Last Flight Home

015: New York

Alex was in denial.

When the words left Eunri's lips, he had completely frozen up, not knowing how to react to what she had just said.

"Alex is dead..."

"Alex is dead... ..."

"Alex is dead... ... ..."

Those words kept ringing in his mind over and over again, like a horrendous nightmare that he couldn't get out of. His immediate reaction was to insist that there was some misunderstanding somewhere. He couldn't possibly be dead, not when he was still completely conscious, albeit in someone else's body. This was even more unbelievable than finding out that he was stuck in Daehyun's mind.

"Alex, you alright?" Daehyun asked hesitantly.

Alex hadn't even allowed him to listen to Eunri's explanation. Instead, he began singing really loudly in Daehyun's head so that he couldn't hear what Eunri was saying properly. He only stopped singing when Daehyun promised he wouldn't ask Eunri for more details on what exactly had happened.

"I'm fine! Why would I not be fine?" Alex replied with false cheeriness. If he kept pretending that he was alright, then maybe he would truly be alright.

"I really think we should ask Eunri what on earth is going on. You can't keep denying it. We both heard what she said."

"What's there to ask? There's nothing to ask. It's probably a misunderstanding. Someone must have tricked Eunri into thinking that I'm dead. I can't be dead. If I'm dead, how is it that I'm able to talk to you right now?"

Daehyun sighed.

It had been three days since the shocking revelation. Since then, they had been feigning illness to avoid Eunri just so that Alex wouldn't have to face reality, but both of them knew that this wasn't a long-term plan.

"Well you can't keep being like this. Maybe it is a misunderstanding, but we need to get it straightened out. You can't keep having Eunri think that you're dead if you aren't really dead, right?" Daehyun insisted.

"No! Don't ask her anything!"

"No, I'm going to ask. You need to know the truth. I need to know the truth."

Alex flew into a panic. He continued protesting as loudly as he could, his entire being racked with fear and uncertainty, but Daehyun wasn't having any of it. The only thing he could do was watch helplessly as Daehyun stormed out of the hotel room.

#

"Are you feeling better?" Eunri asked as they strolled across Times Square. It was a weekday, but the streets of New York were still bustling with human traffic nonetheless.

"I'm fine now. Sorry for making you worry," Daehyun replied. He was busy thinking of a way to broach the topic without sounding awkward, but there seemed to be no way of doing that. Alex had gone into a sulky silence ever since they met up with Eunri, but Daehyun couldn't be bothered to appease him now. He had already spent the past three days listening to Alex's desperate denials and protests. "Shall we stop by a café and grab a cup of coffee?"

Eunri smiled and nodded, so off they went.

When their coffee had arrived, Daehyun pursed his lips together for a second as he thought of what he wanted to say. He must have looked awfully pensive with his brows furrowed tightly together because Eunri asked, "Are you alright? What are you thinking about?"

"Huh?" Daehyun snapped out of his thought process and looked up. "Oh. Nothing much, it's just that... I was wondering..."

"Have you got something to ask me?"