~ * ~

"Oh! My! Gosh!" a shocked, hushed voice broke through my bubble of sleep. "I-is...is this real?"

"Maria? What are you doing?" A whispered hiss, dragging me even further up into the realm of wakefulness. "You shouldn't be—Oh."

"Mom, when did they get so close?" Maria's voice cut through the rest of my sleepiness.

Eyes popping open, I blinked rapidly, trying to figure out what was going on right now.

The first thing my eyes saw was Seok's fuzzy, messy black hair that was half-sticking straight up. His eyes were closed and he was still sleeping, facing me. His arm was stretched out over the black body pillow, though he was still separated from me by it. Apparently during the night, one of us had kicked the covers half-off, so that they were bunched around Seok's hips and my knees. Even more shocking to me was to find out where my hand was.

Loosely intertwined with his, we were holding hands, which was why his arm was stretched out. His hand was warm, coarse, with lots of callous. He did a lot of hard work with his hands, enough to make them like this. Going off of how we were positioned, sometime in the night he'd stretched out his arm and I'd grabbed hold of his hand. My eyes slowly lifted from our joined hands, not quite wanting to let go of him yet for some reason, to rise along his arm, bare chest, shoulders, and then his face.

He looked so at peace, it almost made my heart bleed. I'd never seen his face like this...It was like he was a completely different Seok. There was...almost—

He almost looks like he's smiling! I observed in breathless wonder.

Yep, if this is Seok smiling...He'll steal my heart in no time.

I swear to God above, Seok's sleeping face was more adorable and made my heart feel fuzzier and warmer than an entire barrel of kittens.

Slowly, I unlocked my fingers from his. He let out a soft breath before his eyes slowly fluttered open. Dark green, like an ancient forest coming to life.

He blinked a few times and I could see all the levels of awareness come over him. He glanced down at our hands, which were still close together. He blinked again, lifting his gaze back to mine. "Did I touch you in my sleep?" he asked in a quiet voice. Once again, it was husky and deeper than his normal voice.

I licked my lips nervously, nodding my head. "Um, yeah," I whispered. Honestly, I was so absorbed with him right now I'd completely forgotten all about Maria and Mom.

"Oh...I apologize. I did not hurt you or anything, right?" he asked, studying my face.

Shaking my head quickly, I tried to smile, though my nerves were eating at my calm facade. "N-no, you didn't do anything like that," I reassured him.

He nodded his head, rising up slowly from the bed. "Oh. Good morning, Maria, Mackenzie. How are you both this morning?"

Face flushing, I wanted to pull the blankets up and hide. How could he not be embarrassed about any of this?!

"Fine." Mom replied, sounding as nervous as I was.

"Why are you sleeping with Selena?" Maria asked, quick to get to the point.

Sitting up myself, I glanced between Seok and my mom. I had no idea what to tell Maria. I wasn't sure if it would be a good idea to tell her the truth. She was clever, she'd realized that eventually I'd probably give in and marry Seok just for her. If she found out, she'd never let me live it down.

"Selena and Seok will be sharing a bedroom while he's here," Mom answered very quickly. "The three of us talked about this last night and it's the best solution, for now. But they have to keep the door open when they're in here together." She shot Seok a meaningful glance.

He simply nodded. "Yes. What time is it?" he asked, pushing back the blankets to get to his feet on the other side of the bed.

"6:15 in the morning," Maria answered. "I had to get up to go to the bathroom and I saw the door was open."

"Your breakfast is almost ready, Seok," Mom reported.

"Thank you, Mackenzie," he nodded his head to her as he passed by the two women and into the bathroom.

Maria gasped. "H-hey!"

"You snooze you lose," I teased her, rising to my feet as well.

"So...how's sleeping next to Mr. Hot Sauce?" Maria asked, wiggling her eyebrows suggestively.

I rolled my eyes, even as my cheeks reddened. "Shut up! Nothing happened, okay? Nothing's going to happen."

She bit her lip, tossing me a saucy, 'oh sure' look. "That's not what it looked like this morning," she stuck her tongue out teasingly.

The toilet flushing was followed by the sound of water running in one of the sinks. Half a minute later, Seok opened the door and stepped out. He paused, glancing to take all three of us in. "I need to change. Can you all leave the bedroom?"

"Finally, the bathroom!" Maria exclaimed, rushing past him. I noticed Seok was both quick and very careful to ensure she did not brush against him.

"Right," I murmured, not sure how I felt about getting told to leave my own room. Mom and I quickly moved out into the hallway as Seok went into the bedroom, closing the door. I glanced at my mother, shooting her an annoyed glare. "It's too early to be up," I grumbled.

"You can always go back to sleep once he's done," she reminded me.

Sighing, I thought about it. Honestly, I wasn't sure how I felt about anything at this moment. I'd just woke up, been shown something that defined the word 'cute', and was then swiftly kicked out of my own room. All within the space of five minutes. Reaching out, I knocked on the door of my bedroom. "Seok? How long are you supposed to be out on this job?"

No answer.

"Seok?" I tried again.

The door opened, revealing Seok in a loose-fitting, plain white T, as well as a pair of faded, old work jeans with a few fraying sections along the knees and bottom. "I will be working ten-hour shifts with an hour-long lunch five days out of the week," he reported. "My days will start at seven in the morning and finish at five in the afternoon. Cedric said he will pick me up on the days he needs me, as well as drop me off. I'll be working for the summer temporarily, but if I prove myself enough I will be hired on more permanently starting after the school year."

He brushed past me, though I noticed he didn't seem quite as worried about touching me as he had been when Maria had passed by him. When I turned, I saw everyone else was already gone. Sighing, I decided to just go ahead and go to sleep again. It was much too early for me to be awake unless I had to go to the bathroom. Deciding I might as well, I made a pit stop before climbing back into my bed. I shut the door since Seok wasn't in the room. Glancing around my room, I saw his black suitcase was against the foot of the reading nook I had. I hadn't noticed it last night since I'd caught sight of the new bed before that.

Laying back and pulling the covers up over my head, I closed my eyes and told myself to fall asleep already.