My close friend

The calm before the storm

I was so focused on deciphering his body language and facial expression, that I did not even notice Chanyeol who had been standing beside me for a while, with the towel in his hand. This time he saw me examining Eric, and he saw me at it very well. I immediately lifted my head to look at him, and he had that scary cold gaze that instantly sent chills down my spine upon looking into his dark brown eyes. I felt that I would have some explaining to do here. With a little shy smile on my face, I took the towel from him, but before I could reach for his hand to grab, he left towards the others to give them a towel... Yes, he was angry.

While we were waiting to be completely dry, the boys suggested that they jam together to pass the time. Hence we all headed to Chanyeol's studio, except Eric. Once there, Baekhyun headed immediately to the piano, Yixing took the classical guitar, while the others took a seat on the couch and sofa bed. Chanyeol got hold of his other guitar and started free-styling, setting up the mood. They then started playing one of their hit songs, entitled: Call Me Baby. This song never failed to make me happy and all hyped up! (For those who do not know about EXO, this song actually exists and I highly recommend it! Actually all the songs that I will mention, do exist. So, you may go give it a listen). Kai and Sehun, feeling energetic, got up and started dancing. Uncle tried join in but soon realised that he was not cut out fir this hip-hop/contemporary style and danced funnily. Baekhyun and Jongdae soon joined in too, and it eventually ended up in a kind of comedy musical. Next came 'Love Me Right', and this lively pop song motivated them even more, especially uncle, to continue dancing like clowns, but this made the evening a whole lot livelier!

Time passed and it was already half past ten. The happy and lively ambiance had turned into a peaceful atmosphere, as the songs had gone from Pop to a slow Ballad, with 'What If' and 'My Turn To Cry'. We finally ended on 'She's Dreaming'; it had been a while since I had last listened to it and each time I would, I would fall in love with it all over again! I was happy that it ended on such a soothing and dreamy song. The vocalists' voices, that is, Kyungsoo, Baekhyun, Jongdae and Junmyeon's voices were just so soft and serene, and Chanyeol's rap complemented the song perfectly...! Nothing better than a good slow Ballad before a good night of sleep...

"It's time for me to head out now Chanyeol. Thanks for this little party, buddy!! I wished that I could stay longer, but I have to go to work early tomorrow. You know how it is with those coffee shops", said Minseok with a big pout. Indeed, it was quite late in the evening. Mom might be thinking that I was planning to stay over too...Hahaha...

"Ah, such a shame..." let out Chanyeol, sadly.

"I will be accompanying Minseok on the way home then. I still have to visit my mom", added Kyungsoo.
Knowing where this was going, Chanyeol's smile was slowly fading away. It is always such a melancholic moment when your friends are leaving.

"I guess we all better get going then. We have caused enough trouble to you guys, for now. You have not seen the last of us!!" said Junmyeon, trying to cheer up the boys, especially Chanyeol. Indeed, he had the required qualities of a good leader. He never ceased to show his outstanding leadership capabilities.

"Hahaha!! Always so funny, Junmyeon my boy! And no, you youngsters have been no trouble at all; you have liven up the atmosphere here! We are grateful to you to have taken some time out of your busy schedules to have dropped by today. Please do come over when you have some free time on your hands, kiddos. You shall always be the most welcome!" said uncle, most humbly. Auntie only reinforced what uncle had just said with some words of her own, then we all went to the main door to see them off.

"And you dear? What are going to do, will you be heading out with them?" said auntie while looking at me and back at the boys who had stopped to listen to my response.

"No, I will give you guys a hand in cleaning all this mess. After all I was the one who insisted on buying this messy party popper, haha..."
I was not going home and let auntie and uncle clean the mess that I have caused; that was the least that I could do for them. And hence, the boys were leaving, waving us good bye.

"You will be walking back home then", retorted Chanyeol while glaring at me coldly. Was he that angry with me now? I only looked at that poor guy and that was the reaction I got? I dared not imagine what would had happened if he saw me handing to him the party whistle...!

"Now, now, stop teasing the poor girl. Good bye boys and good night! Have a safe trip back home!!" shouted auntie as the boys were going out.
We waved to them, then headed to the garden to do some cleaning. Auntie and uncle headed to the kitchen while Chanyeol and I were going to the backyard. I started sweeping the veranda while he was picking up the paper plates and disposable cups. We both stayed quiet at first, but it was soon turning into an awkward silence, so I decided to talk about that little jamming session we just had.

"You guys have not changed much. Even though you do not meet that often anymore, you guys still synchronise with each other perfectly!"

"Yeah... right."
I felt that I could not do any better to cheer him up; if talking about that still had not made him forget about his anger, I had no other choice than to be blunt with him.

"Okay, are you angry with me Chan?"

"Angry? Oh no, not at all! You were only getting more and more interested in a dangerous guy, someone I warned you over and over to not think about...! No, I am not angry at all...!"
That was pure sarcasm, and what was more perturbing was that Chanyeol was rarely that sarcastic. But even so, I had to know what I did wrong, as looking at him was as inoffensive of an act as killing a mosquito!

"But I only looked at him! What, I don't even have that right now?"

"No, it is not that. Let's just wrap things up here then we'll talk in the studio."
That sounded fair to me so I nodded in response.

I quickly swept the place up and made sure that not a single piece of paper was to be seen. Chanyeol hurried with the cleaning too and got rid of all the mess. Before heading to the studio we both checked on auntie and uncle to see if they were alright, but the lights there were off, so we concluded that they had gone to sleep. We headed for the studio and along the way, we passed by the guest room, in which Eric was currently staying. The lights were still on in his room; Chanyeol stopped for a second and tried to listen to what he was doing. The lights then turned off. Feeling reassuredd that he was not up to something nasty, he stepped back from the door and we rushed in the studio. I got the feeling that that night was going to be a long night...