Smile
The Other Side of the Mirror
The pain of a heart break didn't go away as easily as many would have thought. It wasn't easy to fall in love with the wrong person and it wasn't easy to fall out of it either.
The thing about Sunmi's crush for Suho was that it had started from pure admiration for this boy out of the group to really obsessing for him. It sort of became a habit for Sunmi and when she decided to stop this habit, she felt empty.
The initial hurt didn't last as long as she thought it would, but the emptiness stayed for a much longer time. It was a curious case of recovering from the pain of a heart break much faster than imagined.
Perhaps she never really loved Suho after all.
However love or not, the emptiness was there screaming in her face. Suho must have wondered why she acted a little awkward and strange around him out of the other EXO-K boys, but even if she never really loved Suho, it was still a deadly serious crush. She couldn't revert back to her old self so easily.
So to fill in this void of emptiness in her heart, Sunmi chose to focus on the continuous search for the enchanted mirror instead. Their search had been fruitless for so long and even their random impromptu tries were to no avail.
Sunmi decided to engross herself in more research at home to look for better spots to find the mirror. To be honest she still felt a little guilty about trapping Sehun over here in this world because she felt it was her fault.
If only she didn't take the darn mirror out during detention, all that wouldn't have happened would it? Sehun would be back in his world with the Jina he loved so much and the Devil would still be here terrorizing people.
Except perhaps the one being stuck in the other world would be her instead.
Sehun's situation here in their world was in exchange for her own suffering. She had to set things right. Sunmi had slaved away at her computer for several nights, developing horrible eye bags and yawning so frequently during class that even the teacher had to reprimand the model student.
She researched about mirrors in general and learnt that there were actually quite a lot of assumptions and myths about mirrors. It was even described as the "tool of the devil" to a portal leading to another dimension. Quite right.
However, there were just so many of these myths and beliefs but none of them facts. No evidence, no actual people experiencing these except for Sehun.
She didn't know where to start if she wanted to find another enchanted mirror. It would be anywhere in the world. And by anywhere, it was really anywhere.
Sunmi let out a small sigh as she ruffled her own hair. "Aish, where in the world is that darn mirror?"
-----
"Are you serious? We've got to go through all these places?" Kai groaned in despair as he looked at the long list which Sunmi had made. "It's going to take years!"
"Stop exaggerating." Sunmi muttered, not at all affected.
"Not years maybe." D.O. mumbled as he stared at the list. "Months perhaps."
Sunmi just shrugged, looking down at the list she had made. "We've got to go through all these to find the mirror. We've got to find it." she twirled her hair around her finger thoughtfully. "Did I miss out any places?" she murmured, pulling out another folder.
Chanyeol's eyes rounded at the table which Sunmi had printed. "Wait Sunmi, you even created a timetable for when we're supposed to go find the mirrors and where?" he squinted at the words. "My schedule is on Tuesdays and Thursdays and what? I have to travel all the way to Incheon?" he whined.
"Let me see!" Baekhyun snatched it away. He gasped dramatically at the schedule. "Do we have to seriously follow this? That means going out to search for the mirror on every day that I don't have choir practice. What about our friday afternoon movies?" he pouted.
"We'll just have to sacrifice them if we want to find the mirror." Sunmi muttered, tapping on her chin. "If you don't want to do this, I can do it myself."
Sehun's gaze flickered over to her in concern. He noted her strange obsession with finding the mirror to pass her time and didn't want to comment on it. He knew it was her way of distracting herself from her heart break and respected her decision for that.
But this, this was a little over right? Expecting the other boys to go through this as well. Even though Sehun did want to return home, the feeling wasn't that strong this time and he didn't want to trouble everyone just because he needed to return.
Suho too looked a little concerned with this extreme way of searching. "Uhm, it's true that we have to find the mirror though." he bit his lip, glancing at Sehun. "We have to send Maknae home somehow. He can't stay here posing as the Devil all his life."
The pain of a heart break didn't go away as easily as many would have thought. It wasn't easy to fall in love with the wrong person and it wasn't easy to fall out of it either.
The thing about Sunmi's crush for Suho was that it had started from pure admiration for this boy out of the group to really obsessing for him. It sort of became a habit for Sunmi and when she decided to stop this habit, she felt empty.
The initial hurt didn't last as long as she thought it would, but the emptiness stayed for a much longer time. It was a curious case of recovering from the pain of a heart break much faster than imagined.
Perhaps she never really loved Suho after all.
However love or not, the emptiness was there screaming in her face. Suho must have wondered why she acted a little awkward and strange around him out of the other EXO-K boys, but even if she never really loved Suho, it was still a deadly serious crush. She couldn't revert back to her old self so easily.
