Halcyon ↠ A.F (BEING EDITED)

025 | Chapter Twenty-Five

Takes Place During The Chapter 24 Timeline.
December 16th, 2015
•Lin•

"What're you doing here?" Lin questioned, her eyes wide as she looked at Tao who was standing beside her at the airport.

"Going home?" He said in a what-do-you-think type tone. "We're from the same country, you know." He said as the two moved up in line. "More specifically we're both from Qingdao."

"You should've told me you were traveling back home." Lin mumbled as she handed the lady her passport. The woman handed her back her passport and Lin stepped out of line, waiting for Tao.

"Where's the surprise in that?" Tao grinned, although Lin couldn't see it due to his mask covering his face. "What seat?" Tao questioned as he handed Lin his plane ticket. Lin handed him hers and she sighed while he smiled. "This day just keeps getting better and better."

"You knew," Lin muttered as she snatched her plane ticket from him. "Who told you?"

"You'd be surprised," Tao mumbled as he waved for her to follow. The two took a seat in one of the waiting areas and Lin sighed.

"Sohyun?" She questioned after a while. Tao looked over and gave her a small nod.

"I was going to leave on the 21st, but she told me you were leaving today so I rescheduled for today." Tao explained "I'm worried about you, Lin." He said quietly as a group of teenage girls sat across from them, one of them actually keeping a watchful eye on the two.

"Don't be worried," Lin said in Mandarin, she glanced at the girl and she looked away once they started speaking Mandarin. "I'm okay." Lin's voice wavered, doing her no justice to what she had just told him. Tao gave a small shake of his head and stared at Lin for a moment.

"Don't lie to me, I can see right through you. You're easy to read, you always have been." Tao said, Lin looked down at her lap and as Tao was about to say something, their flight was called for boarding.

"Come on," Tao said as he stood, grabbing his suitcase and holding his hand out for her. Lin stared at his outstretched and hesitantly reached for it before the two laced fingers and Lin stood, grabbing her things as well and heading off towards the gate. "Off to China we go!" Tao exclaimed as he held their hands up, attracting the attention of a few people. Lin chuckled and Tao gave her a smile, finally glad to see her slowly getting back to her old self.

—•—

"Who's coming to get you?" Tao asked as the two stood outside the airport. Lin rocked back and forth on her heels and glanced or at Tao.

"My brother," Lin replied as her phone rang. She fished it out of her pocket and answered. She spoke quickly and smiled widely as a car pulled up in front of her. Lin hung up and looked back at Tao as her brother got out of the car. "What about you?"

"My mother, but she won't be here for a while, she's running an errand of course, she forgot my flight was today instead of the 21st." Tao laughed, Lin smiled and turned towards her brother, hugging him. He grabbed her suitcase and looked towards Tao.

"He's going to stay with us for a bit today," Lin said, Tao's eyes widened as Lin looked back at him. "Only if you want to."

"I mean..." Tao stuttered, causing her brother to laugh.

"Don't worry about it, come on!" He exclaimed as he clamped a hand down on Tao's shoulder. "I'm Xiang, Lin's older brother." He said as he held the car door open for Lin. Lin got in as did Tao and a moment later Xiang got in.

"Tao, Huang Zitao." He said with a small bow of the head.

"So you're dating my sister?"

"What?" Lin and Tao questioned in unison.

"N-no I'm not." Tao said from the backseat. Xiang looked at him in the mirror and grinned.

"I'm just teasing, take it easy!" Xiang laughed loudly and then let out a string of curses as a car cut him off. Tao gave a small nod and Lin looked back, giving him an apologetic look. He smiled and shook his head giving her a small nod in a way of telling her it's okay. "So, you're from Qingdao too?" Xiang questioned before the two got into a conversation.

—•—

"I'm sorry for how crazy my family is being, they were like this when Sohyun–" Lin cut herself off and sighed before she slowly took a bite of her food.

"I know, it's hard." Tao mumbled as he watched her. "I'm here to talk about it, Lin." He said as his phone vibrated, a text from his mother but at the moment, he just wanted to talk to Lin.

"You know I'm not good at expressing my emotions." She said with a sigh as she placed her chopsticks down. She heard her mom cooking in the kitchen and her brother and father watching television. She felt at home, but the only thing she could think about were her members. "Can we go outside?" Lin questioned quietly, Tao gave a small nod and the two stood, walking out into the backyard. Lin gave a deep breath and sighed loudly as she sat down in the grass. Tao sat across from her and glanced around the backyard.

"Do you wanna talk?" Tao questioned as he looked back towards Lin.

"It's so hard," Lin finally said, tears streaming down her face and a sob coming from her mouth. "I was so close to both of them and–" Lin stopped talking and silently cried. Tao pulled Lin close and held her against his chest where she cried. Tao pressed a kiss to Lin's forehead and stroked her hair as the girl sobbed. "Promise me something, Tao." Lin finally said as her breathing steadied.

"What is it?" Tao mumbled into her hair.

"Don't leave me, ever." She whispered as she looked up at the boy. Tao stared into Lin's eyes and gave a small nod.

"I promise, Lin." He said as he leaned down and pressed a kiss to her lips.

—•—

-kaizar / plsyoongi / jisooahs / tao-fu

unedited