The first thing he was aware of was the cry of an eagle overhead. Then the chilly air that had frozen his nose and flushed his cheeks contrasted sharply with the warm body pressed against his own. Startled by that unfamiliar sensation, his eyes popped open to gaze downward towards a head full of beautiful, dark tresses that was nestled against his chest, its owner’s body closely cuddled against his side.
Sarah.
He’d spent the whole night with Sarah.
Wait! What?! His eyes flew skyward then down, swiveled right, pivoted left, his heart leaping in his chest. What time was it? The sun was just beginning to rise, its rays beginning to burn up the night sky. The stars had hidden themselves from view.
The stars… They had come here to gaze at the stars for an hour. But somehow, they had fallen asleep instead! And slept the entire night away. He had to make it to practice on time.
Tae slid his hand into his pocket and withdrew his phone. He pressed his thumb against the button. The time flashed before his eyes. 7:07.
He sat straight up, disturbing the blanket and pulling it halfway off Sarah as she followed his progress upward, still snuggled against him.
She murmured something unintelligible then, “Tae?”
Then she sat bolt upright. “Tae!” She turned wide, dark eyes at him. “Did we – did we spend the whole night out here?” But, of course, it was obvious that they had.
She blinked against the growing sunlight streaming through the clouds along the horizon. The sky was a dusky pink and a mellow peach blending with a bright blue and a passionate purple. The sun was painting a glorious yellow over the whole scene.
Sarah was astonished. She had spent the entire night with Taehyung. She had slept with him! Well, not slept with him. But slept beside him. She could feel her cheeks turning pink. Then she realized that was the only part of her body that was hot. It was freezing out here! She grabbed the blanket and pulled it up to her chin as Tae began to speak into his phone.
“Hi, we need a ride. We’re at the Shining Star Park. Yes. To Soldier Field. 15 minutes?” Tae blew some air out between his lips. “Yes. I guess it will have to do, won’t it?” Then he closed his phone and turned towards her. His voice became an intimate caress. “Good morning, my shining star.” He bent and whispered into her ear, his breath once again sliding over her skin. “Did you sleep well?”
She shivered, but this time it wasn’t from the chill air. She nodded and answered drily, “Apparently so. I never woke up!”
As she turned to look at him, he grinned sheepishly at her. “Me neither. And now I’m going to be late for practice!”
Her eyes widened. “Sandra! Oh, no! She must be worried about me!” But when she picked up her phone, she saw no text from her sister waiting for her. “Hmm. That’s weird. She must have gone to bed early.” Then she texted to say she’d meet her at Soldier Field in a little over an hour.
She glanced at Tae. “Did you ask Hobi to pick her up?”
“I’ll text him right now. I need to let someone know we’ll be late.”
—
Hobi’s phone beeped, waking him up. That’s when he realized he had a crick in his neck. His head was leaning off to the left at a weird angle, but it was resting against something rather firm. He opened his eyes and sat all the way up, which didn’t take much effort; he was already sitting back against something soft. He glanced down at a white couch and over at…Sandra!
He’d been leaning his head on her shoulder. Wait! Where were they? What time was it?
He glanced up. Sunlight was just beginning to stream through the windows. His phone beeped again. He pulled away from Sandra, who was still sound asleep and slid his hand into his pocket, retrieving the makeshift alarm clock and offending noisemaker. Tae had just sent him a text…probably wondering where he was.
No! Tae was informing him that he and Sara would be late to practice. Hmm…that was an interesting development. Where were they? Had they been out all night? Then Tae asked Hobi if he would bring Sandra to practice with him.
He glanced at the time. 7:11. If Tae and Sarah were in Chicago, they had plenty of time to get to Soldier Field before 8:30. Were they not in the city? And if not, where were they? Had Tae really spent all night with Sara?
Hobi laughed at himself. He was one to be shocked. He’d just spent all night with Sandra. At his buddy’s apartment.
They had to get going if they were going to make it on time. He glanced down at Sandra again. She looked so beautiful clothed in slumber. His eyes slid along the lovely angles of her face and came to rest on her closed eyelids. They looked like they’d been carved in marble. He sighed. He wanted to just sit here and watch her sleep…but if Tae was going to be late, then it was even more important that he made it on time.
He bent to wake her gently.
“Sandra,” he breathed into her ear. “Sandra, wake up. We need to get going.”
Her eyelids fluttered open, and she smiled at him. Hobi’s breath disappeared as he stared in wonder at her. She was captivating.
“Hobi.” She looked around, then she sat straight up. “Where are we?” She glanced at the window. “What time is it?”
“It’s nearly 7:15. We must have fallen asleep after we ate last night.”
“What? We just sat down on the couch to talk for a few minutes.”
“Well, remember, it turned into an hour. I recall you were looking so sleepy, but I was so enjoying talking to you that I fought off my own fatigue. Or at least I thought I did.”
“I do remember my eyelids were getting really heavy.”
“Apparently, they closed all the way. And so did mine! We have to be at Soldier Field in an hour and fifteen minutes! Let’s go.”
“Wait, Hobi,” Sandra put her hand on his arm. He glanced down at her fingers as they seemed to be releasing lightning bolts into his skin. How could it look so undisturbed by the electricity pouring through it? He looked up at her pretty face.
“What?”
“Let me make you a quick breakfast. You need to have a lot of energy today. I can at least cook you some eggs and bacon. I saw them in the fridge last night. You go take a quick shower while I cook.”
Hobi smiled at this precious girl. She was going to make an amazing wife for some lucky guy!
