LOVE KNOWS NO BOUNDARIES...CHAPTER 15.2/?
Title: Love Knows No Boundaries
Author: tikibuddy91
Characters: EXO (Kyungsoo, Baekhyun, Chanyeol, Joonmyeon, and Zitao only); SISTAR19 (Hyojung and Bora); B1A4 (Shinwoo and Sunwoo); SHINee (Jinki); SURPRISE GUESTS.
Word Count: ~9700
Rating: PG
Genre: College, AU, Crossover
Summary: College students. Blind, Deaf and Mute. Their lives deal with the ups and downs, like a roller coaster. They find relationships, and companionships. Life does not always have a happy ending but they can try to get their happy endings.
Author Note: This chapter is a unique chapter because we all get to see Chanyeol's house for the first time! ANNNDDD Zitao is reminded of the past. ;o
Sign Language Guide
Families
Prologue | Jongdae | Chapter 1 | Daehyun | Chapter 2 | Zitao | Chapter 3 | Kyungsoo | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9 | Chapter 10 | Chapter 11 | Chapter 12 | Chapter 13 | Chapter 14 Part 1 | Chapter 14 Part 2 | Chapter 15 Part 1
A gloomy sky gives the college and the district a dim, sad look…
The sun is hidden behind the clouds…
Earlier that day, some time after Kyungsoo, Baekhyun and Chanyeol have left, Zitao and Jongdae are walking to the entrance gates with their backpacks on. Zitao hears a shout from behind and he turns around.
Zitao sees Yixing accompanied by Dongwoo and Sunwoo, making their way towards him and Jongdae. Zitao gently tugs on Jongdae’s arm, and writes on Jongdae’s palm that Yixing is coming along with Dongwoo and Sunwoo. Jongdae lights up a little bit and lets go of Zitao’s arm in an instant, patting his arm in assurance.
“Zitao-yah, I’ll be taking Zhongda home. I’m free from dance practice tonight. Thanks for escorting him around, I really appreciate it,” Yixing smiles and with his hand, he takes Jongdae’s hand and hooks Jongdae’s arm with his arm. Jongdae has a small smile on his face and waves. Yixing then bids the trio goodbye. “Good night, everyone. Dongwoo and Sunwoo, I hope we meet again.”
“Definitely, it was nice to meet you, Yixing.” Dongwoo smiles as Sunwoo shakes hands with Yixing. Waving goodbye to Yixing and Jongdae, Zitao watches as his friends walk down the street to Jongdae’s place.
“Zitao-yah, shall we head on home? Sunwoo lives in the apartment building next to ours, so he’ll be joining us.” Zitao turns around at the sound of Dongwoo’s voice and nods, joining Dongwoo and Sunwoo to walk to their homes.
On the way home, not paying attention to Dongwoo and Sunwoo’s conversation about manhwas, Zitao recalls taking the path with Dongwoo to their apartments once and remembers how he ran into someone so familiar but unable to remember the person’s name. To his surprise, when he clears his mind to focus on the present, he spots the familiar figure again, walking past store windows and checking out the latest hot items. It is the same lanky guy with smooth, neck-length hair, now swept back to expose his face in full view. Zitao finally sees the guy’s face as the guy is not wearing sunglasses and, unlike last week, he admits that the guy looks pretty charming. The guy is also wearing skinny jeans and a yellow hoodie jacket.
Zitao does not realize he has been staring until the guy turns around and happens to look at him, and Zitao looks away to focus on Dongwoo and Sunwoo. He jumps back a bit, startled by Dongwoo and Sunwoo looking back at him with curious expressions on their faces.
“You were lost in thought for a while, Zitao.” Dongwoo smiles gently and lifts his hand to pat Zitao’s back. “You didn’t answer my question: Do you think there’s something going on with Jongdae and Yixing? I mean, no offense, I’ve only met the guy today but something tells me there’s something go-“
“Zitao-sshi? Huang Zitao-sshi?” A voice interrupts Dongwoo’s rambling and Zitao gives a furtive glance at the approaching visitor before looking away. His action causes the visitor to press on. Dongwoo and Sunwoo are watching Zitao and the stranger even more curiously.
“Do you remember me, Zitao-hyung? From many years back?”
