In the end we only regret the chances we didn’t take, the relationship we were too afraid to have and the decisions we took too long to make.

01 September 2020

The lady boarded the first class with eyes seeking for her seat. However her attention was captured by someone who cleared his throat casually on her right. It was none other than Kai of course. From his seat he looked up at her with his loped-sided smirk as his eyes lingered on her beautiful face. Although he had just seen her yesterday, he felt as though it’s been days since he last saw her. And he could feel himself missing her already. Aleyah blushed slightly before walking away with her head looking down to hide her flushed cheeks.

“Where are you going?” He pulled her wrist just as she strode off. “You are sitting over there.”

His head signaled her to the empty seat an aisle away from him. Her seat was coincidentally on his right. Aleyah checked her seat number on her boarding pass against the black numbers printed on the overhead compartment once again, it was indeed row 2 seat C. She didn’t know if it was coincidence or arranged, but such ‘close proximity’ with the man in such a public place made her feel nervous suddenly. Especially when they are constantly exchanging glances every now and then, she was afraid someone might see it by accident.

“You don’t seem happy with your seat.” Kai . His hand was propped on the armrest and he rested his chin on his fist as he faced her.

After the hug, the friendship between these two best friends became closer than before. They were mentally and physically closer to each other. Just like now, as much as Kai wanted her to sit beside him, he couldn’t do so since there were so many staffs around them now. It would be weird if a translator sat with an idol group with even numbered members. The least he could do was to change his seat with Chen so he would be nearer to her. Because he doesn’t feel at ease if she was too far away from him and he would not be able to share those lingering eyecontact with her for the next 12 hours. He did not want that. However, what he did not know was that Sehun changed his seat to 2D with the same purpose as him, just that he was less discreet compared to him. “Want me to ask Kyungsoo Hyung to change with you so you can sit beside me?”

Aleyah rolled her eyes at the man’s egoistic words as she bit back a smile. “See you in 12 hours.” She put on her headphones and closed her eyes, a satisfaction smile hanging on her sleeping face.

“Thanks Noona.” Sehun thanked the other translator before he boarded the plane.

“A little too obvious maknae.” Suho overheard the conversation of Sehun exchanging his seat with the other woman just to sit with her so he couldn’t help but to tease the younger.

“Shut up hyung.”

“You got it real bad didn’t you?” Suho patted the younger’s shoulder as they walked into the first cabin. Sehun’s eyes arched upwards immediately when he saw her sleeping soundly in her seat. Beside her was an empty seat that belonged to him and it excites him. He could foresee himself watching her sleep for the next 12 hours, he was pretty sure that this flight would be the best one he ever had in his entire life.

“Hyung.” Seriousness filled his voice as Suho turned to look at him, slightly taken aback by the way he called him. “I don’t want to look back in the future and regret letting her slip away because I was too coward to show her how much I like her.”

“Because the thought of her not existing in my future kind of scares me already.”

******

“Are you ready?” Sehun turned and asked Aleyah who was behind him. She shook her head at him with a frown, from where she was right now she could hear the fangirls screams clearly. Even though they were still in the hotel, a safe premise from the fans she still couldn’t imagine how this blonde guy before her wants to sneak pass them to get out.

“Sehun-ah, it’s fine if I don’t get to go around you know.” She tugged at his maroon sweater he was wearing outside a white collared shirt.

“C’mon Aleyah. It’s Paris. Don’t tell me you don’t want to go outside to see what’s there, not even the Eiffel Tower?” He turned to look at her before holding her hand in his. “Don’t worry, I’m around alright?”

With a swift action, the guy placed her left hand on his own waist and his right hand on hers. Like any other couple, he pulled her across the lobby confidently, not caring that they were clearly visible to the fans outside the glass door entrance. His distinctive blonde hair was tugged in a black beanie and the lady’s height managed to cover half of his face throughout the short journey. Thus, the fans did not manage to recognize that he was Exo’s Oh Sehun.

Upon reaching the side entrance that was fans-free, the guy let go of her unwillingly before a whirl of light autumn wind blew past them. “The air here is awesome!” He stretched his hand upwards with a satisfied smile plastered on his face. The feeling of her presence beside him made him feel happy. It was as though she was born to bring happiness to his dull life. She doesn’t have to talk nor make him laugh; she doesn’t even need to do any of those because the guy would automatically feel merry when he’s around her. Like now, even though he didn’t had a wink for the past 20 hours he still insisted on bringing her out. He finished his rehearsal yesterday night despite the jet leg just to fulfill his promise he made to himself in front of Suho. There was somewhere he wanted to bring her to in Paris and he wants to start creating memories with her right here, right now. For him, this was just the beginning.

