Chapter 5

Luhan wanders the hallway, leaving the apartment building, hoping to find…something. He was not sure yet, but he needed to be alone with himself. Luhan finds himself in a street, his feet moving as his mind turned, a street he did not recognize. Luhan blinks and turns in a circle.

“I am completely and utterly lost,” Luhan states, his voice a whisper against the wind. He chuckles, this was not new. He was always lost. Absentmindedly, he pulls his phone out, pressing his first speed dial, his phone held to his ear. The ringing continues for a few minutes before a voice speaks out.

“Hello, this is Wu Yifan,”

“Fanfan, I'm lost. Come and get me please?”

“And I am unable to reach my phone now. Please leave a message and Luhan will call you back. If Luhan is the reason I can't come to the phone, then you're about to interrupt important matters, so off.”

Luhan pauses, swallowing the tears about to pour from his eyes as he remembers that Yifan will never pick up his calls again.

“Right. Wrong move. Who do I call?” Luhan slaps his cheeks lightly and stares at his phone. Neither Yixing or Baekhyun would know where he was. This area was as foreign to them as it was to him. He swallows, and tries to trace his steps backwards but ends up even more lost then before.

Luhan squats down, panic nearly overwhelming him. He had never been lost and without someone to pick him up. He takes a deep breath, “new memories, new memories,” he mutters to himself, before standing up again, determined to find his own way.

“Ex- excuse me,” he hears someone stutter behind him. Luhan turns to see a boy, taller than him, with pale skin and a cute smile.

Luhan blinks, paints a smile, ‘new memories, new memories’.

“Yes? Can I help you?” Was his voice always this hoarse?

“Yes, um, well, I was hoping that you could show me the way…”

“Yes, well, I would, but well, I'm equally lost,” Luhan forces a laugh, a small chuckle and this causes the other boy’s eyes to crinkle and for his lips to form a wide smile.

“My name is Oh Sehun, I’m going to be studying at the university. I just moved in actually, to the Hills.”

“So have I!” Luhan was surprised. “I'm Luhan. I live in Room 446.”

“I have room 335.”

Luhan laughs again, this one less forced than before, something that surprises him. He did not think he would laugh so soon, did not think anyone could make him laugh again.

“Maybe if we wander around long enough, we’ll find it,” Luhan suggests.

Sehun nods, walking beside Luhan as they begin wandering the streets, together.

“No, seriously, one minute I was dancing and the next, she had me slammed against the wall,” Sehun said, arms waving about, his eyes wide as he describes his dance teacher coming onto him.

Luhan laughs, as he pictures the fifteen year old Sehun making out with his dace teacher.

“There is no way she wanted you. No way in hell.”

“Hey, I'm y when I dance okay? Very y.”

“I almost guarantee, I'm ier,” Luhan teases.

"There is no way your flat is y."

"Excuse me, I have been told that I have a very beautiful ."

"Your mother doesn't count."

"Why would I ask my mom about my !"

"Why not? I asked mine!"

"You are a giant sized weirdo."

"Why thank you, Mr. flat ."

“No way, how are you almost twenty two and about to enter college? Did you fail a year? Did you fail two years? But you couldn't have, how would you have an academic scholarship otherwise?”

“I came from China. I was in a high school that taught classes in Mandarin and then transferred us to regular high school once we become acceptable in Korean. I came too late, caught the tail end of the program and had to stay an extra year. And then I realized when the tests rolled in, that watching dramas would not help me learn so I had to stay longer to learn the proper grammar and stuff."

“That's so stupid.”

“Hey, you're telling me. My friends were in the same predicament, but we managed to graduate together. Eventually."

“Your friend, your roommate?”

“Yup, that one.”

“So how old is he?”

“Just turned twenty, that fool.”

“What does that make me? I just turned nineteen.”

“An even bigger fool, obviously.”

"You did not win that competition. Are you serious? How did you win the EXOtica competition? Those are hard core. I failed in the first round."

"Xing Xing and I spent months coming up with the perfect song, we had Baekkie sing for us. We worked our asses off for months. This flat has the trophy on display in the living room of his apartment."

