New Start

Part 24

Alex froze on the spot. With her heart beating fast, she watched Junmyeon continuing to walk ahead before he realised she had stalled. He turned back to look at her questioning her with wide eyes.

'Alex?' He asked.

'How do you know the title of my book?' she said in barely a whisper.

'I Googled you,' he said simply, his eyes still watching her warily, but his face was blank. 'There's this thing called the internet see –' he smiled at her simply.

She found air again, rushing back into her lungs, of course, Google.

'O,h' she forced a smile back at him.

His eyebrows crossed as she took small steps to where he was stood waiting. 'It's a nice title, The Butterfly Catcher. Nice artwork too.' He said, slipping his arm around her waist, though she barely noticed.

Her mind was going into over drive. Had he really only googled her? It wasn't impossible, he knew her surname after all, and he was right, the first thing that would come up was her book, big blue title, the Blue Morpho butterfly, blue shimmering wings, and black edges.

In an attempt to cover her shock, she told him, 'Ella did the artwork,'

'It's really incredible but why the blue butterfly?' he asked. 'Why not a different colour?'

'Blue is rare in nature.' She told him simply.

'Is that the only reason?' he questioned.

'What do you mean?' she asked beginning to worry.

'I – read - blue butterflies have - meanings behind them.' He told her, choosing his words carefully.

He was right. She had researched and chosen that butterfly specifically. They symbolise love, change and transformation, joy and a person's essence, their soul. Her butterfly, with its iridescent blue and black edges, symbolises a wish granter, to make your dreams come true. In China, where the book was set, butterflies symbolise an undying bond between two lovers. It was everything the book was about.

'I – yeah sometimes they do.' She told him, she felt awkward, stupid even explaining the meaning behind the blue butterfly to him.

'I should read it. It sounds interesting, from the reviews I saw.' He told her lightly.

So he hadn't actually read the book. Of course not, or he wouldn't be asking her why the blue butterfly. It would be obvious if he had read it.

'You haven't read it.' She asked, voicing her thoughts out loud.

'Not yet. But I will.' He told her with a smile.

It didn't take long for them to get back to the apartment block. Jongin was practically asleep on Sehun, Baekhyun not far behind, and yet when asked to move he kept talking about partying.

'Ella's still out, will you be ok?' Junmyeon asked her, taking a step towards her door with her, as the others struggled with getting Jongin and Baekhyun into their apartments.

'Yeah I'm fine. I'm just going to go to sleep.' She told him with a smile. As she began to turn towards her door, he grabbed her hand, squeezing it once, lightly, before letting her go.

Alex woke up to clattering in the kitchen. Falling out of bed and wrapping her fluffy dressing gown around her she went to investigate the source of the noise.

'El?' she asked sleepily.

'Sorry, did I wake you?' Ella poked her head from behind a cupboard. She had been searching for bowls.