Chapter 25 – Will you really walk away from me?
I intentionally dropped the heavy book on the bookshelf, so that he wakes up and quickly hid behind the door, where he wouldn't be able to see me in the dark. I quietly peeked outside and saw that he woke up and was rubbing his eyes, when he came face to face with the mirror in his bedroom, opposite if him. I smiled as he read the message in red written on it.
I see you.
He silently stood up, looking around and observing the surrounding. Once again, he looked at the mirror and I could see that he was creeped out. And now, it was my time to appear.
Out of the nowhere, a creepy clown, me, with a scary face popped up and Jonghyun fell from the shock. I was proud of my makeup because I looked like a real killer clown. I attacked him and soon let out my laughter which I couldn't suppress anymore. "Mina!" he said shocked after he realized it was me.
I didn't reply since I was too busy laughing. "That was so funny! You should have seen your face!" I saUS in between of my laughter. He just looked at me in shock but he slowly started to laugh along with me.
After a few minutes, when the laughter had died down, I removed the chain which I was wearing, took Jonghyun's hand and pressed it on his palms. "You can keep it" he looked at the key-shaped pendant closely as he realized what meaning it had for me. "Are you sure? It was your last gift from your sister after all," he wondered but I just nodded while smiling, though I might be looking creepy since I am in a clowns outfit. "See you"
The next day, he left.
-
"Wake up!" I heard as somebody pulled the bedsheets away. "Why? Why?" I whined, trying to sleep again even though I knew that the person who had bothered to show up early in the morning won't go away unless I wake up. "Get up voluntarily or do you want to be woken up like yesterday?" he threatened and I sat up, ruffling my hair in annoyance.
Recently, I have been ruffling my hair a lot since they feel so light weighted after I cut them till my shoulders. "Taemin, I am older than you, then why are you taking care of me? I should look after of you" I asked as I laughed. "It's just a difference of a month" he stated, sitting down on the chair. "Anyway, Minho's father told him that Jonghyun and his father are coming back today"
"Jonghyun? Jonghyun Who?" I asked and Taemin looked at me amused. "Are you talking about the person who never contacted me in this two months? The person with whom I am supposedly going out?" I asked and chuckled. He definitely deserves a beating. "You're not the only one who wasn't contacted by him. This guy has forgotten us all"
"Anyway, let me get ready for school now," I said and he stood up. "Sure, I'll make breakfast" Soon, I was left alone in my room and I lay down once again, even though I told him that I'd get ready fast. To be honest, I was more than surprised when Taemin showed up early in the morning on the first day of the holidays. According to him, everyone was busy and he had nothing to do and decided to kill time at my place.
Well, that didn't explain why he had to come over every day.
"Get ready now" I heard him say from the kitchen, knowing that I wasn't getting ready at all. "Yes, yes" I whined and got up. This guy was really clingy the entire time. Even cutting my hair was his idea. One day, he showed up in front of my door and said that we 'have' to do get a new haircut today. The reason why is still a mystery to me.
Quickly, I got ready and walked outside, only to be greeted by a strange smell. The smell of burning food. "Taemin!" I exclaimed as I saw the burned food. "Sorry," he said as he rubbed his head. I sighed as I took the plate and threw its content in the dustbin. "Please remind me never to let you cook again"
With a sigh, I looked at the clock and another shock hit me when I realized that it was already 7.40. a.m. "We're late; let's go," I said, deciding to skip breakfast. "Do you miss Jonghyun's breakfast?" he asked after we left the apartment. "Well, I used to prepare meals for him since he was a hopeless case when it came to cooking," I said, recalling the past. "After he learned how to cook, he made food for me very often. Mostly, he would try out diverse types of pasta since I enjoy them very much" I said with a smile.
"Anyway, you have to take the bus from here on, right?" I asked and he nodded. "See you," he said and we both parted out ways. Last year, I encountered Jonghyun in school and to tell the truth, I was a bit afraid of him since he was easily barging into my life.
