Author's Note:

Hi guys! Sorry if it took so long for me to post this chapter because I had my first finals for college and just started the first week of my 2nd term so I only had time to update now :( Hope that this late update won't be disappointing you guys too much which is why I made it a little longer haha! :)

Please enjoy and subscribe for the next update! :)

Thank you all for the support! :D

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"If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else's, we'd grab ours back."

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Chapter 6

"Late Night"

 

JungHee's POV

He totally did not mean it that way. It’s impossible for Lay to need me. He can’t just need someone who always annoys the hell out of him, only says pessimistic things and is probably the bossiest partner he could ever get.

Between the two of us, I would probably need Lay more than he needed me.

“Ridiculous.” I muttered, scowling at him as I stood up, sending the flyers on my lap falling onto the floor. “Get a towel before you even flood my bedroom!” I said in a stern voice, seeing that a small puddle was now forming beneath his feet.

“Can’t,” He stifled a laugh as he pointed a finger towards the floor. "Your house, not mine.” Then, he dropped his bag as if it weighed too much, causing a loud thud to echo across the room.

“HEY! DON’T JUST DROP YOUR WET BAG ON MY FLOOR!” I angrily said, hurrying to my closet to grab a towel and tossed it to him.

I was starting to panic as I walked back and forth across my room, slowly realizing what the situation was. First, a wet guy named Lay was standing in front of me, second; that wet Lay was creating a puddle of water inside my room and third; that wet Lay's shirt was clinging too much on his body that I could practically see the outline of his chest and his toned abs.

“I NEED A RAG!” I shouted more to myself and tried to shake away the thought of having a handsome and hot guy inside my room as I made my way towards the door.

Did I just think that Lay was handsome and hot?

I turned around and faced him, avoiding his eyes in the process as I felt a blush creeping up my cheeks.

“Don’t go anywhere. Just stay inside my room and I’ll grab some clothes and a rag, okay?”

He was too busy drying himself with the towel that he didn’t mind when I roughly pushed him aside and closed the door behind me.

 

“Ahjumma! Where’s oppa?” I called out as I quickly descended halfway down the stairs, hoping my brother wasn’t home yet or he’d flip out if he finds out that a guy’s inside my room.

“Why? I’m here.” Jungki oppa suddenly answered, emerging from his room on the second floor. He looked down from the bannister above, holding a bottle of make-up remover on one hand and some cotton balls on the other. He obviously just arrived from his filming schedule a few minutes ago.

“Is there something wrong?”

I was so stunned to see him that I just stood there and smiled, shaking my head furiously.

“Uhh..." I started, searching for the right excuses in my head. “Well, uhh... My friend’s here and he—“ he wouldn’t be too happy to hear the truth especially since guys aren’t allowed to stay at my place this late at night. He could be the best brother in the world but he tends to be too overprotective at times.

“—I mean she needs new clothes and I wonder if you could loan her yours?"

“My clothes?” he emphasized the first word, raising an eyebrow. "Why mine? You're both girls. Shouldn't she borrow yours?”

“Uhmm.. Well.." Okay, so I really wasn’t good at lying on the spot. Fiddling nervously with my fingers, I blurted out the first thing that came into my mind.

“She’s a fan of yours and she wants your clothes so if you could lend her some small clothes of yours, she’d be happy.”

Lay would probably laugh hard if he heard me say those stupid things about him—her.

My brother sighed and went inside his room without giving me proper response.

 

After a while, he went back out with a set of clothes in his hands.

"Tell her I don’t want these back and that she could keep them,” He said in a serious tone as if I just disturbed something important. “I’ll check on you later, okay?”

He looked a bit pissed off as he threw me his clothes.

But who cares if he thinks I had a psychotic friend who wanted the worn clothes of my very famous brother?

 

---

 

“Here are my brother’s clothes,” I said, closing the door of my room behind me.

I placed a tray with two mugs of hot coffee on my desk and went over to him, handing him my brother’s clothes and a plastic bag for his own wet ones. I noticed he was seated on one of the chairs inside the room as he stared into nothingness, obviously not paying attention to my presence at all. I cleared my throat which made him snap out of his deep thoughts.

