#% ILLIAD MOON <3 !!!
"wakey wakey" is the first thing i hear when i'm awake enough to process what is going on. there's a voice behind the one that had just spoken to me. it whispers something.
"wakey wakey moonie" the voice continues to call me. i groan and squint my eyes more.
"i thought you would want to see us" the voice from behind says and my eyes open immediately. i was not expecting to hear that.
as my eyes adjust to the world i see both of their dumb faces smiling back at me. "oh my god" i say, my morning voice in clear effect.
the two of them laugh as i sit up. i cannot even imagine what my hair looks like right now. it's probably going every way that it possibly can.
"what are you guys doing here" i say looking between penny and yeonjun. they look at each other before turning back to look my way. "we told you we were going to come sometime" penny says and my eyes just continue to dart between the two of them.
i cannot believe they're here, in korea with me, in my childhood bedroom.
"oh my god" i jump up when it actually clicks that they're here. i haven't seen them in close to three weeks but it feels like a year and a half.
when you spend almost every waking second with people for close to a year, you get used to having them around. when it changes, it feels strange. everything feels somewhat, off.
"i missed youuuuu" penny says, swaying our bodies back and forth. "i missed you" i smile into our hug. "it has been so difficult dealing with mr. complains-a-lot over here" penny nods her head to the tall man standing next to the both of us.
yeonjun looks at her, his eyes squinting, sending daggers her way. he opens his mouth to say something to her but i cut him off with my words. "be nice to each other" i point at them and they just roll their eyes.
it's a moment of silence as i walk over and wrap my arms around yeonjun. his embrace is tight on me and he uses an extra squeeze to lift me a foot off of the ground.
my feet touch back down and he's squeezing me even tighter. "i missed you" he says into my ear, quieter than i've ever heard him before.
i pull away from the hug and look up at him with my dark eyes. "i missed you" i say and smile at him.
his hand ruffles the top of my already messed up hair.
"wait," i pause the cute moment we're having to look at my two friends in front of me, "how did you guys find out where i lived?"
i start panicking, thinking my address got leaked online because of one of jaemin's crazy fans.
penny and yeonjun just side eye each other before penny opens her mouth. "remember the one night you got really drunk at the bar around the corner from my apartment?" penny asks and i nod.
"well your phone died so you called your mom on yeonjun's phone. he saved her number and then we texted her telling her we wanted to surprise you here" penny explains and i nod.
quite a good plan, something i would do if i was in their shoes as well.
"he has your mothers phone number saved as future mother in law by the way" penny turns to whisper but it's far from a whisper.
"i do not!" yeonjun says, his eyes are so wide, they're practically bulging out of his head. he fumbles for his phone, showing the texts he was just sending to my mother when the two of them landed at the airport.
'illi's mom' the contact name reads.
"okay, so i lied, but it was funny to watch him panic" penny looks at me, giggling through her words. sometimes i swear she's lost her mind, and i mean that in the nicest way possible.
the door opens slightly and my mothers face smiles at me brightly. "it was so hard to keep this secret, i literally was dying to tell you" she says, the smile on her face brighter than ever.
i hear harley's babbles and the door pushes open. he sits on my mothers hip, their smiles are the exact same, bright and wide.
"is this little harley?" penny says, her voice getting 7 octaves higher. i laugh at the change in her voice. "yes it is" i say, going up to hold my sweet little brother.
he falls into my arms and grabs onto me. "harley, can you say hi to penny?" i ask him and he looks over at penny, turning to me. he gets shy for a second before turning to back to her.
"hi pen" harley looks at me for confirmation. "penny" i repeat and he giggles.
penny's sharp facial features soften. "i love him" she says. he extends his arms out towards her. penny grabs him and he clings onto her neck.
"i need someone to impregnate me right now" she says, her eyes wider than i've ever seen them.
yeonjun, my mother and i all laugh at her comment.
harley touches penny's face. her nose, her bottom lip, her brow bone. "penny" he whispers like he does whenever he's trying to remember someone's name.
"hi harley" penny's mouth opens to show her teeth in a great, big smile.
"can you say hi yeonjun?" penny asks harley and points to yeonjun. "hi" he drags out the i in the word before saying, "jinnie." harley points before looking over at me.
i look at yeonjun, who looks confused. now why did harley say that.
"no, jun" i pronounce for him. i can see the gears in his little head slowly turning. "yeonjun" he repeats what penny said and we all say a good job in response.
harley laughs and claps his hands and the cuteness is just completely overwhelming.
"do you think he would come to me?" yeonjun asks. "if you hold your arms out, he will come right to you" my mom answers him before i can even open my mouth.
penny squints at yeonjun for a second before yeonjun opens his arms. i watch as my younger brother gets passed from one of my best friends to the other.
"hello" yeonjun's voice slightly raises in pitch as he talks to harley. "hi" harley says back to him, looking at yeonjun with his big dark eyes.
i watch as yeonjun's fingers make their way to harley's stomach. they move back and forth and tickle his mid-section, making him squirm and giggle.
the giggle of a child is something i believe to be one of the best sounds in the world. it's just so pure and innocent and full of complete and utter joy. i wish i could be that young again. completely ignorant to the world and all of its horrors.
harley leans forward and puts his head on yeonjun's chest, laying there. i watch as yeonjun softly runs his hand up and down harley's back as he talks with my mother about the flight and getting to the house.