So to fill in this void of emptiness in her heart, Sunmi chose to focus on the continuous search for the enchanted mirror instead. Their search had been fruitless for so long and even their random impromptu tries were to no avail.
Sunmi decided to engross herself in more research at home to look for better spots to find the mirror. To be honest she still felt a little guilty about trapping Sehun over here in this world because she felt it was her fault.
If only she didn't take the darn mirror out during detention, all that wouldn't have happened would it? Sehun would be back in his world with the Jina he loved so much and the Devil would still be here terrorizing people.
Except perhaps the one being stuck in the other world would be her instead.
Sehun's situation here in their world was in exchange for her own suffering. She had to set things right. Sunmi had slaved away at her computer for several nights, developing horrible eye bags and yawning so frequently during class that even the teacher had to reprimand the model student.
She researched about mirrors in general and learnt that there were actually quite a lot of assumptions and myths about mirrors. It was even described as the "tool of the devil" to a portal leading to another dimension. Quite right.
However, there were just so many of these myths and beliefs but none of them facts. No evidence, no actual people experiencing these except for Sehun.
She didn't know where to start if she wanted to find another enchanted mirror. It would be anywhere in the world. And by anywhere, it was really anywhere.
Sunmi let out a small sigh as she ruffled her own hair. "Aish, where in the world is that darn mirror?"
-----
The EXO-K boys were out under Sunmi's instructions as they split up in groups to look for the enchanted mirror. Sunmi made sure to group Suho up with someone other than herself because she didn't think she could stand long hours alone with him without starting to fantasize again.
The groupings were Baekyeol, D.-Kai-Ho and Sunhun. Sunmi gave each of them maps which little red markings of the route they were supposed to take.
"Make sure you visit every one of these places okay?" Sunmi wagged her finger warningly. "We can't miss a spot."
Kai yawned tiredly and rubbed his eyes. "I understand your kind intentions but couldn't we have started the search a little later? 8am is an inhumane timing." he complained. "And most of the shops aren't even opened yet."
"You've just got to note them down and visit those again when they are." Sunmi shrugged nonchalantly. "We've got to hold a thorough search of the place. This area has a lot of antique shops so look out for those as well."
Suho nodded and turned to face the rest of the boys. "Just listen to her, alright? Finding the mirror is our top priority now. Sehun's already been stuck here for two weeks. He can't keep posing as the Devil for the rest of his life."
Sehun let out a small breath. True, he did want to go back. Kind of.
"But I'm sleepy and tired." Chanyeol whined, resting his chin on Baekhyun's shoulders, which was a very odd sight seeing how both were males and one was much taller. "I want to sleep in on a Saturday morning."
Baekhyun whacked his best friend's head and D.O. chortled with laughter at Chanyeol's grimace. "Man up dude. You're out of bed and that's that." Baekhyun muttered. He glanced at his watch. "We'll meet back here at twelve to share our findings and meet for lunch?"
Everyone nodded in agreement. "Good. Giraffe, let's go." he pushed Chanyeol along and rolled his eyes as his best friend started whining all over again.
Sunmi and Sehun got separated from the rest of the boys as they searched another area. Sehun kept his gaze fixated on Sunmi, biting his lip deep in thought. To be completely honest he noticed how she was slightly obsessive of finding the mirror these past few days.
He knew she needed some distraction from her recent heart break and it pained him to see her go through everything. She shouldn't have to.
And strangely he didn't want her to help him because he was only a "distraction" from the pain another guy caused her. If she wanted to help, he wanted her to want to help genuinely and out of passion. Simply put, he didn't like the effect Suho had on her. Period.
Even if Suho was by far the nicest guy Sehun had ever met. But still.
Sehun glanced at Sunmi and saw that she was completely engrossed in looking around her for the mirror. She stopped at the first shop and pulled him in with her, immediately starting her search. Sehun followed behind her, biting his lip. Was she still hung up over Suho?
"Hm this isn't it." Sunmi muttered as she set down a small compact mirror and started looking at another metal rimmed one. Sehun shuffled closer to her and tapped her shoulder. "Sunmi?"
"Yeah?" she turned to look at him and her eyes rounded. She was stunned for a few seconds before she burst out into laughter. "Oh Sehun, what in the world are you doing?"
"Nothing." Sehun grinned as he shook his hips. That little brat had somehow managed to find a tutu skirt and he even squeezed into it, almost breaking the elastic at the waist. He did a few dance moves and winked at her. "What do you think? Suits me?"
"Definitely. You should totally get it." Sunmi guffawed. "No wait, I'll even pay for it as a gift for you. Take it, really."
Sehun smiled, glad that he could make her laugh. He stepped out of the tutu skirt, a little embarrassed when a few girls came into the store and saw him wearing a pink tutu around his waist. He put the skirt back into it's original place and avoided the store holder's confused gaze on him.
