07:

“What are you doing in here?” Luhan asked as Soo Ae tried to get herself comfortable on her seat. She didn’t expect it at all, Luhan showing up in front of her at such time, in such place. And now, seeing him sitting next to her like this, does it mean that he’s boarding the flight to Beijing as well? It made totally sense that Luhan was travelling to his homeland but really—it was awkward since they had properly said their farewells to each other. “Maybe not?” Luhan laughed at himself, hearing no response from Soo Ae.

“What are you doing in here?” Soo Ae looked at Luhan, anticipating his answer. “Are you leaving Seoul for good?”

“What about you?” Luhan asked again. “I asked you first, you know.” He reminded her. “Are you escaping from your life, Soo Ae?”

“I am not escaping.” Soo Ae stated, buckling her seatbelt and tried to fix the AC above her but her hand was too short. Luhan noticed this and he reached up to help her. Soo Ae rolled her eyes but continued to shift comfortably on her seat. “You don’t have to do that. I can manage.”

“It’s totally okay to receive help sometimes.” He protested and looked at her. She had a very sulking look on her face and it was somehow amusing to look at. Luhan stared at Soo Ae and noticed that she had her hair neatly brailed. And for once, she actually smelled good—compared to the other encounters with her when she was basically drunk. “Are you on a vacation?” Luhan pushed on his luck again.

Soo Ae replied with a small ‘no’. When the stewardess stood in the front and began to demonstrate the safety precautions, Soo Ae noticed that Luhan had not buckled up yet. She has always been thorough with details so she nudged him, trying to remind him about it. But Luhan was busy looking for the bag to vomit in from the seat in front of him. ‘How childish’, Soo Ae thought and decided to tie the belt around Luhan. The older froze on his seat as she properly buckled him up.

“Stop looking at me like that.” Soo Ae rolled her eyes. Luhan stopped looking too shocked and instead gave her a warm smile.

“Yumi, where’s Soo Ae? I haven’t seen her at all lately.” Baekhyun actually looked worried. Yumi shifted to give him and his friends some space to sit and sighed at the question. The boys used to be so close with Soo Ae too, but how could they know nothing about Soo Ae’s recent news? Yumi wanted to be mad at them but then she realized that she was no different from them.

Baekhyun seated himself next to Yumi as the rest of them joined in as well. Chanyeol seemed reluctant at first but seeing the serious look on Yumi’s face upon hearing Baek’s question, he was feeling curious as hell.

“Are you sick or what?” Yumi suddenly asked. They blinked at her question before looking at Chanyeol where Yumi’s eyes rested on. He pointed at himself and tilted his head. Yumi was frustrated and she could imagine Soo Ae trying to fit in with Chanyeol’s ignorant act. “What on earth happened to you? You just changed overnight. What really happened?”

“Did Soo Ae say anything to you?” Short came Chanyeol’s reply.

“You know she never tells me this kind of stuff, Chanyeol. You know how she keeps everything to herself. She wouldn’t even tell me if you were the one who cheated on her. Look, I tried to understand you, I really do,” Yumi grunted, “But you could’ve at least given her an explanation. You have no idea how messed up she looked like when I saw her in her home. You cannot treat her like that, Chanyeol.”

“Well, she looked terribly fine when I saw her with that—”

“Did you see them?”

“What?”

“Did you really see Soo Ae cheating on you? Did you see it with your own eyes? Because I don’t think that she would do such thing. Yes, she could be talking to the dude but you don’t know the reasons behind it. For all you know, he could be the one helping her the night before. As far as I am aware of, you were with the rest of us that night. You left her alone—right when she could’ve needed you the most.”

“Yumi,” Joonmyun suddenly voiced up, “Don’t push Chanyeol too hard. We don’t know—”

“We don’t know anything! That’s the thing. I don’t know what happened to their relationship so I don’t get it when I have to choose between two of my friends to side up with. I thought that Soo Ae was doing fine on her own you know, because she has always been. She was clearly suffering because your little accusations had killed her school carrier. Everyone treated her like trash, Chanyeol, including me, all of us but especially you.”

The chair creaked loudly as Chanyeol stood abruptly. “I won’t stay here if—”

“You were bored, weren’t you? You thought that she’d cried for you but Soo Ae was a strong woman. She doesn’t let anyone else see her tears. But when you see someone on the scene with her, you were terrified…because as soon as you abandoned your toy, someone else tried to claim her. Oh, it must’ve angered you. You don’t want anyone else to get her but yet, you don’t want to keep her either—”

“Yumi,” This time, it was Kyungsoo stepping in, “I think that’s enough. You should stop now.” Yumi slowed down and she took her time to breathe. When she looked up at Chanyeol, boy was he too mad to begin with. His fists were bawled up at both his sides and Jongin was clearly trying to calm him down.

“If Soo Ae doesn’t return, it will be your fault.”

“What do you mean by that, noona?” Sehun asked, “What do you mean by not returning? Where is Soo Ae noona now?”

“Why did you break up with her Chanyeol? Did she really cheat on you?”

Chanyeol was silent for a moment before his breathing returned gradually. He had not realized when he started holding it back. “I had my own reasons.” He finally replied, coldly. With that, Chanyeol walked away. And soon, one by one, his friends trailed after him. Because Yumi was fumed and she could be deadly dangerous when she’s mad.

“Jerks.”

“You do realize that you need to learn some basic Chinese to survive here, right?” Luhan laughed when Soo Ae tried to read her way to get to the luggage claiming area. She had lost the others because she refused to let Luhan help with her bag again. “Come follow me, I said.” He insisted, putting his hand over hers.

“I told you,” Soo Ae sighed loudly, “I can take care of myself. I don’t want to trouble you anymore so why don’t you go now? Your family must be waiting for you.” She tried to peer away from Luhan’s grasp.

“Come on,”

“No, go away!”

“You’re so stubborn.”

“I can take care of my—” Soo Ae yelped as Luhan scoffed and tried to scoop her into a sudden bridal style hug. She put her hands on his shoulder and growled at him, making his effort failed. He pulled his hands back but he still gave her a look. “Alright, just show me the way and then we’re done with each other.”

“You wish,” Luhan laughed at Soo Ae’s troubled face.

This is seriously going to be interesting.