Silencio Bella

Expect the Unexpected

“Will you be fine, hyung? I mean, we just got back 2 days ago and considering your health…” the young brunette worriedly utters and the older of the two just grinned at him in return. Shaking his head, he slowly reaches out his hand and the younger took it with a sigh.

“Don’t worry. I’m going to be fine,” he assures the younger male, but the latter doesn’t seem to be convinced at all. The older sighs and slowly takes away his hand before patting the younger on his head.

“How about you? Will you be alright?” His words shook the younger boy a bit and the older already knew the answer. Despite the reaction being given away, the younger nullified that response and interjects a reasonable, yet fraud reply. A smile and shaky breath gives it all away, but the younger thinks deception is fine.

“I’ll be alright, hyung. I can’t let 3 years of building up a new me go to waste because of what will happen later. I’ll be fine,” he mutters the last word and the former decides to end the conversation with that. Nodding his head, he pats the younger’s shoulder before taking his leave. A young man joins his side and the brunette watches their retreating back and he feels a tightening feeling in his chest.

“I’ll be fine, right?” he questions himself before taking his leave. Their ways finally parting and the game shall once again begin.

Kyungsoo dazedly stirs the vegetables in the pan, randomly and not keeping in check. His heart tightens in pain when he recalled his conversation with Minseok on the phone.

[Flashback]

“He won’t be able to speak?” Surprise was evident in his voice, colour quickly draining from his face. He was in the middle of cleaning the living room when he received a call. Minseok delivered the news of Jongdae being not able to speak due to circumstances regarding about the lungs. When he first heard it, he just laughed it off. Thinking of it as a joke, he waited for Minseok to tell him that it’s not true, but Minseok didn’t say anything at all. Silence was his response and Kyungsoo knew that this is far from being a joke.

Though he wanted to believe that Minseok is lying, the low and guilty response was too thick to penetrate. “Yes. It seems so. The doctor had issued a warning for any visitors that may come that they aren’t allowed to speak to Jongdae.”

Kyungsoo was too dumbfounded to comment on it. There was a small noise in the background and Kyungsoo strained to hear what it was. When he finally heard it, he tries to look for a way to comfort the man on the other side of the phone.

“Jongdae will be fine. Just stay with him and endure everything ‘till he accepts you once again. Hang in there, okay?” He tries to comfort him and he received a sob and he could only imagine the pain that Minseok was undergoing.

“I’m sorry,” he apologizes. A deep ring of guilt rang on his voice.

[End of Flashback]

“So hyung lost his voice?” he mumbles solemnly, sighing after which he misses the shadow that lurked behind him. Kyungsoo yelps in surprise when an arm was wrapped around his waist and the turner was taken from his hand. Vanilla-chocolate fragrance wafts in the air and Kyungsoo blushes immediately after he recognizes who it was.

A low rumble of disapproval of what seems a whine echoes beside his ear and Kyungsoo prays that he won’t be caught blushing like a mad girl who confesses her love to her crush. Kyungsoo swears he could feel the smirk make its way to the intruder’s face. “Tsk. What are you doing, hyung? Don’t let the food turn ash. What will I eat then?”

Closing his eyes tightly, Kyungsoo laughs terribly to cover up his fatal flaw, nudging Jongin on the stomach to back away. Sighing in relief that the boy backed away, Kyungsoo turns his back to face the younger and was greeted with a childish grin that knocked away a bit of his sadness, making him almost smile.

“Hey, hyung! Sorry for startling you. I knocked on the front door several times, but no one answered so I helped myself in. Sorry about that. When I saw you in the kitchen, I called out for you, but you didn’t answer. So I decided to surprise you, but I didn’t think you’d fall for it since you’ll always notice me first and scold me for wanting to surprise you.” He chuckles in amusement and Kyungsoo smiles as he sighs and nods his head, muttering a ‘yeah’, before turning his back to pick up the turner and stir the vegetables one last time.

Jongin watches him with curious gaze and he noticed that Kyungsoo isn’t the usual himself today. Wondering what’s wrong, he tries to go with the flow by getting some plates and places it on the table, arranging the dining table along the way.

“What’s bothering you, hyung? There’s a dark cloud looming above your head today. What’s wrong?” He makes his questions simple enough that it won’t feel uncomfortable nor pressured enough to answer. Kyungsoo didn’t say anything and continues to stir and Jongin feels quite disappointed at the lack of response, but didn’t say anything.  A few moments later, Kyungsoo turned off the stove and Jongin watches Kyungsoo’s sunken shoulder for a bit before he walks toward the older and slowly embraces the older into a hug.

