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Peace, calm, quiet.
Finally.
After the busy day at school followed by the long dance and vocal practice, Yoona wanted only one thing and it was to be alone in her bed to read and listen to some music calmly. And that was exactly what she was going to do now.
She laid down comfortably against her pillow, her plushies arranged around her as if they wanted to read the book she had just picked up as well. She put her earphones in her ears and started a calm lo-fi playlist.
Everything was good, and she could finally enjoy her long-awaited solitude.
''Sup !'' Exclaimed a cheerful voice, much louder than her music.
She starteled at the sound and turned to look at the intruder. Who was not an intruder at all actually, but her roommate, Bae Jinsol, whose head had popped up above the edge of her bed.
She had taken the top one purposefully in the hope of getting away from Jinsol's over-bearing, over-excited, over the top, loud presence. But precisely because she was all of the above, it was not a small bunkbed that would stop her from being cheerfully clingy with Yoona. And considering how tall she was, the height was really not an obstacle.
Yoona sighed and replied without taking out her earphones to make her understand that she was not open for a conversation :
''I'm good, Jinsol. Thank you. What about you ?''
''I'm doing great ! I nailed this practice I feel it ! I'm so confident right now !''
Yoona simply hummed as Jinsol continued :
''Plus, I had a good grade at that math test that I was soooo stressed about ! Do you remember ? I told you about it I think. So I'm proud of myself. Today is really a great day ! I even got to eat my favorite snack at the cafeteria ! And they didn't have it for a while but now it's back. It's that sort of bread you know ? With the chocolate in and out and there's some nuts. I forgot the name but it's so so good ! And I got to eat it before practice so I felt energized and I did good so the teacher complimented me. Did you hear when she said I was doing good ? I felt so proud !''
As always, Jinsol was spitting words at the speed of light, asking questions that didn't expect an answer and following her own thought process without any limitation.
It was a lot to take in and Yoona felt bombarded by words, which was a bit stressful for her, who was much more soft-spoken and prefered to take things slowly.
She was a bit annoyed with her roommate who didn't seem to get any of the signals she was sending that she just wanted to be alone and in silence. Because Jinsol kept speaking and speaking and speaking, loudly and too fast, like she needed to expose every thought that crossed her mind to Yoona.
Finally, the quiet girl caught the half-second of silence that Jinsol gave her while she took her breath to interrupt suddenly and say :
''Jinsol I'm trying to read right now.''
Jinsol's smile flickered for a second before coming back brightly, so fast that Yoona doubted she had even seen it.
''Oh sure, yeah. Yeah I get it sorry. I didn't want to...You're right. I'm sorry. You must be tired and I just jump on you all of a sudden like AH ! That must not be fun. Sorry ! You've told me before that you like your calm. Sorry. I forgot I'm just going to...Yeah...''
She climbed down from the bed and only the top of her head stayed visible for an instant before she crouched down to sit on her own matress.
Yoona heard her shift and move things, shaking the bed slightly before she stopped. She knew that the shaking would soon start again though, as Jinsol couldn't ever stay fully motionless, always having to shake her leg or stretch her arms or things like that. But she didn't mind that. She understood that her bunkmate was an energy pill.
Moreover, she was already starting to feel guilty for shutting her off when she was just trying to be friendly. It was not Jinsol's fault if she was so full of excitment and if her energy spilled out of her at all time. She was just like that. And she had been so nice since they got paired up together, while Yoona felt like she had been nothing but cold.
She was so awful for cutting Jinsol off right in the middle of sharing her happiness about the small details that brightnened her day ! She must have ruined her mood ! But it was not that Yoona didn't like to listen to her, because in truth Jinsol was adorable when she expressed freely her childlike enthusiasm, with a demeanor that wasn't without any ressemblance to a playful puppy. She was just tired today.
Yoona still felt bad.
She took out her earphones with a sigh and put her book away. Then, gathering her courage, she went to the edge of the bed and put her head down to look at Jinsol. The later didn't startle when she saw Yoona's upside down head appear suddenly but she did seem surprised.
