006
CHAPTER SIX

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“So, what’s your question?”

 

I ask Chanyeol when we are done ordering our food. He took me to a nearby book café– which hardly spells “dinner” but I guess they sell dinner food–near the school.That was only because the Chinese restaurant we were supposed to go to was fully booked. It seemed like it was a famous place, since it was nearly packed even though it was 8 in the evening, and I could see why. It was so amazing to go into a place like this for the first time. The wooden floors were covered by lush, chocolate brown carpets, and dividers sectioned the low tables at the side so it seemed private. I looked all around me and books lined the shelves on the walls. Also, there were been bags and couches and coffee tables in the middle. There was a set of stairs near the counter that lead to a second-floor kind of place where you could reach the other books. It was more of an indoor balcony, really, with a glass railing. Except, there were no chairs, just mini-tables and cushions. The place was nearly full, so we had to sit in this secluded part at the very end of the second floor, near the mystery novels, but the place was quiet. It was so peaceful, giving off a different feeling. It was also comfy and all that it reminded me of home, though I hardly had one, but it did. I almost want to hug this stranger for bringing me to a place like this. It made me think of how maybe he knew me more than most.

 

Still, a stranger is a stranger and I don’t want to give him the satisfaction of thinking he’s nailed it with me, so I try to seem nonchalant. Inside I was screaming.

 

Not that I had to try hard though because Chanyeol wasn’t even looking my way. I could tell he was hungry by the way he was paying more attention to the staff than me. I stare at him for a while, and it’s obvious that he doesn’t notice. He was too focused, so I try to take in his appearance for a bit. He knows how to dress well–seen through the compliment the color of his skin contrasting against the maroon on his outfit made more noticeable in this light. He had also taken off his hat, and his jet black hair was flat which was weird for me to look at- since I rarely ever saw his hair. His bangs swept to the side, almost covering his right eye. I couldn't help but stare since it was peculiar for me to see this kind of Chanyeol. It was the same yet different from the Chanyeol in school who had to gel his hair back because he wasn’t allowed to wear caps in class.

 

Still, I like this look. It suits him.

 

I come to my senses, knowing that I’ve been staring at him for a while now. However, he still hasn’t seemed to notice,so I decide to call his attention.

 

“Chanyeol-sshi?”

 

I wave my hand in front of him and his eyes blink.

 

“Y- yes?” he uses his large hands to comb his hair down.

 

“I asked you why you asked me to come out tonight,” I smile sincerely, finding his confused look adorable.

 

“O- oh, that,” he chuckles as if he was expecting the question. “I just wanted to get to know you.”

 

Oh, haha.

 

...

 

Hold up.

 

What did he say?

 

“Pardon?” My smile does not fall, but it's becoming a little less real now.

 

“I said I wanted to get to know you.” The waiter starts placing the drinks and the appetizers on our table. Chanyeol and I thank him before focusing our attention on each other. What does he think this is? A date?

 

“I mean,” he continues as he pops a piece of garlic bread in his mouth, making it disappear at the speed of light. “I thought, that since we’re gonna be spending a lot of time together, we might as well introduce ourselves.”

 

He offers me a piece of bread and I shake my head, taking a sip of my hot mocha.

 

“And besides, you like free food, right?”

 

I laugh when he says the last statement. It made me look like a cheap woman, but I didn’t really mind. Most college students are like this anyway.

 

“Alright then,” I grab a piece of bred for myself. “What is it that you wanted to know?”

 

He wastes no time in giving me a reply.

 

“Your age.”

 

“Why would you want to know that?”

 

He pushes some sort of buzzer to call over a waiter to refill his iced tea. All I could think of was, wow, that was fast. “Because I’m pretty much sure we’re in the same year, but you speak so formally to me... well, sometimes when you're not annoyed.” I inwardly choke on air, but I don't show that he's hit me. He scratches the back of his head. “It’s kind of…um, awkward.”

 

“Ah, really,” I clear my throat. “I’m nineteen this year,” I say.

 

“Me too!” He gestures to himself unknowingly and he narrows his eyes at me. “So now I’d like to request for you to stop being so formal with me. Don’t call me Chanyeol-sshi…” he sighs. “It’s really weird. Everyone just calls me Chanyeol, because I want all of them to consider me their friend.” He leans back on glass railing. “So it’s the same for you, okay?”

 

I puff air into my cheeks. “Fine,” I pretend to drink from my glass to avoid looking into his eyes. “Chanyeol-sh-“

 

“Oops!” He places his index finger on his lips to gesture for me to be quiet. “Again?”

