Chapter 71
You Said Remember Me II
/ / / / /
“Are you ok?” Yuri questioned when they stopped at some chairs in the lobby bustling with life.
Nana felt confounded by Yuri’s sudden question. What was this talk going to be about exactly? Did it have to do with what Changmin said to her?
“Yes,” Nana nodded.
“Are you comfortable staying with Eunhyuk?” Yuri went on.
Nana felt her lips tighten into a thin line and she felt her hand unconsciously her hair forward in an effort to cover the mark on her neck. She stopped when she noticed Yuri eyeing her action.
If she said “no”, what would Yuri think? It would be best to just say “yes”.
“It’s ok.”
Yuri blinked her eyes debating whether to take her answer or not.
“Are you and Eunhyuk on good terms?”
It felt like being prompted into lecture by the school principal. Nana felt overpowered by Yuri’s questioning.
Nana, again, slowly nodded.
“Changmin is worried about you staying with Eunhyuk,” Yuri pondered over whether she should add the ‘alone’ part of Changmin’s concern into the statement. In the end, she decided against it.
She feared making Nana uncomfortable which would lead to her being unwilling to answer any more questions.
Nana felt her own gaze droop toward the ground in a mournful manner. What was wrong with her?
“It’s ok, really. It’s not like we’re staying there forever,” Nana lifted her head back up with a smile, “besides, aren’t we coming back to the house the day after tomorrow?”
Yuri’s stare pierced her eyes.
“Do you want to come back to the house tonight?” Yuri wondered.
Nana felt her own breath become silenced. Had Changmin told Yuri about the mark on her neck? Is that why this was happening? Her pulse surged.
“Changmin is worried for you.” Yuri added.
A slow sigh of relief escaped her. That meant Changmin hadn’t said anything about the mark, but Nana knew that sooner or later he would ask her about it. And when he asked, she would have no choice but to give him an answer. She feared that coming day.
“It’ll be awkward if I come,” Nana said, “I’m ok. It’s just one more night.”
/ / / / /
“Your friends are so energetic,” Changmin’s mom commented. “Look at the two who are already married and the two who are wearing couple sweaters. When are you going to get a girlfriend?”
Changmin stared at his mom with lazy eyes he hoped penetrated through her skull.
“If you don’t find one, there’s always Yuri,” his dad hopped into the conversation.
Changmin glanced at him.
“How about you two leave tomorrow?” Changmin asked.
“Why? It’s been such a long time since we’ve seen each other,” his mom whined.
“I’ll come see you two soon anyway,” Changmin waved her words away. “Why don’t you leave tomorrow?”
“That’s too soon, we aren’t prepared to go back yet.” his father reasoned.
“Too soon? You’re going to leave the day after anyway,” Changmin pointed out. “Leaving one day earlier won’t hurt. I’ll come see you two often, I promise. Leave tomorrow?”
His mother frowned at his anxiousness, “Why? What’s suddenly gotten into you?”
“Nothing,” Changmin lied. “I just…you’re probably being a bother to Yuri. She’s going to feel the need to take care of you two when she’s already busy with work. You know she’s got a serious case going on right now, but she’s taking a lot of time off from it to take care of you two. So, leave tomorrow?”
“Yuri’s got a new case? What is it about?” his dad inched his eyes wider.
“It’s not what it’s about, it’s who died,” his mother turned to his dad.
“Guys,” Changmin kicked his bed. “Please. I need you two to leave tomorrow.”
“But why?” his mother questioned.
“Do you have to ask why?” Changmin shook his head. “I don’t need you two to come take care of me. I can take care of myself and I have Yuri to watch after me. I just got into a little accident, that’s all. So tomorrow, can you go back home?”
A second after his little speech he found his mother smirking at him.
“What?” he asked confused.
“Dear, did you hear that?” his mother turned to his father who chuckled in reply.
His parents irritated him to no end sometimes.
“What!” he asked loudly.
“Alright, we’ll spare you some time alone,” his mother indirectly hinted something with her tone of voice.
Changmin felt his eyebrows twitch in fierce confusion.
/ / / / /
Nana felt her eyes reach the ground once more when they walked back to the cafeteria. Surely, when she stepped in she could feel everyone’s eyes turn to look at her and Yuri. They were obviously wondering what the two of them had talked about.
