A Chance Encounter. Chapter Nineteen.

I wake up to hear Yixing yelling on the phone. What time is it? It’s still pretty dark outside. I don’t even remember when I fell asleep. The last thing I remember is ordering some pizza for dinner and fighting with Yixing over the last slice. I told him it wasn’t my fault that he’s a slow eater, whoever reaches out to the slice first would get it. And I obviously did, so the slice belonged to me, fair and square! He countered saying how there were six slices, and I’d already had three of them. He should have known that sharing food is completely alien to me! I’m the only child of my parents; I never had to share anything growing up. And I’m still not used to it. Well, I did have to share my room with Bona and her brother when they moved in. It was an awful, awful time for me. But my parents bargained saying I’d get more portions for dessert, so I gave in.

Anyway, I offered the last slice to Yixing because I suddenly remembered what Jisoo had told me about him skipping his meals, and I felt bad for him. Okay, that and… I was feeling quite full from eating the cupcakes alone, so…God, I sound like such a monstrous glutton, who’s depriving other people of food. I just happen to have this habit of munching on food whenever I’m bored, and that happens quite a lot. Besides, the doctors said I might have an increased appetite as a side-effect from the pills that I’m on, so I’d rather blame it on that.

I turn around to see Yixing shuffling back and forth in the balcony attached to my room. I suppose I fell asleep soon after dinner. Yixing said he needed to send some emails for work, so I presume he didn’t sleep at all. I turn around to check my phone. It’s almost twelve. When does he intend to go to sleep?

“No, no, that’s not good, that’s not good,” Yixing yells on the phone. He sounds quite upset. I wonder what happened. I’m about to get up and switch on the lights when Yixing says, “Forget that, Jia. Get me the numbers! We have their records remember? Ask them for a tax break-up, and we’ll cross check. We cannot screw this up!” He exhales loudly and ruffles his hair as he continues to pace back and forth.

Okay, it’s just work-related stuff, and probably doesn’t mean anything. I should just go back to sleep. But I can’t fall asleep. Yixing’s voice softens slightly, “Will you be able to do it on your own? I could come over and help if you want me to.” He sighs softly and peers back inside; I quickly shut my eyes and pretend that I’m sleeping. I don’t want him to know that I’m listening in on his call with his ex-girlfriend! “You’ve been at it for hours now.” He sounds like he’s concerned. I mean, that’s quite alright, isn’t it? He’s allowed to be concerned for his colleague and his friend. “It may take me an hour or so to get there, I’ll be there. You won’t be able to go through all of that paperwork alone.” He scratches the back of his neck slightly before sighing yet again, “Yeah, okay, bye.”

He cuts the call and walks in. I’m glad it’s quite dim inside the room; otherwise he would have figured I wasn’t asleep. I suppose he’s going to leave again, I really must get used to this. Whatever, I should be glad that I get to have the bed to myself. I tend to move a lot when I sleep, and now I can sleep freely in my normal ‘starfish’ position. You know, like a starfish, where you spread both your legs and arms? Doesn’t everyone do that? Is it just me? I must look it up online first thing in the morning.

I can hear Yixing’s footsteps inching closer. Oh no, what’s he doing? He should have simply left. I pretend like I’m fast asleep, but it’s extremely hard to do so. What if I think of something funny and burst out laughing? It happens to me all the time! I can never be serious when the situation requires it. Once, one of my professors from college spilled her coffee, slipped on it and slid all the way down the stairs and landed on her . I did rush to help her out, but it was hard not to laugh. She was pretty cool about it though, she’d said, “If it weren’t me, I would have been laughing too.” So, yeah, I really should master the trick of maintaining a straight face for such situations.

Yixing seems to getting closer. What is he doing? Crap. I think he’s standing in front of me, I can sense his presence.

Yixing then chuckles softly and says, “I know you’re not asleep, Juyeon.”

Of course, he knew. I’m horrible at maintaining a straight face. I’m certain my breath was uneven too. I open my eyes to find Yixing bending down to my level. “You’re leaving, aren’t you?” I whine.

“Yeah, something came up at the office,” he sighs. “Go back to sleep.” He ruffles my hair gently and pecks my nose. Mmm… I love it when he does that.  

“Thanks for telling me,” I mumble as I beam at him sleepily. “Before you left.”

“Oh.” Yixing frowns a little. “Are you mad at me for morning?”

I shake my head. “Not really. It was just embarrassing when Jisoo walked in…”

“Oh, right,” Yixing chuckles softly. “Sorry about that. I was in a hurry, and I didn’t want to wake you up.”

“It’s alright,” I shrug and pull my comforter closer. “Have fun at work!”

Yixing smiles and stares at me for a moment.

“What?” I ask him, confused.

He shakes his head in return and laughs softly. “Nothing, I better get going. Good night, Juyeon.”  He leans forward to peck my lips softly. “Bye.” He picks up his wallet and phone and stuffs it into his pocket. But before he leaves, he turns around and kisses me again. I find myself closing my eyes as our lips touch for a brief moment. This is all I need to feel special.

I feel I can go back to sleep peacefully now. Wait…he’s going to be working late…with his ex-girlfriend! And now I’m picturing the both of them in their office, all alone, late at night, free to do whatever they want to. I’m not feeling sleepy anymore. All I can see are these crazy possible scenarios! And I don’t even know what this Jia person looks like. Whatever, I really need to get some sleep. I do have to go with Chanyeol and Bona tomorrow; I can foresee how uncomfortable that is going to be. I really hope they don’t start fighting with each other in front of me, and then I’d be forced to stand and watch, much like a useless tree in the background.

~~~

I’d give anything to not be here. This is extremely awkward. We’re sitting here – Chanyeol, Bona and I, at the jewelers picking up their wedding rings. The saleslady gave me the weirdest look when I sat between the both of them, like I was some unnecessary entity hindering the bride and groom from picking out their rings happily. Chanyeol hasn’t uttered anything more than monosyllable words ever since we walked in. He looks miserable! He even failed to look at me in the eye when I greeted him. Well, now he knows that I know about the cheating bit.

In fact, he seemed a little taken aback when I greeted him casually. Did he expect me to throw a fit and yell at him? Or a tight slap on his face perhaps? I’ve always wondered how some of these girls got all violent and slapped the guy when they got angry. I did witness something like that once. I was minding my own business, sipping on my iced mocha when this girl dumped the entire contents of her strawberry slushie on the guy before slapping him and then strutting off like she was the heroine of a TV drama. I really hope Chanyeol didn’t expect anything like from me. Because that’s not how I usually react to things. I mostly keep my outburst verbal, resorting to physical means only if I’m extremely furious.

So far, I’ve never been that angry at anyone to have resorted to physical means of abusing them. Okay, there was that one time in gym class when this moronic girl thought it was fun to stick gum on to my hair, and I punched her in the eye. So, yeah, I haven’t done anything violent after that. Maybe those extra hours I spent at the school church did help. My teachers would be mighty proud! They still refuse to acknowledge me as a part of their successful alumni group though. I’m a renowned Webtoon artist now! Okay, fine…I’m not that renowned… know one really pays attention to the creator of the series anyway.

“Oh, these are nice!” Bona exclaims as she points at some special collection of couple’s wedding bands. “Could you show them, please?” She flash