Chapter 10

“Hello?” Zitao said into the phone. “Who’s speaking?”

“U-um…” the voice on the other line mumbled. Zitao automatically could tell who it was from the voice. “I-it’s me…Jongdae.”

Zitao broke into a grin. “Jongdae-hyung! Why are you calling me so soon? Did you decide you wanted your MP3 player back?”

Zitao caught a faint chuckle. “No. Like I said, you can do what you want with it. Just give it back to me whenever. I just wanted to talk to you…”

“I assume you’re using your brother’s cellphone?” Zitao asked.

“Yeah.” Jongdae said. “I had him dial your number onto it for me.”

“Hmm. So Kim Joonmyeon is your mysterious brother.” Zitao said. “That name kind of sounds familiar though.”

“Because we’re both Kim J’s I guess.” Jongdae replied.

“Nah. There’s a kid in a couple of my classes named Kim Jongin.” Zitao said. “And I’m pretty sure he’s not related to you.”

“Yep. My only sibling is Joonmyeon-hyung.” Jongdae agreed. “Or at least…as far as I know.”

Zitao laughed. “I’ll ask him about it tomorrow. Or get Sehun-ah to ask.”

“Sehun-ah?” Jongdae asked.

“Yeah. He’s friends with Jongin-ah. Used to have a crush on him.” Zitao said. He lowered his voice. “But…to be honest, I think he still does…”

“Why are you whispering?” Jongdae asked again.

“Sehun-ah’s at my house still.” Zitao explained. “I don’t even know why. He just showed up.”

“Can I talk to him?” Jongdae inquired. “I’d like to tell my hyung about my two new friends.”

Zitao nodded and covered the speaker of the phone. “Yah, Sehun-ah, get over here!”

“Whatya want?” Sehun called back, annoyance clear in his voice. “I’m playing with Candy.”

“Of course you are.” Zitao mumbled. “Just get your over here. Jongdae-hyung wants to talk to us.”

“Jongdae-hyung?” suddenly Sehun’s head popped through the doorway, Candy still in hand.

Zitao, who had turned the speaker on a couple seconds after calling for Sehun, laughed, as well as Jongdae on the other line. The latter said, “Yes, Sehun-ah. And my hyung is here too. Say hi, hyung.”

“Hello friends of my Jongie.” A new voice said.

What sounded like a whine came from the other line. “Hyung. Don’t call me that in front of Zitao-ah and Sehun-ah…”

Zitao laughed. “So why exactly did you call?”

“I wanted to talk to you.” Jongdae responded. “And I felt like Joon-hyung should know about my new friends.”

That made Zitao smile slightly. “Well. It’s nice to meet you, Joonmyeon-hyung. I’m glad someone in Jongdae-hyung’s family cares about him.”

“He’s my precious brother.” Joonmyeon said. “It would be wrong if I hated him. He’s too cute.”

Zitao was about to agree with it, but stopped himself. “Yet his parents think otherwise.”

“They’re ungrateful.” Joonmyeon said bitterly. “They think that just because he’s blind, he’s useless. Which is completely untrue.”

“That’s why I’ve been telling him to try and find out if there’s any way for him to be able to see again.” Zitao said. “Then his parents and he will be happy.”

“I’m already happy though, Tao-yah.” Jongdae said.

“Well. Even happier then.” Zitao responded. “At least you’ll be able to see things. And I think seeing is one of the most important things in life. Seeing is believing, as they say.”

“That doesn’t make sense, hyung.” Sehun pointed out.

“Oh, shush.” Zitao hit his friend lightly. “But if you could, Joonmyeon-hyung, I think it would be great if you tried to find a way to get Jongdae-hyung’s vision back. I’ll get a job and save up to pay for it, even, if you don’t want to.”

Someone chuckled. Joonmyeon said, “No, no. If there is a way, I’ll pay. He is my little brother, after all. Thanks for offering, though. I’m sure there’s some way. There have been stories like that all the time. A person who hasn’t heard for 20 years finally being able to, stuff like that. So I’m sure it’s possible to help Jongdae-ah.”

Zitao looked over at the clock. “Oh, . It’s later than I thought. I should probably make dinner. How did time fly so quickly?”

“See you tomorrow, Zitao-ah?” Jongdae asked. “And Sehun-ah can come too if he wants.”

