Say I Love U / Chapter 16
Donghae stared silently ahead as he waited in his seat. The restaurant he had chosen was almost always filled to the brim every hour, but he was lucky enough to know the owner to get a table without reservation. Jessica had been away for business the past couple of weeks so when she had arrived back into the city, it didn’t take much asking for them to arrange a little lunch date at their favorite restaurant.
He had missed her, goodness knows, just as much as she said she missed him. Having been lost to one another for a decade didn’t lessen the love they felt for one another and so a couple of days absence for work didn’t even make a blip in the grand scheme of things. He loved her, missed her… but admittedly, not so much as he would have cared for in the past couple of days.
Or really, to be specific, he hadn’t missed much (or at all) the night before.
Donghae let out a sigh that was long and wary, unsure of the deep, unsettling feeling gathering in the pit of his stomach. He glanced at his phone for a moment, momentarily cringing at a message notification from Jessica before pressing the little mail icon. The message was short but sweet in the way he knew Jessica could privately be known for: [Stuck in traffic. Who knew Seoul could rival New York streets on a bright and sunshine-y day? Be there in a few, love.] The wave of love and affection wasn’t new but the apprehension was. And it was exactly why he felt this that was causing him trouble sleeping at night.
He shut the screen off without replying and placed the phone on the table.
… only to pick it up again a minute later, scrolling past apps to choose the Photo Gallery and peruse the images he’d taken from the night before.
They weren’t much. Using a phone’s camera at night never made anyone look good but if by some miracle it did, then it certainly captured Yoona’s beauty last night. Donghae had never doubted how attracted he was to Yoona’s physicality; it was, after all, what had drawn him to her in the first place. It was how strongly he is still attracted (and fond of) to her that was the problem. Especially since he had chosen to break it off with her some months ago because he thought it was just that.
And yet, here I am, thinking about my ex when I’d left her to be with my other ex. Donghae scolded himself; correcting his thoughts at the last minute once the words truly sunk in, Current girlfriend. Sooyeon isn’t the ex anymore. Yoona is.
It seemed like he would have to start reminding himself of that fact. Because if the last night was any indication of how incredibly stupid he could be to forget how he’d broken Im Yoona’s heart just half a year ago, then it should be plastered all over the city that Lee Donghae is without a doubt the biggest idiot-slash-loser South Korea could ever have gave birth to.
Because an educated man do not go to clubs and party until dawn when he has a beautiful woman waiting for him back home. He doesn’t go alone to a party for his ex-girlfriend and then keeps watch of said ex while she takes one shot after another. A smart man doesn’t get close-too close-to his ex when she throws him a certain smile.
Especially when it’s a smile that isn’t meant for him. At least, not anymore…
Donghae clinked glasses with her, throwing an arm around her shoulder. The music playing so loud and pounding around them that he has to yell. “Happy Birthday, Yoona!”
“Thanks!” Yoona grinned, blinking at her ex. She looked around them, crinkling her brow when she doesn’t find Jessica, or anyone she knows for that matter-not Hyoyeon nor Eunhyuk-close by. “Where’s your girlfriend?”
He shrugged, his eyes dimming slightly. Donghae finished his drink in two large gulps before answering her question. “Uh, she had to take care of some things. But she has a present for you. I left it with Hyoyeon.”
“Oh! She’s so nice! She’s really nice. I’m glad you chose someone nice after me.” Yoona smiled even wider, tapping his nose with her index finger. She tilted her head slightly to the side, leaning just a bit as she pointed at him to add slyly, “Pretty too. So pretty. Prettier than me!”
He laughed loudly, catching her finger into his palm. “You’re pretty too, Yoona. And also very drunk at the moment.”
“But you must miss her when she’s not here, right?”
Donghae paused for a second to consider her question before nodding slowly, transfixed by the glimmer in her doe eyes.
Yoona had tipped her head up to catch his nod, her smile turning soft as she regarded him seriously even while tipsy. And after a long moment of being lost in her eyes, Donghae found himself dipper his head down to hers.
He was a hair breadth away when she pulls away to pout-unperturbed by what could have happened if she hadn’t moved to speak so suddenly. Donghae is left hanging, winded when her words penetrate his consciousness.
“I miss Changmin.”
He wishes then that he wasn’t so sober to feel… angry inside. But when Yoona goes and adds to her statement, still smiling that sweet, soft smile; eyes glazed and wistful, he can’t help but ask for another glass of alcohol.
“I wish Changmin was here.”
Donghae barely missed the familiar staccato rhythm of heels when he pulls himself out of his memory of the night before. A forced smile lining his lips as he moved to stand and greet a smiling Jessica as she arrived at their table, her hair long and shiny, her cheeks and lips rosy pink as they are (he knew) soft.
“Hey, honey! I thought you’d be in bed nursing a hangover by the way Eunhyuk went on about how crazy the party last night was when he dropped you off.” Jessica said loudly, tucking a curl of hair behind her ear. She reached over to squeeze his hand when grimaced at her overly chipper tone before moving a palm up to his cheek.
