Dating an Idol

Twenty: NOW THAT YOU'RE BACK

A white car pulled in front of me. It was tinted but it has the exact plate number that Skye messaged me earlier so I knew that it was him.

With my backpack on, I went to the passenger seat's side. But the moment I opened the door, I was surprised to see Eun in the passenger seat. He was grinning at me from ear to ear.

Although it wasn't my first time to see Eun up close, I still got starstrucked for a moment.

"Get in, faster," said Skye who was in the driver's seat.

"Sorry." I bowed down a bit to Eun before I closed the door to his side.

Then I went to the backseat door and pulled it open. I saw Skye looking at me through the rearview mirror the moment I stepped inside the car.

He must have read the confusion in my eyes because he said, "Don't worry. Eun knows about you."

Eun peeked through his seat and offered his hand for a handshake.

"I believe we haven't formally met yet. I'm Eun."

I was hesitant to accept his hand.

"Yuri. You can call me Yuri. Nice meeting you," I said when I finally had the courage to do so.

"It's nice to finally meet you," he said before he made himself comfortable on his seat again.

Eun was very chatty all throughout the ride. He never ran out of things to say. He's the exact opposite of Skye who remained quiet the whole time as he drove the car we're riding in.

I wasn't saying anything much, too, since Eun's presence intimidates me. So I just listened to Eun's constant chitchat about random stuff.

"How was Skye as a kid, Yuri?" Eun suddenly asked me.

"Ha? Uhmm." I stattered. Him asking me surprised me a little. I was taken aback. I couldn't answer him right away. "He's… he's kind of annoying," I said.

Eun cackled. "That must be inborn then."

"Don't forget that I'm driving your car right now," Skye butted in.

"That was just a joke, bro. You are not annoying. You never are. Please drive my Bubu carefully. She's a graduation gift from my dad," Eun said.

I chuckled. I found it cute how they seemed to get along so well despite the fact that they were the exact opposite.

"But seriously, Yuri. How annoying was he when he was a kid?" Eun asked me again.

I chuckled before I started talking. "He's very good at everything he does and my dad would always compare me to him so it was kinda annoying," I started.

"I can totally relate," replied Eun.

"Like he's very good with academics, especially in Math. Plus he easily gets annoyed if he teaches me Math and I don't get it right away," I continued. "He would always say 'stop memorizing song lyrics and use your brain cells to memorize these formulas, instead'. He would always rant like a mom and it's kinda annoying."

"Stop it," Skye butted in.

But I pretended not to hear it and continued. "Plus he would always say he doesn't dance and sing yet he's better at me in doing both. He's good at everything, actually, without even trying and that's annoying."

"I know, right?" Eun replied.

"Stop it, both of you, while I am still asking nicely," said Skye with his eyes on the road.

But Eun and I would only laugh before we talked more about Skye. That's how the whole drive basically went. Eun and I talked about Skye for the whole drive like he's not there with us.

That somehow broke the ice between Eun and I. Before we arrived at Busan, I felt more comfortable around him already. We hit it off right away.

We arrived at Busan at two in the morning. Skye's mom was still awake. Apparently, she was waiting for us.

She hugged me tight the moment she saw me, saying that she missed me so much. I hugged her tight, too. I hadn't really realized how much I missed her until that moment.

She was a second mother to me. I probably had spent more time with her in my childhood years than with my own mom.

She was so excited to see me. She even prepared a room for me and even brought me a glass of warm milk and some cookies in my room like what she used to do when I was a kid. She said she missed doing it for me.

Not only that, I woke up to a sumptuous breakfast the next morning. I never realized how much I missed her home cooked meals until that moment.

"OMG! Adobo! My favorite! Thank you, eomeonim. I missed this," I said. "I will eat well."

"I missed cooking for you, too. You're such a hearty eater that's why I love to cook for you," she said.

She looked so happy to see me enjoy the food she made.

We got to meet her new husband, too. He's a professor and was teaching in a university in Busan. He seemed to be a very good man. He's fun to talk with, too.