Zitao holds up his hands and waving them, shaking his head.
“It’s me, Zitao-hyung! Lee Sungjong! Remember, my INFINITE hyungs? ‘Aw man, I knew I should’ve taken Chinese 101’ that year??”
Shaking his head, Zitao slows to a stop and stares at Sungjong. Zitao’s eyes widen in recognition as the memories come back to him in a flash. He blinks a few times before he connects the Sungjong he sees now to the Sungjong he remembers back then. Zitao then grins and goes to hug him, taking Sungjong by surprise.
Sungjong quickly snaps out of his shocked state and returns the hug, patting Zitao’s back. After they almost pull away, Sungjong places his hands on Zitao’s shoulders, studying his face. “Oh wow, hyung, you’ve looked a lot better than the last time I saw you! You seem fit! Have you been doing martial arts or something?” Zitao nods. Sungjong is in awe, but something catches his attention and he looks to his left. He sees two guys huddling, shrugging to each other, and looking a bit confused.
“Oh, are they your friends?” Sungjong inquires as he and Zitao pull apart from the hug. Zitao looks around and nods. “Hello, my name is Lee Sungjong. I’m 20 years old.” Sungjong bows to them and Dongwoo and Sunwoo smile. They also introduce themselves and there is an air of friendliness and happiness among the quartet, despite the cloudy weather, as Sungjong mentions that he and a group of his hyungs knew Zitao from years back in middle school. He adds in, “Funny that your name is Dongwoo, since I have a hyung named Dongwoo. I call him Dino-hyung or Kenya-hyung…unless you have a nickname?”
Dongwoo replies, “You can also call me CNU-hyung, if you like. As in Shinwoo, not Shin-you.”
Zitao looks around to find a café shoppe and signals to the group if they want to eat a light snack before dinner. At first, Dongwoo and Sunwoo politely decline, and Zitao raises his eyebrow in concern. He shakes his head, as if saying, you don’t want to join me for a snack? Dongwoo and Sunwoo nod. Dongwoo explains that they have some homework to do, but he thanks Zitao for the offer.
“Yeah, thanks Zitao, for the offer but I think you should go with Sungjong, though. You two have a lot to catch up, seeing that bit of a reunion earlier,” Sunwoo suggests with a smile. “Anyway, we’ll be going now. Have a good day, you guys. Sungjong-sshi, it was nice to meet you.”
“Bye! It was nice meeting you guys.” Sungjong waves along with Zitao as they watch Dongwoo and Sunwoo leave to their places.
Sungjong turns to face Zitao and Zitao points to the café shoppe he was thinking about earlier. Sungjong looks to where Zitao is pointing and nods. “Let’s go in, shall we? We have a lot to catch up.”
Zitao and Sungjong go to the cashier for Sungjong to place their orders. Zitao has ordered green tea with a croissant, while Sungjong orders a cappuccino with two blueberry muffins. After they have paid, they carry their food to their table and sit down, waiting for their names to be called, as Zitao stows his backpack under the table, retrieving his notepad and pencil. He places them next to his plate of croissant on the table.
Sungjong and Zitao stare at each other in silence, waiting for the other to start doing something. They start to feel a little awkward, but then Sungjong bursts out laughing, and Zitao crinkles his eyes in amusement.
“Wow, that was really awkward just now,” Sungjong brings the back of his hand to cover his giggling mouth. Zitao nods, smiling.
“LEE SUNGJONG-SSHI AND… uh…HOO-AHNG? Uh.. JITOW-SSHI. SORRY IF I MISPRONOUNCED YOUR NAME, SIR!...wherever you are…”
Zitao’s face is a mixture of confusion and amusement on his face when he hears his name being called. Sungjong’s face is a mixture of shock and amusement, mouth slightly agape, as he turns his head to Zitao after he hears Zitao’s name mispronounced.
“Don’t worry, I’ll get them, hyung.” Sungjong stands up immediately when he sees Zitao about to get up. Zitao accepts Sungjong’s initiative and takes a bite of his croissant, waiting for him to bring back the drinks. Once Sungjong brings them, he places Zitao’s warm green tea and his cappuccino on the table, and seats himself down.
