SONG ABOUT US || Lee Juyeon || Singer AU

Chapter 33; Despair

"There's a girl at the door, Ju," said Chaerin, as every atom in my body froze.

"Did you order room service?" He replied, yawning. "Maybe she can get us a beer or something..." Juyeon appeared behind Chaerin, scrolling on his phone. He still hadn't seen me.

"You wanna order takeaway?" He said, leaning an arm against the door frame. I tried to swallow but my mouth was completely dry.

It felt like someone had reached down my throat, taken hold of my lungs, and twisted them like baker's dough.

"I don't think she's room service," said Chaerin, squinting at me. She tugged the collar of her t-shirt, and I realized with a jolt, that I had seen it before. It was Juyeon's.

"Well, if she's not room service," said Juyeon, lifting his head. "Then what's she doing in the middle of the"

And that's when his eyes met mine.
"Yoona?"

The two small quiet words fell from my mouth. "Oh, God..."
"Yoona, what the-"

My head spinning, I turned and ran down the corridor. When I got to the lift, I repeatedly pounded the button, but the light told me it was still in the lobby, eleven floors away.

I glanced down to the far end of the hallway and our across the balcony. Maybe there were steps down to a lower level?

All I knew was I couldn't see him, or tall to him, or let him touch me ever again. And so I kept running.

When I reached the balcony doors, I yanked them open and stumbled out into the night.

It was bitterly cold, the rain was whipping at my skin, and I couldn't see another exit.

Juyeon grabbed my hand from behind and I tugged for freedom, but he was too strong. Spinning around, I found him standing in front of me, bare feet on the concrete freezing raindrops clinging to his face.

"Whoa, Yoona, calm down." I wrenched my hand from his grip.
"Don't touch me."
"Will you let me explain?"

My hands were shaking, maybe from the cold, maybe from the sheer anger. I balled them into little fists.

"Explain? There's nothing to talk about?"
"You've got it wrong...the whole thing." He ran both his hands through his wet hair and looked at me intensely. He looked wired, on edge.

"Is this what you do, Juyeon?" I said, pointing back inside the hotel. Chaerin was out of sight. "Is this what happens every time I leave a concert?"

"It's not what it looks like! I promise."
"Oh, you promise? And what do you think one of your promises is worth, exactly?"

He didn't have an answer for this.
Behind him, one of the balcony doors slams shut in the wind.

"Chaerin is an old friend," he said finally. "She was in town, she had this massive row with her boyfriend... We were just having a drink. Watching TV."

I shook my head at him. Sickness rising in my chest. "Anyway, geez- Yoona, it's two o'clock in the morning. What are you doing here?"

I didn't want to say it. I didn't want him to hear it, not anymore. But the words still crawled out of my mouth.

"I came here because...I needed someone, Juyeon. I needed...you."

He hung his head, those long black strands of hair looping down over his face, dripping wet.

"But I guess I misread the signs, didn't I? So I'll just go. I mean, shouldn't you be getting back to Chaerin anyway?"

Juyeon glanced over his shoulder.
"She's a friend, nothing more. You have to believe me."