Reserved [Book V]

Embrace

I didn't have a lot of friends growing up. People were always people only and I thought building deep relationships were useless, for people come and go and in the end, you'll be surrounded by yet a different set of faces and personalities.

However, there's a great deal between me and my brothers. We have surpassed almost everything together and we're inseparable.

I learned something important today. Friends do come and go, but my brothers are a clear exception. They are the best set of friends I could ever get and I would never trade them for the world.

This is exactly how my heart broke today.

To hear the story of people treating each other like family and growing apart in the end had my chest constricting for a whole different reason. I forgot the feeling of being caged inside a small room, forgot the click of the switch and the light bulb going off, forgot the threatening voice of that short girl or the feet of her subjects kicking on the floor as they chased after me.

I forgot the world and for seconds that felt like years, I looked at one of the protagonists of the story. His body was very much able, limbs strong; his expression could scare someone in just one glance. But his eyes, they give everything away. They say he's tired. They say he misses his family. They say he wants his brothers back together.

I don't know the reason behind the big fight and he refused to tell me, but I know he's hurt. So with that knowledge in mind, I stepped closer and wrapped my arms around him tightly. His hands followed right away and accepted my embrace, and that was the very first time I ever felt secured in such a tight space.

There's always a chance for them to be together and I genuinely hope they find and grab it at once. If they really are brothers, anger cannot last a lifetime, much like between me and my own family.

Z, thank you for trusting me with your story.

***

Zitao had woken up with a heavy head, thanks to a late night at the Groove. His latest weekends were mostly composed of this – besides dragging Areum's ass out of her flat – and going somewhere that's not the M house.

Glancing at the small digital clock on the bedside table was a curse though, for whatever plan he would whip up in his head on the way to Areum's home would be too late now. He should've woken up three and a half hours ago.

He swung his legs off the bed and rubbed his face to his dark, tousled hair, sighing in defeat as he finally admitted to himself that that was the best sleep he had in ages. This was the first thought in his head, next was Areum's flimsy arms around him and slim body in contact with his. For some reason, he felt like it had repeated a thousand times, a thousand stories of the same format, a thousand Kyungsoo and Zitao's, a thousand M and K's, a thousand Jang Ah-reum hugs.

Had he dreamt about it... about her?

It was so early for him to be thinking so hard. Zitao grabbed a towel so he could at least shower before facing anyone else inside the house but much to his hard luck, he opened his bedroom door to a sweet face, fist up in the air as if she was about to knock.

He was wide awake... right?

"Hi." Areum said in a meek little voice as her hand dropped back down to her side. A second later and there was a smile and it reached her eyes, making it so damn difficult for him to speak.

Zitao was never like this and he shouldn't be.

"Um... I was waiting at the apartment lobby." She began. "It had been too long and I started to get worried, so I thought maybe I should just come over."