( nine )

The next day,  Ara sought confusions if she was doing it right. If giving Chanyeol a connection to her life is right. She spun her head to his direction as Chanyeol recited in the class. He’s really a natural born carefree student so it didn’t take him long enough to find an answer to the teacher’s question even though his response was not exactly right. The rest of the class laughed.

The bell rang; another class ends. Ara needed to bid Chanyeol a goodbye again. She had to use her time for school works, not for other stuffs. She shook her head after she sought Chanyeol slung his bag onto his shoulders. But the moment she caught her phone into her pockets to message Miyoung, Chanyeol was right in front of where she was.

“Hey!”

Ara’s next action was stopped when she heard his greeting. She tilted her head upwards to see the lovely man in advance of him.

“Can we talk?”

---

Ara feel intensified when she said ‘sure’ to Chanyeol. She didn’t mean to. She didn’t plan it but then it came out of . Although she forced herself not to, betrayed her. She blamed herself for doing so, but even blaming herself will change nothing. She agreed that’s why she was with Chanyeol now. Chanyeol emptied a can of soda by only one drinking. While for Ara, she only sipped at hers, not even consuming half of it.

“Are you gonna save that for later?”, not aware, Ara drew her words back and looked at Chanyeol. She was now even more conscious of her replies. “That.”, he pointed at her soda.

“Ah.”, knowing it wasn’t an important question about her identity that could simply mess around, Ara gave a smile at Chanyeol and joked. “Yeah, I’m planning to save it for Miyoung.”

“Miyoung?”

“My friend.”

“Ah, I see.”, he continued to bob his head. “Good for you.”

Ara sipped again, this time, she made sure she emptied the half of it. She wasn’t used in drinking soda because Lay – who was also in-charge of buying their food and grocery shopping – doesn’t buy sodas, saying they aren’t good for one’s health. After the drink reached her stomach, she suddenly felt a little outburst of gas. As she opened , she didn’t mean create a noisy sound – a burp.

Chanyeol made an intoned laugh. “Excuse me.” Ara can feel a little awkwardness between the two of them. “It’s alright. I’ve done it many times too.”, he followed Ara’s belching.

His are much obvious and loud, not like Ara’s. If they are in a burping competition, Ara will be the loser. “See.”, Ara laughed, regaining her sanity.

Two minutes after, their laughs ceased into a monotonous silence. No one could ever locate where their conversation went.

“So,” Chanyeol put his hands behind him. “.. is being a transferee hard? I mean, you always need to adjust to people and so on.”

“Yeah.”, she honestly said. “In fact, I-” Ara was very cautious. She cut her sentence. She was about to say and tell him about her kindergarten days. But that put her to think twice before she could say her next few words. She was unable to say anything. She wanted to. However, that can be a reason to put her and her brothers’ life at stake. She wanted to control the topics Chanyeol and she could discuss, have her life not secluded and to have true friends for once in her life. But always remembering that she has the responsibility to protect her oppa’s hindered her for being a true human, a true living creature that also has the reasons to follow what her heart wanted to do. Glad that she remembered to stop.

Chanyeol kept silent and waited for her to finish. “I.. It depends. It really depends on the people you meet.”

“What do you mean? Have you met someone who bullied you before?”, he was curious, Ara can observe by looking at his face.

“No. They were all very nice.” – a very quick lie she made that came out naturally.

“So what’s the reason why you chose to transfer here?”, Chanyeol shrugged, but then at one moment he find himself being so interrogative. “Sorry for being so straightforward.”

“It’s okay. No hurt feelings.”, Ara smiled to cheer him up. ‘He was right’, from the back of her mind she thought. ‘If they’re all nice to me, how could I use myself and my time to get away from them?’

‘But I can’t just simply tell him that because of my situation I am to change to different places’

She shook her head. She wanted to say things to him badly. Lying wasn’t a good choice. If you start lying, you should continue doing so until the end so everything will go consistent. “Uh, if you don’t mind. I’ll just head towards the girls restroom.”

“Sure.”

