Chapter 12 – Luhan’s Decision

 

 

            “Hyung! What are you doing?” Jongin shrieked as Luhan barged into his room and began grabbing his clothes and filling it into a suitcase.

            “What does it look like?” Luhan asked blankly and continued to pack Jongin’s clothes into the suitcase.

            “Why are you packing my things?” he asked confused.

            “You’re staying with us and no objections.” Luhan said as he sat on the suitcase and tried closing the luggage.

            “But—hyung why?” Jongin asked, still unable to comprehend what was happening.

            “Because, we know how stubborn you are and your health is finally getting better. We have to keep a strict eye on you and there’s less than a week until the dance and—“ he turned to look at Jongin while taking a deep breath.

            “…and have I mentioned how stubborn you are?” Luhan sighed.

            “Fine hyung. Whatever you say, once Kris hyung isn’t cooking, I'm fine.” Jongin laughed as Luhan just chuckled while carrying down his suitcase.

 

 

            When they arrived at their apartment, Jongin was greeted by the pounding hugs of his hyungs from China.

            “Jongin, you rascal!” They chuckled and pulled him in to strangle him in a loving hug.

 

           

            Mom and dad were still away on a business trip and its been a long time since I went over to the park. Instead I’ve been occupying myself at the day care centre and sometimes I don’t even leave my room anymore. Life has been so dead and fragile, when I did leave my room and look at things in the light; it’s all foreign to me. Food became tasteless, with each bite slowly forcing its way down my dry throat, painfully. I'm thirsty but even water has become my enemy. I can’t seem to function properly anymore, my lips are chapped, my eyes swollen and burning with the desire to rest; my body aches from the bent position I sit in, at the window at night when I turn to look at the moon, the only thing keeping me company lately. Even the stars aren’t present anymore. What is a star, when mine isn’t with me?

            It hurts. My heart—something I didn’t think I had—was hurting. It pined for him… I want Jongin, right now. I need him, but my stubborn didn’t want to admit it. Dammit Jiyeon! You at this ! Just give up and tell him you love him! But no—I can’t do that… why? Why can’t do that? Because I'm afraid of hurting him… Jesus Jiyeon, you’re stronger than that!

            I puffed my cheeks and lightly tapped my head almost forgetting what I was doing. There was no more food and the ramen had finished so I decided to head to the nearest supermarket to buy a few packs when I realised I forgot my wallet. Groaning to myself I pulled out my phone and dialled Saera.

            “Unnie,  swear it’s not here!” she exclaimed on the other end.

            “Yah, paboya, I’m sure it’s right there! Look carefully!” I sighed into the phone.

            “Fine” I heard her frustrated groan on the other end before ending the call.

 

 

            With another frown, Saera plumped on her sister’s bed. The room was filled with scraps of paper, thrown about all over and without much care. What exactly was her sister doing in here? The ground, the bed, the dresser—everywhere was filled with used, crumbled paper. Shaking her head at the older girl’s untidiness, she stood to leave when a small black object at the end of her dresser, under all the paper caught her attention.

            “There you are” she smiled and hurried over to grab it. But because she had butter fingers, the wallet magically slipped from her hand and landed on the floor. Oh yes, that was her luck alright. Bending to her knees to pick it up, a white blank envelope lay below it. Curiously, she picked it up and thought to herself. What could it have been? She wasn’t the type to pry into other people’s business but the blankness was too tempting. Even just a little peek and that would be it.

 

 

            “Here, by the way, your room needs to clean” she said while handing me my wallet.

            “Yeah, yeah” I waved it off but noticed her red eyes.

            “What’s wrong? Were you crying?” I asked, lifting an eyebrow.

            “Uh… um… I was watching a sad drama” she laughed sheepishly. I rolled my eyes.

            “Those things are so stupid. The plots are unrealistic” I said shaking my head.

            “Trust me, we all live our own drama” she said softly. Ok then…?

 

 

            Saera walked back in and sat on her bed, the contents she had just read, racing through her brain. She couldn’t believe her unnie was so stupid, blind and dense! It’s obvious that she couldn’t live without Jongin, so why was she punishing herself. Now she understood why the older had grown even quieter than usual, locking herself in her room and hadn’t gone out. Even the roses she normally brought home had stopped since she came home straight from school and didn’t go dance classes either.

