Chapter 29

Aisha Kim

Background music: http://youtu.be/igvfBkxRjxU

"AISHA!!! AISHA!!!"

I threw my necklace at him, praying he'd find it again, like the first time...I saw him drop to the ground and pick it up.
"AISHA!!!!" Jongin screamed. "AISHA I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!!"

Make it stop.

Stop screaming.

Let me go!!!

I slapped as hard as I could, struggling out of his grip. He pinned my arms back sharply. I gasped and kicked, hitting his stomach. I jerked my head up and hit his nose. I broke free after another slap. My mask fell off. Where was my Jongin?

"AISHA!!! AISHA!!!"

I ran to the direction of his voice. That man did something to my ankle... It was hard to run....I tried to wipe the tears away, tried to calm the pain in my chest. I heard the man running after me. Why can't I run faster???

"AISHA!!!"

"Jongin..." I tried to choke out, but it was no use. I felt myself trip over a bump in the asphalt. Suddenly everything was sideways. I gasped from the sudden pain to my temple. I saw him running to me as my vision got darker. I saw the man grab him back....darkness....

"Aisha!!! AISHA WAKE UP!!!"

I jerked awake violently. My body had broken out into a cold sweat and tears were streaming down my face. My heart was beating way too fast. The hotel bed was an absolute mess, and SunJung's worried face was the first thing I saw. She was still shaking me awake. I heard someone start to yell.

"Luhaaaaan.....LUHAN!!! LUHAN NO!!!"

"Not her too..." I heard HeeYoung say.

"What's going on?" I asked quietly.

"You were having a nightmare again. So is Sage. HeeYoung! Please!" SunJung said.

It's been like this for a while.

Every night, since we landed in America, which was about two weeks ago now, I've been shaken awake by the same dream. The screaming of Jongin's desperate voice, my attempts to run back to him. I'm just a pabo. I had to trip over that freakin' bump and fall. My ankle stopped throbbing, but my heart had yet to heal.

I looked over in the dim light and saw Sage, still asleep, but yelling Luhan's name. She was kicking and punching at nothing, making HeeYoung very hesitant. I scrambled out of bed to help despite SunJung's protests. I grabbed a hold of her flailing hands as HeeYoung said, "Sage!!! Sage WAKE UP!!! Please WAKE UP!!!"

She jerked awake, hair sticking to her sweaty frame. She began to cry and mumble a hodgepodge of English and Korean words together. I just registered that Minji was awake and running around trying to help. She ran to Sage and held her close.

"Wh...what are you doing...?" Sage sputtered. Everyone looked shocked at the sudden change in Minji. I know I was shocked.

"Helping." She said. "I know how you feel, Sage. We all do. And honestly I don't think you two realize that."

I stared at her, a bit puzzled. What was she trying to say? SunJung and HeeYoung nodded. Wait...they're agreeing? How could those girls possibly know what we're going through? We were forcefully taken away from our boyfriends...stuck on a plane for hours on end without any contact with any of them.

"Wait, how could you of all people know how I'm feeling?" Sage asked bitterly. Minji sighed, pushing Sage away from her gently.

"Because I know the pain of love. Let me tell you a story."

"I don't want to hear about all of your one night stands." Sage snapped.

"No Sage. Please just for once hear me out." Minji said patiently. Since when is she patient? SunJung and HeeYoung gathered around Minji. I decided to join the group a few moments later.

"Two years before I became a trainee, I met and dated a certain boy. I dated him for four years, Sage. Four years. Then I found out that he was cheating on me while I was off doing trainee stuff. And then I figured out that he was cheating through the entire relationship. After that I completely lost it. I drank a lot and became who I am today, a heartbreaker. Because of the wrong that happened to me, I wanted to show any guy that dared that it wasn't good to play with hearts." Minji stated. I could tell that it was hard for her to talk about. To be honest I'd forgotten she told me that. 

"You know the couple rings Luhan gave you? They were mine and my ex's. I kept them to remind me that I used to believe in love. I'm glad you're someone's Opal." Minji finished. SunJung wrapped her arms around Minji.

"I didn't know that, Unnie." She said. Minji sighed.

"I've only told Aisha and HeeYoung. Since this has happened I felt like Sage needed to hear it. Even though it's obvious we don't like each other."

"And I just want to say, Sage, Aisha, you need to remember that while you guys lost the love of your life, we lost our best friends." HeeYoung said quietly, but boldly.

"That's right. I can't talk to Kris, Suho, or Lay anymore. They were closest to me..." Minji said.

"And I lost my three musketeers. I'd never had so much fun prancing with Baek, Chen, and Chanyeol." SunJung sighed.

"I lost my friends Xiumin, and D.O...and Tao..." HeeYoung sniffled.

"Not to mention Sehun." Minji added. "He was like the curious little brother."

I nodded, suddenly understanding. They lost their friends too. They lost the boys that knew them and had a lot of fun with. Losing a friend is just as heart-wrentching as losing someone you love...

"Well, at least I understand you better." Sage said to Minji. "Your attitude makes a lot more sense now." HeeYoung had started to cry harder. We looked at her with concern.

"What's wrong, lill' Jappy?" Minji asked, curious. We were all a bit curious to why she suddenly burst into tears.

"No...no...it's just....I...I..." She cried harder. SunJung squeezed her tight against her.

"You can tell us, sweetie." SunJung said.

"I like Tao!" She blurted, and immediatly covered her face with her hands. SunJung let go of her.

"Wait...what?" She asked in disbelief.

"I thought it was a bit obvious." Sage said. I nodded. I always thought she did, but that Tao was the one that liked her more.

"This is news to me." Minji said. "I knew he liked you, but you never really expressed it."

"I tried to hide it, especially when Aisha and Kai..." She faded off. "But it hurts...it hurts a lot."

"So, we're all hurting." I finally had the courage to sign something. Sage turned to cry on Minji's shoulder.

"We're just a sobbing mess in the L.A, aren't we?" SunJung sighed as HeeYoung huddled closer to her, tears still falling. I stayed silent, refusing to cry anymore. It wouldn't be what Jongin would want. He would want me to try and stay happy still during our time apart. I hoped he was okay...it was still so late at night...was he thinking of me?

We stayed up the rest of the night, crying and talking about all that's happened in the past year. SunJung realized that today was Jewelz one year being together. We were all a bit shocked to realize that at three in the morning. SunJung told us about how at first she was ridiculed as a trainee because she was half black. HeeYoung talked about how it was hard to learn Korean fluently enough to do anything really, and Minji told her diet story to Sage, which Sage immediantly felt sorry for her. Sage talked about how she learned sign language to communicate with her little sister and eventually me.

"Okay. Now that we all know each other a lot better, let's just go out and celebrate our one year together. We've been stuck in this beautiful place for two weeks and we haven't even explored!" SunJung announced when it was morning outside.

"That's because we've been preparing for K-Con. Since we're not with Exo anymore everything's out of wack..." Minji faded off.

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