-Chapter 6-

I Love You

“Hey there!”

All the muscles in your body relaxed all at once and your heart rate and breathing went back to a regular pace. Thank goodness… you allowed a sigh to trickle past your lips as relief rushed through you. You were glad to see that the person behind the door wasn’t a certain someone. But… you would have been more relieved if you actually knew who it was that was actually at your door.

“Um… you are…?” you slowly started, your voice a bit hoarse due to the lack of speaking you had done these past few days.

“Oh, sorry! I forgot that we’ve never really been introduced before!” the mystery boy chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck uneasily. “I’m Park Chanyeol, your brother Sehun’s friend.” Now you recognized him- no wonder why he looked familiar. How could you forget your brother’s towering friend who had a toothy smile plastered on his face 24/7? You figured he was most likely here with Sehun’s other friends but what you really wanted to know was why was he in your room in the first place?

Chanyeol hastily peered over his shoulder down the hall and then quickly slipped into the room, managing to miraculously shut your door without a noise. “We’ve got to talk quietly, okay?” he said with a finger to his lips. (Although his own whispering isn’t exactly what the average person would call a ‘library voice’.) “Sehun has been telling us that you haven’t been feeling well.”

“Yeah, I guess you could say that I’ve been a little under the weather…” ‘A little’ doesn’t even begin to cover it…

Chanyeol nodded and awkwardly scratched his head. It almost looked as if he wasn’t even sure what it is he wanted to say to you. Chanyeol cleared his throat and averting his eyes, he began talking again. “We’re pretty worried about you too. You know, because Sehun is like a brother to us. So that means you’re like a little sister to us…” Chanyeol trailed off in his words and silently cursed to himself. “Why did I just tell her I see her like a sister?! I just ruined my chances…!” he hissed under his breath.

He looked back up at you and smiled once again. “Sooo…” he stuck his hands into his pocket and began casually strolling towards you. “Nice room you got here. It’s a lot bigger than Sehun’s.” he complimented, looking around curiously.

“Yeah. I have the biggest bedroom in the house after all.” Chanyeol nodded and stopped in his tracks when he was finally at your bedside. His wandering eyes finally trailed down to look down into your eyes. Just seconds after making eye contact, Chanyeol looked away and lightly coughed to himself. You could have sworn that his ears were turning a light shade of pink for some reason. Chanyeol suddenly let out a small exasperated laugh and lightly plopped down at the edge of your bed.

“Sorry if I seem kind of nervous…I’m not usually like this…” he quietly said, his eyes glued to the floor. It sounded more like a reassurance to himself rather than to you. As you silently stared up at him inquisitively, you felt a small shiver run down your spine. You felt a bit tense as if there was some sort of… anger lingering in the air. You lightly rubbed your arm to get rid of the uneasiness you were feeling.

“So Jaeyun, I was wondering…” Chanyeol finally started. He swallowed hard as he rubbed his clammy hands on his thighs. “When you actually do come back to school, would you ever consider… going out for bubble tea with me after school?” You silently blinked at him. Was he… asking you out on a date?

Judging from his uncomfortable mannerisms and such, it didn’t take you long to realize that he probably was, and that he probably had a crush on you. If it wasn’t for the fact that you’ve been through something like this before, you probably wouldn’t have been tipped off by it this quickly.

In your life, you’ve been confessed to only once. (This making it the second time) The first time it had happened, you had to unfortunately turn the guy down. You felt bad and were hoping that you wouldn’t have to go through something like that again but here you were now- sitting in your bed, having your brother’s friend ask you out on a date.

Quietly sitting there gazing over at Chanyeol, you suddenly felt the heavy tension around you from before gradually become heavier and heavier as the seconds went by.

You knew that it was because of Luhan. You knew he was also in the room with you and Chanyeol. That itself was already a problem but there was another issue that was bugging you. The usual vibe you experienced in Luhan's presence was different from the way it was now. It felt as though Luhan might have been glaring at you for the first time ever…

Chanyeol finally found the courage to look up at you. There seemed to have been a hint of desperation lingering in his eyes. You didn’t know this guy, nor did you feel anything special for him, but how were you supposed to turn him down?

“Sure, I’ll go.” You said. It was almost as though the words had slipped out before you even had time to think it through in your head. Chanyeol’s eyes lit up as he smiled ear to ear.

“Really?” he uttered out. You nodded, smiling at him slightly. It was just a simple meet up right? It wasn’t like you accepted a marriage proposal or anything that extreme. Chanyeol looked as though he was ready to bounce up and down like a little child.

“Thanks, it means a lot to me.” he smiled. “I’ll meet up with you in front of the school gates after scho-“

CRASH

You both jolted up at the sudden noise. Immediately, you started to feel uncomfortable and edgy. “Whoa, what was that noise?!” Chanyeol said, looking around. “It sounded like glass shattering!”

“What was that sound?” came Sehun’s muffled voice emanating from the hallway, followed by the murmurs of Jongin and the others.

