♪ mi-rae p.o.v.
"did you see a black suitcase on the beach?" i asked, as we exited the hospital.
clusters of people moved past us in the busy hospital setting. to avoid being recognized, he had put on a large bucket hat and a facemask leaving his eyes the only thing visible.
ki-ha pulled down his face mask to answer and thought for a second, "i don't think so..."
i bit my lip, the air inside my chest seemed to compress together.
"is it really important? mother wants us at the main house by three. we can go and get it if you want," he suggested.
he sounded a little flustered. turning towards him, i gave him a reassuring smile.
he really looks like a puppy...
"...it's alright." i twirled around and started to walk towards the parking lot. ki-ha followed closely behind me.
a gust of cold wind numbed my face, strands of hair blew onto my face, but my hands were still disregarding the discomfort that came from my flowing locks. i ignored the tightness in my chest.
"the suitcase...it isn't...that...important."
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━﹤⋆
♪ ji-ho p.o.v.
"that will be all for today."
father's final statements closed the meeting.
finally...
i stood with the other employees to greet my father as he made his way to the door. standing side by with side with the other employees, i closed my eyes listening to each step my father took.
one step
two steps
three steps
four steps
five ste-
"father?"
he motioned me to stop bowing. i carried my upper body into extension until our similar dark eyes met.
"we'll be having dinner with the ahn's tonight. go home and dress nicely, it's a formal event." his tone was solemn and rich, even talking to his son about family matters he wouldn't show a single ray of unprofessionalism.
i slowly nodded.
the ahn family...
"i understand, father."
our eyes met again and his eyes blinked in approval before being directed at the path he was headed to. i bowed once more as father walked away. father's footsteps faded and i was about to sigh when another pair of shoes stood before me. i lifted my head up and was greeted with a smiling ju-in.
"hi!"
"hey..."
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━﹤⋆
♪ chunyoung p.o.v.
"inha university hospital?"
"yes, i believe so." the voice in the phone replied.
"ok, thank you so much."
"no problem."
a sudden beep ended the phone call. for once, having connections was useful.
i wonder if she's ok...
i called for a ride. the driver arrived in less than ten minutes. during the car ride thoughts rushed through my head. i stared out of the car window at the busy city, the scene from the night before played in my mind. the scene of the suitcase password and the contents within the suitcase felt so bittersweet.
she didn't throw them away...
my eyes closed.
why am i like this... she's the one that hurt you, chunyoung...
the gray-colored car ceiling came into view as i opened my eyes.
she probably had this suitcase saved from then... that's why the password is my birthday...
i touched the black case that sat next to me.
but...why did she keep the password to my birthday all these years?
thoughts intertwined within my cerebrum. the loud sounds from the booming city faded into the background. instead of dodging the wave of thoughts that would envelop me in silence, i let myself soak in the thoughts. overwhelmed by the years of unauthorized thoughts the ride to incheon went by in a flash and before i knew it, the car halted to a stop.
after thanking the driver, i made ready steps towards the large hospital building which held the person i was looking for. with each step, i persuaded myself that i would get an answer this time. maybe what happened in the past was a misunderstanding, maybe what happened was all an act or maybe, just maybe it wasn't her that said all of those horrible words.
i will give you one last chance... ahn-mi...
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━﹤⋆
♪ ji-ho p.o.v.
"so, chunyoung and mi-rae went to the same school?"
"yeah."
sunlight trickled in from the office windows that had their blinds down halfway. i sighed.
one problem after another... chunyoung and dan-i, and now, chunyoung and this mi-rae girl.
"anything else?"
"...she's from the ahn family"
my eyes widened and met ju-in's gaze. his tortilla-colored eyes glowed slightly with the dimmed natural light.
"the ahn family?"
ju-in replied in a low and serious tone, "yes, she's the daughter of ahn jaeyong, founder and ceo of the a.j.y. media company."
"oh?" i smirked.
this is interesting...
ju-in suddenly frowned, "but, something i found weird is that her existence wasn't made known until around four years ago."
"four?"
"four years ago is about the same time she was suddenly named successor of the a.j.y. company. it is also the time she left for the states." ju-in nodded.
"and, i presume four years ago was the same time her and chunyoung last met."
i recalled that chunyoung never mentioned mi-rae in the past years i had known him, nor had he looked as hateful as he did the day before.
