“Ready to go?” You ask, poking your head into his kitchen just as he took a mouthful of water to swallow something. Seeing him hastily hiding a pill container while sputtering as some of his water went down the wrong pipe, you narrow your eyes. “Are you sick?”

He holds up a hand to stop you as you try to come closer, shaking his head. After giving his chest one last hard thump, he clears his throat. “It’s nothing. Let’s go enjoy the foliage before it gets too cold.” Walking towards you, he offers his arm, and naturally, you take it.

You’ve been dating Yixing for about three months now, and it is now early October. Today, to celebrate your acceptance into a dance troupe, he is taking you out to hike and see the beautiful autumn foliage.

“Are you sick, though?” you ask, leaning your head on his shoulder while staring out the window on the bus to the mountain park. You noticed him taking pills from a prescription bottle and cartridge—just like you did—every day. But he’d never tell you what they were for, even after you told him about your condition. Then it hits you. Maybe he was afraid of what you’d think. Maybe those medications were for something in his head—not like you cared, since you loved him—and not his body. You look up at him, narrowing your eyes as he pops his dimples again. “Or are you a psychopath or something?”

“Maybe,” he hums, looking away. “Oh, look! Isn’t that little boy adorable?” he nods at a little toddler that was teetering onto the bus at his mother’s heels.

“Zhang Yixing, don’t change the subject—“

“Yes, I’m sick. And yes, I’m psycho.” Seeing your eyes widen as you jerked away from him, he chuckles. “I’m psychopathically in love with the most beautiful and smart girl in the world.”

“You . . . you—“ you sputtered, feeling your face flushing as he pinched your nose and laughed at you.

“But . . . that medicine isn’t for that. It’s just something I was born with.” He draws you close, still smiling.

You shiver, unsure why you suddenly felt the chill of a feeling that felt an awful lot like fear. “It’s . . . not serious, is it?”

He frowns, pulling you closer. “Are you cold? Or sick—“ He takes off a glove, covering your hand with it before placing his palm on your forehead. “Nope—“

“Yixing—“

“Look, my illness isn’t anything serious or special. It’s something just like our eyes—“

Heterochromia iridum; odd eyes . . . You thought, fiddling with his glove while studying his eyes; one caramel colored, one night-black. He stopped wearing his black lens after showing you his natural eye color that day, proudly carrying his head without caring about the stares his eyes drew. He’d tried to convince you to ditch the color lenses, too, but—

“--Lihua?”

“Huh?”

“This is our stop, come on.” Lightly, he tugs you to your feet, wrapping an arm around your shoulders as you both alight from the bus.

Once at the summit, you stand at the railing in the gazebo, spreading your arms and breathing in the crisp fall air. It was so refreshing . . . and watching the bright hues of autumn float down to the city below from the trees around you was spectacular. You take a few twirls, soaking in the mountain’s energy and tranquility. Yixing laughs from the railing behind you, clapping from where he was perched.

“Bravo, our no. 1 ballerina, Jun Lihua!” he cheers, gently grasping your hand as you stopped in front of him. “May I have this dance, my lady?”

“Maybe,” you say, placing a hand on his shoulder as he stood up. “Since I really enjoyed your power performance at the beach, and you are my personal tutor . . . I guess I can dance with you.”

And the two of you sway and spin, not caring how ridiculous you looked while dancing to a mixture of a waltz and swing while bundled up like penguins with your scarves in each other’s faces. Laughing as he catches you in one last dip, your heart nearly stops as you hear a familiar voice.

Zing.

“Li Na! Li Na, wait—“

Zing.

It hurt.

Zing.

Your heart that was almost fully mended began to bleed again as Yixing pulled you up and you saw that man trailing behind another woman. A beautiful woman. A woman with skin fairer than moonlight and doe-like eyes that were an indescribable shade between chocolate brown and licorice black. A woman who was absolutely radiant, and even more so as she glowed with health and pregnancy. Unconsciously, you shrank behind Yixing and clutched his arm tightly, earning a startled “ow” from him, which caught the approaching couple’s attention.

