Journey 20

"...I mean, I'm your best friend Jinri. I deserve to know the truth, right?" Kyungsoo nagged one time he managed to corner Jinri on the skiing slope. He  blocked her by opening his arms wide in front of her and continued, "Did you two do it?"

Jinri rubbed her temples and glared at Kyungsoo. He had been so annoying for the past two days of their vacation and he seemed determined to not let the topic go. For two painful days, Jinri was trying her best to avoid Kyungsoo's interrogation and Chanyeol himself. Unfortunately,  luck was always not in her favor just like today when Kyungsoo has been successful of jamming her on the bottom pit.

"Fine! The truth is, we don't. Now can we go back to skiing?" she tried to move again but Kyungsoo blocked her for the second time. He looked unconvinced.

"That doesn't explain why he was and why do his clothes are torn and why you're wearing only your undershirt."

Because neither Jinri nor Chanyeol shared about the fever and as well as Chanyeol's transformation process, poor Kyungsoo stayed innocent - in another way.

But Jinri couldn't help from giving him a "duh" look.

"What happened to your brains smarty pants? How do you think would Chanyeol's seventeen-year old clothes fit on his nineteen-year old body when he grew bigger and taller for at least 10 inches??? I mean -" she lowered her voice down in case of eavesdroppers "-can you see his muscles? It was definitely not there before."
"And your undershirt?"
"Because he has fever. I know it's cliche but it was freezing on your basement and it didn't help his temperature. So I placed my sweaters over him."

Kyungsoo was still eyeing her suspiciously that made Jinri grew more impatient and annoyed.

"K," Jinri started, using her nickname to Kyungsoo. "You're my best friend and brother to me. Do you think that after those years we spent with each other I'll have the guts to lie to you? You know my principle, right?"
"No before marriage?" Kyungsoo muttered.
"Yes - that. That's why I'm not answering to your questions because I assumed that you'll trust my principle."
"I'm... that's..." Kyungsoo stammered, struggling for words to say.
"If you can't trust my principle, can you at least trust your J?"

Kyungsoo hung his head and nodded, feeling ashamed on himself. 

"I'm sorry for doubting you J." he mumbled shyly.
"It's fine." Jinri ruffled his hair and smiled. Then she adjusted her glasses. "Last one to reach the mountain's foot will buy ice cream! See you loserrr!" she cackled and raced down the mountain before Kyungsoo can gather himself again.
"Wha-? Hey! Wait for me!" he shouted back, racing after Jinri.

On the other hand, Mr. and Mrs. Do were appalled after finding a much taller Chanyeol from the basement. It took all of Jinri's lying skills to convince them that Chanyeol was suffering with a mild Marfan syndrome (a syndrome where a person is unusually tall with long limbs and arms) and that him growing for approximately 10 inches was a "normal" thing already.

"But your cousin doesn't look sick to me." Mr. Do commented skeptically after listening to Jinri's lies. "Leaner muscles, bulky chest, enlarged Adam's apple and milky skin... he doesn't look like someone who suffers Marfan syndrome. More like he aged, you know what I mean?"

*Crap! Now I know where Kyungsoo inherited his brains!*

Jinri bit her lip - a sign that she was under pressure - and thought for more excuses to say. Luckily, Kyungsoo aided her.

"Dad, it's impossible to diagnose a person with Marfan syndrome simply because of his appearance. The appearance itself was a result of the syndrome and not its cause. Therefore, you can't tell it with one look. Trust me, I'm the one studying Medicine." He paused, as if trying to digest what he said then continued, "Besides, how can a person age in a matter of hours? That's insane!" he added with a very convincing tone and facial expression.

Mr. Do thought for a moment and sighed defeatedly, finally laughing from his skepticism.

"Of course, it was impossible. I'm sorry son. Let's have some breakfast now, shall we? Then we can finally start our activities!"

And Chanyeol?

There he was, gaining all of the girls' attention in the resort much from Kyungsoo's insecurity.

"Hmpft! I mean, what did they see from him? He's not even handsome, right Jinri? I'm definitely more attractive than him, right Jinri? And to think that I even wore my favorite neon pants for nothing!" Kyungsoo grumbled, shooting daggers at Chanyeol from a distance.

Jinri was also studying Chanyeol from afar. But Kyungsoo's words were just entering from her left ear and exiting from her right ear because her focus was on Chanyeol. She may be not jealous from the attention of girls on him, but she was getting more curious. Questions like 'where did he really come from?', 'who is the old lady?' 'why did she say I'm the perfect human?' and 'how would things end up for him in Earth?' were starting to form in her mind. And she doesn't have any answers at all.

