Serendipity 奇缘 - Chapter 7

Chapter 7: The Way You Are

After a very noisy and laughter filled dinner, we were all finally having a breather from all the laughing...

"So... Kiki-nuna, where are going after this?" Max asked.

I looked over at Max with a surprised look.

Firstly, I didn't expect them to still want to hang out with us after an entire day. Fifi must have been a great guide, as compared to me...

Secondly... he was calling me nuna... which is how younger guys will address older girls that they know.... It felt so unnatural, cos I couldn't see myself, a commoner, as a sister to the famous Max Choikang Changmin...

"... erm... Max... You don't have to call me nuna... You can just call me by my name... I'm not... used to it...." I murmured.

Max made a sulky face and pouted.

"Jaejoong-hyung..... she doesn't want to be my nuna... *sob sob*" Max replied.

"Now now Changmin, you cannot be like this... If she doesn't want to be your nuna, you cannot force her to be... Just respect her wishes okay?" U-Know said, while patting Max on his shoulders.

"But I want her to be my nuna... She reminds me of my sis whom I miss.... so much... *sob sob*"

I felt so bad when I saw Max look so sad, he must really miss his family very much...

*Nudge nudge*

Fifi was nudging me to lean nearer to her.

"psss... I think you'd better let Max call you nuna... look how sad the poor thing looks..." Fifi whispered to me.

I looked at Fifi and nodded my head.

"Eh... Max..."

Max looked up with anticipation.

"...*sign*... alright... you can call me nuna... if you want..."

"YIPPEEEE.... KIKI...NUNAAAAAAA!!!!" Max jumped out of his chair and dashed towards me, giving me a huge teddy bear hug, almost knocking me out of my seat.

"...Okay... Max... calm down... I don't want everyone in the restaurant to look at me..." I tried calming him down, when I realised that the other customers in the restaurant were staring at us.

Finally Max calmed down, and moved back to his seat.

"So... as I was saying... where are we going after this Kiki-nuna?" Max asked again.

I looked at the guys one by one, and thought hard. When my eyes landed on Jaejoong, I realised that he had been silently observing me all this time with hands propped up on the table. He gave me a meaningful smile when my eyes reached him.

"Hmmm... How nice it would be if I could spend some time alone with Jaejoong..." I thought.

Then I remembered something....

"Ah!!! I know the perfect place... Let's go!!!" I grabbed my bag, and got out of my seat.

"EHHH.... Kiki-nuna... where are we GOING????!! NUNAAAA!!!!" Max shouted, as everyone struggled to keep up with my sudden outburst.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We grabbed a cab, and I told the driver the location, before letting them get into the cab.

"Fifi why don't you go with them in a cab, and I'll take the second one with the..."

Before I could finish my sentence, all four of them (U-Know, Mickey, Xiah and Max) have gotten into the first cab.

"Erm guys, one of you can get down and share the cab with me... One cab can only take 4 passengers..."

"No way, I'm sticking with U-Know." Mickey said.

"And I'm sticking with Fifi." Xiah said.

"Guess that leaves you Max, why don't you come join me in the second cab?" I asked.

"NOOOOOO... I wanna take the cab with more people... I DON'T CARE!!!!" Max complained.

"Erh.... Max... come on... listen to nuna okay..."

"I DON'T CARE!!!!!"

"Max... please..."

"Erm.... Miss, I think it's alright for them to squeeze, since it's quite near... And it's quite late already... I wanna start the car soon..." The cab driver commented.

"YEAH!!! Thanks uncle!"

"So sorry for all the trouble uncle..."

I turned to Fifi.

"Guess you have to babysit again..."

I smiled.

"Yeah.... And well... you enjoy the ride.... with Jaejoong... hee hee..."

I watched as the cab drove off.

Leaving me behind...

ALONE...

With Jaejoong...

"... so are we going to get a cab or what?"

His voice broke the silence, and suddenly I felt very self-conscious, as I felt as if he had been observing at me from behind all this while.

"... erm... yeah..."