She ran fast so she could stop herself for being too obsessed of her past with Chanyeol. It was like a decade after but still, it didn’t put her to forget the memories she had with him. Her past wasn’t just a simple memory; it was one of the bests that she kept treasuring. He was her only true friend ever since – the one who protected her, the one who played games with her, the one who listened to her and she could go on and on. Because that is how much he did good for her. He was the one who was always there and she can’t just erase that even if she met a bunch of people with different personalities and treat her well, when she traveled.

“Why does he have to go back to my life?”, her voice trembled while she asked herself fronting the mirror of the girl’s restroom. A face of curiosity was found in her face. She leaned towards the wall after that. She was about to finish using the restroom when her phone beeped.

“Miyoung!”, she gasped while she was searching for the gadget inside her pocket. On her phone it flashed six missed calls and four text messages.

Miyoung: Where are you?

Miyoung: Here at the caf, waiting!

Miyoung: Are you busy? Why aren’t you answering my calls?

Miyoung: Ara?

“Shoot.”, it was only the word she can say. She threw the door open that it did scare those who are to come inside.

“Sorry.”, Ara bowed to apologize to those people, but turned around again to head towards where is Miyoung.

Frantic, she gazed at her watch while she was walking in a fast pace. Twelve minutes. The break time is almost done in twelve minutes. Worried, she grabbed her phone to call her friend. A few rings after, she heard her pick it up. But when she was about to say her name, she was cut by some other man.

Her phone dropped to the floor which has a diamond engraved design. She fought to regain her balance but then a man came to cross her direction which caused her to be the center of attraction among the girls and boys surrounding the two of them owning the floor. It was like a stage show, people were all gathered around them that she didn’t even know where her body is.   

Meeting his gaze, she was alarmed that she was resting her head on top of his manly chest. He smirked – a reason for her to know what’s going on. “I’m sorry.”, she immediately pushed herself to sit into the floor.

He dirtied off his back and also sat into the floor. “I believe, this is yours?”, having no more time to ask, she didn’t meddled looking at what he is handing her. She might have dropped her ID card when she collided with him.

“Thanks. Gotta go!”

Ara sprung her legs, she pressed the green button again. Gladly, Miyoung answered it. “Where are you?”, it was the first things she heard before she could even say hello.

“I’m sorry. I did something lately. Have you had your lunch?”

“Not yet.”

“Oh. Wait for me. I can see you now, bye.”, she ended the call and waved at her so she could see her figure among many students inside the area.

Sitting beside her, Miyoung sees a slight sore from her elbow. “Gosh. Are you alright?”

“Yeah. It’s just a small bruise.”
“Wait. Here.”, Miyoung searched for a kit inside her bag which consists most of everything. Most are random stuffs like a toothbrush and bob pins. She dug her hand to the bottom part of it and handed Ara a band-aid.

“Thanks.”

“I got clumsy so I bumped into another student.”

“What?”

“Yeah. Maybe I’m just hungry.”, Ara excused.

“Do you know her?”

“It’s not her, it’s him.”

“Oh.”, Miyoung played a melodious tone. “Who’s the guy?”

“I don’t even know. In fact, it’s nothing important.”

He held his nape when he saw Ara go inside of the cafeteria.

“Where is she?”, Ara attempted to send Miyoung a text message again but something familiar caught her eye and finally spotted Miyoung seating in a table with…someone? She took steps to confirm it was her because her back was on hers and she cannot see her face, and when it’s time to see, the boy stood up and left the table.

Little did she know that the boy, Kai, turned to check on them one last time. After his short glance, he noticed something familiar hanging from Ara’s neck – it was the necklace. Not just a simple necklace, but the necklace that the queen owns yet lost on Earth. He smirked at the sight. “Is Miyoung keeping her close to grab hold of that necklace?” He twisted back and started moving forward. “I better make my move quick.”

---

“I believe, this is yours?”, Kai sought the perfect chance. It’s was his day. He saw Ara running, and just like he planned, he switched his ID with hers.

“Just wait for me Yoo Ara.”, he told himself after. He knew it was going to be the way he planned, but not expecting to meet her in a beautifully unexpected way.