Chapter 10:

It was early in the morning and all the members were still asleep, or so Minseok assumed. The house was quiet and he didn’t like it one bit. It felt so empty and lonely when everyone was asleep.

Minseok lay on the couch, going back to the thoughts he had ever since the day before. He still couldn’t understand a single thing. He was getting more and more curious about the lost member and why Luhan called out his name back then. Did Kris talk about him with Luhan?

And Kris…

Minseok started to think the younger one was hiding something from him.

“Baozi…”

He told the angel that ‘Baozi’ was Luhan’s nickname for their deceased member. But why did Luhan call out ‘Minseok’ instead of ‘Xiumin’? His name was ‘Xiumin’ right?

“Minseok!”

Minseok got frustrated. After thinking a whole day and night, these were the only things he could come up with to solve the mystery.

He tried his back to think back of everything that happened to find any hints, from the night were Luhan called out those names, to the moment Kris told him about the member, the mornings and days he had followed the humans, the bounding times between the members, the times Luhan fell back in depressive moments, the moment he first saw Luhan and lastly Kris.

Suddenly he thought back about the day he met Kris. Kris his reaction, only now that he thought back of it, it suddenly became strange. The first thing Kris had done when he saw the angel was…

-Minseok stood up to help the human, but he stopped in his tracks when he saw that tears escaped the human’s eyes and began shaking furiously.-

… crying?

Yet, he didn’t look scared at all… Why would Kris cry by seeing an angel but not being scared of it?

“No, no. I must be crazy. Calm down, calm down.”                      

Minseok was feeling he was forgetting an important thing part of the memory, but he didn’t have the time to think of it, since a door was opened behind him, distracting him immediately.

He looked around and saw no other than Luhan himself.

He watched the angel-like human rub his eyes tiredly as he dragged his slumped figure toward the fridge in the kitchen.

Minseok flew toward him when two other room doors opened, revealing an equally tired looking Kris, Jongdae and Tao as well as a hyper Baekyeol couple.

“Good morning.” Luhan called out with a hoarse voice. Kris, Jongdae and Tao just nodded and sat down tiredly, unlike Baekhyun and Chanyeol.

“Good morning, hyung!” Baekhyun said before pecking his boyfriend’s cheek. The latter responded by hugging him from behind. Both giggled as they moved to the table. Baekhyun sat on Chanyeol’s lap, since they knew there wouldn’t be enough seats once everyone woke up.

“Where are Joonmyun and Kyungsoo? I want breakfast!” Jongdae whined as he lay his head on the table.

“Not sure-”

“Blame Jongin for Kyungsoo inability to cook and Joonmyun, no idea, lazy today maybe?”

“Who’s in charge of breakfast anyway? They were in charge yesterday.” Tao asked once he fully woke up.

Kris, who was sitting next to him shrugged and leaned his head on the youngest his shoulder. He felt really tired and wasn’t planning to wake up for real any time soon. He hated being the leader at those times. The members had scolded him so many times for waking up so early, being irresponsible and all the other crap.

That’s how he ended up setting his alarm every morning to wake up earlier.

It was also a good thing for him of course; because he could spend some quality time with… his…

“Hyung!” He suddenly sat up and searched for the angel he had forgotten for a moment.

“Yes?” Luhan frowned. It was strange for Kris to call him hyung. He always told him he refused to call Luhan ‘hyung’ as long as he looks like a baby and act like a 5-years old kid.

“O-oh, uhm, I forgot to tell you.” Kris was lost for a second. It wasn’t supposed to come out loud like that. He had eye-contact with Minseok, who just flew the dinning side of the kitchen in. “Good morning.” He said to the angel and then turned to Luhan with a smile.

“Uhm, good morning again?” Luhan laughed together with the other members. Maybe they shouldn’t have forced Kris to wake up earlier after all.

~너의 세상으로~

“I’m leaving!” Luhan yelled through the dorm, gaining everyone’s attention.

“Where are you going?” Joonmyun asked surprised, not remembering any schedule this noon for Luhan. “You have a show to attend tonight, not now?”

“Just going out~ I’ll be back by 5, I promise!” Luhan pulled out his puppy eyes, knowing that Joonmyun had a huge weakness for those eyes. The younger leader sighed and dismissed him.

“Alright, alright. But don’t lose too much energy! You have to be prepared for your appearance on ‘Strong heart’, remember?”

“Yes, yes! I’ll be back on time Joonmyunie!”

Before Luhan was able to leave the house, he was stopped by a sudden call.

