"Good morning to you... uh, uncle Er-"
"Oh please, I am way too young to be called 'uncle', wouldn't you say ? Eric's just fine, hehe..."
Eric was actually quite the friendly guy, or so I felt. Even when I had given him the party whistle last night, he had smilingly and politely accepted it and had thanked me. However, the one to be currently wary of, was Chanyeol. I wanted to talk to Eric and discuss about at least a topic with him, to see his point of view on this world. But I feared that I might actually end up in front of my house's doorsteps even faster than I expected, as I might trigger Chanyeol's anger and overprotectiveness as soon as I got too talkative.
"Yeah, morning."
Okay, that was a rather dry greeting if you ask me . But considering Chanyeol's immense hate for Eric, I'd say that that was quite a good attempt; at least he did not ignore him, right ? How rude would that have been...! And even if he felt the dryness in his answer, Eric still smiled softly. There was something about this smile that was frankly enticing and mesmerizing. It was not even a full smile; it was cold yet heart-warming, traces of melancholy and regret could be seen, but it was still displaying happiness...
"Have your mom and dad already left for work ?" Eric inquired, trying to start a friendly conversation.
"Yeah... But they'll be back early today."
Chanyeol was still cautious nevertheless, he seemed to actually have no problem in conversing with him, which was a really good thing! There was some hope for things to eventually end up well between them after all...!
"I see... Oh, you guys do not mind me. I'll just be making myself a cup of tea and I'll be heading to the living room."
"Uh... There's some tea left in the kettle over there", I said while pointing towards the kettle.
"There's no need to make more."
I had to test the waters to see which level of chattiness was acceptable, in fact, bearable for Chanyeol. I mean, only yesterday, looking at Eric was an issue but today, talking to him was not; sometimes, it felt as if Chanyeol was even more complicated than I, a girl...! That might be why he would sometimes keep his troubling thoughts to himself, and torture the hell out of himself with those by crying alone.
*They: the other members of EXO, including Baekhyun
Yes, ladies and gentlemen, this is the real Park Chanyeol; a multi-talented tall musician of 1.86 metres. He may seem like the always happy and carefree type of guy, constantly doing pranks and fooling around, but he is actually soft and fragile at heart! He is really sensitive; I remember once Kyungsoo made a joke about his particularly large ears (for which he is mostly recognised in college by the way) and he felt really offended and did not talk to him for a whole week! But that was a long time ago; he is no longer that sensitive about his ears anymore, which might I add, are so cute! Despite being the main rapper of EXO, he is also a talented singer, on top of being an awesome guitarist, pianist, bassist, drummer and a composer! Yeah, he is pretty much an all-in-one musical package and damn am I happy to have him by my sides..! Nevertheless, he is not much of a dancer; he confessed so himself, saying that his long legs decreases his suppleness and his agility, and it is quite understandable, scientifically speaking. But when push comes to shove, he trains day and night and truly gives his best during performances, no matter how hard it is for him. And he is good hands with partners such as Jongin and Sehun, who are always glad to help anyone with dancing. Moreover, he is a member of the Beagle Line, as you all know; in fact, you guys are pretty much aware of his personality already. You and I shall thus discover everything he has yet to show us, together...^^
"Thank you very much! That'll save me some energy", replied Eric quite happily. Actually, for someone who constantly displayed an expression of loss between the melancholy and hardness of life, and the beauty and joy of being alive, the fact that tea had already been made was such a happy thing for him, so much so that his eyes lit up...! That was the first time I had seen such an expression on his face; I turned to look at Chanyeol who seemed surprised by this glare too.
Eric poured himself a cup of tea, took the newspapers lying on the dining table and went to the living room, just like he said he would. And while I was awaiting to hear what Chanyeol had to say about my behaviour in Eric's presence, he, on the other hand, was still oddly stunned by this new look he saw in Eric's eyes.
"What... is it Chan ? Something wrong ?" I said, trying to sound as normal as I could.
"D-Did you see that!? Did you see that look in his eyes!? Was it... happiness...?"
What!? Last time I checked, Eric was human so it was not at all weird if he were to experience happiness one day, even for a matter as trivial as ready-made tea.
"What are you saying, Chan ? It almost sounds as if he has no right to happiness... as if you do not want him to be happy. Is that what you mean ?"
"I uh... Hmm siding with him now, are you ?" He glanced at me while sipping his tea. Ah, I knew he would not let me go that easily, but as they say, a man's got to do what a man's got to do.
"But seriously... that's the first time I've seen him... happy. It just feels weird."
Well, at least he was not angry with me...
"Is it ? Well, being happy about ready-made tea is something quite peculiar I'll agree, but who am I to judge anyone ? Hehe... Ah, anyway, I am done with breakfast. Now my good sir, would you be so kind as to drop me home ? This little lady of yours is too lazy to walk back home on her own."
"Sure. Let me grab my keys and we shall be off", he said as he finished his tea and hurriedly engulfed a cinnamon roll.
"Hey, you'll choke you derp!! No need to rush like that; what am I, some pest that you have to eradicate of your house or what ?"
"You ? A pest ? Come on, that's an insult to those poor creatures; you're worse, babe. Hehe..." he said while jogging to his studio, in fear of being beaten by me.
"You better get those keys fast or it's my slipper that you'll be getting on your face, you dork. Hahaha!!"
Thus, he went to fetch his keys and dropped me home in a jiffy.
........
"Mom I'm back!!" I yelled as soon as I got in.
"Wow, look who's back...! I thought we were not going to see you for a long time. Glad you came to give us a visit."
Ah, being greeted by mom's sarcasm was one of the commonest yet pleasantly refreshing thing in my life.
"Yeah yeah whatever. Hey Dad", I said while lightly tapping my forehead with his. This was my usual of greeting him, and him only.
"It sure feels like I've been out for the whole week-end though. Oh, I had so much fun last night!"
"What did you two do all night like that ?" asked Dad.
Oh yeah, I had not made any excuse yet. Again, it was not that I felt guilty of anything as we had done absolutely nothing wrong (in my opinion), but no child would have told their parents about such things.
"We played music but since it was around eleven, we played till midnight and went to sleep. I slept in his studio, along with Toben...! Aw, Toben was all cute and cuddly!! He's all grown up you know...!"
Sorry Mom, sorry Dad, but I had to. And I was certain of the fact that they were quite aware of the lie I told.
"Yes that's good and all, but why are you wearing Chanyeol's clothes instead of your dress that you got in your hand ?" inquired mom. I was definitely going to skip the part where Chanyeol took them off me, but thankfully, they believed the excuse I made. Yes, depending on the situation, I am quite the good liar, hehe...
"That's Chanyeol's doing; he watered us all with his garden hose. Oh my God, he is a complete dork. Actually it all started when Baekhyun poured some water...."
Hence, I told them everything(almost everything, hehe) that happened yesterday, with my encounter with Eric and all. They did not seem to be particularly worried as Chanyeol had promised to not leave me alone for a second (which he did, if we omit the part where he gave a time limit of one minute to dress up in the bathroom). I even told them about my first impression of Eric, which was a good one. Upon hearing that, mom warned me to not meddle with him any further, but otherwise, we spent the morning chit-chatting, the usual thing. Ah, now that we had been done with the party, and that I had eventually met Eric, there was nothing I could look forward to; life would go on to be as ordinary as ever...