Chapter 18

Zitao was very much literally counting down the days until they went to China. He was very pleased that soon, Jongdae would be able to actually see him in…10 days now. Or more depending on how long it takes for Yixing to actually figured everything out with Jongdae and get him cured. Of course, Zitao was also pretty happy to just be back in China, too. But it wasn’t like his life in Korea was that bad either.

Suddenly, Zitao realized something he hadn’t thought of before. While most of his friends in Korea were going on the trip with him (Yifan, Joonmyeon, and of course, Jongdae), had had completely forgotten about his closest Korean friend. How would Sehun react if Zitao told him he’d be in China for a week, or possibly more depending (since Yifan had only guessed)? There was only one way to find out, Zitao guessed.

It was lunchtime, and Sehun had forced Zitao to eat lunch with him (and Jongin, who seemed to be a replacement for Zitao. Or maybe there was something else going on) for once. Zitao let Sehun drag him to their usual spot. He needed to talk to him anyways. He greeted Jongin friendlily and sat next to Sehun, who exchanged a quick, casual greeting with his friend.

Zitao started eating his lunch to stall time. Telling him he was leaving him for a while, right after being dragged to hang out with him didn’t seem right. Sure, Sehun had Jongin. But over the (two) years it had been made clear that it was Zitao who Sehun was the most comfortable around and clung to. By now, everyone knew that they were best friends. Or…they used to think that. Zitao didn’t know what they thought now that he was always so busy with Jongdae or Yifan.

“Hey, Sehun-ah…” Zitao said, suddenly feeling guilty. “I’m…uh, I’m sorry for not hanging out with as much anymore. You’re still my best friend. I hope you know that.”

Sehun nodded slowly. “I understand. You have a boyfriend now. And someone you can speak your first language with… You don’t have to lie to me.”

Zitao stared at Sehun. “Sehunnie…I don’t hate you, I swear. I just haven’t had time. Things are getting a little…interesting for me right now. Call me whenever, and I swear I can make time.” He paused. I guess now was a good time to at least hint he would be gone for a week.” As long as it’s not between the 10^th and the 17^th of this month…”

Sehun looked over at him quickly. “What? Why?”

“I’ll be going back to China.” Zitao said quietly. “I found someone to make Jongdae-hyung be able to see…but he mainly works in Beijing… So Yifan-hyung bought four tickets to China.”

“Four?” Sehun inquired.

“Me, Yifan-hyung, Jongdae-hyung, and Joonmyeon-hyung.” Zitao responded.

Sehun looked down. Zitao seen this coming. But Sehun asked him something that surprised him. “Hyung. What month did it just turn to?”

Zitao blinked. “April…”

Jongin also seemed pretty disappointed by Zitao. Sehun sighed. “And when is my birthday?”

“The twelfth of…” Then it dawned on him. “April… And I’ll be gone during then… Oh my god, I’m so sorry Sehun-ah…”

Jongin jumped in to try and make things seem better. “Sehun-ah, don’t worry about it. I’m sure Tao-hyung will still celebrate it with you somehow. Just because he won’t be in Korea for your birthday, it doesn’t mean he can’t celebrate your birthday with you.”

“But…” Sehun looked away.

Zitao felt extremely bad now. He sighed and hugged his best friend. “Sehun-ah…I’m really, really sorry. I’ll make it up to you, I promise. You’re my best friend, and I feel incredibly bad for missing your birthday. I just had other things in mind. And Yifan-hyung did everything so quickly.”

Sehun nodded and pulled away. He managed a smile. “Okay. But you better remember to call me or Skype me when you’re in China. Especially on my birthday.”

Zitao smiled back and messed Sehun’s hair. “There’s the Sehun I know. Oh, and while I’m gone, do you mind watching over Candy-ah? It would be mean to leave her alone for a week.”

“It’s mean to leave me alone for a week…” Sehun mumbled.

“Yah. You have Jongin-ah. Candy-ah is an animal. Even if I did have another dog, I wouldn’t want to leave them alone.” Zitao said. “You like Candy-ah anyways. Take it as a birthday present from me. You get to keep Candy-ah at your house for the week I’m gone.”

“Yah… I’m just saying…I’m gonna miss you…” Sehun looked away embarrassedly.

“Aww, Sehunnie~!” Zitao said. “It’s only a week. You’ll survive.”

Sehun pouted. Zitao laughed and patted Sehun’s head. Sehun sighed and went back to eating his lunch. Zitao still felt guilty about leaving Sehun, but, a little less now that Sehun seemed to be fairly alright with the news. He returned to eating his lunch as well.

