Previous Chapter:

“Thank you again!” She shouted, waving to the bus as it left.

She took a deep breath, savoring the fresh and familiar air of Incheon.

I’m back home...

She smiled.

And this time, Taeyang oppa is here too...

He’s back.

Chapter 11:

“Will you be back in time for lunch?”

Taeyang’s mom switched off the kitchen faucet and dried off her hands, turning to face Taeyang.

“I’ll be making your favorite bibimbap for lunch!”

She leaned onto the kitchen counter, watching Taeyang as he threw a water bottle and a couple of chocolate bars into his Jansport backpack and zipped it up.

“I’ll be back by lunch, umma. I’m just going to take a short walk.”

He smiled at her before striding over to the coat closet and pulling out his sweatshirt from one of the hangers. He put it on and then strapped his backpack on one shoulder. Taeyang then proceeded to the steps to put on his sneakers. Usually, Taeyang wasn’t one to return home just because he missed his mom and she knew all too well.

“Araso, Taeyang-ah. Be careful, okay?” She said, a hint of concern embedded in her voice.

She watched quietly as Taeyang stood up and opened the door.

Ever since he came back, she never had a chance to ask why Taeyang had returned home all of a sudden, reason being he was always locking himself up in his room or making conversations relate to anything but himself. Every time she tried to bring up her son’s name, her son would quickly talk about something else and she would have no choice but to drop the topic.

“Jushim halkeyo~!” Taeyang said, playfully reassuring his mom that he would be okay. “I’ll be back before lunch, so there had better be bibimbap on the table by then!”

“Is that a way to speak to your mom?” Taeyang’s mom laughed. waving bye as he closed the door behind him.

~*~

2 Hours Earlier...

There’s no time to wander around wondering how I should deal with how I yelled at Taeyang the other day. I need to get to the garden quickly...I just have to make sure he’s okay before I can go back to Seoul!

Without bothering to say her greetings, an urgent IU bounded into the house from the front door, dropped her bags, and ran back out, not even closing the door behind her.

“...IU?!” Her mom shouted out as she emerged from the living room to see a girl run out of the house.

IU’s mom eyed the bags on the floor and shook her head in disapproval.

“Always being impolite...” She murmured. She glanced her lips tugging into a smile as she grabbed IU’s bags by the front door and walked up the stairs.

~*~

Ji Eu--I mean, IU, couldn’t have possibly taken the hint I left her in the text message. After all, it was quite a while ago. It doesn’t seem like she’s even that attached to me anymore...maybe she doesn’t want to be friends again after I...’ditched’....her?

Taeyang sighed as he trudged down the road. Many thoughts were running through his head and he desperately wanted them out. He stopped in front of the tree that helped hide the entrance to his secret haven, one he had shared with Ji Eun until the day he left. Memories flashed through his mind as he slowly brushed away the branches and crouched underneath the mess of leaves to enter.

The first thing he heard when he got to the side was a light rustle. It sounded like...what did it sound like...the rustle of leaves? No, that can’t be it. P-paper?

Taeyang quickly looked up as he fully entered the garden, his sanctuary. He turned around to where the rustling was coming from, stepping back to take in the full view.

Paper cranes...? Who put them there?

What Taeyang saw in front of him surprised him. Laid in front of him on the other side of the tree were paper cranes hanging from the branches, tied neatly and swaying with the wind. He walked into the parade of hanging paper cranes and leaned against the tree trunk. He dropped his backpack next to him and noticed something next to his backpack. Had he not noticed the ball of string idly placed next to the tree along with a pair of scissors, he would have taken more time to appreciate the paper cranes. There was evidently a presence of another person in his sanctuary. Taeyang suddenly became aware of his surroundings. A girl’s voice was heard a few feet away from him, and he brushed away some of the paper cranes to peek. Her voice was quiet but clear, as she sang a song which after a few seconds, Taeyang could make out some of the lyrics from the song, “Nagging”, by IU and 2AM’s Seulong.

She was lying down on the bench next to the small pond, a stack of papers on her stomach and her arms over it so the papers wouldn’t fly off into the air. In her ears were earbuds and she was listening to music. Her hair naturally hung loose over the bench and her eyelids were closed. The girl’s purse was propped up next to the bench on the side. The tag hanging from it had the characters scribbled: “Lee Ji Eun”.

So...she is...real?

