520 ♡

02 ♡ The clues

After that one time, Sehun had not taken that bus for a whole week. Whenever Jongin asked him to come over to his house, he would always make up some excuse so he did not have to take that bus. The reason for his avoidance was simply that he did not want to see the bus boy again. He did not like to see the hurt on his face. It made him uncomfortable; it triggered something inside of him he did not quite find pleasant. Was it sympathy? It was close to it, he believed.

However, Sehun knew that he could not continue avoiding him for a life time. It would be ridiculous if he did, that was something even he knew. Jongin had told him that conversations with Luhan now lasted no longer than three seconds, unlike the past. His best friend had reasoned that it was because of him, and honestly, Sehun did feel apologetic for what he had said to him. It was not his intention to hurt the feelings of the stranger.

That brought him to the bus stop, where he was nervously waiting for the bus to arrive. In all honesty, Sehun was not even sure whether he was doing the appropriate thing. Just how much should one mingle himself in a stranger's life? Then again, labeling Luhan as a mere stranger did not quite fit the situation anymore.

He took a deep breath as he saw the bus approaching the bus stop, mentally calming himself down for what was going to come next. Once the doors opened, he silently stepped inside and after swapping his card, his eyes quickly scanned the bus. His eyes flickered in surprise as he was welcomed by an almost empty bus. Almost empty...

And no bus boy.

This was the first time that he did not see Luhan in the bus, and in a way, it frightened him.

Though, maybe it was just that one crucial fact had slipped his mind all this time about Luhan. Something that he had neglected all this time, yet had not failed to wake Sehun up. Luhan... After all...

Was human, too.

The bus boy, too, had a life he had to attend to. Even though it could sound ridiculous, it had escaped Sehun that Luhan, too, was a person with an own life. He had a good reason, though, he believed. In the past two months and more, his bus rides had always been with a certain bus boy. Therefore, he had already assumed him to always be there, and this one time that he was not, shocked him.

He was trembling as he walked to the seat in the back, the seat Luhan always sat on, hesitating whether to go to it or not. However, before he himself even realized it, he was already standing in front of the seat."That seat is taken."

He decided something he was sure he was going to regret. Even though a voice in the back of his mind was screaming to him to stop being so overly curious, Sehun could not help it. He could not help himself getting involved in something he should stay miles away from."I'm waiting for Joonmyun."

He took a deep breath before taking place on the place beside the haunted seat – Luhan's seat. Maybe he was just being paranoia, thinking that something would happen to him the moment he took place on the seat. He had imagined black fog to surround him, supernatural creatures to pop up, even dark voices to welcome him. Honestly, he had prepared himself for the worst children's nightmare to come true. It was so foolishly dumb, yet he could not stop himself from thinking like this.

His eyes unconsciously looked outside, looking at a view he had seen countless times. So this is how bus boy spends his time, Sehun thought as he turned to look at the bus from his seat. There really was nothing special, nothing that could give him even the slightest clue of what made Luhan sit here all the time. However, he still did not want to give up his suspicion that something must be wrong. Bus boy... There must be a reason. A reason he could find.

But there really was nothing, no clue, no hint, nothing that could provide him the evidence he needed for all the hypotheses he had created in his mind. Nothing.