365 Days NOT To Fall In Love; STAR LOVERS // EXO Chanyeol

53."Loving From Afar"

Weeks past. An entire month. Spring is slowly arriving to Seoul, anyone can tell from the warm sun and the less freezing breeze. Winter is nice. People like it because of the holidays, the decorations and lights, the snow and the warmth of staying inside. But no one can deny enjoying the feeling of going outside with less layers of clothing, feeling more light as you walk down the pavements full of people. The pleasant feeling of the light breeze airing when they reach a shadowy place and the warmth of the sun rays falling on their face when they leave the shadows again. Let alone every citizen in Seoul always looks forward to see the beautiful cherry blossoms bloom. Not yet, but pretty soon.

Ji Young lets out a sigh while scrolling down the news feed on her laptop. Without taking her eyes off the screen, she takes hold of the coffee cup in front of her and takes a full sip.

Sitting cross-legged, her foot slightly moves up and down in the air to the catchy rhythm of the song currently playing on the radio. She likes this cafe, it's only a few blocks away from work and she genuinely enjoys visiting it alone, always sitting at the same window view table and ordering the same drink. Black coffee.

With the pleasant smell of coffee filling the air around her and the low chatting of the other customers, she continues going through the news sites, reading more and more articles about him.

'Chanyeol of EXO claims the music charts for once again with his newest solo album; as expected from the passionate artist'

she reads the next article and smiles.

'EXO Chanyeol recently released his own solo album consisting entirely by his own creations. No wonder the talented artist is frequently seen on tv shows these days. Who wouldn't want to interview Park Chanyeol, the talk of the month?'

"He's really amazing" Ji Young softly whispers to herself, squeezing her cheek on her fist, she can't hide the proud smile on her pale face. She feels so much happiness reading articles every day and seeing him on tv almost every week. It helps her keep him close, her heart feels at peace when she sees his face and hears his voice even through the tv screen. Since she can't see him in person, she keeps this safe distance from the famous artist, keeping herself updated about his activities through the internet.

Of course, the young girl misses the love of her life badly. Watching him on TV or reading articles about him might help her feel close to him ina way but it only makes her miss him even more. Everyday she gets up from bed with an empty heart and her eyes feeling dry from crying herself to sleep the previous night. She doesn't blame him for being in so much pain, she has just accepted things as they are and she treasures all their memories together from the past. What beautiful times...

Before anyone can notice, she quickly wipes the single tear from her cheek. She clears her throat and turns off the laptop, just now lifting up her eyes to observe the view in front of her. People are passing by every second, she watches them boringly before her eyes fall on something that gets her attention.

A few feet away from the wide window there are two people fighting, a male and a female. They seem to be around her age or a year younger.

She can only hear their muffled voices as they shout to each other, she observes the much taller man shaking his head as the woman talks.

'It must be something serious' she thinks to herself, not taking her eyes off the couple. She doesn't care about being caught staring and watches with interest as she can only take a few guesses of what their heated argument might be about.

Suddenly, the woman starts walking away but the man holds her hand to stop her. He seems to say something to her that moves her a lot since she brings her hand to her heart and her expression softens significantly. Not long after she nods her head and they hug each other tightly.

A small smile forms on Ji Young's worried face. She feels relieved to see them happy again, despite not knowing them at all.

She then watches them as they walk away, holdings hands and laughing.
'They look so happy'

Ji Young's smile fades away. She lowers her eyes to her hands on the table. She traces her palm with her other hand's fingers, feeling lonely and empty once again.

Why is it that she can still feel his touch lingering on her skin? Why can she actually feel the warmth of his hands as he held hers and pulled her up from the couch to make her dance with him? How can she still feel his hands on hers as he teached her how to play the guitar, or when he lead her to their favorite hot pot restaurant, or when they went to sleep in each other's arms, or when he held them in his to warm them up in the cold winter.

'Why is it so hard to forget you' Ji Young slightly shakes her head to shake the thoughts of him away, but as always she fails. The desire to see him, to touch him, to hear him call her name is burning her.

At this point, she's scared that she might never get better.

[...]

"So are you free tonight?"

The young man mentally curses himself for sounding so overly eager to see his girlfriend "Ah good because, um I'm free of schedule for the rest of the day, so I thought maybe we can go to that karaoke place you were talking about?"

he chuckles "You sound so excited" his free hand plays with the zipper of his hoodie while he speaks on the phone "How's Ji Young-ssi by the way? Did you see her?"

"Hm, I see. She's been avoiding you too lately" he sighs, then frowns as the girl on the other line speaks "What? No Minji-"

He sighs "I know he has to know but, I don't think it's a good time to tell him about it"

"I mean Chanyeol is doing so well right now, if he finds out about it he won't stay still and do nothing" He shakes his head "He can't know. Not yet"

"What is it that I can't know?"

Baekhyun turns around at the sound of the deep voice. He stares at Chanyeol who just walked in the kitchen with a towel in his hand to rub his wet hair, wide eyed "Chanyeol-"

"What is it Baek? What's wrong with Ji Young?" Chanyeol asks curiously but calmly and Baekhyun sighs in the phone "Minji, we'll pick you up at 20' "

~~
Guess Chanyeol wasn't supposed to hear that :/
Let's look forward to the next chapter!

I feel so bad for Ji Young ughh but for the storyline's sake I have to keep the story going.

EXO and Baekhyun won Bonsang Awards today! So proud of them because even though they've been inactive as a group they still win great awards and that shows how powerful and loved they are ♡

Alright I'm gonna study now! It's cold these days so make sure to stay warm and take care!

*don't forget to vote for the chapter!^^

~Love,
Kate