Chapter 15 - Almost

~Henry POV~

“What do you mean we’re leaving?” I asked my parents. It’s only been a week since we got here and only my second day with Zhou Mi! Why are we leaving so soon?!

“Sorry, Henry,” Mom said, “But your father got called in for work. We’re going back.”

“But we just got here,” I whined. Yeah, I was acting like a child, but I didn’t want to leave! I had such a fun time sleeping over at Zhou Mi’s last night! No, nothing dirty...erts...

“I know, but your father needs to keep his job more than we need to have a friendly visit in China,” Mom replied, throwing things in her suitcase, “We have a flight tonight.”

“Can I at least go say goodbye to Zhou Mi?” I asked.

She sighed, “Alright, fine. But pack your things first and meet us at the airport by 5 tonight, ok?”

“OK!” I exclaimed, running to my room and packing my suitcase. Yeah, we were staying at my Aunt’s house while we were here, and I shared a room with Clinton, my big brother. He wasn’t here though. Don’t know where he went actually.

Anyway, I packed all my stuff quickly and then raced out of the house. It was already noon and I wanted to spend time with Zhou Mi before I left! Who knows how long it will be before SM calls us to do some activities together again...

Since Han Geng’s leave, SM has been kind of distant with Zhou Mi and me. Maybe because they’re trying to get him back or maybe because they simply don’t like foreigners. Whatever the case is, as of right now, Zhou Mi and I are not a part of SM. It isn’t official, but it might as well be.

I got on the bus and pulled my baseball cap down over my face. I didn’t want to be recognized by anyone. That would be an unnecessary distraction. I sat in the back of the bus and waited patiently as we stopped a few times before arriving at the bus stop close to Zhou Mi’s house. I shuffled off the bus, avoiding the people getting on. I then ran down the street before making a left onto Zhou Mi’s street. And finally, five houses down, and here was Zhou Mi’s house.

I walked up to the doorstep and rang the bell. Zhou Mi’s mother answered.

“Hello,” I greeted, “Is Zhou Mi home?” Zhou Mi’s mother smiled.

“Nice to see you, Henry,” she said, “Yes, come on in. I’ll call him for you.” I stepped into the house and Zhou Mi’s mother called for him. He came into the family room and waved to me.

“What’s up, Henry?” he asked.

“Well, I’m leaving today for Canada and I wanted to spend my last day here with you!” I exclaimed cutely. Please fall for it...

“Ok, Henry,” he sighed and I jumped for joy inside, “What do you want to do?”

“I don’t know,” I said, “Anything!”

“Well, let’s go get some lunch then,” he suggested.

“Ok, I’m positive that this is Zhou Mi’s house,” I said as we pulled up to the fifth house on this street.

“You sure about that?” Kibum asked. I glared at him and he held his hands up in defense.

“Let’s just go see if he’s home,” I said, getting out of the car.

“Or maybe we’ll find another American girl,” he muttered. I wanted to slap him. It was an honest mistake!

I ignored him as we walked up to the front door of the house. I knocked twice on the door. After a few seconds, it opened and a woman was there. She smiled.

“Hello, may I help you?” she asked. I cleared my throat.

“Um, yes,” I said, “Does Zhou Mi live here?”

“He does, but he isn’t home right now,” the woman said and I felt my heart lift. He was here! “Who are you?”

“Um, my name is Guīxián and this is Kibum,” I introduced, “We’re from Super Junior.” I saw her face light up at the mention of Super Junior.

“Ah yes! Guīxián! Zhou Mi has mentioned you a lot! I’m Zhou Mi’s mother.”

“Oh, nice to meet you.”

“Um, I’m sorry to say, but Zhou Mi went out with a friend just now. He won’t be back until later tonight...”

“Ah, that’s ok,” I said, “Um, can we come back later to see him?”

“Yes, of course,” she said, “I’ll let him know you visited when he gets home.”

“Ok, thank you,” I said, bowing a little. She bowed back and went back inside the house. I turned to Kibum and smiled.

“What’s with the grin?” he asked.

“We found Zhou Mi.”

“Great,” Kibum said, “Is he hiding in the bush or something?”

Again, I wanted to smack him.

“No, he left with a friend. His mother said he’ll be back later tonight though.” We got in the car and I started the engine.

“Great, so we’ll come back tonight then.”

“Yep.”

“So, what do we do until then?”

I shrugged, “I don’t know. The hotel is almost an hour away. I say we go to that market that we drove by on the way here.”

“That’ll draw attention to us,” Kibum retorted, “No. Let’s go to a nice, quiet restaurant and get some lunch. Then, we’ll drive around and come back to Zhou Mi’s around 6ish.”

“Why did I ask if you were just going to tell me what we were going to do anyway?” I asked rhetorically. He glared at me. “Ok, sorry. We’ll go get some lunch, ok?” Kibum grunted in response. Ok, good to know.