“I’ll have these dry-cleaned.” He said taking them from me before standing up.

“Don’t. He said it’s yours,” I said smoothly, walking back to my desk before pointing where my bathroom was. “Now go change.”

 

After he spent minutes changing in my bathroom, he walked out wearing my brother’s black and white baseball shirt and denim shorts. His hair was left a little disheveled from the rain and his face looked a lot paler. I watched him place his wet bag back on the floor and pulled a chair behind him. He placed the chair a few inches beside me and sat on it.

“What now?” He asked, leaning closer so he could stare at my laptop screen.

“You sure you wanna do this?" I asked, wondering if he was actually being nice or maybe he just had an ulterior motive which was to prank me.

“You think I would’ve rushed to your house, even if it was raining hard, for nothing?” He said, rolling his eyes. “Give me some credit. I know we both want to pass this class. Now, go, let’s start.

He seemed genuinely determined to start on this project proposal which amused me. And so, I searched for a few places on the internet from Hongdae—which he called very overrated with clubs—to Gangnam—which he simply turned down because he just felt like it—to Busan—which he didn’t find interesting—to Jeju—which he didn’t like because he said it was overrated—until I typed Gangwon-do.

It had been two hours since we started searching and I silently prayed that this place would finally interest him.

“Gangwon-do,” I said in a syllabic manner and pressed search. There were image results, and a few websites of hotels and tour sites.

“Woah, this place seems okay,” I said for what seemed like the hundredth time since we started searching. “Can you please agree now?”

He was quiet for a moment, rubbing the tip of his chin with his index finger and it seemed as though he was already considering the place. I mentally wished he was because I really didn’t want to waste time in searching and thinking for more places.

Please just agree already!

“No, next place,” He said flatly, but his face looked different as if something was pulling him back.

I gaped at him.

“You were almost going to agree!” Exasperated, I threw my hands up in the air and pushed my chair away from the laptop.

 

I grabbed my mug of hot coffee from the tray beside him and gulped half of it, feeling the burning sensation in my throat which was soothing but more of painful. “I give up! This is hopeless!"

“You can’t! Or else I would’ve gone here for nothing.” He crossed his arms in front of his chest, letting out a deep and frustrated sigh.

“Well, I didn’t force you to be here!” I snapped back, earning a glare from Lay as I pushed my laptop closer to him. “Now you do it.”

“You invited me to your house this morning and it actually seemed like you were forcing me," He said, grabbing the other mug of coffee from the tray. He sniffed the coffee giving it a little sip. He closed his eyes for a brief second, probably feeling the warmth catch in his throat, before opening them again to meet my gaze. “Or did you forget all about it just because you had a bad day?”

“Bad day?” My eyes widened and I started to choke as the name Jaejoong instantly clicked into my mind. I swallowed and tried to keep my expression calm. “I’m not having a bad day.”

“You can’t lie to me. I can see right through you,” He said smoothly, smirking in an annoyingly handsome way.

I snorted. “Who are you to even say that?”

There were just times when Lay completely confuses me. He would act like he cared and would give me irritating but meaningful advices but the next thing I know, he’d act like he just wanted to insult me.

“I saw you this afternoon. You were crying. I tried calling your attention because it was raining hard but you didn’t seem to hear me,” He said and for the first time, he looked at me as if he was sincerely concerned but was quickly replaced with his usual straight face and dull eyes.

“None of your business,” I simply said, not wanting to talk to him about Jaejoong anymore. If I did, he’d just rub in my face how Jaejoong’s not good for me and I hated hearing those kinds of advices because a part of me believed that it was true.

“Did he hurt you or something?” he asked, a tinge of worry evident in his voice.

I didn’t answer. Maybe Jaejoong didn’t hurt me physically but he still did, hurting me emotionally, without him even knowing. I no longer wanted to say anything. But seeing Lay look concerned for a moment made me want to open up, to just show him the article, to just let it out. There was something about Lay that made me feel safe to share things I only kept to myself even if he ended up giving me negative comments about it.

I pulled the laptop towards me and clicked open the tab where Jaejoong’s article was loaded. It was the same photo from all gossip sources in the internet and for a moment, I once again wished that the article would just be deleted from the whole internet history.