 

I frown. This is harder than I thought.How do I not?

 

“Ch- chanyeol…” sshi, I think to myself.

 

“Very good,” he says. And we stop talking for a bit when the food starts to pile up on the table.

 

* * *

 

I’m delighted that Chanyeol is talkative, because I never really knew how to start friendly conversations like this. That’s probably why I prefer to stay quiet, but I try to speak from time to time so as not to make him feel like I wasn’t enjoying his company. I learn a lot of things about him, like his age and his birthday. He said he’s living in the dorms, and that most people don’t like it but he does. That’s because his roommate is Baekhyun (who is always gone at night, apparently), his best friend since he was a child. We’ve both lost our parents– I don’t know if his are gone for good, though– but he doesn’t seem anxious talking about it at all. It’s like he knows they’re doing well now. Somehow it makes me wonder if my mother is doing well up there. I hope she is.

 

Somewhere along the way, I find myself beginning to open up to him bit by bit. And that is one thing I have never been able to force myself to do in the past. Both in the states and in Japan, my friends and I only talked about things concerning trends and what normal teenagers would talk about. We never really got to know each other. We never really got farther than each others’ names. All we ever got to talk about was what the turmoil around us was about. But the demons inside of us or the little things?Never.

 

Which is why I found it so different, so new, that I was able to talk about such things with Park Chanyeol. One by one, I am beginning to trust the people around here– Eunna and him. Maybe it because all these people here, are people that I’ve been destined to meet from the beginning. He was a person I just met, and yet he knew more about me than all the friends I’ve ever had. (But of course, not nearly as much as Eunna knew about me.)

 

Because of that, I am amazed.

 

In the middle of our meal, however, Chanyeol stops talking and he leans over to me to whisper.

 

“Hey,” he says, his eyes diverting from our table and the table behind ours. “That guy looks like he’s stalking us, doesn’t he?”

 

“Who?” I whisper back and look around, trying to locate any suspicious person. However, none of them seem like they’re tailing us.

 

I give Chanyeol a questioning look.

 

“The guy behind you,” he whispers.  “Don’t turn around.”

 

He pretends to laugh and I laugh along, not really knowing what we’re both pretending for. Then, I fakely search around for a waiter to get his iced tea refilled. In the middle of it all, I decided to turn around. And lo and behold, I find a familiar pair of eyes staring at me… with a bizarre look reflecting in them.

 

“Lee Minhyuk?” I blurt out, and he is obviously surprised because he jumps up in his seat. He bows to greet me.

 

“What are you doing here?” I say kindly, trying to hide the suspicion in my voice. “Did you come with someone?” I smile.

 

He shakes his head. “Ah, actually, I was just about to leave,” he flashes the both of us a smile and marches to the counter before paying for his food, instead of ordering for the bill.

 

Chanyeol and I look at each other.

 

“You know that guy?” he asks.

 

“He’s in my Lit class. Transfer student…” I mutter.

 

Just then, Minhyuk passes by our table. However, noticing that he had just walked a bit farther than he intended to, he backtracks a little.

 

“Well then, Haneul-sshi, and?”

 

“Chanyeol,” I reply before the said person could open his mouth.

 

“Chanyeol-sshi,” he smiles brightly. “I’ll see you guys tomorrow at school. Have a good time,” he bows formally to us before stuffing his hands in his pockets and walking coolly out the door.

 

“Tch,” Chanyeol says as her drinks up the remainder of his wanton noodle soup. “I bet he was just bummed that he got found out. Stalker.”

 

“He is…” I recall the incident of him writing on my sticky note on the freedom wall this morning. “…a little… weird?” I finish my sentence with reluctance because I know that a little weird doesn’t cut it. Chanyeol, however, sees through my mask and isn’t convinced.

 

“Sheesh. What’s up with people like those…”

 

He calls a waiter to order for the bill and we both wait in silence, his suspicions were floating in the air by now because I noticed that he got more awkward. He pays for everything immediatelywhen the waiter comes and we walk out of the restaurant quietly. I get into his car,timid, not knowing if I should spark up the conversation first, and he locks the doors with haste. He must really think Minhyuk is a stalker, but I don’t. So I try to speak.

 

“Chanyeol,” I say as he starts pulling out of the parking space.

 

“Yeah?”

 

“Maybe you’re overdoing it,” I don’t look in his direction. “Minhyuk, I mean. We might not know him that well, but I don’t think he’s a bad-“

 

“His car,” Chanyeol says. “His car has been behind us from when I stopped by at the dorms to get my jacket. It’s weird.”