"the information on her is limited and i couldn't find anything about her personally, so we'll have to look into this-"
"our family will be having dinner with the ahn's tonight." i interrupted him.
his eyes widened at first then slowly morphed into two half crescents.
"...that's perfect! i'll leave it up to you ji-ho!"
as we left the office, ju-in suddenly turned towards me with a grim look on his face.
"has dan-i said anything weird lately?"
i tilted my head.
"ham dan-i? no, not that i know of." i mumbled.
"ok."
ju-in gave me a big smile.
something's wrong...
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━﹤⋆
♪ chunyoung p.o.v.
my eyes searched the faces of the countless people as i made my way down a flight of stairs. it was noisy and the number of people that filled each hallway made me a little sick. the muted colors didn't help either. i nervously adjusted my face mask.
[start of flashback]
with apologetic eyes, the lady at the desk for overnight patients quoted, "i'm sorry sir, but they just checked out and left."
"...oh."
"if you head down that hallway and the flight of stairs on the right you might be able to catch them." the nurse reassured.
i quickly bowed and followed the nurse's directions.
[end of flashback]
with no sign of them in the lobby of the hospital, i took a rest in a quiet corner near the hospital coffee shop. my eyes ached from the searching faces in the sea of people. the hospital brought forth horrible memories.
the voices of people blurred into an endless void of static sound and my stomach lurched. i carefully dropped the suitcase next to me and squatted down. taking a few deep breathes i calmed myself down.
this time a flash of color caught my attention almost immediately. the peculiar flash of color stood out like a bright white flower in a sea of red roses, like a monochrome painting with a stroke of color and like the guitarist's melody over a jungle of other band instruments.
my eyes seemed to relax on her small and gentle looks. amidst the muted colors and hustle of the hospital, she was refreshing to look at. my body seemed to be drawn to her.
one step.
two steps.
three steps.
"did you see a black suitcase on the beach?"
they're talking about the suitcase!
the body of a man collided against my chest causing me to be flung backward.
i can't hear...
"is it really importan-"
"excuse me, young man! you just bumped into my father." the voice of a middle-aged man exclaimed angrily.
i turned towards the elderly man he was referring to and bow hastily.
"i'm so sorry..."
my eyes trailed after the pair of siblings i was to greet, they walking slowly towards the parking lot. i backed up towards the siblings i was trying to get to. i bowed repeatedly as the son and father left.
finally... i hope ahn-mi and ki-ha didn't get far-
"...it's alright."
a gust of wind swept from behind me. i zone out slightly.
what..?
i turned towards their figures that were getting farther away. i opened my mouth to say her name.
she probably was answering another question...
"m-"
"the suitcase...it isn't...that...important."
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━﹤⋆
♪ mi-rae p.o.v.
"it's going to be a long ride, so try to make yourself comfortable, ok?" ki-ha said while backing the car out of the parking space.
he smiled at me and ruffled my hair.
"i took my yearly work break just to spend time with you lil sis. don't you feel honored?"
i smiled, " of course... ahn ki-ha, a top-tier idol is spending time off of work just for me! this would be so many uni's dream..."
"have you been following my career?" he looked delighted.
"yeah, of course! you debuted on july 14, 20xx and had your first win on july 27, 20xx. your fandom is called universe. you got an all-kill with your debut single and the choreography goes like this..."
i awkwardly moved my arms around.
"... well, something like that. oppa! as your younger sister and as the person that knows you the best... i am your number one fan!"
my right index flew towards him landing on his right cheek. an awkward silence enveloped the car. the sounds of traffic outside made the scene even more embarrassing. i felt my cheeks burn in embarrassment at my sudden revelation.
we haven't met in a while and i suddenly had an outburst like this...
slowly i brought my hands back towards myself.
wait... what if i got the information wrong...
i twisted my head to examine his expression, but his head is turned because he's looking at the intersection to figure out whether to left turn or not.
"sorry... you know if i got something wrong it would just be that my memory is horrible, but i really really really did watch your live stages... every single one of them."
silence.
"also, if the choreography i did was wrong, well... when i try to dance... my brain and my hands just don't work together... i spent the whole time on the plane learning it. the people sitting next to me probably think i'm some kinda idiot..."
silence.
"pfft..."
i turned my head towards ki-ha. he looked like he was about to cry.
