Chapter 19

Today was the day. Yixing noted his secretary was especially active around his studio/apartment thing. At some point, Yixing was wondering if he wanted to move in with him or something. He was almost cleaning up the place for him, getting it ready for the visitors. As if he would be the one hosting them. It was actually kind of amusing. And at least Yixing didn’t have to lift a finger thanks to him.

“Gege, why don’t you go home?” Yixing suggests. “Unless you enjoy being my maid. It’s not like you’re very far from here.”

The older looked over from cleaning the kitchenette counter. “You don’t seem to be doing much. That’s why I’m doing it for you.”

“You’re getting worked up over nothing, man.” Yixing pointed out. “It’s not like they’re royalty or anything. Just go. They won’t be here for another two or three hours.”

The older sighed. “Fine. You better call me or something when they arrive though.”

“I will, I will.” Yixing agreed. “Now, why don’t you just go out and eat. It’s already past lunch. I’ll take care of things here, since it’s my place in the first place.”

The secretary reluctantly left Yixing’s apartment/studio. Yixing laughed as he looked around the place. It was literally spotless. All Yixing really had to do was fix the cushions on the couch and set up their beds in his spare room (which is normally used as his studio for examining customers, but he pushed back any appointments for the next week). And probably just prepare some small snacks. Yixing was essentially doing the same thing his secretary had been doing. Only for him it was out of curtesy of being a good host.

The plane ride seemed longer than it should have been for some reason. Despite it being after one in the afternoon Zitao was a tad bit tired. He hadn’t slept at all that night, too busy thinking about…various things (but mostly Jongdae.) He couldn’t sleep though. If he slept, he might not have the time to research non-medical ways of becoming blind. Or by the time he woke up, Jongdae would already be awake again.

Zitao looked over at the older male’s figure leaning against his own as Jongdae slept. Perhaps he also hadn’t slept—he was the one getting cured, after all. Zitao smiled slightly and fixed Jongdae’s fringe before reaching in his pocket for his phone and looking up what he wanted to know. Most of the results disturbed Zitao, and he doubted it was any of those (foreign object getting stuck in the eye, etc.) He almost considered giving up. Then one thing caught his eye.

Two more hours later, they arrived at the Beijing International Airport. Like any other airport, it was bustling with activity from people departing and arriving from various different places. Yifan had said that Yixing would be waiting for them somewhere within the airport, so they wandered around after grabbing their luggage, looking around for someone only Yifan knew by looks (Zitao would probably know him to see him, too, though.) Zitao made sure to keep his hand tightly in Jongdae, not wanting to lose him in an especially large and crowded airport.

After another 10 to 20 minutes of walking around (and snack trips, since the food on the plane was atrocious and pretty dang expensive), Yifan looked over, pointing in the direction he was looking. Zitao followed Yifan’s gaze to a slightly familiar looking male, around a meter or two away from where they had been standing. There seemed to be someone else with him; maybe a friend or relative. Zitao wasn’t sure. Nevertheless, he followed Yifan toward the duo(?), with Joonmyeon trailing along next to Yifan, holding the much taller male’s hand (ironic given the fact that Yifan always seems to disgusted with his and Jongdae’s show of affection), and Jongdae following Zitao behind slowly as well, accidentally letting go of his hand, but then immediately grabbing for something else (aka, Zitao’s jacket) as to not get too far away from them.

Joonmyeon seemed surprised for a moment. He tried to hide it, but Zitao noticed this and almost tilted his head. What had surprised Joonmyeon? Was it the other male Yixing was with? How could Joonmyeon possibly know this person? Despite that, the mysterious person nodded at Joonmyeon with a smile. Jongdae was still hidden by Zitao’s height. Zitao nudged the shorter ahead of him carefully. This only caused the mysterious male to grin even wider. He approached Jongdae, causing Zitao to be on guard, just in case.

“Jongdae-ah!” he exclaimed (at the same time Yixing said Zitao’s and Yifan’s name). “It’s been a while.”

Again, imitating what Yixing was saying to Zitao and Yifan. Zitao was too busy completely judging this person, who surely couldn’t be older than Jongdae. Jongdae seemed confused. He looked around, even glancing behind him (Zitao wanted to believe it was to look at him for support.) Hell, Zitao himself was confused.