            Saera hadn’t thought anything of it since her unnie was always never the one to talk much or bring up conversations but she did like talking. Everything was falling into place and all she could’ve done was shake her head and smack her lips at her unnie’s immaturity. She had to do something but she didn’t know what? Blowing the air from her cheeks she rubbed her temples and tried thinking of something when the doorbell rang. Oh great, did her unnie lock herself out now?

            When she opened the door she was surprised to see a really familiar pretty faced boy standing in front the doorway.

            “Oh, hello…?” she asked slightly confused.

            “Hi, is Jiyeon-ssi there?” he asked politely.

            “She’s not home but um… you’re Jongin’s hyung right?” she asked remembering him from the last time.

            “Oh yes, I didn’t get to introduce myself last time” he chuckled.

            “Would you like to come in?” she asked, stepping aside to let him enter.

 

            “So you know about Jongin and Jiyeon then?” he asked after she inquired about their relationship, and she just nodded.

            “I found this” she said pulling out the letter her sister had written and handing it to him.

            “Can I ask you for a favour?” he asked taking the letter from her and reaching for something in his pocket.

            “Sure” she waited patiently.

            “These are tickets to our performance, can you try to get her there?” he asked as she took the small rectangular pieces of stiff paper into her hands and looked it over.

            “I’ll try” she nodded and before he could speak the door opened and in came Jiyeon.

 

 

            “Hey Saera, they only had the chicken flavour so I bought—” my words were cut short when I noticed another person in the living room. They both stood and turned to me.

            “Hi Jiyeon-ssi!” the guest waved.

            “Why are you here Luhan?” I asked with an uninterested expression.

            “I came to see you but um you weren’t here” he smiled with a light chuckle.

            “Well, I'm here now, what did you want to see me about?” I asked lifting an eyebrow.

            “Actually, I came to invite you to a function but I knew you wouldn’t come so…” he shrugged. Well…

            “Then why come in the first place?” I asked scoffing lightly.

            He shrugged his shoulders and walked over to the door.

            “I guess I’ll see you later?” he waved before leaving.

            I closed the door and turned to Saera.

            “What was that all about?” I asked.

            “Don’t ask me” she also shrugged and hurried to grab the bag from my hand.

            “So chicken ramen it is?” she asked avoiding the topic.

            “Yeah” I brushed it off and went to help her.

 

 

 

            The next morning I was awoken by the smell of something delicious. Even though I had lost my appetite, the smell was so alluring I just had to get down. When I ended the stairs I saw my mom behind the stove and my dad having coffee.

            “You guys are back!?” I smiled at them and they returned the greeting with a happy smile as Saera came rushing down.

            “Ummaaaaa!” she exclaimed and rushed to hug them both.

 

            Breakfast was quite noisy, mom was talking non-stop about some shopping mall in some country and Dad just nodded and agreed to whatever she said while Saera exclaimed and gasped at certain notes. I remained quiet as my mind wondered off to who knew where. The only thing I felt like doing at the moment was taking a nice long nap, preferably one in the arms of tanned beauty. But of course that was farfetched and when I slapped myself for thinking of it, everyone looked at me weirdly.

            “Mosquito” I lied sheepishly.

            “You’re so weird unnie” Saera chuckled.

            “Look who’s talking” I scoffed playfully.

 

            “So umma can I go?” Saera asked as we got up to place our dishes in the sink.

            “Sure but you have to go only if Jiyeon supervises” she waved her finger at the girl.

            Upon hearing my name I jumped up.

            “B-but umma! She’s barely a year younger than me!” I gaped.

            “No buts. You have to babysit” umma finalized.

            “Well, don’t worry unnie, I’m sure you’ll enjoy it!” Saera grinned happily at me. Urgh. I really wanted to spend my weekend sleeping away my worries, not babysitting Saera at some… wait, what are we even going to?

            “Saera what is the occasion?” I called.

            “It’s a performance ceremony!” she shouted from her room.

            Yeah, that.