* * *

"WHAT?! NO CHANYEOL. NO KYUNGSOO. JUST NO!"
"Why not???" Chanyeol whined. "It's the perfect idea Jinri!"

Jinri glared at him as her frustration peaked at its best. Firstly, she was still not used of Chanyeol calling her without "noona". She felt threatened that she has no more power left over Chanyeol, which what by heaven's glory was happening right now. Since they became of the same age, Chanyeol ditched all the respectful names he can say to her and was slowly dominating and literally towering over Jinri.

Secondly, she was getting more uncomfortable on living with Chanyeol in the same roof. Ann Li and the rest of the neighborhood were starting to swap whispers about her and the number of boys she was letting in her apartment especially when they first saw the gigantic and charismatic version of nineteen-year old Chanyeol. Everyone literally thought that Jinri was a three-timer witch with fooling beauty.(Three timer: Joonmyeon, Kyungsoo and Chanyeol)

Lastly, Chanyeol and Kyungsoo had just recently proposed an arrangement that will never let Jinri have a peaceful life on school. Since Chanyeol has undeniably grew larger and older, the boys decided that it is time to leave FX Academy and transfer to another school yet again. This time, the idea was more exciting for Chanyeol because he will start his second semester on SMA.

"BECAUSE  MY SCHOOL IS THE ONLY PLACE WHERE I CAN ESCAPE YOUR PRESENCE!"
"But your school is the only place that makes me always miss you." he pouted.

Jinri hung for a second before regaining her composure. Her flushed cheeks were clear, but the determination of her eyes was clearer.

"T-then bear with whatever you are feeling because there is NO WAY as NO WAY I'm goin' to let you study in SMA!"

* * *

"WAAHOOOOOO!!! I'm going to SMA! I'm going to SMA!" Chanyeol repeated in a sing-song, wiggling his hips side-by-side while he studied himself in front of the mirror. After his victory dance, Chanyeol grabbed a marker from his bag and placed a large letter 'X' on the number 103 on Jinri's hand-made calendar.
"Are you done?" Jinri demanded from the other side of the door.
"Nearly!" Chanyeol called back and placed another sachet of wax on his hair. "I'm doneeeee!"
"Then hurry up!" Jinri opened the door and pulled Chanyeol outside. "I don't want Joonmyeon to see -"

Knock. Knock.

"Nevermind." Jinri snapped and reluctantly opened the door while Chanyeol was on her heels.
"Good morning Jin -!" Joonmyeon stopped in mid-sentence. His face turned from radiant to gloomy, looking suspiciously at Chanyeol. "Who are you?" he asked sharply.

Chanyeol stepped out of the apartment - bumping his head on the door in the process- and offered his hand to Joonmyeon.

"I'm Park Chanyeol. Jinri's -"
"Cousin." Jinri cut in immediately.

Chanyeol swiftly raised an eyebrow to Jinri but nodded nonetheless. "Yes, cousin." he went along.

Joonmyeon carefully observed Jinri and Chanyeol before he reluctantly accepted Chanyeol's hand.

"I see..." he said.

He kept scrutinizing Chanyeol who in return stood oblivious from Joonmyeon's skeptic behavior. And so Jinri cleared , breaking Joonmyeon from his own world.

"Joonmyeon... you don't want us to be late, right?" Jinri asked him sweetly.
"Ah! Yes. Yes. Let's go." 

Much to Chanyeol's displeasure, Jinri and Joonmyeon hold hands as usual while they walked towards Joonmyeon's car. Chanyeol followed them behind and when they reached the car, Joonmyeon was shocked when he saw that Chanyeol still with them.

"You're going with us?"
"Obviously." Chanyeol muttered under his breath. He knew that Joonmyeon caught his sarcastic remark and he was even gladder when he saw Joonmyeon looking pissed.

But instead of letting his annoyance and jealousy win over, Joonmyeon chose to ignore Chanyeol and decided to fulfill his gentleman duty for Jinri. He opened the passenger's seat door for her first before hurrying towards the other side of the car, intending to leave Chanyeol behind as soon as possible. Unfortunately, Chanyeol opened the back seat for himself even without Joonmyeon's invitation. This action made Joonmyeon's blood boil more.

Meanwhile, their school drive was chilly and awkward. The frosty stares of Joonmyeon and Chanyeol on each other added the tension inside the car that even Jinri felt the pressure. Minutes later, Joonmyeon broke the icy silence and asked Jinri.