"Why are you talking in the third person?"

"I was trying to make a point, Oh Sedumb."

"Don't call me that. I swear I'm never telling you anymore of the stories."

"Like I want to hear them, Oh Sedumb."

"So you don't want to hear about the time I almost set the school on fire."

"Tell me."

"Okay, so I had this lighter right?"

Sehun continues telling stories, as they continue walking, pausing to try and see if they recognize anything. Luhan does the same, regaling him with tales of mischief from his old town.

It is not until he hears the cry of his name, does Luhan realize that they have arrived at the apartment. With a relived sigh, Luhan runs into Yixing’s warm embrace, wrapping his arms tightly around him.

“I got lost. I wanted coke and somehow I ended up with a place that did not sell coke and then I met him and we managed to find our way back. But I was lost and I couldn't call... “ Luhan stops mumbling and buries his head further against Yixing’s shoulder. Baekhyun pats his shoulder, before rounding onto Sehun, unhappy with his presence.

“And who are you?” Baekhyun had his arms crossed, a glare evident on his face.

“A lost traveller,” Sehun blurts out, terror shaking his voice.

Baekhyun’s stance softens as he takes in the fear, conceding that maybe Sehun was a little too frightened to be a or a kidnapper. He nods his head, “thank you for bringing our lost child home.”

“No, no if anything, he brought me here. I just moved in and got lost when I went out to look for food and I saw him sitting on the street and I thought, ‘oh look a student, maybe he'll know the place,’ but he didn't, so we walked together and I'm sorry,” Sehun begins rambling, his voice shaking until Yixing interrupts with a light chuckle, Luhan still clinging to him.

Baekhyun raises an eyebrow, “is there anything else I can do for you?”

“Umm…no?” Sehun squeaks.

“Don't scare my roommate, guys, he just moved in. Like literally. He unpacked his stuff two hours ago.” Baekhyun turns around, watching with slanted eyes as a dark haired boy, with a large smirk comes forward, having just left the elevator.

“Jongdae-hyung!” Sehun squeaks in relief as Baekhyun’s glare subsides at the introduction of his roommate.

“Jongdae, this…this...thing…is living with you?”

“I am not a thing!” Sehun immediately cowers behind his hyung as Baekhyun returns his glare to full force.

“Yes, yes, my dear friend. Now, stop with glaring so we can get home. I have codes to run and my ramyun might start burning.”

“Fine! But if I find out this thing has laid a finger on my baby…”

“I'll help you bury his body alright? Now move along! my lovely ladies.” Jongdae ignored the wounded look look on Sehun's face, smirked at Baekhyun, and wrapped a hand around Luhan's small waist. "Come on pretty boy, before mama bear eats me." Luhan laughs at Jongdae, still giggling as they walk to the elevator.

The five proceed to take the elevator, with Jongdae and Sehun getting off at the third floor, a shy wave accompanied with a cocky smirk and a call me sign to Luhan, the last they see of them for now. The remaining three get off on the four floor, Baekhyun first to open the door, and Yixing closing it behind them.

Almost immediately, Baekhyun whirls around, “What were you thinking? First of all, why would you wander alone? You know your sense of direction is complete ! Second of all, how could follow him around? What if he was a kidnapper? Or a ? Have I taught you nothing? Has none of the warning I’ve given stuck in your head?Do you or do you not remember the time you were mistaken for a twelve year and almost kidnapped? Seriously if Fannie wasn't…” Baekhyun’s voice trails off, at the look of horror on Yixing’s face, before realizing his slip of tongue. He swallows, an apologetic look on his face.

Luhan smiles, “that's the first time,” he murmurs, “that we’ve said his name out loud.”

“It is, isn't it,” Yixing says, wonder present in tone. He smiles at Luhan, whose smile though small, reflects a time when they were all happy.

“I say it all the time.”

You say his name as a curse.”

“Well, yes, as if it can be used for anything else.”

