the doppelganger | xiuchen

× 9 ×

Minseok, Kris, Luhan, Yixing, and Tao crowded around Chen's bed. Next to him, the heart monitor displayed a flat line.

The doctor began saying something in Chinese that Minseok didn't know -- not that he wanted to know.

Ping!

On the bedside table, Chen's phone lit up. Minseok couldn't read it, but Luhan could.

"It's from the company. Chen got the job."

xxx

Minseok, Jongdae, and Yixing all stood together on the side of the festival, where it was quiet.

"When I was in China, I stayed at this house," Minseok began. "Yixing lived there, and so did a guy named Chen. And Chen looked just like you. You two looked so alike, to the point where I wondered if you guys were identical twins separated at birth."

Yixing handed Jongdae a picture of Chen. His eyes widened, narrowed, and his mouth fell open.

"This is Chen?" Jongdae asked, gesturing at the photo. "I . . ." His voice trailed off as he kept looking down at the picture, not that Minseok could blame him. When nobody spoke up, Minseok took a deep breath and continued.

"I had only stayed there for a few weeks, but I slept in the same room as Chen, and we spent a lot of time together," Minseok continued. "But, during my last week there, Chen got into an accident."

Jongdae lowered the picture and looked back and forth between Minseok and Yixing. He no longer looked shocked, but he wasn't smiling, either.

"He had gone to a job interview," Yixing said. "He was coming back when his bus was hit. He died three hours after he arrived at the hospital."

"That's why I came back early," Minseok finished. "Everyone thought it would be best if I came back to Korea."

"And then you met me," Jongdae said slowly. "Is that why you wanted to hang out? You thought I was . . . this Chen?"

Minseok's eyes widened. "No!" He hesitated. "At first, a little," he admitted. "That first day we met, I wanted to know more about you because I thought you were related to Chen. But I realized you weren't, and that the two of you weren't alike. And then I wanted to know Kim Jongdae, not the person who looks like Chen."

He didn't reply, but he did look a little less suspicious, though it could have only been Minseok's imagination.

"That doesn't explain why you're in Korea, though," Jongdae said to Yixing. "Why did you come? Did Minseok hyung say a Chen-lookalike was in Korea?"

After hearing the way Jongdae addressed him, Minseok felt a small flurry of hope.

Yixing shook his head. "No, I actually came for a different reason." He looked down at the ground. "After you left, Xiu-- Minseok, the five of us kind of went our own ways.

"Kris left first. Then, Luhan said he was going to sell the house. I was hoping Tao would at least stay with me, but he also went back to his family."

Now it was Minseok's turn to be shocked. He and Luhan hadn't sent letters to each other ever since Minseok returned to Korea, so he didn't know any of this.

"I -- you -- so you're going to live in Korea from now on?" Minseok asked.

Yixing looked uncertain. "I still haven't decided," he said. "At first, I just came to Korea because I just needed some time away from China. I'm staying at a hotel right now, but . . ."

Before Minseok could suggest Yixing coming to his apartment instead, a ping from Jongdae's phone made both of them look up.

"It's Baekhyun," Jongdae said. "He's wondering where we are. The reason why I had come back in the first place was to tell you guys to, um, have your conversation later. But I can go to Baekhyun first and tell him you two are still sorting things out," he ended with a small smile.

Minseok looked over at Yixing. Thankfully, he didn't look as sad as he did before.

"It's okay," Yixing finally said. "This is a festival, after all. We're supposed to have fun here."

"Yeah," Minseok agreed, relieved that the conversation had, overall, ended decently, to say the least.

Yixing gave a small smile. "We should go back, then. I want to know what it's like to be a famous singer or dancer."

This seemed to relieve whatever little tension was left, and the three of them began walking back to where the other were.

When Yixing was slightly ahead of them, however, Minseok pulled Jongdae a little closer to him.

"Are you mad?" he asked. He had to know for sure before he could comfortably speak with Jongdae again.

"Am I mad about what?" Jongdae asked. "That you only approached me because you thought I was someone else?"

Minseok's jaw slackened, but then he saw the look in Jongdae's eyes.

"It's okay," he said, smiling. "No, I'm not mad. I was surprised at first, and then I was maybe a little hurt, but after hearing your and Yixing's conversation, I think I can understand why you chose not to say anything. I probably would have done the same."

Relieved, Minseok nodded. "Okay, thank you."

Jongdae laughed gently. "What are you thanking me for?" he asked. Then, he held the photograph out to him. "Yixing gave this to me before, and while I am slightly curious about my doppelganger, I was wondering if you wanted to hold onto this."

Silent, Minseok accepted the photo and finally took a closer look at it. In the picture, Chen was wearing a black coat with his hair styled up and body tilted at an angle, so he was facing his back. He then looked up at Jongdae, whose bangs covered his forehead. He was wearing a light gray hoodie and grinning widely.

Upon closer look, the two had plenty of differences.

"Thanks," Minseok finally said as he placed the photograph into his pocket. "I'll give this to Yixing when I see him."

Jongdae opened his mouth to reply, but someone else spoke first.

"Hey!" Baekhyun's yell from quite a far distance interrupted Minseok. "Walk faster!"

Jongdae laughed. "Okay!" he yelled back, widening Minseok's smile.

When they finally saw Baekhyun, he was standing with the others, Yixing included, looking impatient.

"We have the chance to meet these celebrities, and you're wasting your time talking to each other?" Baekhyun asked, gesturing directly at Kai and Kyungsoo.

Minseok smiled as Baekhyun was scolded by Suho and Kyungsoo for being too loud. Quickly, he and Jongdae joined the group so all nine of them could interact comfortably.

~~~

A/N: I feel like this chapter is super rushed, so I'm sorry about that. But I think this is the official last chapter (not including the epilogue) so I'll probably edit this then.