One Last Call (1/2)

Work was hectic. Performances were everywhere. He was asked to guest here and there as the people missed hearing his melodic voice. It's half a year since he last sang on stage and he refused to accept any work during that time span. Gladly he had his bandmates to make up for his absence, so he wasn't really nagged for his hiatus.

It's at the end of the sixth month when Baekhyun says he's had enough and that Jongdae needs to grow up. The world would not stop for him even if he does. As soon as Jongdae reappeared once again on stage with the rest of his band at the EXO café, requests from stage shows to radio and TV appearances piled up immediately.

Jongdae handpicked them, not bothering to guest anywhere other than concerts and music shows. TV hosts and radio DJs are too nosy for him, and he'd rather sing than tell stories of his life as the media has already covered too much of it for the past few months. He never even knew he was that famous, considering that he's just part of the band that plays music at a local café.

Just the hype around him was getting Jongdae stressed. All he wants is to sing, eat, get paid, and pay for his girlfriend's apartment bills and sleep. But not without calling his girlfriend first.

Sighing, Jongdae grabs his phone next to his pillow where he's laid down on his bed. His roommate and bandmate Kyungsoo was out for the night, so he has the room all to himself. He pressed the speed dial to his girlfriend's apartment and waited as he listened to the phone ring.

"Hi this is Eurin, I'm out. I'll call you back later, okay? Just leave me a message. Beeeeep!"

As a beep came after the voice message, Jongdae smiled and ended the call. Hearing her voice was enough to make him relaxed.

He'll call her again tomorrow.

* * *

Singing on stage seven days straight isn't new to Jongdae, but it's still exhausting. It’s been a month since he went back to work, and soon as he arrived back in the dorm, he went straight to his room and simply waved a hand at their manager Yifan in acknowledgement at his reminder to get a good rest before going to bed.

Closing the door behind him, he walked to the bathroom to clean himself up. He grabbed the make-up remover and washed his face, glancing up the mirror on the medicine cabinet as he finished.

Tired.

That's the appearance of the man the mirror reflected. Dark circles under his eyes, his eyelids nearly ready to fall and his forehead forming a small crease. He now realized why Baekhyun made him placed more heaps of cosmetics on his face than usual.

Although his face may not be presentable without make-up at the moment, he's glad that his voice never faltered again. He's performed splendidly as he always did. No one really noticed any flaws in his performances except his bandmates. That, or other people just choose to ignore them.

Jongdae quickly grabbed his towel off the rack and wiped his face dry. All he wants to do is sleep.

Exiting the bathroom, he walked to the side of his bed and dropped heavily onto the mattress on his stomach. He rolled over and fished his pockets for his phone and quickly pressed on a number on his speed dial.

After five rings, a voice answered.

"Hi this is Eurin, I'm out. I'll call you back later, okay? Just leave me a message. Beeeeep!"

Jongdae doesn't hear the beep that comes after because he quickly falls into a dreamless sleep.

* * *

Late in August, Café owner Joonmyeon arrives one night at the dorm above the café saying he's staying at there for three days. His family will be staying at his in-laws' home in the province for the weekend, and Joonmyeon chose to stay in Seoul since it's been a while since last stayed in the dorm. Yifan asks him if it was okay with his wife, and Joonmyeon grins saying that it's fine as he promised to take them to Macau as soon as monthly promotions are over.

It isn't so bad to have Joonmyeon around, but Jongdae has somewhat gotten used to the privacy he's had for the past few months so Joonmyeon's usual cheerfulness bothered him a little. He welcomes Joonmyeon anyway, he's not a bad hyung after all. Besides, if it weren't for Joonmyeon, Jongdae wouldn't be working as a singer in EXO.

But of course, Jongdae knows that the mother hen in the owner will never disappear. So when Joonmyeon enters his room with a soft smile, closing the door behind him, he knew he was up for some mother-son conversation.

"Hey Jongdae," Joonmyeon said, observing Jongdae as the latter reclined on his pillows. "How are you doing?"

"Fine," Jongdae said with a nod, eyes not leaving the screen of his phone. He feels the mattress move as Joonmyeon sat next to him on his bed.

"Oh. Okay..." Joonmyeon trails off before glancing around the room. He turned back to Jongdae with a frown. "Jongdae, we both know you're not."

Jongdae chuckled. "I'm alright, hyung."

"You look tired," The owner commented. The younger member only snorts back.

"Everyone's tired, hyung."