He scooted closer to me, inching his face closer to the laptop. His eyes scanned the article and after minutes and minutes of reading, he leaned back on his chair and shook his head, sighing. “I told you your prince charming isn’t the right frog to kiss.”

“Don’t start on me.” I gave him a pointed look.

“You didn’t know he’d go to this girl afterwards?”

“I didn't.” I answered. “He told me he had a schedule and was meeting up with his manager."

“Manager? Schedule?" He rolled his eyes and scowled. “What an ! He’s totally lying. Can’t you see it?"

“You don’t know him so don’t call him an ,” I defended Jaejoong although I knew that he didn’t deserve it after everything he had done to me in the weeks.

“He already ditched you for another girl but you're still defending him? Has he even texted or called you about it?”

I clenched my teeth, preparing to lash out at him as I felt my blood rising but I remained still.

“Maybe he doesn’t know I’ve seen it.”

“He’s not stupid, JungHee,” He said, staring right into me and for a moment, I felt too exposed, all my raw feelings visible in my eyes, close to tears.

“He knows you’ve seen it but he doesn’t have the guts to apologize maybe because he meant what he did or maybe because he simply just doesn’t care. He’s surrounded with girls willing to die for him and you’re one of them, problem is, you’re just one of them and not the ONLY one."

“He’s not a playboy.” I glared at him, pushing back the tears that were threatening to come out.

“Yeah, right. Then why does he need to lie about meeting another girl?" He said, smiling sarcastically.

“You don’t know his good side—“ I started, ready for all my positive arguments about Jaejoong.

“Tell you what, I’m having my share of bad days, too.” He said. “My girlfriend lapsed into one of her bipolar attitudes a while ago which was an effect of her medication. I learned about this sickness of hers while we were in Gangwon-do. It was our third month together and while we were lying on the beach to watch the sunset, she told me she had a weak heart so she was always sick and was constantly depressed. She explained how she takes anti-depressants but it resulted to her being bipolar. There were always those times she’d become sweet and angry in an instant. She said that it was hard for her to control herself once it was happening. It's like the girlfriend I once loved isn't there anymore whenever it happens. She turns into a completely different person."

He met my gaze. His dark orbs were piercing right through me and all I could see was pain.

“It was the worst day of our relationship, the day I knew that the person I love would start to change that she might totally forget her good side and just keep snapping back and forth into her bipolar attitudes. It was scary. Just a while ago before I went here, I visited her and it happened again. Every time I see her like that, I just felt weak because I couldn’t even soothe her. I couldn't make her calm down. And it because it's always me who’s beside her when it happens and sometimes I just couldn’t take it.

“So you see, I refused to go to Gangwon-do not because I’m a plain, and bored, sadistic jerk who wanted to see you suffer but because I didn't  want to see the same sunset on the same beach as if I’m reliving the day she told me she was sick.”

He finished, covering his face with both his hands as if he was about to cry. It was quiet for a moment and I figured that he needed time to calm down. Time to think about everything.

I had the sudden urge to those dark brown locks that were descending down his forehead to comfort him in a way but I stopped myself before acting thoughtlessly and just remained motionless in silence of the room.

“I’m glad you decided to come here.” I said after a while. “I’m glad I can keep my mind off of Jaejoong, too.”

“We’re just a sick pair of project partners,” He said, lifting his head up and a small smile was tugging at the corners of his lips, forming those lovely dimples at the sides.

“Tell your girlfriend I said she’d have to get well soon,” I said, smiling back at him.

“She will. She has to,” He stated, his voice filled with conviction, misery, bitterness and hope as if it was the antidote to their problem.

“I don’t know what else to say.” I sighed, wiping my sweaty palms on the  hem of my shirt.

“Sometimes, there are moments where saying nothing works best,” He said, shifting his gaze back to the laptop and motioning for me to come closer.

“Now go and search for another place. It’s almost 12 AM. My eyes are getting bloodshot.”

I finally let out a laugh. “I told you to come over for dinner not for a midnight snack.”

“Are you going to search or what?” He said, gesturing to the laptop.

