-Chapter 15-

All I Need Is You

“H-here’s your n-notebook back, Jaeyun…” Taking the black notebook into your hands, you questioningly peered up at the boy standing before you. Almost instantly, you could see nervous tension etched on every part of his paling face. His body was rigid and you could see him subtly clenching and unclenching his seemingly clammy hands.

“Thanks Taemin.” You awkwardly said as you flipped through the pages. Glancing up at Taemin once more, he promptly flinched back the second you locked eyes with him, completely stricken. Although you were a bit suspicious, you continued on. “I just recently gave you my notebook though.” You took one small step towards him. “Are you sure you were able to get all the no-“

Taemin stumbled back a couple of steps and with a small apology, frantically his heel and jetted over to the other side of the room to his group of friends who were carefully watching along the entire time. He had rushed off so abruptly that you weren’t even able to retain what had just happened until you faintly heard Taemin whispering amongst his friends.

“I felt like I was going to fall unconscious any minute…!”

“Seriously, just from standing in front of her…??” The shortest of his friends had piped up in disbelief with raised eyebrows. (His name might have been Jonghyun or something like that). Taemin quickly nodded without any hesitation. “Oh wow, so the rumors really are true… she really is cursed…” Jonghyun murmured with a small cringe. Your body turned stiff.

Cursed…. cursed…

That word kept echoed around in your mind against your own will. It seemed like you couldn’t get away from it no matter what you did. That word, that single word, was all you kept hearing around school these past few days. This couldn’t be some type of coincidence and you knew fully well that that certain “omen of a word” as you now called it, even if it wasn’t openly said to you, was meant for you.

The question is, how did this come about anyways? Since when did you “become cursed” in everyone’s eyes?

“Stop kidding yourself Jaeyun… you know fully well when this all started…” you softly sighed, turning and quietly seating yourself in your desk. Gazing up one last time, you caught a glimpse of pretty much everyone in the room sneaking glances at you but then promptly averting their eyes or dunking their head down once they caught your stare.

Feeling a bit of dejection now washing over yourself, you brought your attention down to your desk against your own will. It seemed like it was better for you to do this- to just keep to yourself and not bother anyone.

You weren’t dumb. You knew why people were treating you like this. And you knew why people were labeling you as… cursed...

Turning your head to look over your shoulder, you narrowed your eyes onto a corner in the back of the room. Normally, this spot would be disregarded and looked past by everyone including you, for there was nothing out of the ordinary about it. However, that wasn’t exactly the case now. It took more than just a simple glance to see past this out-of-the-ordinary deception.

It was almost invisible to the eye, but with enough concentration a very light shadow in the shape of a man could be seen. Although his body could hardly be made out, you could almost clearly see what looked like facial features on his face. His empty eyes were unblinking and his thin lips were clamped together into a hard line. His expression bore absolutely nothing. Everything from his posture to his bone chillingly pale face did not move, making him appear like a statue or maybe even an expressionless man frozen in time.

He was just standing there. Staring at you.

That’s right… I have Luhan to blame for all of this… you thought, staring Luhan back into the eyes with an unreadable expression lingering on your face. Luhan, being a spirit, for the most part always gave off a sort of sickening feeling wherever he went. You had (sadly) grown accustomed to his unsettling feeling he gave off after so many year of bearing through it on a daily basis. You knew, however, that it takes a very long time to build tolerance for it so of course the average person wouldn’t even be able to do so for even a second.

This is probably why people were feeling so sick and uncomfortable in your company. Of course they all felt disturbed what with the chilling entity standing right behind you, slowly feeding off their energy as the seconds would tick by.

Just when I was starting to get used to him… you despondently thought. Just when things were beginning to look up for you as you were attempting to cope with this unseen entity living in your house, treating him as if he were another person living in your home. You were starting to think that you finally had this Luhan thing under control but… this whole thing with him following you outside of your home was getting a bit too much for you to handle.

“…What is she staring at…?”

“Y-you don’t think she’s looking at a spirit or something, do you?”

“Please tell me she isn’t communicating with it… I-I don’t want to be cursed…!”

You snapped out of your daze and rotated your head to gape at the infinite sea of horrified eyes staring you down around the room. Immediately, everyone almost frighteningly turned away from you. Your eyes aimlessly darted from one person to the next and everywhere you looked you saw the same thing.

Fear…

A painful ball began to gradually form in your throat and your chest became immensely heavy with sorrow. Hunching over your desk, you crossed your arms on the desk and rested your head down, practically burying your face in your arms. No one even dares to look me in the eyes… you painfully thought, a bit choked up.

You weren’t an emotional person so you felt foolish getting so emotional over something like this. But how could you not get even the slightest bit hurt knowing that everyone was afraid of you, knowing that nobody wanted to even be in the same room as you.

Were you some type of… monster in their eyes? Just the thought alone made your now clenched eyes sting with the need to overflow with tears.

You abruptly froze up when you felt an arm slide across your back and comfortingly rest around your small shoulders. The arm was warm and soothing, instantly bringing a bit of relief back into your heart. It was almost a bit surprising how quickly relief seemed to have set into you the moment this person had made contact with you. Who was this person though?

Slowly lifting your head up, you peeked in front of you. Turning your head to the left and the right, you saw no one around you and yet you still felt the arm firmly wrapped around your shoulder. Then, realization hit you… “Luhan…” you softly murmured with a shaky voice. The grip on you gently tightened almost in reassurance.

Your stomach began to turn the moment Luhan entered your mind. It didn’t feel uncomfortable though. In fact, you might even admit that the feeling you had resembled little butterflies fluttering around, tickling the inside of your stomach. It was a feeling you’d usually get when you felt excited or giddy.

Were you really that happy knowing Luhan was here with you?

You closed your eyes and allowed Luhan’s comforting grip and warmth wash over yourself. The moment your eyes eased shut, a distinct image of Luhan appeared in your mind.

He looked just like he did in your dreams. Beautiful yet handsome, radiant and just as pleasant as you remembered. Getting a glimpse of his smile that graced his bright face sent your heart beating faster than ever. You were so happy seeing him. You were so happy having him smiling and looking at just you and only you- happy enough to bring you to tears.

Seeing Luhan during a dark time like this felt like all you really needed to get you through this whole thing. He was the only one on your side. There was no reason for you to put the blame on Luhan when he had done nothing wrong to you. It didn’t matter what people thought about you or what they said.

All you needed was Luhan and you would be just fine.

`Author's Corner

Writer's block is hitting me like a ton of bricks right now, somebodeh help meh!!! But did you guys notice that I beautified the story a bit, especially the foreword! Check it out if you haven't already! :-)