CHAPTER THIRTEEN

 

Tiny, tiny butterflies were violently fluttering in my stomach when I stepped on the bus that would take me back home from the airport. It was almost to the extent that I felt sick; the happiness was boiling inside me in a way I didn’t think was possible. But he was gone. And together with the butterflies, was a growing lump of anxiety that I knew would affect me somehow later.

       Yixing had promised to call when he arrived, and I couldn’t wait for it to happen. 13 hours and he would call. 13 hours and I would be able to say it back. I like you too. Just thinking about it filled me with excitement once again.

       I found an empty seat and was just about to sir down when I heard a familiar voice from behind:

       “Hyejin-ah? It’s you, right?”

       I took a deep breath and turned around, just to meet Jongin’s deep brown eyes, and put on the brightest smile I could handle for the moment.

       “Oh, Jongin, what brings you here?”

       He extended his hand to show I could sit down, and he soon followed to sit on the seat next to me.

       “I was seeing my dad off. He’s going to Japan for a couple of weeks. Business,” he said and scratched the back of his neck. “What about you? You… don’t look very happy.”

       “A friend was going away,” I said and looked out through the window. Maybe the plane that just left the ground was that very plane where he was sitting together with Lixiang. Maybe he was thinking about me just the way I was thinking about him right now.

       “Oh. Must’ve been a rather close friend of yours,” Jongin broke the silence, seeming to want to get the conversation go further.

       “It was. It is.” I said and was snatched back into reality. I turned my gaze to see him sitting in deep thought. What is he thinking about?

       His forehead was wrinkled and his eyes empty as if he in fact was somewhere far, far away. At last he was snached back to reality and opened his mouth.

       “You know,” he hesitated, still staring out into nothingness. “we never got a proper start.”

       I didn’t know what he meant by ‘proper start’, but nodded in hope of that he would explain further. My hopes were met and he started moving his lips again.

       “Like, it felt so forced.” Another pause. “I really want to get to know you for real. Sincerely,” he said and met my eyes.

       I hesitated. With Yixing everything had been so easy, everything had seemed so natural.        But maybe this was kind of worth a shot, or else I would gain a good friend, if Yixing wasn’t coming back. Maybe he’ll forget me eventually. Shaking off the thought, that moreover completely terrified me, I nodded again with a small sigh.

       “Let’s do it then.” I said and his eyes brightened. “Let’s start over.”

        The corners of his lips curved upwards in a warm smile and quickly held out his hand, which I shook.

        “Well, hi then. I’m Kim Jongin.”

        “Hello, I’m Song Hyejin.”

        Our eyes once again met and I was filled the feeling of being safe.

        “Greetings cleared, what do you want for lunch?” he broke the silence and I giggled.

       “I have to get home actua-” I started but was interrupted.

       “Actually you look starving,” he said and I felt my stomach rumble in agreement.

       “That decides it,” he laughed.

       Embarrassed I looked down at my rumbling tummy and then up at him, and nodded.

 

We found a small restaurant close to the following bus stop, where an middleaged man greeted us at the door.

       “A table for the couple, I see,” he said and I was just about to say we weren’t a couple when Jongin loosely poked my side with his elbow.

       “We might get a discount,” he whispered and winked. Whispering a “Sorry Yixing” I followed him through the door.

       The man and a couple of women seemed to be working at the restaurant. The man stared at us with a smile that I couldn't exactly interpret, but I felt uncomfortable. However, Jongin was smiling all the time, even when eating, which was actually kind of cute.That I had to admit.

       “Oh you have something-,” he leaned forward with a napkin in his hand, slowly brushing it against the corner of my mouth until he realised what he was doing and paused his motion. Seeing my shocked expression, he quickly pulled back his hand and looked down into the shiny table surface.

       “Um… Sorry, you had some sauce there.”

       I raised my hand to the spot where he’d brushed the napkin and felt something sticky. I scanned the area around me for more napkins but the only one within reach was the one Jongin was holding. I leaned forward and grabbed it from his stiff hands.

       “It’s fine,” I said and rubbed the sticky thing off from my skin.

       Jongin nodded, and reached for his wallet. His face then got pale and he looked up at me.

       “Um. Do you have any money?” he whispered to me and I just looked back. I hadn’t brought any money to the airport because I’d been sure I’d return right home after seeing Yixing and Lixiang off. I slowly shook my head and he ruffled his hair in frustration.

       “Aish.”

       Then he looked towards the man, whose point of focus was deeply absorbed in the smartphone he was holding in his hands.

       “Run.” Jongin whispered.

       “What?”

       “Now.” He hissed and with three large steps he was at the door. I glanced at the man and he was still looking elsewhere. I slowly stood up and ran to Jongin who held up the door and then quickly followed.

       “HEY!” we heard from behind us. Jongin grabbed my wrist and dragged me with him down the streets, with the man following, panting and breathing heavily.

       “Come back!” he yelled as both of us spotted a stair that went up onto one of the rooftops. Before the man had rounded the corner that we just passed, Jongin changed direction and we ran up the concrete stair.

       Noticing that the man had lost us, I laid down on the floor, panting and laughing at the same time.

       “Why do I seem to get in trouble when I’m with you?” I glanced up at Jongin who now was leaning towards a wall, looking relieved.

       “Yah, haven’t you thought of the fact that it might be me that’s getting into trouble when I’m with you?”

       “The thought haven’t occurred to me,” I teased. “I never cause trouble.”

       “Neither do I.”

       “It was your idea to run,” I pointed out and his smile went smug.

       “You were the one who followed.”