She looked him in the eye, caressing the light stubble on his skin before leaning over to kiss him softly.
“Did you have fun?” She asked, pulling away to look at the menu a waitress dropped off for them and Donghae felt even more awful to force another grin unto his lips.
Jessica is so beautiful and he loves her. But all Donghae saw when she kissed him was Yoona’s face and her soft, soft smile and his mind goes into overdrive.
-No, I didn’t have fun It was horrible because I think I still have feelings for Yoona I’m so sorry I’ve never wanted to hurt you but I want you both I made a mistake and it’s so wrong I love you but I love her too-
His voice doesn’t crack, but it might as well should have.
“It was fine.”
[ Hi, this is Im Yoona’s phone. I’m not in right now… actually I’m probably still asleep or buried in exams. Either way I’m busy, so leave a message after the beep! ]
“Voice mail again!”
Hyoyeon threw herself onto the bed face done, tossing her phone away in the process. Eunhyuk was quick enough to grab it before it tipped off the bed and then sat down beside his girlfriend’s form, letting out a breath as he considered what to do or say next.
She hadn’t slept when they got back from the club and dropping Donghae off at his apartment just past three in the morning. She couldn’t stop fidgeting after Changmin had shown up out of blue and took Yoona with him but Eunhyuk knew the issue was less about her best friend’s pretend boyfriend’s sudden chivalrous rescue (he reminded himself that he would have to talk to Donghae about that later) and more about what said pretend boyfriend did to make such a rescue.
“It’s too early for you to freak out, Hyoyeon.” His tone was soft and placating but Eunhyuk knew his words were enough to make his girlfriend sit up immediately and huff at him. He held up his hands in defense and cut her off before she could yell at him, “There has to be some explanation to why Changmin did what he did and regardless if Yoona or anyone else knows about it or not, it’s really none of our business.”
Hyoyeon knew he had a point but she couldn’t help the irrational rush of anger coursing through her veins. She had twisted in their sheets all night, turning the past few months and last night’s events over and over in her head just to try to find some indication or clue that Changmin could have…
She let out a long huff, folding her arms across her chest as she thought back on the night before. Hyoyeon knew that it wasn’t exactly the most inspired idea for her to throw Yoona a birthday party at a club, but she reasoned that her best friend needed to lighten up her routine more and nothing lightened Yoona up as much as dancing and a good ice-cold glass of rum and coke. She had even managed to convince her to dress up in a lace top, a leather skirt and heels so high Hyoyeon was impressed that Yoona managed to keep her balance for most of the night.
But of course, nothing could ever go smooth-sailing when celebrating your 25th birthday party means having to consume copious amounts of alcohol under your ex-boyfriend’s looming presence while your current boyfriend is a no-show. Yoona told them when she arrived at the club last night that Changmin was running overtime with a construction project he was working part-time at and wouldn’t be able to make it. Her tone had been neutral then, but Hyoyeon could tell that her best friend was a little disappointed and so was the driving force of her immediately pushing a shot into Yoona’s hands.
It was fine for the first hour or two: Yoona was laughing and dancing with her and Eunhyuk, having the time of her life since forever. She hadn’t even minded Donghae’s attendance and was friendly with him instead of awkward or stilted like all the other times before. It concerned her a little to see Donghae and Yoona interacting well, but it wasn’t enough to make her come in between them last night. All Hyoyeon cared about was that she was happy that Yoona was happy so all was good until…
“Stupid, mute, asshole. Not even here.” Yoona hiccupped again, belching a little before speaking again, her words disjointed and slurred. “Should be here. More important. Matter.”
“Okay, you’ve had enough. Let’s take you home.” Hyoyeon announced, picking her friend up with a huff. Yoona slumped into her, still slurring into her phone and pouting. The boys stood back, laughing while watching the girls struggle to stay upright. The blonde glared at them. “You dicks could help, you know!”
“It’s your own fault that she’s this trashed.” Eunhyuk quipped, watching as Donghae stepped forward to take Yoona by the shoulders and held her steady. “You know how easy tequila gets to her if she drinks them in a row.”
“I’ll take her home,” Donghae told them, about to turn back only to stop as someone else spoke.
“No.”
The three of them whipped their heads around in total shock (eyes wide and mouths hanging open) as Changmin appeared a few feet from them, his hands deep in his pockets. Ignoring their matching expressions, he crouched in front of Yoona. He wrapped her arms around his neck before standing, hitching her up to grasp her legs around his waist.
“Changmin?” Yoona whispered sleepily on his shoulder. “You’re here?”
He said nothing even as the corner of his lips turned up and she folded herself closer to him, falling asleep almost instantly. Changmin started to walk when Hyoyeon blocked his path, pointing an accusing finger at him.
“Changmin, you… you just-”
He nodded uncertainly, hitching Yoona up higher on his back but said nothing more.
It took a minute after the couple turned a corner when Eunhyuk suddenly exclaimed, “The mute speaks!”
Donghae’s face darkened in concern as Hyoyeon shook her head and corrected her boyfriend.
“The mute spoke.”