“Oh, I’d better go now!” Chanyeol jumped up to his feet and dashed to your door. Before he could swing the door open, he looked over his shoulder at you. “Remember, don’t tell Sehun about this, okay?” he flashed you a genial grin before stealthily slipping out of your room.

You wordlessly laid back down onto your bed and listened to your brother and his friends’ voices outside your door.

“Hey where have you been Chanyeol?”

“Uhh… bathroom!”

“The bathroom is in the other direction. You weren’t in my sister’s room, were you!?”

“Huh, no! Of course not!”

“Whoa, looks like there’s gonna be a cat fight soon.”

“SHUT UP JONGIN!!!”

You disregarded the obvious dispute outside your door and closed your eyes. You were wondering about that crashing noise. You had no doubt in your mind that Luhan was probably the cause of it… But you were unsure as to how he and the noise were connected…

Once again, you were in a place that you knew but somehow didn’t know all at the same time. You knew you were in your house but it wasn’t in your bedroom like before. This time it was in a bigger room that had couches, vases with flowers in it and portraits hung on the walls. You deduced that you were in your living room but just like before, the layout was different as well as the condition of everything which was much better.

You were sitting in a long couch and once again you couldn’t move or speak. This time around you didn’t attempt to do anything because you knew it was useless to fight it. Peering to the right, you saw a large painting of a woman. She seemed so beautiful. You wanted to better analyze it to get a better glimpse of her face but something was stopping you from focusing on it, leaving you with a blurred and vague image in your mind of what she looked like.

Gazing over to the left, you were a bit startled to see a person sitting down next to you. The person turned their head to look down at you and there he was…

You were face to face with Luhan yet again. Just like before in your dream, you didn’t feel threatened nor scared staring into Luhan’s eyes. Without even noticing it, you felt your cheeks rise up as a smile suddenly appeared on your own face.

Luhan only returned your smile as a light chuckle escaped his lips. “You look so lovely when you smile.” His words seemed to echo through your mind. He brought a hand up to lightly curl a strand of your hand behind your ear. He leaned in just a bit closer and whispered to you.

“I love you, Jaeyun.”

All you could see was darkness.

You had unknowingly fallen asleep during all the ruckus. You brought a hand up to push random stray strands of hair out of your face. Once again, you woke up from your dream panting and drenched with sweat. Every time it involved Luhan, it would be incredibly vivid and you would wake up from it being in this disoriented state as you are right now. All that filled your mind now were the last words you heard Luhan say before you woke up.

I love you, Jaeyun.

You held onto your head as you tried to sort out your thoughts. You turned your head to the side to gaze over at the digital clock you had sitting on your nightstand. The moment you had completely turned your head, your eyes rounded and you felt a gasp being choked up in your throat.

Luhan…

Standing on the other side of your room was… Luhan…

Just like before, he was completely white and was slightly transparent. From the legs down was completely invisible so you weren’t exactly sure if he was standing or even floating right now. It almost looked like he was a motionless statue. He wasn’t moving a muscle- his chest wasn’t even heaving up and down to suggest he was breathing, leading you to believe he probably wasn’t.

All these years of feeling eyes penetrating you everywhere you went, all these years you felt like someone was watching you- this one moment told you in an instant that you weren’t imagining all this and you were right. As Luhan stood there immobile, his gaze was on you. All the way from the other side of the room, you could clearly see him staring directly into your eyes.

He was watching you. And he always has been.

You were scared… but… there was something in the back of your mind telling you not to be. This Luhan that was standing before you was the same Luhan in your dreams. The same Luhan who smiled at you, the same Luhan who called out to you, the same Luhan who loves you. The Luhan in your dreams did nothing but treat you kindly and lovingly and now that you thought about it… so had this spirit standing before you… If that was the case then…

What were you so afraid of?

In the blink of an eye, the white figure in front of you suddenly disappeared as quickly as it had appeared.

“Ow… damn…”

Chanyeol sat up in his bed and tried agonizingly to stretch his arm back to reach the top of his back. Letting out a loud sigh of frustration, he pulled his blanket off his body, swung his long legs off the bed and groggily dragged his feet out of his room and into his bathroom.

He flicked on the light, flinching back at the blinding brightness of the bathroom light shining into his still sensitive night eyes. He walked up to his sink and stared into the mirror at his own sleepy reflection. Scrutinizing his own reflection for about a minute or so, he sleepily grabbed the hem of his shirt and lifted it over his head. “Why is my back burning so much anyways?” he drowsily yawned, tossing his shirt onto the floor.

“I wonder if a bug bit me at Sehun’s house. Because it only started burning after I left…” He turned around and looked over his shoulder at the mirror to check out his back.

Straight away his eyes shot open to the size of saucers at the sight before him. “N-no way… how in the world…?” he faintly murmured.

On Chanyeol’s back… were two deep and painful scratch marks…