Suddenly, the male seemed a little disappointed. “Oh…you mustn’t remember me…well, my voice, I guess… After all…it has been quite a long time…”

Zitao was still eying the man, who interjected a comment to Yixing and Yifan’s conversation (Yifan had asked who the man talking to Jongdae was. Apparently, he was Yixing’s friend and secretary) in surprisingly good Mandarin (considering he said he’d been living in China for almost six years, though, it wasn’t as surprising anymore.) Jongdae still seemed very clueless. Either that, or he chose not to know what was going on, for whatever reason.

Zitao leaned down. “Hyung, who’s that? He seems to know you?” He whispered into Jongdae’s ear.

Jongdae shrugged. “I don’t recall the voice. We’ve obviously met, though.”

Zitao nodded and squeezed Jongdae’s shoulders. “I’m sure he’s perfectly fine, but if you ever need anything, you know you have me.”

“Of course, Tao-yah.” Jongdae responded just as Yixing’s still unnamed secretary turned back to him.

“Sorry about that.” He said, as if Jongdae had noticed, or even cared (not saying he didn’t. He was probably still trying to figure out who was talking to.) “Anyways. Maybe it would be smart of me to jog your memory.”

Zitao watched the secretary curiously, waiting for either Jongdae to say or do something in response, or the other male to continue speaking. Jongdae acknowledged the male’s comment with a nod, obviously really wanting to know who was talking to him.

“Maybe the name Minseok rings a bell?” the secretary inquired, almost rhetorically. “Kim Minseok? Maybe?”

Jongdae tilted his head. Then his dark eyes widened in shock (and maybe fear) and turned to run into Zitao. Zitao blinked in surprise and looked over at the secretary (Minseok?) in confusion as he patted Jongdae’s back. The latter seemed to be trying to make himself as invisible as possible. Minseok also seemed a little confused and disappointed.

“Are you guys done fooling around over there?” Yifan called. “We’re going to leave without you if you don’t hurry up.”

“Coming…” Minseok called back, a little dejectedly.

Zitao pulled Jongdae away from him. “Let’s talk about this later, okay, hyung? We need to go.”

Jongdae nodded slowly and let Zitao lead him as they followed the three older (?) males ahead. Minseok was talking to Yixing, most likely about how Jongdae reacted to seeing him. Which raised Zitao’s curiosity. He glanced at Jongdae, who almost seemed like he wanted to stay as far away from Minseok as possible. Zitao sighed and stopped momentarily. They weren’t far from the other three, so it wasn’t too big of a deal.

“Hyung, why don’t you just go behind me and grab my jacket?” Zitao suggested. “It might make things faster. Just hold on tightly.”

Jongdae looked over and smiled. “Thank you, Tao-yah…”

He moved to grab the back of Zitao’s jacket and the taller continued walking, trying to move faster to catch up to their friends (or…whatever Minseok is to Jongdae), yet making sure Jongdae wouldn’t fall behind. He wasn’t sure who would be better to talk to about this situation—Minseok himself, or Jongdae. Both stories would probably be different in at least one way. But Zitao trusted Jongdae more than this stranger whom Jongdae seemed to be afraid of. A lot of conversation would have to go on between him and Jongdae.

Yixing’s studio wasn’t the largest thing. But that didn’t mean it didn’t look nice. It looked 10x better than Zitao’s small house, which was still larger than Yixing’s apartment. Everything was so organized and neat, and there were snacks on the kitchenette counter, probably put out especially for them. At least there wasn’t many things for Jongdae to run into until he gets his vision back.

Minseok, for now, seemed to understand that Jongdae was uncomfortable around him and tried to stay away from him. Zitao stuck to Jongdae’s side, too, just to make sure his boyfriend didn’t hurt himself or end up running into Minseok accidentally. Yifan and Yixing were constantly talking, leaving a very confused Joonmyeon sticking around his boyfriend…just because he didn’t have much else to do.

Jongdae tugged Zitao’s sleeve to get his attention. “Tao-yah. Can we go outside for a bit? I think I need some fresh air…”

Zitao looked down at the older. “Sure. Let me just tell them we’re leaving.”

Jongdae nodded and Zitao quickly went to Joonmyeon, seeing as Yifan and Yixing were too busy discussing things, and he wasn’t really going to tell Minseok that he was leaving with Jongdae. Joonmyeon looked over at Zitao when he seen him approaching and smiled. Zitao made a sidelong glance at Minseok before turning his attention back to Joonmyeon.

“Zitao-ah, what’s up?” he asked.