Burying his head on his shoulder, Jongin embraces Kyungsoo’s pain. A tremble shook the older’s frame and Jongin tightens his embrace, wanting to tell the older male that he is here, that he could be trusted; that he could tell him. A stilled silence settles on them for moment before a pair of hands reaches out to grasp the sleeves of the younger and after another moment, Kyungsoo broke down.

“Jongdae…Jongdae…he can’t speak. The…the doctor said…said that no one should speak to him for awhile,” Kyungsoo stammers as tears fall out, “what should I do? Jongin…Jongin…what should I do? I’m…I’m so…so lost.”

Kyungsoo continues to break and Jongin holds him together to keep him from falling apart. Kyungsoo thinks its fine this way; where his tears couldn’t be seen by anyone, even Jongin. He feels choked up in the pain and he wonders where the ending for all of this mess is.

“I’m sorry,” Kyungsoo apologizes once again. Not for him, Jongin or Jongdae, but rather for Minseok instead and Jongin continues to embrace him ‘till everything was whisked away and forgotten.

“Sir?” Yuan questions his departure and Luhan stops to drop off some papers. Blinking in surprise, Yuan picks up the papers and found herself paling at the list of contacts and paperwork needed to be done. She gazes at her boss in confusion and Luhan replies with an apologetic smile.

“Sorry Yuan, but I’ve got to go. I’ve done the others and this is the last set of it. I hope you’ll take care of it for me,” he replies and without waiting for an answer, he leaves his office and Yuan sighs in defeat. Another day like this and she swears this is going to be the death of her. She hasn’t finished half of the paperwork yet and she wonders how she could finish this one. But a sad smile crept its way to her face and she knew she had to do it for her boss, after all she was saved by Luhan when she was about to take her life.

[Flashback]

“Are you crazy?! Taking your life would make everything worse! Think about your family and friends on what they’ll feel!”

“They don’t care about me!”

“Even so! Then remember your life. Yourself! This is your life, not others! It doesn’t matter if no one bothers your life, but you still have a future. Can’t you just take that chance?”

[End of Flashback]

“Till everything ends, then I’ll fall and vanish away.”

“Are you coming with us, senpai?” Ren, a Japanese transferee asked and Baekhyun offers him an apologetic smile. “I’m sorry, Ren. But I’ve got to practice for the casting.”

Ren pouts in disappointment and Baekhyun feels bad for making him sad. He looks at his friends and they just smiled understandingly.

“Why don’t you join Baekhyun this time, Ren? I bet you wanted to spend time with him.” Their friend says with a grin and pushes Ren to Baekhyun who softly smiled at him. Ren looks back at them and they grinned at him, gesturing him to go with Baekhyun. Ren smiled in appreciation and grins at Baekhyun who laughs at his childish behaviour.

They were in the middle of walking when Ren decides to speak up, “Hey, hey, Baekhyun senpai. Why did you join the theatre company? Didn’t you say you own a café? Why didn’t you hold onto that?”

It was all harmless questions, but Baekhyun feels irritation build up inside of him. The questions that the Japanese male was asking were making him as if a low life person who can’t stick at one thing. He tries to hold down the lid of his emotions and calmly answered it, “Yes, I have a café Ren, and I still do have now. My dream was to be a famous pianist, but that changed and I want to be an all-around in the theatre company. A musical actor, musician, instrumentalist or whatever position I could be given. Don’t you think I’m selfish?” Baekhyun looks at him with a sad smile and Ren was silenced by his answer.

Ren blushed in embarrassment after realizing how silly his questions were and Baekhyun couldn’t really stay mad at him for so long. Ren reminded of himself when he was young and he could pretty much position himself in the younger’s shoes. Blushing a bit, he reaches out his hand and pats the latter’s head (with slight difficulty since Ren was like a huge tree despite being a 20 year old, yet even though he, Baekhyun, was a 24, he is still quite short.) Baekhyun suddenly feels glum at the thought of it and Ren stares at him in confusion.

Pulling his hand back, Baekhyun awkwardly scratches his nape and Ren grins childishly after observing Baekhyun for a bit. “Baekhyun senpai is really cute!” he comments cheerfully and Baekhyun was startled at the sudden comment, but didn’t say anything and blushed madly at the unexpected comment.

