In With the Strange

The weird thing is it's been three days already and Hyun hasn't put the thought away completely. According to Chanyeol, the Whoremongers are supposed to be going on a European tour for, like, half a year and then might be taking a year and something break after that. So, Hyun, a Whoremonger geek, may just lose her chance to see them live for a few years if she doesn't gather up the courage to just go.

Okay, so noise and busy people and activity, in general, make her nauseous. Is she about to miss this chance? Is that really what she's about to do?

It gets so deep that Hyun even brings it up to her mother at some point. It first occurs to her that this isn't entirely her decision to make when she's taking out the garbage at night and her mother tells her to be careful. Taking out the garbage and spending an entire weekend at a pension where she'll be going to a rock concert are on totally different astronomical planes. She figured she'd have to run it by a guardian sooner or later. She was going to call her dad. Then she realized that she's not living with him at the moment.

"No mosh pitting, right?" Her mother doesn't look wholly convinced or comfortable. She probably thinks that saying no will drive another dagger between them. Hyun actually feels kinda bad because she knows it won't. Hyun is old enough to understand the whole parental concern. Deep, deep down Hyun even hopes she'll be opposed so she can have a legit excuse to tell Chanyeol about why she won't, or can't, go. She agrees, though. 

Hyun’s bags are magically packed Friday afternoon. She vaguely remembers her hands moving by themselves but she can’t believe it. It takes a while for her to come to terms with her awkward acceptance of the fact that she really needs to go on this trip. If she doesn’t then she’ll just hole herself in her room and not eat or sleep for days. She might have to answer a call from her dad and tell him that she’s doing fine.

Someone comes into her room while she is blind and still trying to get her shirt on. She has a mini heart-attack at the possibility that it’s Chanyeol. 

“Stop being and hurry up.” Mina tickles her armpit and Hyun kicks her foot blindly, nearly losing her balance. 

She pulls the rest of her shirt on.

“Why did I invite you again?” Hyun grumbles as she walks over to grab her portable easel and carries it over to an open suitcase on her bed, where Mina is lazing around and being a big . 

“Because you love me.”

“I should have let you drag your doll around alone in Kindergarten.” Hyun folds the easel up. 

“It wasn’t a doll,” Mina defends immediately. “A Confucian figurine is hardly a child’s plaything.”

“But you’re not a nun?” Hyun an eyebrow in her friend’s direction.

“You’re confusing your religions, my dear,” Mina says, aloof. 

Hyun shakes her head. She knows Mina is right, but her smug stare is unbearable. “Right. I’m the weird one here.”

“You’re taking forever with that thing. Just let your heart tell you what to bring.”

“Is that how you make decisions?” Hyun asks.

“Nah. I’m just messing with ya. But, really, we have a long way to go,” Mina says, adding, after a pause, “You’re lover’s waiting.”

That gets them out of the door pretty quickly. Hyun slams her suitcase closed and zips up her backpack, grabbing them both and running after a giggling Mina out of her bedroom and into the living room. 

“Oh, hey, Yeolie.” Mina stops abruptly and Hyun runs into her back.

“You guys okay?” Chanyeol smiles like he’s holding in a laugh.

“Fine,” Hyun says. “We should go. You know, traffic and stuff.”

“Right. And stuff.” 

 Hyun goes up to her mother who is waiting in the kitchen doorway. She stands there, biting her lip and feeling awkward. What's she supposed to say?

"Be safe, okay?" her mother says.

Hyun nods. "Will do."

She hugs her, and Hyun pats her back with an awkward hand before following Mina and Chanyeol out. After putting the bags in the trunk, Hyun scoots in the backseat while Mina sits upfront with Chanyeol. She didn't sleep much last night so she wants to stretch out. No one objects. Hyun spends the first hour of the ride bickering with Mina and gazing out of the window as the landscape morphs from the concrete city to the greener suburbs. 

Hyun cracks an eye open after a little nap, tongue heavy as cotton and body limp. She locks blearily onto a familiar face with her one eye and quickly opens the other. Her cheek is smashed into the seat belt, but she’s too tired to care about how her neck with probably feel like wood or how long the indention of the belt will last after they arrive at their destination. She just knows that the car is not in motion, Mina is missing, the sky is darker, oh, and Chanyeol is staring at her in a way that makes her feel weird on the inside. She’s too tired to say anything about it.

“We’ve got a few more hours to go,” Chanyeol informs quickly with a demure grin. “You slept like a baby.”

“I don’t sleep well at night,” Hyun replies briefly, and then adds for some odd reason, “You should know.” She curses herself mentally the second after it leaves her lips. 

Chanyeol blinks once, a shy yet confident smile spreading across his face in the most satisfying of ways. 

“I guess I do.”

“Who wants artificial colors and flavorings?” Mina gets back in with armfuls of little black bags. Her bright smile is excited and full of anticipation. Hyun wishes she were able to indulge in her best friend’s obvious excitement, but the more Hyun thinks about what they are about to do, the more her stomach contracts in displeasure. She shakes her head at her friend and closes her eyes again to allow the motion that starts soon after to lull her into another nap. Sleeping is the only thing at this point that will calm her.

“Baby bear,” a soft voice blows hot air into her ear. Hyun frowns lightly when she realizes what’s going on.

“I’ll kill you,” she hisses.

“I’m a pacifist,” Mina protests with a gasp tucked somewhere in her voice, scandalized. 

Hyun opens her eyes and they find Mina in the dark car. “No, you’re an idiot. Where are we?”

“At the pension, sleeping beauty.”

“Already?” Hyun asks. It feels like they just left.

“What do you mean already?” Hyun can’t see Mina’s face very well, but she’s probably rolling her eyes if the scoff clearly present in her voice is anything to go by. The little prick. “You slept the whole way here. Get up.”