Well, what did I really expect? Hyoyeon mused, wincing slightly at the memory of Yoona’s frowning and swaying on her feet. Her friend was obviously upset when she found her screaming at her phone, but it still surprised her to realize how much Yoona had already unconsciously given of herself into this relationship with Changmin.
And the kicker was, after last night, Hyoyeon didn’t think that Yoona was the only one invested in their arrangement at all.
“Babe,” Eunhyuk spoke softly, bringing her attention to him and she knew she must have had a distressed look on her face.
Hyoyeon looked at him in the eye and sighed, “Changmin spoke. He’s not a mute.”
“You told me that he’d admitted as much to Yoona and you before.”
“He did! But that’s not the point here. The point is that he spoke last night, Eunhyuk. When Yoona was too blitzed to realize.”
Eunhyuk stared at her, uncomprehending. Though if she were being honest, she didn’t understand why she was upset about this herself too.
“I’m worried, I guess. Yoona doesn’t need any more drama in her life… and this is a kinda big deal, you know?” Hyoyeon decided to say after a minute of silence, knowing that Eunhyuk knew just what that meant. She took her phone from him and tried Yoona’s cell again, frowning as the voice mail prompt came on again.
“I thought it was a quirk. Like it was a vow of silence he’d decided to do because he’s such a broody guy, you know?” She sighed loudly, trying Yoona’s phone again and getting absolutely no where. “But if he can speak, and he could do it so easily, then what the hell is stopping him?”
It took all of Changmin’s sheer will and patience not to have yelled at his sisters for their despicable timing. But in hindsight, he admitted that their impromptu arrival was a good thing. Yoona had been embarrassed enough to find herself nursing a hangover in his room and wearing his clothes; he wasn’t sure she would be calm enough to accept him kissing her without preamble.
After all, they had agreed to no intimate contact if they were without an audience. And as much as he wanted to put his mouth over hers, he knew that if he was ever going to convince her to consider him and their relationship as more than a transaction between two would-be strangers, then Changmin had to work up to getting that rule abolished.
So he composed himself, taking his time in picking up a white shirt from his drawer and putting it on before bounding downstairs. His sisters and Yoona were eating, sitting around the kitchen counter and talking amongst themselves. His sisters were laughing about something at Yoona, who had her face in her hands and shaking her head. He watched quietly as she pulled back, blushing and looking completely mortified before dissolving into a fit of giggles herself. Changmin wasn’t sure he liked the fact that they paused the second they heard him walking over, giggling still as they gave each other knowing looks.
If he knew his sisters at all, Changmin was sure that whatever it was-it couldn’t have been good.
/What are you girls up to?/ He wrote, flashing the board at them. All three of them shrugged; Sooyoung and Yuri grinning from ear to ear and fighting to contain their laughter while Yoona bit at her lower lip, a blush still staining her cheeks.
“Nothing, bro.” Yuri teased, drawing out the ‘o’ by the end. She looked at Sooyoung’s smug expression and then Yoona’s blushing face before letting out an indelicate snort, promptly sending all three girls into another laughing fit. Changmin could only raise his eyebrow at them and waited patiently until they calmed down before picking up his board again and writing.
/Then what’s so funny?/ Changmin wrote, only to be ignored as they whipped their heads away from him. Blowing out a long, mock-frustrated breath, Changmin started tapping his whiteboard incessantly until Yoona grabbed it from him.
Her eyes glittered as they met his; her previously blushing and mortified look dissolving to an alluringly mischievous expression as she reached over again to grab his pen as well. Yoona then proceeded to draw a cartoon under his question-a poorly drawn caricature of his face, he realized when she wrote the letters ‘CM’ under it-before handing the board back to him.
“That’s what’s funny.” Yoona said simply, sticking her tongue out at him playfully. She grinned as both Sooyoung and Yuri sniggered at their brother’s expense. They sat watching the couple as they stood at opposite ends of the counter, waiting patiently for a reaction they knew was coming.
Setting his board and pen down on the table, Changmin narrowed his eyes at Yoona as he very slowly walked over. “Oh, come on. You can take a joke, right?” Yoona said sweetly, rocking on her heels as he took another step. She looked to her sides, planning her escape before letting out a loud whoop when Changmin almost grabbed her.
Yoona took off instantly, laughing as she headed towards the living area. She stopped once she was at one end of the couch and Changmin was at the other. He feinted left and she followed suit until they were running around the piece of furniture like they were in kindergarten. They did this for a few more times before Yoona held up her hands in surrender, huffing slightly at the exertion of running.
“I give up! I’m still hung over and still hungry and I really don’t wanna run anymore.” Yoona announced, stopping completely in the middle of their chase.
Changmin stopped too, putting his hands on his hips before moving left and right to block her path back into the kitchen. She pouted at him, crossing her arms across her chest after she tried and failed to get around him. By the look on his face, Yoona knew what she had to say for him to move out of her way but the very thought of it had heat flood her cheeks again and made her want to cover her face with her hands.
