48 hours, a short story | chan & seungmin

seungmin ⚘ happiness is a butterfly- lana del rey

- Chapter 4 , follow behind

he finishes his sandwich, and he wipes his hands on his pants. yuck. he stands up, and looks down at me. i look up at him with the same anger in my eyes, but i actually am very intimidated by this guy.

"what if i wanted to die, seungmin?" he asks, before starting to walk away.

i watch as he walks down the deck steps, walking away from me. it takes a moment to register what exactly he said, but when it does i jump out of my chair and go racing after him. i run down the steps and turn to him, standing in the sand.

"you want to die?!" i ask loudly, but he ignores me and keeps waking. "guy! hello!" i yell.

when he still doesn't answer, i go running after him again. i run up in front of him like i did on the dock, and he stops again because i'm in front of him. i look at him in disbelief, while he looks at me with no expression.

"you want to die?" i ask again, quieter and more genuine this time. "why would you want to die when there is so much to live for?"

i wait for him to speak, and as i do my heart is racing. this guy wants to die. he doesn't want to take another breath, and that is why he was out by the ocean. it hits me that i just saved a guy from committing suicide.

"it was a what it." he says blankly, like it's nothing. "i didn't say that i actually wanted to die." he says to me.

his words don't have any emotion, and they sound meaningless. however, something is telling me that i am getting lied to right now. something is telling me that this guy is going through way more than i will ever know.

"okay." i say, nodding my head. "then where are you off too now?"

"i'm going to get real food." he says, and starts to walk off.

this time he actually went around me, instead of asking me to move out of his way. i watch as he walks away, but something makes me want to follow him. so i do.

i go running off after him, and walk by his side as he walks wherever he is walking. he stops, and looks at me blankly. i look at him too, and just smile.

"what are you doing?" he asks.

"making sure you don't die." i say, still smiling. "now go on, ill just follow behind."

"i don't need a bodyguard." he says. "just get lost, kid. somebody is probably looking for you at home." he says, and begins to walk again.

i just follow behind. "my brothers in america, so i'm all alone. trust me, nobody is looking for me."

he stops again. "just go, kid."

"no." i say firmly. "i don't want you to die, so i'm going with you wherever you are going."

he takes a deep breath, before turning to look at me. i excepted him to have an angry look on his face, i expected him to yell at me. however, he doesn't do either of those things.

he still looks at me blankly. "you're coming with me?" he asks.

"mhm." i nod.

he just turns away, and continues to walk. we walk into a parking lot, and we walks over to a brand new suv that probably cost more than my college tuition. i just look at him, but he doesn't look back to me.

he reaches into his pocket, and pulls out a car key. he presses a button, and the car beeps. i look at him again, still unsure.

"if your homeless... why do you have such a nice car?" i ask.

he opens the door. "i said im homeless, not broke." he says. "now go away. seriously."

"no, im coming with you." i say as i walk to the passenger side.

"i'm a stranger. you don't get in cars with strangers." he says. "didn't you ever get taught that? the world is a bad place, kid."

"i was taught that, but you're not a stranger." i say to him, and get in the car.

he bends down, and looks at me through his open car door. "why am i not a stranger? you know absolutely nothing about me and i've only been in your life for a half hour."

"i made you a sandwich." i say with a smile. "you don't make strangers sandwiches."

"whatever kid." he says. "you can come along, fine, but i better not have to get you home by seven or something."

he finally gets in the car, closing the door and buckling his seatbelt. i'm actually shocked he is letting me tag along. this is kind of cool, if i'm being honest. i don't have many friends, or people in my life, so hanging out with somebody- even if it's a man i just met- is fun.

"i told you i'm alone." i say. "so i don't have a curfew. and your a grown man, so you don't have a curfew. so we can stay out as late as we want."

"who says i'm not going to bring you right back home?" he asks, and he turns around to look behind us as he backs the car out.

"me." i say. "because i'm going to make it my purpose to spend the rest of the time i have left in korea making sure you don't die on me."

"why is me dying so important?" he asks, and starts to drive down the busy streets.

"because i like you, and i would be sad if you died." i say.

as stupid as it sounds, it's the truth. i do like this guy, and i want to get to know him better. i want to know why he came to the ocean, why he decided to eat my sandwich, why he is okay with me tagging along, and why he seems so find with the idea of death.

i want to know him.

"you don't even know me, kid." he says. "why are you so interested in me?"

"because i find you cool." i say, looking down to my hands in my lap. "and i can know you, if you'd tell me about yourself." i look at him.

"fine." he says. "if you aren't going to leave me alone, then fine."

"okay, wow." i say. "i didn't expect you to actually let me-"

i stop speaking, and look to him. he doesn't say anything, and just keeps his eyes on the road. what do i want to know about him first? what do i want to know about this random stranger who's car i just got in?

"what's your name?" i ask simply.

he says a name, but it was muffled.

"chen?" i ask after not hearing him properly.

he shakes his head. "no, chan." he says.

"chan? oh okay." i say. "that's a nice name, i like short names."

he doesn't say anything back to me. i look to him again, and try to think of another question i could ask him. maybe his age? or his job? or i could jump immediately into the deep questions.

"how old are you?"

"twenty-six." he says.

"damn." i say in shock. "i mean.. no i mean like damn.. that's so... i don't know. wow chan, you're so old." i give up completely on being nice.

"i told you." he says.

"where are we going?" i look to the road.

"i already told you, to get food." he says.

i smile. "ohh, yeah sorry i forgot."

he doesn't say anything, and that leads me to my next question.