Wendy and Jongin
Vaguely BeautifulChanyeol’s eyes jolted open. Letting out a long exhale, he rewinded the dream he just had in his mind. He was in a sunflower field, without anything else disturbing the view. It was only him and the sunflowers. And the blue sky above him. And the sound of the wind around him. He was in peace, for somehow that place felt familiar to him.
Noticing that there was only his mother in the room, he couldn’t help but ask, “Mom… Where’s Wendy?”
His mother, who was cutting some apples, abruptly stopped upon hearing his son’s question. “Who?” she asked, not sure of her ears.
“Wen—“ he paused halfway. Wendy? Wendy who? He was about to say Seungwan, but ended up calling Wendy instead. Chanyeol looked at his mother like a lost puppy.
“Wendy is your pet name towards Seungwan” the woman smiled at him, almost painfully.
“I—I don’t know, mom… It just slipped out of my tongue… I—“
“Do you remember anything else?”
Chanyeol shook his head at his mother. “I don’t even remember this one, mom… I don’t know… I just suddenly say Wendy and…” he sighed. His head ached again, eventhough not as bad as before.
“You gave him that name when she cut her hair and bangs so that she looks like Disney’s Wendy… It’s like… 2 years ago? When you just started with her” Chanyeol’s mother brought the bowl of cut apples to the table by his bed. “Anyway, I told her to go home and take a bath. And pack some new underwears for you”
“Mom, I really live together with her?”
“Yes, it’s been a year” she answered. “Has she told you about it?”
“Yeah” he nodded. Well, so the scene at the rooftop wasn’t a dream at all. “Mom, what else do you know about my relationship with her?”
Chanyeol’s mother curled her lips upward. “I don’t really know a lot… You know, you’re more of a whiny type. You only come to me to whine… You ungrateful boy”
“I’ve never been like that, mom” the boy puffed his cheeks when his mother ruffled his hair. “Seriously, mom. What else do you know?”
“Mmm… Let me think…” she paused for a while. “You first meet her when you went to the public library with Jongin. Our neighbor Jongin, you remember him?” the male responded with a yes. Jongin was his brother-like friend since he was a baby. “When you come home, you told me about her. Her round and cute eyes, her long brown hair, her pale skin, her chubby cheeks, you told me everything”
He let every single word sunk in. He could really relate to his younger self.
“I don’t know how you approach her, but one day you finally bring her home to introduce her to me” she held her son’s hand and interlaced their fingers together. “I like her from the first time I met her. She’s pretty… She’s smart… She respects me well… And she cooks well too”
She smiled at the memory.
“And you really, you really really love her. You often tell me how you want her to be the mother of your children. Oh, and you’re so happy when she agreed to live with you and split the bills for a new apartment. And then you left me. You sometimes visit me with her and we would have nice dinner together…”
Chanyeol was dazed, imagining about whatever his mother told her. He did admit that Seungwan was pretty and it wasn’t that he didn’t like her, but it felt strange to know how deep his feelings were in the past.
“She took a leave from her college to take care of you here… And she used all her savings to pay the hospital bills for I can’t really depend on the pension money…” her voice cracked. “Imagine being in her position, Chanyeol… She left her thesis for you, she spent all her money for you, she was here all day and night when you were in the coma, she lost so much weight, and… and when… and when you woke up, you forgot her…” her grip towards his hand tightened as her eyes became glassy.
Chanyeol wasn’t sure how he should react so he just rubbed his mother’s hand with his thumb between their intertwined fingers. His whole mind was in a mess, now that his mother told him how much Seungwan loved him. To be honest, he was flattered for a second, but the more his mother told him, the more he felt weighed since he just knew this girl for less than a week and he already owed her so much.
“Please do your best to remember her, okay?” his mother ended their conversation with a request.
And Chanyeol, being a good son he was, nodded in obedience.
“I’m back” Seungwan came into the room to a view of Chanyeol’s mother sleeping on his bed and the man sitting on his wheelchair, backing her. He turned his head back from the window he was looking out at and smiled at her.
“Welcome back, Wendy”
She closed the door behind her and put her bag on the table beside Chanyeol’s bed. Then she took a chair and joined him to look outside the window.
“Hey, aren’t you happy?” Chanyeol asked, to her confusion.
“Huh?” she shifted her gaze towards him. “Yeah, I'm happy, I guess”
“No, I mean… Mmm… I remember your pet name. Yeah. Wendy. I call you that earlier”
Seungwan’s eyes slowly poked out of their sockets. “Wha—How—How—“
“I don’t know either” the male chortled at her expression. “It just slipped out of my tongue”
Seungwan’s mouth was still agape so Chanyeol pushed her jaw upward with his index finger. “Aren’t you happy?”
She looked at him for a moment before answering. “Yes… I’m happy…”
“Good, then” Chanyeol closed his eyes and scrunched his nose, smiling. Seungwan’s cheeks went red. She has always liked how he scrunched his nose while smiling. He would do it when he was embarrassed, when his normal aegyo didn’t work on her, or simply when he wanted to make her do the same.
Which she did.
Chanyeol’s cheeks went as red as hers. She was way too cute to be a human, he thought.
“Oh, I have something for you” Seungwan suddenly spoke. She stood from her chair and softly walked to her bag so that Chanyeol’s mother wouldn’t wake up. Bringing the bag with her, she went back to her seat.
“Wait…” she fished something out from her bag. Chanyeol was a little surprised that her bag didn’t seem full or even half-filled. Not a single makeup kit was seen, not that she needed any anyway. “Here” she handed her a rectangular thing, which he later recognized as a mobile phone. An iPhone, to be exact.
“I bought a new one for you. Your iPhone was broken when the accident happened” she explained. “It’s a 6s, tho. I don’t have enough money to buy you a 7. But you know, I will buy it later for you. I still—“
“Hey, hey” Chanyeol stopped her. “This is enough, really. Thank you!” he examined the thing in his hand. It was grey colored.
“I’ve saved some of your important contacts inside” she informed. “You can check them”
“Where is the power button?” he the upper part of the phone and didn’t find any button there.
“It’s on the side, Chanyeol” Seungwan helped hi
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