Chapter Seventeen.

Nayoung braced herself when the signboards on the roads indicated that they were just a mile away from Seoul. She glanced at Sehun who had dozed off with his mouth open, head resting on her shoulder. She smiled slightly, he might have been exhausted from all his excitement, she thought. Sehun was beyond ecstatic when Nayoung somehow convinced his mother to tag him along with her. He believed it was just the start and henceforth he would be doing more exploring all around the world. He was almost done with his studies; Nayoung believed that once he graduated a very bright future awaited him.

But she knew that it only meant that Sehun would leave her too. She would definitely feel lonely, but she wouldn’t stand in his way. She had grown attached to him, he was like a brother she never had. He would always find ways to cheer her up, he would ask for advices whenever he tried to approach a girl although Nayoung believed that she should be the last person giving advices. He did seem a little cold at first but once she got to know him, she understood how innocent and pure at heart he was. He had also made her days more bearable, listening to his day-to-day activities in college or the adventures he apparently had with his friends made her a little happy.

She had missed all of that. Sumin and Jongin were back in Seoul and there wasn’t anyone else around she could befriend. So since the day he offered to work for her, she started relying on him little by little.

She nudged his shoulder slightly to wake him up. He gazed at the girl being completely disoriented. He was dreaming about visiting pubs and night clubs, as he was quite curious, but his Nayoung Noona had rudely interrupted it.

“Ah, Noooona…you ruined a perfectly good dream.” He whined while shaking Nayoung’s shoulders violently.

“We’re about to reach, Sehun-ah.” She informed him, pointing at the sign board.

“Crap.”

Sehun panicked and fixed his hair, making Nayoung wonder why he was so worked up.

“Noona, do I look okay?” He asked while his hands continued to fix his hair.

Nayoung snorted at the younger guy.

“What’s with you?”

“Oh, nothing I heard the girls in Seoul are really hot.” He snickered.

“I should at least look good.”

Nayoung shook her head, the guy would never change.

“Say Noona, can we go to the night clubs here?”

“Not a chance, Oh Sehun.”

“But Noooooona.”

“That’s not gonna work this time. Besides I have particularly told your mom that you won’t be drinking.

And newsflash you’re not even of legal age!”

“How does that make a difference? I’m gonna turn twenty-one in a month!”

Nayoung chose to ignore the guy and walked towards the taxi stand. Sehun trailed behind her although he still continued to whine. He knew he could convince her somehow, his Noona couldn’t resist his puppy dog eyes. But that would be the last straw.

“Where are we going?” He rambled on, it’s not like he could stay quiet for even a minute.

“Sumin’s house. She wants us to stay there, with her.”

“Does she know I’m coming too?”

“Yep.”

“She doesn’t mind?”

“Nope.”

“Noona…”

“What is it?”

“Are you irritated with me asking so many questions?”

“Nope.”

“Noona…”

“What is it, Oh Sehun?” Nayoung yelled.

“So you are irritated. See, you shouldn’t lie to me Noona, I’ll see right through you.”

He grabbed the girl’s luggage and loaded it in the trunk of the cab she had just hailed.

He was right, he could see right through her. He also knew something was up with her; she hadn’t seemed like herself ever since she received the invitation. It was as if she dreaded coming to this place. He never knew what was going on in her mind, at times. She was a reserved and no matter how much he had tried to pry into her matters, she wouldn’t give in. He just wanted her to open up to people and lead a carefree life like him.

But something was definitely not right and he would find out soon.

Nayoung stared outside the window as the cab took them through the streets. A lot had changed. It had been three years after all. It was as if she had stepped into some unknown place where she was nothing but an outcast. Sehun, on the other hand was excitedly glancing around, making a mental note of all the places he wanted to visit later on. Perhaps he could drag Nayoung with him as well, she did seem like she needed some outing. She had been cooped up in their small shell of a town for a long time, it was high time she sought for a change, he thought.

Nayoung fixed her hair, which barely reached her shoulders now. It was a fateful day when she had decided to chop off her silky, long hair which had taken years to grow.  It reminded her of how Yixing loved to play with her long strands and anything that reminded her of him had to be discarded. So she had grabbed the nearest pair of scissors and cut her beautiful locks without a second thought. She was trying to move on, but she had failed miserably. It wasn’t until later that she realized that no matter what she did, she could never forget him.

“We are here.” She told Sehun as the cab pulled over to a familiar place, that hadn’t changed after all these years. And that somehow made her feel better, she had hope that maybe a few things had remained the same.

“Alright…this place is enormous.” Sehun exclaimed and excitedly made his way inside the Baek residence after being welcomed by one of their head housekeepers.

Nayoung halted suddenly when she found her best-friend with a couple of other people, they were chatting away happily about something which mad