My close friend

Challenge (2)

Being cautious about what would get out of my silly mouth, that is, not being a childish brat and acting like a mature woman of my age, was a thing that I could do for hours with barely any difficulty, really; but I would obviously not be able to keep it up at a given moment. As much as I knew myself, I was bound to comment on a meaningless someone's hideous fashion style, on their ridiculous haircut, or simply their way of walking! But as long as the challenge would only last for a couple of hours, I should be able to keep my nonsensical thoughts to myself.

The drive home was as short as usual. Chanyeol had decided to drop by and see mom, so we were both walking down the narrow pathway towards my house.

"MOM! I'm home!" I yelled as I got in; such was my routine as I got in after all.
I looked at Chanyeol who glared at me with quite the confident look in his eyes. Maybe he was thinking that I was beginning to crack up, but the challenge was between him and me and for all I was aware of, we were the only ones to be involved.

"What are you glaring at me for ? I was only calling mom out. Besides, I can annoy mom as much it pleases me, as the challenge was only between you and me, right ?" I confidently said.

He simply chuckled and walked alongside me to the kitchen. I took his little laugh as an agreement. We entered the kitchen and found mom, along with dad, having tea while nibbling some cookies.

"Dad!? You home early today..!?" I asked.
For some reason, I kept pondering on the logic in my question, and that time was the very first time it occurred to me that that simple little question, one which anyone would say upon finding someone unexpectedly earlier than usual at home, one which would automatically leave the buccal cavity, was a really stupid and baseless question. Instead, 'why are you home early' should have been said; then why would we always stick to that rhetorical one, despite being already aware of the answer...? 

The whole world, the human race, seemed stupid all of a sudden. I looked at Chan to see if he, too, had realised the silliness of that meaningless question, but it would seem that that one had slipped through his ears. Nevertheless, that fact had well encrusted itself in my mind, and I immediately plunged into my own world of reflection, mysteries and fantasies. For the short period that I was there, lost in my thought, I came across many such examples in which people would rather hear the obvious answer and lose seconds of their lives, instead of getting to the point right away. For example, there was the case when people would point out that you had had your hair cut. 'Oh, that haircut was well done' or 'that hairstyle looks good on you' would be more appropriate and logical; but instead, 'oh, you've cut your hair ?' would be most people's response eventually. As if it was not obvious enough that the hair had been cut...! Wasn't that simply a waste of saliva and energy!?

"Yes, as you can see."
See!? A rhetorical question indeed! What was the need to ask a question whose answer was so obvious!? And then I would have to ask for the explanations, thing which I could have done the minute I opened my mouth when I greeted him. What a waste of time...!

"Yeah yeah, but why ?"
I already lost fifteen seconds of my life. Fifteen seconds that I would not gain back ever again. I know what you guys are thinking about but let us not indulge in procrastination now, shall we ? Or else, this discussion (hence this chapter) will be as long as the Wall of China, hahaha!! 
Thus with that, I left my mystic world, full of fantasies and strange things, and came back on track.

"I have to take a look at that tree trunk just outside the living room. Despite having felled the tree and cut some of the roots, the remains are still strongly and deeply held in the ground. It's incredible how strong the roots are, really!"

"Are you having any trouble with it, uncle ? I could lend you a helping hand", proposed Chanyeol.
Well, I have never seen Chanyeol on heavy duty like tree-felling, and as much as he was a capable and resourceful person, tree-felling seemed to be honestly out of his league. I just could not picture him with an axe or a shovel in his hands; it simply seemed really weird!

"No no, don't worry about it my boy. No need to tire and dirty yourself all over. It's been weeks since I've last chopped it and by now,  must have grown weaker. So it would not be much of a problem to deal with. Thank you my boy. You are very considerate."

"Why are you standing, Chan!? Please have a seat! Here, have some cookies. Come on you! Move your buttock and go make some tea for Chanyeol, you annoying chatter-box", said mom.
Yes, sometimes-no, most of the times, my parents would rather side up with Chanyeol than with me, their own daughter. Actually, they would side with whoever I brought home rather than me. It was as if I just had to seem like the bad kid in front of my friends. But I was used to getting treated likewise.

"Tea ? Coffee ? Or juice ?" I asked Chan, who was already nibbling some cookies.

"Coffee please. Thank you."
Ah, that challenge had yet to be over huh... Not that I did not appreciate Chanyeol's gesture in dropping by to see my parents though. Actually, that was what I loved about him: his attention towards my parents. He cared for them as much as his, and that really made me feel closer to him. You should have already noticed that by the way he would constantly keep asking about my parents' whereabouts whenever we were home.

However, despite that lovely and rosy family picture, my mouth was itching to be free and I wanted to be so conscious-free about what would leave my mouth! I had to admit that since we were in my parents' presence, I was kind of free to be myself and I might not restrict my brain and mouth so much; the situation was a lot less tensed than when I was with Chanyeol back there at college. At least my fellas were there for me to annoy in Chan's stead!

"Look, you know what, I give up. I lose. I admit defeat. Blabber all you want. Let your annoying self loose again. I promise I will not mind a thing that you'll say now.
Wow... where did that come from!?!? I was certainly taken by surprise there, but boy was I happy to not pressurise and withstrain my little mouth anymore!!

PESTERING MODE : BACK ON! 

"What is it, Chan ? Why are you saying that out of the blue like that ?" I said quite confused. However, it was hard for me to hold on that little smirk of victory. 
I looked at mom and dad who seemed to be certainly more confused than I was.

"It was only kidding. It was not serious", he simply let out, with a blank smile plastered on his face.
"Okay, what actually happened was that I had challenged her to not annoy me with her new clothes or shoes, or whatever. But I was only kidding, hehe", he explained to my parents, who simply nodded in comprehension and agreement to Chanyeol's challenge. 

Nevertheless, I had to say that that was the worst cover-up I had ever seen in my life; it would seem that my boyfriend was not as great of a liar as her girlfriend, that is, me. If he thought that I would not notice that something was actually bothering him, well he was only kidding himself; he could not escape my eagle-like vision, ha! His fake laugh and that plain smile gave it away that he had something troubling him in his mind. However, I had to ask about my prize for winning (well, not per se, as he forfeited) and if he was still willing to do ab-so-lute-ly anything that I demanded. This way, we would be even. (You guys certainly recall that I still owed him a little something, for not having seen and realised his feelings for me, despite my so-called eagle eyes...)

"But then... the reward still stands right ? Look, there is no way of asking this without sounding selfish, so I am just getting straight to the point." Yeah, I was getting directly to the point that time around. Still, I had the feeling that since it was all a joke and all, he would be joking about that reward thing too. But at least, I had tried my luck and asked him, as there was always that slim, microscopic chance that he would agree.

"Yes, it is. I will do anything that you ask of me", he plainly replied.
Okay. Yes, something was definitely off here, and I was now itching to know what...!