I'm sorry for taking so long with the updates! I'm busy with my competition fanfic 'Youthful Ignorance' and with my spin-off of 'Original cliche' (coming soon!), and honestly, this story is a hard one to write. I've changed the ending a bit, and made this a little longer (it will now be a fourshot, if that is a name). I feel like I'm rewriting 'Finding him through memories' with this haha XD

Prepare yourself for a chapter solely surrounding on detective Sehun and nonsense bickering between two best friends :) And some mystery :)
 

After that one time, Sehun had not taken that bus for a whole week. Whenever Jongin asked him to come over to his house, he would always make up some excuse so he did not have to take that bus. The reason for his avoidance was simply that he did not want to see the bus boy again. He did not like to see the hurt on his face. It made him uncomfortable; it triggered something inside of him he did not quite find pleasant. Was it sympathy? It was close to it, he believed.

However, Sehun knew that he could not continue avoiding him for a life time. It would be ridiculous if he did, that was something even he knew. Jongin had told him that conversations with Luhan now lasted no longer than three seconds, unlike the past. His best friend had reasoned that it was because of him, and honestly, Sehun did feel apologetic for what he had said to him. It was not his intention to hurt the feelings of the stranger.

That brought him to the bus stop, where he was nervously waiting for the bus to arrive. In all honesty, Sehun was not even sure whether he was doing the appropriate thing. Just how much should one mingle himself in a stranger’s life? Then again, labeling Luhan as a mere stranger did not quite fit the situation anymore.

He took a deep breath as he saw the bus approaching the bus stop, mentally calming himself down for what was going to come next. Once the doors opened, he silently stepped inside and after swapping his card, his eyes quickly scanned the bus. His eyes flickered in surprise as he was welcomed by an almost empty bus. Almost empty…

And no bus boy.

This was the first time that he did not see Luhan in the bus, and in a way, it frightened him.

Though, maybe it was just that one crucial fact had slipped his mind all this time about Luhan. Something that he had neglected all this time, yet had not failed to wake Sehun up. Luhan… After all…

Was human, too.  

The bus boy, too, had a life he had to attend to. Even though it could sound ridiculous, it had escaped Sehun that Luhan, too, was a person with an own life. He had a good reason, though, he believed. In the past two months and more, his bus rides had always been with a certain bus boy. Therefore, he had already assumed him to always be there, and this one time that he was not, shocked him.

He was trembling as he walked to the seat in the back, the seat Luhan always sat on, hesitating whether to go to it or not. However, before he himself even realized it, he was already standing in front of the seat.

“That seat is taken.”

He decided something he was sure he was going to regret. Even though a voice in the back of his mind was screaming to him to stop being so overly curious, Sehun could not help it. He could not help himself getting involved in something he should stay miles away from.

“I’m waiting for Joonmyun.”

He took a deep breath before taking place on the place beside the haunted seat – Luhan’s seat. Maybe he was just being paranoia, thinking that something would happen to him the moment he took place on the seat. He had imagined black fog to surround him, supernatural creatures to pop up, even dark voices to welcome him. Honestly, he had prepared himself for the worst children's nightmare to come true. It was so foolishly dumb, yet he could not stop himself from thinking like this.

His eyes unconsciously looked outside, looking at a view he had seen countless times. So this is how bus boy spends his time, Sehun thought as he turned to look at the bus from his seat. There really was nothing special, nothing that could give him even the slightest clue of what made Luhan sit here all the time. However, he still did not want to give up his suspicion that something must be wrong. Bus boy… There must be a reason. A reason he could find.

But there really was nothing, no clue, no hint, nothing that could provide him the evidence he needed for all the hypotheses he had created in his mind. Nothing.

That is, until his eyes landed on the small scribbles written on the back of the seat in front of him. How he could not have realized it earlier, was beyond him, since it was literally bombarded with endless short sentences and hasty drawings. Sehun read all the sentences one by one, until he stopped at one particular small sentence that triggered his full attention.

Wait for me
- J

His eyebrow raised in confusion, trying to elaborate what it implied. It could have passed as merely another sweet message from some youngster who wanted to melt some girl’s heart, but Sehun had this cold feeling it was nothing like that.

“Luhan-sshi, which stop is your destination?”

“I don’t know. I’m just waiting.”

Sehun could see that it was written in a harsh, hasty manner, as if this person was rushing. It was unlike the other messages that were surrounded with small hearts and sweetness. This one was different… And the letter ‘J’ did not quite help deafen his detective mind, either.

