Chapter 27
Burn all the ScarsThe loud sound of the refrigerator being slammed shut greeted Lu Han as he entered the kitchen in the morning. He had been somewhat tired even after the shower he had just taken, but the sound had fully woken him up.
He blinked at the sight of Sunjung pouring milk into a bowl of cereal; her grip on the carton was too tight.
He shuffled forward as he cleared his throat to let her know that he was in the room.
Swallowing a mouthful of cereal, the woman turned to face him.
Lu Han was glad to see her expression soften slightly.
“Good morning,” she said, the greeting sounding almost half hearted.
Lu Han greeted back, finding the situation very awkward all of a sudden.
How was he supposed to approach her? How was he supposed to talk to the woman who had rejected him?
Words disappeared in his throat and he could only walk past her and grab a bowl before sitting a stool away from her at the island counter.
He muttered a ‘thanks’ when Sunjung passed the carton of milk to him.
“What time did you get back?”
Lu Han turned to Sunjung in surprise. He hadn’t expected her to start a conversation.
Sure, they had kept in touch when he was in Beijing but it was through texts and texting was simple. There was no eye contact involved, he didn’t have to look cool, he wouldn’t start stuttering and didn’t have to worry about staring at her for too long.
But now he had reason to worry about many things.
“Me? I came back at around eight and went to sleep.”
He thought he sounded too nervous.
“I came home a bit late,” Sunjung nodded whilst some milk off her lips.
Lu Han gulped.
He found himself biting his lower lip, his grip on the spoon tightening.
She had to be doing that on purpose. She was teasing him, wasn’t she?
But then it occurred to him that Sunjung really wasn’t the type of person who was intentionally seductive, although being unintentionally seductive was a whole different story.
Lu Han didn’t know he had been staring till Sunjung gave him a bewildered look.
“It’s nothing,” he said, shaking his head.
“So...”
Neither said anything as the atmosphere grew more awkward than ever.
They both tried to concentrate on eating but ended up stealing glances at each other.
Both found themselves wishing that it wasn’t Saturday. Usually they rejoiced at the idea of a work-free weekend, but the awkwardness made them unable to communicate freely.
They both just wanted to delete that night from their memory.
But they both were unable to do so because in their heart of hearts, they treasured it.
***
How long had it been since Lu Han last watched a movie?
He couldn’t tell.
It only made him realise how much he had been drowning himself in work.
“Do you think it’s lame that we’re watching a movie with each other?”
Byun Baekhyun settled himself into the seat next to Lu Han, passing him a tub of popcorn.
Lu Han stopped his observation of the movie theatre and chuckled.
“What’s so lame about friends watching a movie together?”
Baekhyun had already started stuffing his mouth with caramel flavoured popcorn, not even bothering to brush his black hair out of his eyes.
Lu Han’s nose scrunched up in distaste. He never really liked the idea of caramel flavoured popcorn.<
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