“Okay fine! Jeez!" I said, moving my finger along the track pad. I opened my iTunes and played some JYJ songs to shoo away the heavy atmosphere.

He had shared way too much for one night and I was sure it took a lot of effort for him to do so.

 

I stared at his face, the light of the laptop glowed across his features. He sure knew how to insult Jaejoong but he also had a taste of the bitter life and I give him credit for that. Maybe he’s just not all about bragging and being egoistic and annoying but Lay’s actually more than that.

“This is supposed to be calming," I said, grinning sheepishly at him but noticed how he just seemed more irritated.

“Don’t ever support that kind of trash music from trashy people,” He said with disgust.

“I told you they’re not—“

But too late, his arm went over mine, pushing it down a little before I could even close my laptop and as he carelessly tried to grab the laptop from my hands, I accidentally knocked over one of the mugs of coffee that was on top of the desk. The mug was hit by my wrist and toppled over, spilling all of its contents on Lay's shorts.

“Crap!” I panicked, releasing the laptop I was holding and letting it crash a little on the cluttered desk.

“OUCH! ! OW! What are you still standing there for? Get a rag or a towel or something!” He shouted, trying his best effort to fan the wet spot that was directly on his crotch with his hands.

“I have it here somewhere….” I shuffled to my feet and hurriedly looked around the room.

“IT’S UNDER THE BED! ARE YOU ING BLIND?”

"I'M NOT BLIND! WILL YOU SHUT UP! I CAN’T CONCENTRATE!"

It went on like this for another ten minutes and I swear I preferred his soft side a hundred times more rather than his bossy, short-tempered side.

 

---

 

After finding the damn towel, I crouched in front of Lay, between his legs and started wiping furiously on the wet areas. “Will this even work? How about you remove your shorts and change into a new one?”

“You want me to undress in front of you now?” he said, his voice sounded amused and if he wasn't hurting right now, I bet he would've smirked. I felt my face turning red in embarrassment.

“No! Are you stupid? In the washroom!” I stopped myself from throwing the small towel to his face.

“JUST KEEP ON WIPING!” He commanded, pointing at the wet areas.

“You’re not helping, you know? My skin is burning!!” He continued to complain as he furiously fanned his crotch with both his hands.

“JungHee!” the door flew open, revealing my brother standing on the threshold of my door, carrying a tray with milk and some chocolate chip cookies. "Wh-what do you two think you’re doing?!”

“Uhm.. O-op-oppa...” I quickly stood up, feeling my face turning into a bright shade of red. “I was just …”

“What are you doing with your visitor’s crotch! What is a guy even doing in your room?!” he shouted, looking very horrified as he strongly gripped on the tray he was holding.

"And you!” he Faced Lay, pointing a warning finger at him. “What are you making my innocent little sister do?! GET OUT! NOW!”

I could’ve sworn I heard Lay scoff once my brother said ‘Innocent’.

“You don’t understand, oppa!” I said defensively, waving my arms in front of him. “Listen to me!!”

“I understand everything perfectly!” He yelled, causing me to cover my ears. He placed the tray on the desk and roughly shoved Lay, motioning him out the door.

"GET OUT BEFORE I CALL THE POLICE AND CHARGE YOU WITH UAL ASSAULT!”

I just kept my mouth shut, knowing better that my brother wouldn't exactly listen to what I had to explain.

“I’ll call you when I get home. We have to talk,” Lay said, quickly grabbing his things from the floor and his shoes from underneath my bed. He bent over to grab a pen from my desk and scribbled his number on one of the papers on my desk.

“I'm sorry! Thank you for the clothes! I’ll go now,” He bowed respectfully to my brother who stood shell-shocked as he stared daggers at Lay.

“GO! NOW!” Jungki shouted as if Lay was deaf. I pitied Lay as he descended down the stairs, looking back at me once more and mouthing the words ‘It’s okay’.

“Let me explain,” I said, facing my brother and beginning the tirade of words I had prepared in my head. But he just waved me off and turned around.

“We’ll talk tomorrow morning. Just sleep now. It’s already midnight.”

“Won’t you even listen?” I said, trying not to sound pissed. “You kicked my friend out!”

