me safe, please—"

"Jimin, you're fine. You're safe." I say lowly, whispering sweetly into his ear. "What's wrong? Is it a nightmare?"

He nods shakily. I'm left at a loss for words as he pulls me tighter, breaths all short and uneven.

Is it here? Is it gone?

It?

"Come on." I say, trying to stand him up. But he shakes his head repeatedly, side to side. "Jimin?"

"I won't go back to s-sleep." He begs, blinking back tears. "I don't want to. Please don't make me, Noona. Don't leave me alone."

"I won't make you do anything." I say, running a hand up and down his back. "Let's go downstairs. I'll brew you some tea— do you have tea in the house?"

He nods.

Jimin won't let go of my hand as we go down, and even when I've turned on all the kitchen lights. He still looks shaken, and I shoot him worried glances.

His nightmare was worse than the nightmare I knew.

"Chamomile." I say, setting down a steaming mug full of it in front of him. "It's okay now, Jimin. It's okay."

The tea thankfully calms him down. By the time he's finished with the entire mug, it's only his breaths that remind me of how terrified he'd looked.

I lick my lips.

"Will you tell me what's wrong?"

He hesitates at first. But soon he's poured out his story to me, from beginning to the end.

"It's always, always there." He says quietly, burying his face in his hands. "Every time I fall asleep, it comes to me, and— and...."

"It tells me things I don't want to hear." Jimin mutters, voice starting to shake again. "And then it tries to hurt me. It—It's so bad, Noona. It's so bad."

It's only eleven at night, and I know we both won't be able to stay awake until daylight comes.

Then Jimin grips my hand.

"Will you stay with me, please?"

_________________________

My eyes open blearily to the morning sunlight.

Jimin's breathing softly onto the side of my neck, his arms wrapped tight around my waist and shoulder. A warm blush starts to color my cheeks when I realize just how close we are to each other.

I push down the feeling.

I know he's just doing this because of his nightmare. And besides, he was my responsibility. I couldn't be going around acting up like this.

At least he'd made it through the night.

I'm brushing my fingers soothingly through his messy locks when I feel him shift. Then he breathes in deeply, and I quickly take my hand away when I see his eyes flutter open.

"Noona..."

He breathes again.

"You smell so nice."

"That's all the tea." I say, laughing awkwardly. Now that he's awake, I try getting up when he suddenly whines and pulls me back down again.

I have to laugh, for real this time.

"Jimin, it's morning." I say, shrugging him off and dragging my fingers down my messed hair. "What do you want to do?"

When I ask, his eyes light up like he'd just been waiting for me to say that.

"Teach me how to make tea." He begs, and I let him pull me out of the room towards the kitchen. He sits me down on the island table, and I wait patiently with a smile flickering on my lips as he pulls out a bunch of stuff from the cabinets.

"Careful!" I yelp when he almost drops glass, jumping out of my seat. I sigh, sinking back when he looks at me sheepishly.

"Sorry, Noona."

He neatly sets out a jug of water and a bowl of chamomile herbs in front of me. And then he stares at me expectantly, making me laugh.

I hadn't laughed this much ever.

"You need passionflower." I say, and he blinks at me in confusion. "I saw it right here earlier."

I hold up a glass jar, quarter full with purple shaded flowers. "Pretty, isn't it? This helps you sleep, too."

Then I hear sudden bubbling, and I turn around to see him next to the stovetop. He nods at me, and I see he's boiling water.

I smile. "Huh. So you already know the basics, hm?"

He blushes. "I watched you back at the café, Noona. You always boiled the water first, so I thought—"

I smooth down the top of his dark hair as I look down at the pot, where some locks are sticking out of place. My fingers put them back in their spots, almost like habit.

He blushes even heavier.

"You're right." I grin, and he nods. And when I start measuring out the herbs, I can feel his stare on my face.

"So teaspoon of each." I start, explaining a few more benefits of chamomile and passionflower. I stumble on my words for a few times, because he's staring at me and I can feel it.

I've never been this conscious before of myself.

"Noona."

I look up, and freeze in surprise when I see his hand outstretched towards me. He pats my cheek, eyes squeezed to that adorable smile of his again.

"You're so cute when you're concentrating."

And my mind just blows.