 

My eyes widen at what he says. He points to the rearview mirror.

 

“See that red convertible? It’s his car.” He swallows hard. “It’s a nice car,” he laughs, attempting to make the conversation a little more Chanyeol-like. But his smile quickly fades.

 

I look at him expectantly.

 

“Oh well,” Chanyeol’s trademark laugh bounces off the car windows. “Probably just coincidence.”I am a little worried, because his smiling expression quickly fades into the one he had on a few seconds ago. This expression doesn’t really suit Chanyeol. I had already seen it on Eunna earlier, and she looked completely out of character from before…but on him it’s a different level.

 

He drives out of the parking lot without saying a word.

 

* * *

 

“Where are we going?” I say when he takes a left at the intersection. He was supposed to go straight ahead, because that was the way to the café, and this is the way to…

 

“The dorms,” he replies nonchalantly as he taps on the gas a little more. I notice that Chanyeol seemed to keep glancing at the rearview mirror, though I tried to shrug it off because I knew it was drivers’ code to check every thirty seconds. However, something is telling me this is more than just being trying to be road smart because the look on his face is saying something that I can’t understand.

 

“The dorms…” I repeat. “Wait. What?” My head automatically snaps in his direction when I realize what he just said. “Why?!”

 

“We have to lose that guy,” he gestures to the mirror on my side of the car and I whip around to look at it.

 

“Who?”

 

“That dude in the red car,” he turns the radio up. “He’s behind the white car.”

 

I take a closer look and to my surprise, I see Minhyuk’s (y) red convertible keeping up at a constant speed behind us. He was one car away, which meant he probably thought we were stupid enough not to notice. Either that or he was really leaving, and he was probably living at the dorms as well.

 

“If you’re worried about getting home, I’ll take you back later tonight.” He steps on the gas. “We just have to lose him.”

 

* * *

 

Chanyeol quickly parks the car in the student lot and he steps out of the car and opens my door, taking my hand and locking the car immediately. We are stopped by the personnel on the ground floor who were asking for my ID, but he quickly gets us out of the situation. Thank god he was tight with the caretaker, because if it had been someone else I probably would’ve been in trouble since I left my school ID at home. I make a mental note to take it with me all the time, probably put it in my wallet, before walking away. He then takes me up to the eighth floor of the men’s dorms, pushing all the buttons after it and chuckles, saying that Minhyuk would never find us this way. And he walks on, keeping his tight grip on my wrist as he does.

 

“Chanyeol…”

 

“We’re almost there.”

 

“No, wait, Chanyeol,” I tug on his sleeve with my free arm. His long stride was making it hard for me to keep up with him. On top of it he was walking briskly and holding tightly onto my hand. I thought for a second, maybe it would be easier to just drag me to the room, because that's what it felt like he was doing anyway.

 

“Slow,” I breathe in. “Slow down.”

 

He looks back at my struggling figure and his eyes widen. He slows his pace accordingly and apologizes, looking a bit embarrassed. He must have been totally immersed into loosing Minhyuk.

 

We continue on slowly.

 

* * *

 

A few more steps and we reach his door. He quickly swipes his ID card and pulls me in before shutting the door. He didn’t even look back outside, but I’m sure no one was following us. Though, I can’t say because I’m really bad at noticing sneaky people. I don’t want to go out anyway, so I just continue inside.

 

I take a look around his dorm room as we walk in slowly. The hallway that greeted us when we entered contained a wooden counter with a black marble countertop and a sink on the left, with a portable electric stove and rice cooker and shelves above it that contained food and ingredients. There was also a small,silverrefrigerator next to it and a water dispenser.

 

On the right were two doors, Chanyeol explained that one door was the shower area and the other was the toilet. He said it needed to be separated to that in case anyone was still taking a shower, it wouldn’t be awkward to pee. I laugh at his joke– though that would be convenient, I don’t think it would matter if someone was peeing while someone was bathing since they were guys– and he continues to lead me further in.

 

The hallway expands inside into a space more than enough for two people, a bunk bed was on the very end of the room, adjacent to the windows. On the right were two desks, separated by a large closet in the middle. On the left was a huge flatscreen hanging on the middle of the wall, another closet to its right, and gaming equipment. Papers were scattered all over the desks and there were shoes and clothes in random corners of the room, but this was expected of a space where two men lived.

 

Chanyeol drops to the bottom of the bunk bed and leaves me to look around.

 

“Yeah, I know it’s messy…” he laughs loudly as he sets his cap on the desk next to his bed. “But it’s home.”