Zitao takes his notepad and pencil and flips open the notepad to write something. Sungjong watches him write as he takes a sip of his cappuccino. When Zitao finishes, he rotates the notepad to Sungjong, who leans a little forward to read the message:
How have you been, old friend? It has been a long time, and I have not heard from you guys after we graduated. Have you been in touch with them?
“I have been doing very well, thank you for asking,” Sungjong responds as he pulls apart the muffin’s stem from its cap and pops the stem in his mouth. He chews and swallows it before continuing on, “I have been in touch with them lately; we just couldn’t keep in touch during high school since we all went to different ones. Now that we’re all in college - or at least, most of us are, since Gyu-hyung and Dino-hyung already graduated - we’ve been living together.
“I’m majoring in fashion design; I think, by far, this is my worst outfit to wear on a gloomy day today, but then, I guess my yellow hoodie brings much needed sunshine in people’s lives, hahaha. Uhm…Yeah, I have been in touch with the hyungs. I’m currently living in an apartment with Sunggyu-hyung, Woohyun-hyung and Dongwoo-hyung. Howon-hyung, Myungsoo-hyung and Sungyeol-hyung are in the apartment next to ours. They’re all doing well, majoring in…”
Zitao takes several sips of his tea and several bites of his croissant, as he listens to Sungjong narrate about his hyungs and their lives, while taking bites of his muffins. Often, Sungjong would ask him with the same questions Zitao asked him, and Zitao would write down what has been happening. He does not include the incident with Wufan because he feels that maybe what Wufan did at that moment was just a natural gesture of appreciation. Sungjong continues to blow gently on his cappuccino and take some sips of his drink, as he reads a few pages, often commenting out loud on some events that Zitao writes, especially the Math Exam.
The two guys take turns, having already eaten their pastries and being left with their half empty drinks, Sungjong talking and Zitao writing, keeping each other up to date. Zitao is surprised at some point during Sungjong’s talk that most of the guys are attending colleges nearby. He did not think some of the guys would be doing that; he felt that some of them could have aimed for higher colleges outside of Seoul or maybe even overseas.
“Oh! Zitao-hyung, you know, you should check out ChaKeo Corner! It’s a café run by one big group, like a collaboration of two groups of people. Sunggyu-hyung and Woohyun-hyung often performs there when they can. It’s another way for them to earn money, like somewhat of a part-time job or a gig, if you will. The Chakeo Corner is written like this…”
Sungjong writes ‘Cha-Keo Corner’ in vertical orientation, but there are some distortions to the ‘ㅊ’ and ‘ㅋ’ as there are two cups, and the ‘ㅏ’ and ‘ㅓ’ are small, imitating handles of the cups.
Zitao stares at the name, confused. Sungjong explains that the first time he heard the name from Sunggyu, he was also confused until Woohyun explained the meaning behind it, as told from the manager of the place.
“Woohyun said that the Cha is not the ‘car’ in Korean, but ‘Tea’.” Zitao makes an ‘oh’ expression in understanding and recognizing the Korean play on a Chinese word. “Not really Korean by origin, the ‘Keo’ is short for ‘Keo-pi’, from the English word, ‘Coffee’. They both imitate cups of tea and coffee. The manager also wrote ‘Corner’ in English, so it makes pretty much an international logo.” Sungjong shakes his head, “That manager was pretty darn creative, wouldn’t you think so?” Zitao nods contemplatively.
After some more talking and writing, the two guys finish their drinks, and after Zitao grabs his notepad and laptop bag, they leave the café. Once outside, Sungjong invites Zitao to come with him to visit their apartments, and if it gets late, Sunggyu-hyung or Dongwoo-hyung can offer Zitao a ride home. Zitao nods, accepting the offer. The two guys then make their way to Sungjong’s apartment building.
- - -
“Oh gosh, look at the time, it’s almost sunset!!” Hyojung has finished washing the dishes and Chanyeol has put away the trash in the giant trash bin just outside the kitchen, outside of the house. “Come on, let’s all watch it together!” She runs into the living room and hops onto the couch, Bora following after her. Jinki and Joonmyeon lazily walk into the room, but still in good spirits. Kyungsoo and Baekhyun follow with Chanyeol and seat themselves on several ottomans to face the giant glass wall.