On the surface, this would fit perfectly with what Luhan had told him. It all made sense this way. Or actually, it did not. Why someone would wait so long for someone, merely because of this small sentence, was too absurd for him to be acceptable. Then again…

It was bus boy we were talking about.

His fingertips ghosted over the words, before he closed his eyes. Too many thoughts were filling his mind, and not one made sense.

-

“Sehun-ah!”

Jongin yelled when Sehun had failed to answer his question once again. The slightly older male had been eagerly talking about something he encountered today, and Sehun was paying no attention to him, at all.

“W-What?” Sehun stuttered while his eyes flickered in surprise.

“You weren’t listening to me, were you?”

“Not really.” Sehun said truthfully, deliberately wearing an innocent expression as he spoke.

“You little…” Jongin eyed him darkly before exploding, “How could you not listen to me when I’m talking about something really important?!”

Sehun rolled his eyes at Jongin’s immature exaggeration, before taking a sip from his juice.

“I doubt it’s something interesting.”

Honestly, Sehun’s mind was somewhere else. It was filled with all kinds of ideas, all sorts of theories about the bus boy’s possible reason for being in the bus all the time. He could not stop it even when he wanted to, though again, he never wanted to stop overloading his brain with it either. It was way too interesting to stop.   

“You know, if one day I find myself a new best friend and dump you like a piece of trash, don’t cry and beg me to take you back, because I won’t.”

Sehun looked up to meet a pair of painfully furious eyes, and yet, Sehun could not take it seriously. He could never take this friend of his serious, and he doubted he would ever be able to. When this boy was not dancing, he could not be taken seriously.

“Tell me when you find someone else who is willing to suffer because of you. I would be more than happy to give him my place.”

“Yah! Oh Sehun! You-”

“Jongin-ah,” Sehun interrupted, his voice suddenly deadly serious, “have you seen bus boy today?”

“Bus b- Oh, Luhan.” Jongin blinked a couple of times. “Now that you mention it… I didn’t see him today.”

Suddenly he was overly awake and alert.  Eye victim number one has confirmed the absence of the bus boy, Sehun made a mental note before asking further questions.

“Did you see him yesterday?”

“I was at your house the whole day yesterday, you fool.”

Damn, he is sharp. That brought Sehun back to where he was: Luhan was not in the bus today, and nobody knew exactly how long.  

“Shouldn’t you be happy that you didn’t have to be in the same bus as him?” Jongin said while eyeing Sehun.

“Maybe I should, but it’s too suspicious.”

“Excuse me?” His friend’s eyes widened slightly. “Did you just say suspicious? Like what, you think he got kidnapped or something?”

“I’m not ruling out that possibility.”

“Urgh,” Jongin groaned in frustration, “aren’t you just making a big deal of nothing?”

Sehun slowly dropped his gaze. Actually, he was not even sure himself why he was doing all of this. It should not have been this important to him, but a human was weakened by curiosity by nature. He wanted to know. Ever since this bus boy appeared, his whole life had been stolen from its peacefulness. He may be just an outsider, but he wanted answers. He wanted to know the reasons.

“I’m just curious, Jongin.”

“Sehun, I doubt he’s going to appreciate your curiosity.”

“I’m waiting for Joonmyun.”

Sehun shook his head slightly, a small grin lingering on his lips.

“I doubt it.”

Even though Sehun may look like he was fooling around, deep inside, he was really serious about this. Deep inside, there was this nagging feeling… Urging him to find out.

“Ah,” Sehun said upon remembering something, “do you know a person named Joonmyun? He… He should be in the same bus frequently.”

Sehun knew he could always try. Maybe, just maybe, there was a chance that Jongin knew who he was talking about, and Sehun would be a huge step further. He was certain that this person was the key to most, if not all his questions.

“J-Joonmyun? Like in Kim Joonmyun?”

“Well, I don’t know his surname, but it’s possible.”

Jongin put a finger on his lips as he thought about it more carefully, before giving Sehun a confident nod.

“If you’re looking for a Joonmyun, then I think you’re looking for Kim Joonmyun. He lives in this neighborhood, actually.”

Sehun could feel the excitement boiling inside of him upon hearing that. Jongin was useful sometimes, he admitted.

“Though I haven’t seen him taking the bus for months already.” Jongin gave Sehun a confused look. “How do you know his name in the first place?”

