Chapter Text
Minho looked different when he was asleep.
Kitty hadn’t meant to notice it. She didn’t mean to stay this long either, but here she was — sitting on the floor of his dorm at some ridiculous hour, her hangul homework long forgotten and abandoned, the soft glow of the lmao casting warm shadows across the room.
His usually perfect hair was slightly mussed, his face relaxed in a way that made her stomach tighten. Vulnerable. Human.
It was strange seeing him like this. What’s stranger is how she couldn’t bring herself to look away from this sight.
She didn’t know when it started. This quiet fascination she had with the person Minho becomes when he wasn’t trying so hard to be… Minho. The one who teases her mercilessly, the one who strutted through her life like he owned it. The one that she should find impossible to love.
But then there was this Minho. The one who lets her steal his snacks without any complaints. The one who remembers just how she likes her coffee. The one who lets her fall asleep in his bed more times than she can count, and never making a big deal out of it.
She hates him for this.
For making it so damn hard to hate him.
“Who do you have to be like this?” she whispered, voice barely audible over the rain outside.
Minho mumbled something inaudible in his sleep, shifting slightly. Kitty froze, her breath catching in her throat. But he didn’t wake up, and for some reason, that made her heart ache even more.
She shouldn’t be here. Shouldn’t be watching him like this. Shouldn’t be feeling whatever this deep curling feeling in her stomach was, settling deeper in her ribs.
Kitty had been in love before.
She knew what it was like — the dizzying rush, the butterflies, the way everything started revolving around that one person before she even realised it.
She had loved Dae, convinced he was her forever. Then there was Yuri, a love that burned fast and bright before fizzling into what-ifs. She thought she had learnt her lesson.
And yet here she was again.
Falling again.
Only this time, it wasn’t a whirlwind. It wasn’t crazy and dramatic or all cosuming of her entire being. It was quiet. Slow. Steady.
Like a secret she hadn’t even admitted to herself yet.
Like the way she sometimes caught him staring at her, catching his usual smirk softening into something else. Like the way she would find him waiting for her after class. Like the way he let her exist in his space, no questions asked.
Kitty has never been afraid of love before. But this — this terrified her.
Because to her Minho was not just another love story. If she lost him it wouldn’t just be another heartbreak. It would be losing one of her best friends.
She wrapped her arms around her knees, watching the steady rise and fall of his chest.
“I wish you could see yourself like this,” she muttered. “When you’re not trying so hard to be perfect.”
Her fingers toyed with the hem of her sweater. The word out of her mouth before she could stop them.
“I wish you could see me.”
The confession hung in the air, heavy and unspoken. And safe. Cause he would never hear it.
Kitty had no idea how long she sat there, just watching him. It felt like she was stealing — taking something that wasn’t hers to take. Yet, she still couldn’t bring herself to look away.
Her heart ached.
Oh no.
She was falling in love again.
And she didn’t know if she was ready for it.
Minho shifted in his sleep again, muttering something she couldn’t quite understand. Kitty let out a shaky breath, pressing her forehead to her knees.
“Goodnight Minho,” she whispered.
As always he didn’t hear her.
And for now, maybe that was enough.