Luhan laughs again, feeling better than before. ‘New memories, new memories’

Jongin walks, his feet aching, almost the same way his heart was. He walks for most of the night, dragging the stupid purple suitcase behind him. His tears had long run out, and the anger that he had suppressed was raging forth. He walks, nursing his rage, using it to heal his bleeding heart. He decides, with every step, that this day would mark the change.

Jongin would change, and he would become unbreakable. He would never let Kyungsoo touch him again. Not this time. Not again. He had stayed quiet before, always running back when Kyungsoo called, when Kyungsoo stopped being bored of him, but not this time. This time, he would be different.

He finally arrives at the apartment, trudging up the stairs to room 444, knocking on the door. He leans against it, exhausted, waiting for someone to answer. When no answer comes, Jongin sighs, slipping down to the floor, the suitcase beside him. Maybe his roommate had forgotten. Maybe his roommate was an alien and only descended to Earth during the day. Maybe his roommate did not exist and this was another prank by Kyungsoo and his new friend, and maybe Jongin would get his revenge, somehow, someday.

His eyes close and his head falls forwards, mere moments after he sits. Here, he would forge a new person. He would no longer be Kyungsoo’s Jongin. He would become…someone else. He would become new. And Jongin dreamed of better days, of better times, of a better him, of a newer him.

When he blinks awake, was it moments later, or had hours run together, he realizes a boy is sitting across from him. He studies him from beneath his lashes, with caramel color hair, to the pale skin dusted pink, the slim shoulders, the small waist, the thick thighs, and concludes that the boy was pretty. Very pretty. Almost unreal, with the weak sunlight filtering above him.

Whoever he was, he noticed Jongin’s fluttering lashes, and immediately crawled next to him.

“Hello, sorry, did I wake you?”

Jongin shook his head, still foggy with sleep.

Caramel boy smiles, offers him a bottled water. Jongin takes it from him, confused but grateful.

“My name is Luhan. I live next door. I was going for a walk, but I saw you. And you looked lonely. I hate being lonely, so I thought I'd keep you company. Just in case, you didn't like being lonely either. Was…was that okay?”

Jongin stares at the boy and sees the broken windows in his eyes and understands, “Was your world ripped apart too?” He asks, before clapping his hands over his mouth. His brain really was asleep. Who goes around asking questions like that? “You don't have to answe…”

Luhan interrupts him, his smile gentle.

“By a hurricane, that blasted through my world on whim. It took what it wanted and left me alone to deal with the broken shards of my world. It took away everything that I had and forced me learn to live as if I had always been alone.”

“Mine was more a tsunami. I knew of the devastation but I never anticipated the crash. I knew it would cause me pain, but I still stood at the beach because I believed it wouldn't happen to me. And I tried to weather it. But something had to cave. It turned out to be me.”

“But sometimes, for some people, the quiet before the storm is something you can't let go.”

“And for others, is the reason why I'm sitting here.”

“Tragedies are what make ordinary people see what they've never seen before…um…”

Jongin made a spilt second decision. “Call me Kai.”

“Well, then Kai, since it seems like you’re locked out, would you like to borrow my shower, then maybe my couch? I'm sure my roommates won't mind, they like strays.”

Jongin could only stare, while Luhan watched him, with eyes that were desperately trying to be alright. Eyes that refelcted his own.

‘New memories.’

‘New me.’

“I would like that very much, Luhan.”

Author's note: aloha my friends. I present to you a new chapter. I don't quite like this one, but I've done my best on it. This was really typed on mobile and I keep finding mistakes whenever I read it, so if you spot some, please please let me know! Also, the format might be a bit odf, but I hope it comes out okay.

I want to try a new thing, where if you guys want to see something specific happen in the development of the story be it a scenario or some situation, let me know so that I can put it in!

Special thanks to Lulu123, and ceisya for commenting! Thank you for your opinions, I really appreciate them. I hope you like this chapter! Also, thank you to my 14 subscribers. I really appreciate you guys willing to ride this story out with me!

I hope you enjoy this chapter, the good stuff is coming. I'm about done setting the whole story line and soon it will be done. Please let me know what you think! Also, do you mind the long author's note? Because I like talking to you, telling you a little about how the writing is coming but if you don't care, well I hope you do! :P

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