Meori Apeuda

Chapter 22

It was about half past eleven, when we finally went to bed. Standing before Chan’s door I hesitated, contemplating if I should enter or if I’d better sleep on the couch. But Seungmin patted my shoulder when he passed me on his way to his own room. “Just go in. When they’re composing they hardly notice anything around them. You could dance naked in front of them, they wouldn’t notice. Believe me, we tried…”

I laughed so hard that I nearly doubled over, holding my stomach. That image was too much fun. Seungmin giggled, waved me goodbye and left. When I had calmed down a bit I laid my hand on the doorknob and slowly opened the door. 

The room was dark apart from the small bedside lamps. Han, Bin and Chan were sitting on the floor at the end of the bed, in front of them was Chan’s laptop and all of them wore headphones, nodding their heads to a beat only they could hear. It looked like they hadn’t moved for the last three hours, they’d been gone. I smiled and sat down on the bed, watching them. They really didn’t seem to notice that I had entered.

I finally managed to charge my phone and took it up to check the time. That’s when I found a message on my phone: “09.22., 1:35pm. Lyttmab, C.” A big smile spread over my face. The message was from Cara, telling me when she would call me tomorrow. The ‘Lyttmab’ stood for ‘Love you to the moon and back’, something she had often said to me, especially before we went to bed.

Something tickled my cheek and when I raised my hand I noticed that it was a tear. Thinking of my best friend made me miss her more than anything. ‘Get yourself together, you’ll be hearing her in a few hours. Don’t be such a baby..’ I scolded myself and exhaled sharply, shaking my head once.

When I closed the messages I saw the picture of me and Chan again, which we took at the vantage point and my heart fluttered. Damn, I had messed up preeeetty bad, falling this hard for him. I really didn’t have any hopes that we’d stay together for long. That was something that happened only in drama series, not in real life. And I needed to be prepared for that day. But how did someone prepare for his heart to be shattered into a thousand pieces…?

“Bring super glue…” I growled darkly and chuckled once, without much humour. 

“예! 그게 다야!! (geulae! geuge daya, /Yes! that’s it!!)” Bin suddenly exclaimed loudly, making me jump. His voice was really a class of its own. When I looked up, I saw him clapping Chan’s back enthusiastically and Han nodded, his hair bouncing. 

Only Chan still stared thoughtful at the screen, not saying anything, squeezing his lower lip between his fingers. Han raised his hand to Changbin for a high five and suddenly discovered me on the bed, squeaking in fright. I raised my hands, palms forward, making a calming gesture.

“Sorry! I didn’t mean to scare you. You didn’t notice me coming in and I didn’t want to disturb you guys…”

He ran his fingers through his hair, looking befuddled. “We didn’t…how long have you been sitting there?” Changbin now also turned to me and smiled coyly. I took my phone back up and checked the time. “A little less than half an hour…”

Their eyes widened and then they giggled. “Sorry…”

I grinned and made a dismissive gesture. “No harm done, it’s alright…So…Chan’s still in his own world?” I asked amused, pointing at their leader, who still hadn’t moved or even acknowledged that they were talking to me. 

Bin shook his head. “No, Chan-Hyung is…how you say…Space out?” - “Spaced out. Yeah, that sounds appropriate…” I giggled and both nodded. 

I got up and went to the bathroom. “Just keep going, guys, I’ll just brush my teeth and go to bed. My sleep is quite deep, so don’t worry, you won’t disturb anyone…” They gave me a thumbs up.