“You’re not going to give up until I tell you what we were talking about, huh?” Yoona said finally after he blocked her again, her voice low so that Sooyoung and Yuri wouldn’t hear her-though it was pointless really, considering they had been the ones to tell her about her embarrassing drunken faux pas.
When the sisters brought her down to the kitchen and served her a plate of pancakes and bacon, she didn’t think there could be anything more embarrassing than waking up hung over in her pretend boyfriend’s room. But she had thought too soon and when Sooyoung informed her of a colorful voice message she had left in their home phone and how Changmin had immediately left to come to her aid after she’d left it, Yoona’s mind immediately transported her to the call’s creation.
She squinted down at her phone, tapping at the screen with a gleeful but inebriated smile on her face. “Changmin! Hey Changmin!” Yoona knew was being loud but she didn’t really notice with the alcohol and happy vibes running through her veins. No one else could have noticed even, especially inside the bass-pumping club so she carried on without care. Yoona half-stumbled out to a spot as secluded as it could get with a number of couples all dipping heads together and doing God-knows-what.
“You’re supposed to be here. Where are you? This is not part of the deal, Mister!”
She giggled, feeling unusually light despite the slight slur her words sported when she spoke into the phone. Hyoyeon once told her she was a happy drunk, but she could never remember. She thought belatedly that this might be another one of those times. But happy drunk or not, Yoona couldn’t help that her grin turned sour suddenly a second later. She stomped her foot for effect though the receiver of the call wouldn’t have seen, half-shouting into the phone.
“You’re supposed to be pretending to be my boyfriend. How will you pretend to be in love with me if you’re not here?!”
She tapped the phone closed. Then opened it again in a flurry of strokes.
“You’re an asshole. How could carrying cement blocks be more important than me? I matter you know!” She hiccupped a little when she paused, more pensive now than indignant. Sad, rather than angry.
“And I miss you, you unusually tall asshat! I miss you!”
It was a split decision to grab at Changmin’s whiteboard when he asked what they were laughing about. Because while Yoona did share the amusement Sooyoung and Yuri had at her calling their brother an asshat, she wasn’t too sure of what to make of the truth her ending note held and what it could have meant to Changmin.
Did he even notice? She wondered, rocking back on her heels as she and Changmin stood face to face. Does he even realize how true that call was? He was looking at her in that intense way of his again, his eyes peering into the depths of her soul with each second that passed. Yoona let him step closer, his hands dropping his waist to rest tentatively on her hips. It was an intimate motion, one she was inclined to believe was true because his gaze never faltered from hers the way they had every time they were close in public and especially in front of his sisters. She let him tug her an inch closer and tried to disguise the slight shiver his proximity has always seemed to illicit.
“Sooyoung said you got home just as in the middle of my message and then went out the door the second I ended it.” Yoona told him simply, wrapping her arms tighter around her. She waited a beat, staring back at him before she realized that he didn’t have his board on him to write her a reply and she flushed to the roots of her hair. Her cheeks heated up when he acknowledged her words, waiting for her to go on until she barreled on; standing as still as he was while she spoke-Changmin’s warm hands keeping her close by the angles of her hips.
Yoona smiled as she blushed even more, breaking their locked gaze by turning her head. She caught Sooyoung and Yuri watching them with interest out of the corner of her eye. “Apparently you carried me back here on your back and that I was singing the Alphabet song over and over in different singing styles. Yuri was doing my ‘trot’ impression when you came down.”
She said that last bit purposefully louder so that his sisters would hear and when Yuri let out another unladylike snort, the tension between them broke as she and Changmin started laughing as well.
“You should consider becoming a trot singer, Yoona. You totally have a talent for it,” Sooyoung teased, giving the couple an exaggerated wink as they walked back towards the kitchen. Changmin headed towards the stove while Yoona reclaimed her seat around the counter. “I bet Yuri would agree to become your backup singer actually.”
“I totally would,” Yuri agreed, grinning even as she stuffed a strip of bacon she had stolen from Yoona’s plate into her mouth.
“That’s my bacon!” Yoona exclaimed indignantly, mock-glaring at the younger woman as she pulled her plate closer to her body. She ignored the flutter in her stomach when she felt Changmin move behind her, his shirt brushing against her arm. He refilled her plate with fluffy scrambled eggs and a side of bacon, slapping Sooyoung and Yuri’s hands away when both girls reached over at the same time to steal the pieces of meat. She couldn’t contain the wide grin from growing on her face when he silently reprimanded his sisters with a look before filling their own plates with bacon and eggs as well.
Changmin was just dropping off a cup of hot coffee in front of her when he finally noticed the grin on Yoona’s face. He raised both of his eyebrows in question, blinking at her as he stood, his body turned towards her as he carefully sipped his coffee.
“You’re cute.” Yoona said simply, feeding him a forkful of scrambled eggs with a smile. She anticipated the chorus of ‘Aww’ and kissing noises from his sisters when she went back to eating herself, grinning all the while as Changmin stood dumbfounded for a second before catching on to the tone of her voice when she poke and understanding exactly what she meant.
She thinks I’m cute. She means that.
