Part 6: Song For Another Time (Interlude)

I was born to run… ‘cause I love the adrenaline in my veins

- Imagine Dragons

Interlude Part 1

Lee Wonho loved to travel. He picked the right career when he decided to be a travel photographer. And he got the skills too, having a unique eye for things. His work was never ever dull and far from a hassle. And his taste usually agreed with his company’s assignments. Wonho was the picture of a successful youth; he loved what he was doing, the odds were always in his favour and his work is both his passion and his generous moneymaker - his life was a riot. He loved nature too, the sensitive and freedom-loving man that he was.

Since he was a teen, he began to get really curious that he tried almost everything life could offer. He was self-conscious then. What he felt could make him look better, he did. He tried mixed martial arts, taekwondo, swimming, and that one time, track and gymnastics. It was not all good. Like other reckless impulsive teenagers, he was not immune to wild nights of partying and booze. But those were long abandoned when he became rather health obsessed. And what really got him hooked was none other than hiking. Like all the other sports he tried his hands on, hiking was initially for him to shed some weight off. Wonho felt nothing made him feel more settled than after a hike. He could spend all day trekking if he was not a photographer. He probably could make a living out of it if he tried.

When his e-mail notification popped up with his new assignment, he could not be more elated.

The town was different, rather rustic but at the same time full of life. The Tehla rainforest was its background and this place was known as the main tourist attraction for the beautiful and exotic werecats. If Wonho decided to settle, this would be in his top five idyllic places to live in. The first few days were tiring; Wonho still working off his jetlag and exhaustion after flying straight from Budapest. Almost two weeks after, he felt like he could get on one of the tours into Tehla jungle. He decided to do it some other time – if there was one thing Wonho got, it was an ample amount of time. Company policy and all that – take as much time as he could to get inspired and bring back masterpieces.

His B&B was quaint, run by a cheerful grandmother and her tease of a grandson. They were both helpful when he asked where the hotspots were in their lovely town. It was a good thing Wonho read maps real well that before long he could walk anywhere without much assistance. He even managed to get some shots in, trying to get a feel of the place.

Interaction with the locals he met was bound to happen and that was when Wonho found out that the werecats- the ailures also mingled with the townsfolk. They told him if he knew where to look, he could even talk to one. So of course Wonho asked to be pointed to in the right direction. And that was how he found himself walking in awe through ceiling high collections of vinyl records in a music store a few streets from his current lodging. He did not know what the ailure looked like, rejecting any information about said person. He wanted to find out himself and was grateful with the address he snagged.

What he did not expect was to come face-to-face with a looming mass of a broad-shouldered, half- man. Somebody should have warned him that the mysterious ailure was an exhibitionist.

-I-

Everyone who knew Ravi Kim knew that he was head over heels in love with his wife. Not that it was a bad thing; it’s logical to assume you love the person you married. When you married for love that is. But everyone who knew Ravi couldn’t help but think that the man was stuck in his honeymoon phase. Never mind that he was married for five almost six years now and had gotten two beautiful children, gorgeous angels thanks to his wife’s and his superior genes. Ravi’s words. He was proud of his family, that one for certain.

Everyone who met Ravi would know within minutes that he was a fool in love – a fool for his wife. Nobody really blamed him. Those lucky enough to have seen Leona (‘please, I prefer Leo’) in person could understand. Ravi obviously loved to talk, almost to the point of bragging, about Leona and his children. He never ran out of anecdotes to tell. His phone, with its pitifully cracked screen, would come out of his pocket just for Ravi to show his friends a new photo of Leona, accompanying his tales.

Usually they wouldn’t get to see much of her face. Only the back of her head or the barest hints of her profile were visible. In those pictures, Leona would have always turn away from the camera, seemingly unaware that she was being photographed, focusing instead on a cooing baby boy as if they were conversing, or cuddling a sleeping female toddler with wild hair. No doubt Ravi’s fault. His own hair was a disaster. Sometimes, in those photos Ravi’s hand or arm would make an appearance, recognisable from his tattoos, holding Leona’s slim fingers atop their child or just lain beside the young ones.

Now Ravi was naturally a quiet person, but not too quiet. He talked when he was spoken to and kept silent when the attention wasn’t on him. In his line of work, Ravi of course had to talk and work together with other people. More often than not, he spent his days cooped up in his studio composing the day away. He was social, perhaps one could call him an ambivert, but he cherished his alone time too. He was an enigma really. Which was why Hakyeon knew that Ravi may tell stories but he was an excellent secret keeper.

Hakyeon Cha had known Ravi since he was an awkward gangly teenager. He was close to Ravi and had met Leona several times, even volunteered himself to babysit when Ravi wanted to take Leo out on dates.

Hakyeon also knew that Leona Kim née Jung was not entirely human.

She was an ailure. The “politically correct” term for her species.

