minseok26: eyyy

The IM popped up while I was working on my article. Jongin had just dropped me off, and the three of us (Jongin, Yoona and I) had gone our separate ways. I was at my hotel room, enjoying the view of Paris’ beautiful scenery from my bedroom window. Then, my best friend greeted me. Just in time! I was wondering how he was.

muxluhan: hey bro. ‘sup?

minseok26: nm, really. working around the clock 4 deadline. hbu? how’s paris btw?

muxluhan: beautiful. amazing. can’t describe it w/ words.

minseok26: awesome! send me pics, kay? oh, and can i ask a favor from you?

muxluhan: sure, go ahead.

minseok26: well, my aunt, who works as a doctor, just called… got this crazy idea about me being @ paris

muxluhan: okay, what did you say?

minseok26: told her i’m not there. but my friend’s there. she asked if i happen to know where her daughter’s at. been two weeks since she came home.

muxluhan: whoa, sorry dude.

minseok26: i won’t blame her. things have been rough for this family. the girl’s quite young to face this burden alone.

muxluhan: i see… so you want me to find her?

minseok26: will mean the world to my aunt if you find her. she’s like the only family my aunt has now. her brother suddenly left them the day after their father’s death.

minseok26: g2g, boss will kill me if he sees me chatting w/u. k, bye!

muxluhan: bye :)

Closing the IM window, I suddenly felt pity for Minseok’s aunt. My best friend tells me a lot of things about his family, especially about his aunt. His family weren’t that rich, and it was his aunt, what with her profession as a doctor and her husband, the wealthy businessman, who paid for most of his college tuition fees. He owed her a lot. And whatever chance he gets to help her, he would.

It’s devastating to hear a sad story about someone, having everything but losing her loved ones.

I glanced at the clock. 6:45. It dawned on me that in fifteen minutes, Jongin would pick Yoona and I up at the hotel. And we’re gonna meet Seohyun at the café for dinner.

I, for one, think it’s great that I don’t have to spend my first dinner at Paris alone. But there’s too much that occupies my head. Minseok’s aunt and her loss. The article (I’m starting to feel I have writer’s block). And no matter what, my thoughts always go back to those truffle eyes.

***

Ten minutes later, I’m at the lobby, dressed in a red polo shirt with a black pair of pants. I try not to look overdressed (it’s just dinner with four people), but I don’t want to look like a slob. It is, after all, Paris. One of the most fashionable cities in the world.

I try searching for a familiar face, but with the crowd closing in on the piano player, placed at one corner of the lobby, I can’t seem to get a good view of everyone. Until I saw Yoona, still wearing that white skirt. Only this time, she traded her red jumper for a black blouse, and her guitar for a little clutch.

“Yah, Im Yoona!” I cried.

She immediately turned her head to my direction, and she grinned widely as she ran over to me.

“Well, hello there, Mr. Lu.” She spoke with a tone sweeter than candy, and her smile was quite charming. I must admit; the girl is a looker.

“Don’t call me Mr. Lu. That’s the name of my dad,” I said, guffawing.

She shook her head, obviously thinking I’m weird. Then, she walked to the front of the lobby, with me trailing behind her.

“So where do you live, anyway?” I asked her.

“Me? I live in an apartment, not far from here. I thought I already told you.”

Good point, I told myself. “Well, how did you get here?”

“Well… my younger brother’s best friend has an elder brother. His name’s Park Chanyeol, and he’s studying at Sorbonne.” She smiled at me. “I secretly made a deal with him to save a seat for me on his flight to Paris. He asked, ‘What for?’ and I answered,  ‘I wanted to go on a vacation’.”

“I didn’t mention it would be a permanent one, though. Chanyeol totally believed in me, and I got a one-way ticket to Paris. I demanded it to be one-way, and he didn’t see anything suspicious in that.”

“Two weeks later, I’m here, busking on the streets of Paris just to get euros for food and rent. I didn’t dare ask for money to Chanyeol. He’d know I used him for my escape plan.”

