Absentia - Part II
Title: Absentia
Pairing: Sehun/Kai; minor!(Sehun/Tao, Kai/Luhan, Sehun/Kris); slight!Sehun/Yixing
Rated: PG
Summary: Sehun wishes to see the future. He unknowingly jumps in time and loses five years in the past. Slowly, he realizes, he didn't only lose time. He lost a lot.
I'm out on the edge and I'm screaming my name
Like a fool at the top of my lungs
Sometimes when I close my eyes I pretend I'm alright
But it's never enough
Cause my echo, echo
Is the only voice coming back
My shadow, shadow
Is the only friend that I have
- Echo, Jason Walker
5 years in the future.
Sehun looks around him, the pillows, the sheets, his own bed, they're all different. Next to him is a pile of pillows, no Kai, no sign of his boyfriend. A lump formed in his throat, where is he?
The door past the bedroom leads to a wide elegant all-white living room, with thick laced drapes on the wall, a huge comfy couch at the side, and along a stretch on the wall is a huge print of a special edition of the Diamaunt magazine in a frame. Is he somehow in his supervisor's house?
The end of the room opens to the kitchen where a gorgeous glass table sat in the middle, and fully varnished mahogany chairs positioned around the beauty. It's the same type of furniture Sehun would have bought for himself. He reaches the tall fridge with three compartments and immediately runs his fingers on the smooth metallic surface of the cooling furniture, engulfed by the perfection of it, he could live with the owner of this huge flat. It's ideal to his dream place.
A few notes are stuck on the fridge door, and even though he knows it's none of his business, he reads all of them.
See you on Monday. -K
The other night was great. -K
Drink your vitamins. -K
Somewhere below, dated a few weeks back.
You might want to check on the bed, it creaked so bad I think we broke it. You were so wild. -K
That was the best sex ever. -K
And on the topmost, the most recent ones.
Get well soon. So we could... *wink* -K
Sehun tries to pry his eyes off of the notes. Whatever his curiosity is doing to him, it's wrong to read personal messages for other people. It's called invading privacy.
He starts to turn away when the note written for today catches his full attention.
His jaw drops.
Sehun, you have an appointment with me at 9AM. -K
Sehun.
Is he in his own house?
•
He rocks back and forth on the bed he left the moment he woke up. What is happening? He's sure he slept with Kai last night in his apartment, in their apartment. How can he end up somewhere else the morning after?
Sehun doesn't understand. As hard as it is, that is the only thing that he understands. He doesn't understand.
A phone rang in the room and Sehun jumps at the sudden buzz from inside the drawer in front of the mirror beside the foot of his bed. There's a gut feeling that it's his own, just as how the condo he's in right now is his as well. Who is it, Kai? Is Kai the Mr. K? They never left notes for each other, but everything has been weird already, maybe it's another one of it. Sehun stands from the bed and slowly approaches the drawer where the vibrating sound is coming from.
He pulls it out and a slick black touch handphone is blinking its lights while it rings, flashing a name on the screen repetitively.
K
The K is calling.
His heart leaps out. If this is Kai, then he could get answers from him at once. He won't feel scared anymore, he's going to be okay.
The phone continues to ring and Sehun presses the answer button before bringing it up to his ear.
"Thank God, you're actually alive." A deep, deeper voice than Kai's, comes through sarcastically.
Sehun doesn't speak. Placing this voice to his memory if he has heard it before, but it didn't match to any of his friends or anyone he knows. He thought of Tao, negative. He's not even going to consider it as Kai, this would never be him. The new voice is much lower, manlier, and he mentally slaps himself, sexier.
"Are you there? It's 9AM. You should be here by now. Did you forget the appointment?"
Confusion. It's all that's running on his face.
"Mr. Oh Sehun." The voice keeps going, a little annoyed.
Sehun brings the speaker to his lips.
"Who's this?"
Silence on the other end.
...
"We just fucked the other night." He can hear the smirk at the other end. "It's Kris. Damn it. Why do you have to delete my number? You bitch."
Dread falls on Sehun.
"Just because you went out of your mind again yesterday, you--"
Sehun cuts the call. His heart races. What did he mean 'we just fucked'? What's going on?
He climbs back to the bed, wishing for Kai to come home now because he's scared, very scared. He doesn't know what's happening in his life. Just last night he was having the time of his life, his best birthday so far, not to mention the mindblowing birthday sex they had. Why is this happening now?
The phone beeps again and it echoes inside the drawer. He ignores it and hugs his legs closer to his chest. The digital clock sits on the bedside table, endlessly blinking the minutes back at him. His hand reaches for it dreadfully, turning it in his hand, the cold surface getting in contact with his skin, an alien feeling.
April 13, 2017
He stares at it.
It was just 2012 yesterday.
A flash of the falling stars plays in his head. Kai's touch, the cold floor, and him closing his eyes.
The wish.
"I just want the future to come faster. I wanna see how it will be for the both of us."
Sehun's eyes widen. Did his wish come true?
•
It takes hours for Sehun to grasp everything. The next thing he knows, it's already evening and the sky is dark. He wants to go out, go back to Kai's apartment, where he could feel his warmth against his skin, his lips brushing against his temple, his arms tucking him in safely, and his voice that pulls him to sleep. But he's scared to leave, he's scared to find out.
Wandering through his whole unit, he learns that it's been actually 5 years since his last memory of his birthday with Kai. It's exactly 5 years from then, and he almost broke down at how much he couldn't recall the lost 5 years. What happened? Why is Kai not coming?
