"But, Noona—"
Yoo Joonghyuk stepped between the two, blocking their views of each other. Enough was enough.
"Get your things," he told Kim Dokja who gave a nod and went off to find a little duffle bag to stuff his essential things into.
"And you can stay for as long as you need, Dokja-ssi," Yoo Joonghyuk continued, watching Kim Dokja roll up his jeans and shove them into the bag.
"I don't want to bother you, Joonghyuk-ssi."
"It's not a bother."
"Not now," said Kim Dokja. "But it will end up so."
"You don't know that."
"Most things are that way, Joonghyuk-ssi," Kim Dokja said simply. "I'll just head over to a friend's place."
"I thought you didn't want to tell your friends," Yoo Joonghyuk grumbled.
"I've already bothered you, time to go bother them too," Kim Dokja joked.
Yoo Joonghyuk crossed his arms across his chest, miffed.
"Aren't I different from them?" he said. "You haven't even told them about me. They think I'm a figment of your imagination."
Kim Dokja stiffened for the briefest second, then went around as normal as before.
"Are you a big baby?" Uriel said scathingly from behind Yoo Joonghyuk. "Are you sulking right now? Because Dokja has more friends than just you? Aigoo, this guy."
Kim Dokja muffled his chuckles behind his hand.
What?! It's a valid concern! He didn't say anything untrue.
Kim Dokja's duffle bag was only half-full when he said he had taken everything he needed. Yoo Joonghyuk felt it would get full when Kim Dokja shoved every other thing he owned into it.
There was something unsettling about the rather light duffle bag that occupied very little space in the trunk of the car. It was a little like it's owner.
Uriel voiced the thoughts Yoo Joonghyuk was having.
"We need to buy you a big suitcase, Dokja-yah," Uriel sighed.
"I don't need one though?" said Kim Dokja. "Everything fits in that and it's pretty durable."
"There are durable suitcases too," Uriel said, ushering Kim Dokja back into the car. "And we just need to get you enough things to fill a big suitcase."
"What am I supposed to do with it then?"
"It's a showpiece."
"Huh?"
Uriel was back to being a monster the next day. Only to Yoo Joonghyuk though.
"Look at Dokja! He's being responsible, unlike someone!"
"Where are you going?" Yoo Joonghyuk demanded of Kim Dokja, ignoring Uriel.
"I have work to go to," Kim Dokja said slowly retracting his hand from the front door.
"You're recovering," Yoo Joonghyuk snapped.
"I'm recovered," Kim Dokja said. "We even checked my temperature yesterday. I'm fine now."
"No, you're not."
Kim Dokja wasn't affected by his death glare in the least. He gave him an exasperated look and then began listing off things, counting them down on his fingers as he spoke.
"My body temperature's fine. I had a good night's sleep. I rested the whole day yesterday. I ate well. I drank enough fluids. I'm perfectly fine, fit to go."
No, no he wasn't. Kim Dokja wasn't fit to go. Kim Dokja shouldn't have to go anywhere. Kim Dokja should be wrapped up in a blanket, hand-fed delicious food and taken care of. This was atrocious.
But Kim Dokja walked out of the door anyway and Uriel dragged Yoo Joonghyuk off to work again.
"He's late."
Uriel sighed.
"You don't know when his shift ends," the woman said from the sofa she was sitting on, organising the next day's schedule for Yoo Joonghyuk on the iPad she had in her hands.
"It's still late," Yoo Joonghyuk snapped.
"Why don't you send him a text?"
"I did," Yoo Joonghyuk said. "He hasn't seen it yet."
"Call him then."
"No," Yoo Joonghyuk's voice fell a bit. "He might get disturbed."
Uriel sighed again.
Kim Dokja hadn't run away, had he? No, he couldn't have. All his important things were here. Did he faint again? Did he remove Yoo Joonghyuk's number from his emergency dial? So no one would be able to call him to inform him again?
"Is this today's workout?" Uriel said dully, her eyes following Yoo Joonghyuk who was pacing the living room, his own thoughts eating him up.
Kim Dokja walked into the house only after midnight. Even Uriel was anxious by then.
He got jumped on by the woman, who shook him around, asking him if he was fine.
"I went back to my apartment out of habit," Kim Dokja said sheepishly. "Then I remembered and had to run to get the train."
"The train?" Yoo Joonghyuk echoed.
Kim Dokja nodded and then he realised that Kim Dokja's workplaces were near his house, not Yoo Joonghyuk's so Kim Dokja's commute time had increased again.
Why hadn't he thought of that before?! And why hadn't Kim Dokja said anything? He probably thought he would be bothering him again and since he was letting him stay, he shouldn't try to worry him anymore or something along the same lines.
"When does your shift end?" Yoo Joonghyuk asked.
"Nine o'clock," Kim Dokja said.
"That's too late!" Uriel cried.
"It's not," Kim Dokja shook his head. "It's just five hours."
"But you left in the morning."
"Mhmm, that's for my shift at the cafe," Kim Dokja explained.
"How many jobs do you have to go to?"
To Uriel's horror and indignation, Kim Dokja had to count them on his fingers.
"There's the cafe, and I do evening shifts at a restaurant. Weekends, I have the sports club in the mornings and the convince store in the evening."
It was clear to see that Uriel was doing everything in her power to not start yelling again. God forbid she made Kim Dokja cry again.
"What about dinner?" Yoo Joonghyuk asked. "Did you eat yet?"
"I don't usually have dinner," was Kim Dokja's response.
Uriel looked like she might start crying again, out of sheer frustration this time.
Kim Dokja tried wiggling his way out of skipping dinner, but Uriel cornered him and threatened to hold him down and force food down his throat with the back of the spatula if he didn't eat. Yoo Joonghyuk didn't even have to do anything.