When Night And Day Become One

|| Nineteen ||

The Dance was held at our school gym so the surrounding area was very familiar to navigate. It helped calm my heart down and I walked over to the unlit garden of the Green Thumbs Club. It was only a couple of paces away, and the light from the gym cast a dim light over it, the music loud enough to accompany me.

I was pacing around when an awfully familiar voice suddenly called my name. I slowly spun around, my eyes rounding in the process, believing and unbelieving at what greeted my sight.

Kai, the ghost from my past, was standing right before me.

"I didn't know I'm worth a jaw drop," he mused, slowly walking over to me.

"Kai!" I couldn't help exclaiming. "What are you doing here?"

"I came to see you, of course," he responded in that casual manner of his. "Would you like to dance with me?" he asked and gestured towards the gym. "Or we could dance here."

"Uh. I'm here with Lu Han," I blurted out without thinking. Why did I feel the need to say that?

"I know. I saw you two danced," he admitted, giving me a wistful smile.

"Oh," was the only thing that I was able to say. I was confused at what I was feeling, or lack of feeling for that matter. I hadn't thought of what I would feel exactly when I would see Kai again, but it definitely wasn't this. He had broken my heart, I had expected to at least feel a tinge of anger or maybe even longing. But there was none. My heart had calmed completely.

"So a dance, Yeon?" he asked again, extending his hand. "For old time's sake."

"Here? Now?"

He nodded and I took his hand. "Alright, but only one dance, okay?"

He chuckled. "So you've realized it now?" he asked as he placed his hand on my waist. We were just in time for a new song.

I blinked, puzzled. "Realize what?" Then it came to me. "Wait, you knew? About my feelings for Lu Han?"

He nodded. "I've seen the way you look at him, Yeon. Even when you were nagging, there was the kind of look in your eyes that I had

never seen without Lu Han around."

A tiny gasp escaped my mouth, unbelieving. "How come you knew and I didn't?" I asked, utterly perplexed.

Kai laughed and poked my forehead. "Because you are so naive and dense, Park Jiyeon."

"Am not."

"Is too. You actually have to get things spell out for you, else you would never believe it," he added, nodding his head exaggeratedly.

"Fine whatever," I huffed. "I've realized it now, haven't I? That's what matters," I said proudly.

Kai nodded and smiled. "I told you, remember? You just have to look around."

"And I finally did, after a very long time. Was that actually why you broke up with me? Aside from you having to leave, of course."

He nodded again. "I truly cared for you, Yeon. I still do actually, otherwise, I wouldn't be here visiting you. It's just at that time, it was the only thing that I could do to keep us both happy.

"I'm sorry," I said, because what else could you say to something like that. Realizing the mood was becoming gloomy, I asked about his family.

"Still in abroad. It's just Ronan and me who came back, just for the summer though."

The music stopped and Kai gently let me go. "It's good to see you again."

"Thank you, Kai," I said with a small smile as I wrapped my arms around him.

Kai hugged me back. "You're welcome. Go be happy, Yeon."

Before I could respond, I felt myself being swiftly pulled away from Kai.

Lu Han looked at Kai with angry eyes. His fist clenched and I instinctively took a step toward him, scared at what he'd do. The small movement broke his glare from Kai and his focused on mine.

Accusation filled his eyes and I reached a hand out to his arm, telling him it wasn't so. He just shrugged me off.

"Why?" His voice was dangerously low.

"This isn't what it looks like, okay?" I said though I wasn't sure what he even saw it as.

Kai took a step forward, and the tension in the air intensified. "Lu Han, calm do-"

"I'm not talking to you," Lu Han said, cutting him off though his eyes didn't leave mine.

"Lu Han," I said calmly, pleading to him with my eyes. "Listen, okay?"

He closed his eyes then, severing our connection. "No." And with that one word, he turned his back against me and started to walk away.

Anger flared inside me. "So that's it? You're not even going to give me a chance to explain?" I called to him, though Lu Han kept walking, away from the garden, away from the gym, away from me.

In my frustration of not being heard and in my anger of being accused, I yelled and just cursed him. "I hate you!"

He didn't even turn back.

Kai patted my shoulder, looking apologetic and guilty. "I'm sorry, Jiyeon. Maybe I shouldn't have come here."

I sniffed, one tear slipping out to my cheek. "It isn't your fault that Lu Han is being unreasonable." I hurriedly wiped it away and said my goodbye to Kai.

After the fight, Lu Han and I didn't talk. He avoided me every time he saw me and I avoided him just as much. I was so confused about what I should do.

I just realized that I was in love with him, and yet fate had to interfere and complicate matters. I wasn't about to go and apologized to him. He was the one who jumped to conclusions, whatever those conclusions were that made him so mad. He should apologize first.

But as the week passed and our graduation came, my pride was shattering as the feeling of missing him slowly took over. It was a misunderstanding that was needed to be resolved as soon as possible. If Lu Han still wouldn't make the first move now, then I would it myself.

It was when the opening program began that I finally noticed that Lu Han wasn't around. Relax, Jiyeon. He's just late, I assured myself.

But more time passed and the program was almost over, but there was still no Lu Han in sight. And even as the program ended, neither I nor Hannah had caught a glimpse of his shadow.

"Hey, are you okay?" Hannah asked, squeezing my arm. "Maybe he just didn't feel like coming here. You remember our junior high recognition? He didn't go, remember?"

I nodded, but then I also remembered that Lu Han disappeared after that. No, I was sure that he wouldn't do it again.

We went to meet our parents and my heart skipped for all the wrong reasons when I saw Lu Han's parents craning their necks, searching the crowd for Lu Han. I immediately dashed forward to meet them.

Lu Han's parents brightened at the sight of a familiar face.

"Where's Lu Han?" his mother asked, glancing around us.

"He came?" I asked, hope fluttering in my chest.

His parents looked at me in confusion. "You haven't seen him? But he even called to say he was already on his way. He made us leave first because he said he had to do something and it was important," Lu Han's mother explained when I looked at them with a confused expression.

"Then where is -"

A ring cut off what I was about to say. We all looked at each other as Lu Han's mother took her cellphone from her purse. "Hello?"

I watched with dread as her expression shifted to confusion and then to horror. When she put down the phone, her eyes were starting to mist. "Lu Han got into an accident."

And those words alone were enough to send my world crumbling down.