He smiled back at her, accepting his sisters’ teasing while he drank from his coffee cup again and Yoona continued to clear her breakfast.
Maybe it won’t be so hard to convince her after all.
He had missed her, goodness knows, just as much as she said she missed him. Having been lost to one another for a decade didn’t lessen the love they felt for one another and so a couple of days absence for work didn’t even make a blip in the grand scheme of things. He loved her, missed her… but admittedly, not so much as he would have cared for in the past couple of days.
Or really, to be specific, he hadn’t missed much (or at all) the night before.
Donghae let out a sigh that was long and wary, unsure of the deep, unsettling feeling gathering in the pit of his stomach. He glanced at his phone for a moment, momentarily cringing at a message notification from Jessica before pressing the little mail icon. The message was short but sweet in the way he knew Jessica could privately be known for: [Stuck in traffic. Who knew Seoul could rival New York streets on a bright and sunshine-y day? Be there in a few, love.] The wave of love and affection wasn’t new but the apprehension was. And it was exactly why he felt this that was causing him trouble sleeping at night.
He shut the screen off without replying and placed the phone on the table.
… only to pick it up again a minute later, scrolling past apps to choose the Photo Gallery and peruse the images he’d taken from the night before.
They weren’t much. Using a phone’s camera at night never made anyone look good but if by some miracle it did, then it certainly captured Yoona’s beauty last night. Donghae had never doubted how attracted he was to Yoona’s physicality; it was, after all, what had drawn him to her in the first place. It was how strongly he is still attracted (and fond of) to her that was the problem. Especially since he had chosen to break it off with her some months ago because he thought it was just that.
And yet, here I am, thinking about my ex when I’d left her to be with my other ex. Donghae scolded himself; correcting his thoughts at the last minute once the words truly sunk in, Current girlfriend. Sooyeon isn’t the ex anymore. Yoona is.
It seemed like he would have to start reminding himself of that fact. Because if the last night was any indication of how incredibly stupid he could be to forget how he’d broken Im Yoona’s heart just half a year ago, then it should be plastered all over the city that Lee Donghae is without a doubt the biggest idiot-slash-loser South Korea could ever have gave birth to.
Because an educated man do not go to clubs and party until dawn when he has a beautiful woman waiting for him back home. He doesn’t go alone to a party for his ex-girlfriend and then keeps watch of said ex while she takes one shot after another. A smart man doesn’t get close-too close-to his ex when she throws him a certain smile.
Especially when it’s a smile that isn’t meant for him. At least, not anymore…
Donghae clinked glasses with her, throwing an arm around her shoulder. The music playing so loud and pounding around them that he has to yell. “Happy Birthday, Yoona!”
“Thanks!” Yoona grinned, blinking at her ex. She looked around them, crinkling her brow when she doesn’t find Jessica, or anyone she knows for that matter-not Hyoyeon nor Eunhyuk-close by. “Where’s your girlfriend?”
He shrugged, his eyes dimming slightly. Donghae finished his drink in two large gulps before answering her question. “Uh, she had to take care of some things. But she has a present for you. I left it with Hyoyeon.”
“Oh! She’s so nice! She’s really nice. I’m glad you chose someone nice after me.” Yoona smiled even wider, tapping his nose with her index finger. She tilted her head slightly to the side, leaning just a bit as she pointed at him to add slyly, “Pretty too. So pretty. Prettier than me!”
He laughed loudly, catching her finger into his palm. “You’re pretty too, Yoona. And also very drunk at the moment.”
“But you must miss her when she’s not here, right?”
Donghae paused for a second to consider her question before nodding slowly, transfixed by the glimmer in her doe eyes.
Yoona had tipped her head up to catch his nod, her smile turning soft as she regarded him seriously even while tipsy. And after a long moment of being lost in her eyes, Donghae found himself dipper his head down to hers.
He was a hair breadth away when she pulls away to pout-unperturbed by what could have happened if she hadn’t moved to speak so suddenly. Donghae is left hanging, winded when her words penetrate his consciousness.
“I miss Changmin.”
He wishes then that he wasn’t so sober to feel… angry inside. But when Yoona goes and adds to her statement, still smiling that sweet, soft smile; eyes glazed and wistful, he can’t help but ask for another glass of alcohol.
“I wish Changmin was here.”
Donghae barely missed the familiar staccato rhythm of heels when he pulls himself out of his memory of the night before. A forced smile lining his lips as he moved to stand and greet a smiling Jessica as she arrived at their table, her hair long and shiny, her cheeks and lips rosy pink as they are (he knew) soft.
“Hey, honey! I thought you’d be in bed nursing a hangover by the way Eunhyuk went on about how crazy the party last night was when he dropped you off.” Jessica said loudly, tucking a curl of hair behind her ear. She reached over to squeeze his hand when grimaced at her overly chipper tone before moving a palm up to his cheek.
She looked him in the eye, caressing the light stubble on his skin before leaning over to kiss him softly.
“Did you have fun?” She asked, pulling away to look at the menu a waitress dropped off for them and Donghae felt even more awful to force another grin unto his lips.
