The Day Before

“Are you ready?!” A guy shouted while the heavy metal music played in the background.

The girls started screaming after the guy shouted “Up rising!” and the concert ended. The drummer stood up and bowed at his fans before taking off his hoodie and leaving the stage. The five guys walked up on the stage together and bowed at their fans, thanking them for listening to their small concerts. After half an hour every fan had left and the stage was taken down.

“Hey you! Are you our fanboy?” A guy who was shorter than Jongin asked as he gave him a bright smile.

“I’m sorry, I just came in South Korea and I don’t know you.” Jongin tried to say it as politely as he could so he wouldn’t hurt the boy’s feels.

“Oh, then welcome buddy! I’m Baekhyun! Do you like our music so far?” Jongin nodded and smiled at the boy.

“I didn’t have the chance to listen it all. But I liked the guy who said “up rising”. He has a beautiful voice.”

“Oh what a waste! You would’ve been amazed by my talents.” The guy joked and Jongin laughed at him. He liked how the band was friendly and funny too. Maybe if it was possible, they could become friends too.

“Yo, Baekhyun! We need to go now, hurry up.” A tall guy shouted at Baekhyun and the latter nodded.

“I’m sorry, buddy. I have to go now. I hope I’ll get to see you around.”

“I hope so too! Goodbye, Baekhyun-ssi. I’m Jongin!” He shouted and Baekhyun showed him two thumbs up and ran towards his friend.

“This is all weird. If I’m not wrong then there must be something going on with Jongin. Or he’s just copying the main character.” Jin walked around her house. “I should keep some notes!”

“What are you doing?” Suddenly Jongin walked inside her room. He smiled and leaned forward to see what she was writing but Jin hid the notebook.

“You don’t need to know.” She glared at him and he furrowed his eyebrows.

“Whatever.” He shrugged and left her room. With a sigh she continued to write on her notebook while checking the book with no name. She stopped and closed the notebook before lying on her bed and turning the lights off. “I need to be more careful. I shouldn’t let him see the notes.” She muttered under her breath and fell asleep.

“Hello, class. I’m Kim Jongin and I came here to study and not look at our professor’s legs. Nice to see you.” He bowed and walked towards Jin’s seat while the class started laughing and telling him he was ‘great’.

“Whoa, Kim Jongin the badass.” Jin laughed at him but he shook his head. “We only have three classes today. After this class you’ll get to meet my friends.” She smiled and Jongin nodded.

“Girls or boys?” He asked.

“Boys.”

“Yah! Jin! You should have girls as friends, not boys!”

“How old are you, Jongin?” Jongin’s mouth fell open. Words couldn’t come out of his mouth while his mind was calculating the years.

“I’m 20! Why?” He crossed his arms and glared at her.

“Then you should know that nowadays it’s completely fine to have five guy friends and no female friends at all.” Jin flipped her hair and opened her book.

“Are you telling me that you don’t have female friends?” He almost raised his voice but tried to hold himself from shouting at her.

“Are you jealous, Jonginnie? And no, I don’t. None of them wants to be friends with a librarian who lives alone.”

“You have me now.” He smiled at her and she chuckled a bit.

“Stand up. Let’s go at the cafeteria and meet my friends.” Jin grinned at him and Jongin nodded. She walked ahead but Jongin caught up and held her hand. “What are you doing?” She looked down at their linked hands.

“Warm me up.” He whispered and batted his eyelashes cutely. Jin tried to take away her hand from his and Jongin freely let her. He lowered his head, thinking that Jin didn’t like holding hands with a guy, but he was quite shocked when she side hugged him and said,

“Holding hands isn’t enough to warm you up, Jongin-ah. Do you remember what happened yesterday?” She looked up at him and smiled. Jongin’s eyes filled up with tears, but he blinked so they wouldn’t fall. This was one of the best moments for him, and he was thanking God for giving him a friend like Jin who cared about him more than every other person did.

“Thank you.” He smiled and Jin nodded.

“Guys, say Hi to my new friend. His name is Kim Jongin.” She introduced him to her friends when suddenly one of them jumped and hugged him.

“Jongin-ah! It’s me, Baekhyun! Do you remember me?”

“Oh! Hyung! You are her friend?” Jongin looked at Baekhyun then back at Jin who was pretty shocked.

“How do you know each other?” She asked and Baekhyun side hugged Jongin.

“I met him yesterday at one of our concerts. The others don’t know him. Just me. I’m so special!” He grinned and nodded at himself. Baekhyun was always happy like a child together with his best friend Chanyeol who was also in their group of friends.

“That’s great.” Jin smiled and nodded at the guys. “Introduce yourselves, please.”

“Hi! I’m Chen! Our group is called EXO and I hope you’ll join us.”

“Hello! I’m EXO’s happy virus, Chanyeol.”

“Hey, I’m Sehun.”

“Hello, our new friend. I’m EXO’s Lay. Let’s get to know each other more.”

“And, I’m the cherry on top of the cake.” Baekhyun batted his lashes as he hugged Jongin. “I’m all yours.” He said cutely before letting go and sighing. “I’m sorry, it got out of hand. I just get excited when we make new friends.” The other boys laughed at him and they decided to sit at a table with seven chairs.

After having fun and enjoying the new adventures together, Jongin and Jin went to sleep. When suddenly, something started shining inside the book like the other nights.

______ never thought that he would be able to have fun and make new friends. He didn’t think he would be thankful for having a last chance to enjoy his three months before disappearing again. Neither did he come back on Earth with the same mission he had the past 300 years. This time, ______ hoped that he would do and feel new things, but not to find love and friendship. Yet, he was thankful that God gave them to him. At least he would spend his last months with the people he truly loves.

“I can’t sleep.” Jin cried and looked at the side to see that the book with no name was shining. Shocked and not believing her own eyes, she grabbed the book and was about to open it but then she stopped.

“Don’t read the last chapter. Don’t even try to take a look at the last page. Please?”

Jongin’s words ringed in her ears and she wrote another note on the notebook.

“I need to finish the 3^rd chapter!” And so she started reading the 3^rd chapter and stayed awake the whole night, not caring about the classes she had the other day.

Next Chapter Preview

“J O N G I N. They fit perfectly with the five dashes in the book every time the name of the main character is written. Even the surname Kim!”

“Jin-ah, you’re weird lately. Always taking notes and keeping an eye on everything. Even an A+ student doesn’t do that!”

“I’m an A+ student.”

“Oh…”

“Now I know.”

“And what are you planning to do now that you now?”

“Together, the seven of us… We should live a beautiful life with him like he always dreamt. Baekhyun-ah, I can count on you, right?”