Luhan

The next morning when I woke I felt better than I had in a long time, so I happily got up from my bed at 7:30 and began to make breakfast. Ai Li hadn’t woken up yet, and therefore I decided to surprise her with some breakfast in bed and then try to convince her that what she needed was getting out of the country for a while. It wouldn’t matter where we went, as long as we went together and she was with me. I had to make her believe that I was on her side and wanted nothing but to take her away for a while. Our relationship might’ve been turbulent but things were going to change once she’d met her little soul mates, I knew it – or hoped it. While I made breakfast I heard footsteps coming from the bedroom and stop in the doorway to the kitchen. With a smiling face, I turned around to face Ai Li who looked at me quizzically. She rubbed her eyes. “Lulu... What are you doing up so early?” she asked, still having the sleepiness in her voice. I walked up to her, lift her from the ground and kissed her on the mouth. Her face scrunched up in a grimace, though I didn’t bother.

“I’m making you breakfast! And I’ve come to a realisation over night!” I told her, letting her go to finish the fried eggs. “We don’t need to go to the therapist. What we truly need is going away from everything that’s going on here. Change environment, sights... Break loose from our normal everyday routines! Wouldn’t you like that? Only you and me, somewhere where we’ve never been before. Doesn’t that sound amazing?”

“Where would we go?” I took off the frying pan and placed the eggs on our plates. Then I smiled brightly at my girlfriend who’d for the first time in two years sounded hopeful about something.

“I don’t know yet. I’ll look into it, all right? Let’s have breakfast first and then we could perhaps go to an amusement park? It doesn’t matter for me. We’ll go wherever you want, my princess. I’m done fighting with you. Or... if you truly want to, we’ll go through every picture taken, every film, that’s captured the moment or voice recording there is with your sisters. I’m willing to do that, if you want it.” I knew my last suggestion would be the one she’d pick but I didn’t expect that the impact would be too great. Nevertheless, Ai Li proved me wrong by basically running up to me and jumping me, attacking me with a passionate kiss and tears that rolled down her cheeks. I held her up, kissing her back lovingly. “I love you, princess,” I added after breaking the kiss for air. I couldn’t quite believe my eyes when Ai Li’s lips curved up into a smile. She hugged me for a while; I buried my face in the crook of her neck.

“I love you too, my prince. Thank you. I’ll always remember this,” she mumbled quietly into my shoulder. I put her down on the floor, pecking her forehead.

“It’s the least I can do for you. I’ve been so selfish this past year, I’m so sorry for that. Let’s move on, okay?” Ai Li nodded. “Good! Now, we ought to eat breakfast before it cools down.”

“Definitely.” She flew to her seat and I put the plates on the table. “Luhan?” she said just as I was about to sit down on my seat. “Sit next to me.” She patted the chair beside her. How could I not have obeyed her? As I sat down, Ai Li lay her head on my shoulder and dug in like there was no tomorrow.

Afterwards, she helped me clean the plates and then we got installed by the computer. She took a few deep breaths then opened the special file which contained her sisters only. Going through the pictures one by one, Ai Li explained each one of them to me; making me truly understand for the first time what they’d meant to her. Since I’d met them only once at a dinner and couldn’t seem to get to know them due to all the other guests and other things, I’d never gotten to feel how brilliantly they treated others, especially their little sister. It took all day to go through the photos, videos and other links she had to her sisters before Ai Li and I finally felt that we’d cried enough. We closed the computer and simply lay down on the couch to snuggle for a bit. Maybe this had been all she needed all along, I thought. Perhaps this closure could lead to a joyful meeting with the other two girls instead of a crying party? I sincerely hoped so, and also wished that it had gone as easy for the other guys as it had for me. After such long time, it felt like Ai Li had opened up to me again, trusted me again and loved me again. At long last, we talked about all the fun things we’d done before the catastrophe and the memories kept popping up one by one through laughter, even through tears of joy. It relieved me that despite it all, Ai Li hadn’t forgotten a single precious moment with me. She retold all the awkward things I’d done when I first admitted I had feelings for her and how I’d tried to be someone I wasn’t until she’d made me promise that I’d only be myself. The troubles we’d had as best friends that had come up again when we’d decided to be a couple. She even retold the first time we’d made love, causing me to laugh so much out of embarrassment that it accidently slipped out that it’d been the worst day of my life. Ai Li gasped at this, and as she began to hit me with a pillow, her laughter filled the entire apartment. I couldn’t even resist her hits because I honestly felt like crying out in happiness.

“Yah! Cut it out!” I yelled out in a faked annoyed tone, throwing the pillow on the floor. Ai Li continued to laugh, barely keeping her balance as she sat straddled over my thighs. I heaved myself up on my elbows. “Am I really that funny?” Ai Li nodded.

“Yeah, you are. And I love you so much for being funny.” She pulled me up, giving me kiss.

-

Jongin

The thud woke me up the next morning and I opened my eyes to see Mi Na sitting next to a big suitcase. It took me some time before I could sit up – mostly since I hadn’t slept too much the previous night – and could my vision had gotten its clearness back. “Mi Na, what are you doing up this early?” I questioned suspiciously, pulling off the sheets and putting down both feet on the floor. Mi Na didn’t turn her head towards me; she just kept her eyes on the suitcase with great focus. That focus scared me. I got up from the bed and walked up to her. “Mi Na, answer me,” I demanded at once. She closed the suitcase and stood up, looking as though she was leaving. “No!” I grabbed her arm, snatching the suitcase from her with the other hand.

“Give it to me. I’m leaving, Jongin. There’s nothing you can do to-” She ceased her babbling upon seeing the already visible tears in my eyes. I dropped the suitcase to the floor so that a loud echo filled our bedroom while trembling so hard that I thought I’d fall apart any given second. Mi Na’s eyes words hurt incredibly much.

“You’re leaving me?” I m