After Dusk || Im Changkyun

7. I'm Ready

Chapter Seven

"I answered. Now give me a good reason to why you called me or I'm hanging up on you, Im Changkyun." You groaned as you held your phone up to your ear, stopping at the doorframe of your room. Changkyun had been spam calling you for the past five minutes and you finally got sick of it.
"Should've picked up earlier, Eggo." He replied, and you could almost see that satisfied grin plastered on his face.
"Okay, I'm ending it." You were about to end the call but you could hear Changkyun's voice shout at you from the phone. You sighed before putting the phone back to your ear.
"What do you want?"
"Suhyun and Jungwoo want to go out for brunch."
"You agreed?" You were surprised that Changkyun agreed to go out with the two of them. By the looks of it, he'd rather be as far away from the three of you as possible.
"I didn't. I don't have much of a choice and neither do you."
That made more sense.
"Suhyun's in the house though. Why did you call me when she could just ask herself?"
"She left like ten minutes ago."
"What?"
You finally walked out into the hallway, calling Suhyun's name over and over again. There was no response. You looked in the kitchen, in the living room, in her room, even in a closet.
Wow, she really did leave you here. You didn't even notice her leave, but in your defense, you'd been living in her house for almost a month and sometimes you forgot where your own room was. The house was no mansion, it was a fancy upscale apartment, but compared to your sad sack one room "living space," it sure felt like one.
"She's not there." Changkyun's voice boomed from your phone, making you fall to the ground out of fright. You guess you accidentally hit the speaker button without knowing.
"Did you break something, Eggo? Was it your skull? That would be most favorable." He sang. You scoffed while lifting yourself back up from the ground.
"I'm still alive and breathing."
"Goddamn it."
He paused for a while before speaking again.
"Anyways, I'm coming to pick you up."
"What?" You shouted a bit too loudly.
"Spare my ears, will you?" He pleaded.
"I didn't want to pick you up either but Jungwoo made me and I care too much about the fossil fuels that would be wasted by you to get to said destination."
Not like you had a car to take. You probably would've walked or taken the bus depending on how far away the place was.
"Come to the private parking lot. I'm here and I will leave without you if you don't hurry."
He ended the call before you could answer. You hurried over to the mirror to take a good look at yourself.
You looked presentable.
You brushed your hair with your fingers quickly before scurrying into your room to grab your handbag and slipping on the first pair of shoes that came to your vision. You dashed out the door as quick as possible. Knowing Changkyun, he'd actually leave if you took too long and you didn't know where you were going for brunch.
Changkyun's car was jet black. You didn't expect it to be any other color but you were almost appalled at how dark it was. It also looked more expensive than what your college tuition would've been. He had sunglasses on but you could feel his annoyed gaze on you. You pulled down your uncomfortably short shirt that you were wearing and slid into the passenger seat. He didn't even wait for you to close the door before starting to rev the engines of the car. It started moving and you hurriedly pulled the door close. You threw your head back on the seat, placing your hand on your heart to feel how fast it was beating. You were about a second away from falling out of that car and Changkyun would've probably happily driven away.
You glared at him even though you knew he wasn't looking.
"What on earth was that for?" You said through your gritted teeth, attempting not to raise your voice. He raised up his sunglasses with one of his hands and turned to smirk at you.
"I'm a fast person. You have to catch up with me or else you'll be trailing behind, Eggo."
That nickname was aggravating over text, but wow it was even worse in person.
"Put your seatbelt on. I'm not getting a ticket because of you."
You hadn't even realized that you didn't have it on. Your hands scrambled to click the belt into the seat and you let out a sigh of relief once you did. You almost didn't realize how incredibly fast Changkyun was driving, especially in a city road. You shouldn't have been surprised though.
He was a lunatic.
You got to your destination uncomfortably quick. The entire car ride was silence, and a relief that was. You didn't want to deal with his annoyingly deep voice, or his stupidly smart comebacks. So, you focused on your destination instead, it was all too familiar to you.
SM Entertainment.
Changkyun hopped out of the car and didn't even bother waiting for you, almost locking the door on you if you weren't quick enough to slip out. He walked a couple of feet before turning on his heels and heading back to you, pulling his sunglasses back down.
"I don't know where to go. Do you have any idea?"
You rolled your eyes at him before offering your arm out to him. He took a step back, looking at you up and down weird through his glasses.
"Don't get too cocky. I know your dumbass self would get lost in there. If we get lost, we can deal with it. I haven't been here in years anyways."
He hesitated for a very long time before even starting to move his arm towards yours. You groaned at how long he was taking and just grabbed the fabric of his sleeve and dragged him into the building. You'd be lying if you said you weren't happy about making the infamous Im Changkyun flustered. He made many exclaims of dismay and pain before finally managing to stop you.
