Because I Wanted To
Let Me In
Soon, although it wasn't as soon as you hoped, school was coming to an end for the day and you survived it without crossing paths with Luhan again.
The bell rang and the class was dismissed. Everyone quickly packed their bags and left he classrooms.
"Haerin," Minyoung nudged you. "Class is over. School's over."
You slowly looked up to your best friend. She smiled down at you. "Come on, let's go find the guys."
You stood up from your seat, took your bag and followed your best friend out of the class and through the hallways.
Minyoung held your hand as the two of you made your way through the school hallway and to the lockers where the boys would be waiting. You weren't even watching where you were going and accidentally bumped into a few people.
Suddenly, Minyoung stopped and you bumped into her as well.
You looked up to see the concerned faces of your friends looking down at you.
"Hey," Baekhyun spoked with a soft voice. "We have bad news."
"What bad news?" Minyoung asked for you.
"We ended up being late for class just now so we have detention in five minutes." Baekhyun rubbed the back of his neck. "Do you mind taking Haerin home first? We'll get back as quick as we can."
"Sure, that's fine." Minyoung said as she held out her hand. "Keys please."
Baekhyun took the keys to the apartment from the side pocket of his bag and handed them over to her.
"I'll be home soon and I'll bring you a ton of ice cream, okay?" Baekhyun placed both his hands on your shoulders and gave you a reassuring squeeze.
You managed to stretch your lips to a small smile.
"Take care of her, okay?" Baekhyun said the Chen and Minyoung before leaving with the rest of the guys.
"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's get you home." Minyoung smiled and wrapped her arm around yours.
To be honest, you felt horrible being such a burden to your friends but at the same time, you were extremely grateful.
On the way out of school, Minyoung's phone rang and excused herself to answer it.
The two of you waited for Minyoung at the gates while she answered it. Chen looked at your face and softened. As much as I’m dying of curious to find out what in the world is happening, I’ll wait.
No more than three minutes later, Minyoung came back but her expression wasn’t good.
“What’s wrong, Minyoung? Are you okay?” Chen worriedly asked.
“Uhm, I’m sorry. But there’s an emergency back at home and I have to go.” She rubbed the back of her neck shamefully. “I guess you’ll have to take care of Haerin for now until the others get back. Will you be okay with that?”
“Yeah, sure.” Chen said. “Just go do whatever you need to do.”
“Damn, but I feel guilty leaving her like this.” Minyoung stared at you.
“It’s okay, I’m sure she’ll understand.” Chen smiled.
At his sentence, you looked up to Minyoung and gave her a small smile. “I’ll be fine,” You said.
Minyoung came over and gave you a tight embrace. “Don’t think too much about it, okay?”
You gave her a nod and watched as Minyoung left.
Chen placed his hand on your shoulder. You looked up and saw him smiling at you. “Let’s take you home, yeah?”
You felt a little uncomfortable being alone with Chen. But if your brother trusted him to take care of you, you figured you’d be fine.
It was silent as the two of you walked towards your apartment. Chen didn’t talk like he usually did because he figured that you wouldn’t even bother answering anything anyway.
When you were about to reach the apartment building, you suddenly stopped walking. Chen noticed that you weren’t walking by his side anymore and looked back.
“Are you okay?” He asked.
Instead of answering his question, you asked him one. “Can we go to the park instead?”
You didn’t know why, but you felt like going to the park would be better than locking yourself up in your room and crying it all out again.
Chen smiled. “Yeah, of course.”
The two of you reached the park and found a bench in front of the pond and sat down.
Five minutes after you’ve seated, you immediately regretted coming to this place. Memories of one of your dates in this very park with Luhan played through your mind.
. You cursed as you felt your eyes tear up.
Chen seemed to have noticed this and handed you his handkerchief.
“It’s okay if you want to cry.” He said. “I think that’s the best way to let it all out.”
At first, you hesitated. You didn’t want to cry in front of someone who hasn’t seen you cry before. Let alone in public.
“It’s okay,” He said again. “I won’t judge.”
At his sentence, you started to sob.
Tears flowed down your face as if your eyes were like a broken faucet.
Chen softened and his eyes filled with pity when he saw you crying. Without saying anything, he scooted closer to you, wrapped his arms around you and turned his body in a way that you could comfortably cry into his shoulder.
Chen moved the stray hair away from your face and began to gently you hair.
You cried for a good twenty minutes before lifting your head from Chen’s shoulder and wiping your face with his handkerchief.
“I’m sorry,” You said as you stared out to the pond.
“Sorry? What for?” Chen asked.
“For ruining your shirt.” You said.
“Oh, no, that’s nothing. It’s just a shirt.” Chen shrugged. “The thing that matters is you. Are you feeling better now?”
“A little bit, I guess.” You admitted.
“See? I told you crying is the best way out of it.” Chen smiled.
“I guess you could say so.” You began to smile a little more.
Ten minutes went by as the two of you sat there in silence before you broke it.
“Aren’t you going to ask?”
“Ask what?”
“Why I cried. Why I was so upset today. What Luhan is to me.” You probed. “I don’t know. Aren’t you curious?”
Chen chuckled a little. “I can’t just ask things just because I’m curious.” He said. “I mean, yeah, sure, I am curious about all those things. I have my guesses, but I don’t know if they’re right.”
“But you don’t seem like you’re comfortable with telling me anything, so I figured I won’t ask.” He continued. “If you want to tell me, you’ll tell me. If not, then I guess I shouldn’t in like it’s my business.”
How thoughtful. You’d have to say that you were a little amazed by this boy. No one you’ve ever known has been this considerate to anyone.
“Thank you,” You said.
“What for?”
“For being here with me today.” You said. “I know I push you away a lot and you’re probably just here baby-sitting me because my brother asked you to.”
Chen softened.
“But it means a lot that you were here.” You smiled. “So, thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” He said. “And for the record, I’m not here because I’m ‘baby-sitting’ you because your brother told me to.”
“Then why are you here? If not that, then you could’ve just left me while I was crying.” You said. “Why did you bother to stay?”
“Because I wanted to.” Chen smiled.
You stared at him like he was insane and he chuckled. Chen held his hand out in front of you. “Well, come on now. The others are probably done with their detention and they’ll kill me if they find out that we're not at your apartment when they get back.”
Smiling a little, you took his hand and he pulled you up from the seat. The two of you walked back towards your apartment in silence as usual, but this time, it wasn’t uncomfortable and neither was it awkward.
Maybe...maybe Chen isn't that bad after all. You smiled a little at the thought.
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