SIXTEEN : TETE A TETE

The sound that erupted from the small form of the Chinese lady shocked everyone in their parameter. The guys who were standing behind Yixing’s parents had random reactions. Kris covering Tao’s eyes, Chanyeol and Baekhyun pretending to kiss one another, Minseok fidgeting and perhaps wondering if his vocal cords could reach a higher pitch compared to Mrs. Zhang while Jongin and Sehun each had their mobile phones out, smirking at the pictures they caught a few moments ago. But the attention died down as soon as the boys got back to their senses and bowed to everyone who was frozen on their spot.

 “Calm down, dear. There must be an explanation,” Mr. Zhang held his wife’s hand who was already charging towards the three youngsters. “Zhang. Yi. Xing. Care to explain what just happened?! It’s either my eyes were clouded by some silly imaginations or you just kissed Luhan on. The. Lips,” the lady shot her son a question. “Mother, I really did kiss Luhan, but it was just to . Mother, please listen to my explanation. Father, please?” Yixing said as he tried to touch his mother’s hands that were shaking in anger at that moment. “Tell us, son,” his father said calmly while keeping his hold on his wife.

“Nana and I are not dating and will never be in a relationship whatsoever. In fact, Luhan is the one with Nana right now. I was just being a bridge to cross them over to each other. I’m sorry for not telling this to you when I had the chance,” Yixing explained as his mother gasped and looked at Luhan and Nana who were still holding on to each other’s hands. “I’m sorry too, Xing Mama. I agreed on the plan so easily, thinking that as long as I’m here nothing would happen and explain to you. You must be so upset with me now. I apologize too,” Luhan backed Yixing up and Nana thought she should help.

“It’s my fault too, Xing Mama. You looked so happy, I didn’t dare to say no because I’ve never seen a mother so happy. I know this may sound like a useless reason, but I am jealous of your love for your son. I wish I had a mother who loved me for me,” Nana said and a single tear dropped unconsciously from her brown irises. Luhan held out a finger to wipe it away and really, just wanted to hug the girl but held it in as they were facing Yixing’s parents. “Oh, God, I can never be angry with my baby Xing. Oh, dear, what am I going to do with our son?” the lady said as she hid her face on her husband’s chest and whined.

“I’ll graduate, go back to China or stay here and take over business at the gallery and find a good girl for myself. I’m not really into anyone at the moment, Mother, and you of all people know that is the truth, right?” Yixing coaxed his mother into a promise of the future. His mother turned her head a little to her son and nodded weakly. “Promise me you’ll do that, or I’ll throw away your unicorn painting,” she said in between sobs and Yixing’s eyes widened. “Mother, that’s too drastic of you. Please, spare my painting from this deal of ours,” he begged.

With a smirk mashed with little sobs here and there, his mother replied, “it’s either grandchildren or the unicorn painting goes.” “Fine, I promise,” Yixing finally said as his shoulders dropped. The other 7 boys who were waiting for their friends finally stepped into the scene after watching Yixing and his mother striked a deal with one another. They all hugged and gave Yixing a pat on his back for a job well done. “Now, who’s up for a bubble tea? My allowance just doubled in numbers and I feel like treating everyone to some good ‘ol bubble tea,” Sehun shouted above the noise.

Luhan’s eyes sparked and Nana saw them and wanted to tell him that they should all go, but the sneaky maknae had other ideas for his hyung. “Oh, but except Luhan hyung and Nana noona, consider everything on the house. You two,” Sehun eyed them with a naughty twinkle of his brown eyes, “should stay here and not get any bubble tea for making Xing Mama cry. Now, my loyal followers, let’s go!” Sehun said and everyone cheered, not even turning back to see the two figures left behind. For a solid 5 minutes, the two of them literally stood there, like the Stonehenge figurines they pretended to be.

Luhan who was still aware of their hands holding each other tightened his grip to pull Nana from whatever thought she had at that time. “Nana, look at me. Why are you avoiding me?” He asked as Nana finally looked into his brown puppy eyes. “I’m not avoiding you, Luhan,” she replied as she tried to pry her hand off of his with sparks of pink crawling up her cheeks. “Yes, you are. You’re trying to run away from me. Do you hate me now?” He tried asking and it received widening eyes from the beautiful girl in front of him.

“Yeah, maybe I don’t like you anymore. Maybe I’ve started liking Yixing oppa,” she said and before she could breath in again from her last sentence, Luhan crushed his weight on her and got Nana into an embrace. Her olfactory basked with his addictive honey-like vanilla scent as much as Nana’s lavender scent was intoxicating to Luhan when he breathed in close to her. “Lu…Luhan, what are you doing? People are looking,” she stuttered and Luhan thought that it was cute.  “Let them look, Nana. Let them look at me, who is lucky enough to have the most beautiful girl in my embrace,” he replied with a dazzling smile.

