Chapter 46
You Said Remember Me II
“Is it raining?” Nana wondered turning to look around.
“Whoa…that sure is one rainfall,” they heard one of the waiters mutter staring out of the window.
“The streets look flooded, how are we going to get home?” a woman questioned.
Nana turned back to look around and noticed that people were starting to leave. Would they even be able to make it back with Changmin’s old car?
“Should we leave too?” Nana asked.
“Would you feel better if we do?” asked Changmin.
“I guess so.”
“Ok, lets pay and then leave.”
It was like a storm out there. Pausing at the doorway Nana wondered if she’d get drenched in a split second.
“I’ll go fetch the car, wait for me,” Changmin told.
Nana watched as he dashed through the rain and started toward his car. She could see that he was already all wet and what was worse was that the rain was cold. Nana had to admit that she felt sorry watching him. When he finally got into the car he slowly drove it toward her. Hurrying in, she closed the door after her.
“Lets hope we make it back,” Changmin hoped, “the car is almost out of fuel.”
Nana pressed her lips together and pulled her seatbelt on.
Traffic was horrible and everyone was honking their horns at each other at that intersection and this intersection. It was annoying.
Changmin pulled out of the lane and drove down a less empty one, but that was all before his car suddenly died. The screams of frustration that he silently let out made her feel bad. After a long moment of listening to the cars honk at them from behind Changmin turned to her.
“Can you drive?”
“Eh?”
“I’m going to go push the car. I saw a place back there and it’s not too far away.”
“But…why do I have to drive?”
“Just stay inside.”
“Can you push it alone? I can help you.”
“No, no. It’s fine.”
Nana was starting to feel really, really bad. He got out of the car and she could still hear the rain slamming against the windshield. It sounded like there was a war going on outside, literally.
The car slowly began to move and Nana wondered how drenched Changmin was getting. Should she continued to stay in the car or get out to help him? She didn’t know. Biting her lip as if it’d help her come to a decision she finally pushed the door opened to find a waterfall sprinkle down.
Great. Now she was soaked.
Anyhow, she kicked the door closed and ran to the back to help Changmin.
“Yah! I told you to stay in the car!” he scolded.
“Just let me help you,” Nana said, “I feel bad letting you do the labor alone.”
He was about to retort but thought against it and silenced himself. Nana helped him push the car into an almost full parking lot and after messily leaving it at the far corner Changmin grabbed her hand and they ran toward the front door.
The rain still pounding heavily behind the door and Nana restrained herself from squeezing the water out of her shirt. She looked up at Changmin when she found him looking at her. His face reddened and he pulled at his shirt as if gesturing something. Confused she glanced down at her shirt to discover that it was completely soaked through and her bra was more than visible. Her face flushed red and she pulled at her shirt.
He pulled her along closely behind him as if to hide her and stopped at the front desk.
“Do you have any rooms available?” Changmin asked the receptionist.
“All we have are single-rooms,” the receptionist answered.
“I’ll take one for the night,” Changmin quickly said, “is there some bathrobes we could borrow?”
/ / / / /
Victoria’s words were very vexing and even 8 hours later Yuri was still fussing with what she’d said. Changmin? Feelings? Seriously? She still couldn’t contemplate anything and take it as a fact even if it were real.
Sighing she turned away from the large window. It was freaking 8pm and Changmin and Nana hadn’t returned. What on Earth was he doing?
The ringing of the phone dragged her attention. She swore she’d kill him if it were him calling. And Changmin it was.
“Where you are!” she scolded.
“Um…where should I start,” Changmin seemed to self-talk before going on, “my car died in the middle of the street so Nana and I rented out a place at a motel for the night.”
“What!” Yuri shouted stunned. “Motel?! Are you out of your mind?”
“We were drenched, we can’t ride in a taxi like that,” Changmin defended, “some taxi drivers charge extra if we get their seats wet.”
“Then pay the extra fare!”
“Why are you mad? I just called to inform you, not for you to yell,” Changmin sounded upset.
Yuri couldn’t express her emotions correctly. Either she was mad at that the words Victoria had said or whether it was the fact that Changmin had shamelessly rented out a room at a motel, she couldn’t be sure.
“What motel are you at? I’ll come get you.” Yuri stated taking a step forward to see Eunhyuk walking in.
“Don’t come, what if your car dies in the middle of the street?” Changmin asked.
“Do you know how shameless you are, Shim Changmin?” Yuri turned to the side so Eunhyuk wouldn’t be in her line of sight. “You wolf!”
“What!” Changmin exclaimed. “What is wrong with you? That’s it! I can’t talk to you right now. I’ll see you tomorrow!”
The phone line went dead and Yuri felt even more enraged.
“Yah! Yah! Changmin!” Yuri screamed relentlessly into the phone before letting out an angry sigh.
Finally hanging up, Yuri hung her head into the air before turning to Eunhyuk.
“Do you need something?” Yuri wondered.
“I just wanted to get a cup of water,” Eunhyuk walked toward the fridge.
Yuri watched him grab a cup and poured some water into it. Pulling out a chair from the table she sat down.
“Sorry,” she apologized, “I didn’t mean for you to walk in and see me like that.”
“It’s ok,” Eunhyuk told. He was quiet before continuing on, “What’s going on?”
