Echo || NCTau ||

24 - Sunset driver

From: Jaemin
To: Haechan
Just picked up Jisungie from his class and got home. He seems so happy and relaxed. I think that this is a really good thing for him!

Haechan sighed in relief even though he wasn't sure what he had been scared of before receiving the confirmation that Jisung was okay after his self-defense class. For whatever reason, the otter had felt uneasy about sending the boy to the class alone but Haechan couldn't disobey the team leader when he was told to work overtime.

As Haechan followed the crowd down to the subway station, he tried to call Yeoreum but his attempt went unanswered. He tried for the second time before he decided to send a message to the front desk lady working for his dad's gym.

What Yeoreum said when she was drunk had been bothering him.

"Jisung is better at hiding it, to be honest. I don't think that I could've guessed on my own that he's a doubler as well."

He had been mulling over the implications behind her words and couldn't figure it out.

I don't think that I could've guessed on my own...

It sounded like someone had told her about Jisung but that left him with even more questions that needed answers.

Haechan stood in the line for the subway while the otter admired a flower bouquet in the arms of some guy standing in the other line, and suggested that he should definitely buy one for Jisung for managing his self-defense class alone. And, also, one for Jaemin for picking him up from the class. And, also, one for Yeoreum for being a good teacher.

Haechan shook his head.

He shouldn't buy her any more gifts.

The otter was sad but admitted begrudgingly that Yeoreum had not seemed pleased with any of the previous gifts.

Haechan sighed and focused his thoughts on the actual reason behind the decision. He shouldn't get gifts for Yeoreum because he couldn't trust her. He should continue to observe her and probe her for answers while keeping his distance emotionally. That was why he was trying to call her and why he had asked the front desk lady if Yeoreum had already left the gym.

Yeah, well, maybe that wasn't the only reason he was curious about her whereabouts but it was definitely the main reason.

From: Front desk Cho
To: Haechan
Instructor Kim is still here. She's beating up the punching bag in the practice room.

The last time Haechan had seen her after her match with the punching bag, her hands had been bleeding and there had been an empty, lost look in her eyes. When he cleaned the wounds and covered them, she stared at him as if he had grown a second head.

Haechan entered the subway.

He should go home to his pack. It wasn't smart to seek out Yeoreum's company when his own thoughts were all over the place.

It wasn't supposed to matter to him if she was having a bad day and was abusing the punching bag and destroying her hands.

He couldn't trust her. He didn't know what she was hiding.

But the lost look in her eyes haunted him.

The awkward smile she offered Jisung whenever he succeeded refused to leave him alone.

"Even just one", she had mumbled when she was drunk and was trying to see the stars, as if that one star would have lessened her burden.

Yeoreum had told him close to nothing about herself but he had seen glimpses of what was hiding behind the tough surface – a scared and lonely girl, who pretended not to care about anything yet had saved Haechan's life without expecting anything in return, and then tried to be a good teacher for Jisung even though it clearly wasn't familiar to her.