007

FINALS PERIOD was something all students dreaded, but it was worse for student-athletes like Sehun, even worse for double majors such as Junmyeon, and absolute hell for people with not only a double major but also too many extracurricular activities such as you and Kyungsoo (which also explained a lot about your friendship). Kyungsoo joined the robotics club because he thought it was going to be a good idea (in a way, it wasn’t, but it was related to his major). Thankfully, the annual robotics competition was over, and all he had to focus on was his studies and student council duties. 

Athletes were also done with their season and now had all the time in the world to commit to their studies entirely. Now that you guys didn’t have any games or competitions or training to attend anymore, you guys couldn’t use your sport as an excuse to hopefully get an extension on that dreaded essay or ask for your final exam to be reported back for a week or so.

After countless sleepless nights, random coffee runs, and power naps, the whole school was finally done with finals. Hence, it was the end of the winter semester, meaning it was the beginning of your summer holidays! Seeing as the following year would be your last year of university before entering the world of adults, or graduate school, you took a break from all your extracurricular activities, meaning no more volunteering at the children’s hospital, no more cheerleading practices or summer training (much to your coach’s horror), and no more council work.

All this just for Sehun.

A summer break just the two of you, that was the least you owed him.

You were excited about this trip because you had everything planned. You couldn’t wait until you two could go and have fun without a single worry. You also knew that the next year would be hectic for the both of you, so you wanted to use this chance to do whatever you two couldn’t do on your previous vacations. Hell, you even refused to go back to your last internship because of him. Maybe it was a bad move on your part, but it’s not like you didn’t have the capabilities of getting another one next year. And besides, even the company rep said to call back whenever you changed your mind, so you weren’t too worried.

Sehun was surprised to see you on the bleachers after his practice. Usually, you had training at the same time, and you would typically run off to your next activity which was volunteering. He immediately jogged over, ignoring the exaggerated cheers his teammates sent him as they noticed that his girlfriend was there to pick him up, and leaned down to kiss you lightly on the lips. “Hey, what are you doing here?”

You shrugged with an innocent smile. “Can’t I surprise my boyfriend once in a while?”

“Of course you can, but don’t you have to head to the hospital soon?” he asked with a frown. “You’re gonna be late.”

You rolled your eyes. “Sehun, I’m here because I took some time off from everything. Let’s go on a date after this!”

“Oh…” Sehun’s face immediately fell, and he awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck. You narrowed your eyes suspiciously at him. “The guys and I decided to have dinner and then sleep over at Jongin’s place—since, you know—it’s the last day of winter boot camp.”

“Okay… but do you have to go? I mean, you can always have dinner and sleepover with them another time?” you said, really wanting to spend the night with Sehun and then surprise him with the trip you’ve prepared.

“Baby, I wish I don’t have to, but I promised. I’m the captain, I have to be there for my team,” he ended up saying. “And besides, we can always go out another time. Just let me know when you’re not busy anymore, and then I’ll bring you out.”

You smiled tightly at his response. You didn’t want him to ditch his friends (and you weren’t the type to demand him to ditch or to always spend time with you) but you just really wanted to surprise him with everything you had planned. But you couldn’t exactly blame him for not knowing anything that you had in store. He was right in a way: you were always busy. So, it was normal for Sehun to still do something with his team knowing that you weren’t technically available. But you were still disappointed. After all, couldn’t he have realized that there was a reason why you weren’t busy all of a sudden?

So, could he blame you when you got slightly mad at him for that?

“Fine,” you ended up muttering. “I’ll see you at the end of summer, Oh Sehun.”

You got up from the bleachers and slung your bag around your shoulder before leaving without sparing a second glance over at your boyfriend who seemed confused by your sudden change of behaviour. “Babe? Hey, what’s–”

You resisted the urge to flip him the middle finger and instead, you fast-walked to your car. 

Next thing you knew, you parked your car and then knocked on Kyungsoo’s door rapidly. He didn’t answer after a while, and you kept hitting the door until he finally opened the door with a glare in his face. “Jesus, woman, you’re going to break my door if you continue! And–” Kyungsoo abruptly stopped talking when he saw that you were almost on the verge of crying. He let out a sigh and hugged you tightly. “Your surprise didn’t go as planned?” he asked, and you shook your head as your arms went around your best friend’s torso. “Come on in; I’ll make you some London Fog.”

