Doubler || NCT || Completed

51

"Hey Byongho, is Jiyoung already there?" Yujin asked as soon as the employee picked up the Café's phone.

Yujin was walking towards the bus stop, determined not to cry and to solely focus on her last day in Seoul before leaving for Shanghai. She was pulling her luggage behind her, making a to do -list in her head for the day. She was supposed to drop her stuff at Seoul Station luggage storage so that she could pick up some essentials, have an early lunch with Taeil, get her passport and brand new Chinese express visa from the embassy and later stop by at the Dalah Café located in Yongsan-gu, so that she could say goodbye to Jiyoung and Byongho. They could relay her goodbye to the rest of the employees.

"No, not yet, why? Her shift starts in the afternoon", Byongho answered. "Did your schedule change?"

"No, I was just wondering", Yujin said as she paused to wait for some cars to pass so that she could cross the street safely. It seemed to be a busy day. "She hasn't answered my messages since yesterday evening and I would've liked to check that everything's ok."

"She seemed fine yesterday but I can shoot her a message if you want?" Byongho suggested.

Yujin shook her head even though he couldn't see it. "No need, I'm sure that everything's fine. I'll see you guys later today!"

When the call ended, Yujin stared at her phone, trying to come up the next thing that could draw her attention away from the sadness that had embraced her the minute she had closed the apartment door.

To be honest, she was a bit confused because normally Jiyoung was glued to her phone and answered right away to everyone. Now it had been over 12 hours. Yujin frowned at her phone while wedging her luggage between herself and the bus wall after getting on and paying for the trip.

Yujin tried to call Jiyoung and sent her a new message, asking if something was wrong. While it was possible that Jiyoung's phone had died, Yujin was starting to feel uneasy. But, on the other hand, Byongho did say that she had seemed ok yesterday, so maybe Yujin was overthinking it.

Yujin looked out he window as the bus stopped and more people entered the vehicle, pushing her against the wall and her luggage. Would Jeno worry for her this way if he'd message her and she wouldn't answer?

Her plan had been to buy a new prepaid SIM card as soon as she landed in Shanghai, and to get rid of her Korean number to make it harder for anyone to find her. It felt like a wise plan but considering it from Jeno's perspective made her feel like she was going to be unnecessarily cruel.

Yujin unlocked her phone and stared at the wallpaper. Jeno had wanted to change it. He had ended up taking an unfocused selfie that only showed the upper half of his face - probably because he knew that she was worried about someone using the picture to hunt him down.

In the picture, his eyes were smiling at Yujin. She bit her tongue, as the pain swallowed her.

She wanted to call him. It had been barely 10 minutes since she'd seen him but she wanted to call him so badly, to hear his voice, to tell him that she already missed him. It was pathetic.

"This sucks", she mumbled to herself.

As soon as she had stored her luggage at the train station, Yujin was swept away by her errands and got a break from feeling down for leaving Jeno and the others behind. While she was able to speak some Chinese and English, she had figured that it would be good to stock up some essential hygiene and cooking products for the beginning of her new life in Shanghai, and that - as well as buying some gifts she could leave for the Café employees before leaving - kept her busy all morning.

"I thought that you were moving away, not going shopping", Taeil commented when Yujin entered their lunch spot with shopping bags.

Yujin rolled her eyes before sitting down.