‘This kid…’ Baekhyun thought in irritation at the bubbling sensation on his chest. Letting out a frustrated sigh, Baekhyun decides to keep quiet and thanks the heaven that Ren isn’t saying anything at all. They enjoyed the comfortable silence that settled on them and Ren gladly pressed the up button and grins at Baekhyun. Baekhyun could only narrow his eyes on him, but eventually a smile makes its way on his face.

The elevator parts open and both went in, Baekhyun pressing the 10^th floor when he got inside. Doors shut, gravitation trembles as they went up and a familiar ding-dong echoes and both of them step out. Resuming their walk, Baekhyun lets out a relieved sigh that he finally got to his floor and briefly looks at Ren who had an excited expression plaster in his face.

‘Such a kid, but aren’t you one Ren?’ Baekhyun almost chuckles at the thought he had. He gazes at Ren fondly before returning his attention back ahead, eyes widening at the two figures that had passed by. Halting abruptly, Ren looks at him in confusion. “Senpai?”

Baekhyun feels his heart achingly throb and for some reason, he feels that he lost all the air in his lungs. Pounding beat echoes in his ear and trembling frame, Baekhyun turns around and sees someone that he almost lost. Long, auburn-brown hair styled up in ponytail favor, a man was beside him. Though something may have changed, yet it was unmistakably him.

His throat constricts as he mutters the name under his breath, “Chanyeol…”

“Here.”

Luhan yelps in surprise when a cold can of orange juice was tapped on his cheek. He glares at the doctor who only responded with a grin, waving the can of milk tea in his other hand and the orange juiceat the other. Taking the orange juice from the other hand, Luhan pulls the pull-tab, successfully making a breeze sound and take a sip. The doctor joins him and lazily drinks his milk tea with a smug smile.

“What brings you here, Dr. Suho?” Luhan asks after he pulls away from the can and dangles it from the tips of his fingers. Suho side-eyed him before shrugging nonchantly, the breeze passing them and playfully caress their hair.

“It’s nothing,” he boredly says and Luhan snickers in disbelief.

“There’s definitely something going on,” Luhan points out and Suho lets out a laugh. He drinks his milk tea in one-go, putting at his side before standing up; face hidden with his bangs, but a smirk was clearly seen on his face.

“I just wonder how much it will take before everything ends. I’m so tired of chasing. How about you, Luhan? Aren’t you tired from waiting?” Suho utters solemnly and Luhan feels his heartbeat in his ears. Simple words they were, yet it shook his entire being. He knew what Suho was saying and it caused his heart to well up with mixed emotions that he couldn’t identify.

‘What is this terrible feeling?’

His smirk seems to grow wider than ever, “When you are given the chance to face him, what will you do? Will you face him? Or will you run away instead?”

A heartbeat. Loud and clear. Fear. Anger. Sadness. Anxiety. Confusion. Longing. Hope.

“Kim Joonmyeon!”

Spilled sunset orange decorates the grass into a darker shade of green, the sun shining too much that it could blind and yet, here he was, standing before a wrongly stitched-broken man before him. Frustrated and scared on how much the words weigh so much that it brought a deep twist of emotions the well up in his heart once more, swallowing him and luring him to the depths of darkness.

Kim Joonmyeon stands before him, a bandaged eye due to poison effects that caused him to lose his sight and the other eye from seeing the colours, but red and orange.  Someone who was cursed from the beginning, stitched up and broken over how many times and will forever continue like this. Beauty of emotions rolled down his cheeks, Luhan couldn’t say anything at all after which his words were caught up in his throat.

Tears continue to spill (even through the bandage because emotions are too strong to be held off) through his eyes and Suho gives him a broken smile. “Guilt consumes my being and will forever will it haunts me. I had a lot of regrets and still do now and you, Luhan. Regret shouldn’t be your tomorrow, rather make it a past. You regret, yet you keep regretting. Don’t you think that it will taint the perfect picture? Mine’s long gone and burned and I don’t want you to end up that way. Just like how I am.” A pause, before he lets out a shaky breath, tears continue spilling and Luhan’s heart cracks in pain and guilt, “Will you run away? Or will you stand your ground as a knight and defy fate?”

“What was he thinking?” Luhan grumbles to himself, still stupefied by the turn of events with Suho. He couldn’t understand what the doctor has in mind and what he is thinking. Everything he says might either be simple slap, but mostly, it’s a stab. Just like what happened awhile ago. He shakes his head in dismay, letting out a tired sigh in return.