''I'm sorry,'' said Yoona.
''Sorry about what ?'' asked Jinsol with sincere confusion.
''About shutting you off. I don't want you to think that I'm not interested in what you say. I'm just tired.''
Jinsol stared for a moment before her face split in a large smile again.
''Don't worry about that ! I know you were not being rude ! I know you need your calm and privacy, it just slipped my mind ! I don't mind it at all ! I can tell you all of that tomorrow.''
Yoona was surprised by the warm reaction and said :
''But...You looked so distraught when I told you that I was busy.''
''Oh I was surprised, yeah ! Because I was so lost in my thoughts ! But I did not feel hurt ! Don't worry. I tend to forget that not everybody is like me. But you were right to tell me you wanted calm.''
She smiled warmly at Yoona who felt like blood would have rushed to her cheeks if it was not already in her head because of her position.
''You're starting to take a concerning color Yoona. You should probably get up.''
She immediately did so and felt a bit dizzy, but quickly the feeling dissapeared and she was left comforted and still with warm cheeks.
She didn't know why she stressed over this. She knew Jinsol was the sweetest. She knew she would take it well. But she was also glad she got to apologize.
''You know,'' suddenly said Jinsol from the lower bunkbed. ''I actually think it's a good thing that you tell me to calm down. I need to focus more I think. I'm so bad at that. I'm always moving and thinking about a hundred thousand things at the same time. It's exhausting. With you it's a little better.''
''You don't think about a hundred thousand stuff anymore ?''
''I do. But one of those thoughts is you, which makes it much better.''
Jinsol's head popped next to her again, sporting a cheeky smile. Yoona rolled her eyes but failed to hide her amusement.
''I don't think anything can ever bring me total calm and peace. I envy you. For me it's always so busy everywhere. The sounds, the lights, inside my head, my whole body...I feel tired but I can never rest. But I like when you speak because your voice is very calming and it sorts of wrap my throbbing head in a big warm cover, and it tames down the noise.''
''Thank you.''
''It's all true,'' smiled Jinsol. ''And really, don't worry about telling me to respect your space. It's never a bad thing to say when you don't want something.''
Yoona nodded slowly before asking shyly :
''And if I want something ?''
''It's good too. What do you want ?''
''I want to ask you to come up with me. If you want.''
Jinsol raised her eyebrows, surprised.
''Really ?''
''Yeah. You can move all you want, but let's stay silent. It's a compromise.''
''Okay !'' Agreed Jinsol without hesitation, immediately going to the ladder to climb it. She then crawled towards Yoona and went to lay down next to her. The bed was narrow and their sides were fully pressed against each other. They were a human sandwich trapped between the two sides of the bed and Jinsol seemed very happy to snuggle against her.
''Thanks. This is nice.''
''I think it's nice too,'' said Yoona, blushing when she felt Jinsol gently stretching out her arm to put it on her leg.
''Sorry. I hope you don't mind it's just that I need to put it there otherwise I don't have space.''
''It's okay.''
Jinsol nuzzled against her more comfortably before looking up at her with a smile.
''I really like this.''
''Me too,'' smiled Yoona timidly.
To shake off the feeling, she grabbed her book and earphones again.
''Do you want to listen to some music ?'' she offered.
''Of course !''
They took one earphone each and soon, Jinsol started boping her head. Yoona was reading, but from the corner of her eye, she saw her starting to make her fingers execute a little choreo on her stomach, and her leg started bouncing soon after, making the bed shake slightly again. But Yoona didn't mind that much. Jinsol was happy, she got to apologize, and it felt nice to be close to her.
She continued her reading and Jinsol her excited games that she played alone, letting out a little exclamation from time to time as she acted out some story she had in her head.
Her facial expressions and deep focus were so adorable that Yoona found herself glancing at her often. She didn't say how cute she found her though. She wasn't brave enough.
But inside herself, she thought that even if she would never have calm or quiet when Jinsol was around, it didn't mean she couldn't have peace. And that was fine with her.