~Chapter 31 – New Heights~

            “I heard that this place makes some of the most mouth watering desserts in their bakery cafe, why don’t we go here for today?” suggested Baekhyun as he held up a pamphlet that had the words ‘Incheon Tower’ on the front.

            “Oh isn’t that the famous landmark tower?” asked Xiumin.

            “Yeah, and apparently they have a pretty good reputation for their restaurants and cafes, I want to go try it out. What do you guys think?” said Baekhyun looking to the others who were lazing around the living room.

            “I want to go too, sounds like fun,” said Tao.

            “If it’s got desserts I’m ready to go!” cheered Luhan.

            “I don’t care,” said Sehun indifferently knowing that he was going to get dragged along regardless of what he says.

            “Sure, not like we got anything better to do here than laze around,” said Kris.

            “Yeah, it’ll be a fun way to spend our last day in Incheon with Granny,” added Suho who was right after all because amazingly enough the group was already on their ninth day of winter break and this will be their last day staying at Granny’s place.

            “Alright, Incheon Tower it is, let’s go tell Granny,” said Chanyeol as he got up with Baekhyun to go tell Granny their plans.

            Sehun looked over at Luhan who was practically bouncing in his seat from excitement ‘Luhan really likes desserts as usual, this trip should be interesting…’

            After Granny was told of the Incheon Tower trip, she had immediately agreed, the group also tried to invite Luhan’s parents Jin and Sunhee but the pair were apparently busy with company matters and weren’t able to make it although they did say (with quite a few apologies strung in) they would be able to show up the next day to say their goodbyes to the boys before they left. With that being sorted out, everyone quickly got ready and headed off towards their desired location, Incheon Tower.

            When everyone arrived at the front of the tower they looked up at the huge building in awe, since it was scaled to such a high height. “Whoa! It’s so huge! This is Incheon Tower!?” exclaimed Kai.

            “Yeah, it has 102 floors and it a bunch of things in it like a hotel, apartments, offices, observatory and best of all restaurants,” said Bakhyun as he read off of his pamphlet.

            “Dude, where did you get that pamphlet anyways?” asked Kai.

            “Oh it was just laying on the kitchen counter top so I thought I’d take a look at it,” answered Baekhyun with a laugh “Good idea huh?”

            “It was a great idea,” grinned Chanyeol.

            “So, where’s that bakery café located?” asked Chen.

            “Um, apparently all restaurants are located on the top four floors so floor 99, 100, 101, and 102. But if we’re looking specifically for the bakery café it’s on floor 102,” explained Baekhyun as he flipped the pamphlet around to show everyone.

            “Ooooh so we’ll be able to eat and get a great view from all the way up there!” said Tao excitedly.

            “Sounds great! Now let’s find that elevator because there is no way I am walking up 102 flights of stairs,” said Meili as she took the pamphlet out of Baekhyun’s hands to search for the fastest elevator to the top floor.

            “Oh, it’s right here,” said Lay as he pointed to the spot on the map.

            “Oh, it is,” said Meili “Good job finding it so quickly, Lay.”

            “Great, let’s go then,” said Suho as the rest of the group began moving into the tower with him and Kris in the lead.

            Sehun began following along for a few steps before he realized that Luhan wasn’t following. Turning around he saw that Luhan was still staring upwards at the building and he seemed a bit paler than before. Sehun tried calling out to the older “Luhan.”

            This seemed to snap Luhan out of his daze as he looked at the younger “Ye-Yeah?”

            Sehun gave Luhan a confused look “Are you okay? Everyone’s already walking inside.”

            “Oh,” Luhan put what looked like a strained smile on his lips “I’m okay, just day dreaming. Let’s catch up?”

            Sehun nodded as Luhan began walking beside him to catch up to the others who were already inside.

            The inside of the tower was actually very large as well, especially with the high ceiling and open space available. “Oh there it is!” said Tao pointing to the metal elevator doors in the back of the floor as he ran with Chanyeol and Kai to go push the button.

            “Well, they’re excited,” commented Chen smiling.

            “I think they just wanted to push the button,” said Xiumin blankly as everyone watched the three boys race each other to the elevator with their arms extended in hopes of getting there first.

            “…..” No one could think of a reply as they saw Tao win the ‘race’ and jump triumphantly while Kai and Chanyeol pouted at the sides.

            “Yep,” said Kris breaking the silence as he linked hands with Suho and began walking towards the trio in front of the elevator with everyone else following.

            “Um, does this elevator really shoot all the way up 102 floors?” squeaked Luhan quietly from beside Sehun.

            Baekhyun faced Luhan after giving Chanyeol a quick kiss to get rid of the pout on his lips, “Yeah, I think it’ll take about six maybe seven minutes since there are thirteen of us in the elevator, I think the pamphlet said the less people the faster it goes though but either way we’ll get up to the top pretty quickly.”

            “Oh, great,” said Luhan with the same strained smile.

            Sehun took note of the rigidness in Luhan’s stature and asked “Are you sure you’re okay?”

            Luhan nodded slowly as the metal elevator doors suddenly opened, revealing the inside of the elevator which was actually made of clear glass (except of course for the metal doors and base of the elevator) so that who ever was riding in the elevator was able to look out at the view of the city as they either traveled up or down.

