Chapter 11

Zitao woke up bright and early the next day, ready to start his day by talking to Jongdae either alone, or with Sehun. He sat up and stretched his arms before taking a quick shower and changing into his uniform. He made his normal morning routine as short as possible to have more time with Jongdae alone before he was probably going to have to force Sehun to come to when he gets to school since Sehun got to school literally 10 minutes before class started.

After he finished everything and grabbed a quick breakfast, he left his house and started heading towards the school. Unexpectedly, he heard the honk of a horn behind him. Confused, he turned around, unsure if the horn was directed to him or not. He was surprised to see Yifan sitting in a car behind him. A huge grin appeared on Zitao’s face as the car Yifan was in drove forwards slightly to meet Zitao. The window rolled down.

“I figured it was you.” Yifan said in Mandarin. “Nice hair by the way.”

Zitao laughed. “Yeah. I died it when I got here. Figured I needed a change.”

“Looks good.” Yifan complimented. He looked Zitao up and down. “Heading to school?”

Zitao nodded. “Going to go meet with someone before school starts.”

A smirk crept onto Yifan’s handsome face. “A crush?”

Zitao looked away. “No…”

Yifan chuckled deeply. “I’m kidding. Do you need a lift? Just tell me what school it is; I’ve been here for 4 years, I’m sure I can find it.”

Zitao smiled. “Really? You’ll drive me?”

Yifan nodded. “Sure; beats driving around aimlessly for 2 hours.” He unlocked the passenger’s seat door. “Come on, get in.”

Zitao opened the door and hopped inside. He told Yifan where he went to school and the latter drove off in the direction. There was a long but comfortable silence between the two until a couple minutes before they arrived at the school.

“So…” Yifan said. “Who’s this person you’re meeting so early before school starts?”

Zitao moved around restlessly for a second. “Just…someone I met a couple days ago. Before school started.”

“Does he go to the school there?” Yifan inquired.

Zitao shook his head slowly. “No. I don’t think he goes to school at all.”

“Oh?” Yifan made a sidelong glance at Zitao.

“Well…he’s visually impaired…” Zitao explained. “So… I just met—well talked to—his older brother yesterday. But I’ll tell you about it later. We’re almost there; I can see the gates from here.”

Yifan stopped the car a few feet away from the entrance and let Zitao get out. The latter turned around to say good-bye to Yifan with a short wave, and then ran towards the school gate and disappeared around the corner. Yifan chuckled to himself as he drove away, yet was curious about this ‘visually impaired’ person his young friend had met.

Zitao peeked into the usual meeting room and knocked gently to make sure someone was in there, and that that someone was his cute, visually impaired friend. Cute said in a totally platonic, complimentary way. Someone said something and Zitao opened the door and stepped inside only to once again be attacked in a surprisingly precise hug by the smaller form. Zitao hugged back quickly then pulled away.

“Jeez, how are you so precise at finding and hugging me?” he asked with a laugh.

Jongdae shrugged. “I just follow the sound of your voice, footsteps, or anything else that may lead me to you. Or maybe I’m just good at navigating for a blind person.”

Zitao laughed again. “How are you?”

“I’m pretty fly for a blind guy.” Jongdae said jokingly, causing Zitao to continue laughing to the point of tears. “Kidding. I’m alright. My brother was complaining about his boyfriend all night, so I’m pretty tired. But I feel energized after talking to you a bit and hearing you laugh.”

Zitao blushed slightly. He was lucky Jongdae couldn’t see it. “That’s good… I’m glad I could be of help.”

Jongdae smiled. “How about you?”

“I’m actually really happy.” Zitao said. “I got to see an old friend of mine this morning on my way here; he drove me. Plus, I get to see him at lunch, too. Plus I got to see you, too.”

Now it was Jongdae’s turn to blush and get flustered. Zitao chuckled quietly until Jongdae composed himself again. He spoke after another second of silence. “Well, I’m glad you’re happy. And I’m glad you get to see an old friend of yours. I assume he’s from China like you?”

“Yeah.” Zitao said. “But he’s lived in Korea for 4 years.”

Jongdae nodded in understanding. “I see. You should let me meet—well listen—to him.”

“Well, if you know when the school’s lunch is, you can get your brother to drive back and come find me.” Zitao offered. “I’m sure my friend won’t mind. As long as you’re okay with listening to Mandarin and not being able to understand some things. But—I’ll translate as much as I can. My Korean isn’t the best though…”

Jongdae’s eyes lit up slightly. “Really? Oh, you’re so good to me, Tao-yah~”

Zitao bit his lip. “I just feel like you should meet as many people as you can. Since you never seemed to have many friends. Even though I don’t have many friends living in Korea, either.”

Jongdae grinned happily. “Tao-yah, you don’t have to do that. To be honest, having you is good enough.”