"If I still remember it right, Chanyeol was also the name of the kid you babysat before, right?"

Jinri choked unexpectedly and snapped her head towards Joonmyeon. Of course, her boy friend was the top 2 student in school next to Kyungsoo. His brains wouldn't go wasted at all.

"Um... yeah..." Jinri replied. "That's why that kid was really close to me, because he's the same name with my cousin. Hehe."
"Ahh.."

Joonmyeon turned around the corner for pit stop. When he stopped the car in front of the gasoline station, he turned to Chanyeol and gave him a bill.

"You don't mind if you load the tank, right?"

Chanyeol clenched his teeth and looked scornfully on Joonmyeon. He snatched the bill from his hand without another word and slammed the door behind him while he went on loading the gasoline tank for Joonmyeon.

"But your cousin looks familiar to me." Joonmyeon continued like nothing happened. "Like I saw him before already."
"A-ahh.. really? Well Chanyeol does has a common face you know..."
"How come he's living with you?"

*Joonmyeon please just stop the questions!!* Jinri mentally pleaded.

"Aunt and uncle uhh... decided that it's best for Chanyeol to get his education in the city than the province. And since I already have an place to live in, they asked me to accept him so they can lessen their expenses." she lied. *Where did I get all these lies?! Geez I'm getting better*

Chanyeol finished the load and grumpily went back on the car. The chilly atmosphere came back instantly, and to get things worse, Joonmyeon softly kissed Jinri's hand, making sure that it was visible from the backseat.

*Dork.* Chanyeol scorned grumpily after he saw Joonmyeon's action.

* * *

Jinri just knew it. She knew that she will never gain a peaceful life in SMA especially now that  Chanyeol's presence was attracting a lot of attention in school. She can feel the more piercing glares of women on her when she was jammed between two beautiful men while they walked along the corridor. She can even see the boys turning their heads on Chanyeol, like Jongin for an example.

"See you after school Jinri." Joonmyeon said when they almost reached Jinri's first class. He curled a stray strand of her hair and smiled. "I'm thinking of a date later, how about that?"
"That's -"
"-cool!" Chanyeol interjected. "I'm looking forward to it too!"

Joonmyeon's face hardened but he masked his annoyance instantly. He looked at Jinri with puppy eyes and asked,

"Your cousin doesn't needs to go with us, right?"

Jinri smiled and nodded. "Of course." Then she looked threateningly on Chanyeol as if daring him to contest her response.

"Fine." Chanyeol muttered. "I'll see you on our house then." he sulked and walked away from them, heading towards his own class.
"Don't be offended by this..." Joonmyeon whispered to Jinri when Chanyeol was out of earshot "but your cousin is really annoying." he said, rolling his eyes.

Jinri couldn't help from laughing out loud. Oh Joonmyeon hasn't seen the worst from Chanyeol yet.

"Joonmyeon, class starts in five minutes and I don't want you to be late. Go now." she said suddenly.
"Bye." Joonmyeon gave her a flying kiss then waved. "See you soon."

Jinri was smiling from ear to ear while she watched Joonmyeon's back slowly disappearing from the crowd. She missed these instances when Joonmyeon would ask her on a date unexpectedly only to find out that most of the time their date was kind of prepared already by him. He was the sweetest man for her, a total opposite of Chanyeol.

*Wait. And why am I comparing Joonmyeon to Chanyeol?!* she thought all of a sudden. She shook the thought of her mind and started towards her classroom, only to stop again because of the man standing on the doorway.

Jongin stood on the entrance with the usual distance from Jinri. She felt another electric pull on her nerves after she looked into his dark eyes, and she can't understand why this man hates her so much.

"What?" she snapped unitentionally.
"Stay away from us." Jongin said, his voice loud and clear.
"Us?" Jinri repeated blankly. 

However, Jongin did not offer further explanation to her. He went straight inside their room, Jinri following him behind.

"What do you mean by "us"?" she asked again.

The bell rang, signaling the start of the class. Jinri sighed frustratedly and couldn't help from glaring at Jongin on her back. His strange behavior was really getting on her nerves now.

* * *

Jinri inhaled the frosty air of mid-November as she walked out of Blu Planet, almost midnight. Their planned date was postponed because of Joonmyeon's emergency that's why she found herself working quietly under the presence of Victoria. Neither of them had started a talk about Kyungsoo.