“Luhan-hyung!” Sejin, being the stubborn kid, walked toward Luhan with a smile. “Can I go with you?”

 Sehun clenched his fists tightly; not liking this jerks guts at all. He wondered how many more times this ignorant bastard needed to get hit, before he would finally give up. His grip slowly softened when he felt a warm hand on his. He felt weird when he saw it was Kris’.

Minseok saw it and couldn’t help but think how cute it was.

“I will look out for Luhan, I won’t let him do things you guys don’t want him to do~” Minseok grinned cutely.

A gentle smile appeared on Kris his face, ing whatever Minseok said. The was no one who could look better after Luhan than the angel.

Sehun stared weirdly at Kris for smiling like that randomly.

“It’s okay if Sejin really want to go.” Kris called out, making Sehun frown, not amused at all by the older his statement. He thought the jerk was on his side! Okay, maybe it was wrong for Sehun to call Kris a jerk in his mind, but it was unfair.

“But-”

On the other hand, Luhan had no thoughts of accepting the request from the start. “I’m sorry, Sejin-ah. You can’t come with me.”

Sejin looked obviously disappointed. He wasn’t really expecting a rejection. Luhan would usually tell him it’s okay.

Luhan felt slightly bad for the younger one, but was still determinate.

He ruffled Sejin’s hair affectionally and made the younger look at him. “It’s a place I want to visit alone. We can go somewhere tomorrow, alright?”

~너의 세상으로~

Minseok had been following Luhan around for half an hour already and he had no idea where the human was going to.

They’ve gone to various places already, but none of them gave him any hints on what Luhan had planned for the noon. They just came out of a restaurant, were Luhan had ordered steamed buns and hot pot, something about his favorite food. The people were really nice to him and it seemed like they knew each other for a long time.

Before that, Luhan went to buy a CD in the music store and candy in a small candy store.

It didn’t surprise him at all when Luhan suddenly entered a flower shop, filled with thousands of flowers.

“Ahjumma! You’re here?” Minseok watched Luhan call out the shop’s owner, as he looked around the shop, admiring the flowers, touching some and even sniffing the most beautiful ones.

A middle-aged woman came from the back of the story, taking of her gloves on her way.

Luhan suddenly took of his cap and sunglasses, making the angel freak out for revealing his face to public. Luhan was a celebrity after all.

“Ah, Luhan-ah, sweetheart. You came again?” The woman pinched the boy his cheek softly, turning toward the flower Luhan was standing in front of.

“Yes, yes! I’m searching for some flowers…”  Luhan looked around again.

“Again? Isn’t it already to full there?” The woman laughed.

Minseok had figured out Luhan came here often.

“Oh, I had a question! The flowers he gave me are blooming again!” Luhan said excitedly, remembering the flowers he got from Minseok when he was still alive. Recently he found out the meaning of the flower from the shop’s owner and couldn’t help but smile when he heart it. ‘I love you in secret.’ Luhan was delighted that he took such a good care of the flowers all those months. It felt like he still, in some kind of way, took care of Minseok’s feelings so that they wouldn’t be gone even after his hyung left him. “Is it normal to bloom only now?”

“They are blooming? That’s strange indeed. But don’t worry, they won’t die out. So what can I help you with today dear?”

“Uhm… I want more flowers. But…” He was struggling with what flowers he should take today. He already planted a lot of flowers, but he still didn’t think it was enough. It wasn’t everything yet. He wanted all his feelings there. “Which ones…”

 A certain flower caught his eyes.

It was cute and small with light colors.

“What is it?” Luhan pointed to the small flowers, smiling softly at them.

“Those are called ‘Sweet peas’, they are one of my favorite flowers.” The women smiled softly. The glint of sadness in her eyes didn’t go by unnoticed by Luhan. “My husband gave them to me before he had to leave to marry another woman…”

“What is their meaning?” Luhan asked curiously, holding onto the woman her hand.

“Departure.” She said after taking a deep breath.

Luhan looked blankly at the woman. He couldn’t believe her ex-husband gave her a flower of departure when he left her for someone else.

The woman chuckled when she saw Luhan’s sudden change in expression. “It’s not what you think it means dear.” She pinched the boy’s nose and smiled softly. “Not every meaning with departure means something bad. Luhan-ah… He loved me and felt blissful for being able to marry me! Once you’re ready, you should give it to him, this flower.”

Luhan looked confused now and so was Minseok who was watching from the back. He realized the flowers were for Xiumin