Chapter 36
You Said Remember Me II
/ / / / /
The reflection of her stared back at her. Standing in front of the large square mirror above the sink in her bathroom, Yuri let her mind space out. Before returning to reality she could recall the way Changmin had patted her head. Something about the way he’d done it woke up some weird senses within her.
Slowly reaching a hand up she rested it upon her head the same way he had. A small smile crept its way up her lips.
A moment ago, he’d just been telling her he was thankful for her, hadn’t he? Changmin never said such things, usually. For some reason she felt really happy.
Returning downstairs she noticed Eunhyuk offering to help Changmin set the table, and as always Changmin was acting awkward with him. What was it about Eunhyuk exactly that intimidated him so much? Yuri didn’t quite get it.
“Ah! Yuri!” Changmin loudly called.
Eunhyuk turned to see her walk in.
“I see you’re out of the room,” Yuri greeted.
“Is that all you have to say?” Changmin whined from the side. “Can’t you see I’m in need of help over here?”
She turned to take a glance at the utensils he had in one hand and pan of what she’d cooked in the other.
“Then why didn’t you ask someone for help or do one thing at a time?!” she scolded.
“Well…”
“Sorry,” Eunhyuk said holding up the plates he had in hand, “I was momentarily busy.”
“Not your fault,” Yuri assured, “this kid doesn’t know how to use the brain he’s been born to use!”
“Why are you blaming me?” Changmin questioned. “I just wanted to finish things before you returned because I knew you’d be like this! Sassy!”
Yuri frowned at him before making a face.
“Why can’t you do anything by yourself!” she complained walking toward him and grabbed the pan. “Go set those on the plates and help Eunhyuk out. From how strange you’re acting, it looks like you have a guy crush.”
“Wha…what?!” Changmin screamed halfway around the counter. “Kwon Yuri!”
Yuri turned back to him and stuck her tongue out.
While pouring the food in the pan onto a clean plate she glanced at Eunhyuk, “Do you know when Victoria and Lee Donghae are returning?”
“I’m not sure.” Eunhyuk replied.
“Should we give them a call?” Yuri wondered. “But it’s probably best to leave them alone right now, huh?”
Eunhyuk curved his pressed lips into a smile before turning away from her. He seemed so quiet that Yuri wanted to keep on talking to him, but the doorbell rang causing her to turn. Setting down the plate she walked toward the door and opened it.
“Just in time, we’re about to have lunch,” Yuri welcomed.
Seeing that Victoria and Donghae had come back together happily made her feel even better. Locking the closed door she turned around and was halfway into the living room when she paused. She turned to look at the room Nana was in and wondered if she should pull the girl out for a meal or leave her alone.
What would be the best option?
However, before she decided the door opened and Nana stepped out. She paused and looked over Yuri’s way. Now that Yuri was getting another look at her she suddenly saw how frail Nana looked. For once, Yuri suddenly felt distant from her. She realized that she hadn’t put any time aside to try to bond with her. Yuri remembered hearing from Donghae that Nana’s brother had been murdered by the gang but hadn’t heard anything about her other family members. Yuri had never lost a family member or anyone close to her before so she found it difficult to imagine how Nana was feeling. Yuri knew one thing for sure, and that was that Nana must be both lonely and tired. For a girl to be out there alone seeking revenge was one thing Yuri would never be able to do.
“Are you hungry?” Yuri decided best not to talk about how she really got her wounds or comment on the band-aids on them. “We’re about to eat.”
Nana nodded and Yuri continued on toward the kitchen but stopped at Nana’s voice.
“I’m sorry if I caused you any trouble,” she apologized.
Yuri spun around to look at her and smiled, “It was no trouble at all, trust me. We were all worried. Come on, you must be starving now.”
When they walked into the kitchen, the others had already seated themselves at the table. Yuri would with much curiosity as Nana took a seat on the other side of Eunhyuk. Without a word she headed over and sat beside Changmin in front of Eunhyuk.
Halfway during the meal Nana got up and walked back to the table with a glass of water. It surprised her even more when Nana placed the glass of water in front of Eunhyuk. Now, she couldn’t help but want to know what the two had done before Eunhyuk had brought her back.
“Why so absent minded?” Victoria’s voice broke her train of thoughts when she joined her at the sink.
Picking up the washed plates Victoria turned the faucet up and started to rinse them.
“Looks like you and Donghae have made up,” Yuri commented dodging her question.
“I’m sorry you had to see his temper,” Victoria apologized.
Yuri shook her head, “Everybody gets angry some times. Changmin exaggerated the situation as always so I got a little scared on the way back. Turns out the heat of the battle hadn’t even begun yet.”
Victoria arched an eyebrow.
“They…must be really good friends, huh?” Yuri wondered.
“They’re just boys,” Victoria commented.
Yuri stole a glance at Victoria and felt envious. She had a great husband and a good friend. Again, Yuri wondered how much it would take just to be close to Eunhyuk. It would be nice if she knew a little more about him.
/ / / / /
“Did you have fun today?” Changmin questioned from the seat adjacent to her in the living room.
The TV was quietly blaring in front of them.
“What?” Nana asked confused.
Changmin pointed to his forehead, elbow, and knee.
“Oh,” Nana said understanding him now, “a lot of fun.”
