A Korean Love (Part 2)
Chanyeol’s POV
I can’t believe it! It hasn’t been a month since our last comeback and we need to be prepared for another comeback? I mean, what happened to the holidays that the company promised us? We’ve been working non-stop throughout these few months, ignoring about our sleep and our health. We definitely deserve a holiday! But then again, if we’re talking about life as an idol, this is nothing. Less sleeps and getting sick are normal things that we must be prepared for every day. Especially when you’re in a band named EXO.
All of us decided to return to the dorm instead of returning home. All plans were cancelled right after we received our new schedule. It’s too tight for us to find any space for a short holiday. Never mind, maybe next time our luck will be better. For now, let’s just get some sleep.
While Jongin and Kyungsoo were already in deep sleep, I still find it hard to close my eyes. I’m tired and all but I don’t feel like sleeping. My bed is already in a mess because I keep turning around. Argh, this is pointless! So I sit down at the edge of my bed, having some sort of a weird feeling lingering in my heart. I don’t even know what this feeling is.
Somebody knocked on our door. I think I know who it is. He’s the only one that’ll be still up at this late hour, checking if the other members are asleep.
“Still up?” he asked while widening his tired eyes. His tiny feet tip-toed and peeked inside the room to check on the other two members. “They’re asleep,” I voluntarily told him. He nodded in understanding and arranged his steps away from our room. That’s when I called his name and he quickly turned.
“Got a minute to talk, hyung?” I’m not sure if I should be asking this. He looks pretty tired.
“Sure. Come to my room. Sehun is still up anyways, so you’re disturbing no one,” Joonmyeon hyung kindly offered. Of course, how could a leader like him deny his member’s wish? We went into the messy bedroom where Sehun is seen lying on the other bed, busy as always with his phone. He doesn’t seem to bother with my presence. I can talk freely with Joonmyeon hyung then.
Speaking of that guy, he’s patting a spot on his bed. Signalling me to sit down and get comfortable. I did as what he told me to, just that I’m not being so comfortable. However, Joonmyeon hyung’s friendly smile calms me down. “What’s up?” he begin. I didn’t actually prepare a topic to talk about. I just wanted someone to talk with. “Nothing much. I can’t sleep so I think we might as well have a chat,”
“Well then, let’s find out why you can’t sleep in the first place,” Joonmyeon hyung suggested. I couldn’t agree more. This feeling is bothering me and I don’t have any idea why or what it is. All I know is that it’s something that I can’t get off my mind ever since the beginning of the tour concert. I must find the answer for this eventually.
I let out my concerns. “Hyung, you know my secret…,”
“You mean regarding your secret relationship?” he guessed and I nodded. I did peek for Sehun’s reaction, checking if he’s eavesdropping. He looked at us and smirked. Wait, does he know? “Hyung, did you told anybody else?” you wouldn’t know how nervous I am when I asked that. Joonmyeon hyung turned to the maknae. He then smiled to me. Not a comforting smile, I must say. My secret could get leaked out if we’re not being careful. But then Joonmyeon hyung confided me, “Just Sehun. Trust me, I won’t jeopardise your life or anything. I understand that this could count as a matter of life and death,”
I don’t know about this but Joonmyeon hyung makes the right moves mostly. I might as well believe in him. I can’t lose any chances, not that I have a relationship to be hidden. “I believe in you, hyung,”
“Hyung, must you be this worried?” Sehun interrupted. “If I have to swear with my blood, I will. I don’t care if you’re in a relationship anyways. But I want to remind you to be careful out there. We’ll keep the secret well but you’ll never know what those sasaeng fans could do,” that sounded more like a reminder than a guarantee but whatever. He’s right anyways. I look back at Joonmyeon hyung who seems to be satisfied. “See that? Everything’s secured. Now, do you want to update me about Boram or not?”
That made me smirked. Joonmyeon hyung and his obsession about my relationship with Boram. He’s been this excited ever since I revealed my girlfriend to him. It’s been months since I’ve told him anything and I should’ve a lot of things to tell. But instead…,”I don’t even know where she is,”
That made Sehun moved closer to me. It also made Joonmyeon hyung’s jaw dropped. “You got to be kidding me!” they both yelled at the same time. I don’t know how to react so I just nodded. It does seem embarrassing when I don’t even know my girlfriend’s whereabouts but that’s the truth. I don’t know how she’s doing, does she miss me or not, things that I should’ve asked every day.
“Are you guys even a couple? How could you’ve never know where she is?” Sehun begins to nag. I decided to just listen. I deserve it, by the way. I didn’t care much about Boram and I dare to call her my girlfriend.
“Did you call her?” Joonmyeon hyung asked, probably want to ease things down. He does prefer discussion instead of confrontation. I took out my cell phone and opened the call log. I give it to him, asking him to see for himself if I’ve ever tried calling Boram. He should’ve seen my efforts by looking at how many times I’ve called her. “She didn’t answer any of them,” I blurted out the worst thing in the scenario. All I hear then is the two of them let out a sigh.