Taeyang turned back to the girl and blinked a couple of times, scared that she was just an illusion that would disappear into thin air within the matter of seconds, almost like sand being swept away by the breeze near the ocean. He was almost convinced she wasn’t really there until he saw the girl shift herself to the left of the bench to get more comfortable. As she did, her arms loosely laid by her side and the stack of papers once on her stomach flew off, some in the air and some on the ground. The girl’s eyes quickly fluttered open and she panicked as she watched the papers fly around mid air. She struggled to get up from the bench and as she fixed her gaze upwards, she could see the silhouette of what seemed like Taeyang by the tree. Startled, she stumbled and rolled off of the bench, hitting the concrete.

“Owwww!” She cried out, pouting as she managed to sit up on the ground and massage her arm. “Apa, apa, apa! It hurts...”

Her left arm had taken most of the fall but luckily, no bones seemed to be broken. She did get a cut on her hand though, and it failed to stop bleeding. She realized her hand must’ve been scratched by one of the sharp rocks on the ground as she fell. She groaned. Stupid incidents such as rolling off a bench in a garden didn’t happen very often to other people and she knew she was almost the only one who had to deal with them. As she reminisced on the bad incidents that had happened to her, she heard footsteps slowly approach her and when she looked up, she met eyes with Taeyang. He stared at her for a few seconds before glancing at her cut which was still gushing with blood.

“Yah, what are you doing sitting there?! Help me! Do you have a bandaid or a cloth or something I can use?” IU said alert by the fact that her hand wouldn’t stop bleeding and it stung with pain.

Taeyang snapped out of his gaze and asked her a question, straight-faced and with a serious tone.

“Are you real?” He asked.

IU blinked and stared at him. She wanted to slap him right there for not noticing she was basically dying from loss of blood had she not noticed he was being serious.

“Uh. Yes. I’m real.” She answered her, unsure of what Taeyang was getting to.

She stood up from her spot on the ground and rushed over to the tree, not even bothering to ask for permission before opening up the outmost pocket of his backpack and taking out a first aid kit. Taeyang followed along and watched her blankly as she took out the disinfectant from the kit, sprayed it on her cut, and winced.

She feels pain...

He continued to watch her actions as she then pulled out a piece of cotton and medical cloth to wrap around her hand.

“It doesn’t hurt, it doesn’t hurt, it doesn’t hurt..” The girl repeatedly said to herself out loud as she wrapped the cloth around her wound.

She speaks...

When she was done wrapping her hand with the cloth, she leaned down to get a metal pin from the first aid kit and she fastened it onto the cloth on her hand.

“All done!” She exclaimed, smiling at her handiwork.

She can smile...

“You...you’re really here?” Taeyang uttered out, embarrassed as her expression turned from one of confusion to one of teasing and mockery. Realizing he was just making a fool out of himself the whole time, he scolded himself for not even helping her tend to her injury. He eyed her bandaged hand in regret.

“I must really be an angel from heaven if you stood there dazed while I was helping myself to your first-aid kit and you didn’t even help me at all.” She joked around. “But thanks for putting the first aid kit in the outer pocket of your backpack like you always used to. And it’s the backpack you used to use when we hung out together too, haha. If you hadn’t put it there, I would’ve panicked.”

“Then what were the paper cranes for..? Did you make them?” Taeyang asked, staring at the paper cranes hanging from the branches of the tree.

“Ah..yeah, I did...Since I arrived at the garden about two hours earlier and I was waiting for you. You should’ve came earlier!”

She laughed as she squatted to the ground to put away the first aid kit. She zipped it back into Taeyang’s backpack and picked up her ball of string and scissors. As she did so, Taeyang proceeded to pick up several of the papers that had gone astray before IU had fallen. He spotted faint writing and erase marks on many of the papers and before he could read them, he looked up as he heard IU speak. She was standing by the entrance to the sanctuary, about to leave. Her purse was hanging from her shoulder and a few strands of string were sticking out from the opening as she had evidently stuffed everything into her bag.

“I just wanted to make sure you were okay.” She said, back facing Taeyang. “Not only me, but everyone was worried about you back in Seoul. They told me you would refuse to meet anyone else but it would be possible if it was me. I didn’t know why but I came anyway.”

She spun around.

“You look okay, so I’m assuming you’re just taking a break because of stress?”

IU smiled.

“Relax here, but don’t take too long. Your fans and the staff who were worried about you are waiting for you to return. Don’t expect any more vacations this year.” She grinned.

