Chapter Forty-Four

Your POV

Ever since the day Sehun left, I resumed back my normal lifestyle in the countryside. Honestly, I myself was confused with what our relationship was. I no longer knew after that day. But I was pretty sure we did not break up. But from the looks of it, Sehun seemed like he did have a plan in his head that day. I didn’t want to probe further about that since I could feel that he, himself wasn’t in a good condition.

He was probably stressed up by his hectic schedules and how he wasn’t with s when they needed him...and also losing me. Besides, asking him about his plan meant asking about serious business and this would stress him more. I honestly didn’t want to fight with him anymore as well since we came such a long way.

So I was determined...I was just going to support Sehun in whatever he was going to do. I wasn’t going to fight with him anymore, I’ll support him in whatever he’s doing. If he’s having a hard time, I’ll comfort him. Because I really love him. 

But right now, I’m just worried because there hasn’t been a single news on him since that day he disappeared. I assumed that he still wasn’t able to contact me through the phone due to the staffs because if he could, he surely would have. I just hoped he’s doing fine.

“You’re thinking about him again, aren’t you?”

My grandma asked beside me, wiping her sweat off her forehead. Both of us were tending to the plants at the back yard since I saw that she needed help. I smiled a little and nodded before adjusting her straw hat so that it could block the strong sun rays.

“I can see you love him very much too. He’s busy?” she asked, eyes focused on the plants.

“Yeah....I’m just worried,” I bit my lips and forced out a smile.

“About what?”

“About us. Our future. Everything...I really want him to be in my future grandma,” I told her truthfully. My grandma stood up and dusted her flowery pants with her rubber gloves. I followed her and stood up as I took her basket from her hands.

“Su Mi, After a storm, comes a rainbow. You’ve heard of that right? I’m sure the both of you will be fine,” She told me genuinely from the bottom of her heart as she held onto both my hands. She gave them a small squeeze. I nodded and smiled back genuinely as well this time. I have always trusted my grandma’s words and this time, I will do so as well.

Everything will be fine. 

The both of us made our way to the doorway to go out for some cool patbingsoo when my eyes caught a familiar figure walking over to the house. My eyes rounded as I saw Eun Ji walking over with a luggage. When she saw me, she jumped and waved frantically before she ran forward to give me a bear hug.

I was pleasantly surprised by her presence as I patted her back.

“How did you get here?” I asked with an opened smile, still shocked with what was going on.

“This is my friend who I stayed with in Seoul grandma,” I told my grandma beside me who welcomed her with a huge smile.

“Then let’s go back home, I’ll prepare some snacks for the both of you.” My grandma quickly dragged the both of us into the house, totally ignoring our patbingsoo date a few minutes ago. 

“So what happened? Why are you here? What’s going on?” I asked, eyeing her luggage which was really suspicious. The both of us sat on the wooden floor in the living room, with a cake served by my grandma on the wooden table before she quickly left us alone to talk. Eun Ji gulped before she fiddled with her fingers.

“Sehun called me and told me to accompany you since he’s worried that you might feel bored here without him,” I rolled my eyes at those words since it was typical of him. I chuckled slightly before shaking my head.

“That guy...” 

“I’m doing fine. Really,” I added to reassure her since she was giving me that look.

“But so what exactly happened? You haven’t told me anything bout meeting Sehun here. Did you know how shock I was to receive a call from him?” Eun Ji scooted closer with her hands in her laps. I bit my lips and sent her an apologetic look.

"I'm sorry. I really did forget about telling you. Too many things are on my mind recently," I heaved s sigh and told her truthfully. She seemed to have felt a teeny bit of guilt in her suddenly as she touched my shoulder. 

"I was kidding. I'm here now, aren't I? Spill the beans,"

I laughed before proceeding to tell her the details on what happened the day when I left for my grandparents' house. From the moment he helped me in the train to how he disppeared this very morning. Of course I left out the parts about us kissing because that was unecessary. 

"Oh, I see. It's okay, you have me now. Sehun told me to accompany you until you get bored of me." she said proudly with a smile. "Which I'm sure you'll never be,"

I chuckled at her before pushing the plate of cake on the table closer to her.

"It's fine, you can take the guest room Sehun used before," I told her and stood up to replace the bed sheets and clean the area quickly. When I came back out to the living room, Eun Ji had already finished the cake and was texting someone on her phone. I peered over her shoulder from behind as I took a peek at her phone, wanting to tell her the room is ready.