“Changmin and Nana aren’t returning tonight,” Yuri explained, “his car died, they’re soaking wet, so he decided to rent out a motel until tomorrow. I knew he wouldn’t be able to take care of himself outside.”
“But…they’re still in town, isn’t it?” Eunhyuk asked after a second of silence.
Yuri turned to look at him.
“I don’t know why I’m being so angry,” Yuri turned away, “I’m even annoying myself.”
“I don’t think Shim Changmin would do anything to her,” Eunhyuk tried.
Yuri let his words sink in before she suddenly turned, “But they’re alone! A man and a woman alone in a room!”
The fact seemed to dawn upon Eunhyuk and his face expression changed. Yuri caught a hold of herself and felt mentally frustrated. Getting up from her seat she bounded up the stairs and closed the door after her. Jumping onto her bed she bit her thumbnail wondering what she’d just done.
/ / / / /
Nana hesitantly opened the door and walked out. Reaching a hand up to clutch the bathrobe she’d slipped into she stepped out. She and Changmin glanced at each other embarrassed at first.
“Did you dry up ok?” he asked.
The question was embarrassing and made her face flush red.
“Oh…yea…” she replied.
Changmin was sitting on the extra blankets he’d asked from the receptionist which he lied down onto the floor. He’d slipped into his bathrobe when she was in the bathroom. Nana turned away from him feeling nervous and climbed onto the bed pulling the blanket over herself.
“I heard you talking to Yuri,” Nana started, “was she angry?”
“Ah…that…it’s just typical Yuri,” Changmin smiled.
“Are you sure?” asked Nana.
Changmin nodded.
“I’m turning the lights off,” he told.
Once the room darkened the both of them lay in the dark quietly. Nana shifted in the bed uncomfortably. Junsu would so kill her if he knew…but she reminded herself that he was no longer there. Yet on the other hand Kikwang…
“Are you able to sleep when you’re away from your own room?” Nana asked.
“Yes, I can sleep wherever.”
“Me too.”
Silence.
“I had fun today.” Changmin told.
“Me too.”
“Lets go out and do something again,” Changmin suggested. “We can have even more fun next time.”
“Ok.”
/ / / / /
“But they’re alone! A man and a woman alone in a room!”
Eunhyuk reflected on the words when he returned to his room. It was hard to believe that anything like that would happen. Shim Changmin seemed like a really nice person and it was hard imaging him being aggressive at all. Nana on the other hand, wouldn’t allow anything to happen. But fact was, Changmin wasn’t a total stranger.
But why should he let this bother him? He’d only started paying more attention to her existence after learning about her brother’s death. Or should he worry for her on behalf of her brother? Where did he actually stand on this line of concern?
/ / / / /
Changmin was first to wake up to a bright clear morning. The rain had stopped pounding the windows and he looked out to see that the sun was up acting as if nothing had happened at all last night. Getting up from where he’d been lying he glanced at Nana to find her still asleep. He turned away and turned back to find something crawling across the blanket.
He shrank back. There was one thing that Changmin detested the most in the world and that was bugs. A black spider was crawling around on the blanket. If he didn’t try to get it, it would probably climb onto Nana. The thought of it made him want to shiver.
Pressing his lips together and gulping he inched forward slowly nervously reaching his hand out. He paused midway and shut his eyes. Peeking them open he stepped closer to the bed and shut his eyes again. The spider was still crawling around freely. Oh, how he hated the sight of it.
Should he grab it and step on it? Or should he squeeze it to death with his hand? What should he do? He didn’t really want to touch that black thing at all. It was so full of filth. The thought made him want to gag on the spot.
Something grabbed his hand and he opened his eyes to find Nana awake.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
“Sp…spider,” he pointed at it.
Nana followed his eyes and felt her eyes grow wide. Throwing the blanket off her she jumped up and landed forward with a knee without being aware that she’d pinned her knee against the belt of his bathrobe.
Nana’s screams of fright wasn’t of much help. In the midst of chaos Changmin noticed that her knee was on his bathrobe.
Changmin took a step back and found himself unable to. Trying to pull his hand out of hers he struggled back again. It was helpless. Nana hadn’t let go of his hand nor had she stepped off his bathrobe.
“You’re…you’re on my bathrobe!” he shouted.
When she removed her knee off of his bathrobe just as he struggled back, Nana collided forward. Changmin fell flat onto his back and felt the back of his head land against the floor. He dizzily opened up his eyes and glanced up at Nana who had her legs sprawled around his waist, her hands on the ground on either side of him, and his face reddened madly when he looked up. Turning away he shut his eyes.
“N…Nana…your….your robe…”
/ / / / /
Her eyes flung wide open and she clutched onto the robe that had almost fallen apart. Her face was stricken red and she was full of embarrassment. Jumping up he raced into the bathroom and slammed the door after her.
“Oh my God!!!” she swore. “What am I going to do?!”
***I'm not deciding anything for Yuri's character, but during the time she and Changmin had grown up together she's cared for him a lot. Beating up the guys that hurt him and always watching out for him. Remember a while back when Victoria asked if she was willing to cross that boundary between friendship and relationship? Yuri didn't answer but changed the topic. Those two friends have cared for each other a lot, and they especially live in one house together. Not hinting at anything, just explaining.
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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