Stretching his sore body from sorting out the  newly delivered equipments, Luhan ran into a quite disoriented doctor, which he caught before the doctor falls to the ground, face first. He panics a bit on what he should do and calls out to the doctor.

“Dr. Changmin! Dr. Changmin!” he flips the body with a bit difficulty and found out that he was sleeping soundly. Rushed footsteps were heard, Luhan looks up to find Dr. Yunho and Dr. Jaejoong panting. He looks at them in confusion and Jaejoong offers him an apologetic smile.

“Sorry about that. Changmin was sleep-walking again,” Jaejoong supplies the details and Yunho carries the sleeping doctor in his arms. He glances at Luhan before turning his heels and takes his leave, Jaejoong following after waving his hand in goodbye to him.

‘Seriously, what kind of hospital is this?’ Luhan gravely thought and a snicker was heard just right beside his ear made him jump in shock. He turns his head only to be greeted by a smug smile of one of the worst doctor he ever met.

“You…” he seethes in anger and Daehyun laughs at his reaction. They collide in a bit of an argument and poor thing, Luhan always loses in the argument, yet in the nick of the time, always emerge victorious whenever he says that Daehyun is an old man who can't conquer the hearts of the kid (a fact, by the way) that’s why he always win and it always work. Daehyun pouts in displeasure before he notices something behind Luhan. He stares at it long hard that eventually Luhan takes a look behind him, realization dawning on him.

“Is he the new doctor?” he absently minded says, observing that there were nurses surrounding the doctor that has his back turned back on them. Most of them were giggling, squealing and some would look like that they would glomp the poor doctor and somehow, Luhan feels embarrassed by them.

“I pity him,” he comments idly. For some reason, Luhan feels relieved that it wasn’t Sehun. He would have known even by the back that it was Sehun or not. And for sure, the new doctor is not Sehun and he feels relieved by it. He hears a chuckle and he turns to find Daehyun with an amused smile.

“Pity him, really, but unfortunately Luhan, he’s not the new doctor. True, he’s new here that’s why the nurses are sticking on him, but sad to say, he’s only here as a temporary surgeon for the new patient that had been admitted here last week.”

“What?” Shock was unmistakably seen on Luhan’s face and Daehyun’s been expecting it so he’s not really that amused anymore. He shrugs, but a sly smile forms on his face.

“I’ve been told that the new doctor is currently in the director’s room. He should probably out now.” Amusement lingers in his voice and Luhan could feel his heartbeat in his ears. He was too dumbfounded to even speak and Daehyun leaves him with a lingering feeling of a pat on the shoulder.

Anxiety. Confusion. Dread. Fear. Frantic. Panic. Scared.

“Kris? Honey, are you finished?” Mrs. Wu called out to her son from outside his room. Kris clumsily fixes his tie and when he got a hold of it, he takes his coat with him and puts in his black shoes.

“Yeah, I’m done,” he answers back and makes one last tap on the ground before making his way to the door. He opens the door and was greeted by his stunning mother; a smile making its way on his lips.

“You look beautiful, mom,” he compliments proudly. Mrs. Wu chuckles and lightly smacks her son’s chest with the back of her hand and winks at him.

“And so are you, my dear. But, I think handsome would be the proper term, don’t you think?” She playfully smiles before taking her leave. Kris smiles at her playful comment and runs up to catch up to her, not wanting to be late for the party.

On their way to the grand party, Kris thought of the first time he went to a business party. It was completely hard and suffocating, but then he found his way to a boy he is fond of. A boy named Tao who caused a storm in his life and made him let go of the things that bound him from seeing the world of anew.

He smiles a bit when he recalls the time he spent with the younger and how his heart swelled in affection for him. He closes his eyes and drowns himself into a small nap, missing the worried glance of his mother and the exchange of silent conversation by his parents.

Kris was awoken by the halt of the limousine, yawning as he stretched his boy to alert his muscles and bones. His brain functions and he steps out of the limousine when the door was opened by the chauffeur. He fixes himself up and wears his coat, buttoning up the last two before joining his parents who had went ahead of him.

“Is Minho attending, too?” he asks when he notes some Japanese business partners that were walking ahead of them. Mrs. Wu briefly gazes at her son, before shaking her head.

“No, he’s not. Only those in Korea are invited in this party. If you’re wondering why there are Japanese here, they are the representatives of their company while the Chairman is away,” Mrs. Wu supplies some information for Kris and the said male just nod his head, understanding the situation.

