Chapter Thirty-Four

~Dinner~

    Yoomi was sitting on her window sill. She was watching the clouds fly away. She felt tired, tired of crying. She sighed and rubbed her arms. She felt a tap on her shoulder and turned her head. Someone poked her cheek. Her eyes slightly widened. A smile made its way onto her lips.

    “Yixing,” she said softly.

    Lay smiled.

    “At least you dropped the formalities,” he said.

    Yoomi nodded.

    “Did you need something?” she asked.

    Lay sat down on the empty spot in front of her.

    “What do you say, let’s start on your song,” he said.

    Yoomi’s eyes slightly widened.

    “T-Today?” she asked.

    Lay smiled and nodded. Yoomi smiled back.

    “Sure.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    “Minho,” Luhan called out.

    The door to his office opened and Minho walked in.

    “Yeah?” he asked.

    He walked up to Luhan’s desk. Luhan handed him something.

    “Find me a picture of him. Yoon Jaehwa. He used to go to Gwangju High School with Yoomi. He is two years older than her. Find me all  of the information that you can on him. Even his current job, marital status, and address,” Luhan stood up angry. “Even his freaking original hair color! Don’t miss a single thing,” Luhan exhaled angry. “I’ll make him pay.”

    His eyes were burning with hatred and resent for a man whom he did not even know.

    Minho was a bit scared. He had never seen Luhan this angry before.

    “Yes, Luhan,” Minho said.

    He bowed once and took the piece of paper. He quickly left the room, not wanting to be the target of Luhan’s anger.

    Luhan pinched his nose bridge and sat down onto his seat. He picked up his phone and had a message. He smiled faintly as he read it.

From: Yixing

To: Han

Don’t worry. I’m working on a song with Yoomi right now. I’ll try to distract her from thinking about him. The others are thinking about taking her out to eat later. Wanna come?

    Luhan text something back to him.

From: Han

To: Yixing

Sure, I’ll be there later.

    Luhan leaned back into his seat. He wanted to set things straight with this “Yoon Jaehwa”. But, he also wanted to spend time with Yoomi and his brothers. If Minho couldn’t find Jaehwa by tomorrow, Luhan was going to search the streets of Seoul and even South Korea himself for Yoon Jaehwa. The man who made one of the biggest scars on Yoomi’s heart.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    “Wow, you’re really talented Yoomi! You didn’t even need my help!” Lay said in awe.

    Yoomi rubbed the nape of her smile and smiled, embarrassed.

    “I-I heard that you were an expert, so I wanted you to, you know, grade me on it?” she said.

    Lay let out a little laugh.

    “I should’ve known. You’re a genius,” Lay said.

    Yoomi shook her head.

    “No, I’m not,” she tried to deny the fact.

    Lay ruffled her hair. He looked at the music that sat on the stand of the piano and looked at her method of writing music. It was unique and the melody was nothing that he had ever heard before. It was beautiful, and strangely, heart wrenching.

    “What about the lyrics?” Lay asked.

    “Umm, I was wondering if I could write them myself,” she said.

    Lay looked at her confused.

    “You don’t want my help?” he asked.

    He pretended to sound hurt. He was just teasing her and like it. He like having a little sister to tease. Too bad that Luhan and her already knew each other’s feelings. Otherwise Lay would have tease Yoomi about liking Luhan.

    Yoomi’s eyes widened as she waved her hands back and forth.

    “N-No! It’s not that! I just wanted it to be a surprise for everyone. Including you,” she said softly.

    Lay smiled and ruffle her hair again.

    “I was just teasing you,” he let out a little laugh.

    Yoomi slightly pouted. Lay pulled his hand back and looked at her with a questioning look.

    “Oh? Is the Jung Yoomi pouting?” Lay asked.

    The pout on her lips became more visible.

    Lay began to laugh. Content and happiness fill Yoomi. She no longer saw that sadness and hurt hidden in Lay’s eyes. She healed one of his many scars. He was now able to laugh and be happy, truly.

    “Mimi!” someone sang as the door opened.