Sunmi shook her head in amusement as she continued looking through the store, her cheeks still slightly flushed from laughter. "You're so weird." she jabbed his arm lightly when he returned.
Sehun just shrugged. He followed Sunmi around and when she decided that the enchanted mirror wasn't in this particular shop, they entered the one next to it. Sunmi seemed to be extremely focused on trying to find the mirror and Sehun was anything but that.
He stopped all of a sudden and grabbed Sunmi's wrist. "What?" she raised a brow at him.
"What do you call a deer with no eye?" Sehun blurted. Sunmi blinked a few times in confusion. "Excuse me?"
"What do you call a deer with no eye?" Sehun repeated, more firmly this time. Sunmi stared at him for a while before reaching out to feel his forehead. "Are you feeling okay today, Sehun?" she asked, concerned. "Did you experience some major setback this week that I'm not aware of?" she tapped her chin. "Strange. I was with you almost every waking hour and I didn't notice anything hapen." she mumbled ot herself.
Sehun sulked and poked her cheek. "Answer the question! What do you call a deer with no eye?" he asked again, determined to get a response.
"I don't know!" Sunmi shot him a look. "Will you tell me the answer now? What is it?"
Sehun shrugged. "No idea."
Sunmi wanted to strangle him. "What in the world? If you didn't know the answer why did you-" she faltered when she processed what had happened. She rolled her eyes and her frown dissolved into amused chuckles as she hit his arm lightly. "Oh gosh, where did you hear that from? It's so lame!"
Sehun grinned and slung his arm around her shoulder. "Want to hear another one? What did the traffic light say to the car?"
"Red light, stop! Green light, go?" Sunmi blinked and scratched her head.
"Nope." Sehun beamed. "Don't look! I'm changing!"
Sunmi burst into peals of laughter once more and the ahjumma store keeper sent them a smile, obviously thinking along the lines of what-an-adorable-couple. Sehun just smiled, feeling lighter and happier that Sunmi was laughing because of him.
Because of him. Take that Suho, she was laughing and smiling because of him.
"What in the world?" Sunmi caught her breath. "Did you go memorise these jokes or something?"
Sehun just smiled. Hell yeah he did. "Why?" Sunmi looked up at him, amused. "That and the tutu skirt thing." she pointed out. "Are you a secret aspiring gagman or something?"
"No! I want to be a journalist in the future!" Sehun proclaimed proudly.
Sunmi smiled. "So why the lame jokes?"
Sehun shuffled around uncomfortably as he stared back at her. "To make you smile, of course." he admitted. "You're still bothered about the Suho hyung thing aren't you?"
"Suho...?" Sunmi's eyes rounded as she took his words in. "What made you think I'm hung up over him?"
Sehun shrugged and gestured around him. "Well, we're here aren't we? Your active planning for finding the enchanted mirror and stuff, it's all a distraction from your heart ache. So I thought maybe I should help to find that smile back on your face.."
"Oh Sehun." Sunmi softened, smiling softly. "I'm not hung up on Suho."
Sehun blinked at her. "You're not?"
"Maybe a little." Sunmi confessed, nodding. "But not a lot. I think I've learnt to let go and perhaps I didn't like Suho as much as I thought. I'd like to think that. Planning and searching for the mirror kept my mind of things for a bit but I'm not doing these things just because of that. I'm doing these things because you're my friend and I want to help you." she smiled at him.
Letting out a jagged breath, Sehun swallowed. So she was doing these because she cared. He didn't know why he felt warm and tingly at that aspect.
"And thanks." Sunmi murmured. "Thanks for trying to make me feel better."
Sehun swelled. Anything. Anything for you.
He grabbed her hand abruptly and strolled them about the large store. Sunmi wasn't particularly uncomfortable because they held hands quite a lot in school because of their couple act, but was slightly surprised he was keeping up with it even with no one around to see.
"Why did the monkey fall out of the tree?" Sehun asked.
It took a few seconds for Sunmi to realize he was starting another joke, and she tore her gaze from the tree outside. "Butter fingers?" she guessed.
"It died."
"That's plain sadistic, Sehun."
"Why did the squirrel fall out of the tree?"
"It died too. Some apparent disease spreading on that particular tree."
"Nope. It was taped to the monkey."
"Taped? How in the world-"
"Why did the chipmunk fall off from the tree as well?"
"It either died or was also taped to the freaking monkey."
"Deng! It was peer pressure."
"What the hell Sehun...."
"You've got to admit that was funny."
"It isn't. It's plain lame."
"But you're smiling!"
"It's not. My lips are itchy."
"...you're a really bad liar."
"I'm not lying!"
"Fine whatever."
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