Listening to her story made me look at her with wonder. She might be four inches below me, but I can assure you, she still looks childish. Yet, her mind is manipulative. I mean, she fooled a Sorbonne undergrad to get her tickets to Paris. That’s something.

“Wow,” was the only word that escaped my lips. “Yoona, I—“

Suddenly, a burgundy Buick zoomed in front of the lobby. The exact burgundy Buick I rode hours ago.

Someone pulled down the windows, and I can see it was Jongin. He looked disinterested—a scowl on his face, and I’m sure his stare looked like he was going to throw a dagger to my throat at this very moment.

“You two done chit-chatting?”

The menacing voice again.

“Ahem,” I said, trying to clear my throat so as not to sound intimidated. “You were… here the whole time?”

He nodded. “I tried calling your number when I arrived. I was planning to park and pick you guys up, but I can’t find a parking lot. You didn’t even pick up your phone. So I decided to pick you guys up at the lobby, and boom—there you guys are, chit-chatting as if you don’t give a damn about the world.”

“Sorry,” was all that we both could muster up.

Jongin acknowledged our apologized with a curt nod.

“Get in,” he snapped, like we were schoolchildren about to be punished and he’s the father.

We both meekly enter the car; me riding shotgun, and her at the back.

***

The silence and awkwardness at the car was replaced with laughter and good times once we reach Seohyun’s café. When we arrived, she was all smiles, and we soon forget the tension that had happened between the three of us. We sat at the place we occupied before, and before we knew it, heaps of food made its way to our table.

Seohyun and Jongin, being the two people who knew Paris better than us, made us try different aspects of French cuisine. They made me swallow a pot of bisque (a creamy, rich soup usually made of shellfish) and also made Yoona scarf a plate of pot au feu (traditional French beef stew). The bisque was so rich (too rich to my liking), and Yoona swore every spoonful of pot au feu she ate felt like a spoonful of fire. Which is why we were not interested over dessert.

But instead of a rich, gooey dessert, Seohyun and Jongin handed out a box of macarons. I had a taste of it once, when my dad came back from Nice. At first, I thought macarons were little colorful patty burgers. I refused to try it at first. But my dad insisted that I should try at least one bite, just to make him happy.

And so I did. Turned out, I fell in love with it. It was made of egg whites and sugar, which explained why the moment I bit it, it melted in my mouth. Pools of saliva formed when contacting with the rainbow-colored macaron. And I was ten at that time, so I had knowledge about drugs. So I wondered if these macarons were some sort of drugs. (Four years later, I learned it wasn’t).

So the four of us were chit-chatting, laughing, our hands scrambling for macarons, until Seohyun’s snow-white hands dug in for a piece, but came out empty.

“Whoa.” She looked surprised. “Didn’t expect it to get empty all of a sudden.”

Jongin laughed. “Of course it gets empty quicker—it’s four people eating the whole box instead of only two.”

I wasn’t paying attention to both of them. But I think I saw a glimpse of Seohyun turning pink.

Seeing her like that—blushing at Jongin’s remarks but acting nonchalantly at mine—made my heart ache. Nevertheless, I tried ignoring it.

 The pink on her face disappeared, and Seohyun continued, “So Kai, are you still taking pictures?”

This time, Yoona looked amazed. “You’re a photographer?”

Seohyun nodded vigorously. “The best, Unnie. You should see his pictures. He’s a professional.”

A wheezy laugh escaped Jongin’s lips as he awkwardly scratched his head. “I can’t really say that I’m a pro… I only learnt from my best friend, Sehun, who taught me a thing or two about photography back at high school.” Suddenly, his voice dropped low and he looked down, his head hung, as if remembering a painful memory. “Taking pictures are the only way for me to remember him.”

I have a gut feeling that:

1. Sehun was someone who meant the world to Jongin, and
2. Sehun was dead.

But looking at Jongin’s gestures, he doesn’t seem to want to talk about it. So instead, I asked him more about his hobby.