Hakyeon had never seen her other form but he knew that Leo was a pureblooded white Barbary lioness. Her ailure colouring transferred to her humanoid form, making Leona one of the most beautiful people he had ever seen. He also knew that there were not a lot of her species around anymore, because of a ruthless genocide of her kind almost 20 years ago.

He found out shortly after Ravi, in his panicky state, told Hakyeon that Leona was pregnant. That was in 2013. He crazily muttered a litany of impossible that Hakyeon irately misunderstood as Ravi not wanting the baby. Only after Ravi was thoroughly yelled at with not so positive words on how dastardly he was behaving that the younger man told him the truth.

“Hyung, Leo is an ailure. She wasn’t even supposed to get pregnant. I didn’t know she could- we didn’t even know she could even conceive.”

Ravi sat him down, telling Hakyeon that he and Leo had resigned to not having children because Ravi wasn’t an ailure and of a different species entirely. He went on and on on what an ailure was and their different biology. Ailures carry their young in their natural four-legged form, until they gave birth. And when a totally humanoid Leo told Ravi that they were expecting – that she was in fact pregnant – Ravi was overwhelmed. It didn’t mean he was going to abandon Leo now that he found out he was going to be a father. A teary Hakyeon could only sighed in relief and not so gently punched the younger man for worrying him.

“Have you talked to Leona about this? I mean what are you going to do?”

That sent Ravi into another spiral. In his shock, he had left his then-girlfriend at their apartment only telling her that he needed to process his thoughts. Hakyeon yelled at him some more.

Thankfully, that was all in the past.

-II-

The only indication Leo heard her husband approaching was the slight twitching of her adorned left ear. Ravi hugged her waist from behind and when he loudly exhaled, Leo could feel the slight vibration of his chest. Her husband’s lips were lightly grazing her exposed shoulder. Subconsciously, Leo tilted her face and Ravi nosed at the sharp jawline. If it were up to Ravi, he would be glued to Leo’s back forever, not that she minded. But she was cooking and needed to move without restriction. She had ordered the man to take care of their infant son before she started. Thankfully, their daughter was with her paternal grandmother.

Gently, she caressed Ravi’s toned arm and patted at the limb.

“Let go,” she said. Ravi did after kissing the back of her sweet-scented head.

“Your hair is getting longer,” her husband finally said. Leo hummed as she stirred the simmering whipped cream.

“Are you going to cut it again?”

Leo shrugged. “Maybe.”

Her nimble hands were busy plating their lunch. She joined Ravi at their dining table, silently handing Ravi his cutleries. Leo produced a nondescript black hair band. Ravi watched as his wife slowly gathered her brown-tipped golden locks into a messy bun. His heart fluttered. Leona wasn’t doing anything other than giving him a glance but Ravi was still falling in love.

“You going to dye your hair?” Ravi asked in curiosity.

It would be a waste to colour Leo’s beautiful pale honey curls. It was a pity Ravi’s genes were more pronounced in their children. Their daughter’s nightmarish curls were dark brown. And he thought their second child’s hair would be dark too. Maybe he could persuade Leo to have a third child – just to see if their offspring would get their mother’s feline eyes, her natural golden hair or Ravi’s favourite – her smattering freckles. Their daughter already had some on her nose. He wondered if Leo would smack him if he really suggested it.

Leo shrugged again. “Maybe not this time, I’m getting tired of getting them coloured.”

Ravi couldn’t help the goofy smile he sported, as if he were told he had won the lottery. And Leona rolled her eyes at her dork of a husband.     

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Interlude Part 2

Today was one of those days. Moving day.

Jaehwan Lee just got assigned a new room and a new roommate, someone who would most likely be a first year student. His university’s idea to promote unity was kind of exhausting given certain times. He wondered whether it was really working. He’d been lucky so far with his previous two roommates but he couldn’t have known for sure without the statistics. He got along with them but it was just to that point of being “friendly but still very polite roommates”.

Jaehwan got to the room first. It was bigger than his previous two rooms, like a studio apartment. There was even space for a tiny kitchenette on one end of the room, slightly obscured by a divider. A bathroom on the opposite side of the pantry, a window between them. And two single beds, one against the side of the bathroom wall and the other closer to the door. Two identical wardrobes were placed facing the beds, on the same wall as the kitchenette.

Plenty of space to move around. Jaehwan couldn’t help his sounds of satisfied appraisal. The place was really nice. Perks of being a final student maybe. Oh that reminded him, he didn’t see his roommate’s name before coming in.  

When he got to the exterior side of their door, he saw the names on the small plates just beside it.

610

Jaehwan Lee

Justin Jung

He wondered what his new roommate would be like.

-I-

“Hyuk-ah,” his sister said, “why do you have to grow up so fast?”

Hyuk snorted before letting out a full-bellied guffaw. Leo stared up at her younger brother, nine years younger than her, waiting for him to stop. Hyuk cooed at her, carefully gathering her into his arms and her back softly. Leo hugged him tight as if she could stop him from growing taller and older and going away from her. At nineteen, Hyuk was already so tall that her eyes were level with his chest. She hugged him as if she was sending Hyuk to war instead of to his new dorm room where he would be staying for the next three years. As a university student.