She arched her head upward and stared at the moon for a long time. Its light casted an unusual tinge between orange and yellow, something that she always sees on horror films that makes the hair on the back of her neck stands. But she always love the moon. Its secret behind its crusted surface and what lies beneath it stays a mystery to her. She even wondered if that was where Chanyeol came from.

She went home by foot - since there were no more buses on the street - and chose to take another detour on her way home just like the night that she found Chanyeol and Mei. Instead of curving on her usual left alleyway she turned right. She hummed while walking, too preoccupied on the daydreaming her next date with Joonmyeon.

Jinri walked out of the clearing wherein she was now walking on the streets again. That was then she first noticed that a huge building was under construction near her house, which she might have always overlooked because she always takes the right road. She studied it for a while, then started walking again.

Perhaps Jinri should stop daydreaming while walking and start paying attention on her surroundings. Or she should have stayed longer in Blu Planet. Or perhaps she shouldn't have taken the right alleyway again because what comes next paralyzed her with fear.

It started with a soft rustle, then soon followed by the clank of heavy metals and construction materials that started falling right above Jinri.  Her heart had stopped beating after she saw the materials falling slowly down on her. She must run. Like now! But her feet and whole body couldn't comply to what her brain was commanding. Then, a loud voice shouted near her, followed by tight and protective arms that pulled her just in time before the construction materials crashed on the ground. The two of them - Jinri and her savior - fell next to the hump of fallen materials, breathing heavily, gasping for breath.

"T-thank you..." Jinri mumbled weakly to her savior. She leaned forward to look at the face of her angel. He has a tousled brown hair, adorable eyes, thin lips and innocent face. Jinri frowned at the man on top of her... he was vaguely familiar... as if she had seen him before...
"O-oh! It's you again single mom?" the man asked, laughing at his own joke. His laughter rang sweetly in Jinri's ears, just like an angel he was portraying at that very moment.
"Single mom? W-who are you??" she asked because her mind couldn't recall him anymore.

Jinri's savior stood up and offered his hand on her. She took it gratefully, feeling its warm, safe hands.

"Who are you?" she asked again.
"Boo hoo. You forgot me that easily? Helloooo I'm that waiter boy and garbage man you met before in the fastfood restaurant!"
"Huh?"
"You're that single mom who was carrying that adorable baby with you right? The one who cried loudly in the middle of the restaurant?"

Jinri hit the spot. She clicked her fingers and nodded on the man in recognition.

"Ah yes! I remember now! You're the one who suggested me to take the baby on an orphanage?"
"Yeah..." the man scratched his hair guiltily. "But I was joking back then. I mean, it's really selfish to abandon a child? Wait..." he rounded his big eyes on Jinri and looked at her unbelievably "You did not really take him on an orphanage!"
"I did."
"No!"
"Yes. But... I took him back."

The man sighed in relief and laughed again. 

"Good. I tried to find you again, really... because... I realized something after you were gone."
"What is it??" Jinri asked curiously.

The man took a deep breath and looked straight into Jinri's eyes.

"Would you believe me if I say that I am an... exotic?."
"HUH? A what?"
"I am ordered to protect Prince Yeol. I am Xi Luhan from Planet Exo."

Jinri felt her weight dropped down to earth. It was the first time she heard the name exotic or Planet Exo but she didn't need to be a genius to know what it means. She fell on her knees again and Luhan caught her just in time for the second time around. 

"T-there's more of you???" she asked almost faintly.
"Are you okay?" Luhan asked.

Jinri looked away from Luhan and stared from afar. There were more of them. More weirdos just like the nineteen-year old boy sleeping on her couch right at this moment. 

Jinri blinked. Many times. Another wave of shock swept her insides as she gawked dumbfoundedly at the right alleyway she came from earlier.

"Jinri? Should I carry you home? You're so pale. Did I scare you? I'm so sorry!"

Jinri shook her head and straightened up,  holding on Luhan's hands for dear life.

"I... I want to go home... and think..."

Yes, she wanted to think all right. First, she was almost killed by the innocent-looking construction materials; Second, she was saved by the man who claimed to be an alien just like Chanyeol and third; she swear to the heavens that she just saw Jongin glaring from the thickset of shadow on the alleyway just a while ago.

hi @blossom92! I told you before that I've planned the plot and characters even before it was published, and that pay attention on every character I put in this story, right? :) There you go, Luhan was already a part of the story since Chapter 5! Kkkkk~

Good night subbies. :3 thank you to your lovely comments from the past chapter! I found out that your minds are really..... creative! kkkkk~ <3