There are sounds of murmured chatter from Hyojung, Bora and Jinki. Baekhyun and Chanyeol are muttering to themselves about the view of downtown. Kyungsoo finds himself sitting next to Joonmyeon. A blush rises on his face as he sees Joonmyeon smiling, with Joonmyeon’s knee brushes against his leg.
Joonmyeon extends a hand to Kyungsoo. Kyungsoo blinks as he stares at Joonmyeon’s hand, feeling a bit stupid at the moment. He looks up at Joonmyeon, not sure how to respond to the gesture.
“Come with me?”
Kyungsoo slowly looks down to the hand offered, and he hesitantly raises his hand to clasp with Joonmyeon’s hand before nodding. Joonmyeon and Kyungsoo stand up and Joonmyeon pulls Kyungsoo to the staircase, going up to the second floor. As they go up the stairs, they hear the sound of Hyojung’s voice shouting.
“OOH LOOK LOOK! LOOK!”
Hyojung’s excited shout grabs everyone’s attention and they turn to look straight ahead, as Joonmyeon and Kyungsoo reach to a stop in front of Chanyeol’s bedroom wall. They see the sun bleeding the sky orange-red and emitting a beautiful, warm hue.
Kyungsoo hears an audible yet soft gasp from Baekhyun and he looks down to see his brother and boyfriend cuddling together. He hears a low voice from Chanyeol saying, “It’s quite breath-taking, isn’t it?” and he sees Baekhyun nod.
“What about you, what do you think of this view from up here, Kyungsoo-yah?” Joonmyeon’s voice startles Kyungsoo, who replies, “I-I think it is quite a l-lovely view; you can see more of the downtown and the mountain with Namsan Tower over there.” Kyungsoo points to the faintly visible tower in the far distance. “The sky’s of a quite nice, appeasing color to look at. I-I-It gives me a feeling of warmth a-a-and comfort.”
Kyungsoo feels a bit nervous to open up to Joonmyeon, who has been watching him attentively. He hates feeling the pressure of being put on the spot to talk, but he deals with it, for Joonmyeon’s sake. Kyungsoo adds in a smile to assure Joonmyeon that he is speaking the truth. He admits to himself that he would be lying if he did not love watching the sunset from the second floor.
- - -
The sun has started to lower down in the sky, marking the time to be in the late afternoon. Zitao and Sungjong arrive at a building twenty minutes after they left the café. They take the elevator as Sungjong explains that they live in the seventh floor of the apartments, occupying apartments 706 and 708.
Sungjong takes Zitao to apartment 706 and knocks on the door, to see if anyone inside will open the door. After waiting a few moments, Sungjong takes out his key to open it and enters, with Zitao following him. Sungjong takes off his shoes and steps onto the floor of the apartment.
“HYUNGS, YOU’LL NEVER KNOW WHO I JUST MET THIS AFTERNOON.”
There is a sound of scrambling noises and a voice saying “ACK, DAMN IT, HYUNG~ I WAS SO CLOSE. Why did you pull it out just nooww? We were just getting started! You’re not getting any tonight, gaddangit. Not. Getting. Any. You hear?!”
Sungjong widens his eyes and Zitao does too. They turn to each other and stare in disbelief at what they just heard.
“Oh my god, I am so sorry you had to hear that, Zitao-hyung. HYUNGS, WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU? YOU HAVE A MAKNAE ON BOARD AND THIS IS WHAT MAKNAE HEARS AFTER GETTING BACK FROM SCHOOL? HORNY DOGS.” Sungjong yells.
“YAH.” A deep voice rumbles throughout the apartment. Sungjong shuts up, but still puts on a bold face. Sunggyu bursts open the door, his hair looking a bit disheveled, but his clothes are still on him, as if he has never taken them off. “WATCH YOUR MOU-…” He stares at Sungjong and Zitao in shock.
“Gyu-hyung, just leave him be. I was kidding about you not getting any tonig-“ Woohyun is heard comforting him and he wraps his arms lightly around Sunggyu’s waist. He appears to be bare-chested, with only jeans on. He suddenly gasps with a squeak and covers his chest.
Sungjong rolls his eyes and sighs, “You two were about to have sex just now, weren’t you?”
