31

                                    

                                          
Jeonghan stood in the doorway, frozen. He looked more like a deer than an idol, eyes wide as he took in the scene: Neve, dripping wet with her clothes clinging to her like a soggy sandwich wrap, and Joshua, who stood equally drenched, though considerably more composed despite the fact that his hair was now plastered to his forehead.
For a long moment, there was nothing but the sound of water trickling down the drain, and the soft thud of droplets hitting the tiles. Neve blinked, realizing only too late that she was — once again, how did that happen? — holding the now-off showerhead like it was some kind of weapon.
Then, without warning, Seungkwan poked his head around Jeonghan's shoulder. "Can you guys please flirt quieter? Some of us are trying to sleep!"
Neve's brain short-circuited. Flirt? FLIRT?! Her mouth opened and closed, fish-like, as her brain struggled to come up with some form of coherent denial. But before she could say anything, Joshua — oh-so-smooth Joshua — wordlessly grabbed a towel from the rack, and with a quick brush of his hand through his wet hair, he slipped right past Jeonghan and Seungkwan without a second glance.
Her face went nuclear.
"W-wait! It's not what it—" she started, but she was still standing there, drenched to the bone, and tripped over her own feet as she tried to step out of the shower. She nearly face-planted into the tiles but managed to catch herself by grabbing onto the towel rack, which promptly clattered to the floor with a loud clang.
Jeonghan raised a perfectly arched eyebrow, his lips twitching with the kind of amusement that told her she wasn't going to live this down anytime soon. "You good?" he asked, voice dripping with fake concern.
Still tangled in a mess of wet clothes and her own mortification, the girl nodded furiously, her wet hair sticking to her face. "Y-yeah. Totally fine. Just—" She gestured vaguely to the water pooling around her feet like she was trying to explain some complicated physics theory. "Just... wet."
Jeonghan snorted, folding his arms and then, grinned. "Clearly." Grinned?
"No, not that... wet?" Why was she even trying to explain?
Seungkwan, who was already halfway out of the room, groaned dramatically. "Honestly, you guys are a mess. And I don't just mean literally. Next time, if you're going to have a shower together," he stressed, waving his hand around in exaggerated air quotes, "maybe warn the rest of us so we don't walk into your... whatever that was."
"It wasn't—!" Neve started, but her words died as she tried to find the right thing to say. What was this? This wasn't what it looked like... right? Except for the fact that she was literally soaking wet in a bathroom with Joshua.
She groaned, covering her face with both hands. "Oh my god."
Jeonghan chuckled, reaching over to ruffle her wet hair in the most patronizing way possible. "Don't worry, no judgment. We'll just—" He paused, giving her a look that was equal parts teasing and pity. "We'll just make sure you two have some privacy next time."
The girl's entire body went rigid. "Jeonghan, I swear, if you don't—"
But he was already gone, following after Seungkwan, both of them leaving her standing there, dripping and defeated.
Still dazed, Neve shook her head, trying to ignore the fact that the cold water had done nothing to sober her up. She peeled off her glasses, fogged up from the heat of the moment (literally and metaphorically), and wiped them against her now-sopping shirt. They were still useless. Great.
The room was spinning slightly, her head heavy with the combined weight of embarrassment and the leftover alcohol swirling through her veins. Her clothes, a wrinkled and wet mess, hung off her like a sad, soggy curtain. She felt like a soaked, wilted flower left out in a thunderstorm.