CHAPTER FIFTY Eight; Chanyeol's Surprise

   “C’mon, I want bubble tea.” I was pulling Dae-mi to the street where the most popular bubble tea place is with a lot of people, which means a lot of waiting. “Let’s buy bubble tea and a lot of snacks before we study date,”

I got Dae-mi into having a study date with me. That’s a good thing because I could buy Chanyeol some time with whatever he is planning of in Dae-mi’s house. Dae-mi doesn’t like going home late which what makes this job of mine pretty hard but as her best friend, she can learn how to be patient with me.

“Lara, we have a lot of food at home.” She tried to pull me back to the street where her route to home is.

I fake pouted. “But I want bubble tea and ice cream sandwiches.”

Dae-mi sighs. By the look of her face, she doesn’t seem to like the idea of walking in a school uniform late on a dark street at night. I don’t either but I just have to deal with it. I’m not alone anyway.

“Be quick, okay?” she says. I nod at her statement. Of course, I won’t be quick.

The moment we arrive at the bubble tea store, I ran fast to the counter to at least pretend that I’m in a rush for her. I’ve been tapping my chin and looking through the choices of flavors for the past ten minutes. I looked back to see that no one is behind me. That’s a miracle.

My eyes shifted to Dae-mi who was seated and playing games with her phone. I’m glad she’s occupied but she’s probably bored and annoyed inside.

I bought my favorite drink and checked my phone to see messages. There was none. I guess I still had to distract her.

As soon as my drink was served, I went to Dae-mi. She looked at me and locked her phone. “Convenience store?” I eye-smiled at her.

She huffed, obviously disappointed by the fact that it will again take her minutes more until she arrives at home. “Alright.” She stood up.

For the past 3 minutes, I’ve been choosing over 3 flavors of ice cream sandwiches. My eyes would glance at my friend for a while and all I could see from her is a blank face. Her arms are folded as well, looking impatient and all.

My phone vibrated. Finally, I thought. I checked the message and thank God it was Chanyeol. “Dae-mi’s house. Now.” it says.

I smiled and put my phone back in my pocket. “Hey, I’m not in the mood for ice cream anymore. Let’s go.” I dragged Dae-mi outside and ran to her house. She keeps up with me and I see the look on her face going all “Why are we running?”

As we arrive in front of her house, she opens the gate and stops for a moment. “Why are the lights off? Is no one home?”

We both screamed when we felt a light touch on the shoulder from the back. It was Dae-mi’s mom. “Mom! What happened? Why is the house not lit?”

Dae-mi’s mom fixes her hair and she gets a little compact powder from her shoulder bag and tidies Dae-mi’s face up. She also applies a little lip-gloss on her. I could laugh at Dae-mi’s face because she looks confused.

“Where are we going?” the younger furrows her brows at her mother.

Her mom puts all her cosmetics in her shoulder bag once again and points to the house. “Go inside and get changed. Fast.” She demands.

Dae-mi nods and walks over to me. “Lara, I’m sorry. I guess we’re going somewhere today.”

I don’t want to laugh. I tried not to laugh so I just smiled it off. “It’s okay. I understand.”

She goes inside and we follow her inside stealthily. Her mom and I both tiptoed and tailed her every step in the house. I have no idea what’s going on but her mom told me to follow her anyway.

Dae-mi observes the candles everywhere that coincidentally led a way upstairs. “Is the electricity out? This is scary, mom.” She says without knowing anything.

The candles guided her way upstairs. While going up she notices pictures of her and Chanyeol on the walls. Her jaw drops and touches every picture she passes by. “Oh. Nooo waaaay.” She exclaims with one of her hand covering .

She continues going up and sees a lot more pictures. “Is this for real?” she can’t fight her smile.

She follows the candles going to a door. It’s their guest room. She opens it without hesitation and doesn’t close it after her. She notices the furniture in the guest room that was supposed to be there wasn’t there at all. All that was there was a well-lit up room by candles that were shaped like a heart.

In the middle of the heart shaped candle, it said “Stand here.” And so she did. She stood there holding her hands and looking out the door, waiting for what—who she’s been waiting for.

Someone starts playing the guitar. A serenade once again, typical Chanyeol. The tall one appeared, going inside the room as well. He plays the guitar and finally, starts singing.

“If I told you I was perfect I’d be lying.

If there’s something I’m not doing but I’m trying.

I know I’m no angel but I’m not so bad.

No, no, no.

If you see me at the party conversating (conversing tbh)

That doesn’t mean telephone numbers are exchanging.

I know I’m not angel, girl. But I’m not so bad

No, no, no~

You should know these beautiful girls all over the world

I could be chasing but my time would be wasted.

They got nothing on you, baby. Nothing on you, baby.

They might say “Hi” and I might say “Hey”

But you shouldn’t worry about what they say

‘Cause they got nothing on you, baby.

Nothing on you, baby. Hey~”

And as soon as the song finishes, he put the guitar down and Baekhyun appears in the seen holding a pizza box. Chanyeol opens the box and says, “Yoon Dae-mi, Will you be my date to the prom?”

The pizza was all cheesy looking and at top of the box, it says “PROM?”. There where people in background including me going crazy and thrilled by what sweetness Chanyeol is showing.

Dae-mi wipes her dramatic and little tears on her cheek and finally says, “Yes! I woud love to.”

Chanyeol smiles widely and approaches her. Dae-mi jumps to his embrace and kisses him in front of us. Bold. And to think that her mom is there.

A mini party occurred. A lot of people congratulated Chanyeol to a success in getting Dae-mi to say yes and of course, for the effort he has done to prepare for this cute little promposal.

There were a lot of food, the house was now lit by it’s own lights and everyone in the gathering were having loads of fun. Dae-mi and Chanyeol went upstairs to have a private time, I guess.

I haven’t seen Baekhyun around so I went around and looked for him. There were like 20 people in Dae-mi’s house right now. Wow, I could feel the moral support for Chanyeol.

Among the twenty people, I bumped into one that kind of surprised me. “Luhan, hey, sorry. I didn’t see you there.”

“Lara, hey.” He smiled upon seeing me but that smile faded away in a few seconds. “Can we talk?”

I nod and gestured him to corner where there were not much people. A part of me wanted to apologize to Luhan and a part of me wanted to hate him because of the fact that he knows a lot about things and he keeps it a secret from me.

“First of all, I wanted to apologize about not being able to tell you or warn you about things I know that you need to know.”  He says and looks at me with those upset eyes.

BINGO. I know he’s going mention that sooner or later. “Second, I want you to know that I’m not forcing you to go with me to America for college. I’m sorry if I might have forced you.”

He continues, “And lastly, I’m sorry for being a little bit bitter about you and Baekhyun. I mean, I can’t help it…I still have strong feelings for you, okay? Up until now.”

Oh. Luhan really knows how to open up. Unlike Baekhyun who you have to play a week of charades with to know how or what he really feels. Wait—I shouldn’t be comparing them.

“It’s okay. It’s all in the past now. Let’s just be happy.” I tell him, positively.

“How’s your stomach?”

I choked. “Sounds like I have a baby.” I giggled and he does as well. “I’m not really okay. I feel like I’m getting worse. Sooner or later, it’s going to be obvious that I am sick. Like I would feel like I have this huge plate on my forehead saying “I have cancer.” And it’s going to be troublesome.”<