“I’d love to see some of your pictures. Maybe you can be guest photographer for my next article,” I said, half-jokingly.

But if you’re as good as Seohyun says, I said to only myself, I can ask you to take pictures for my article.

To be honest, I’m not a good photographer. Yixing and Zitao were the talented one. I always demand either one of them to accompany me on my adventures. But meeting a freelance photographer here? What luck. Probably one day, I can bring him in to Kris and demand that he’s hired as a new photographer.

Yet his presence would only ignite a brotherly competition between him and Jongdae.

I try to shrug the conversation off when Yoona suddenly chirped, “Guys, I love Paris and all… but don’t you think it’s boring?”

All of us gave a look of disbelief and anger. Then, three voices shouted and yelled at once.

“It’s a beautiful city! Have you ever seen the gardens here? It’s beautiful!”

“In what way is ‘Paris’ boring?!”

“I’ve been here for two years! And I’m still in love with it!”

Surprisingly, she took our tantrums well and she continued, “I mean, at night. Look at that.” She pointed to the shops across, which are closing and looking gray in the dim Paris nightsky.

“I sort of hoped Paris to become this magical place, where, y’know, all the beautiful things start at midnight.”

“You know,” said Jongin, his eyes staring hard at Yoona’s, “my dad once said: When hope fails, we create the hope.”

“Okay,” I said. “I’m completely confused right now.”

He laughed. “I meant, when things don’t turn out the way you plan, it’s your job—“ at the word your, he jabbed at my chest to prove his point, “to make things happen the way you want it.”

“If Yoona hoped for Paris to become a midnight Wonderland, then let’s make her hopes and dreams come true.” A mischievous smirk slowly appeared. “But there’s a catch.”

“What is it?” The three of us sounded curious at what this delinquent has to say.

“It’s going to involve a lot of rule-breaking.” His voice was cautious and fell to a whisper, fearing someone might hear us, probably. “If we’re not careful, one of us might get arrested. And we’re at a different country. Things would be worse if one of us ‘tourists’ deal with the police.”

Yoona looked brave. The mischievous twinkle found at Jongin’s smirk was now in her eyes, too. “Oh, I’m in. You guys too?”

I looked at Yoona and Jongin. I so wanted to see the beauty of Paris after midnight. But from what Jongin said, this beauty might also get me into trouble.

Pretty soon, the war between my rational mind and my moody heart began again.

Quit it, Luhan. You’re a grown man. You have better judgment than that, do you?

You’ll regret it if you turn it down. Bonus: as far as I’m concerned, Truffle Eyes seems interested…

No, she doesn’t. She’s hesitant, too.

Aw, if you look at her eyes, you can see it…

“THIS IS NOT ABOUT TRUFFLE EYES!” Without knowing, I screamed the sentence out loud, and every single person at the café has their eyes trained on me.

Then, came the inevitable.

They laughed.

And all I could do was bury my face at the table.

“Um, Luhan?” Seohyun’s voice woke me from fantasy to reality. “Who’s Truffle Eyes?”

“None of your business,” I said, my voice sounding snappier than I wanted it to sound like.

“Whoa, okay. Looks like someone had a mood swing.” I could hear Jongin snicker as he said it.

Finally, after feeling not too embarassed, I lifted my face up and gave a grin so big to the three of them just to show them I’m okay.

“So?” Their voice were in unison. “We’re in. Are you in or not…?”

Silence for a moment.

Then, without realizing it, my head bobbed up and down.

***

A/N: Third chapter done! Really hoped you guys enjoyed this one c:

Oh, and I’m gonna hold up the update for the next two weeks, because I’m having exams. So yeah ; ;

Anyways, feel free to comment about anything in this chappie! But I really hoped you guys would comment about my writing. I need your guys’ advice!

And here is a gif of Chen being totally adorable c: