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What a twist of fate.

“That would be awkward, don’t you think?” Was what I said, because what the hell was I supposed to say to that? And who would’ve thought something like that could happen? At least not me.

He shrugged. “I don’t know, it’s like, I’m not even looking forward to seeing her again. I mean, I’d be down to see her cause she’s a friend. But the overwhelming feeling’s just gone, you know?” He paused for a while and then snickered, looking away. When our eyes met, he was holding back his laughter.

“It’s like no matter how hard I try, my heart’s just stuck with you.”

For a moment my anxiety faded away. I grinned and faked a grimace. “Aack! Cheesy.” He pulled back and rolled his eyes before continuing. “That’s the reason why I didn’t want to tell you. I didn’t want to make a big deal out of it. It’s not like I’m going to relive my feelings for her or anything.”

I nodded repeatedly to tell him that I understood. “Yeah, yeah. Thanks for telling me.” I said and messed his hair. “Now go back to the kitchen and I’ll go make that bonfire.”

After he went back in, I walked out of the house and stepped on sand that’s whiter than Luhan’s and Baekhyun’s skin combined. I went around the back of the house to get some firewood and something to light it up.

Baekhyun’s revelation still lingered. It was so out of the blue that I thought maybe Baek was wrong. Maybe it was some girl with the same name. After all, the city’s so big. And as if ‘Maria’ is not that common of a name.

Okay, college. In a few weeks, we’ll be going to the uni. You see, Baekhyun’s taking up Nursing, Kai, Computer Science, Luhan, Communication Arts, and yours truly, Music. 

Whaaaat? Someone like me choosing a career in music? I know, right! It’s just not so me. After all, I had no clear plans for college ever since.

When Baek told me he’ll take up Nursing, I was stunned. Baekhyun’s the more musically inclined between us two and Music was an obvious choice for him. Then one day, he kind of decided to become a nurse. He said he wanted to be like his mom.

“But she was the one who said you be a singer, right?”

“I want a stable job, Yeol. Making money with music is hard. What will happen if people stop listening to my songs? At least, in the hospital there’s an abundant need of my help.”

He sounded like a grownup and that wasn’t necessarily bad. In fact, I admired it. At the same time, I sort of envied him. There he was so sure of what he wanted to do in life while I aimlessly walked by. Life happened to him, and he’s doing perfectly fine with it. On the other hand, there was me, parents getting divorced, still hung up with high school, torn between running away with my band cross-country and college, and anxious as with the future. The only thing keeping my sanity in place was him. And so, then and there, I decided.

“If you can’t pursue Music, then I’ll pursue Music for you,” I said. He was speechless. But by the end of fall, as the first snow of winter settled, I passed the audition. It was heaven sent since I wasn’t required to have stellar grades and Baekhyun was so proud of me. Though I was really, really, really, freaking out. But Baek was beside me, and that was all that I needed.   

I guess it took me an eternity to light the firewood. By the time I poured the last jug of gasoline, the four who went out for beer have arrived. Thankfully, the pile caught fire just in time. The food was ready by then and all of us took to bringing the feast outside. It was enough to distract me from the surprise earlier.

We ate around the bonfire I made and Baekhyun looked as proud as could be as I boasted of my feat while everyone else rolled their eyes. We also drank around the fire after, even played truth or dare. And when Kai went skinny dipping (props to the nice tight we got there, buddy), we even shared ghost stories around it while he splashed in the icy water.

Finally, when everyone was tired and the raging flames dwindled to cinders, all of us went back to the house to sleep. Because no matter how sleeping on the beach sounds romantic, we ain’t gonna risk ourselves dying of the cold and getting pestered by crawlies in the sand.

Δ

That night, I had a strange dream. It was the trippiest ever.

So I was standing at this intersection of two roads. At the end of both roads not so far away, I could see Baekhyun, smiling, waving at me. He was yelling something but I couldn’t hear it. I chose one road and I ran and ran until I could hear Baekhyun. He kept chanting my name, laughing. “Chanyeol! Chanyeol! Chanyeol!” he repeated. And I laughed with him. But as soon as I reached him, I was back to the intersection of the two roads. Baekhyun was again at both ends. Confused and frustrated, I ran again towards him. And once more, I went back to where I was before.

It was an endless loop. Man, it was one hell of a dream. It crept the out of me. When I woke up, I could still feel the apprehension in my veins. It felt as real as Baekhyun’s soft snoring beside me.

The dream haunted me all day but I didn’t tell anyone about it. I spent most of my time wading in deep water. And because everyone else preferred fooling around on the shore, I was left to relive the horror of my dream in my head. When Sehun announced that he should be back home by six, I was ing relieved. By noon, all of us got bored with floating lazily on the water and poking holes in the sand for crabs. Even Kai, who woke up still lively as after all the beer he drank, gave up on making sand castles and decided to sleep in the hammock instead.

It was dusk by the time we arrived at Sehun’s house. He asked us to stay for dinner but we declined. Like, duh, having another feast at his house was kind of too much, right? After the lavish vacay, it was just right to decline. And so we parted ways. Luhan sta