||| Thirteen ||
When Night And Day Become OneIf I had thought my life for the past few years because of Lu Han, I was wrong. Because now that Lu Han wasn't talking to me, my life still big time.
"Did I miss something?" Hannah asked suspiciously one afternoon as we were climbing the stairs towards my room. "Lu Han's acting weird. And he's not around as much he used to be. Especially when... you're on the premises." Curse Hannah for being so observant.
I opened the door to my room and sighed. "He's pretending I don't exist," I answered. "I made him mad last week and that's what happened."
"What did you do?" she asked, scrutinizing me with her eyes.
I pouted and plopped myself on the bed. "I can't even tell you because I'd be making him madder."
"I don't understand."
"Let's just say he entrusted me with something important and I did a very lousy job of protecting it."
"Then you have to apologize, Jiyeon," Hannah said, suddenly sitting at the edge of the bed. "Lu Han had always been this ball of sunshine. For him to be this way, you must have done something really bad."
I flung my arms on my head, covering my eyes with it. "I know, I know. You don't have to rub it in."
"Why don't you start now then?" she suggested, taking my arm and pulling me up. She pushed me to the window. "He's one window away so you can try apologizing now."
I heaved a sigh and decided to follow her advice. I turned my attention to his window. It was open and his curtains were up, a good sign that he was around.
"Lu Han?" I called out. No response. "Lu Han! I know you're there. You don't need to talk now. I just want you to listen." Still no response. "I'm sorry, Lu Han," I went on. "I really am. I never thought of hurting you, really. If I could turn back time, I would. It was very impulsive of me. I'm sorry. Please stop ignoring me."
There was movement on his room and for a second, I thought that he was finally going to talk to me, but then when he came to the window it was only to let the curtains down.
I turned back to look at Hannah helplessly. "What do I do, Hannah? He doesn't even want to listen to me."
"I don't know, Yeon. Only you can fix it."
The following days were worse. I tried all means to get him to talk to me but none of it worked. Even our classmates found it so weird that Lu Han stayed so quiet during classes and stopped getting into trouble.
I didn't stop though. But whenever I went to their house, he always wasn't there. When I waited for him at their gate one time, he didn't even acknowledge my presence when he came home.
I apologized over and over through his window but he never showed any sign of listening. Why is he being like this?
I took a walk one afternoon, frustrated at Lu Han's behavior and mine as well. I didn't know I had placed so much importance in his friendship. The pranks didn't matter after all. It was his annoying presence that had mattered most. And now, I badly missed the jerk.
My aimless wandering ended up at the swing in the park where I saw Kai last month. Sitting down on one of the swings. I suddenly wished he was here.
After the thought, I heard a shuffle of steps coming from behind. I turned around just in time to see Kai tiptoeing towards me with a sly smile on his face.
"Aw, and I was going to surprise you!" he complained and plopped himself on the swing beside mine.
"What are you doing here, Kai?" How come this wish got granted immediately?
"I was walking around and happened to see you here," he offered, shrugging. "Anyway, what's wrong? You look just like me when you found me here before."
I just shook my head. "Nothing." I kicked the ground to launch the swing up.
"That's what I said, too," he noted, kicking the ground as well to mirror my movement.
"Lu Han's mad at me," I confessed, sighing. "Like really mad. It's already been a month since we had last spoken."
Kai shot his feet out, abruptly stopping his swing. "What happened?"
So I told him everything.
He looked at me worriedly. "So it's all my fault," he said gravely.
"What? No!" I said, planting my feet on the ground and stopping the swing. "It's my fault, Kai. You don't need to blame yourself."
"But Yeon-"
"It's my fault period." I stood up and began pacing around. "Please, I'd feel much worse if you start blaming yourself."
"You must have apologized already."
"Hundred times! But he won't even listen!"
"Whoa." He raised up a hand. "Take it easy."
"But I'm so frustrated, and I missed him," I whispered, sinking on my feet. I couldn't believe I just said that. I guessed it was true when people say that you don't know what you have until it's gone.
"You do, I can tell," Kai mumbled, standing up from the swing. He crouched before me and looked me in the eyes. "Do you like him, Jiyeon?" He asked, his voice low and serious.
"What? No!" I blurted immediately. How could I like him? I miss him, true. But like him? No. That's possible, right?
His facial expression told me he didn't believe me.
I sighed. I wasn't planning on telling him but it was the only thing I could think of that would convince him. "You," I mumbled really soft. "It's you that I like, Kai." I turned down my head so he wouldn't see my cheeks. I was pretty sure it was red now.
Something grabbed me up and I found myself slamming into something.
"If you're joking, I'm going to get really mad as well, okay?"
Then I realized, he was hugging me tightly.
"Kai-"
"The truth is I like you, too, Yeon," he confessed, cutting me off. "I really like you." His hug got even tighter.
"But I thought you only think of me as a kid?"
"I never did. True, you're clumsy and act like a kid most of the time. But you're cute and you're kind, tolerating whatever pranks Lu Han did to you." Kind? If I was kind then I would have respected Lu Han's wishes and Lu Han wouldn't have been mad at me, I thought bitterly.
I squirmed my way out of his grasp.
"But-"
"I like you," he repeated, looking me in the eyes. "Why did you think I approached you randomly on the hallway? Because I sincerely wanted to get to know you."
"I- can't believe it," I whispered, shaking my head.
"Will you believe it then if I ask you out on a date?"
My eyes rounded in surprise. "You would?"
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