Hyun does as told. When she’s upright, she can see better. A summer breeze blows through the night. They have the volvo pulled onto a road that winds up the side of a row of identical buildings with what looks like the main entrance at the far end. Hyun has to squint to see it. Streetlights are erected along the pathway that leads to the main entrance and they cast shadows on the faces of some adjacent buildings. 

It's actually really nice seeing everyone again. The thought of a bustling rock concert is more bearable when she knows familiar faces will be floating in the crowd. The main building is cool and brightly lit. A round desk centralizes the entire space as people mill about. Some are families and others look like couples. Workers enter and exit a room marked ‘staff only’ at the foot of a staircase winding behind a wall that must lead somewhere. Potted plants and brown settees complete the interior. 

Hyun presses herself in the corner of a seat and taps mindlessly on her phone. A text message pops up in her inbox from an unknown number.

Hope you’re having fun. 

She should really save her mother's phone number at some point. She's just never gotten around to it.

“Okay.” Mark stands at the head of the group. Hyun cranes her neck a little so she can see what’s going on over the chatter of the group itself and everything else going on.

“There are seven of us and only three rooms. Who’s rooming with who?”

“Hyun and I,” Mina pipes up from Hyun’s side. “Hani too. Girls only room.”

“You three.” Mark tosses a key in their direction and Mina catches it.

“And you two?” Mark suggests, pointing between Kuhn and Jackson.

“I’m down,” Jackson says.

“No problem here,” Kuhn echoes.

“Ok, then Jackson and Kuhn.” Mark hands one key over to Jackson.

“Mark and I.” Chanyeol nods. 

Things get settled quickly enough and the group circles to talk excitedly about what they want to do for the next two days before the concert. Mina squeezes her tall self in an open space and looks back at Hyun, offering. The latter shakes her head, so Mina nods and turns back around. Hyun hovers on the outside and listens in. She’s comfortable from here. 

Kuhn talks with the speed and urgency of a motorboat. His lips move so fast that they hardly seem to be, and yet sound is coming out of them. He wants to be up in time to see the sunset and then get breakfast when they began serving it at six-thirty. They’ll be lucky if they even rise in time for breakfast. Hyun would offer to go with Kuhn since she is likely to be awake at that time as well, but she's not confident enough to be one-on-one with him yet.

She ends up not saying anything.

They have to take an elevator and walk down a long hall to get to their room. It’s on the third floor and in close quarters with the rest. There are two beds made up with white sheets and pillows, a glass door leading to the balcony, and another door just off the main one that is hanging open to reveal a clean, unlit bathroom. 

“Called it.” Mina runs and pounces on the bed closest to the balcony. Hyun smiles as she heads over to sit at the foot of the bed while Mina rolls over the breadth of it like a small child. 

As amusing as Mina’s antics are, Hyun’s eyes are drawn to Hani. She is ping her blue duffle bag while standing over the other bed and arranging her things. Her green eyes are blazing in the dim light. She looks like a Lioness, with her black hair framing her face perfectly and sharp features complementing the angled structuring of it. She only realizes she’s being incredibly rude when Hani looks up and smiles at her.

“Sorry.” Hyun averts her eyes. 

“It’s fine.” She finishes her unpacking by putting a little figurine of a young girl on a swing set on top of the dresser next to her bed. Hani gives it a flick for good measure. It actually moves. 

Oddly, it reminds her of Chanyeol.

It bothers her still that Chanyeol is unwilling to talk about his leg even when he’s told her about most other things. A simple trick of the eye has grown into way more; there isn’t a doubt in Hyun’s mind that Chanyeol injured his right leg in his accident and isn’t planning on telling her anything about it. It’s really none of her business and Chanyeol is more than justified in his right of keeping silent. But, the thing is, Hyun is itching to hear from him herself about what he clearly isn’t telling her already. She has gotten over her inner turmoil by this point. She knows why she wants so badly to know so much about him.

You like him, don’t you?

Yeah, she really, really does.

As terrifying as it is even just admitting it to herself, she can’t avoid thinking about it any longer. And the more she thinks about it the more evident the truth becomes. It’s late enough already, and any plans to do something after arriving are foiled by the time. Hyun hops in the shower after Hani, and Mina follows her. The three are settled by midnight, lights out. 

“Hey,” Mina whispers in the dark, poking Hyun’s cheek. Hyun opens her eyes in annoyance and rolls away from her, closing them again. Mina pokes her once more, harder, and Hyun rolls back.

“What?”

“You think Jackson is cute?”

Hyun groans. “Go to sleep.”

“What about Kuhn?”

“I guess.” Hyun sighs, resigned. “In a supermodel-y way. Not in a casual, boy-next-door way like Jackson or Mark.”

“Right? All of his friends are gorgeous. Even Hani. How fate detests me!”

“Shh!”

“Oops, sorry.”

After they both turn and peek to make sure Hani is still asleep (she is, or faking really well), Mina snuggles closer, resting her head on Hyun’s shoulder.

“I'm glad you came," Mina whispers. "You know, people aren't that bad. They're not all fire-breathing monsters."

Hyun can't help but think of Chanyeol when she says, "I'm beginning to realize that."

“That make you feel better?”

“We're gonna have fun this weekend." Mina sighs. "So much fun you'll never want to crawl back into your little safe bubble again."

"Uh, we'll see about that." Hyun rolls her eyes.

"Take it at your own pace though. Okay, Lala?" Mina pulls the blankets tighter around them. "You have nothing to prove to me, to yourself, or to anyone else. You don't have to do a backflip into a moshpit or anything, okay?"

“No backflips. No moshpits. Got it."