“You lied that he was a she! I thought your friend was psychotic but it turns out that it’s you who is one!" He was mad. Really mad. He turned and slammed the door in my face along with his sharp words.

Boys. They just never listen! Sometimes, they’re not always right. Take my brother’s opinion about Lay and me. And take Lay's opinion on Jaejoong.

 

“Men.” I muttered, switching on the laptop again. “Now I have to finish this alone.”

 

---

 

“Wake up!” I felt someone shaking my body. I groggily lifted my head and rubbed my eyelids with the backs of hands. I could feel my neck and cheek sore from my uncomfortable sleeping position the whole night. I squinted my eyes to stare at the guy hovering above me, covering the sunlight that shone through my window. I realized that I fell asleep on the desk while finishing the project proposal.

“I said, wake up!” I heard the familiar deep voice again. My eyes finally focused on my brother standing—clad in his casual pre-recording clothes. “You’re almost late for class.”

“Class?” I said, trying to process the four letter word. Oh crap! Class, yeah right!

I immediately sat up straight and scrambled out of the chair, grabbing a clean pair of underwear and casual clothes from my closet.

I could feel my brother’s dazed look on me. Well, I was really in a rush but my extra rushed movements were also because I wasn’t ready to explain to my brother why I had to lie to him and clarify the reason why Lay was inside my room and I really wasn’t sure that he’d buy my “Project Making” excuse after seeing me crouch directly in front of Lay’s crotch.

I slammed the door of the bathroom behind me and shouted, “Oppa! I’m in a rush, let’s just talk later! I’ll walk to school!”

Walk? Why did I even say that! The school was like kilometers away from home, not to mention all the sketchy places and the confusing intersections!

“You sure?” I heard him call back. “Okay, I’ll go ahead! I’ll pick you up from school later if I can!”

Just before I was able to call his attention and to take back what I just said, I heard the door of my room close. Regret sank slowly in me as I faced my reflection in the mirror.

“Walk?” I muttered to the girl facing me with unruly hair and dark circles under her eyes.

I wasn’t that desperate to get away from my brother! But maybe this walk would save me from an awkward moment in the car when my brother would ask me if I have a boyfriend or such or that angry atmosphere of his telling me I’m grounded from having friends come over at home.

After thinking of hundreds of excuses to tell my brother that Lay was a perfectly good—not—person, I finished my bath and was completely dressed up for school. Just as I was about to pick up all the printed worksheets I needed from the desk, I saw the paper which contained random numbers before realizing that is was the one where Lay wrote his number last night. I picked it up and stared at it.

“Lay” he wrote.

I brought out my phone and just started saving his number, not in the mood at all to send him a text or even talk to him. After doing so, I went out of the room, grabbed a sandwich from the counter and left the house.

Walking under the morning sun was okay but hearing all the cars honk, and bumping against many people rushing to school and work, was the pain—not to mention that after a 10 minute walk, I was definitely lost.

I scanned the area in the hopes of seeing a very familiar landmark which will make a “ting!” in my memory. But after a five minute painful recall, I was unsuccessful. Suddenly, I could feel my phone getting heavier inside my pocket. I thought about calling my brother but I knew it will just ruin my pride. He knew I was escaping from him and if he hears that I needed his help, he’d laugh and start with the “I told you so” speech.

 “JUNGHEE!” I heard someone shout.

Hallucination, I bet. Hallucination from my panicking and nervousness!

But I turned my head just in case it wasn’t. And immediately, I spotted a black Bentley Continental GT with its passenger window rolled down and the driver’s head peeking out.

“JUNGHEE!” The driver called once more and a pair of huge creepy wide eyes met mine which I was greatly familiar with.

I could not believe this.

“Chanyeol?” I said, squinting and rubbing my eyes to see if it was really him.

“YA! GET IN!” He said as a line of cars formed behind him, honking. “GET IN! I’ll give you a ride!”

After weeks of not seeing him, I wanted to cry and wrap my arms tightly around him like how I always did whenever he was gone for a long time.

There he was, Park Chanyeol. My second most favorite guy in the world, the person whom I know would be there when I needed him like how I needed a ride at this moment.