It was so like Kyungsoo to make London Fog even though it was hot as hell outside. But the famous milk tea had always been a thing between the two of you, and a source of comfort whenever one of you were in the dumps. You automatically took a seat on his sofa and snuggled into the bolster, unconsciously rubbing your cheek against it. Kyungsoo came back a few minutes later with two mugs in hands and handed yours over. You smiled a little at sight. The cups were matching ones with the letters “BFFs” plastered all over them. You bought him the set as a joke for Friendship Day, but you were delighted to see that he had kept them. 

“So, do you want to talk about it?” he finally asked after a silence.

You kept your lips on your mug, forming a small pout when you thought about how you acted with your boyfriend. “Nothing, I just overreacted, that’s all.”

“You wouldn’t come over if you simply overreacted,” Kyungsoo stated with a look. He just knew you too well. “Did you guys fight?”

“No,” you mumbled and jutted your lips out. “I just got a bit mad because Sehun wanted to spend more time with his teammates, that’s all. It was my fault for not telling him in advance anything.”

“Stop blaming yourself for something that’s not even your fault,” he told you softly, knowing that if he shouted at you, you wouldn’t feel any better. “I’m not saying that Sehun’s the one at fault, but he should have known something was up when you showed up at his practice. I mean, one, you almost never do that because you're always too busy. And two, it’s been a while since you guys last seen each other because of finals and you’re saying he didn’t want to spend time with you but instead with his teammates?”

“Yeah.”

He groaned out loud. “God, if he actually used that brain of his, I wouldn’t be here spending time with your pathetic self.”

“Hey!” you shouted and threw the bolster at him which almost made him drop his hot drink. He quickly glared at you, and you cowered back into your seat. An angry Kyungsoo was never a good thing, and you needed to stay on his good side for the evening. “A-anyway, if Sehun asks you where I am, just say that you don’t know or say that I’ve gone to visit my parents.”

“Your parents currently live in China, what the hell are you talking about?” he deadpanned.

You threw your hands up in the air. “They moved again? How the hell do you know, and I don’t?”

“You tell me,” he said and raised his phone for you to see. “Speak of the Devil.”

“Give me.” You wriggled your fingers at him, and Kyungsoo rolled his eyes as he passed you his phone. You quickly unlocked it and scrolled down on the conversation to see what he and your boyfriend were talking.

[Sehun]: Kyungsoo, do you guys not have volunteering tonight? I thought you two would be together.

[Kyungsoo]: We do, but she took the night off… I thought she told you?

[Sehun]: She didn't, and she's not answering her phone. Do you know where she is? I went to the hospital and her place, and I can't find her anywhere.

Received 10:33 PM

You looked up at your best friend who looked back with a questioning look, wondering what was going to be your next move. Your eyes went down to the screen again and began to type the reply. You needed some time to cool off and to reflect on your actions. And you decided to be petty a little. You understand that you were busy and couldn’t spend much time with Sehun, but now that you actually took time off for him, he didn’t want to spend time with you? You felt disappointed as if you lost your time planning something that wasn’t going to happen.

[Kyungsoo]: I think she mentioned something about visiting her parents?

Sent 10:35 PM

You chortled a little at your reply, curious to see whether Sehun would believe it or not. The sigh that your best friend let out was a sign that he knew what you just did and you smiled up innocently at him.

[Sehun]: Her parents?? Aren't they in China at the moment??

Received 10:36 PM

“Why does everyone know where my parents are except for their daughter??!”  you exclaimed, both enraged and betrayed that your parents didn’t even think about mentioning to you that they were going to spend the summer in China.

[Kyungsoo]: Sorry, man, wish I could help. She sounded angry, so I don't really know. I'll let you know if she ever passes by.

[Sehun]: Alright, thanks bro, I owe you.

Received 10:39 PM

You gave back Kyungsoo his phone and leaned against the sofa even more as your eyes stared at the ceiling. “Ah… doesn’t this remind you of that time when you used to write my text messages to Jongdae? Good times…”

“Whatever, you crazy girl,” he mumbled as passed you some blankets and your old pyjamas that you’d left at his place previously. “Get some sleep; it’s getting late.”

“Night, Soo.”

“Good night.”

FOR THE NEXT FEW DAYS, you were moping around at your place or bothering Kyungsoo at his flat. You didn’t feel like heading with him to the hospital, especially not when you tried so hard to convince Victoria to let you off for the summer. You would feel sorry and slightly embarrassed to come back. Victoria only accepted your request because you told her you wanted to do something for Sehun and she knew how much he meant to you. And truthfully, you weren’t in the mood to work at your internship.

