Heartstrings (1/1)

It was a morning much like any other living in my life; I was stirred from my sleep by a quiet knock on my door and the weight of another body dipping the opposite side of the bed as they sat. A soft smooth voice whispering in my ear and strong arms helping me sit up, fully pulling me out of my slumber.       “Noona, come on. We have an early morning dance practice today.” Jackson softly as he lifts the covers off of my lap and helps me get out of bed. I was never much of a morning person especially when wake up time at the dorm was 7am sharp everyday.       “I know,” I respond to him sleep still lacing my voice. “I need to shower first though, are all the other kids awake?” My eyes falling shut again as I struggle to stay awake. A Late night meeting taking it’s toll.       “Not yet, just Yugueom and I. Do you want me to get them up?” He asks keeping his voice soft knowing that how much I can’t handle anything to loud early in the morning.       “Yes please, I’ll make some breakfast for us after I get out of the shower.” He nods his approval gracing me with a small-satisfied smile at the prospect of food as I stumble over to my closet and pull out the first articles of clothing my hands lay on. As I make it to the door of my bathroom he is already shutting the door to the bedroom.          As the Noona and instructor of the dorm I always tried to make a decent breakfast in the morning but this morning when I got out of the shower and made my way to the kitchen I noticed that there was already food on the table.            “Morning Noona,” Bambam waved to me cheerily from his corner spot at the kitchen table, the others too tired and hungry to lift their eyes off of their plates.         “Jackson-hyung made breakfast, yours is on the counter.” YoungJae points out to me happily. With that Jackson looked up from his plate and glanced at me with a small smile appearing on his lips.            “Jeeze Jack, you’d make such a good dorm mom,” I tease and his small smile turns into a pout. “I’m just playing.” I say as I sit down in front of him with my plate of eggs and toast.                       Practice goes relatively smoothly. Well, as smooth as it can get with seven silly young guys and a foolish teacher who easily gets off topic. The five hours slips by and soon I say goodbye to them as they head back to the dorms for a quick shower and lunch before heading off to their vocal practice. I thought I was in the room alone until a voice spoke up.            “Have you noticed anything different about Jackson lately,” Jaebum asks from behind me. I can see him in the mirror from where I sit on the floor resting from practice. He’s leaning on the doorframe a concerned look showing on his chic features.            “No he seems about the same, why? Is something going on?” I ask with my voice laced with as much concern as what shows on his face. Jaebum is usually the one who lets me know if the other boys are having trouble since they often confide in him as the leader and he often confides in me when he has trouble handling a situation.“To be really forward he has a crush on you Noona,” His frankness catches me by surprise.            “Why would you think that, Jack and I are really close but I doubt he feels that way toward me,” part of my mind denies that it could even be possible but on the other hand it makes a bit of sense. I know that Jaebum wouldn’t tell me something that he wasn’t really sure of, that’s just how it has always been.            “He told me last night before you got home,” He sighs at the end of this statement. “I think you need to be careful about this, maybe let him know where he stands with you so he doesn’t find hope where there isn’t any.” I furrow my brows in thought. The idea of pushing Jack away sets an ugly feeling in the pit of my stomach and I just can’t grasp that we might have to stop being best friends for the benefit of the group. “Unless this is something you want.” JB adds with a shrug before he walks out of the room letting the door fall shut with a click behind him before I can even formulate a sentence.             A feeling of confusion makes it’s self-welcome in the pit of my stomach and stays through out the rest of the day and into the evening. I do my best to not think about it but I catch Jaebum looking at me with that same concern in his eyes at the table as we eat dinner and Jack leans on me as he laughs as one of JR’s jokes. It happens again when we sit down in front of the TV to watch a movie that Mark insisted was good and Jackson slips his hand into mine absently as the action scenes flash across the screen.             I spend the rest of the week setting my alarm early to wake up before the rest of the boys so I can avoid Jackson’s wake up calls and that same look that Jb gives me every time he sees Jackson and I together. This also leads to me avoiding spending time with Jackson at all throughout the whole week. Friday night a there’s a small knock on my door before Jackson slips into my room with an anxious look on his usually relaxed features. He makes his way over to the bed and gingerly sits down on the edge as far as he can get from me. He fiddles with his hands as he thinks of how to start a conversation.His eyes glance up and then back down to his lap before he asks, “Noona, why are you avoiding me?” His voice is laced with sadness and I immediately feel bad.A minute passes before I can say anything, “I’m sorry Jack,” I sighed before continuing. “But JB told me that you liked me more than as a friend and I wasn’t sure how to act.” A blush washed over his face as he processed my words.            “I guess he really does tell you everything,” He said holding my gaze with more strength than a few moments before. His eyes are still soft but he keeps his eyes on mine until he speaks again and they glance to my lips. “And what do you think of that?”            I’m unsure of how to answer the question; “I’m trying to figure that out, that’s why I haven’t been spending time with you.” His eyes flicker from lips to my eyes then back again.            Instead of saying anything he places one of his hands on the nape of my neck and before I can react his lips are on mine plush and soft. I don’t have room in my mind for anything but his lips moving against mine as he starts to kiss me with more passion. I wrap my arms around his neck as we kiss even deeper tongues wrapping together, my hands tangling in his hair and his arms snug around my waist holding me so close my his body I could almost count the quick beats of his heart. He didn’t let go as he laid us both down on the bed on our sides and detached his mouth from mine before hooking his chin over my shoulder and pressing his face into my hair. “I’m so in love with you.” He whispers against my ear in such a loving tone that it hits me right in the heart. “Please don’t push me away,” He adds sadness edging on the loving tone of his smooth voice.            “I won’t.” I could barely choke out the words the emotion from his voice and actions making me feel like I had almost made the most horrible choice. We laid like that until we fell asleep, staying wrapped up in each other’s arms tied tightly together by our heartstrings.             The morning came at the blink of an eye and a quick knock at the door followed by Mark bursting in and saying, “Noona, We can’t find Jackson!” followed by a quiet “Oh,” once he realized what he was seeing and quickly closing the door again. I was alert but kept my eyes shut and Mark could clearly be heard on the other side of the door. “You can stop worrying I found him.”