I entered the school and came face to face with the same scenario on every first day of school. The new ones were walking around a bit shyly, looking for their class and the 2nd and 3rd-year students catching up with other classmates, talking about how much everything has changed. I leaned on my locker and observed everyone quietly until I spotted a familiar girl talking and laughing with her friends.
A mischievous smile aroused on my face as I started walking towards her. As soon as I reached I slung my arm over her shoulders as she looked at me confused. "Name?" I asked. "What?" she asked puzzled. "Your name. You're the one who told our dear Taemin off."
"Whose Taemin?" she asked curiously. "About two months ago, you bumped into him in the shopping mall. If I remember correctly, he was quite the jerk" I explained. "Ah, you're talking about him?" she said and her face expression showed that she didn't really have a good impression of him. "Would you like to meet him again?"
"No way" she declined. By now, her friends had left us, knowing that they wouldn't understand what was going on anyway. The school bell rang, signaling us to go to our classrooms. "I have to go now," I said as I released my arm from her shoulder. "My name is Mina, by the way," I added. "Oh really? We have similar names. I'm Hina." She voiced and left.
I looked at her walk away as I recalled her name over and over again. She has the same name as my sister.
I lazily walked to my classroom, knowing that my homeroom teacher was always five minutes too late and the first day was no exception. "Hey, Mina!" I heard someone say and I greeted them with a smile. "Who knew that even the ice queen will be smiling by the time we have become seniors," Jo Kwon said jokingly. "Ice queen?" I asked confused yet amused. "That was your title since you never used to speak with anyone. In fact, I had never seen you smile until the ending of last school year" So Ra explained.
We all laughed and soon, the homeroom teacher arrived. "So, Students. It's the last year now, right? You must give your best because your grades are awfully important this year. Anyway, let's rearrange our sitting arrangements" he said. The rest of the school day passed by pretty quickly. We met new teachers, received a ton of administrational paperwork, representatives of clubs greeted us and showed us what their club is about, and so on.
After school ended, as I was walking out of the school, I saw a person I knew too well, leaning against the school gate. My heart suddenly began racing as I didn't expect him to suddenly show up like that after two entire months. We were about ten meters apart from each other and I didn't know how I should react. He looked up to me and I looked at him. Silence.
He looked different. His skin had become flawless and he had dyed his hair color. His hair color was used to be deep brown and now they were ash blond. Somehow, he seemed tired. "Mina" he called out my name. After I was finished staring at him, I snapped out of it and looked at him angrily. "Who are you? I don't know you" I said and started walking away. Just when I was about to walk away from him, he grabbed my arm. "Will you really walk away from me?"
I looked at him directly in the eyes and smacked his arm, even though I knew that it didn't hurt him the slightest bit. "You're such a mean person" I exclaimed and freed my arm from his grip. "I am going home," I said. Somehow, I didn't feel angry anymore after seeing him, but the frustration was still there. Before I could walk away once again, he leaned his head on my shoulders and closed his eyes.
I knew it. He was tired and he still came here. "Why did you come here? Why didn't you go home and sleep first? We could have met later too" I voiced and he chuckled. "Are you angry at me because I didn't contact you or because I came here to see you?" he wondered. "Both!" I said. Some students passed by us and looked at us, but I didn't care at that moment.
"You've got a lot to explain, mister" I opinioned. "But first, let's go home now and you better sleep then" I advised and we finally began moving towards our apartments. I accompanied him to his place and made sure that he laid down and to my surprise, he fell asleep in a matter of a few minutes. What was he doing the entire time that he is so tired?
I sat on the bed and looked at him sleeping soundlessly. Maybe because I hadn't seen him for a long time, I didn't want to go away, even though he was just sleeping. I sat there for a long time and after a while, without noticing I fell asleep next to him too.
End of Chapter 25