“Noona,” Hyuk smiled, letting his arms rest on Leo’s shoulders, “you can let go now.”

A muffled ‘no’ made him laugh again. And her embrace tightened. Hyuk almost forgot how strong his sister really was despite her slender chicken limbs. Well not so slender on the belly, with Leona being eight months pregnant. If it weren’t for her stomach, she would most definitely crush him to her.

“I wish you don’t have to go,” Leo muttered into Hyuk’s shirt, “you’re leaving me. How could you?”

“Ravi-hyung, please take your dramatic wife before she kills me with her love,” Hyuk jokingly called out to his brother-in-law who stood a few feet away from them, Leo’s handbag dangling awkwardly on his arm. Leo blindly smacked her brother’s neck.

Ravi sighed at his wife’s antics.

“Really noona, I have to go now,” Hyuk said, and forced Leo to look at him, tilting her head with his hands. They were standing in front of his dormitory building and some people passing by were starting to look at them weird. And not just because of their looks.

Leo only gave him a sad look.

“I promise I’ll come visit, okay?”

“You promise?”

“Of course! How else am I supposed to get fed? I need food to survive school.”

Leo frowned and slapped him again. She told Hyuk to stop joking before Ravi finally intervened. He looped his free arm around Leo’s chest and pulled her into his side. The blonde-haired woman put her arms around Ravi’s middle out of habit while she was in the middle of talking Hyuk’s ears off. ‘Don’t forget to drink lots of water, it’s getting cold, eat at least one fruit a day, stop eating too much junk food, text me updates, video chat me every Tuesday night, lock your door and windows before you go to sleep, don’t just spend your time with Hongbin, make some friends you listening to me’ and she went on and on. Hyuk cheerfully nodded occasionally saying ‘yes’, only half paying attention as he gathered his backpack and two suitcases.

“Okay, noona. I’ll text you and see you next weekend, I think,” Hyuk pecked his slightly frantic sister on the cheek, and nuzzle-bumped her nose in farewell. He quickly dashed through the automated glass doors before Leo could hug him again. And into the lift he went. Freedom at last, he smiled pushing the button numbered ‘6’.

Meanwhile, Leo was looking at the disappearing form of her brother and sighed in defeat, resting her head on Ravi’s shoulder.

“There, there,” Ravi said consolingly. A tiny hint of amusement seeped into his voice.

“Why don’t we pick up our kid from my parents’ house and spend the day out? She won’t grow much overnight and this one is definitely not leaving you so soon,” Ravi pointed at Leo’s stomach.

Leo glared at her husband’s attempt at humour as they walked away from the dormitory yard.     

-II-

Jaehwan was in the middle of perusing his open suitcases, sitting in between the beds, when he heard the telltale sound of key unlocking the door and suitcases rolling in. He smiled excitedly. It must be his roommate! He stood up and was immediately face to face with the man.

His heart skipped a beat.

Justin Jung was a gorgeous man with an Eurasian face. He was taller than Jaehwan and had a really nice smile, and really nice broad shoulders. He was paler than Jaehwan too. His hair was a perfect dishwater blonde swept carelessly away from his face, although some loose strand covered a bit of his left eye. His eyes. Jaehwan gulped.

His new roommate stepped closer to him and Jaehwan could see the clear amber of his almond-shaped eyes, almost matching the shade of his hair. The light from their window really did a good job at creating a halo on him. Everything about him looks magical and shiny. He even smelled nice.

“Hi,” his roommate said, voice a dulcet tone. “I’m Justin, but just call me Hyuk. It’s nice to meet you.”    

“Nice to meet you too. I’m Jaehwan Lee,” he replied in a small voice, so unlike him. He shook Hyuk’s nicely shaped hand in greeting.

Hyuk’s eyes crinkled, almost disappearing as his smile widened, showing nice rows of teeth. “Please take good care of me.”

Jaehwan felt like fainting.

Almost six months later, Jaehwan still felt the same whenever Hyuk grinned at him.

Note:

So this has been stewing in my laptop for ages. Real reluctant to post it because I have no idea if it went well with the story or plain outta place. But yeah I'm posting it because I'm a big fan of LR (their love is real nobody fight me on this or I'll make both of us cry). I love Chained Up era and for the purpose of this story Leo and Hyuk are natural blondes. And Leo's Dynamite era make-up, and Hyuk's Shangri-La look. And I obviously love Hyuk too much not to feature him. This was written way before Leo decided to be blonde again (I think I really am psychic sometimes). Also I have no idea what Monsta X's Wonho's real name and last name is, so Lee it is (not to stereotype or anything).

Also I don't want to post anything sad with Jonghyun's recent passing. May you rest in peace, Kim Jonghyun. You will be remembered as the strong and angelic muse you are.