Changmin smiled and laughed.
“Don’t be so stiff,” he urged.
“You’re funny,” Nana told.
“Am I?” he wondered. “Yuri never finds my sarcasm funny. Instead, she thinks it’s plain dumb.”
Nana gave a small laugh.
“Do you want something to snack on?” Changmin asked. “I can go steal us some cookies. Yuri stashes them away secretly so she can eat it without me knowing.”
Nana shook her head, “It’s ok.”
Changmin nodded, “How did you get hurt? Did you run into some dangerous guy out there?”
Nana thought back to when Eunhyuk had tackled her outside of the house then her mind traveled back to the bearded man from before.
“Yes.”
“You should be more careful next time,” Changmin cautioned, “everybody may look kind but you never know what’s going on in their head. It’s the scary part of human beings.”
Nana smiled and nodded.
/ / / / /
Donghae and Eunhyuk found a road tent a few blocks away from the house. Now sitting down the two ordered a couple of soju and bowls of soup.
“Reminds me of good old times,” Eunhyuk reminisced.
It made him feel nostalgic, yet sad and happy at how far they have come along with both their lives. It was a sadder thought that they wouldn’t be able to return to those days.
“I sometimes think about how after a few drinks we’d go to the club we used to frequent and just spend the rest of the night there,” Eunhyuk told, “sad old days. We’re getting so old now.”
Donghae reached over to pour him a drink.
“Oh yea?” he asked. “I can only recall being kicked out for being underage.”
Eunhyuk chuckled.
“Eunhyuk,” Donghae called, “I’m sorry for being rash today. I know we’ve fought before, but I wouldn’t hurt you intentionally.”
“I know,” Eunhyuk nodded.
“Cheers?” Donghae held up his shot glass.
“Cheers.”
They knocked their glasses together and gulped it down.
“It’s been so long! It tastes so good!” Donghae said loudly.
“Donghae, I’m going to go back home.”
Donghae looked up at him.
“Don’t tell Victoria,” Eunhyuk added, “if I tell her, she’ll insist on me staying.”
A smirk flashed onto Donghae’s face, “Why? She’s going to be upset that you didn’t say anything.”
“The more people she has around her, the more stress she’ll start to feel,” Eunhyuk began, “Victoria hasn’t had much of a break from last year’s events, and so I don’t want add more stress to her environment. If I think about it, we all entered her life uninvited, not by chance. I’m not saying it’s a bad thing, but that Victoria’s body shouldn’t be confronted with any more stress. I know you’ll take care of her, so I’m going to leave first. I’ll see you two back at home.”
“When are you leaving?”
“Perhaps tomorrow.”
/ / / / /
Donghae watched as Eunhyuk started toward the stairs before glancing into the kitchen. He spotted Nana sitting alone out back and walked toward her. Sliding open the door he walked outside and stared up at the blue sky.
“Did you have a fight with someone?” Donghae questioned.
Nana didn’t turn to look at him, “No.”
“Then how’d you get them?”
“I was clumsy and fell.”
“That hard?”
“Yes.”
Donghae chuckled a little before sticking both hands into his pockets.
“I’m sorry if I caused any trouble,” Nana apologized.
“Next time you want to leave, at least tell someone,” Donghae said. “But everything turned out alright and you’re back safe and sound. That’s all that matters.”
Nana didn’t reply. He turned to look at her.
“Hang in there,” Donghae encouraged, “this will all be over soon.”
/ / / / /
After stepping out of the shower, Changmin tossed his towel into a bin, and sat down on his bed. Heaving a loud sigh he turned and felt his eyes land on the few picture frames sitting on his wooden desk.
One was of him and Yuri when they were both 7. They were playing at a playground nearby their homes. He didn’t remember anything from that day but he could clearly remember some memories the next picture brought him. At the age of 13 they’d gone out on a family outing to a water park. Yuri was still so small back then and had almost drowned when someone knocked her down just as the large Hades wave came hurling at them. Before chasing after the boy to beat him up he’d ducked under water and grabbed her hand so as not to let her get crushed under the mass of bodies and the strength the waves brought with it.
The last picture was of the two when Yuri had graduated from her police academy. He’d been forced to wear a nice suit to her ceremony, he recalled. Changmin had been worried about whether she’d graduate and whether she’d pass all the exams, but in the end Yuri had done it all. She’d played it cool during her studies and even stopped by his campus to buy him lunch. He swore, though, that those were the most tiring days of Yuri’s life.
Before the academy, Yuri was always bright and cheery. After she entered it she often had bags under her eyes and no matter how tired she was she’d still come out late at night just to hang with him. She’d told him once how she had wished she’d just gone to a normal university and that night he feared that she’d break down in front of him, but Yuri remained smiling the whole night.
The pride he felt in her was still so relevant as he glanced at the picture. He’d slipped an arm around Yuri and the wide smiles they’d given off was just the evidence of both their happiness for their-selves and the other.
***We're finally getting into Changmin's side of the story now :D
***Since the fighting between HaeToria has begun to cease for now, I will be focusing on the side characters. It's going to be so much more fun!
***I'm back to daily updates! Lets see if you can keep up with me!
spring semester ends this friday and i'm off for summer break :D i'll get back on track with YSRMII
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