“You seem to know this place very well.” Aleyah looked around at her surrounding, feeling a little uneasy. It was not because she was in a foreign land, it was because she was afraid that people might recognize the guy who was sitting beside her in the public bus.

In contrast to her uptightness, Sehun was very chilled. To make himself comfortable, he propped his knee on the seat in front of him, not caring about his image at all. “I don’t. But I did enough research before this. Don’t worry, I won’t sell you away.”

“If I’m afraid that you will sell me away, do you think I will still agree coming out with you?” Rolling her eyes, the lady looked outside the window as Paris’s streets flew past her. She recalled how this guy came knocking at her room after breakfast demanding her to follow him somewhere because he couldn’t speak English. Yet now he could navigate around this foreign place without a map.

“Maybe?” Struggling to keep his eyelid open, the guy turned to look at her who was staring out of the window. His eyes traced her features one by one slowly.

“Don’t be lame.” She playfully slapped his leg, “Mind your image Sehun.”

“I don’t have to when I have such a pretty lady beside me.” He winked at her before grabbing her hand again as they alighted from the bus. Standing at the entrance of the famous Bohemian Paris, the lady couldn’t help but to gape at the place with her amazed eyes. She has always been in love with Paris’s architecture that she even modeled her store after it. The place before her made her feel like she was entering another wonderland – there was vintage themed cafes at every corner, pushcarts that sold Bohemian inspired clothes and accessories and also flower shops that were exactly like Pollen.

Sehun saw her contented face, how her eyes were glittering with excitement as she scanned the place. Just like a kid visiting Disneyland for the first time. Taking out his camera, he quickly snapped this precious moment . Truth to be told, he had been dying to bring her here ever since he came to know about this place during his research on Paris. He thought she would fit well into this place and he was right. With her white bohemian skirt, jeans buttondown and cowboy vest, she was his Bohemian girl in this Bohemian market today. He couldn’t wait to spend the rest of the day with her already, “Be prepared to be enchanted.”

If someone were to ask Aleyah what she liked about spending time with Sehun, she would immediately answer that person that it was his carefreeness.  The man’s laidback attitude on life had taught her to slow down her pace and have fun. Like now, they were roaming through the streets of Paris having fun even though the concert was tomorrow. As much as her job was just to translate whatever the members have to say on stage to the fans, she couldn’t help but to feel stress; she was afraid she would screw it up due to her inexperience.

However, the trip to this day market has proven to be a stress reliever for either of them because it was filled fun and laughters that they had long forgotten their initial worry. They went from shop to shop, tasting the different local delights as they tried out the weirdest accessories. The guy’s camera was constantly on standby, always ready to capture the lady’s brightest smile. He noticed how her attention would be captured by the slightest noise made, like now, she was looking over to her right when she was still lingering at the snacks store.

“What are you looking at?”

“That.” She pointed to him excitedly. “Let’s go check it out!”

Dragging him to a roadside store that sold paintings, she knelt down immediately to take a closer look at the small canvases displayed on the ground, not caring how her white skirt would be dirtied by the dusty road. Her eyes were scanning the drawings one by one while Sehun snapped another picture of her from her side.

“They are awesome!” Her chirpy voice sang as she picked a painting depicting a scene of Bohemian Paris where there were people picking out flowers.

Through her eyes, he saw how much she adored the painting. Needless to say, it has flowers on it and he was more than sure that she loves it. Sehun picked himself up quietly and walked over to the artist when the lady still had her eyes fixed on the ground. He cleared his throat nervously as he struggled to speak English, a language that he failed to learn since high school. As much as it was difficult, he tried his best to choke out a few words mixed with some actions that were universal to explain to the artist that he would like to purchase that drawing quietly without the lady knowing.

The artist was smart and he understood Sehun’s intention almost immediately. He received the payment before he resumed painting with a grin on his face.

“You like this don’t you?”

Aleyah nodded as she let her long slender fingers run over the canvas, stopping at the people’s faces as she spoke, “Yeah. I could almost feel the feelings these people possess when they are picking out the lovely flowers.”

“I think it would look lovely in your store.”

“Really?”

“Yupp.”

“Okay, I will buy it then.” Before she could walk towards the artist, she was stopped by a force on her wrist. “I’ve bought it already.”