Sunggyu squints at Sungjong, and Zitao chuckles to himself, recalling how nonexistent Sunggyu’s eyes get, whether awake, mad, or sad. “What.”
Woohyun exclaims, “Sungjong-ah! NO. We were not having se…oh my god, did you guys hear what I had said earlier?” Sungjong makes an expression of ‘no duh, we heard you earlier.’
Sunggyu’s eyes start to widen in disbelief and then crinkle in amusement. “HAHAHAHA SUNGJONG-AH. YAH! HAHAHAHAHA!” He points at Sungjong and wipes the tear off his eye.
Sungjong looks bewildered and wheels around to look at Zitao, shrugging and holding an expression of confusion.
Woohyun disappears behind the door for a few seconds and comes back, now in a sleeveless shirt and holding a game console. “We were playing a car racing game, without Dongwoo’s permission. He’s gone out for the day with Myungsoo and Sungyeol. Howon’s with Ingook-hyung. It was just the two of us here, so we were bored and wanted to play video games. We thought it was Dongwoo so Gyu-hyung had to pull it out.
“But anyway, who’s your friend? I’m so sorry for being so rude, we didn’t mean to ignore you,” Woohyun walks up to Zitao and extends his hand. “I’m Woohyun, by the way. This here is Sunggyu-hyung.” Woohyun points at Sunggyu behind him with his thumb. Zitao gives him an apprehensive look before smiling and shakes his hand, nodding slowly.
Sungjong stares at Woohyun as he tries to figure out whether Woohyun is joking or not. “Hyung, do you not recognize him? Sunggyu-hyung?” He looks at Sunggyu.
Sunggyu stands at the same spot, studying the friend of Sungjong. He does a double take and cranes his neck forward, as if he caught something interesting. He moves forward, raising his pointed hand at the person in front of him. Woohyun nervously looks at Sunggyu and back at the friend.
“Zitao-yah?” Woohyun spins to look at Sunggyu in shock, hearing Sunggyu uttering the name. He looks back at said Zitao, and asks him. “Huang Zitao? The kid from middle school?!”
Zitao nods with a smile, and finds himself enveloped in a surprise hug between Sunggyu and Woohyun. Sungjong watches them amusedly, shaking his head.
“Took you guys long enough to recognize Zitao-hyung.”
“Yah, middle school was a long time ago, let me remind you that. A lot has changed since then,” Sunggyu says crossly at Sungjong. “Yah, Zitao, how have you been?”
Zitao, again, nods with a smile and a ‘thumb up’ gesture. Sungjong fills in that they just met today in passing and they had a ‘snack date’ at a nearby café. Woohyun goes up to Zitao to take Zitao’s laptop bag off, “Come on in further, you don’t have to keep standing there. I’ll take your bag and put it in the closet. You’re staying here for dinner, that’s a must. Tell your family you’ll be home late, Sunggyu-hyung or Dongwoo-hyung will take you back.” Zitao allows Woohyun to take his laptop bag and he takes off his shoes before walking in. “Oh, what’s the time? Yah, Sungjong-ah, call your hyungs and make them come to our place. We’ve got a mini-celebration to do, for it’s a reunion with our old friend.” Woohyun goes to the closet near the entry door to put the laptop bag in one of the compartments.
As Woohyun cooks away in the kitchen with Sunggyu often helping him, Sungjong goes to make calls. After Zitao texts to Qian that he will be staying for dinner at an old friend’s house, Zitao closes his phone and puts away in his pocket. He watches his friends in merriment, as they are looking very and truly excited to have him here. Zitao looks at what Woohyun is cooking, and he sees that there are slices of tofu, chicken, and beef set aside. In the wok, Woohyun is stirring up vegetables and Zitao can smell the fragrant aroma of vegetables, soy sauce, garlic and onions.
“Zitao-yah,” Woohyun asks, snapping Zitao out of dazed state. “I wasn’t sure what you like, tofu, chicken or beef, so I’m cooking them separately so everyone can have a choice of what to eat. Do you eat meat, Zitao?” Woohyun looks at Zitao as he cooks.