“Yixing.” The secretary said. “How long is it until they come?”

Yixing sighed and looked at his friend. “You keep asking this. Five more days.”

The secretary just nodded and when back to his work. Yixing still didn’t understand what was going on with him, nor why he insisted on asking every day how many days until that Jongdae kid and Yixing’s old friends came. Sure, Yixing was also counting down the days because he was fairly excited about testing out his abilities of making someone be able to see, but his secretary seemed almost…obsessed. With the Jongdae guy.

“How long has it been since you’ve heard from Jongdae?” Yixing asked curiously.

“A while.” The secretary responded. “I don’t even remember. He’s probably changed a lot… I wonder how he’s doing…”

Yixing nodded. “I see. I haven’t seen my friends for around four years.”

“That Zitao guy, and Yifan guy?” the secretary inquired. “How old are they?”

Yixing thought for a while. “Probably like…twenty-one and your age.”

“Hmm…” the secretary seemed to be thinking. “Do you know what either of their relationships are with Jongdae?”

Yixing sighed and put his chopsticks down. “Gege. My job is the heal people. Not ask about personal lives. I’m not a journalist or gossip magazine, you know.”

“Sorry…” the secretary mumbled. “I was just curious…”

“You still like that kid, don’t you?” Yixing questioned. “Even after such a long time.”

The secretary hesitated. “I…don’t know. It’s been so long. I—I kind of want to see…”

Yixing patted his friend’s shoulder. “Good luck, Min-ge.”

Finally, it was the day Zitao, Jongdae, Yifan, and Joonmyeon left for Beijing. Zitao had been packed up and ready for probably a week. He couldn’t help it—he was excited. He could tell Jongdae was also excited, judging by the fact that he was bouncing on his heels with a huge grin on his face when Zitao and Yifan went to meet him and Joonmyeon. Zitao couldn’t help but laugh.

“Jongdae-hyung you’re so cute…” he said, messing Jongdae’s hair.

“You’re younger than me, and I’m the one who’s cute?” Jongdae asked.

“Yup.” Zitao said, putting an arm around the shorter. “You’re short. Short people are cute.”

Jongdae pouted but snuggled against Zitao. Joonmyeon cooed silently, while Yifan seemed almost disgusted. No one said anything for a while. They just stood around, mainly just to kill time, since they didn’t need to be at the airport for another hour and a half. Finally, Yifan cleared his throat.

“We should start heading to the airport.” He said. “I don’t really want this to be a waste of money.”

Everyone agreed and piled into Yifan’s car (well not piled—more like went in an orderly fashion). Yifan drove off to the Gimpo airport as the other three chatted excitedly about the trip and Jongdae’s vision. A question kept whirling in Zitao’s brain as soon as the topic of Jongdae’s vision came up. Jongdae had fallen asleep on Zitao’s shoulder not soon after the conversation started, so Zitao felt a little more comfortable asking Joonmyeon questions because at least it wouldn’t be offending Jongdae.

“Uh…” he started. “Joonmyeon-hyung…can I ask you something?”

Joonmyeon looked back at Zitao. “Sure, Tao-ah. What is it?”

Zitao glanced at Jongdae, then looked back at his brother. “Has Jongdae-hyung always been blind?”

Joonmyeon seemed to need to think for a while. “Hmm…no. It’s been so long though, that he’s probably just gotten used to being unable to see.”

“If you don’t mind me asking…what happened?” Zitao said. “You…you don’t have to answer if you don’t want to…”

Joonmyeon tilted his head. “Ah…it’s been so while, I forgot exactly what happened. But there was an accident back when Jongdae was in grade three. And it caused him to go blind.”

Zitao took that into thought. What in the world could have happened to Jongdae? Zitao should probably research non-medical ways someone can go blind later. Maybe on the plane when there’s Wi-Fi and Jongdae is asleep. The curiosity would kill Zitao until then, though.

Word Count: 1504

Woo, another chapter that came out of nowhere. And a sweet scene with Sehun and Zitao because I haven't had much Sehun in this, and I wanted some adorable friendship stuff (I don't even ship Taohun lol). And then another little moment with Yixing and the 'secretary' (it's probably pretty obvious now. I made a real big hint.) And stuff. Ye. 

I'll probably actually name Yixing's secretary in the next chapter. 

Once again I'll ask if anyone is interested in reading a different pairing for once. In this case, it's...mainly just Taekwoon/Leo (from VIXX), but (spoiler! butnotreally) it's supposed to be Wontaek. Really short. Only like 600-700 words. Kinda post apocalyptic (but not zombies).