"You haven't been yourself," Joonmyeon presses further, making Jongdae furrow his brows. "Jongdae, it's been months. You need to move on. Your parents even called me asking if there's a problem. You haven't visited them in weeks and they're worried."

"...I just called them yesterday."

"You need to see them. They're worried about you. We're all worried about you," the older of the two sighed. "All of us are worried about you. Even our regular customers are worried. None of them would have known that you changed your phone months ago if I hadn't told them!"

"I left it at Eurin's apartment months ago," Jongdae rolled his eyes. He gestured to the phone in his hands. "Besides, I still have my company phone. They can call me here."

Joonmyeon stared at him for a while. He blinked at the device in Jongdae's hands before sighing. "Look, I know it's hard that you lost—"

"Hyung," Jongdae cut Joonmyeon off with a groan. "Don't." he said sternly, sitting up before storming out the room.

Joommyeon doesn't follow him out, but Jongdae knows their conversation has yet to end. He quickly throws himself next to head barista Minseok on the couch in the living room. Minseok gives him a worried glance but doesn't say anything. Ignoring him, the singer returned his attention to his phone and dialed a number, momentarily forgetting that the number is available on his speed dial. He presses the phone to his ear as soon as he taps the call icon and waits for five rings to end.

"Hi this is Eurin, I'm out. I'll call you back later, okay? Just leave me a message. Beeeeep!"

Jongdae doesn't leave a message.

* * *

Two weeks later, it's Thursday and Yifan doesn't say anything when Jongdae declines Joonmyeon's invite to treat them after the café closed at midnight. He doesn't interrogate the vocal either. Jongdae is thankful because he's kind of tired of people asking him if he's fine and telling them that he is fine over and over again. Somehow, he’s successfully managed to avoid having a long discussion with Joonmyeon.

It's when he's about to get off the stage when their multi-talented drummer Chanyeol pulls him back, grinning from ear to ear.

"You're not going anywhere," the tall man said. "I have something important to give you guys!"

Jongdae pulled his arm away. "I'm tired, Chanyeol."

Chanyeol grabbed his arm again. "But you didn't eat with everyone last time," he whined, tugging at Jongdae. "And this is really important, I promise!"

Jongdae wanted to tell him that he really needs to rest, but he finds everyone else staring at them in anticipation. He doesn't mean to be a spoilsport; he really just doesn't feel like going out lately and prefers some time alone. He remembers last time when it was their dance performer Yixing who insisted for him to come and they ended up arguing over Jongdae's stubbornness--something he really didn't want to happen again. He was too tired to argue.

"Okay, just as long as it's important," Jongdae sighed.

It turns out that Chanyeol's finally giving them their invitations to their wedding. His fiancée was there waiting for them at the restaurant, and that's when they excitedly handed out the baby blue-colored envelopes embroidered with Chanyeol and Mana or future Mrs. Park's names. As everyone opened their invites, Jongdae silently read the things written on the card, seeing his name with Kyungsoo's under the list of Chanyeol's groomsmen, with Baekhyun being his best man. He hears part time dancer and waiter Jongin thank Chanyeol for inviting his girlfriend Mika as well, and the soon-to-be-married-man laughs and says it's no problem.

"Third out of nine long-time employees to get married," the maknae of the employees, Sehun, says pointedly at Chanyeol, then teasingly looks over at Yifan and Luhan the head chef, two out of the three eldest workers in the café. "Come on, Luhan-hyung, Yifan-hyung, soon we part-timers will beat you guys to it!"

"You're not ending the reception without an after party like at Junmao's wedding!" Barista Tao said with a grin, and Chanyeol laughs as Kyungsoo and Mana shake their heads in disapproval.

"Sure, that'd be nice before we leave for our honeymoon," Chanyeol says and laughs louder when his fiancée pouts at him.

Baekhyun shook his head with a laugh as the lovebirds squabbled, watching Yixing, Tao, Jongin and Minseok get entertained with Yifan and Luhan manhandling Sehun. Joonmyeon's trying to stop them but he's laughing himself. Baekhyun places his arms on Kyungsoo and Jongdae, the two sitting beside him, and turned to his right to find Jongdae still staring at the wedding invitation.

"The vocalists should have a special number at the reception again!" The team's resident mood-maker says, tapping Jongdae's shoulder. "This sounds great doesn't it?"

Jongdae hates it.