Eun was enjoying the breakfast as much as I was. He's very chatty and full of energy as always.

Skye, on the other hand, was quiet the whole time. Like he normally is. But I know that he's happy seeing us all together. I could see it in his eyes.

"I'm glad that you're back now, Yuri," Skye's mom told me when we were alone.

She was doing the dishes; I volunteered to help.

Skye, Eun and her husband were somewhere else. He was showing Skye and Eun his aquariums. He raised fishes as a hobby.

"It's nice to see the glow in Haneul's eyes again. It was missing for a while. He lost that glow when you disappeared just like that," she continued.

"I'm sorry, eomeonim. I didn't mean to leave just like that," I said.

"That's okay, Yuri. That's okay. I know that you have your reasons and I respect that. I'm just happy that you're back," she said.

I smiled at her. My heart felt warm.

"I was worried for a while," she continued. "One time, Haneul called me up in the middle of the night. He was drunk. I asked if he's okay. He said he is. He said he was drinking with the members in the dorm to celebrate their very first award. But to my surprise he started crying. I asked him what happened. He said he doesn't feel like he deserved all the success he's getting. He felt like he was stealing your dreams away from you."

Those words were stuck in my head the whole day. When I finally had the chance to talk to Skye alone, I approached him.

"Hey!" I said.

He looked up from his phone and said, "Yeah, you need anything?"

"Nope, I'm good. There's just something I wanted to tell you."

He tapped the empty space beside him. I walked towards him and sat with him on the long couch.

"You don't have to feel guilty," I started.

He looked at me, confused at first. Like he didn't know what I was talking about.

"Everything you're getting right now, the success and all, you deserved it. You worked hard for it," I continued.

The confusion on his face slowly faded away. He seemed to start getting what I was trying to tell him.

"I know I said that you're so good at everything that it sometimes annoys me. Yes, it annoys me but that doesn't mean that I am not happy for you. You just don't know how proud I am of how far you've come."

He wasn't saying anything. He was just intently staring at me.

I couldn't look him in the eyes so I fixed my vision somewhere else. But with my peripheral vision I know that he was staring at me the whole time.

"And I know that you are just starting," I continued. "You still have a lot more to achieve. I want you to know that I'll be the happiest for every success you'll have. So please don't feel guilty. You're not stealing anything from me. You deserve everything you have right now, Skye. You deserve all of these and more."

"You don't have to take care of me, too," I went on when he still didn't say anything. "You don't have to feel guilty that you are achieving your goals and I am not. You are not in charge of my success or my happiness or my welfare. You are not responsible for those. I am in charge of myself."

"What do you mean? I haven't done anything for you yet," he said.

"You let me stay in your place, you make sure that I eat well by sending me groceries, you check on me as much as you can even with your busy schedules. You might not realize it but sometimes, you tend to put me first before yourself. I want you to stop doing that. I want you to focus on yourself instead. Please stop feeling guilty that you are achieving your dreams and I am not."

"I am not doing all of these because I am guilty," he said.

I mustered all the courage to look him in the eyes. I was confused.

"Remember when I was still in Junior High and I couldn't go on a class field trip because I didn't want to ask eomma for money and you broke your piggy bank to give me your savings?" he asked. "You were saving for a 2NE1 concert that time yet you wanted me to use your money and go on that field trip. Why did you do that?"

His question got me thinking. "I don't know," I replied.

"Did you do it because you feel guilty? Or because you feel like you're in charge of me?"

I shook my head. "I really don't know. I just knew that it was the right thing to do at that time."

"Exactly," he said. "I am doing everything I did because it was the right thing to do. And you can't ask me to stop worrying about you. It's not about guilt, Yuri. You are a part of me and there's nothing that you can do about it. I'll always worry about you. I'll always think about welfare. And I know that you will do the same for me, wouldn't you?"

And I couldn't answer. Because he was right. I haven't really realized it until now but yes, I would also do everything I can to protect him.