Zitao bit his lip at that response. “Hyung…that sounds embarrassing…”

He hadn’t realized he said it in a whine, however, until Jongdae laughed and said, “How cute.”

Zitao blushed. “M-me…? I—I’m not cute…”

Jongdae laughed again. “I wouldn’t know. But that whine you just did sounded cute.”

Zitao pouted slightly, glad that Jongdae couldn’t see it. “M-maybe I should…uh…go…find Sehun-ah…”

He turned around and moved to leave by suddenly felt a hand—Jongade’s hand—grip his wrist. He looked back confusedly as Jongdae was so close to looking at in his eyes, but not quite. Zitao waited for the shorter to speak his reason for stopping him.

“Wait—Tao-yah…” Jongdae said quietly. “Don’t leave.”

“Why not?” Zitao titled his head, half tempted to tilt Jongdae’s head up to look into his eyes.

“I’ll be…alone in here.” Jongdae mumbled. “Because you’ll leave to find Sehun-ah…”

Zitao managed a smile and used his free hand to ruffle Jongdae’s hair. “I think you’re the cute one here. Why don’t you come with me, instead?”

Jongdae hesitated. “B-but…”

“You don’t want other people to see you, do you, hyung?” Zitao said. “It’s not that there are many people around at this time. Anyone in the school is in a room most likely.”

Jongdae looked down, his hand, which was still gripping Zitao’s wrist, tightened. Zitao noticed this and sighed, slowly realizing that Jongdae probably isn’t used to being in a place with lots of people; he constantly mentioned not having many friends. And Zitao assumed he was homeschooled or something, since it wasn’t like he was stupid—in fact he was far from.

“Okay.” He decided. “I’ll stay. Sehun-ah probably didn’t want to be dragged around so early in the morning anyways. Plus, there’s only 10 minutes left until school starts, and lord knows how long it will take to find and bring Sehun-ah back here.”

Jongdae grinned. “Really? Thank you!”

Zitao laughed. “You don’t need to thank me for not leaving, silly.”

Jongdae laughed too. “Sorry. Force of habit. You do so much for me; I’ve just come to thank you for everything.”

Zitao smiled. “Is it weird for me, as a friend, to say you deserve it all?”

Jongdae grinned wider and shook his head, a light pink dusting his cheeks. “Hearing that makes me really happy.”

After that, a comfortable silence fell between them. Jongdae’s hand was still gripping Zitao’s wrist, but it was obvious that either neither of them cared, or just didn’t notice at all. Or maybe even felt comfortable that way. Eventually though, Jongdae realized it and quickly let go, fiddling with his fingers awkwardly. He looked away awkwardly as Zitao also realized and put his hands behind his back.

The silence became slightly more awkward then. Zitao wanted to walk around, but was afraid he would confuse Jongdae if he moved. So he just twiddled his thumbs to keep himself occupied. Jongdae was still staring at the ground, and it looked like he was covering his face for some reason.

Finally, Jongdae looked up to speak. “Hey…Tao-yah…?”

Zitao looked down at Jongdae. “What is it, Jongdae-hyung?”

The shorter his lips nervously. “Uh…how do you feel…about…me?”

Zitao had to take a minute to process what Jongdae was trying to ask. Could he sense something? Was he curious? Zitao wasn’t sure how to answer the question. He bit the inside of his cheek.

“W—what are you trying to ask…?” he managed to stammer.

Jongdae ran a hand through his hair. “Recently—you’ve been a mixture of kind, mean, and…just…I’m a little confused.”

Zitao sighed in relief. “Oh, so you’re worried I don’t actually care about you and that I’m just acting?”

Jongdae nodded, looking at the ground. Zitao laughed slightly and stepped closer to the shorter. “Jongdae-hyung…I’m never dishonest with my feelings about people. If I’m nice, I’m nice. If I happen to accidentally be mean, it’s…accidental. Seriously.”

Jongdae looked back up. “R-really?”

Zitao smiled and hugged Jongdae tightly. Stunned at first, Jongdae stood still, frozen. But after a couple seconds, he hugged Zitao back, almost nuzzling against his chest. Zitao chuckled and patted Jongdae’s head.

“Do you believe me yet?” he asked.

Jongdae nodded his head and hugged Zitao tighter. “Thank you, Tao-yah, for being my friend…”

Zitao gently ran a hand through Jongdae’s hair. “You’re very welcome, Jongdae-hyung. I’m glad I have someone like you as my friend.”

“I should be saying that.” Jongdae said with a laugh.

Zitao pulled away. “I think the bell’s going to ring soon.”

Jongdae pouted slightly, but nodded. Zitao laughed and ruffled Jongdae’s hair, causing a small smile to form on the shorter male’s face. Zitao smiled back.

“Remember—you’re going to see me at lunch anyways.” He said.