What’s worse was that Sehun went off to another football training camp somewhere in the countryside (or in the woods, you weren’t sure because of his lousy reception) and he only decided to tell you that last minute, aka when he was on the bus on his way to the said training camp. Needless to say that you didn’t even have the time to get mad at him because he hung up on you before you could.

It was another night at your flat when your laptop suddenly alerted you of an incoming Skype call. You frowned, knowing that it was rare for you to have anyone call you via that application, especially at this time of the night, but you got up from your sofa and went to your desk to see what was going on.

Your eyes widened when it showed on the screen that Jongdae was the one calling you. You hadn’t talked to him in so long, and you were glad that you could distract yourself for a little while without bothering Kyungsoo at the same time. You immediately clicked that green button and Jongdae’s face appeared on the screen. 

“Hey, you,” he said with a huge grin. “I saw that you were still online so I took my chance to video call you!”

“Hey! It’s been a while!” You grinned back. “So, what’s up? Your calls are getting infrequent especially since you’ve been busy with–”

Jongdae put up his hands. “Whoa, okay, stop there, I know it’s been a while, but it’s still a bit awkward talking to you about this so let’s just move on to why I actually called you.”

“Awn, look at you,” you cooed. He gave you a look. “Right, sorry. Okay, back to serious business.”

“So, you know how I’ve started working for the United Nations?” You nodded. “Well, it turns out that my department is currently hiring interns and well, I sent in your application, and they’ve accepted it!”

Your mouth dropped open like a fish at his words, still unable to process his surprise. You blinked twice as fast as your brain finally processed it, and you let out a big, “YOU DID WHAT?” before taking deep breaths. “What did you do that for?” You always knew that Jongdae could be spontaneous, but this was on a whole other level. But you thought about it rationally and nodded to yourself. “Well, you work for the Political Affairs of Seoul, right? So, I mean–”

“Your internship will be in the States,” he cut you off with an awkward smile. “You will be working directly at the headquarters.”

“The United Nations’ headquarters?” you asked, and he hummed excitedly. “In New York City?”

“In the Big Apple, that’s what’s up!” He then woot-ed but automatically stopped when he noticed that you were unamused. You could tell that he was getting too much into those frat parties. He then turned serious and sighed as he said, “Look, I know it wasn’t cool of me to just send in your name without letting you know–”

“Damn right.”

“–but I’ve always known that it was a dream of yours to work for the UN, and we would always talk about it when we were studying together, so I just did what was best for your future,” he admitted truthfully. “You said you didn’t know what to do anymore—and I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s because of your boyfriend that you’re like this now, no offence to Sehun—so, take this chance to figure things out!”

You rolled your eyes. “Don’t bring Sehun into this.”

Jongdae had a point. You and Sehun still haven’t talked about your future; it was still unclear like a fog. And Jongdae just knew you too well because you were like him: you two always strived for a prosperous and bright future, which is why you’ve been doing all these extracurricular activities and volunteering. They were all for the sake of your future. And truth to be told, even though you still have the whole summer (ish) and a semester (ish again) to think about graduate school, you were still on the fence because you wanted to discuss things with Sehun, not wanting to hurt him again by keeping things in the dark. But Jongdae was right; if it were the ‘you’ from before, you would have jumped at the chance without any hesitation. Albeit that was because Jongdae was in the same field as you and he would understand, perhaps even whining to you that you didn’t sign him up along with you.

But now, you were with Sehun. Things were different. And it’s because you cared so much about Sehun that you were hesitating.

“Look, the internship is actually split into two periods,” Jongdae continued, seeing the conflict in your eyes. “The whole thing lasts around a month or more depending on your performance. If done well, it’s until the end of summer. The first part is actually just basic training and what-not. It will give you an idea of how your internship is going to be and this will lasts two weeks. The rest of the internship will, of course, be you actually interning, and not just office work too, you might even go on the field sometimes or join a few conferences.”

“Well, that does sound a bit tempting,” you mumbled. This internship was better than the ones you had received in Seoul, and it would actually give you a hands-on experience on how an actual intergovernmental organization was going to work. Not to mention, at the UN’s headquarters nonetheless.

In New York City.

On the other side of the world.

“Did I also mention that it’s a paid internship?”