There isn't any trace of Kai in his flat. He wonders if they've lost each other during those unrecalled five years. Just the thought of it crushes his heart really bad. How could he break up with him? It's not possible, not at all.
A trickle of tear falls down his cheek. Sadness enveloped him and he could feel the truth, even if he can't see it. He is alone, he is alone now.
The next morning, he received another call. Ignoring the hundred missed calls from this so-called Kris, he has changed his name into Stranger in his contacts, he looks at the new name on the screen.
Yixing
Who is he?
Where is Tao? Suho? Baekhyun? Chanyeol? Kyungsoo? His friends. Where are they?
Battling with his decisions, he picks it up praying this is not some random guy he fucked during another night.
"Hello?"
He hears a panic from the other end, and a silence the next.
"G-good morning, s-sir."
A stuttering guy from the other line speaks. It feels like he doesn't usually get calls from this Yixing, judging by the way he feels nervous talking to him. If it isn't that, he has no idea why he'd be this nervous to talk to him.
"Uh. Good morning." Sehun answers flatly, clueless of who he is.
"May I know who this is?"
A nervous silence.
"Y-yixing, sir."
"I can tell that."
"Your secretary, sir."
Secretary?
"Since when did I have a sec--" He stops. It's been five years, things might have changed.
"S-sir, you have a meeting today at 11am. I just want t-to remind you. S-sir."
"A meeting?"
"Yes, sir."
A thought passed.
"Yixing." The other guy gasps at the sound of his name.
"Who am I exactly?"
"Uh." Yixing covers the speaker, he could hear the muffled whisper from the other end before his voice comes back. "You're Oh Sehun, sir."
"And what do I do exactly?"
"You're Diamaunt Magazine's editor-in-chief sir."
Sehun is dumbfounded. He's now the editor-in-chief? Just yesterday, no 5 years ago, he's only been aspiring to be one.
"Yixing." He found his voice again. The other guy responds immediately. "Can you cancel the meeting?"
"Y-yes, sir."
"And Yixing." There it goes again, a nervous silence. "Can we meet at a nearby cafe?"
"Wh-- okay, sir."
The cafe he asked Yixing to pick is just near his building, one cab away. Yixing insisted he'll fetch him, but Sehun, still not sure if he should trust people easily after this new life in front of him, refused his offer. He takes a cab and it took him to it after a short while.
He has no idea who Yixing is, but he spots him in a reserved table, in his formal attire with a tie on his neck, much looking like a respectable gentleman. He, too, is in formal clothes yet more casual than Yixing's, because he realizes that there are tons of them in his closet. He doesn't even remember when he has ever changed his whole wardrobe, or even his taste.
Yixing bows politely the moment he sees Sehun, and Sehun makes his way towards the empty table. His secretary waits for him to sit before he did.
Sehun takes notice of how Yixing took a farther seat from him, it's uncomfortable for them to talk with him sitting in that distance. So he stands and seats closer, at least, to Yixing, while the other holds his breath at his boss' actions.
"I have a problem." Sehun starts, and something in Yixing's eyes glistens, something like fear.
He continues.
"The thing is, I don't remember anything."
Yixing's mouth hangs open.
"Are you sick, sir?"
Sehun lowers his eyes.
"I don't know. I wish I am."
"Do you want me to take you to the hospital? How about Kr--" He pauses.
"Who?"
Yixing purses his lips. "Nothing, sir."
"Can you help me? You're the only sane guy I talked to, for the past day."
Yixing blinks at him for a few seconds.
"Of course, sir."
"Can you also drop the 'sir'?" He sees how his secretary widens his eyes. "I mean, I don't remember anything so I'm not really used to it."
"Okay, s-- okay." Yixing says it and waits for Sehun to react at his impoliteness. But he just smiles.
Yixing exhales. That's probably the first time Oh Sehun smiled at him. For the past 4 years.
"Would you mind if I ask you something?"
"No, sir. I mean, no."
Sehun bites his lower lip. "Why do you always seem nervous talking to me?"
The question hangs in the air in 3 heartbeats. Yixing looks at him silently.
"You," he begins. "Never really like me."
•
The office seems peaceful and quiet when Yixing brought him there that afternoon, located in the Diamaunt Magazine tower, a new home for the magazine. Everyone is busy and working hard in Sehun's eyes, and he doesn't know how he came up with such beautiful staff.
"Do I really run this?" Sehun asks the moment Yixing closes the door in his office that's situated at the end of the huge hall, past his employees, behind glass walls where he can see everyone from where's he's sitting at. There's another door next to his office, and he guesses it's a more private room for him. Yixing turns to him, standing at the door before he answers his question.
"Yes."
"You can sit." Sehun comments and Yixing looks at him curiously before taking a seat on the little sofa across his desk.
There's a pile of documents on his desk, a few samples and layouts for the next edition, a few congratulatory letters from other companies and high co-officials, a few notes from a certain Dr. Wu, and apology letters. He scans them quickly and closes his eyes. He's not new to this, he's been an editor before, from his memory. But this is a new kind of pressure, he needs to build up confidence in himself once more, and build a good relationship with his staff. That's his goal for now. And another one.
"Yixing." Sehun looks up at him as he writes on a small piece of sticky note he found on his desk. The said person stands and approaches him.
"Can you look for two people for me?"
He nods.
"Huang Zitao." He hands him a paper. "And Kim Jongin."
"Please find out where they are for me."
Yixing nods again.
"Yixing, thank you!"
His secretary gives him a smile before he exits the door.