When they arrived in the Grand Hall, they were met with familiar faces of business partners and enemies. Journalists, photographers and reporters were scattered around and Kris finds himself alone at the entrance when his parents went out to greet some of their friends.

A familiar, tall young man joins his side, a playful smile plastered on his face as he greets Kris. “Are you enjoying this night, hm?”

Kris turns to the young man and recognizes him; surprise was evident in his face and the latter grins in satisfaction. “It’s been awhile, hasn’t it?”

“Muyeong?” Kris blinks his eyes if he was seeing right and much to his surprise; Muyeong is really in front of him. Muyeong chuckles at his expression and nods his head, patting Kris’s shoulder to let the former know he’s not dreaming.

“It’s been a long time, hasn’t it? 3 years, I guess? How are you doing, buddy? I’ve dig up some information and it seems you’re the shadow of the company, huh?”

Kris wonders when they became friends, but he sets that aside and coldly glares at Muyeong’s ridiculous claims. “Nice rumours. Where did you hear that?” He was challenging Muyeong and the latter is willing to take it on, a sly smile forming on his face.

“Oh, you know. Some connections I have?” Muyeong blankly gazes at Kris with a smile, before letting out a chuckle when a tense atmosphere filled them up. Kris sighs at Muyeong weird antics and went to help himself with some wine. Muyeong, of course, followed closely to him, even getting the same wine that Kris went for.

Kris noticed that Muyeong was rather dressed in a nice shade of old rose suit with crushed emerald as his necktie, hair styled up and loose pins were kept at the side to hold the brunette’s bangs. Taking his gaze away from the man, he observes the crowd in front of him. Fraud smiles and friendliness, Kris felt choked up at their prideful and conceited life. His expression turned glum at his negative thoughts and he was glad at Muyeong’s pop-up conversation.

“Do you know who the main highlight is today?” Muyeong asks and Kris shrugs nonchantly. He fails to notice that turn of events in the Grand Hall. All attentions of the crowd were at the top of the staircase in front of them. Two figures were standing at the top, beauty and charm like a snake and everyone was under their spell. They were announcing something, but Kris was too occupied to even bother with this kind of things.  Muyeong, on the other hand, was also unaffected, but kept on focus and grins mischievously when he sees a raven-haired man walking up to the staircase to join the two figures.

He repeats his question again, but this time it has different ring to it. As if taunting and challenging Kris to know who. “Do you know who the main highlight is this evening?”

Kris remains unresponsive, but his heart pounds in frantic panic and everything comes into a buzz and he was back into reality. Everything was quiet except for the tense and anticipating atmosphere that dwells around him.

“I welcome all of you to meet my son. My heir that’s been kept a secret for how many years. He is…” A proud smile was shown to all, but braking into that smile was a wicked one, twisted in its own ways. Kris slowly looks up and his eyes widen at the person who stood proudly before the crowd. A familiar raven-haired, tall boy was standing, clothed in shade of black suit, a white-scaled necktie was partnered with it, a piercing on his right ear and a familiar face that brought the once affection that dwelled in his heart.

“Huang Zitao!”

A broken glass of wine spilled its decorative velvet glint on the carpet and matching the chandelier’s ominous shine was a grin of a stranger.

Shapeless emotions well up into him, confusing him even more and making him more frustrated. Things weren’t supposed to be this way and what was the problem with Dr. Daehyun? How could he make that comment and to add to that, Dr. Suho’s words were haunting him like crazy.

Heart beating in frantic fear, Luhan quickens his steps in the hallway, bumping someone along the way. He kept his head down, uttering his apology loud enough to hear and goes on his way. Two metres away, a voice calls out to him. Familiar and heart-fluttering. Warm and melting the coldness. A voice he’ll never forget in a million years, even when appearance changed or whatnot; it’s the voice that he’ll never forget.

Messy, yet long, dark brown hair tied that loosely hangs almost on the waistline, a smile of the once lost in time shatters the fabricated dream of time and space.

“Luhan.”

Throb. Throb. A heartbeat.

Warmth lingers in his voice, shaking away the coldness as he speaks, “Luhan? Is that you?”

Silence settles on them for a moment. Because after all, it is a moment that shouldn’t be missed at all nor should it be interfered.

He smiles; a smile that was once lost in time.

“It’s me. Sehun.”

So...yeah. Quite long in my opinion, but I have no regrets. Shall we begin with the beginning of the end?

Tell me what you think about this chapter and maybe suggest some things? Oh, did you notice something perhaps?

C u soon <3 *hugs*

XOXO