I was abit surprised to see the caller name.

"Who are you texting?" I asked unknowingly even though I saw the caller id. Eun Ji jumped in surprised, dropping her phone. She was acting pretty suspicious but I decided to dismiss the thought that maybe Sehun was just checking on her that she has reached the correct place. But I frowned when she laughed awkardly at me. 

"No one, just some old friend." Now she's lying.                     

"Alright, if you say so." I raised a brow before plopping myself down beside her. Eun Ji quickly picked up her phone as I do so. I was about to reach for the remote control to turn on the television so it wouldn't bore Eun Ji out but I was quickly stopped by her. She grabbed my hands before I could and pulled me up from sitting down.

"What are you-"

"Let's go to my room. I need some help with unpacking," Eun Ji told me as she pulled me into the room with her lugagge. 

Sehun's POV

"Come, quick." Luhan whispered as he signalled for me to move in the dorm. We were currently at the door of our dorm at nearly 4a.m in the morning and Luhan tried his best to open the door without much sounds when I messaged him that I have reached. I left Su Mi's grandparents house almost immediately after I sneaked into Su Mi's room and also a couple of kisses. 

I thought I needed something to give me some strength for what I was about to do.

Yes, I did have a plan in my mind and I have been thinking about how to carry it out for a few weeks now ever since Su Mi disappeared. I haven't really share the plan with any of the members now. They have indeed done quite a bit for me, just covering for me to see Su Mi is enough. But this morning, I was planning on telling my plan to at least one of them, probably Luhan.

Most of my members more or less knows whats going on between Su Mi and I now and I'm really grateful that they respect both our decisions. At the same time, I always felt apologetic for bringing my group down along with me because of my love for Su Mi. So, I was trying really hard to think of a plan the best for both worlds.

I nodded at Luhan before the both of us tiptoed into our room. It was kind of strange to see that the inside of our dorm was empty with no staffs. The members were probably sleeping in their rooms. When Luhan finally closed the door of our room, he quickly turned around and looked at me with a questioning expression.

I threw my bag to my bed before I sat down on the corner of my bed. 

"How did it go dude?" Luhan asked again, giving me one of his 'come on, say it' face. I chuckled slightly before I closed my eyes (being pretty tired) and gave him a thumbs up. Luhan smiled widely and pinned me down with his arms on my bed as he laughed.

"That's great!" 

"So the two of you are back together now?" Luhan asked again, wanting to be sure of it after he stepped away from me. I nodded, pretty sure that was the situation after yesterday. Thank god I didn't give up despite Su Mi's harsh words. Or should I say, kissing her and forcing those words out of her was a good plan. I knew that she would never, ever forgo our relationship this easily. 

"Oh hyung, but how did you manage to cover up for me? The staffs didn't suspect anything?" I asked curiously as I sat up on the bed, running my fingers through my hair. 

Luhan made a grimace before he shook his shoulders. 

"We had to put some pillows under your bed and oh yeah, remember the sneezing video we had of you?" Luhan folded his arms triumphantly, proud of himself.

I raised a brow at the mention of that. I'd remember Baekhyun, that who recorded the video of me coming out of the shower room sneezing real loud and he sent that video into our groupchat with only our members. I swear I was teased for that for about 2 months. 

"Yeah, what about it?"

"I had Baekhyun bluetooth connect his phone to the speaker in this room and we played that audio for about a few times every hour." Luhan started to laugh just recalling it. "I had the members stand near the door so that the staffs couldn't go in and we deliberately played the audio for them to hear. I can't believe they fell for it!"

"They really thought you were sick and was sneezing in your room. Since no other members were inside the room, they really thought it was you! How dumb was that?" Luhan wiped his tears as he clutched onto his stomach. "I swear this will stay in our memories for a long time," I laughed a little since I could already picture how stupid it looked. 

"Oh but, how did you change her mind?" Luhan suddenly stopped laughing when he remembered about the situation. I smirked at him deliberately. Luhan's eyes grew wide when he got distracted as he stepped closer to me.

"Oh my god, did you guys make out?" Luhan instantly came over and swiped his thumb on my lips. I looked at him innocently before he rolled his eyes looking at the red stain, now on his fingers.

"Disgusting," I threw a pillow at him.