I turned and started staring hard at the incoming traffic, trying desperately to find a cab, and to avoid looking at Jaejoong. As I waved frantically for a cab, I could sense him walking nearer towards me, and that made me wave even more frantically for a cab, as my heart was pounding so fast like it was going to jump out of my body anytime.

He stopped right in front of me, blocking my view of the traffic. I tried to pop my head away from him, so that I could see the traffic.

"... you know.... we can just drop the idea, and not join the rest... I don't really feel like going anyway...."

A pang of disappointment came over me, and I dropped my waving hand, and looked up at Jaejoong.

"I guess if you really don't feel like going... I can... I can drop you off at the hotel before joining them... I know you're not in a good mood anyway... It'll be better for you to get some rest before the signing tomorrow..."

I started walking further up the road to try to catch a cab.

This time I managed to get one.

"You getting in?"

Jaejoong walked towards the cab and got on.

"Uncle, two places please... Hotel... Rendezvous... then... Marina Bay"

We didn't speak at all on the cab. In fact, I was staring out from one side of the cab, while he stared out of the other side (I think)... At least that was what he was doing when I turned to steal a peak at him...

"Hotel Rendezvous, miss..."

The automatic cab door opened on Jaejoong's side. And he got out.

"Bye... Jae..."

*BAM*

The driver shut the automatic cab door before I could finish saying goodbye... And he started driving off...

I turned back to look at Jaejoong standing at the hotel lobby.

*sign*

"Eh miss, what's with the two of you huh? You keep looking at him, and he keeps looking at you, but never at the same time... So weird..."

"... Huh.... What.... What....did you say???" My eyes widened and I leaned forward towards the middle of the cab.

"Just now... when you were looking out the window, he was looking at you.... And when you looked at him, he was looking out of the window... Did you guys just have a tiff???"

Oh my what did I do??

"Uncle, can you turn back???"

"Aiyah... you young people... always quarrelling... not like us... last time...." The driver was oblivious to my remark, and kept on blabbering.

"UNCLE!!!! TURN BACK NOW!!!!" I shouted desperately.

"Okay okay miss, don't have to shout..."

He made a U-turn and as we were driving back...

"Eh... isn't that the guy you were with just now?? What is he doing running on the road??? Crazy man... young people never use brain when you do things..."

"UNCLE!!! STOP THE CAR NOW!!!!"

*SCREECCCCCCCCCCCCCHHHHHHH*

I got out of the cab and ran towards Jaejoong.

He had stopped and was sitting down on the side of the road, with his head down, to catch his breathe as he had already lost sight of my cab...

I slowed down to a walking pace when I was reaching him.

"Jae... Jaejoong ah..." I said, standing in front of him.

Recognising my voice, he looked up immediately.

A drip of water fell onto his cheek, and he reached to wipe it away. He stood up, and stood in front of me.

"Don't cry... It's okay... I'm the jerk... You shouldn't be crying for me..." Jaejoong said, as he reached to wipe the tears from my eyes.

In my anxiety to rush to him, I didn't realise that I had started crying. And when I heard what he said I felt even more touched, and my tears started pouring out full force...

"I'm sorry... I know that I've been giving you mixed signals for the whole day, and that I'm depressing you... But it's just that... I don't really express myself very well in front of someone whom I care about... I get really nervous... And I shut myself off... I distance myself... Cos I'm afraid that I'll get hurt if I get too emotional... I'm sorry... I should have told you from the start... I'm really such a jerk... Please don't cry... You're making my heart ache, seeing you like this..."

He wiped another tear falling from my eyes.

In my blurred vision (from the tears), I could see in his eyes an immense sense of loneliness and sadness when he said that. I felt another gush of tears welling in my eyes...

"... I'm so sorry... Will you forgive me for making you cry like this?" He cupped my face in his hands, and moved his face nearer to mine, until our heads were just inches apart.

I couldn't speak, as I was choking in tears, so I nodded my head slightly. He smiled, and he tilted his head upwards, and planted a soft kiss on my forehead.

"I'm sorry... my... my dear... I'll go wherever you wanna go now..."