𝓣𝓱𝓮 𝓶𝓸𝓸𝓷'𝓼 𝓮𝓾𝓹𝓱𝓸𝓻𝓲𝓪🌙

Someone's here.

"What?! The whole neighborhood? What do you mean?" I asked Alex. Today, on this beautiful afternoon I was sitting with Gerard and Alex in the school's cafeteria. We were talking about some unusual things taking place in the neighborhood, and one of them was Gerard deciding to cut his usual curtain of obnoxious green hair. But I wasn't referring to this. Another unusual sighting in our town was how Ben and Gray have gone to Busan for some unknown reason (However, my statement wasn't in reference to this either)

"Eat slowly Selena, you'll choke," Gerard said softly and I melted because I saw that concern was plastered on his face. Moreover, I wasn't eating or gulping down food in a hurry either. 

"I am eating slowly bab- Gerard," I said, It was apparent in the statement that I was itching to call him 'baby.' Gerard was coy as he hid his smile by putting his palm over his mouth. His ears seemed pink. 

Alex seemed frustrated by Gerard's concern for me as he started tapping his foot underneath the table. He banged his palms on the table, I was quite startled.

 Alex suddenly said, "You two lovebirds, listen to me"

"Love..birds?" I muttered under my breath. I wanted to admit that I liked that word because a blush creeped on my cheeks. 

"Yeah, you were saying?" Gerard asked as he cleared his throat and before doing that cool move he was scratching his hair. 

"Cute" I chirped and Gerard instantly turned his head towards me. He stared at my face for quite some time, he only came back to reality when Alex banged his fists on table this time.

"I have had enough of you" Alex muttered shaking his head like a maniac.

"I'm sorry Alex" I said and Gerard nodded at him.  Alex sighed and triumphantly crossed his arms against his chest. He sat at the chair with dignity and took on a serious expression. 

"So listen, some weird things are happening around the place where I live. The shops in the market have closed down and not even one store is open. I mean, it was a rare sight, its not like everyday that people close their shops and their small businesses, it's their main source of income."

 He shuddered at what he just told us. I believe the experience must have been eerie for him. A flash of worry crossed my mind but I didn't think about it much because neither I live in that area and its not like something will happen to me because I don't care if someone's business is closed. However, there was something poking me in the  back of my mind about this whole thing. I was unable to put a finger on it because it somehow felt that union is involved in this. I, turned out to be lucky because I left union, but this news is giving me some apprehensions. 

"I heard something about redevelopment" Gerard said while rubbing his chin. 

"What about redevelopment?" I asked. 

"I don't know much but I do know that it was linked to something that Gray and Eugene were discussing about. I will confirm and tell you later," he said. 

After Alex told us about redevelopment thing. No one uttered a word. Gerard looked at me then the food then at Alex. His opinionated and compassionate side was getting a turn on, while I was becoming anxious with foreboding.  Since morning I can't get Baekjin's confession out of my mind, he proposed, he fucking proposed. It was not like I was blinded to his budding affection for me rather I decided to ignore it because I have to face it- he is not mentally prepared for anything. He is always looking ahead, he is always ahead of everything. He has a certain set  future and I always knew that I was never going to be the part of it. 

The bell rang and I flinched. It snapped me out of my thoughts and on the plus side I wasn't remotely overthinking, my mind was just interpreting my version of the truth.  As we were both walking back to our classes, I could feel Gerard's gaze on me.  He inquiring looked at me, then in the front and finally again his gaze rested on me. He asked me, 

"Is something wrong?"

I battled with my inner thoughts on how I should frame my reply. Its not something that I can describe in words, I feel anxious but I don't know why. Instead I said to him, 

"Nothing much, I'll talk to you later." 

I saw the teacher was making her way to the classroom, it was the time for the next class to begin. As I made my way towards my desk, I saw that eddy was still sleeping, his snoring kind of filled the room. I shook him awake and said, 

"The teacher's here."

*

Sun descended down the horizon, by sending its sparkling dying rays across the globe. They were sufficiently bright. Their warmth reached up to my face. The clear sky dipped in the colors of hue. I just stood watching this spectacle. Thousands of things raced in my mind but I wanted to ignore all of them because nothings matters in front of the lines of the setting suns. A sudden tap on my shoulder awoke me from my thoughts. Alex stood behind me and asked, 

"Can you come at Dorim Shopping Complex"

"Yeah, but why?" I asked

He grinned from ear to ear, as his eyes became much more transparent under the scrutiny of the sunset. He said, "I need to show you something."

The next day, I was just plain anxious to go to the Dorim mall. But still I went. The alley was clouded in an eerie mystery, because each and every store was closed and there was no one person in sight. Trash lay aimlessly at the corners of the street. Just a portion of sunlight reached the floors of the alley. It was just dark and grey. It was quite cold even in the middle of afternoon. Shiver ran through my spine starting from the back of my neck. I rubbed my hands together. I heard a faint sound of footsteps and I stopped at my tracks. I could feel my heart drop as I heard a faint murmur from behind me. Someone's here. 

"The........girl.......is he....re."