Jongdae grinned. “Oh, right. I get to meet your other Chinese friend!”

Zitao patted Jongdae’s head and stepped away from the shorter. “Oh, the bell should ring any second. Maybe I should get going.”

Jongdae seemed disappointed, but nodded. “Alright. We’ll meet in the same spot at lunch, right?”

“Of course.” Zitao smiled. And then, as if on cue, the bell rang and Zitao turned towards the door. “Bye, hyung.”

“See you, Tao-yah.” Jongdae smiled and waved.

Class went by really fast for Zitao. He felt a little bad about telling Sehun he’d have to skip out having lunch, but Jongin had apparently found him and offered to eat lunch with him instead. He hoped he wouldn’t make Yifan wait to long by going to fetch Jongdae. He quickly ran down the halls to their meeting room, hoping his brother knew the times for lunch.

He arrived at the practice room and opened the door to peek inside. No one was in the room. He heard a voice behind him and turned around quickly. He was surprised to see Joonmyeon with Jongdae at his side. Well, surprised to see Joonmyeon. Not Jongdae.

“Did I make you wait?” Joonmyeon asked. “Jongdae said you were going to let him meet one of your friends.”

Zitao shook his head. “I just got here. Don’t worry.”

Joonmyeon smiled, as well as Jongdae. “Well okay. I’ll just leave you two then. Have fun, Jongdae-ah. Get Tao-yah to call me once you’re all done.”

Jongdae nodded and Joonmyeon gently pushed him towards Zitao. Zitao grabbed Jongdae’s shoulder so the visually impaired older male knew where Zitao was. Jongdae beamed at Zitao and comfortably grabbed his arm for guidance.

“Well you seem comfortable.” Joonmyeon said. “I guess I’ll go. You better not keep your friend waiting.”

Zitao nodded and looked down at Jongdae. “Come on, hyung. Let’s go.”

“Bye, hyung.” Jongdae said to his brother happily.

With that, Zitao started to move slowly, making sure Jongdae could keep up and know that he was walking. Zitao noticed Jongdae was quiet, yet seemed pleased with something. Maybe he was pleased about meeting Yifan, or maybe something else. But regardless, it amused Zitao slightly.

The arrived outside, where Zitao had quickly spotted Yifan sitting in his car. He quickly made his way towards the car with Jongdae trailing behind. Zitao called Yifan’s name, which caused the elder male to look over. He squinted then smiled when he seen Zitao.

“Zitao!” Yifan said happily. “Glad you didn’t ditch me.”

Zitao laughed. “Sorry if I made you wait.”

Yifan shook his head. “I was only waiting a couple minutes. Who’s your friend?”

“He’s Korean.” Zitao said. He turned to Jongdae and spoke in Korean. “Jongdae-hyung, why don’t you introduce yourself?”

Jongdae bowed. “Hello. I’m Kim Jongdae. Nice to meet you.”

Yifan stared at Jongdae for a while. Zitao tilted his head. “Yifan-ge? Why are you staring and Jongdae-ge like that?”

Yifan shook his head. “It’s nothing. The name just sounds familiar. That’s all. Should we go?”

Zitao nodded and looked at Jongdae again. “Come on. We’re getting into a car. Let me help you.”

Jongdae nodded and Zitao carefully helped the older into the back of Yifan’s car. He went to open the passenger’s seat, but Yifan looked at him and Zitao stopped. He looked back at Yifan in confusion.

“What?” he asked.

“Don’t you want to sit next to your friend?” Yifan inquired. “Seeing as you had to help him inside, he must have some sort of disability.”

Zitao blinked in surprise. “Well—yeah…”

Jongdae moved in the back. “I’m blind.”

Yifan nodded in understanding. “Zitao. Go sit next to your friend. I can still talk to you from the back seat. Plus, we’ll be going to a café anyways.”

Zitao nodded and hopped into the back seat with Jongdae. He put on the seat belt, made sure Jongdae’s was on, and then Yifan drove off to their destination, seemingly thinking and pondering about something. Zitao was afraid to ask what, though. So he just sat silently until they arrived at their destination, not knowing there was a connection between Jongdae and Yifan.

Word count: 2,408

A/N: The ending of this is awkward. I'm sorry. I wanted to end it in a way that...suggested something. So yeah. Buut. There is a connection between Jongdae and Yifan. And no, not a physical connection. You'll find out. c; I'm bad at cliff-hangers, I'm sorry. Also, I'm sorry for apologizing so much lmao.

I changed the cover because it's prettier and it seemed the two people who did comment about it prefered the newer one. 

Also, I'd like to promote the contest I'm doing for my 100th like on my Taochen FB page! Feel free to enter! Anyone can. c: And if you're on the fb page and you're liking it, feel free to comment or like posts or something c:

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