"Fine. Be that way."
He moved your hand so it was on his incredibly expensive looking watch.
"Drag me by this."
You didn't have a second thought before pulling him along. You didn't care if you broke it. He was the one that told you to and he could probably easily buy a newer, even more expensive one. You didn't make it far into the building when you finally saw Jungwoo and Suhyun, waving over to the two of you. You hastily let go of his watch and made your way to the two of them on your own. Changkyun took his sweet time.
"Morning, Y/N." Jungwoo greeted you sweetly.
"Morning, Woo." You smiled back at him. Changkyun looked at the two of you, disgust evident in your eyes. Kindness was just to painful for him to see, and even more painful to express.
Suhyun threw her arm around her shoulder and gestured for Jungwoo to take the lead. It was his company after all. He led you past a whole lot of the building. You may have gone crazy but it felt bigger than the last time you saw it. You guess it was because now they had another band to have items around for. They didn't have that while you were around.
"So, why are we here again? I thought we were going for bru-"
"Choi Y/N, is that you?" A voice cut off Changkyun. He instantly snapped his neck behind to see who had interrupted his sentence. The sound of dress shoes on the marble floors became louder and you finally turned behind you to see who it was.
You frowned.
"Oh Sehun." You groaned while looking at the man grinning widely at you. He playfully punched you on the shoulder.
"Get over it already, Y/N! It's been six years and it was better me than anyone else." He playfully whined while gently stomping on the floor.
You kept your annoyed face on a bit longer before eventually letting the corners of your lips turn up. You gave him a short hug and stepped back next to a confused Suhyun.
"So, when are you getting married?"
Sehun's face immediately went bright red. You cackled at his expression.
You'd got him good.
"What do you mean?"
"I see that this year a lot of you SM artists have decided to put a ring on it." You danced around him giddily and Sehun stayed completely frozen, you loved this.
"I want an invite. You still owe me."
Sehun finally unfroze, snapping back at you and pointing his finger right at your nose.
"I, the at the time literally just debuted idol, who was basically broke, bought you fancy meals for a week in a row. That should've been enough."
You hated that he was right. You felt bad initially whenever he bought you a meal during that time, but your seventeen year old self was too salty too care more.
"Okay, okay." You admitted, holding up your hands in defeat.
"I'll buy you fancy meals for a week to repay you."
Sehun raised an eyebrow.
"How much is this drama paying? You must be piling in the money now. You've gotten bold my sweet, little, Y/N."
"And you've gotten old my giant, annoying, Sehun."
Sehun gasped, putting a hand on his heart while staring at you with his mouth agape.
He may have been SM's Maknae at one point but his time was over.
That was Park Jisung's title now.
"Say that again you brat."
"Gladly, Grandpa."
"That name is reserved for Junmyeon hyung."
"True..."
The best thing that could happen when you and Sehun got into an argument.
Agreeing.
Otherwise the argument would never end. You almost did a Doyoung one time. He probably would've been just fine but you would've had to carry the guilt of punching him, and knowing him, if you did he'd never let you forget.
Sehun's phone started ringing. You didn't even notice it in his hand.
"I'm gonna have to go now, Y/N" he glanced down at the buzzing phone. He ended the call and pressed a couple of buttons. He bent down a bit, wrapped an arm around your shoulder and clicked a selfie without telling you. You didn't know what face you pulled when that happened but you definitely didn't look good.
"Have fun. I'll be looking out for that drama!" He waved one last time before sprinting down the building. You called out to him so you could beat his ass, but he was already out of your sight.
"We should get going too." Jungwoo smiled at you again.
When you really thought about it,
He never stopped smiling.
The SM cafe was revamped a whole lot since the last time you were here. Everything just looked ten times nicer and ten times more beautiful, but then you remembered, "Growl Built This Place."
The four of you sat down at a table, Jungwoo graciously took the seat across from you and Suhyun did the same with the seat beside you.
"The food here is literally amazing."
"I'm sure it is." Suhyun licked her lips giddily at the sound of food,
"It's SM. I'm sure it's nothing but the best."
And it sure was.
The food had gotten so much better, you couldn't even wrap your head around it. Plus, it was free since you were with Jungwoo. You should start piggy banking off of Yuta from now on. You were picking at your pasta with your fork without thinking. Though it was delicious, you didn't feel like eating. It's like the hunger switch in you just disappeared, but you couldn't waste your food so you kept eating anyways.