You in a breath as you heard those words. Your stuff had always been paid by your parents, of course, but it would also be nice if you could earn some of your own money. You then breathed out deeply, overwhelmed with the whole information as you rubbed your forehead. “When is the deadline for my answer?”

“You have until the end of the week,” Jongdae replied, clicking away at his mouse. “And then, you’re going to have to decide whether you are going to fly out or not by the next day or you won’t make it in time for the first day.” He then typed something. “I’ll send you an email containing all the information you need to know.”

You closed your eyes and rubbed your face in tiredness. “Okay, I understand. I’ll give you my answer tomorrow. And if I don’t, text me until my phone blows up.”

“Gotcha!”

“Oh, Jongdae-ah!” You called him before he could end the call. His eyes stared right back at you in confusion. One side of your lips tugged upwards. “Thanks for doing this for me.”

He smiled back. “Anytime.”

You two ended the video-call right there and then, you fell back onto your bed with a big sigh. Your eyes stared at the ceiling filled with glow-in-the-dark star-shaped stickers that Sehun put up for you because you once told him that you felt lonely at night without him (you were trying really hard to get him to sleepover at that time), but he then said that this should remind you of him. He even sprouted out some cheesy lines: that it didn’t matter where he was because you two were looking up at the same sky with the same moon and stars, so you shouldn’t feel lonely. 

You grabbed your phone on the nightstand and went through your text messages and log calls. You and Sehun barely kept in touch. With you being petty and ignoring him (he still hadn’t apologized and still hadn’t a clue that you actually prepared a surprise for him), and him being away at some training camp with lousy reception, it was hard for you guys to have a heart-to-heart, period.

You clicked on his name, and then the call button, to only be redirected to his voicemail after a few seconds. It did that for three more times. You jutted your lips out unconsciously and clicked on another person’s name. The person answered on the first beep.

“Hey, buttercup!” your dad exclaimed on the other side and waved at you through the camera. “What’s up? It’s a bit late to call your old folks, isn’t it? We’re not exactly young anymore.”

“Hey, Dad,” you said with a small smile. “Is Mum there with you?”

His brows furrowed. “Is there something wrong?” He then saw your expression and turned around with a panicked one. “Uh, honey? Our buttercup is video-calling us, and she’s not looking good.”

In a matter of seconds, your mum’s face appeared on the screen with a worried look. When you were sure that you had their full on attention, you took a deep breath and screamed, “NOW, WHOSE IDEA WAS IT TO SUDDENLY MOVE BACK TO CHINA FOR THE SUMMER BREAK WITHOUT TELLING THEIR ONLY DAUGHTER?!”

Your parents then pointed at each other. Your father chuckled nervously, “Buttercup, admit it, you’re just mad because we only told Kyungsoo and Sehun about it, and not you.”

“I’m gonna repeat this, but–” You pointed at yourself furiously. “Your only daughter. Right here. In another damn country. Alone.”

Your mother rolled her eyes. “Alright, let’s stop it with the dramatics and tell us what’s going on. You don’t really call us unless it’s related to your school or your future, and Sehun is included in the latter category.”

For as long as you’d been dating Sehun, your parents and boyfriend had never really met in real life. Them being always abroad or travelling around really made it hard. So, they had only met through Skype. Your mother immediately loved Sehun from the start. Your father, not so much. He wasn’t too ecstatic about seeing you in a new relationship especially since the last boy whom all three of you thought was perfect broke up with you (you had to remind him many times that it was mutual, but he never forgot how much you cried over Jongdae). But when he realized that Sehun was the one who picked up the broken pieces and pieced you back together, he warmed up a little (just not as much as your mum, of course). From then, they also decided to just run everything by him since they knew you always have your head up in your studies, so they never bothered anymore. 

“Well, you’re not too far off from the mark…” you mumbled.

“Did you and Sehun break up?” your mum asked; she looked a bit horrified. 

“No! Mum, Dad,” you sighed in frustration, “I’ve got accepted to a UN internship for the summer… and I don’t know what to do.” 

“Oh? Weren’t you supposed to go on a trip with Sehun? What happened to that?” 

“The trip didn’t happen,” you replied quickly, not wanting them to dwell on that particular issue anymore. “So, now I have the whole summer free which means that I can technically accept the internship—that’s paid, by the way—but that also means that I won’t see Sehun for a while, and even less when we start school again.” 

“Honey,” your mother call