Jessica is so beautiful and he loves her. But all Donghae saw when she kissed him was Yoona’s face and her soft, soft smile and his mind goes into overdrive.
-No, I didn’t have fun It was horrible because I think I still have feelings for Yoona I’m so sorry I’ve never wanted to hurt you but I want you both I made a mistake and it’s so wrong I love you but I love her too-
His voice doesn’t crack, but it might as well should have.
“It was fine.”
[ Hi, this is Im Yoona’s phone. I’m not in right now… actually I’m probably still asleep or buried in exams. Either way I’m busy, so leave a message after the beep! ]
“Voice mail again!”
Hyoyeon threw herself onto the bed face done, tossing her phone away in the process. Eunhyuk was quick enough to grab it before it tipped off the bed and then sat down beside his girlfriend’s form, letting out a breath as he considered what to do or say next.
She hadn’t slept when they got back from the club and dropping Donghae off at his apartment just past three in the morning. She couldn’t stop fidgeting after Changmin had shown up out of blue and took Yoona with him but Eunhyuk knew the issue was less about her best friend’s pretend boyfriend’s sudden chivalrous rescue (he reminded himself that he would have to talk to Donghae about that later) and more about what said pretend boyfriend did to make such a rescue.
“It’s too early for you to freak out, Hyoyeon.” His tone was soft and placating but Eunhyuk knew his words were enough to make his girlfriend sit up immediately and huff at him. He held up his hands in defense and cut her off before she could yell at him, “There has to be some explanation to why Changmin did what he did and regardless if Yoona or anyone else knows about it or not, it’s really none of our business.”
Hyoyeon knew he had a point but she couldn’t help the irrational rush of anger coursing through her veins. She had twisted in their sheets all night, turning the past few months and last night’s events over and over in her head just to try to find some indication or clue that Changmin could have…
She let out a long huff, folding her arms across her chest as she thought back on the night before. Hyoyeon knew that it wasn’t exactly the most inspired idea for her to throw Yoona a birthday party at a club, but she reasoned that her best friend needed to lighten up her routine more and nothing lightened Yoona up as much as dancing and a good ice-cold glass of rum and coke. She had even managed to convince her to dress up in a lace top, a leather skirt and heels so high Hyoyeon was impressed that Yoona managed to keep her balance for most of the night.
But of course, nothing could ever go smooth-sailing when celebrating your 25th birthday party means having to consume copious amounts of alcohol under your ex-boyfriend’s looming presence while your current boyfriend is a no-show. Yoona told them when she arrived at the club last night that Changmin was running overtime with a construction project he was working part-time at and wouldn’t be able to make it. Her tone had been neutral then, but Hyoyeon could tell that her best friend was a little disappointed and so was the driving force of her immediately pushing a shot into Yoona’s hands.
It was fine for the first hour or two: Yoona was laughing and dancing with her and Eunhyuk, having the time of her life since forever. She hadn’t even minded Donghae’s attendance and was friendly with him instead of awkward or stilted like all the other times before. It concerned her a little to see Donghae and Yoona interacting well, but it wasn’t enough to make her come in between them last night. All Hyoyeon cared about was that she was happy that Yoona was happy so all was good until…
“Stupid, mute, asshole. Not even here.” Yoona hiccupped again, belching a little before speaking again, her words disjointed and slurred. “Should be here. More important. Matter.”
“Okay, you’ve had enough. Let’s take you home.” Hyoyeon announced, picking her friend up with a huff. Yoona slumped into her, still slurring into her phone and pouting. The boys stood back, laughing while watching the girls struggle to stay upright. The blonde glared at them. “You dicks could help, you know!”
“It’s your own fault that she’s this trashed.” Eunhyuk quipped, watching as Donghae stepped forward to take Yoona by the shoulders and held her steady. “You know how easy tequila gets to her if she drinks them in a row.”
“I’ll take her home,” Donghae told them, about to turn back only to stop as someone else spoke.
“No.”
The three of them whipped their heads around in total shock (eyes wide and mouths hanging open) as Changmin appeared a few feet from them, his hands deep in his pockets. Ignoring their matching expressions, he crouched in front of Yoona. He wrapped her arms around his neck before standing, hitching her up to grasp her legs around his waist.
“Changmin?” Yoona whispered sleepily on his shoulder. “You’re here?”
He said nothing even as the corner of his lips turned up and she folded herself closer to him, falling asleep almost instantly. Changmin started to walk when Hyoyeon blocked his path, pointing an accusing finger at him.
“Changmin, you… you just-”
He nodded uncertainly, hitching Yoona up higher on his back but said nothing more.
It took a minute after the couple turned a corner when Eunhyuk suddenly exclaimed, “The mute speaks!”
Donghae’s face darkened in concern as Hyoyeon shook her head and corrected her boyfriend.
“The mute spoke.”
Well, what did I really expect? Hyoyeon mused, wincing slightly at the memory of Yoona’s frowning and swaying on her feet. Her friend was obviously upset when she found her screaming at her phone, but it still surprised her to realize how much Yoona had already unconsciously given of herself into this relationship with Changmin.
