Run to You | Xu Minghao ; THE 8

XIII

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What does it mean?
무슨 뜻일까?
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*2 months later*

Jia's POV:

Life has been going smoothly in Korea, so far. Though I won't say I don't miss China.

When I got back, I took up different part-time jobs, as many as I could. I'm attending university at the same time too, so it's a bit hectic; even though I took literature as my major.

My dad's health has been better. But my mom has been a bit on and off.

We're all just doing the best we can, at least for now. It's not something we can do about.

I'm trying my best, though, because I love my parents and I don't want anything bad to happen to them. I mean, who else do I have here? And I deserve to repay them for trusting me and sending me to China. If it wasn't them who had pestered me to go, I wouldn't have ever met Minghao. I would have never made so many unforgettable memories and experienced such happiness.

I woke up early that day, around 6 am. I made breakfast for both my parents before I went out to collect the mail. I smiled when I saw a letter addressed to me, sealed in a pretty, lilac envelope. A bright smile spread across my lips as I quickly opened the envelope. I sat down on the couch and opened the letter. I read through it while eating my breakfast.

It was from Minghao, as you may have guessed by now.

Though we do text each other from time to time, and our time zones aren't really different, we don't get to talk much on the phone. Our schedules are completely the opposite, so we write to each other every now and then.

He had gone on a trip with his mom and Junhui recently, and that was what his letter was about. The dance institute had given them a week's break and he went travelling to Japan. He had sent a lot of postcards. Like, a lot. I smiled widely as I looked at them all one by one.

"Is that from Minghao?" I heard my mom approach me and she sat down next to me. I nodded as I showed her some of the photos.

My parents had surprisingly shown a really happy reaction when I had told them about Minghao. They seemed to adore him even though they had never met him. But my mom did talk to him once; when she barged into my room while I was on a call with him.

After mom looked at the photos, and then I went back to my room and put his letter safely in a box. I had been putting all of his letters in there. I took out a few of the photos he had sent and hung them on the fairy lights above my table. I took a picture and sent it to him along with a text saying that I had received his letter and that his trip sounded really fun, and thanked him for the pictures. Then I got ready and left for my class.

I met up with my friend, Seokmin, and we went to uni together.

Seokmin had become my friend since, like, the first day I joined. He is a literal ball of sunshine, and he interacts with everyone. He's super kind too. It didn't take us long to get close to each other.

We're both in the same major, even though he told me he was applying for auditions in idol companies.

His singing was...it cleansed your soul. Like, literally.

Well anyway, we went to the library together after having lunch. A ton of homework was piling up, and today I didn't have any shifts so I decided to finish as much as I could today.

But then I got a text from Minghao, asking me if I was free, and that he wanted to call me. I bit my lip as I thought about what to do. We don't call each other a lot since we're both so busy, and we hadn't for a long time. Yet at the same time, so much work was piling up...

I still decided to call him. "I'll be back in a bit," I said to Seokmin who nodded, and I went out and walked to the park nearby.

"Hey," I said breathlessly, as Minghao picked up the call.

"Hey, love," he greeted cheerfully. "How are you? I didn't disturb you, did I? You said you didn't have shifts today, so I was wondering if I could call you."

My heart fluttered when he said that. I don't know how he had all my schedules memorised.

"Yeah, I don't have shifts today, though I have a lot of work to catch up on," I replied. "But I have the whole day, so it wouldn't hurt to talk to you," I mumbled and he giggled.

"So...what's up? Where are you right now? Institute?" I asked.

"Oh, no, I'm um...at my home. Yeah," he replied awkwardly.

As our conversation progressed, I realised that he hadn't talked much, and that it was mostly me who was trying to bring uo something.

"Hao, is everything okay there? You sound a bit...off," I said.

"Hm? Yeah, of course, everything's fine. What makes you think something's wrong?" he nervously laughed.

"I don't know...it just seemed that way. Is...everything okay with your parents?"

The line went silent for a few seconds.

"Minghao?"

"Huh? Oh, sorry about that. Yeah, yeah, everything's fine, Jia! Don't worry too much."

"Okay...but why haven't you been picking up my calls the past weeks? After you got back from the trip, I mean."

"Ah, actually, I uh, broke my phone. So it took a while to get a new one."

"Okay..." My voice drifted off and I sighed.

"Hey, everything's okay, fine? Stop worrying too much. I'm fine, really," Minghao said in a reassuring tone.

"Okay, okay. Can we switch to video call for a moment? I really want to see you."

"Ah, I'm sorry Jia, but I don't think I can right now. The wifi...is lagging a bit, so, yeah..."

Our conversation continued for a while in an awkward way before I eventually checked the time and told him that I should really get going.

"Yeah, I think I should too," he said, sounding sad. "Thank you for talking to me, even though you were busy."

"Of course, Minghao."

"I love you! Byebye!"

I laughed softly. "I love you too, talk to you later!"

I ended the call, missing what he had whispered at the end.

"I hope so."

And that was the last time I talked to him.

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