Chapter 74
You Said Remember Me II
/ / / / /
“I don’t think it’s any of your business,” Eunhyuk stated.
Changmin gritted his teeth.
“If I knew, I wouldn’t have let her leave the house to stay with you,” Changmin muttered, “if I find out that you laid a hand on her…I’ll make sure that you’re sorry.”
“And who do you think you are?” Eunhyuk asked with a frown. “You pulling Nana into this game pretending you’re her guardian angel, do you even know what you’re doing to her? Who’s the one that should be feeling sorry?”
“What are you talking about?” Changmin furrowed his brows.
“You know very well what I’m saying,” Eunhyuk dismissed his question. “Before you leave her hanging, I suggest you stop first. This game is stupid and pointless. I think you’d hurt her more than I would.”
Changmin his hand out and grabbed Eunhyuk’s shirt pulling him forward.
“Who’s going to hurt who?” Changmin whispered. “Say it again!”
Eunhyuk only stared at him as if there were nothing left to say. It only irritated Changmin more.
“Don’t you go a step near Nana. I’m warning you,” Changmin hissed.
“Why don’t you get away from her first?” Eunhyuk asked.
Changmin’s grip around his shirt tightened.
“What’s going on?”
Changmin turned to see Donghae at the top of the stairs staring at them bewildered at the sight. He walked forward and pried his hand off Eunhyuk’s shirt.
“What are you two fighting about?” Donghae asked bringing with him a heavy sense of authority.
Changmin glared at Eunhyuk before turning away.
Donghae eyed them both before saying, “Eunhyuk, come talk to me.”
Eunhyuk gritted his teeth before following Donghae into his room.
/ / / / /
Nana’s eyes had drooped toward the ground. Yuri quietly stared at the countertop as if it were the most interesting thing in the kitchen. The slight tension hovering about the room couldn’t go unnoticeable.
What was wrong with them? Did they know what Changmin and Eunhyuk were fighting about? Why had the house become so stilled with drama?
Victoria turned toward the stairs and wondered what Donghae was doing.
/ / / / /
“You’re not getting out of here until you tell me what’s going on,” Donghae locked the door and stood in front of it.
Eunhyuk averted his eyes elsewhere. He looked like a child who was being confronted for stealing cookies from the cookie jar.
“Eunhyuk,” Donghae demanded. “I know something happened. I can’t stand looking at you like this! Let me know what’s going on! Why are you so quiet and isolated? Why does Nana want to go home? It has something to do with that, doesn’t it?”
Eunhyuk pressed his lips together.
“What happened between the two of you.” it was no longer a question.
Donghae started wondering if he’d be able to get anything out of him at all. He was worried he might let Eunhyuk leave without getting a piece of information from him. Was he really a failure at being a friend?
“If I tell you, you’re only going to pass the information onto Victoria,” Eunhyuk said. “Or if I don’t give you what you want, you’re going to send Victoria up here, is it?”
Donghae’s eyebrow curved.
“I won’t tell if you talk to me,” Donghae promised, “I swear.”
Eunhyuk pursed his lips together into a line. He didn’t say anything for a long time and Donghae wondered how long it would take him to arrange his thoughts.
“I didn’t mean to do it,” Eunhyuk began at long last.
Donghae quietly waited. If he talked, Eunhyuk wouldn’t go on.
Eunhyuk hesitated again and again to start talking. Was it really serious? Was it a really big problem? Donghae suddenly began to feel anxiously worried.
“We slept together.”
His mind blanked out and he felt like he was at a big loss. Was he hearing right? Was there perhaps wax stuck in his ears?
Donghae’s eyes burned into Eunhyuk’s face. His friend still hadn’t turned to look at him, but the sullen look engraved into his down casted eyes could only tell Donghae all he wanted to know. Eunhyuk really wasn’t joking.
His lips fell apart, “Eunhyuk…”
“I feel bad about it,” Eunhyuk went on, “I feel like I violated her and took something I shouldn’t have.”