    Lay and Yoomi both looked towards the door. A merry Tao trotted his way towards them.

    “Ready to go out and eat?” Tao asked.

    Yoomi smiled and nodded.

    “Yup, I’m starving,” she said.

    Lay let out a laugh.

    “Yeah, I could hear your stomach making noises,” Lay said.

    Yoomi pouted again. Tao smiled and pinched her cheeks.

    “Awe, our Mimi and pouting,” Tao cooed.

    Yoomi couldn’t help but smile at him. Tao linked their arms and they walked out of the room. Lay followed behind them. He shook his head and laughed to himself.

    If Lu-ge saw you right now, you’d be dead, Huang Zitao.

    The three of them walked into the living room where everyone else was. Nai Nai was sitting on the couch with the eight brothers. Jason stood beside her. Yoomi’s eyes sparkled as she quickly made her way to Nai Nai.

    “Halmeoni, Jason,” she looked at the both of them, “are you coming with us?” she asked.

    Nai Nai nodded.

    “Of course!” she said.

    Yoomi smiled.

    Lay’s phone buzzed. He took it out of his pocket and slid his finger across the screen. He had received a message from Luhan.

From: Han

To: Yixing

I’ll meet you guys there. What’s the name of the restaurant?

Lay texted Luhan the name of the restaurant and returned his attention to the others.

They were all fighting who got to ride with Yoomi.

Lay laughed at them and walked over to Kris.

“I’m riding with you,” Lay said.

Kris looked down at Lay and laughed too.

“Sure.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    They all arrived to the restaurant. Luhan had not yet arrived yet. They were all sitting around two tables set together. Everyone was having their own little conversation. Lay’s phone buzzed. He pulled it out of his pocket and checked it. He had a message from Luhan.

From: Han

To: Yixing

Make sure that there’s two extra seats. I’m bringing Minho too.

    Lay smiled.

From: Yixing

To: Han

Okay.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    “Luhan, I’m not finished yet, but I got some of the basic information about him,” Minho said as he walked into Luhan’s office.

    Luhan stood up and put on his jacket.

    “Okay. Hey, are you going to be busy for the rest of the day?” he asked.

    Minho walked up to Luhan and shook his head.

    “No, why?” he asked.

    “Come to dinner with me. I’m having it with the others at Seo’s Steakhouse. Yoomi will be there too,” Luhan said.

    Minho nodded and smiled.

    “Of course, who would say no to free food?” he beamed.

    Luhan scoffed and took the documents out of Minho’s hands.

    “Who said that I was paying?” Luhan asked.

    Minho pouted.

    “I’m poor,” he said.

    Luhan smacked his head.

    “You have a higher pay than most of the people that work here,” Luhan said.

    Minho laughed.

    “I was just kidding.”

    “I was too, I’ll pay for you. To thank you for getting me these,” Luhan said as he waved the papers in the air.

    Minho nodded.

    “So, who is he?” he asked as they both made their way towards the door.

    Luhan’s eyes darkened.

    “Someone that deserves to be punished.”

    Minho felt shivers run down his back at the sudden change in Luhan’s voice.

    “H-Hyung, are you okay?” Minho asked.

    Luhan looked at him.

    “U-Uh? Oh...I’m fine,” he shook his head.

    They both walked out of his office.

    “You sure?” Minho asked.

    Luhan smiled and nodded.

    “No, I just hope I don’t kill the guy when I see him,” he muttered under his breath.

    They stood in front of the elevators.

    “You know, I’m not bailing you out of jail if you do,” Minho said.

    Luhan scoffed and lightly punched Minho’s arm.

    “Thanks for having my back,” he said.

    The elevators opened and they got in. Minho pressed the garage level button.

    Minho smirked.

    “Yup,” he said.

    They reached the parking lot and walked to Luhan’s car.

    “Want me to drive?” Minho asked.

    Luhan nodded.

    “Yeah, I want to go over this.”

    They both got in and Minho began to drive. Luhan turned the report on Jaehwa to the first page and began reading.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    They reached the restaurant. Everyone was already seated. There was an empty seat between Yoomi and Lay, and D.O. and Chanyeol. Luhan walked into first, but when Minho got in he speed walked towards Yoomi. Everyone looked at him and smiled.

