Sasaeng - Three: Text Messages (Part 2)
He didn't expect anything. It was a simple selca picture like any typical Asian girl would take. The lighting was bright and showed the girl's blushed powdered cheeks as a rosy pink. Her puckered lips were moist with pink gloss and her skin tone wasn't too dark, yet not too light either, unlike Jaejoong's own pasty complexion. She had single eyelids and large dark brown eyes. Her hair was dark and straight, very pretty. However, the picture didn't calm Jaejoong at all. In her eyes, he saw the minute hint of insanity, the fiery spark of an unrequited passion. Her thin lips were stretched too far for anyone's comfort. It wasn't a forced smile, yet it wasn't natural for a girl's lips to reach almost literally from one ear to the other.
I know this fan, Jaejoong thought to himself. She was everywhere, he realized. She'd been the one that had unnerved Yoochun at the airport; the one that had completely and thoroughly touched every single part of Jaejoong's body at the crosswalk; the one who had bore through Jaejoong's glasses in the elevator; the one who had been one of the many sasaeng fans outside their apartment. She was the sasaeng fan that had freaked Junsu out the most.
Another text snapped Jaejoong out of his reverie.
"Oh~ You still don't remember me, Oppa? Oh well... You will soon :)"
Jaejoong shuddered as Yoochun sat forward, noticing his hyung's discomfort.
"Is anything wrong?" he asked.
Jaejoong quickly shut off his phone, nearly ripping out the battery too fast. "I'm fine," he said, nearly tripping over his words.
"Joongie..."
"I'm fine, Yoochun," he snapped.
"Hyung..."
Jaejoong glared at him, and the baritone gulped, afraid of the intense gaze.
"You can always talk to me if something's bothering you," he said flatly.
Jaejoong just nodded curtly and turned forward, pulling his iPod and headphones out of his pocket. He definitely needed to get a new cellphone.
Yoochun suddenly tapped the lead singer on the shoulder, a concerned look in his eyes. "Hyung," he said softly, holding out his phone. "I think this is for you..."
Jaejoong frowned, eyebrows creasing together as he read the anonymous text.
"Joongie Oppa! Shutting off your phone won't get rid of me, remember that."
Jae shoved the phone back onto Yoochun's hands. "Shut that thing off," he ordered.
"Hyung--"
Jaejoong unbuckled his seatbelt and kneeled in the middle of the isle. "Where's Junsu's phone?"
Yoochun pointed to the bag by the maknae's feet. Zipping open the bag, Jae's hand desperately and blindly searched through the contents of Junsu's bag for his cellphone. He finally grasped the plastic device as it buzzed in a text. Pulling the phone out, Jaejoong instantly tore out the battery pack of the phone.
Jaejoong's heart raced, pounding against his rib cage as if he'd just skydived off a helicopter. His head throbbed from the stress. The sasaeng fans were getting crazier and crazier, he knew. How was he supposed to protect Yoochun and Junsu from them? There were too many of them, with more than enough time on their hands than any of the idols.
Yoochun's phone went off again.
"Turn the damned thing off!" screamed Jaejoong.
Literally jumping in shock of Jaejoong's demanding scream, Yoochun quickly unhinged the back of his phone and removed the battery pack with shaking fingers. Handing the separated pieces of his phone to Jaejoong, Yoochun asked, "What's wrong, hyung?"
Jaejoong only shook his head as he sat back in his seat again, head resting against the window. "I just... Want to sleep..." he murmured softly. "I need to sleep."
Yoochun scooted forward in his seat and held Jaejoong's hand. "Don't hold it all in, Joongie," he said. "Tell me what's wrong. It's not good to keep it all to yourself. Is it... Are you like this because of SM? Is it Junsu and me? Is it...?"
Jaejoong shook his head again as he turned to his friend. "The fans... The sasaeng fans!" he hissed lowly. "They're everywhere... And that one... She won't... Just... Chunnie-ah... I can't take this anymore."
"Don't you dare say that, Kim Jaejoong," he snapped. "You are the strongest of all of us. With just Junsu and me, we're really strong together, but you? You're just as strong as us by yourself! Don't say you can't go on anymore. If Junsu and I are still here, so are you, because you are stronger than both of us. You will be the last of us to survive, and then after all of this is over, you will continue to be strong for us."
Jaejoong shook his head furiously. He couldn't be strong... Not in this state. He didn't feel strong. Broken inside, heart wanting to burst from all the paranoia and lungs desperately wanting air that hadn't been breathed by a sasaeng fan, Jaejoong thought that Yoochun was completely wrong.
Yoochun brought a hand up to Jaejoong's head and caressed his hair with a gentle touch as the older poured out his worries to his friend.
"The sasaeng fans are too powerful, and we can't do anything about it, Yoochun. They live off of our presence. If we're around, so are they. They're parasites, Chunnie. Feeding off what we produce and give to them and all of that, they chew up and keep every single promotion we've done. And that's still not enough. Even after pouring our sweat and blood into a performance for them, they decide that it's not enough from us! So they take matters into their own hands and follow us. You saw the crazy girl's eyes and smile. It's so normal for her. I swear she never stops grinning like that!"
"Hyung... I think you need to calm down," Yoochun whispered softly, concerned about waking up the sleeping Junsu next to him.
Jaejoong tilted his head to face the baritone. "They're everywhere, Chunnie," he murmured softly, as if there were a secretly hidden camera somewhere in their car. "We don't need to even do anything and they'll find us. They'll find a way."
Yoochun awkwardly hugged Jaejoong from the back. "Don't worry about it, Joongie. Rest. Sleep. And I'll wake you when we get home."
"No," Jaejoong barked. "I won't sleep. If this world is still full of sasaeng fans while I'm awake, I don't want to come back to it. If I sleep, I won't ever wake up, Chunnie. I don't want to!"
"Hyung--"
"Excuse me," their manager who'd been driving the car interrupted. He tossed his phone into Jaejoong's lap. "I think that's for you."
Jaejoong shook, refusing to look down at the text, already knowing who it was from, so Yoochun picked it up and quickly murmured it aloud.
"Ha! You think turning off yours and the others' phones off would stop me? Joongie oppa, YOU ARE MINE!!! And don't you forget it. Even Yunho oppa does not own you. I do!"
Jaejoong shivered, the possessive words rattling his insides until he was visibly shaking.
"I think we all need new phones," Jaejoong muttered, handing the phone back to their manager.