Zitao shakes his head, remembering that he left his notepad in his bag. He glances at Sungjong who is heading to his room, talking on the phone about his reunion with Zitao, and how Sunggyu wants the hyungs to come over. Sighing, Zitao points to the chicken and beef, and crosses his arms in a form of X, shaking his head.
“Oh, so you don’t eat those,” Woohyun comments, his eyes still off the wok but his hand is constantly stirring the vegetables. Zitao points to the tofu and, like before, nods with a smile his ‘thumb up’ gesture.
“Oh, are you a vegetarian then?”
Zitao shakes his head, unsure of how to explain that he is a pesco-lacto vegetarian. Sunggyu comes back after he went to the bedroom to get something. Zitao waves at him to get his attention, too. He starts to do charades, holding up three fingers.
“Ooh, charades! Okay, three words. Go.” Sunggyu exclaims.
For ‘pesco’, Zitao brings his hands together and makes a wavy motion. Woohyun glances at his wok and after turning off the stove, he looks back at Zitao. “Oh, uhm…fish?” Woohyun answers, confused. Zitao nods, and Woohyun goes, “Oh okay, so fish is the first word. He doesn’t eat meat, by the way, hyung… He can eat tofu though.”
As Zitao thinks of how to act ‘lacto’, Woohyun carries his wok to place the vegetables on a nice big plate. He puts the wok in the sink and places the plate on the dining table. He goes back to the kitchen and takes out a cast-iron grill. Once he places it on the stove, he turns on the stove again before he looks back at Zitao.
Zitao imitates pulling on the cow’s udder, and that leaves Woohyun and Sunggyu confused. “Wow, uh…” Woohyun notes. Zitao imitates drinking something and then flexing his arm. “OH! Milk?” Zitao nods, beckoning Woohyun and Sunggyu to say more than just milk.
“Ice cream? Yogurt? Cheese?” Woohyun continues.
“Dairy products?” Sunggyu suggests, and he earns a point and nod from Zitao. Zitao holds up his index finger, and with his other hand, imitates a fish. Then he holds up another finger and, with his other hand, imitates drinking and pointing at Sunggyu. Another finger and Zitao points to the tofu.
Sungyu and Woohyun mutter to themselves, with Sunggyu repeating, “Fish, Dairy products, Tofu.” Woohyun remarks, “You must be a vegetarian, so fish, dairy products, tofu…vegans don’t eat meat nor dairy products…nor even fish. What is that name for a vegetarian then?...”
“Oh, it’s pesco-lacto vegetarian. Zitao was telling me about it earlier today.” Sungjong says simply, walking into the kitchen. He has just gotten off the phone. “Ohhhhh,” is all that Sunggyu and Woohyun say.
“No problem, Zitao-yah, I’ll just grill the meat first and then I’ll clean it up so there’s no meat taste in the tofu,” Woohyun says with a smile.
Ten minutes later, a door busts open, surprising everyone in the room.
“YAH, WHERE’S ZITAO??”
Zitao moves to the entry door and gets attacked by Dongwoo, who is laughing like a hyena, excited to see his old friend. It is not long after Dongwoo enter did the rest of the INFINITE and Ingook arrive and, except for Ingook, they all go wild at the sight of Zitao in front of them. Zitao gets smothered with hugs and hair rufflings and laughter before he feels that he can finally stand on his own again. Dongwoo is still clinging onto Zitao, his arm around Zitao’s shoulders.
Zitao sees a tall guy with a slight grimace on his face, almost sneering down at him. He feels intimidated by his height but Howon moves closer to the guy, introducing him as Seo Ingook, his boyfriend. Howon informs Ingook that Zitao is an old friend of the group, going way back in middle school. Ingook acknowledges Zitao with a smile, a “hello” and a handshake, which Zitao accepts.
They all settle down for dinner at the table as Woohyun announces that dinner is ready to eat. The INFINITE members brought some desserts to conclude the dinner feast afterwards.
There are sounds of chatter and laughter as the group eats dinner, often praising Woohyun for the delicious stir-fry vegetables and the mouth-watering meats. Zitao and Ingook are the only ones eating the tofu, although Ingook eats meat too.
