Lights Are Missing (PART 1)

9.

As we all walked along the sidewalk, getting closer and closer to my neighborhood, I felt an impending sense of dread washing over me, getting worse and worse with each step that I took.

I guess Soobin noticed this because he fell back slightly so he was walking in line with me, "You alright?"

I stared for a moment before I shook my head in eventuality. The moon was still shining brightly, which didn't help me much in a poetic sense.

"What's wrong?" His voice softened even more as I burned my eyes into the back of Yeonjun's head.

"I don't want the night to end. I love you guys." I stared down at my feet as I realized the shoe size difference between Soobin and I.

He sighed as he took a few steps quicker, tapping on Yeonjun's shoulder. The two switched places. I was walking beside Yeonjun now, Soobin up with the other guys.

"What's wrong?" He slipped his hands deep inside his pockets. I felt a wave of embarrassment knock me over. My feet and legs carried me, sure, but I could barely move anything else.

"Just don't want the night to end." I was very blunt with him, still trying to understand why Soobin would've gotten Yeonjun instead of dealing with me himself.

"It doesn't have to."

"Huh?" The way he said that, the deep voice he had suddenly obtained, the seductive tone that laced each of his words was driving me practically crazy.

He looked down at me, and I looked up at him. The glassy look in his eyes was my breaking point.

"I can stay the night." He spoke quickly.

"Please do." I spoke even quicker.

Right on que, we reached my house, the porch light on as my mom always had done whenever someone was going to be out past dark.

"We're stopping here. Thanks for the fun night guys. See you tomorrow, yeah?" Yeonjun rambled out to the guys as he started to gently push me up the few steps to the front door.

"Uh, sure." Kai shrugged as I unlocked the door. Then, soon enough, we were inside the entry way and our friends were out of sight.

The door squeaked loudly shut behind us, causing my mom to pop her head out from the wall in the kitchen, her face lighting up when she saw the two of us. Mostly when she was Yeonjun. As she came running out to see us, the smell of her cooking, the spices, all filled my nose. It was such a familiar, homey smell that I'd gotten so used to.

"Who is this!" She shouted as she wrapped her arms around him, squeezing him tightly in a hug as his eyes stared at me in shock, excitement and panic. I chuckled a little bit.

"Yeonjun, a friend of mine." I nodded to myself as she pulled away from him, admiring his face before hugging him one final time before actually letting him go. She patted his shoulders and pinched his cheeks.

She ruffled his hair too, "Well he's cute. He can stay."

"That was the plan." I smiled as she grabbed both of our hands and pulled the two of us into the kitchen where she was cooking. My sister was sitting at the kitchen table, texting aggressively into her phone.

"Hey, Hiah." I waved to her, but she didn't reply, she just kept typing into her phone to the point I could hear her nails slamming against the screen.

My mom let go of my hand but kept pulling Yeonjun to the stove where she was cooking something. I let them do their own thing, my mom telling him about the spices she was using. Yeonjun was pretending to care, but I knew he really didn't.