            Luhan seemed to turn even paler and sort of greenish as if he was nauseous causing Sehun to worry even further ‘Luhan looks as if he’s going to be sick.’

            Everyone began talking amongst themselves as they piled into the elevator. “This is going to be so cool! I call the back window!” said Kai while pulling DO beside him to see out to the view.

            “I want to see too!” said Tao as he pressed his hands against the glass and leaned forward to get a better view with Xiumin right beside him.

            “I don’t want to miss the view either!” exclaimed Meili happily as she squeezed in between the two couples.

            “Us too!” said Chen as he made room and let Lay stand in front of him while he looked over his shoulder in order to see.

            “Fine, take the first view but we call the window view when we get back down!” claimed Chanyeol with a grin.

            “Ugh, fine,” relented the seven who were pressed up against the glass waiting for the elevator to move so they could witness the amazing sight.

            “Luhan aren’t you getting in?” asked Suho when he realized that Luhan was still just standing in between the elevator doors.

            “Um…” Luhan bit his lip as he looked at Suho.

            ‘What’s wrong?’ thought Sehun ‘I’ve never seen Luhan act this strangely before… Does he not want to go here? But he was one of the first to agree to coming here…’

            “Err, the elevator seems a bit full, maybe I should take the stairs?” suggested Luhan with a nervous laugh.

            Everyone who wasn’t pressed up against the glass gave Luhan an incredulous look even Sehun was giving him a look and Sehun’s expression were usually blank. “You want to take the stairs up 102 floors!?” voiced Kris in a disbelieving tone.

            “Umm,” was Luhan’s only reply before Baekhyun reached out and pulled Luhan in to the elevator.

            As the elevator doors shut Baekhyun smiled “There’s enough room, besides we’ve been stuck in a lot more cramped situations.”

            “Not to mention you’d probably be walking on those stairs for about three months before you can reach the top,” added Chanyeol.

            Luhan nodded but as the elevator began moving, he let out a shaky breath and bit his lip. Kris, Suho, Baekhyun, and Chanyeol were all turned towards the glass part of the elevator in an attempt to look out towards the view, all of them chattering away and pointing things out to each other while Luhan had his back turned away from the view and towards the metal doors.

            Sehun looked at Luhan questioningly as he stood in the corner of the elevator where the buttons were located since he didn’t really care about seeing the view or not “Luhan you look kind of sick, are you not feeling well?”

            Luhan bit his lip harder and shook his head keeping his eyes locked on the metal doors “I’m fine...”

            Sehun didn’t believe Luhan one bit but chose not to say anything further ‘What’s going on?’

            The ride in the elevator would have been just fine if there wasn’t anxiety rolling off of Luhan in waves which apparently only Sehun picked up on because the others were too distracted by the view the glass elevator offered.

            When the elevator finally dinged and a robotic voice said “Floor 102” Luhan was the first to bolt out of the doors followed by Sehun and slowly one by one the others. This floor actually had quite a few people walking about and sitting in the many restaurants that were offered on this floor.

            Luhan was standing next to what seemed like a directory, and he was staring at it as if that was the best sight in the world at the moment rather than the glass windows that showed the great expanse of the city below them. ‘Maybe Luhan’s just eager to find the bakery… Desserts are his favorite things…’ thought Sehun.

            “Xiao Lu! You don’t need to look at that we got the map right here, the bakery café is just down this way,” said Meili as she held up the pamphlet.

            “Oh, right, okay,” said Luhan as he shuffled closer to the group.

            Everyone continued chatting away and goofing around as they made their way to the bakery café well except for Luhan who was walking in an almost careful like way as if he was cautious of his steps because he wasn’t sure what would happen if he stepped too quickly.

            Sehun observed Luhan with a blank look as he walked in the gap between Luhan and the group ‘What is he doing?’

            Although Sehun didn’t really get to think any further about this as DO suddenly said “Oh there it is!”

            Looking at the bakery café it gave off a warm and homey kind of feel to it as it was brightly lit with glass cases lined with a variety of baked goods ranging from cookies, cakes, candies, bread, donuts, brownies, and many more items all around. There were even little seating areas with tables and cushioned chairs where you could enjoy whatever you bought right then and there.

            “Wow, this looks really good!” said Lay as the group began dispersing and picking out whatever they wanted to eat or try.

            Sehun looked at Luhan, who was now standing beside him, in confusion “Aren’t you going to get whatever you want to eat? You were excited to try out the desserts here right?”

            “Oh, right,” said Luhan nodding as he began moving closer to the glass cases with Sehun just following close by.

            ‘Okay, this is beyond weird. Luhan is usually more than eager to eat any dessert but right now he looks as if desserts are the last thing on his mind,’ Sehun decided to voice these thoughts since he found the behavior quite strange “Are you sure you’re okay? Usually you would be the first one rushing to get to the desserts before any of the others.”

            Luhan froze for a second but still proceeded to look up at Sehun and gave him that same strained smile “Don’t worry, I’m fine. You should get something to eat too Sehun, you don’t need to watch over me this much besides I’m older so I should be the one watching over you. So go ahead.”

            Sehun gave Luhan a blank look before sighing “Alright, I guess.”

            Seh