Zitao chuckled. “Of course. I’ll be sure to drag Sehun-ah with me even if he’s dead tired.”

Sehun whined slightly, but Zitao ignored it. Instead, he said good-bye to Jongdae and Joonmyeon and hung up the phone. He looked at Sehun, who stared back with his innocent yet somehow manly face. Zitao sighed and stood up.

“I hope you plan on leaving soon.” He said. “I’m too lazy to make a meal for two.”

“Oh, so you can make breakfast for Jongdae-hyung, but not make dinner for me?” Sehun complained. “How unfair.”

“It’s not like we even got to eat it.” Zitao replied. “I dropped it on the floor. So I just threw it out.”

“Fine. I’ll leave.” Sehun pouted and stood up. “But my parents are gone…”

“So that’s why you came here.” Zitao noted. “You didn’t want to be all alone.”

Sehun nodded slowly. “My parents left for a trip like 2 days ago.”

“Why don’t you just call Jongin over?” Zitao asked. “Or go over to his house.”

Sehun blushed faintly. “I—I don’t want to bother him…”

Zitao rolled his eyes. “You have problems. Do you need me to call him?”

“N-no! I’ll call him…” Sehun said quickly. “But can I stay until he comes over?”

“Why would he need to come over here? He could easily go to your house. Or you could drive to his house.”

Sehun sighed. “Fine. I’ll go. Meanie.”

Zitao rolled his eyes and pushed Sehun towards the door to get him to move. “Good-bye, Sehun-ah. I’ll see you tomorrow. Tell me how things with Jongin went.”

Sehun hit Zitao, but reluctantly left. Zitao closed the door and sighed, moving to the kitchen. His mind was occupied with multiple things. How the name of Jongdae’s brother sounded so familiar; how to find a way to get Jongdae to be able to see; why Sehun was so insistent about staying over half the time. But mainly the first two.

Maybe he should call one of his old Chinese friends’, who was like an older brother to him. He could tell his friend about the situation, and maybe he could find some way to help. He hadn’t talked to him in a while though. Not since he moved to Korea. Zitao was sure his friend didn’t even know he was in Korea, too.

So he decided, as he made himself dinner, that he would try and find his friend’s phone number (which hopefully hadn’t changed). That way they could meet up sometime and Zitao could talk to him; discuss what’s been going on, and maybe even get some advice on his feelings about Jongdae.

After Zitao ate, he went back to his bedroom to grab his cellphone, and then checked his contact list to find his friend’s phone number. He called it and held the phone up to his ear, crossing his fingers, hoping the number hadn’t changed. After a couple rings, someone picked up the phone. Zitao held his breath.

“Hello?” A deep voice said in Korean.

Zitao sighed in relief. “Yifan-ge.”

“Zitao?” the deep voice sounded confused. Pleasantly confused. “Is that you?”

“Yeah.” Zitao said. “It’s been a while. I missed you…”

The deep voice—Yifan—chuckled. “I missed you too, Zitao. I heard you were in Korea?”

“Yes.” Zitao nodded, even though his friend couldn’t see it. “Two years now. You still in Korea?”

“Yup.” Yifan confirmed. “Why?”

Zitao felt happy for some reason after hearing that. He celebrated mentally. Then replied with, “Would you like to meet up sometime? Since it’s been so long? There’s a lot to talk about.”

“I could say the same.” Yifan agreed. “Where do you want to meet? Anywhere near your place that you know of?”

They set a date and time and then made some random chit-chat about how things have been and what they’ve each been doing. And Zitao felt like he hadn’t been so happy since he…well, met Jongdae. Unfortunately, due to school, Zitao had to hang up the phone. But at least he’d get to see Jongdae tomorrow. And Yifan at lunch. Tomorrow was definitely going to be a good day for Zitao.

Word count: 1,396

A/N: Alright finally got this done. Introducing Jongdae's brother, AKA, Joonmyeon, and Yifan, Zitao's old friend who has been in Korea for longer than Zitao, and may or may not have a connection with one of the other characters. c;

I only got one response before (and Idk how to make a poll), so I'll post this again:

Which cover do you prefer?

This (current)

OR

This (new)

Sorry if me asking this is annoying. I'm pretty indesicive, and I'd like to have my readers opinions.