    “Hey, Minho!” they greeted him from their seats.

    Minho smiled. Yoomi looked at Minho confused.

    “H-Hello,” she said softly.

    Minho held his hand out to her. She shook his hand, she tried to pull back, but he wouldn’t let go.

    “Well, hello there, Miss Jung Yoomi. I am Choi Minho, Luhan’s personal assistant,” he smiled.

    Luhan saw Minho holding her hand. His eyes widened as he pushed Minho out of the way.

    “Don’t touch her,” he said.

    Minho scoffed.

    “I didn’t know that it was this serious,” he laughed.

    Tao nodded in agreement.

    “I know right? He’s so obsessed with her,” Tao said.

    Baekhyun laughed.

    “Just like you?” he said.

    Tao shot Baekhyun a death glare. Baekhyun shrugged his shoulders and began talking to Chanyeol who was beside him.

    Minho took his seat beside D.O. and Chanyeol.

    “Luhan talks about Yoomi all day at work,” Minho said loudly so that everyone could hear.

    Yoomi’s eyes widened. A tint of red appeared on her cheeks. She looked up at Luhan, as if asking for an explanation. Luhan blinked multiple times as his cheeks began to redden also.

    “I-I do not,” he said.

    Yoomi slightly smiled.

    “I’m sorry, Minho shi, if you find it annoying,” Yoomi apologized.

    Luhan pouted.

    “Don’t apologize to-”

    “No! I actually find it quite amusing,” Minho chirped.

    Luhan shot Minho another death glare.

    “We’re having a talk tomorrow morning,” Luhan mouthed to Minho.

    Minho smiled sheepishly and let out a nervous laugh.

    “I love you to hyung.”

    Yoomi held onto Luhan’s hand, calming him down. He looked back at her. She was smiling at him. Her smile made his heart beat race. It didn’t matter if he’s seen it more than once.

    “Thank you,” she said quietly.

    Luhan smiled and gently squeezed her hand.

    “For what?” he asked.

    “For loving me enough to even talk about me to other people,” she said.

    Everyone looked at Yoomi, they were just quietly watching her. She noticed the quiet atmosphere and looked at everyone. She let out a little laugh.

    “Since I’m the youngest, I would have thought that all of you would’ve been embarrassed about me,” she said honestly.

    Luhan smiled and pecked her cheek. This time no one gagged or yelled at him for showing PDA.

    “We’re all proud of you, Yoomi,” he said. “You’re the strongest, smartest, and most beautiful girl that I’ve ever met,” he said.

    “Noona!” a little voice beamed.

Everyone looked to the entrance of the restaurant, where Xiumin, Jinah, and Jungwoo were entering. Yoomi smiled and stood up. Jungwoo jumped into her arms. Yoomi lifted him and pinched his cheeks.

“Jungwoo ah, you came to have dinner with Noona?” she asked.

Jungwoo nodded.

“Mm-hm!”

    Jinah smiled and came up to Yoomi.

    “Sorry for being late,” she said as she took Jungwoo from Yoomi.

    Yoomi shook her head and smiled.

    “It’s fine.”

    Minseok walked up to Minho and patted his back.

    “You came?” he asked.

    Minho looked up at Minseok and smiled. Minho smiled and stood up. He threw himself onto Minseok.

    “Minseok hyung!” he beamed.

    Minseok laughed and patted his back.

    “Calm down, Jinah might think I’m cheating on her,” Minseok joked.

    Minho held onto him tighter.

    “But, I missed you!” Minho yelled.

    Everyone watched the two, amused.

    Jinah laughed.

    “Sometimes I think that he loves you more than I do,” Jinah said.

    Minho and Minseok have a history that is special. They were like brothers back then.

    Yoomi smiled at the two.

    I wonder what it feels like to be that close to someone.

End of Chapter Thirty-Four

Author's Note

When I finish this story, would you like a spinoff for Xiumin and Jinah?