*chapter nineteen;

“Soah, do you have a minute?”

It was the second day after Luhan’s and Soah’s reunion and yesterday, they had spent the whole day by each other’s side when the students went to the city to do some sightseeing. Today, they would visit Hallim Park, a huge tourist attraction and for the evening, the teachers organized a little beach party with some music and a bonfire. Soah was super excited, because since she was reunited with her boyfriend, there had been no moment where she could be completely alon with hime. That would change tonight.

“Yes?” Soah was in her room, preparing the things she’d take to the trip while the other girls were in the dining room, getting some bottles of water.

Sehun looked into her room, stepped in and closed the door behind him.

“So, I was talking to the other guys, but I wanted to ask you first before I’ll announce it, because he wouldn’t come if you wouldn’t either. Are you free on Saturday before summer vacation starts?”

She frowned, looking confused. “Pardon?”

“Ah, we wanted to go to his favorite restaurant. The one a few streets away from his home.”

“Sehun... who and what are you talking about?”

He raised his eyebrows, looking as confused as Soah herself. “I’m talking about Luhan and his farewell dinner, silly. Did you forget?”

When the girl didn’t return anything, Sehun immediately realized what he had done and he breathed in, trying to say something, but stopped for moment. “Well... I messed it up, didn’t I?”

“What farewell dinner?” Soah asked seriously.

He shook his head and turned around, trying to open the door, but she smacked her hand against the wood and slammed the door.

“You’re not going anywhere, Sehun.” She sounded more angry than sad. And if that was the case, she really didn’t know what he was talking about. Soah needed to know everything about this farewell dinner. Immediately. “What are you talking about? Why is it called a farewell dinner? What the hell are you boys hiding from me?”

“Really, he should tell you himself...”

“No!” she responded. “As you can see, Luhan never tells me anything. As you can see, he didn’t even try to tell me something about a farewell dinner for him. Heck, when did he plan to tell me? Where is he going, Sehun?”

“Beijing. To his parents. During the whole summer vacation.”

Soah shook her head in disappointment. Luhan hadn't told her anything about his parents and his family background himself. The little she knew about him was what his grandmother had told her when she was over. Of course she could have asked, but she had always thought it was too pushy.

“Soah... don’t be sad or anything. I’m sure he would have told you soon. He's just waiting for the right moment, you know him. He’s very caring and...”

“Well, he had a lot of chances to tell me," she explained acrimoniously. “And he chose to tell me at the last minute? That’s very caring. I feel the love, really.” Soah was mad and sad at the same time, and since she was like this, she became ironic. “How can he even talk to me as if there was nothing bothering him? How could he have hide such a huge thing from me? We’ve been together for quite a while now and I’m sure that he knew it for a long time now too. And yet, he chose to let me leave here hanging like an idiot!”

“Look, it’s not like it’s easy for him either. Especially not now that he has you. You are more important for him than you probably can imagine. He sure has a good reason for not telling you beforehand.”

“Oh... I bet. And you speaking like that... it’s not the first time, right?”

“Just let him explain by himself, okay? It’s going to be alright.” Sehun left the room and this time, Soah let him.

Her anger dominated the sadness that was buried deep in her heart. Sadness, because her boyfriend would leave her for a long time and she didn’t know how this would work out. Sure, there were emails and phones, but it just wasn’t the same like seeing each other, talking to each other face to face or feeling each other’s touches.

But these thoughts were the ones she didn’t realize now. At the moment, she just felt disappointment and anger, because Luhan had decided to hide such a huge thing from her. Whatever his intentions were – it was not alright. Wasn’t a relationship also about being honest with each other? What was he thinking? How could he even look her in the eyes which such a burden in his heart? Was it that easy for him to leave her?

***

Luhan didn’t intend to tell Soah. She waited the whole time they were strolling through the Hallim Park, looking at the figures and the landscape while the teachers explained something about the culture on Jeju Island. Every time Luhan turned around to speak to her, even when there were people around, she expected him to say something related to Beijing. Something, that would make her suspicious, a short remark or anything, but he didn’t talk about anything like that and Soah’s anger grew with each bypassing minute. The words just wanted to blurt out of her so often, but in the last second, she could bear them down, swallowing them, no matter how hard it was. She wanted Luhan to tell her himself, but the more she was craving for it, the more impatient she got. There were a lot of questions in the air and every single one of them needed to be answered. But how could she face him?

Soah was so absorbed by her madness that she didn’t notice how she actually started to ignore Luhan again. She just watched him from behind or from the side, studying his facial expression thoroughly, trying to find any clue how he would explain everything to her. Luhan, on the other hand, didn’t even know what he was doing wrong that caused her to ignore him yet again. Didn’t they make up just two days ago? Was this the monthly phase girls were going through? Whatever it was, he wanted to make her happy.

“This is for you!”

“What?” Soah looked up to the flower in front of her. A red yellow-sprinkled tulip.

Luhan shrugged and smiled. “For you.”

She was more irritated th