“You didn’t finish your drink,” was all Donghae said when she got back to the table.
Nana glanced at the can of soda he’d gotten her.
“I’m going to head back upstairs. Are you all going too?” Yuri asked.
“I,” Nana started and felt everyone turn their attention back to her, “I’m going to go back.”
“Oh, really? Why?” Donghae asked.
She noticed Victoria nudge him.
“Just I’m…feeling dizzy,” she lied.
Honestly, she couldn’t go back to meet with Changmin’s demanding gaze. She wouldn’t be able to look at him after he saw the mark on her neck. She was afraid that he’d use any opportunity he could get to ask her about it.
The sound of a chair being scooted back caught in her ears.
“I might as well go too.” Eunhyuk said.
This time she took a glance at him.
Donghae opened his mouth to say something, but Victoria beat him to it, “Alright, go ahead. Be careful on your way out.”
Nana nodded and grabbed the can of soda glad that she had something to tighten her grasp on.
Together with Eunhyuk they started toward the front doors quietly. Neither spoke a word just as expected.
/ / / / /
Luckily, the opening of the door caught his parents attention and they stopped their weird teasing. However, all he saw was Yuri. The others were no where in sight.
“Oh? Where are your friends?” his mother asked.
“They left.”
“Already?” his mother sounded disappointed, Changmin couldn’t understand why.
“Ah…Yuri,” Changmin’s father cut in, “we’re going to be leaving tomorrow. Perhaps, in the afternoon.”
Changmin watched Yuri raise her eyebrows in surprise and confusion before she glanced over at him.
“Is that so?” Yuri sputtered. “Alright then…”
“Changmin assured us that you’d look after him for us,” his mother chuckled.
Yuri frowned and glanced at him again.
Changmin shook his head and mouthed, “Ignore them.”
/ / / / /
“Why did you kick me?” Donghae asked plopping down onto the couch and rolled up his pants to look for any bruises he may have gotten from her kick.
Victoria sat down in the couch adjacent to him.
“See! There is a bruise!” he complained pointing to it.
When he turned to look at her he felt a small irritation with the fact that she was sitting in the seat next to the couch. Victoria hissed at his whining.
“Then you could have shut up before I did that,” Victoria sneered at him. “Can’t you see that there’s obviously something going on between the two?”
“The two?” Donghae repeated looking at the ceiling for the answer. “Ah…Eunhyuk and Nana?”
Victoria narrowed her eyes at him as if he were stupid.
“I understand it too, you know,” Donghae spouted in defense of her insult. “I had a feeling you might figure out what the reason is.”
“Of course not,” Victoria replied. “But I can see that they’re both bothered by something. They’re not going to let us in on it, you know. I wonder if there’s a better way to find out the answer.”
“Why are you so worked up about it?” Donghae asked. “It’s normal to wonder, but trying to find out something that isn’t your business…isn’t very casual of you.”
“Maybe I’m getting it from you, you nosey person.” Victoria stated.
Donghae snorted and moved over to sit on the arm of the single couch she was sitting on. Propping an arm up above her head he smile down at her.
“What do you want?” she asked.
He scrunched up his face, “You’re being really sassy lately, but I guess that’s ok since you are pregnant.”
Victoria snorted with a smirk. He enjoyed the look on her face.
“Within a few weeks, your stomach’s going to be sticking out like a pig,” Donghae said. “Then we’re going to go shopping again.”
“A few weeks is still a long time from now,” Victoria reminded.
“But it’s almost a month,” Donghae told. “Just thinking about it makes me all excited.”
“You girl,” Victoria commented.
“It’s ok if you call me names,” he gave her a peck on the tip of her nose, “that’s the only way you express your sweetness.”
Victoria snorted again and gave him a peck on the lips. In a moments’ time, he swiftly responded with a kiss.
/ / / / /
They sat, sipped on their sodas, went out to a soju stall for some dinner, and headed back to the inn still wearing their couple sweaters. Neither had taken the initiative to talk nor take off the sweaters Donghae and Victoria had so wittingly gotten them this morning. The few that turned to look at them and commented on how cute their sweaters were made them both feel somewhat flustered and nervous as they made their way to their room.