She then left, brushing the tree branches out of the way and stepping out of the secret garden.

Taeyang frowned.

I thought she looked for me to say something more. She only came to see if I was okay?

He then focused his vision on the papers in his hand and managed to read one of them out loud.

“Taeyang-ssi, are you okay? Everyone was worried about you. I was worried too. If you have anything on your chest, make sure to tell me or one of us, okay?”

He frowned at the obvious formalities in that letter. He flipped the page and read another one.

“Taeyang ssi, I hope you are okay. I was worried about you. What happened last week? I heard you met with..In Na. You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.”

He put that paper in the bottom of the pile and read the next one.

“Taeyang-ah, why didn’t you call me or tell me you were leaving? I could have taken the day off to come back home with you, you know? Remember to tell me next time!”

His lips tugged upwards, threatening a smile. The notes IU had scribbled on every sheet of paper seemed to get more and more personal each time he read a new one. It almost felt like she was back to the IU he used to know before he left. He couldn’t help but continue reading.

“Taeyang, I’m really sorry. I shouldn’t have gotten into a fight with you and falsely accused you with matters relating to In Na. It was...my fault. I couldn’t help my anger when I heard her name and I just...I don’t know why I did that. I hope you’re okay now. Next time you leave, please notify one of us first so everyone doesn’t go looking for you, okay?”

I forgive you, Ji Eun.

Taeyang finally broke out into a smile as he read the last scribble. He knew IU really meant it, though he was kind of upset she planned her speeches so much but couldn’t say it to his face.

It would be nice to hear it straight from her... He thought.

He leaned over and put the stack of papers into his backpack. He glanced at his watch. It was 5 minutes till 12.

“Holy crap, I’m going to be late for lunch if I don’t run back home!” Taeyang exclaimed.

He zipped up his backpack, swung it over his shoulder, and crept back out of the garden before breaking into a sprint back home.

I’ll go find IU later and tell her I’m sorry too. Nothing as trivial as both of our conflicts with In Na should be able to break through our relationship. I hope soon enough, IU and I can return to the friendship we used to have. Hopefully.

Taeyang grinned as he reached the front door of his house. He flung open the door and ran inside, instantly greeted by the smell of his mom’s home cooking, his favorite dish, bibimbap.

“Umma, I’m home!” He shouted.

“Perfect timing, Taeyang-ah. Food’s ready!”

His mom emerged from the kitchen carrying two bowls of food and placed it on the table.

“Dig in.”

He plopped down onto the chair and instantly started scarfing the food down. His mom watched amusedly, and laughed as he finished before she could even start.

~*~

AFTER HE LEFT...

He leaned over and put the stack of papers into his backpack. He glanced at his watch. It was 5 minutes till 12.

“Holy crap, I’m going to be late for lunch if I don’t run back home!” Taeyang exclaimed.

He zipped up his backpack, swung it over his shoulder, and crept back out of the garden before breaking into a sprint back home.

As Taeyang picked up his backpack, a crumpled up ball of paper was visible where his backpack once was.

Unfortunately, it had been left unnoticed in the midst of Taeyang’s rush to leave the garden.

If only Taeyang had noticed this paper and opened it, he might have been able to change this whole story with IU into one of only a few more chapters.

If even one person bothered to open up that crumpled ball of paper, they might have been able to read the letter with the truest feelings inscribed into it. If they got lucky, they also might have been able to make out the two words at the end of the letter the writer had desperately tried to erase with no success.

The paper had said:

“Taeyang oppa, don’t just disappear like that without telling anyone. It almost scared me to death when Suzy told me you had disappeared and told no one to look for you. Don’t kid around with me...I think I’m worthy enough of a friend for you to tell me when you have troubles or when you want to return home. Next time you feel down, come to me first, araso?

Oppa, saranghaeyo.

-Lee Ji Eun

~*~

A/N:

Hello, this is Kpopchicken back with a new update of You and I! I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter and continue to support, subscribe, comment, and rate this story along with my other fanfics! ^^ Thank you to all my new subscribers and commenters!

Love,

Author

P.S. Sadly...If only Taeyang had picked up his backpack in less of a rush...noticed the suspicious crumpled up paper...opened it....read it....then this story would be over within the next two chapters...BUT THEN AGAIN, since he didn't, I guess this gives In Na more of a chance to ruin their relationship now(?). ;) Hehe. Just maybe.