Nine Lives Final Chapter (9)
Title: Nine Lives
Pairing: Reader and Heechul,
Side pairing: Almost ReaderxSungmin, Kyumin, Yewook, KanTeuk, Eunhae(in previous chapters)
Rating:Pg-13
Genre: Fluff
Warnings: Animal death, swearing
Summary: It’s your first day at a new school, in a country you’ve only heard about in History class. Can you really fit in this place when you’re only an “American”?
A/N: I totally didn’t notice, but this is the last chapter. And so that makes this thing NINE chapters long, and it’s called NINE Lives. *Gets shot for pointing out terrible irony*
What to do? You couldn’t just leave Heebum here, but you can’t waltz into the classroom carrying a dead cat, now could you? Before you could dwell further on your situation before you, your phone vibrated in your uniform jacket pocket. Gingerly, and carefully, you answered, cautious not to get blood on it.
“Hello?” it was difficult to bite back the tears, and your voice wavered uncontrollably.
“___!” Where are you? You aren’t seeing someone behind my back already, huh?! Am I that boring to you?! After the wonderful date I treated to you yesterday, this is how you thank me?” he yelled wildly. You laughed half-heartedly, knowing full well he’s only trying to make you laugh. You put a stray lock of hair behind your ear and looked back at Heebum’s lifeless and frail body. Your throat choked back every answer to his questions and only a hoarse cry came out. Silence on the other line followed.
“Hey, where are you now?” Heechul ordered with a solid tone. You tried to speak again, but everything was just caught up in your throat and refused to break free. The line between you two went dead, making you stare at it almost bewildered and then just throw it at a wall and leave the shrapnel and shattered pieces discarded in the alley wall across the sidewalk. Unable to hold it back any more, you cried. Even if Heebum wasn’t close to you, even if he was just a cat, besides the fact that this can happen every day. Losing a life isn’t something anyone should take lightly.
A car honked at you to move out of the way as it nearly pummeled you into a pulp. You jerked back in surprise and hurriedly carried Heebum and yourself over to an alley wall. Until Heechul came, you sobbed quietly.
“Yah! What happened to you?! I tried to call you again but your phone-“ Heechul yelled before he cut himself off. You looked at him through puffy and wet eyes, knowing he saw Heebum. His face turned pale, drained of all emotion except sadness. Like a weight was tying him down, Heechul trudged over to you and knelt beside you, hesitant at first, but he took a trembling hand and smoothed your hair gently then moved it down to your face to wipe the tears away. His arm wrapped around your shoulder and embrace you, speaking incoherent nothings to calm you down. His voice was shaking obviously, but for your sake, he concentrated on you. After your sobs were reduced to sniffles Heechul stroked the cat’s cold fur. He threw his head up to the sky and then back down, trying to think.
“Get a bag, a clean one, I don’t care what kind, just one that Heebum can fit in.” you wobbled up and walked into the nearest store.
“Hello welcome to Korea’s number one health store!~ I’m Alexander, is there anything I can help you with ma’am?” a boy around your age asked cheerfully, you just shook your head politely.
“I’m only looking for a plastic bag, like the grocery ones.” Your voice shook a little and Alexander caught on immediately. His smile disappeared and he leaned in a bit closer, talking in a soft whisper.
“Are you alright, Noona?” your eyes shot up a little a the sudden informality and switched to looking at him skeptically. “I’m Alexander L. Eusebio, one of Kyuhyun’s friends that saw you set him up with Sungmin on a date today, thank you for that by the way, he may be tough, but he’d be more nervous than a girl on her first period when it came to talking to Sungmin. Now, enough about me, Noona, you were crying earlier weren’t you?” He asked gently, but there was a strong trace of solidity in his voice. You nodded as you gave in, dropping your gaze to the white tiled floor. You heard him sigh as he motioned over to someone. “Kevin, come over here for a minute, will you? And grab a grocery bag while you’re at it.” You lilfted your head back up in time to see a blonde hair boy jog over to your location with a bag in hand like Alexander ordered. He handed it to Alexander, but his gaze was focused on you.
“Here you go-Hey, are you alright? Xander, you didn’t do something to this girl did you?” Alexander threw his hands(and the bag) back like he was being arrested.
“Don’t look at me for this! ___-Noona came in like this.” He then diverted his attention back to you. He handed the bag to you and pinched your cheek playfully. “I hope you cheer up soon Noona, you look a lot prettier when you don’t cry.” You thanked both of them and walked out to meet Heechul. He nodded once he saw and started walking, not bothering to put Heebum into the plastic bag. Hastily you followed him, confused.
“Aren’t we putting him in here?”
“Only when we reach the school fence.” You tripped over your feet and stumbled to his side.
“Why?” you both finished crossing the street over to the school fence. Heechul turned to your, placed Heebum into your arms, and climbed it then jumped over to the other side. You still were confused, and it probably was written across your face when he sighed in annoyance.
“Put Heebum into the plastic bag, make sure he won’t fall out, and smuggle him through the fence holes.” He ordered, you warily wrapped the rest of the bag around Heebum after placing him in it and fed the bag through to Heechul’s impatient hands. Once he had Heebum, he signaled for you to jump over the fence. Startled you looked at him like he was crazy. Once again he sighed, this time rolling his eyes. “It’s fine, if anyone sees your underwear, I’m not going to get jealous.”
“That’s not the issue if you get jealous or not!” you scolded. You scanned the area around you left and right before inhaling slowly and starting your climb. Your skirt got caught on the tip of the fence right when your ankle did, sending you face first to the ground that was eight feet below you. You shrieked as you toppled to the other side. But instead of introducing you face to a mouthful of dirt and dust, you fell on top of Heechul, who was smirking at you before placing a hand nonchalantly on a bare part of your ass. You blushed as your realized the fall made your skirt rise above your hips, therefore revealing your underwear to the world behind you.
“Pink with cats on them? What are you obsessed?” He teased as you quickly sat down onto his legs, causing Heechul to hiss in pain by the sudden impact.
“I must be, seeing how a hang around with such a catty person like you.” You retorted. Heechul shrugged before sliding out from under you and stood back up, fixing his hair, dusting off his uniform, and he picked up Heebum to walked to the tool shed in the back. You followed swiftly and when he motioned to the shed door that was still unlocked, you went inside, shuffled things around, then came out triumphantly holding a shovel. You also found a pot of wild roses and carried both out to a more secluded area on the school grounds. Heechul followed quietly and when you reached the area the first thing he did was trade Heebum for the shovel. You watched him as he tore up the ground with fury, probably the very same fury and other emotions he didn’t want you to see when he first ran into you. After the ground resemble a crude version of a 3 foot hole, he gently took Heebum from you and carefully unwrapped him. He placed Heebum into the ground and started tossing the loose soil on top of him. A few times, you spotted tears forming in Heechul’s eyes. When a good layer of soil was on, Heechul took the roses from its pot and planted them on top of him. When everything was done and over, Heechul’s face was a deep red and tears were pouring down his face. You slowly wrapped your arms around his waist as he cried, your eyes too red and dried out from crying earlier. The traffic was the only thing that can be heard, until you whispered something into his ear.
“Don’t forget, cats have nine lives. So he’s got eight left in another town.”
CHAPTER FIN.
A/N: I feel a little bad how inhuman the emotions seem to be when I wrote this, plus, I wish I elaborated a bit more on the Kyumin date….Oh well. It’s the last chapter in the story, thank you for reading all this time, any other suggestions for fics, comments, and critiques are always welcomed.