Oh God, I’m not even cringing. She tried to push him away, but his grip on her waist wouldn’t get away from hers. They ended up staring at one another, Nana’s palms spread on his torso while Luhan held her by her waist. “Nana, if only you’d knew how jealous I was just now when Yixing was holding you,” he muttered and she heard them despite the noise. “I think I know Luhan, since you guys even kissed,” she said with a giggle and Luhan laughed as well. “Ugh, I guess I can’t do anything to erase the memory anymore. Oh God, Yixing, I should castrate him for harassing my lips,” he said as he touched his lips.

Nana didn’t know what came over her as she took Luhan’s hands away from his face and inched herself closer to Luhan. It was as if her mind went blank at that moment and she was millimeters away from Luhan. With a blink, she braced herself forward and brushed her lips softly against the other male. 0.1 second? 1 second? 10 seconds? Who knew, but the touch felt like a surge of spark and Nana gasped when they actually separated. Of course it was just a brush of the lips, but it meant more than anything to Nana since Luhan was the first ever person she kissed and it was her who initiated it.

Thinking about it got her blushing and she used all her strength to push Luhan away. He was startled with the push and blinked rapidly at Nana. “Nana,” he spoke but she stopped him, “no, Luhan. I’m so sorry. I didn’t know what came over me. Please, I think I’ve lost my mind.” “Well, yeah, I’m practically losing my mind too if I don’t kiss you right now,” he said and that was exactly what he did. Oh no, this time around, the kiss wasn’t as innocent as the first one and Nana didn’t seem to mind and melted herself against Luhan who took control.

“Shim Nana, I love you,” he whispered as she locked her fingers around his neck and pulled in for another kiss. 

♦

Luhan didn’t expect her to actually reply his confession; in fact, he thought the girl would roundhouse kick him to the ground and he will eventually let himself die there in embarrassment. Her reply was not something he expected as well. “I can’t answer you now, but in the future, I hope to be able to show it to you more than what you have done for me, Luhan,” she said as he saw tears spilled from her eyes and sobbed. Luhan thought that it was his entire fault and tried to calm the girl when she shook her head and giggled in between sobs.

“Silly, Luhan, I’m fine. I’m just too happy right now that these tears, they’re coming without my permission. Ugh, I’m gonna have some red bloodshot eyes later. I hate you, Luhan,” she said as his thumbs caressed her beautiful almond shaped face and held his hands there; cupping her face and looking at her with adoration. “Let's take a walk. I’ve never been here before,” she said quickly and grabbed one of Luhan’s hands to avoid any more eye contact that would make her blush like the red fires of Hell. Wait, are Hell fires red? Who knows? Nana shrugged at the thought of it.

They stayed until the sun set, sitting on the grass, peacefully enjoying the cool fall breeze; huddled up together. Once in the car, Luhan decided on dinner and suggested sushi. Nana just followed suit, knowing all too well that the only way she’ll be full that night is with Luhan’s extra affection. Ugh, the writer’s getting all these cheesy feeling all over and it’s giving the readers a creep. Skip that thought, it was actually Nana’s first time eating sushi and she was excited on how it was going to be. Over dinner, and once again a non-alcoholic ending, they went back to the university.

Well, what can one say when the rumours that was spreading like wild fire blazed into flames as the news of Luhan and Nana dating were confirmed. It was the most-talk about topic and the tweets were even hashtagged #XiShim for no reason. Pictures of them were posted on a few anonymous blogs and some students even congratulated them. Nana was a pool of crushed up blusher as she froze and went rigid when anyone came up to her to either congratulate or un-congratulate her. Popularity wasn’t the thing she craved for and all she wanted them to do was to leave her alone.

Luhan was by her side and protected her when snide comments were thrown mercilessly at her. It wasn’t as if Luhan is an international star and he just chose Nana out of millions and gazillions of fans – which is probably true, perhaps, in the next or previous life. Well, with the EXO guys coming around a few times or them going out together, Nana thought that hey, I have like 9 guys supporting me – plus another invisible 3 who are far, far away from here but talk to me like I'm their long lost sister, especially Jongdae – I should be more than thankful. “Thank you, Luhan,” she whispered to him while the 10 of them were having dinner over at Sehun’s and Jongin’s shared apartment. 

Chapter limit is about 20 chapters, if I'm not mistaken. So, the story is about to come to a close, seriously, not. Just wait fo it. But, it's quite sad. I love this story and hope my readers do too. Oh and by the way, it was one of those random days when I came here, there is this one amazing fiction that was advertised whose name I will disclose due respect. It just happens that both of our main character share the same name. Yeah, like exactly the same; 'Nana'. Hence, to avoid any problems, I'd like to explain the origin of my original character's name once again.

'Nana' is derived from my roommate, whose full name is H**na - can't fully reveal it, sorry. And my story is created way after the other author's story, so apparently, it would look like I plagiarized the other author's character. But, no, even our plotlines are different. And by all means, it's impossible if the other author copied my character's name. I mean, that thought shouldn't even be in one's head. Everything here is purely coincidental. Thank you for reading. Sorry for any misunderstandings. Good day, people :)

p.s (M) might appear but doesn't mean it was smu+

Updated; November 10
Edited; Feb 19