"But I'm really glad you guys at least got to talked." Luhan smiled proudly at me. I nodded at his words before I fiddled with my fingers, hesitating to tell him about what's coming next. 

"Thanks hyung, but this is only the beginning," I sighed before I tousled my hair.

"Yeah? You have a plan?" he asked, not surprised. I nodded obediently. "We needed one anyways, we can't always cover up for you. Besides, this is running away from the problem and not facing it." he said wisely. I couldn't agree more with his words. It was indeed running away from it. But from running away this one time, I seemed to have gain enough courage to be facing it now.

"I'm ready, hyung." I told him firmly before I proceeded to spilling about my plans and asking his suggestions on it.

Your POV

It has been nearing three months since I have been residing in my grandparents' house. Things were the usual. I would wake up in the early morning, have a jog around the neighbourhood, come home to greet my grandparents, tend to plants with my grandma and bring her out to eat lunch since my grandpa would leave early for work, talk to my grandma and her friends at a nearby coffeeshop, go home to pick the vegetables we grew, cook dinner and sleep early for the next day.

Eun Ji was still with me these whole three months ever since she came that day. I have always told her to go back to Seoul but she would whine and say that it was lonely for her to be in Seoul alone since I wasn't there. I felt bad about her travelling a few hours to work in Seoul just to travel back to sleep here with me. But she was too stubborn for me to change her mind.

I also couldn't deny that I enjoyed her presence.

And as for Sehun, I actually haven't heard personally from him ever since. Speaking of which, there was definitely something strange going on between Eun Ji and Sehun. The last time I caught it was that day when she was texting Sehun the day she came over. However, I quickly dismissed the doubt since the only news I get about Sehun, was from Eun Ji. I totally understand that Sehun would only contact Eun Ji to relay messages to me since he didn't want to get caught by the company for contacting me directly. Of course I didn't mind, but Eun Ji would always claim that Sehun was doing well, fine, perfect.

It was just...too vague. I wanted to know more, but I figured it would be a burden to Eun Ji for having to relay long stories about what happened in his daily life. But ever since she moved here, she was acting all weird as well. She wouldn't allow me to pick up the remote control or read the news on my phone. I was most suspicious of her when she actually spoiled the television at home. She claimed that she had tripped on the television on the floor. I mean...who trips on a television? (Even though our television was those old-fashioned one that looked like a box which was placed on the floor, but still) 

Furthermore, I have no idea how but I came home one day to find out from my grandma that the slow internet that we had at home wasn't working. Because of all these, I couldn't find out what was going on in Seoul and definitely how Sehun was doing by myself. All I ever get was from Eun Ji that he was fine. But I just missed him. Alot.

Everyday before I sleep, I would pray that he was doing well in his career and everything. I wanted the best for him for everything. Maybe that was why I didn't want to travel all the way to Seoul to take a look at him just to burden him again. Just staying simple like this was enough. 

However, all these thoughts changed that one day....

Eun Ji just came home looking as tired as ever from the long trip back. I was eating watermelon on the floor of the living room as I played chess with my grandpa, my grandma watching in excitement from the side. I chuckled seeing Eun Ji dragged her feet to the guest room and dropped on the bed with the door opened. I excused myself from the game, signalling for my grandma to play in my place as I walked over to her room. 

I laughed watching her motionless on the bed with her arms and legs sprawled out and her face in the pillows. I helped her to take her bag hanging on her shoulder as I placed it on the desk. 
 

"You should take a shower before you sleep," I chuckled again. She made some muffled incoherent cries into the pillow. Just then, her phone vibrated in her bag. I got curious and took it out from her bag so that I could read it for her in case it was urgent. 

Don't forget to send me the proposal by 11pm.

It was a message from her colleagues. I bit my lips, feeling a little sad for her hectic life. I left the chat but my eyes caught the name 'Oh Sehun' in one of her chats even though it was at the bottom. Feeling curious, I clicked into it not knowing what was actually waiting for me. When the chat opened, I read through some of the messages but I couldn't believe what I was actually reading.

Hello, it's Eun Ji. I have reached Su Mi's grandparents' house. Don't worry, I'll make sure she doesn't get too bored.

Thanks. Oh and please make sure she doesn't see the news or watch the television. I'll trust you in that! If she asks anything about me, just tell her I'm doing great.