“Bus boy told me. He told me he’s waiting for Joonmyun.”

A flash of surprise crossed Jongin’s eyes. “He what?”

“He told me he’s waiting for Joonmyun.”

“And you want to look for him yourself?”

Jongin asked with furrowed eyebrows. He sighed upon seeing the determined nod Sehun gave him.

“Then, let’s go.”

“Eh?” Sehun could not believe what he heard. “You… You’re helping me?”

“He could be dangerous, you know, and you’re by no means capable of defending yourself.”

Sehun’s eyes turned into tiny slits. “You’re underestimating me.”

Jongin laughed. “I have been all along, but you just never proved me wrong.”

“Just… Let’s just go!” Sehun yelled furiously.

-

“Are you sure this is his house, and not some serial killer's?”

Sehun asked as they stood in front of the house Jongin believed was his house. As always, the younger did not quite believe him, which earned him another punch in the stomach.

“Look at the name, stupid.”

Jongin said while pointing to the names on a small plate attached to the wall next to the front door.

Kim Joonmyun

“Then you press the bell-button, smart boy.”

“What? No, you press.”

“You press.” Sehun urged.

“Aish, baby, you’re the person being curious here, so you press!”

Jongin yelled before strongly pushing the other to the front door. Nervousness was rapidly building inside of him as he rethought about his plan. What was he going to say when this Joonmyun opened the door? What was he going to do? He had not planned this far, since he never thought it would all happen so fast. He took one last glance at Jongin, before taking a deep breath and pressing the bell-button.

It was now, or never.

Anxiety filled him as he waited for the sound of footsteps, for the door to open, for this Joonmyun guy to open the door. He waited. Waited.

But nothing happened.

Sehun pressed the button again, an uncomfortable feeling filling him.

“Nobody’s home.”

“Maybe he’s just outside.” Jongin said as he glanced inside the house, but the curtains prevented him from seeing anything.

“You think so?”

Sehun felt uneasy. The possibility that this person was outside right now was not what was bothering him right now. No, certainly not. It was something else. His eyes glanced at the small metal plate above the name plate.

The house number…

Was 520.



-

Sehun warily walked to the seat at the back of the bus. He had said goodbye to Jongin after the visit to the house, since he wanted some time to think. A lot of things, actually. He once again took place on the rarely empty seat at the left side of the bus, his eyes instantly glued to the scribbles in front of him.

520…

Waiting…

Sehun let out a frustrated sigh. This was not bringing him anywhere, and he did not quite like throwing himself in it either anymore. He could not make sense out of them. His tired eyes lingered on the words he deemed as important, as letters that conveyed something really crucial.

“Though I haven’t seen him taking the bus for months already.”

“Waiting, yes, endlessly waiting.”

A sudden idea popped into his mind. It would certainly trigger things up, but he was not sure whether it was something he had the right to do or not. Not that he had not already crossed the line. However, still, this was something that could end up catastrophically, and he was not certain that he would have everything under his control by doing this.

But his hands were already looking around in his bag for a marker.

He hesitated one more moment, before pushing the point of the marker harshly on the surface of the back of the seat, writing a small message just beneath the other one.

I’m here

Sehun looked at the words he wrote, and he could not help but feeling uneasy about whatever was going to come because of this. But he wanted answers. And this was the only way he could possibly get them.

 

IT WAS ACTUALLY SUPPOSED TO END AT THE 520 PART, BUT THAT WOULD BE TOO MUCH OF A CLIFFHANGER AND I WOULD NOT DARE TO TORTURE ANYONE LIKE THAT (though I don't know if any one of you sees it as a cliffhanger, haha XD) Where is Luhan~~??? :O I worked on this chapter for hours, and I hope my problematic eyes did not miss any grammar errors or anything, since I always try to carefully reread everything :)

keke, I just realized my house number and the bus I used to take have the same number too XD Reality-based haha XD

AND, SOMEONE WHO IS BEGINNING TO THINK OF WHAT IS POSSIBLY HAPPENING AND WANTING TO SHARE? :D (Not that it's easy, since I've been hiding a lot) I do think that this chapter makes things a little unrealistic... Maybe I should have sticked with my inital plot... ._.

Well, hope you enjoyed and until next time! :D

P.S. Does anyone see the similarities between this story and Original cliche?? :O I just noticed them... So much for my originality....._.