So…was that why Nana wanted to leave as soon as possible?
“Why did you do it?” Donghae asked.
Eunhyuk didn’t answer.
“Do you…have feelings for her?”
He didn’t reply again.
“Eunhyuk…” Donghae called.
And even when he called, Donghae wasn’t sure what to say. What was there to say?
“If you let Nana go like this, would you regret it?” Donghae wondered. “If Nana gets pregnant, what are you going to do?”
Oh boy, was it complicated. Donghae couldn’t even spell out his own emotions. It was so terribly troubling.
/ / / / /
Changmin stopped at the foot of the kitchen door. Victoria, Yuri, and Nana were so quiet. He knew that they’d heard him shouting upstairs.
Pressing his lips together he walked in. Victoria was the only one who turned to look at him.
Taking Nana’s arm he led her out.
“Are you ok? Did he do anything to you?” Changmin asked when they stepped outside, the door slightly open.
Nana stared back at him. What was running through her mind this time? Was she going to feed him some lies?
“I…I’m fine.” Nana stammered.
He looked at her for a long time.
“Did he do anything to hurt you?”
Nana stared at him.
“Then why didn’t you come see me the past two days? Were you really that sick that you couldn’t even walk? If he hurt you, if you tell me that he hurt you, I’ll make him apologize to you. Even if it’s not Eunhyuk, I won’t let anyone get away with it.”
Nana averted her eyes and remained quiet for a long time. It was just like her to fall into some kind of deep thoughts before she would speak again.
When she was ready she turned back to him, a smile shining above her lips.
“I’m ok,” she assured, “I wasn’t feeling well these past few days so I really didn’t want to leave the house. I’m ok now though, really.”
He wanted to refute her statement. He wanted to find out that she was just lying for his benefit so he wouldn’t feel worried. So that he wouldn’t pry the answer out of Eunhyuk. Or even let his arms wrangle Eunhyuk’s thin neck.
“Changmin,” Nana caught his attention back, “thank you, I’m really glad we were able to get to know each other a little bit if not much.”
“What are you saying?”
“I used these two days to think a lot, and I want to go back home now.” Nana’s face expression turned soft.
She meant what she said. She was serious about home. It was a calm yet pleading expression.
For a second, he wondered if he’d really harmed her without knowing so. The words in the hospital flew back to memory.
Was Nana running away? From all of them? Had he fondled with her feelings? Was Eunhyuk right about this game?
“Lets go in before the others worry,” Nana gently put a hand on his arm.
/ / / / /
Victoria had helped set the rest of the table and was now waiting for the rest. The air around her felt hazy and while just sitting there she was starting to feel kind of sick. She took a deep breath and exhaled loudly.
Placing a hand on her abdomen, she rubbed it softly. The baby was just growing and soon she’d start experiencing the symptoms of pregnancy. Just as she had a while ago…alone, but this time she was with Donghae.
She turned and glanced over at Yuri who was now mindlessly wiping away at the counters that she’d cleaned when she’d started cooking. What exactly was going on?
The sound of footsteps coming down the stairs caught her attention and she turned to see Donghae enter the kitchen followed by Eunhyuk.
“Everything ok?” she shot up from the chair.
“Yea,” Donghae smiled.
Victoria watched as Yuri quietly looked over before another pair of footsteps headed toward the kitchen. Changmin stiffened behind Nana at the doorway when they both noticed Donghae and Eunhyuk there as well.
The atmosphere was so frigid.
“Shall we eat?” Yuri asked loudly.
Changmin and Eunhyuk’s eyes didn’t waver toward her but stilled on the other’s face. Nana her dry lips and took a step forward.
“I’m so hungry,” she uttered.
In that slight moment when she started moving toward the table, Victoria caught Donghae’s eyes taking a quick glance at her. Was the problem circling between Eunhyuk, Yuri, and Changmin something that centered around Nana? Was that what Donghae had gone to talk to Eunhyuk about?