“Jun Lihua . . .” Yifan says, stopping as if he’d just run into a wall as he sees you. And the woman halts a pace in front of him, turning to glare at him. She shoots you a weird look—it was something between a death stare, apprehension, and a look of remorse and sympathy-- before stomping to his side.

“Wu Yifan.” You’d opened your mouth to speak, but shut it as you heard Yixing’s calm voice calling out to your ex.

“Yixing—“ Yifan began, looking from the woman who was throwing daggers at him with her eyes, then looking at you. He sighs. “Yixing, Lihua, this is Li Na. Li Na, this is Yixing, who you met yesterday, and Lihua, my highschool friend.”

Friend. We were more than that. You felt that annoying zing again as you forced a smile onto that face that felt like it got shot up with too much botox by a trigger-happy plastic surgeon with a machine gun. “Nice to meet you, Li Na. Yifan’s always gushing to us about how beautiful you are and how he’s finally found ‘the one,’ you know? Congratulations.”

Zing.

You desperately wanted to disappear as you felt that beautiful lie become the sharpest knife stabbing your heart. You see confusion flash through Yifan’s eyes as you cover for him, and that knife twists around in your chest, becoming tightly lodged in your being.  

Yixing raises an eyebrow as he looks down at you, concerned as he purses his lips. You shake your head, staring at your feet and praying that Yixing would play along with your white lie. He sighs, giving your hand one comforting squeeze. “Congratulations, Yifan.”

“Thanks, man,” Yifan replies stiffly, wrapping his arm around Li Na, whose expression had grown stranger and more perplexed after hearing your lie.

“If it’s not too nosey, when are you due?” you try to ask casually, studying Li Na while avoiding looking directly her.

“Sometime in February, so still quite some time left,” she replies, smiling faintly. “Fan, shoo. I want to do some girl chat with your friend—“she glances at you. “That is, if that’s OK with you.”

I have nothing to say to you—“Huh? Oh . . . of course, I don’t mind,” you hastily reply, glancing over at Yixing.

Reassuringly, he pats your shoulder, whispering, “It’ll be OK. She has a lot to tell you.” Then he walks off with Yifan, leaving you alone in the gazebo with that woman.

“So—“ you both say, looking everywhere except at each other.

“Sorry,” you say quickly, rear-ending the railing as you misjudged the height you needed to jump to sit on it.

Shaking her head, Li Na crouches down near the steps, dusting them off lightly with her gloved hand before plunking down and patting the space next to her. “Come here.”

Meekly, you obeyed, bracing yourself for the worst. You stare at your feet even as you feel Li Na’s stare boring holes into the top of your head. Then suddenly, she sighed.

“You hate my guts, don’t you?” she asks out of the blue.

“Huh? No, I . . . I mean, you probably hate me, right?” you jump, not sure how to answer. Zing. Because I wasn’t good enough, that’s why . . .

“Oh, stop it. I know I stole your man—“

Zing.

“—And I’m sorry, Li Hua,” Li Na sighs, looking over at you before turning her eyes to the sky. “We met at the bar, you know? I just broke up with my boyfriend, and well, we started talking, and—“

“. . . I know, it’s because I wasn’t good enough . . .” and the words just spilled out. Realizing that you’d worded your thoughts, you just laugh awkwardly and try to cover it up. “What do you mean you stole my man? If you’re two-timing with Yixing, I’ll murder him—“

“Stop it, really,” Li Na rolls her eyes, letting out a huff of air. “I didn’t know he had you. If I did, I swear I wouldn’t have . . . you know? But then,” she pats her belly. “Then this just happened.”

Looking up as you heard the soft hiccup and sniffles, you freeze. Li Na was crying all of a sudden.

“Are you OK—woah!” Li Na throws her arms around you, nearly crushing your ribs and back in a tight hug.

“Don’t look at me like that, it’s rude! And I’m not crying, it’s just all these crazy baby hormones and—“

Awkwardly, you pat her back and smooth out the hair around her temples, at a loss as to what to do or how to feel right now. Yes, you were still hurt that Yifan cheated on you. But were you angry? Or jealous? Or both? But you have Yixing now, so why does that man and Li Na even matter to you? You have Yixing, isn’t he good enough?