“Huh?” Confused by his words, she blinked blankly at him.

“The man had already paid the painting earlier.” The artist interrupted their conversation as he explained to the lady in fluent English. “Every painting sold here will be donated to the charity, do you mind writing his name on that notebook on the table at the front?”

“Sure.”

When the lady walked a distance away from the blonde guy and the artist, the latter handed him another canvas that he hid behind his back. Sehun immediately shook his hand signaling that he did not purchase that but he just pushed it into his hand before walking away. Out of curiousity, he turned the canvas over and was greeted by the most amazing picture ever. Like what Aleyah had said earlier, he could feel the feeling the people possess in the painting.

It was an earlier scene of him and her when they were picking out the painting. He was smiling with his camera hanging midway, slightly away from his face while gazing at the lady whose attention was captured by something else. Anyone who looks at the painting could tell from his gaze that other girls were faint stars; she was his sun.

******

“If only I could do this in Korea.” Sehun laid on the grass patch in front of the Eiffel Tower, his eyes admiring the majestic infrastructure.

“Yupp that’s right, the keyword in your earlier sentence is, if only.” Aleyah turned and look at the guy whose eyes were closed now but a small smile was on still hanging on his pale face. “Too bad you are not.”

Silence engulfed them as both of them stayed in their position; the guy relaxing on the grass patch with his eyes closed with a lady sitting beside him, admiring the sunset at Paris’s renowned Eiffel Tower.

“Lay down, the view is much better like this.” He patted to the empty space beside him and she did what he told her. It was true, the sun was setting behind the Tower and it was breadthtaking.

“Is that Sehun?”

“Exo’s Sehun? Where!”

“Exo is in Paris?!”

A loud commotion in their familiar tongue could be heard in this silent evening with barely a few tourists scattered around the place. Aleyah and Sehun looked at one another immediately, the wisest thing to do now was to walk away before they confirmed the male was indeed Exo’s maknae.

“I take back my words.” They hurriedly stood up and walked away from the spot they were earlier on. However the group of teenage girls did not seem like they were going to give up just like this, they continued tailing them as they brisk walk down the pavement.

“Oh my god. It really is Sehun!”

“Oppa!”

As much as he pulled his beanie down to cover his face and walked with his head bowed low, the girls were smart enough to recognize him from his back. For his height and build was too perfect not to be an idol. And the aura encircling around him was hard for any female beings nearby not to notice.

“.” Sehun cursed when he saw from the reflection that the number of girls in the group was increasing. This wasn’t as simple as just not being recognized anymore, he had to prevent himself from getting caught by the sea of them. And he had to prevent her from the fangirls cause he know it will do her nothing but harm if her face was caught on camera in such a situation.

“On the count of 3, we run alright?” The lady nodded her head in response. She was too nervous to speak, she had never been in such situation before and she absolutely had no idea how to handle. So she could only trust Sehun.

“1.. 2...3” On the count of 3, the blonde guy grabbed her hand as they took off from the spot, running down the streets of Paris. Just like any other love movie, the couple sprinted off under the setting sun as the autumn wind blew against them, tousling their hair along the way. Sehun had her hand held in his as he matched his pace with her so she could keep up. Once in a while, they exchanged quirky glances causing them both to crack out laughing as they sprinted. It was until they ran down 2 streets before they finally managed to ditch the fans but none of them dared to stop so they just kept on running with laughters filling the supposed silence between them.

“I… can’t…. Sehun… I…” The lady stopped in her track as she panted. Her hands were on her knees, supporting her body.

“I.. think we can.. stop running. They.. are not.. behind anymore.” The guy was not feeling any better as he leaned against the brick walls trying to catch his breadth. His eyes then landed on her messy hair covering her flushed face, causing him to chuckle at the adorable sight.

Aleyah looked at Sehun weirdly, totally unaware of the reason to his laughter. It was until he closed up the gap between them and raised his hand to soothe out her hair gently then she realized that her hair was messed up. “You are like a kid you know.”

She pouted at his sentence, causing him to chuckle even more.

“This is my first time having so much fun while running away from fans.” He admitted to her before turning his voice down to an almost inaudible one.

“Because there's you.”

Sorry for the long update, I rewrote this chapter twice. I didn't like the first draft that i wrote so i deleted away before rewriting it again.

This FF is my main priority now. So i will revamp the foreword over the next few days.

So yupp, enjoy this FF. Comment and subscribe please~