“Jongdae-hyung wants to go outside for a bit.” Zitao responded. “So I’m taking him for a walk. Can you tell Yifan-hyung for me? He seems preoccupied already.”

Joonmyeon nodded. “I can tell Jongdae-ah doesn’t want to be around Minseok-hyung. Maybe he’ll tell you about it while you’re out. It’s a long story. Be careful out there, okay? Don’t lose him.”

“I won’t.” Zitao responded. “I couldn’t forgive myself if I lost him in a place he isn’t familiar with.”

Joonmyeon smiled. “Aigoo, you’re such a good kid. Now go. Minseok-hyung seems to be staring at Jongdae-ah as if he wants to go up to him.”

Zitao nodded and with a wave, turned to lead Jongdae out of the room. He noticed Joonmyeon go up to Minseok, possibly to distract him while they left. Or maybe just because he was tired of not being able to understand anything. The last thing Zitao seen before closing the door was Minseok gesturing to him and Jongdae leaving.

The ended up nearby at a café. Why Zitao always took Jongdae to a café was beyond him. It just always happened to be the closest or more convenient place to go to talk or out as a date. He was sure Jongdae didn’t mind, anyways. As long as Zitao was there, and there was food, Jongdae seemed to be happier than a pig in, well, .

After Zitao ordered for them, there was a silence as they waited for their drinks. It wasn’t uncomfortable, but at the same time, it wasn’t the most comfortable silence they’ve had. It probably had something to do with that Minseok guy. After some time, Zitao cleared his throat.

“So. I think you have a little bit of explaining to do, hyung.” He said.

Jongdae looked down. “I know…”

“I can tell it’s bothering you.” Zitao pointed out. “But I’ll let you decide when you want to tell me.”

Jongdae nodded slowly and stared off into space. Their drinks arrived and Zitao pushed Jongdae’s closer to the elder for him. Jongdae didn’t say anything, but reached forwards for the drink gratefully. Zitao waited patiently for Jongdae to say something, sipping his latte, eyeing the elder with concerned eyes.

“He was an old friend of mine…” came a small voice after another several minutes. Zitao looked up at Jongdae. “He was three years older than me, but we still managed to get along. The kids in my class thought I was cool for having a friend who was older than me.”

“Funny. I got made fun of…” Zitao muttered.

Jongdae continued. “We were bratty kids. Always playing pranks. Sometimes, we took things too far and ended up getting ourselves hurt. But it never fazed us; we just continued playing some pretty brutal pranks for 10 and 13 year olds.”

Zitao nodded in understanding. Somehow, Zitao didn’t expect someone like Jongdae to play pranks on people. Maybe he had to change because of his vision though; it only made sense. He hummed in thought as Jongdae continued his little story. The good thing about this conversation was that Zitao got to learn what Jongdae was like before.

“When I was 11, and he was 14…he felt we should ramp up our pranks a bit…” Jongdae said. “So we broke a breaker in the school, causing a huge power outage… We got in trouble, and the principle told us to fix it. So…we did.”

“But…?” Zitao recalled what he read on the internet about electricity.

“But as I was trying to figure out how to put the wires back together, due to Minseok-hyung being unable to…I got electrocuted. Was unconscious for a week.” Jongdae bit his lip. “When…when I woke up…I—I couldn’t see.”

Zitao quickly stood up and moved next to Jongdae, ready to comfort the elder if he were to cry. The moment Zitao moved, though, Jongdae fell against him, already crying. Zitao sighed and wrapped his arm arms around Jongdae. Zitao understood now. He patted Jongdae’s shoulder in hopes of comforting the latter as he thought, contemplating whether to hate that Minseok guy or not. Was it technically his fault? Possibly. Jongdae continued crying against Zitao’s shoulder, and the fact that it was partly because of Minseok make Zitao really angry. He sighed and pressed his lips against Jongdae’s temple gently.

Word Count: 2,348

I apologize for not posting this sooner (and posting a Taekwoon ft. Wonshik fic instead). I started writing it right after I posted that fic, though. It only took another two(?) days because 1) I get distracted easily and 2) creativity doesn't like me sometimes. Also, it's pretty long so...yeah.

Minseok's been introduced now! One of Jongdae's old friends. And possibly the reason Jongdae went blind. On a lighter note, can't you just see those two playing pranks on everyone? Idk. I think it's cute to imagine. 

I wasn't sure how to end it off. So I hope this is good enough for now ^^;

Bye-bye, all~ <33

-drops this Taochen gif because it's literally my favorite things rn-