You continued on like that for a while. Filming you guys conversing for a bit on Changkyun's camera and then turning it off after you'd all decided it was enough content. You also watched the fourth episode of the reality show together. You couldn't believe you'd been filming both shows for over a month now. Time was flying by. It was mainly just You, Jungwoo, and Suhyun talking about your weeks. Changkyun just interjected to add an unneeded snarky comment every now and then. You'd finished up the third episode mostly and you'd be lying if you said trying to act like Changkyun was the only person you cared for in life was easy. You just tried to replace his face with like Yuta or someone, but it was hard. His face was hard to forget. It was weird to see him smile at you too. They looked like genuine ones as well, but you could bet that they weren't.
You guessed he was just a really good actor, and you couldn't deny that. He honestly made it seem like he enjoyed your presence whenever the camera was rolling. You knew it was nothing though.
You hated each other's guts.
"Y/N." You heard Jungwoo call out to you. You lifted your head up to see Jungwoo, half a bite into a steak, looking up at you innocently. You chuckled at the sight, it was adorable. Jungwoo laughed, placing his fork down and looking quite embarrassed.
"I knew about you before this."
You tilted your head to the side a bit, not understanding what he was saying. It was very vague.
"The members talked about you a lot. Specifically, Taeyong hyung, Yuta hyung, and Win hyung. I guess I never put two and two together. I actually know quite a bit about you."
He giggled, a cheeky grin emerging as he stopped.
What did he know? There were so many things Yuta could expose you for it's literally insane.
"You left the company like a month before I joined. If you stayed just a bit longer, we probably would've become friends."
You didn't know that.
"I knew you as Yuta hyung's actress best friend, but he always either called you Peachy or Y/N, so I couldn't like google you or something."
"Even if you did, I doubt anything would've shown up." You joked, playfully hitting Suhyun's arm.
"Not true." He huffed, stealing a shrimp off of Changkyun's plate and stuffing it into his mouth. He glared at him, but Jungwoo just grinned it off.
Their contrast still amazed you.
Suhyun held a fork with a piece of grilled chicken on it, waving it in front of you face. You shrugged, wondering why she was waving chicken at you. Quite strange if you did say so yourself.
"It's for you." She sighed, and you nodded slowly, getting it. You didn't know how you did well in school, your mind worked as fast as a sloth moved, otherwise known as barely. You couldn't process things all that quickly, it was pathetic.
Suhyun didn't give you a second and just straight up shoved the fork in your mouth.
"She's gonna choke!"
"Let her choke."
You rolled your eyes at his satisfied laughter and chewed the chicken, thanking Suhyun quietly.
You noticed your phone buzzing rapidly on the table cloth, so much that it almost fell of the table, but you were quick to grab it. You looked to see a bunch of comments on Instagram tagged with your handle. You saw Jungwoo on his phone too. He held his phone out to you, making you drop your own onto your lap. You saw an Instagram post.
Sehun's Instagram post.
"Guess who I just saw at SM? My sweet, little, Y/N. Sehunie is proud of you! :) I can tell my friends that my lil' sis is famous now. I'll be supporting you!! <3 #TheY/NIKnow"
The post had a bunch of newer, old, and older pictures of the two of you, with other people every now and then. Plus, the picture he had managed to take of you. You looked like a literal train wreck.
Oh Sehun, you giant brat.
"You look so little in this picture!" Jungwoo giggled, pointing to a selfie the two of you had taken YEARS ago. You were making the weirdest face and making such a strange hand symbol, you didn't even know what it was. You had zero clue why he still had that picture. It's like he had dug up your dark past for each and every picture, it was like watching you grow up through the years, but with Sehun's annoying face beside yours.
You were actually going to kill him.
Your phone buzzed more on your lap and you hesitatingly looked at it. For all you know, Seulgi might have hopped onto this new trend that Sehun may or may not have started. You hope it ended at Sehun.
No one else had posted any old or embarrassing pictures of you. But instead, you'd received a text message.
A text from Taeyong.
You began to start getting nervous. Taeyong had not been giving up with trying to make time to talk to you about your secret "incident."
You had zero clue how he figured out, but from the looks of things, he seemed to know quite a lot, if not the entire thing. You'd sensed that Taeyong had known for a while, maybe even suspecting years back, but you'd hoped that he'd play a classic Taeyong move and not say anything about it.
You guess switching companies was the breaking point for him.
He'd been over to your old apartment, not knowing that you didn't live there anymore. He'd try to catch you at a cafe that you normally went to, and almost did if you hadn't swiftly snuck out the door while he searched the back of the room. He'd even piggybacked off of oblivious Jungwoo and came onto the drama set, trying to find a spare moment to talk but failing to do so.
You knew you couldn't hold out any longer, and you've been meaning to tell someone, but you couldn't tell Taeyong. You wouldn't be able to stand the pitiful eyes he would give you after you told him.
But Lee Taeyong was coming for you.