I frowned as I scrolled for more messages but really, that was it. Those were their last few messages which were sent on the day she came over to my grandparents' house itself. Now my head was in a mess and I could feel a headache coming. My stomach churned from a bad feeling and I felt like vomitting.

Firstly, Sehun was the one who didn't want me to watch television or read the news, not Eun Ji. That means that they were hiding something. Secondly, then what about all those 'Sehun is doing fine,' that Eun Ji has been constantly telling me these whole three months? Were they all made up? They didn't even chat these three months! I almost dropped the phone but instead, I held it tightly in my hands. So tight my knuckles turned white.

I needed to read the news. 

Eun Ji sat up just in time on the bed as she rubbed her eyes sleepily.

"Did someone send me a message?" she asked. I ignored her and left the room in a hurry as I went to find my phone. I my mobile data which I hadn't for a long time. I went straight to the news online and searched 'EXO'. With every second passing by, my mind was in a blank and I was panicking so bad. 

I froze when the first thing that came out when I searched was a dating scandal of Sehun. 

'Youngest member in EXO is dating his first love'

'Sehun involved in a dating scandal'

'Maknae in EXO is currently dating'

My hands were quivering, as well as my lips. I felt like throwing up from reading all these because the dates of those published articles weren't even recent. It was nearing three months ago, which meant that these happened the day right after he left. Sehun had actually told the press conference personally that he was dating me. Without me knowing. I was shivering because I didn't know what to do. 

I scrolled past the articles to click on this video that was taken in the press conference. I played it and Sehun was seated behind a long table with their members as they discussed about the success of the promotions. A reporter directed a question at him asking if he was happy these days. 

"I think one's happiness is determined by that person's definition of happiness. In the case of your eyes, you probably think "Oh this guy is probably really happy because the album his group produced is a big hit now. He's succesful and good to go"" The audience behind the cameras and the reporters laughed a little at his words.

"But as for me..." He stopped talking and the only noises that could be heard were the camera shutters and flashlights shone on his face as he hesitated to say what he was about to say next.

"I wouldn't say I'm happy." he said truthfully, giving a small smile to the reporters.

"The thing is...a pretty while ago, I met this very special person in my life. It was years since I last met her and when I first saw her, I didn't know what to do. You see...the thing is...we had some misunderstandings that weren't cleared up before we went separate ways. That always left me to feel kind of empty and I don't really know how to explain it but...It was sort of like a burden." He said sincerely from the bottom of his heart as the the number of camera shutters toned down, showing that people were starting to listen.

"So I guess those feelings sort of stayed in my heart from then on even though I didn't realise it until I met her again. At first, I treated her pretty mean because I blamed it on her that we went separate ways, even though I was the one who chose to let her go to become what I am today. But...the very first time I felt and thought to myself "Ah...I'm happy" was when she accepted me once again, into her life. I always knew that it wasn't an easy decision for her to make so when she did, I felt like the burden that was on me for years was lifted off instantly. Maybe that was why I felt that I was finally free, and also happy. And ever since then, with her by my side, my brain has often reminded me that this is the feeling of happiness."

"So I guess to me, I think she's my definition of happiness."

My eyes were already b with tears as I watched him say that with a bitter smile on his face. When he was done speaking, another reporter raised yet another question. 

"Who is the girl you're referring to in your story? Are you implying that you are dating?"

Everyone fell silent and the members all looked at Sehun with a concerned look. The members seemed to have known what Sehun was about to say. Sehun didn't face any of the members as he took the mic again and lifted it to his lips.

"Yes, I am currently dating my first love." 

I was distracted from the video when I looked up to see Eun Ji standing at my door with wide eyes. She seemd to have ran to my room when she realised that I must have read her messages with Sehun in her phone. Her eyes quickly darted down from mine to the phone I was holding. She saw what I was watching and came over to embrace me as I bawled in her arms. 

"It's going to be fine," Eun Ji comforted me non-stop as she patted my back. I didn't need to see to know the amount of hate that was sent to them the moment Sehun spilled the beans. I just couldn't stop crying because I felt that it was all because of me and I felt so guilty and useless for being oblivious to everything that happened these three months I was here.

Just then, my phone rang and Eun Ji picked it up in my place since I was crying in her arms. It wasn't until Eun Ji pulled me away that I stopped rubbing my eyes as I looked at her. Her face drained of colours as she looked pale while staring back at me.

"Sehun's in the hospital,"