Reserved [Book V]

Tower

Zitao showed up at her apartment door for it had been long since he decided to send her a hurricane of messages while waiting at the lobby. Chairs and walls had witnessed Zitao's mixed emotions ruining his pose – worry, irritation and curiosity stirring all at once that created a not-so-good mood at so early in the damn morning.

Areum wasn't replying to anything and he was too proud to ask one of her brothers, so Zitao went ahead and knocked. Opening to him was Jaehwan in proper clothes, probably to spend half his day at work like the others do and leave the place to the youngest all alone.

Strange enough, it was as if Jaehwan understood everything and left with only a nod and a smile, gesturing for Zitao to come in and call for Areum himself. The man mentioned that his sister switched rooms and when Zitao was alone, he wondered why the hell Jaehwan was so assured with leaving him there.

Zitao went pass the living rooms and called her name, but the flat remained peaceful. Too disturbingly peaceful, he thought, because even though Areum didn't speak that much, her absence created an unexplainable void and Zitao didn't like unexplainable things.

He wandered around until he figured out where Areum could be, knocking on the door and hearing a muffled voice from the other side. It took him about a solid minute before actually turning the knob and seeing Areum sitting on the bed, back against the headboard and knees hugged close to her chest.

Zitao could feel a twist in his stomach, observing her quietly, for Areum was still trapped in her own world and he was too sure that it's still for that very reason. Although it pricked a tad bit to know that Kyungsoo had such an impact on Areum, it was harder witnessing that very impact take its toll.

He stood silently at the door and followed her troubled eyes stare at something; a typewriter sitting on the study table. There was a cage of sorts next to it, seemingly empty from the angle he was seeing it from. This bedroom had a large window that was wide open and Zitao thought that was the best for Areum's fear of closed spaces.

And then his sight was back to her. And her sight was still on that typewriter.

"Areum?" He spoke softly and Zitao almost didn't believe he was alive and breathing. Areum's eyebrows just furrowed and she maintained the position, so he called a little louder. "Areum."

Her head darted surprised, eyes widening as she stared at him. "How long have you been standing there?"

"A while." Zitao replied. "May I come in?"

Areum glanced at his foot already in her room. "It might be too late for me to say you can't."

He nodded and widened the door before walking inside and sitting at the foot of her bed. "I waited downstairs, you know. It had been too long. I thought you were dead."

"I'm not really into seeing anyone from school right now." She answered with a shake of the head. "It's not a good time."

"When will the good time come then?" Zitao asked. He gazed upon details of her room, every piece that decorated the room; the large shelf of books, notebooks organized by color on the desk, short poems framed and hung on the wall, small pots of cacti near the window. Every bit of it screamed Areum and he was inside the lair with her, kind of a personal look in her life.

And even though he would try to deny it, Zitao felt a little special.

"There won't be a good time if you stay here and stare at things all day." He muttered whilst turning to Areum whose face seemed troubled at most.

"You just don't understand me."

"Maybe." He nodded. "But this won't do you any good. Moping will only make you think of it harder and harder, and then you start to get lonelier and lonelier until your head explodes. You'll eventually come back to your happy phase but it will take an awful lot of time. In the process, you'll inconvenience the people surrounding you and while watching you like this, they'll turn lonely too."