       “I acted without thinking, what’s your excuse?”

       He snorted and let his eyes wander over the rooftop that we’d appeared on. Then he lifted his hand and waved it slightly towards something. I followed the direction of his gaze and saw a loving couple sitting on the rooftop next to the one we were on. They had just noticed we could see them perfectly and stared at us with shocked expressions.

       “This is awkward.” I whispered.

       Jongin nodded and turned his eyes to me again.

       “I think it’s safe to go down now,” he said and checked the time. “It’s getting late anyways.”

       “Okay,” I hesitated. I didn’t want to risk getting caught by the middle aged restaurant owner, but at the same time I had to get home to not make my mom worried.

       Jongin followed me to the bus stop and watched me as I got onto the bus.

       “You’re not coming?”

       “Someone will be picking me up, so I’ll wait here for a little while.” he shook his head and smiled.

       “Okay then, it was nice meeting you today,” I said, completely honest. It had been nice. His facial expression lit up a little more and he patted my head.

       “It was nice for me too.”

       I went on the bus and saw him get smaller and smaller until he and the bus stop disappeared completely. Jongin had helped me forget for a little while, forget the emptiness, the yearning and the pain of Yixing being gone from my everyday life.

 

Seven hours later, I laid on my bed and desperately tried to keep myself awake. It was in the middle of the night and I was staying up late just to be able to take that one call. He would’ve landed an hour ago; I’d kept track of every single one that had passed from when I arrived at home up until now. At this moment, my eyelids were so heavy, and the minutes went by in slow motion. The phone display then lit up and it let out a tingling sound. All of a sudden, all that heaviness was completely gone and I threw myself over the phone.

       “Hello?” I said tentatively.

       “Hyejin-ah.” his voice was so soft. The butterflies that had been asleep for a couple of hours, came to life again and this time worse than ever.

       “Did… you arrive safely?”

       “Yeah, I’m at my family’s house.” He made a short pause. “Sorry for calling so late.”

       I immediately regretted making him promise such a silly thing.

       “No, no, of course you had to take your time.”

       “But I promised.” he sighed. “Anyways, how’s your evening?”

       Although I felt I could tell Yixing anything, I didn’t exactly want him to know that I’d basically just waited for seven hours for him to call.

       “It’s great,” I lied and visualised how he raised an eyebrow in disbelief. He read me like an open book even when he wasn’t right in front of me.

       “Sure,” he scoffed and made a long pause before continuing, fumbling. “Have you spared a thought for what I told you?”

       My heart started racing again and I took a deep breath to calm myself down. I had momentarily freaked out at several occasions today and the last thing I wanted was to say something completely crazy.

       “Y-yeah…”

       “So you know now, huh? You really don’t have to answer now, give it some more thought and then tell me.”

       I sighed. I actually wanted to say it face to face, but didn’t know how to get the opportunity to do that. I was going to wait for a little while.

       “Mhm.”

       ”What are you thinking about?” he asked, the curiosity burning in his voice. It was something he always used to ask, and I felt my eyes burn slightly.

       ”Life.” You.

       ”Yah, you always say that.” ”AISH! STOP THAT!” I heard Lixiang's voice in the background.

       ”What's happening to Lixiang?”

       ”Lixiang's practising his Korean.” he laughed and whimpered in pain. ”Aaaaand I happened to hit him when I was supposed to pat your shoulder, but it seems like Lixiang got to endure it instead.”

       Lixiang said something that I could barely understand through the heavy accent and the telephone noise. ”Tell noona I said hi.”

       ”You heard that, right?”

       ”I did. What kind of super-learner is he, like really?”

       “I know right?” ”I changed my mind, I'm going to talk to her,” was basically what I could interpret from the few words of mandarin I understood. A rustling sound took over the line until I could hear Lixiang's voice clearly.

       ”You have to stop him.” he whispered.

       ”Stop what?” I whispered back in my shaky mandarin.

       ”FOR NINE HOURS NON STOP THERE WAS NOTHING BUT 'oh and her eyes' AND 'her hair' AND 'she's so smart' AND 'she always does and says like this'! I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE!”

       ”Okay that's enough.” Yixing's voice came back. ”He's clearly exaggerating.” ”IT'S AN UNDERSTATEMENT!”

       I laughed as the butterflies came back, happy that he’d been talking about me with Lixiang and that he the feeling was mutual. Although he didn’t know it yet.

       We talked for a long while more, about his family, how nice China was, that he wanted to go back to Korea but didn’t know how long it would take. I didn’t mention Jongin during the whole time: this was our time to talk, our little separate safety bubble on Earth. At last we said goodbye and goodnight and ended the call. 

       Not even a whole day had gone since Yixing left but I couldn’t help but gaze towards the chair in the corner on which he always sat when pondering the universe, hoping that he would’ve miraculously appeared. But the chair stood cold and empty in its lonely corner. 

 

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A/N

Hello everyone after I don't know how long, but I'm back! I hope at least. I wanted to write something that could bring this story further in development but couldn't bring myself to for a while, but now it's on track again~

What do you think of the new exo album? Personally I think it's absolutely amazing, and love especially Monster (ofc), Lucky One (it's a really nice song), White noice and Artificial love ^^

The other songs were also brilliant, although the instrumentals of They never know is maybe a little too similar to Autumn Leaves, but oh well, it's an awesome beat so I'll just love the fact that I get to hear it in 2 songs. 

BUT, if you wanna read what happens to Hyejin, Yixing and Jongin, please subscribe, and if you like the story, upvote ^^ and leave a comment if your want to, I love reading them

Stay awesome everyone~