And the kicker was, after last night, Hyoyeon didn’t think that Yoona was the only one invested in their arrangement at all.
“Babe,” Eunhyuk spoke softly, bringing her attention to him and she knew she must have had a distressed look on her face.
Hyoyeon looked at him in the eye and sighed, “Changmin spoke. He’s not a mute.”
“You told me that he’d admitted as much to Yoona and you before.”
“He did! But that’s not the point here. The point is that he spoke last night, Eunhyuk. When Yoona was too blitzed to realize.”
Eunhyuk stared at her, uncomprehending. Though if she were being honest, she didn’t understand why she was upset about this herself too.
“I’m worried, I guess. Yoona doesn’t need any more drama in her life… and this is a kinda big deal, you know?” Hyoyeon decided to say after a minute of silence, knowing that Eunhyuk knew just what that meant. She took her phone from him and tried Yoona’s cell again, frowning as the voice mail prompt came on again.
“I thought it was a quirk. Like it was a vow of silence he’d decided to do because he’s such a broody guy, you know?” She sighed loudly, trying Yoona’s phone again and getting absolutely no where. “But if he can speak, and he could do it so easily, then what the hell is stopping him?”
It took all of Changmin’s sheer will and patience not to have yelled at his sisters for their despicable timing. But in hindsight, he admitted that their impromptu arrival was a good thing. Yoona had been embarrassed enough to find herself nursing a hangover in his room and wearing his clothes; he wasn’t sure she would be calm enough to accept him kissing her without preamble.
After all, they had agreed to no intimate contact if they were without an audience. And as much as he wanted to put his mouth over hers, he knew that if he was ever going to convince her to consider him and their relationship as more than a transaction between two would-be strangers, then Changmin had to work up to getting that rule abolished.
So he composed himself, taking his time in picking up a white shirt from his drawer and putting it on before bounding downstairs. His sisters and Yoona were eating, sitting around the kitchen counter and talking amongst themselves. His sisters were laughing about something at Yoona, who had her face in her hands and shaking her head. He watched quietly as she pulled back, blushing and looking completely mortified before dissolving into a fit of giggles herself. Changmin wasn’t sure he liked the fact that they paused the second they heard him walking over, giggling still as they gave each other knowing looks.
If he knew his sisters at all, Changmin was sure that whatever it was-it couldn’t have been good.
/What are you girls up to?/ He wrote, flashing the board at them. All three of them shrugged; Sooyoung and Yuri grinning from ear to ear and fighting to contain their laughter while Yoona bit at her lower lip, a blush still staining her cheeks.
“Nothing, bro.” Yuri teased, drawing out the ‘o’ by the end. She looked at Sooyoung’s smug expression and then Yoona’s blushing face before letting out an indelicate snort, promptly sending all three girls into another laughing fit. Changmin could only raise his eyebrow at them and waited patiently until they calmed down before picking up his board again and writing.
/Then what’s so funny?/ Changmin wrote, only to be ignored as they whipped their heads away from him. Blowing out a long, mock-frustrated breath, Changmin started tapping his whiteboard incessantly until Yoona grabbed it from him.
Her eyes glittered as they met his; her previously blushing and mortified look dissolving to an alluringly mischievous expression as she reached over again to grab his pen as well. Yoona then proceeded to draw a cartoon under his question-a poorly drawn caricature of his face, he realized when she wrote the letters ‘CM’ under it-before handing the board back to him.
“That’s what’s funny.” Yoona said simply, sticking her tongue out at him playfully. She grinned as both Sooyoung and Yuri sniggered at their brother’s expense. They sat watching the couple as they stood at opposite ends of the counter, waiting patiently for a reaction they knew was coming.
Setting his board and pen down on the table, Changmin narrowed his eyes at Yoona as he very slowly walked over. “Oh, come on. You can take a joke, right?” Yoona said sweetly, rocking on her heels as he took another step. She looked to her sides, planning her escape before letting out a loud whoop when Changmin almost grabbed her.
Yoona took off instantly, laughing as she headed towards the living area. She stopped once she was at one end of the couch and Changmin was at the other. He feinted left and she followed suit until they were running around the piece of furniture like they were in kindergarten. They did this for a few more times before Yoona held up her hands in surrender, huffing slightly at the exertion of running.
“I give up! I’m still hung over and still hungry and I really don’t wanna run anymore.” Yoona announced, stopping completely in the middle of their chase.
Changmin stopped too, putting his hands on his hips before moving left and right to block her path back into the kitchen. She pouted at him, crossing her arms across her chest after she tried and failed to get around him. By the look on his face, Yoona knew what she had to say for him to move out of her way but the very thought of it had heat flood her cheeks again and made her want to cover her face with her hands.
“You’re not going to give up until I tell you what we were talking about, huh?” Yoona said finally after he blocked her again, her voice low so that Sooyoung and Yuri wouldn’t hear her-though it was pointless really, considering they had been the ones to tell her about her embarrassing drunken faux pas.