That night, for the first time, they slept on opposite ends of the room lying in the darkness with eyes fluttering.
Nana could hear her own heartbeat whisk itself away within the invisible breeze in the room. The thoughts that were running through her head were suffocating her. She didn’t know how she’d been managing to keep it in all day.
Now that she was alone with her thoughts in this quietness, she wasn’t sure how to accept anything. The first two nights, she’d been sick and out of it. However, laying there with her conscious mind wandering ceaselessly around made her uncomfortable.
Eunhyuk hadn’t spoken to her all day. Why? Was he upset? At her? With himself? Why? Nana couldn’t piece anything together. She only ended up being more confused, feeling lost.
Had he been waiting for her to talk first? Why?
Nana gulped.
Chills swept through her body. The touching and kissing were still so fresh in her memory that she wanted to choke the memory out of her. If there were a way, that is.
Nana stared at the wall and wondered if Eunhyuk was awake, but pretended to be asleep. If he were awake, what was he thinking about? Nana felt curious. She wanted to know him well so bad, but there was no way to get close to him. Not without trampling on Yuri’s feelings. And that was the last thing she wanted to do.
However, there was still one thing that had been on her mind all day. She’d wanted to say it, but didn’t know when or how to start.
Pressing her lips together she pulled herself up and twisted her upper body around. Eunhyuk was lying on his side, his back to her. She hadn’t expected to see him in any other way.
Her gaze drooped toward the ground again. Her courage felt so low she wondered how she would be able to voice out the words in her mind.
Nervously her lips she took a deep breath promising herself a moment of silence after she said what she wanted to say.
“A…a…are you…asleep?” Nana asked.
Eunhyuk moved a little.
“I…I just wanted to say…I’m not angry with you.” Nana forced the words out feeling her blood rush, her heart dash full speed ahead.
Eunhyuk stirred in spot again before he sat up. He faced the wall ahead without moving. A long moment of silence passed between them and Nana began to feel more anxious the longer it took him to say something or move.
At last he turned to her, “I’m sorry, Nana.”
The two words took her by full force. It shook her, tossed her into a whirl of questions, and played with her useless emotions. Nana felt her heart sink, fill with disappointment, sadness, and become very weary before she lie back down. Staring at the wall ahead of her she could only tell herself that she knew it.
He hadn’t meant any of it. An act if impulse it had been. There had been no sincerity. Eunhyuk didn’t hate her, but he disliked her after all. Nana felt tears scramble to the edge of her eyes as her heart lurched painfully at her one sided love.
***How does one write an 8 page paper? :( Gosh...research papers are so hard and not fun :(
***I love listening to Seoul.fm!!! So fun! And it's so cool hearing all these music I recognize!
***Anyway, here's my update.
***Let me say some things:
seems like there's some confusion coming from Changmin's side, which is good, I guess lol, because I didn't want to draw out his clear feelings and wanted to leave some room for you guys to debate about whether he may like Nana or not. I can say one thing, however. From the start of his play, he'd only looked at Nana like a younger friend/sister, and it hasn't changed much. His concerns about her are weighing more and more because of Eunhyuk which all brings in Yuri as well - but we'll worry about that later.
Next thing I wanted to contemplate about is Eunhyuk and Nana. Yes, they slept together. Sometimes mistakes happen and there are reasons for it. From Nana's point of view, she thought maybe Eunhyuk harbored some feelings for her as well - maybe that's why he kissed her - is what she thinks. And Eunhyuk (I clarified his train of thoughts earlier before AFF went down, but it all got deleted -_____-) so I'll say it again here. Nana is in fact younger than Hee Sun so it makes Eunhyuk somewhat uncomfortable with the fact that things happened the way they did between him and Nana. He's just a big worry wart since it's his nature to be considerate. So he apologizes because he thinks he's violated her in a wrongful way and this all but leads Nana to fall into the belief that he wasn't sincere about anything, that he just forced himself to be there with her. This is the big misunderstanding between them that can only do so much more for them :) Remember, Nana likes him perhaps a lot so of course she's hurt - but her wound will only open up to so much more. Just wait and see!!!
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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