 

I smile when he says home, because his sincerity seemed evident as the word escaped from his lips. I seat myself on the chair next to his bed and face him.

 

“What are we gonna do about, you know…” I point to the door and make faces, but it takes a while for him to understand that. When he finally does, however, he points to me and makes an o shape with his mouth. And he nods.

 

Then he looks left and right.

 

Suddenly, he shoots up from the bed and grabs me, covering my mouth with his large hands. He rolls over and lays me next to him.

 

“He might be a ninja,” he whispers in my ear jokingly. I slap his shoulder.

 

“Seriously!” I punch him jokingly. “What do we do?”

 

He sighs. “Well, we have to know if he’s out there. Let me text a few people.”

 

He pulls his phone out of his pocketand he punches in his code before texting a grand total of two people. He pushes send and drops his phone on his stomach.

 

“I texted Yixing-hyung,” he says. “He’s on the dorm across us, and he’s probably still up since he’s been playing lots of video games lately.” I stare at him blankly. “Don’t worry, he replies fast.”

 

And he does just seconds after Chanyeol utters the word fast.

 

“Ah, there!”

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<Messages                             Zhang Yixing                                   Contact

Today 09:22PM

Hyung! I need a favor! :D

Can you see if there’s some creeper outside

Love u

 

I don’t know what ur talking abt man but I went out and theres this dude camping outside your door. He was so shocked when I got out lol

Prob tryin to listen in since his ear was pressed to the door

 

Love u too

 

 

---

“Crap, he’s still here,” Chanyeol whispers and then he gets up after pressing punching in a thanks and pushing send. Quietly, he heads to the front door on his tiptoes. He closes one eye and looks through the hole. Indeed there was someone with his ear pressed to the door. Lee Minhyuk, he’s quite the guy.

 

Chanyeol tiptoes back and I don’t say a word. He sits himself on his chair and taps his foot on the floor lightly.

 

And his eyes light up.

 

He stands up and motions for me to follow him. We stop right in the space where the small hallway and the main room meet.

 

Follow after me, he mouths.

 

* * *

 

Lee Minhyuk presses his ear to the wooden door of Park Chanyeol’s dorm room, where he knew Haneul and the tall man would be. What the heck is happening, he thinks to himself as he presses harder. It was difficult for him to find the floor Chanyeol lived on especially when he had to wait for the elevator that stopped on all ten floors. Thank god he only lived one floor below. He almost lost them.

 

But he didn’t, couldn’t, give up. He needed to know her.

 

He needed to do this for himself.

 

Minhyuk hears shuffling from inside the room and he keeps his ear on the door. Finally someone speaks.

 

“Ah, I’ve been wanting this for so long…I can’t stand the quiet anymore,” Chanyeol’s deep voice bounces off the walls and into his ears. “I want you now.”

 

. His eyes widen and he presses on harder.

 

Something else is said but it comes out in a whisper, and he couldn’t hear very well. It was probably Haneul’s voices.

 

“Ugh!”

 

“Chanyeol-sshi, what are you-“

 

“I told you to call me oppa didn’t I?” A manic laugh is heard from the other side of the door.

 

“Chanyeo-“

 

“OPPA!”

 

“UGH! OPPA! OPPA! CH- CHANYEOL OPPA!”

 

“That’s it baby, c-“

 

“What are they doing?” Minhyuk whispers to himself nervously as he backs away from the door. “It’s too early… impossible.”

 

He marches off with a glum expression, kicking the fire exit open before taking the stairs down.

 

“Impossible.”

 

* * *

 

“You think he’s go- oh.”

 

Chanyeol turned to Haneul who was sleeping soundly on his bed. They had stopped pretending to do that for a while and it was fun while it lasted, but it was getting pretty late and he needed to take her home. He sighs, taking his phone. His finger glides up and down the screen as he browses his contacts. He then presses call when he finds the one he’s looking for.

 

He picks up on the fifth ring, like always.

 

“Hello? Baek? Where the are you?” Chanyeol moves away from the bed, afraid to wake the sleeping princess.

 

“What? I’m here. The lobby.”

 

Chanyeol feels relieved when he hears this. “Awesome. I need you to do something for me.”

 

“What is it now? Hurry up, Chanzilla. I’m sleepy.”

 

“Seventh floor. Just check if the Lee Minhyuk guy from your class is in his room.”

 

“What? Why would I need to do that?”

 

“I’ll explain later. Just do it.”

 

“Whatever.”

 

The line goes dead, but Chanyeol knows he got a yes. Now all he had to do was wait for Baekhyun to call.

 

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 pstd. 150707