"the flight here was long and it was kind of a pain trying to enter into the private drive but other than that the ride was so smooth and nice" yeonjun speaks to her.
they converse for another minute, penny joining in a few times. i watch as harley slowly falls asleep on yeonjun's chest. like brother, like sister.
"oh-" my mom says, completely shocked. "i can't believe he fell asleep. he only ever falls asleep on me or hyunjin" she looks at her son.
i watch as penny's head snaps towards me when hyunjin's name is mentioned. fuck. why did she have to bring him up in front of the two of them.
yeonjun has no reaction, he just continues on softly rubbing harley's back. he's going to be a great dad one day. the way he put him to sleep so easily makes me smile.
a little while later, penny, yeonjun and i all lay in my bed like we do all the time back in new york.
penny starts talking about big my house is. "like i know you said it was big, you said it all the time. but i was not expecting this illi" penny says.
"they have both worked really hard for it" i say and she nods. "i can only imagine, this house is so beautiful."
penny's past time was interior decorating and appreciating beautiful architecture. i don't know why she chose that of all things but it was one of her passions.
"i love harley" yeonjun says from the other side of me and i look over at him. "i'm surprised he fell asleep on you, he really doesn't do that" i say and he nods.
"oh yeah! about that," penny sits up and turns to look at me, "hyunjin?! what did your mom mean he falls asleep on hyunjin. is it the hyunjin i'm thinking about?"
i nod in response to her question. "yeah, a few months ago, i guess he bought the house a few doors down and now he comes over and helps my parents out whenever they need it."
her jaw drops. "so that means you've seen him" she says, in complete and utter shock.
i nod. "more than i've wanted to." i half lie. i have seen him more than i wanted to. especially since i came here not wanting to see him at all. i didn't expect to either.
my expectations were entirely wrong.
i made out with him.
"i wanna see him!" penny says. "maybe we can pass his house and you can see him pacing in his front window with nothing but sweatpants on" i recall the one night i watched him when i was walking to the cafe.
the night my whole trip flipped completely upside down.
"i know you hate him and all, but i would kill to see that sexy man in person" penny says. i haven't told either of them that i don't entirely hate him anymore. or that we made out.
yeonjun has stayed quiet this entire time, scrolling through his instagram and tuning us out completely.
he couldn't have cared less about what penny and i were talking about. he has a tendency to do this whenever we get to talking about whatever. he just tunes us out and mindlessly scrolls on his phone until we say something that really intrigues him.
it rarely does.
benny comes up and lays down in the space between penny and i, letting the two of us pet him as we talk about random stuff.
i don't tell either of them that i don't hate hyunjin anymore. i don't know what kind of conversation that would lead to and after the night i had last night and the voicemail that i received, i could do a day without something making me want to pull my hair out.
penny ends up changing the subject anyways, talking about a boy in her building that yeonjun apparently knows.
she tells me that she thinks he's utterly stunning and wants to be with him, but he also has a sister that she thinks is hot too so she's quite conflicted. however, this also shows their strong family genes.
that's what she rambles about for 3 minutes while i listen in and yeonjun continues to scroll on his phone.
i try to give her the best advice that i can but i'm practically useless. i've only ever had 3 love interests in my entire life.
1. hwang hyunjin, we all know about that one.
2. na jaemin, i don't know if i'll ever be able to truly talk about this one.
3. choi yeonjun, the man who lays next to me right now.
three in my entire life.
it has to be criminal in some way. i cannot be giving this girl the menial advice i do have. none of them have ever worked out.
she ends up tiring herself out and after our conversation ends, she falls asleep right next to me, curled next to benny and my cute stuffed animal.
yeonjun and i whisper talk and he even kisses me one time before i tell him, "penny would kill us if she woke up and saw us kissing next to her."
he agrees and we quit our lips touching.
the jet lag eventually catches up to him too and he tells me he's going to sleep now. the two of us walk down the hall to the room that hyunjin used to sleep in every single time he would come over.
funny how my three love interests have now slept in here before. what a crazy coincidence.
i tuck him into bed and give him a kiss on the forehead to leave him with. "goodnight illi" he says as i leave the room and i say a goodnight back to him
the walk back down the hallway is short but i look at all the pictures on the wall. one of jaemin and i is right near my bedroom door. we're at the cafe, it's a selfie. we have our shared pastry and our separate coffees.
i miss those days more than i miss anything.
i wish i could go back and completely change everything.
AUTHORSNOTE.zip
less than a month since our last
update?? can we give a round of
applause!!! i finished my first year
of college on the deans list with honors
and have been working sooooo hard to
edit and tweak these chapters so they're
up to my standards. it's been hard but
i'm working on it. i'm going to try to
update this bi-weekly but... who knows
how that will go lol. thank you for all
of the support. i love you soooo much!
as always, vote and comment for
more of never again!! your support
means the world to me