Home || NCT Ten

2

"If you had to choose between me or your ex-boyfriend," Hani asks loudly as she sips soju from her glass and continues, "Who would you choose?"

"What kind of a question is that?," I shake my head and laugh, "It'll always be you."

"That's romantic, eh?" She smirks as she scoots her face close to mine, "Even if he appears here, right at this moment?"

"That will never happen." I tell her as I flick her forehead and she lets out a loud groan.

"I'm sorry but can you both keep it down?" A soft voice interrupts and I wince in embarrassment.

"I'm sorry," I quickly stand up and face the source of voice, "My friend clearly drank too much." Bowing my head at the girl, I smile sheepishly, "Sorry for the inconvenience."

"Oh my god," The petite girl stands up suddenly and exclaims, "You- you!"

"Yah, she already apologised twice," Hani walks towards me and places her hand on my shoulder to keep herself steady and asks, "What more do you need?"

"You're my favourite author!" The girl whispers as she fans her face and squeals, "Can I- oh my god, can I get a picture with you?"

Unable to form any coherent words, I nod my head as she runs to her purse and fiddles around to find her phone.

"You said you didn't read," The boy, who accompanied her said, making her halt, "Why did you lie, I would never mind you reading."

"I didn't want you to think that I was boring," She shakes her long, raven hair from her face and smiles, "Come with me, I'll show you my favourite author."

"Why are you so famous?" Hani clings onto my arm and whines, "Can we go home? I'm tired."

"Just a minute," I tell her as the girl walks towards me and smiles.

I notice that she has a beautiful smile and even her walk radiates confidence. The boy next to her has his arm interlinked with her but he's staring at the ground. I feel jealous when my eyes fall on their linked hands and how close they seemed.

It made me miss the time when I was in love, when I had somebody to rely on.

"I'm Lia," She extends her other hand towards me and giggles when it trembles.

Shaking her hand, I let out a soft laugh, "It's a pleasure to meet you."

"And this is my boyfriend, Ten."

My eyes widen as Hani's grip on my shoulder loosens and Ten raises his head to look at me.

Life must've been playing a joke on me. There's no way my ex-boyfriend would be here right now.

He's a busy man, why is he here?

This is all because of Hani. Her cursed words must've brought him here.

"I don't feel good," I mumble as the ground beneath my feet spins making my head feel fuzzy.

It feels as if all my blood rushes up to my head and I feel myself shivering and trembling as I find myself staring in Ten's familiar eyes that seem so unfamiliar now, but it's all in my head.

I'm still standing there, neither shivering, nor trembling but I do feel dizzy. I grab Hani's arm for support and I bend over as all the food I ate comes out of my mouth.

"Baby, it's okay," Hani strokes my back with her other hand and I feel tears brimming in my eyes, "It's okay, I am here, aren't I?"

"I-I'm fine," I wipe my face with the tissue that Lia provides me and I shoot her a grateful look, "I'm sorry for causing this trouble, I feel really bad-"

"You don't have to," Lia chuckles as she shakes her head, "We're all humans, aren't we? We all get sick, it's normal."

She was right, we were all humans.

But some of us were drunk on the idea that the one who was exposed to the eye of public was perfect.

The thing is that your popularity doesn't describe you, it doesn't even measure your talent. Popularity and fame, they both depend on luck and hard work but mostly on luck.

A prime example of this is me. I wrote my debut novel and it granted me fame. I never expected that I would be among the best-sellers but here I was.

Life sure has a funny way of showing who's in charge.

"Thank you, really," I mumble softly to Lia after we leave the restaurant and stand on the side of the road, "About the picture-"

"It's okay, I don't want to overburden you, you should go home and rest." She bows her head at me and smiles that radiant smile.

"You know what, just give me your number," I laugh softly as I hand her my phone, "I'll contact you later."

She hurriedly types her number in my phone and hands it back to me.

"It was a pleasure meeting you both," I tell the couple as I avoid looking at Ten, "Reach home safely, goodnight."

"Wait," His voice makes me halt in my steps, "What about my shoes? You ruined them."

"Ten," Lia hisses at him as she tugs at his hand, "You're rich, just buy one more pair."

"Babe," He stares at the shoes and then at me, "These were a gift. They're a memory from my past."

My eyes trail down to his blue converse and my heart hammers inside my chest. They were the same shoes that I had gotten him on his first birthday that we spent together. I remember how I was a nervous wreck and the only thing that came to my mind was shoes.

Even if Ten was disappointed, he didn't show it. Instead back then, he thanked me for providing him another memory of our relationship.

I pull Ten's hand and drag him inside my apartment.

"Close your eyes," I tell him as I place a kiss on his cheek.

He obeys me instantly and I run inside my room to get his gift.

"You can open them now." I place the box in-front of him say, "It's not much but I didn't know what to get you."

"I love it, seriously, Yeji," Ten opens the box and holds the blue converse in his hand, "Thank you for this, I love it and you."

"Stop," I mumble as he pulls me close and hugs me tightly, "It's just a pair of shoes."

"No, it's more than that," He smiles, "It's a memory that I'll look back on and smile upon."

Funny how it's all just memories. Each moment we spent together is just a memory now.

"I will try to search for them," I tell him as I grip my phone tightly.

"You can't replace the memory that they held." He whispers numbly.

"Listen dude, I'm drunk and tired," Hani exclaims as she grabs my arm and sighs, "I just want to home and sleep."

"I'm sorry about his behaviour," Lia sighs as she drags Ten away, "Thank you for today."

I smile at her and mouth thank you as Hani wraps her arm around my shoulder and I groan as she walks clumsily.

"Why did you have to drink so much?" I whine as I shake my head at her.

"I had ten drinks," She laughs weakly as she points at herself, "Ten drinks like your ex, Ten."

"Shut up," I place my hand over her mouth as I curse the skies for letting me meet Ten again.

All I could do was hope that I wouldn't see him again but that was unlikely. His girlfriend, Lia, seemed like a good girl and I knew that this wasn't the last time I would see her

Once again, life was showing me who was in charge and it made me furious because right when everything was going smoothly, something had to go wrong.

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