He hates the image of a red-carpeted isle decorated with white flowers and garlands. He hates the thought of wedding rings and veils and church bells. He hates the vision of an excited groom at the end of the altar as the church doors open to reveal a beautiful bride in an extravagant white gown. He hates that he will watch a happy couple kiss on the altar and share a bite of cake when they're done cutting the tall, eye-catching confectionery together as a married couple.

He hates that he's going to see it happen to everyone else but him.

Jongdae smiles and nods at Baekhyun anyway, placing the invitation on the table before excusing himself to the bathroom. He sees Kyungsoo watching him at the corner of his eye as he leaves.

He fishes out his phone from his pocket and stares at the list of numbers on his speed dial. He taps on one, slowly placing his phone near his ear. He waits for five rings before a voice responds.

"Hi this is Eurin, I'm out. I'll call you back later, okay? Just leave me a message. Beeeeep!"

"I miss you," Jongdae whispers and quickly cuts the call.

He returns to the table a minute later, listening to the conversations around him as he waits for tomorrow to come.

* * *

The next day indeed comes, but with an unexpected phone call.

"Jongdae This is—"

"Seunghwan-ssi. What is it?" Jongdae cuts the speaker off. He mentally slaps himself for being rude. "I'm sorry. Is there a problem?"

"I'm here to call about Eurin's apartment," the landowner of Eurin's apartment, Seunghwan, replied. "There are people who are interested in moving in there. Um, I know you're still paying for the rent, but it would be better if it can actually accommodate people and—"

"And I'm still paying for the rent," Jongdae cuts him off again in irritation. He knows that she wants him to pull out all of Eurin's belongings to let another tenant live there. The utilities aren't used as much as they were used before so Jongdae pays a smaller amount than usual; the guy probably needs more profit. But it's Eurin's apartment, one of his homes, and he's not letting it go. "You can't—"

"Jongdae," Seunghwan says again, more sternly this time. "I've already refunded the advanced payment that you gave me. I'm sorry but there are other people who need the apartment. I only allowed you to do this because I know you're depressed and you're important to Joonmyeon and Joonmyeon's my friend and... I want to return a favor for Eurin. I'm doing this for the both of you. Please understand." The sad way he says Eurin's name makes Jongdae sick, but he continues to listen anyway. "You either pick up her belongings after the month or I'll leave them in my storage." A longer pause follows, and before Jongdae could speak again, the landowner does. "I'm really sorry."

Jongdae doesn't know how many seconds pass before he closes his eyes. "You don't have to be," he says. "I'll... pick up my stuff there as well." He ends the call before the Eurin's landowner could say anything else.

He can no longer visit Eurin's apartment. Not that he's visited there in months, but he goes over his speed dial and calls her anyway.

Pressing his phone to his ear, five rings resounded, followed by a beep.

"Hi this is Eurin, I'm out. I'll call you back later, okay? Just leave me a message. Beeeeep!"

He wishes Eurin would call.

* * *

Eurin loves it when Jongdae leaves her voice messages, no matter how random they are. She loves hearing his voice every day, and sometimes even goes home early to listen to whatever message Jongdae leaves. This especially applies on the times when Jongdae's away on a special request for the band somewhere far from Seoul. Jongdae told her she's silly and she could just call him if she actually wants to talk, he has two phones after all, because even at a long distance he'll always pick up.

But last December, he didn't.

Jongdae idly stares at Chanyeol's wedding invitation. It's been three weeks since he got it, promotions were over, Joonmyeon's family is at Macau, the part-timers are on vacation for a week and he doesn't know how to tell Eurin about the wedding that will happen in about two weeks and that the dumb giant only reserved him one seat.

Jongdae taps her number in his speed dial. He waited for five rings and a beep.

"Hi this is Eurin, I'm out. I'll call you back later, okay? Just leave me a message. Beeeeep!"

He loved hearing Eurin's voice just as much she loved hearing his. He realized it a little too late. He wishes he told her to leave messages for him too; maybe it would've been easier to hear those than hearing her say the same thing over and over whenever he calls and maybe, just maybe, he wouldn't be so hooked up on that 'later'.

* * *

"I'm not going to the wedding, Chanyeol. I'm sorry," Jongdae says the moment Chanyeol picked up his call the following day. He hears a gasp and some rattling, making Jongdae picture Chanyeol stand up fast and slam his fist on a table in surprise.

"But... but why? There’s still two months before my wedding. You still have time to think about it, you can't miss it!" Chanyeol says in disbelief. "Jongdae!"