I went to Joonmyeon hyung’s bed and look at him straight in the eyes. “This is exactly why I was pissed that we didn’t get our promised day offs. My worst nightmare is happening and because of my job, I can do nothing about it! I love Boram more than my own life, hyung, and she’d been waiting for me to spend some time with her,”
“Well, what do you expect me to do? Our comeback is just two months away. We need to be prepared for it. There’s no way anyone could get any day offs!”
“You’re the leader, hyung. Surely you have more authority to talk this out with our manager,”
“But this is purely impossible! How could you be asking for day offs when our comeback is just around the corner?”
“Well then, looks like we have to postpone the comeback’s date then,” I know I sounded like a crazy person when I proposed this idea but it’s my best shot. Both of them seem to be surprised by what I just said. Maybe they’re wondering how I got the bravery to propose the idea. “Are you trying to get the board to kill us?” Joonmyeon hyung’s voice changed. “We work for them, Chanyeol. What you’re trying to do is like a worker commanding his boss to do the job. It simply won’t happen and the sooner you accept it, the better it is for you,”
I got nothing more to say. Once the man said that he could do nothing, I don’t think I should push him anymore. He’s a human being after all, I shouldn’t be so demanding. Still, I couldn’t hide my anger when I couldn’t get what I want. It’s all over my face and it probably made Joonmyeon hyung felt guilty. “Look, I’m sorry I can’t help you,” he said. “I know Boram means the world to you but we have a job. We’ve worked hard to get this job and as the leader and your hyung, I don’t want you to forget your lifetime dream because of a simple problem. I know you’ll solve it soon,”
Joonmyeon hyung headed outside. I just remembered that he’d a gym session and I actually took half of his time. Well, not that I felt sorry for it. The only man that I can rely on to solves my problem told me to solve it on my own. Why am I still here anyways? Not that it brings any good.
“You know, what Joonmyeon hyung said kind of makes sense,” Sehun suddenly exclaimed. I turned to him, looking all irritated. Don’t tell me this boy is on his side too…
“You don’t have to agree with him just because you’re his roommate, you know?”
“I’m not. I agreed with him based on my critical thinking,” he said with confident. I don’t know if should laugh or not. It’s not because he can’t do critical thinking, it’s just he rarely does it.
“Yeah? Not because you’ve been brainwashed?”
“No. I did my own thinking and I must say that he’s right. He actually cared about you, hyung. He said that your problem regarding Boram noona is a simple problem. He doesn’t want to make you feel burden by it because you can solve it on your own,”
“How exactly?” I know that Sehun sometimes could be childish and spoiled but it seems he had a point now. A point that never crossed my mind.
“Think about it. Boram noona become your girlfriend after you debuted. She knows how risky it is to be your girlfriend. Yet she stayed by your side. Why do you think that she stayed?”
That’s an easy question to answer. I’ve asked Boram before because I know how risky it is to date someone like me. “Because she knows that I’ll be there to protect her and love her,” I answered. Sehun suddenly smiled thus put me in confusion. “I told you that Joonmyeon hyung was right. You could solve the problem on your own! Boram noona knows you’ll be there whenever she needs you. You don’t need day offs or postponing the comeback’s date to be by her side. She already knew that you’ll be there to love her,”
“But if she knew, why didn’t she answer my calls? It’s as if she didn’t trust me to love her anymore,”
“Of course she doesn’t if you’re too busy with work. That’s why you bought a phone. Use that to contact her every day. She knows you love her but she doubts that you cared about her. Next time, use the phone wisely!”
Wow, Sehun is being extremely inspiring to me today! I just realised everything now. It’s not because I don’t have any time to spare for Boram, it’s because I didn’t make an effort to find some time for her!
And to think that I’ve never thought about that…
***************************************
It’s getting late. Boram usually finishes work at midnight so she should’ve seen those missed calls. I really hope she’ll answer me this time. Okay, one more time…
“Yeoboseyo?” her voice vibrates. She picked up!
“Hey, jagi, it’s me,” I casually said. There was this silence between us. I can hear she’s sighing but that’s about it. She doesn’t want to say anything. It really gives me the creeps. “You couldn’t have forgotten about me, do you?”
“No, I haven’t,” Boram’s words relieved me. She continues,” But I’m trying to,”
It feels like I was woken up from a long dream. I could’ve never expected this to happen. Not when I’ve found my mistakes and wanted to do something about it. “Look, I know I made a lot of mistakes. I’ve ignored you throughout the tour, I haven’t called you in a while, I’ll admit all the mistakes if you want me to. But I want you to know that I’m a different man now. I know you trusted me to care for you. I’ve failed to do it once, so can I get my second chance now?”
Again, silence. All I hear are noises at the back, probably coming from her co-workers. “You may have a second chance…,” she said. You wouldn’t know how happy I am to hear those words. Every syllable felt like blessings that I don’t really deserve.
Boram then continues, “After you quit from the group,”
Now that’s when my whole world stops. Boram didn’t even give me a chance to react. She just hung up. I was left without a choice.
And I thought I’ve got the solution for all. As I began to thought that Sehun was right saying that this issue is a simple problem. Now I’m bound between my career and my love. Who should I choose? Who should I forget? Is quitting the right thing to do or breaking up is a much better option?