After filling their stomachs with dinner, ice cream, and cakes, the group sighs and gathers at the couches. Howon lies on the couch with his head on Ingook’s lap, and Ingook is mindlessly raking his hand through Howon’s hair. Sungyeol and Myungsoo are sitting on the floor, leaning against each other. Zitao is sandwiched between Dongwoo and Sungjong, while Woohyun and Sunggyu wash the dishes.
Once Woohyun and Sunggyu are done, they head over to join the group in the living room. They all sit in comfortable silence for a while when suddenly Sungjong checks the time and gets a jolt.
“Sunggyu-hyung, it’s almost 10PM. It’s a Thursday night!”
Sunggyu glances at the clock and sits up too. “Oh yeah, you’re right. I thought today was Friday what with the celebration in here…” Everyone voices their agreement. Zitao sulks a bit, wishing that he did not have to leave so soon, even Dongwoo’s and Sungjong’s faces show the same disappointment.
“Zitao-yah, you’re welcome to come by here anytime if you like. Here are our phone numbers if you wanna text us. I’m aware you already have your group of friends, but if you feel like you want to introduce us to them, I’m sure we can arrange a social gathering place, since this place can only fit 10 people.” Sunggyu hands Zitao a card that contains all 7 phone numbers from the members.
“Come on, I’ll drive you home. It’s too dark out there for you to walk by yourself.” Sunggyu gets up from the couch and stretches. “Mmgh, that stretch was really necessary. Everyone, I’ll be back in a while. Sungjong-ah, you have classes tomorrow, don’t forget. You guys, too, Myungsoo-yah and Sungyeol-ah. Don’t be late tomorrow.”
Sunggyu goes to grab his keys and Woohyun gets up to retrieve Zitao’s laptop bag from the closet. Everyone gets up, though unwillingly, to follow Zitao out of the apartment. Sunggyu goes outside and waits for Zitao as he gets his laptop bag from Woohyun and exits out of the apartment, with the others following him. They all say their “good nights”, “good byes” and “see you laters”, and Zitao finds himself once more enveloped in hugs. After hugging Zitao, Woohyun goes up to Sunggyu to give him a peck on the cheek and says, “Drive safe, Gyugyu~”, making Sunggyu scoff in a lighthearted manner, shaking his head with an amused look.
“Come on, Zitao, let’s get you home.”
The duo rides down the elevator in comfortable silence, and finally they go outside of the apartment building, surrounded in the dark, night sky and fresh air. As they head over to the parking lot, Sunggyu stops midstep, blinking.
“…Where did I park my car?”
Zitao nervously looks over at Sunggyu, and Sunggyu looks around the parking lot. “Huh, I could’ve sworn the last time I parked, it was there. Now I kind of wished my car came with a remote control key so it can light up with a push of the button. Maybe it’s further down here. Sorry, Zitao-yah. I’m getting old, hahaha,” Sunggyu jokes.
Zitao smiles and shakes his head, shrugging too. Sunggyu assumes if Zitao could speak, he would be saying “it’s alright, people forget things sometimes.” He continues to search for his car, getting a little frustrated…until he turns around at the corner.
“Ah-ha! There it is!” Finding his red car, Sunggyu beams and turns around to look at Zitao, who is slightly smiling cheerily. Once they reach the car and Sunggyu has unlocked his car, they get in and Zitao writes him the address.
“Oh that’s a little past the ChaKeo Corner, you’ll see it.”
Zitao blinks while nodding, taking in this information for future reference. Sunggyu drives the car out of the parking lot and heads for Zitao’s place.
- YEP. SUNGJONG AND INFINITE GANG ARE BACKKK~~~
- Okay, just so you all know, if you're ever confused by the descriptions of the houses/apartments/residences/cafés, fear not. I have been drawing them while I take breaks from typing (I'm an architecture student, so I feel the need to show you guys to visualize the residence places a lot better.). :) I will upload them sometime next week!! YAY! Consider it a present for you all!! :D
- I apologize if the sketches up there threw your "reading glasses" off, but I wanted to be clear on how the logo and the door looks like. You earn an awesome gif as a reply if you tell me the correct answer to what show Chanyeol is referring to in this fic. 8D
- TO ALL WHO ARE FOLLOWING REPLY1997, DID YOU SEE WHAT I DID THERE? ;D ;D ;D