When the sisters brought her down to the kitchen and served her a plate of pancakes and bacon, she didn’t think there could be anything more embarrassing than waking up hung over in her pretend boyfriend’s room. But she had thought too soon and when Sooyoung informed her of a colorful voice message she had left in their home phone and how Changmin had immediately left to come to her aid after she’d left it, Yoona’s mind immediately transported her to the call’s creation.
She squinted down at her phone, tapping at the screen with a gleeful but inebriated smile on her face. “Changmin! Hey Changmin!” Yoona knew was being loud but she didn’t really notice with the alcohol and happy vibes running through her veins. No one else could have noticed even, especially inside the bass-pumping club so she carried on without care. Yoona half-stumbled out to a spot as secluded as it could get with a number of couples all dipping heads together and doing God-knows-what.
“You’re supposed to be here. Where are you? This is not part of the deal, Mister!”
She giggled, feeling unusually light despite the slight slur her words sported when she spoke into the phone. Hyoyeon once told her she was a happy drunk, but she could never remember. She thought belatedly that this might be another one of those times. But happy drunk or not, Yoona couldn’t help that her grin turned sour suddenly a second later. She stomped her foot for effect though the receiver of the call wouldn’t have seen, half-shouting into the phone.
“You’re supposed to be pretending to be my boyfriend. How will you pretend to be in love with me if you’re not here?!”
She tapped the phone closed. Then opened it again in a flurry of strokes.
“You’re an asshole. How could carrying cement blocks be more important than me? I matter you know!” She hiccupped a little when she paused, more pensive now than indignant. Sad, rather than angry.
“And I miss you, you unusually tall asshat! I miss you!”
It was a split decision to grab at Changmin’s whiteboard when he asked what they were laughing about. Because while Yoona did share the amusement Sooyoung and Yuri had at her calling their brother an asshat, she wasn’t too sure of what to make of the truth her ending note held and what it could have meant to Changmin.
Did he even notice? She wondered, rocking back on her heels as she and Changmin stood face to face. Does he even realize how true that call was? He was looking at her in that intense way of his again, his eyes peering into the depths of her soul with each second that passed. Yoona let him step closer, his hands dropping his waist to rest tentatively on her hips. It was an intimate motion, one she was inclined to believe was true because his gaze never faltered from hers the way they had every time they were close in public and especially in front of his sisters. She let him tug her an inch closer and tried to disguise the slight shiver his proximity has always seemed to illicit.
“Sooyoung said you got home just as in the middle of my message and then went out the door the second I ended it.” Yoona told him simply, wrapping her arms tighter around her. She waited a beat, staring back at him before she realized that he didn’t have his board on him to write her a reply and she flushed to the roots of her hair. Her cheeks heated up when he acknowledged her words, waiting for her to go on until she barreled on; standing as still as he was while she spoke-Changmin’s warm hands keeping her close by the angles of her hips.
Yoona smiled as she blushed even more, breaking their locked gaze by turning her head. She caught Sooyoung and Yuri watching them with interest out of the corner of her eye. “Apparently you carried me back here on your back and that I was singing the Alphabet song over and over in different singing styles. Yuri was doing my ‘trot’ impression when you came down.”
She said that last bit purposefully louder so that his sisters would hear and when Yuri let out another unladylike snort, the tension between them broke as she and Changmin started laughing as well.
“You should consider becoming a trot singer, Yoona. You totally have a talent for it,” Sooyoung teased, giving the couple an exaggerated wink as they walked back towards the kitchen. Changmin headed towards the stove while Yoona reclaimed her seat around the counter. “I bet Yuri would agree to become your backup singer actually.”
“I totally would,” Yuri agreed, grinning even as she stuffed a strip of bacon she had stolen from Yoona’s plate into her mouth.
“That’s my bacon!” Yoona exclaimed indignantly, mock-glaring at the younger woman as she pulled her plate closer to her body. She ignored the flutter in her stomach when she felt Changmin move behind her, his shirt brushing against her arm. He refilled her plate with fluffy scrambled eggs and a side of bacon, slapping Sooyoung and Yuri’s hands away when both girls reached over at the same time to steal the pieces of meat. She couldn’t contain the wide grin from growing on her face when he silently reprimanded his sisters with a look before filling their own plates with bacon and eggs as well.
Changmin was just dropping off a cup of hot coffee in front of her when he finally noticed the grin on Yoona’s face. He raised both of his eyebrows in question, blinking at her as he stood, his body turned towards her as he carefully sipped his coffee.
“You’re cute.” Yoona said simply, feeding him a forkful of scrambled eggs with a smile. She anticipated the chorus of ‘Aww’ and kissing noises from his sisters when she went back to eating herself, grinning all the while as Changmin stood dumbfounded for a second before catching on to the tone of her voice when she poke and understanding exactly what she meant.
She thinks I’m cute. She means that.
He smiled back at her, accepting his sisters’ teasing while he drank from his coffee cup again and Yoona continued to clear her breakfast.
Maybe it won’t be so hard to convince her after all.