Nana sat down as if there was not a bother in the world at all. Her eyes sternly rested on the dishes on the table. All of a sudden it seemed like a game of chess where the first person who moved was most advantageous. Footsteps shuffled forward and Victoria raised her eyes to see both Changmin and Eunhyuk taking a couple of steps forward, stopping only when their shoulders knocked against the other.
Within Victoria’s imagination she could see both parties glaring lasers at the other. In that second, Changmin took the initiative and plopped down in the seat to Nana’s right leaving her left open. If she, Yuri, or Donghae were to take that seat, Eunhyuk would definitely lose his place on the board.
No one moved.
Victoria swiveled her eyes over each of them and noticed that Yuri’s watchful eyes made her more and more hesitant. Yuri wasn’t sure if she was in the right position to break the ice, so she remained frozen in spot. Donghae, who seemed somewhat nervous due to his habit of his lips over and over whenever he was silently outweighing the outcome of a situation, also seemed to be in Yuri’s position. He wasn’t sure what to do, didn’t know if he should step in. Eunhyuk, on the other hand, seemed just as unsure as ever. Her poor friend didn’t know where to go. Then Victoria’s observant eyes slid over to Nana, who was staring at the table top. Victoria could tell that her eyes were definitely not on the food Yuri had just cooked. And Changmin indeed did seem like he was sure of his position. He wouldn’t forfeit the seat he’d just taken.
Well…if they were all like this, what was Victoria supposed to do? Someone needed to speak, it didn’t matter who.
She was ready to ruin the perfectly quiet atmosphere, when Donghae suddenly dragged Eunhyuk forward. His footsteps tripped forward loud and clear. Victoria stared as Donghae stole the seat beside Nana and placed Eunhyuk beside him.
What was this? Donghae hadn’t seated Eunhyuk beside Nana, but he had himself? What did that brain head have in mind?
“Come sit down,” Donghae called.
Victoria slightly tried to restrain her frown and took the seat beside Eunhyuk. Yuri sat between her and Changmin.
Now the table was set, but it didn’t really change the atmosphere from earlier. Changmin was stiffly silent. No one spoke. It was as if they were all raging a silent war against one another.
Victoria felt like she’d kill to know what was going on between them. Just what was it that was causing such terrible tension?
Picking up her utensils without even wanting to, Victoria started stuffing herself with the food.
“Nana, lets do something before you leave,” Changmin spoke up sounding determined.
Nana lifted her head up from her plate.
“I know! There’s a musical being premiered, why don’t we go see it? Just you and me. Remember, I promised to take you around some more?” Changmin was trying to sound enthusiastic and it felt kind of hard listening to him.
“It’s ok, you’re not even well,” Nana excused.
“We can take a taxi. I’ll buy tickets and all you need to do is dress up a little bit,” Changmin implored, “what about it? We should do a little something before you leave. How about it?”
Everyone at the table stared discreetly at Changmin not wanting him to know that they were all feeling some kind of pity for him. He didn’t need to try so hard. Nana was going home no matter what and it was hard to cheer her up in the first place. She would only feel like a fool if they made it obvious to her face that they knew she was running away from the life in Osan that wasn’t hers to begin with.
Silence echoed through the room like a resilient scream.
“Changmin,” Nana spoke after a long moment. “You don’t have to do anything. No one should feel bad that I’m leaving. I just miss home. Please don’t worry about me.”
“Go,” Yuri spoke up.
Victoria felt her head turn in reflex at the sound of Yuri’s voice.
“As a farewell trip, why don’t you two go.” Yuri’s flat voice suggested and after she finished she added a thin smile.
Nana stared at her as if she were trying to send some kind of signal.
“Ok,” Nana agreed at last.
No one was happy. No one was happy at all.
***Eunhyuk did it! He opened up to Hae, well a little, but he told him! :DD
***I feel like I'm going to start writing again soon. Wait up for me my lovely readers!
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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