My close friend

At Last

"2,3. We are one. Good evening, we are EXO!"

Standing next to each other, united by friendship and music, they all stood majestically under that veranda, each of their faces glowing with happiness and relief of finally being together after so long, and pride of being a united family. Seeing EXO after so long might have been a joyful and proud moment for the audience (that is, auntie, uncle and I), but by no means was this feeling comparable to what the boys were feeling then; they all seemed to be a hundred times more energetic, a hundred times more alive, and might I add, more handsome too! 

I shall not forget Chanyeol's expression while standing among his dear comrades that day. At that moment, he was surely reminiscing about the good old times: times spent practising their different choreographs and their individual parts in the songs, and preparing to hit the stage and have an awesome time together, as a band, as their admirers would scream their names. He had the largest smile I have ever seen, plastered on his face, letting his snow-white incisors radiate their beauty while his dimples deepened. And as if it was contagious, I began smiling like an idiot too. Chanyeol was radiating so much happiness and excitement that I felt that he could let some tears out anytime soon... As I had once mentioned, he is really a big crybaby, just like me, and this is one of the many reasons I love his pure-hearted angel so much.

But his precious smile soon faded away as a tall man made his appearance among us. I turned to take a look at what could have counteracted such a beautiful and pure smile; my eyes laid on a quite tall and fair man, with a truly pretty face. Despite the fact that nowadays, barely no one would wear a pair of suit trousers to attend a family get-together, this man was nevertheless dressed in a brown one, with a dark blue turtleneck and a brown coat on top of that. His blonde hair was neatly made into a 5:5 perm parted hairstyle, revealing his clear and spotless forehead. He seemed to be more into the old fashion more than the new one, however, I must say that this look complimented him perfectly; even Chanyeol would look absurd in such clothes! Judging by the speed with which Chanyeol's smile disappeared and the look he was giving me, I concluded that his man was so-awaited Eric, and he already had peeked my interest with his unique, Old English style.

"Hello everyone. I did not mean to interrupt you guys. Please carry on! Oh, I have not presented myself! How rude of me; my name is Eric. I am-"

"Yeah... They all know about you...", Chanyeol let out, surprisingly timidly. By the look he gave me, it would have appeared that he was pissed, but the tone he just used did not depict any anger, but definitely showed his annoyance; he was trying hard to restrain himself from going wild over him.

And that man's voice...! I was certainly not expecting it to be as sweet as honey! It was smoother than anything that I had ever heard before; it was almost like that of a little shy boy! Actually, he looked really young, maybe in his early twenties!

He still had that innocent, warm and friendly gaze after hearing Chanyeol's blunt words. That immediately reflected what I recognised as his love and respect for his nephew, despite the hate that the latter and his parents had for him. He kept calm and smiled happily.

"I am glad to know that I am quite popular among your friends too, Chanyeol. I am pleased to meet you all. I hope we can all get acquainted this evening."

Upon hearing those words, Chanyeol glared at me and hinted me to stay close to auntie and uncle. No matter how much I wanted to talk to this man and get to know him myself, I quietly followed his instructions and went to stand close to auntie.

"Ladies and gentlemen, shall we head to the dining table then? Because I am honestly hungry. Hehe...!!", said Junmyeon enthusiastically. Junmyeon was aware of Eric's deeds and hence, as the leader, he tried to enlighten the atmosphere.