“—I’m scared,” whispered Li Na, her tears stopping. “But . . . don’t tell Yifan. He’s even more of a coward and panics more if he sees me freaking out.”

You huff out a laugh. Yeah, that much was still true about the oversized auto insurance lizard. He really wasn’t as cool and cold as he looked. “Well, he’s stupid, but everything will be OK. He’s a little—well, very—dense and forgetful, but he’s dependable—Hey, don’t cry!”

“I can’t help it! But I don’t know . . . should I even keep this baby? I mean, you know how all men are—“

“Keep it,” you blurted out, not wanting to hear the truth Li Na was about to say. “Just keep it.”

“Yeah, but . . . All men cheat. Fan cheated on you with me . . . doesn’t that make me a ?”

“No . . . it makes you a garbage collector,” you say slowly, trying to make her smile. “Hey, one woman’s trash is another woman’s treasure, right?”

Li Na lets out a watery laugh, clinging to you tighter. “But what if I become his trash and he cheats again? Then what about this baby?”

All men cheat. You look up, noticing the men returning. Seeing Yixing, you feel doubt bubbling up in your chest. Then you look at Li Na and help her clean her face, grimacing as she blew up her nose in her scarf. “If he cheats again, I’ll help you dispose of the body, I guess.”

Chuckling, she up the last of the snot. “Thanks. You know, maybe God made Eve so Adam wouldn’t be killed by his own stupidness . . .”

You laughed out loud. “Probably.”

Laughing together now, the two of you hug and cry and become friends as your men stop a few steps away and scratch their heads, not sure what to do with your tears.

Later, on the bus back to the city, you find yourself leaning your head on Yixing’s shoulder again. This time, you listen to his steady, strong heartbeat.

Thump. Thump.

 Its rhythm wasn’t all that different from Yifan’s . . .

 All—“—men cheat . . .” you mumbled.

“Huh?” He turns his head a little, looking at you.

“Nothing . . . just . . . promise me you won’t cheat on me or scare some poor girl by knocking her up.”

He sighs, taking your hand and gently bending it into a pinky promise. “I promise. But does that mean we’re not going to . . . ?”

And you slap his arm. Hard. And you earn a few stares as the sound seems to echo through the bus. And those weird butterflies flock to your face as you see amusement lighting his eyes. “Zhang Yixing!” Hold your horses, dude! We . . . I –

“I know, I know,” he chuckles, rubbing his arm. “But maybe someday . . . Maybe someday I want a family—Hey, don’t hit me!”

“You men always say you want a family, but who actually has to grow a human in their stomach like a tumor for nine months and get up to pee every two hours? And go through all the barfing and nausea?”

“Yeah, but you women always say that, but who actually has to deal with all those crazy mood swings and grovel when it’s not even our fault?”

“Because it IS your fault—“

And the two of you continued to squabble even after getting off the bus, and even the during the entire walk up to your apartment.

“Well, today was really fun,” you say, turning to punch in the key code to your unit. But Yixing suddenly spins you around, backing you against the door as he leans in, kissing you. You felt a gentle fire in that kiss, and the heat and strength of the beat under the skin in the hands that were holding you was strong enough to burn you. But you don’t hate or fear this feeling. So you lean in, greedy for more as he pulls away, smirking slightly.

“Think about me tonight,” he grins cheekily, leaving you with a two-finger salute.

“Zhang Yixing, you—“

END// Heterochromia iridum 5

20160125 - pulled an all nighter to finish up *-* Bridge chapter before Jaedelle starts dropping "bombs" =) Sorry for any typos & if the rest of this series is a bit lacking, I kind of lost my interest in EXO as a whole over a year ago T_T sowwies T_T (don't kill me Exotics/ EXO-L)

Recap: You went on a date with Lay, bumping into Kris and his fiancee, Li Na, who becomes your friend as you realize that the two of you have a lot in common. Lay scrambles what's left of your fried brain with a hot good night kiss.