"should i just show you my search history? i-"
"hahahahaha...!"
ki-ha started to laugh uncontrollably. his laugh filled the emptiness that had once engulfed the car space.
"you-...you should've seen your face!"
i must've turned into a color similar to my hair because i could feel a warm burn in my cheeks and ears.
"w-what? i thought you were mad at me for not following your career..."
stopping the car at a stoplight and wiping the tears out of his eyes ki-ha suddenly turned towards me. putting his hand on my hand he stared deep into my eyes.
"mi-rae... i'd never be mad at something like that. you didn't get anything wrong... you got everything about my career right, but even if you were wrong... i could never be mad at you for it, okay?"
i seemed to be lost in his aqua eyes because it takes a while for me to answer.
"yeah..." i beamed, "me too!"
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━﹤⋆
♪ chunyoung p.o.v.
[start of flashback]
"mi-rae!"
the salmon-colored boy that i had been wrestling suddenly let go of me and ran toward a figure in the shadows of the staircase. my eyes widened.
mi-rae...
the small and frail-looking girl had red puffy eyes and looked pale. her feet were bare and she had thin clothes on.
was i the one that made her cry?
"mi-rae... are you ok?" ki-ha asked.
i clenched my fists.
no... chunyoung that's not what you're here for...
"ahn-mi!" i said out loud.
my feet brought me in front of her and my eyes met hers. the dim lighting made it hard to read her expression. my mouth opened, but no words came out. a blanket of silence coated us. finally out of nowhere words seemed to form.
"are we actually friends?"
[end of flashback]
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━﹤⋆
♪ mi-rae p.o.v.
"should i try talking with... chunyoung?" i voiced through the pop-driven music that played in the car.
"no... leave him be. the last time you met him, he acted like a maniac."
"...yeah."
chunyoung.
a name that felt so familiar yet is foreign to my knowledge. his hate towards me was a mystery that had followed me like a shadow for 4 years. he seems to know me, but how and why? an unpleasant feeling encased my heart as i thought more on the topic of chunyoung.
also... every time i see him my chest... hurts.
this was the main reason that had prevented me from facing him directly. with the pain in my chest, i felt unstable and vulnerable.
definitely not a good stance for me to be in when having a conversation...
other than facing chunyoung in person, the suitcase was also something that seemed to hurt this body.
but, i shouldn't have to worry about it... right?
i need to get over this pain. in order to help my current position, i need to talk it through with chunyoung. one of the main goals coming back to korea was to make up with chunyoung after all.
chunyoung... please don't make this hard for me...
calm music played entrancingly in the car. slow ballads. i never thought that i would like slow ballads because i was a band music addict, but something about ballads hit differently. maybe it was the carefully thought-out lyrics, maybe it was the beautiful, yet simple instrumental or maybe it was the vocal melody that pulled straight at my heartstrings. whatever it was, it had helped me survive this familiar, yet unfamiliar world.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━﹤⋆
♪ chunyoung p.o.v.
is this what they call a ballad?
"what song is this, sir?"
"... i'm sorry, but it's music from a radio so i don't know..."
"it's alright. thank you, sir."
the song floated the air delicately like a feather. the song was delicate but strong. sad, but happy. heartwrenching, but beautiful. the notes played drew therapy to my mind. i felt at peace with this type of music. maybe it was the carefully thought-out lyrics, maybe it was the beautiful, yet simple instrumental or maybe it was the vocal melody that pulled straight at my heartstrings. whatever it was, it had helped me survive a hurtful, yet honest answer.
[end of chapter]
if you're wondering: what does it look like when a writer writes?
my answer: crying to ballads and trying to sing along.
{keywords to look out for above: trying}
note: we also have no official ahn ki-ha profile pic, yet. (i'm still working on it)
but for reference, he looks like this:
this chapter took so long to upload. i sat at the library for an hour and it just kept loading when i tried to save the chapter. i was afraid i was going to lose all my progress. i also felt i needed to lighten the mood, so i added a ki-ha x mi-rae scene. lmao, ki-ha scenes have only been fluffy moments so far. i also had to switch out scenes from the upcoming chapter, that's why ji-ho didn't get much p.o.v. time. will be adding ju-in, yeoryeong, eunhyung and dan-i p.o.v. soon. man... it's hard p.o.v. ing different characters. -shar
word count: 2679