Onyx: Heart

by J. S. Lee

  By the time the doctor discharged me with some pain meds and a list of dos and do nots, I had a plan. I was going to check out of the hotel, head to my mother’s and get my car.

  Of course, this was going to be an interesting drive with a pounding head and no sleep…

  The taxi ride back was spent in silence. What I wasn’t expecting was the welcome party when we arrived at the hotel. Youngbin, Xiao, Jiwon, and JongB were all waiting for me. “What are you four doing down here?” Sungmin demanded.

  “We wanted to make sure Kate was OK,” Jiwon shrugged.

  “Given that I sent a message to the group chat, I would have thought that would have been enough.” Sungmin folded his arms, clearly unimpressed. “Mild concussion.”

  “How are you feeling?” Xiao asked, moving in front of me to peer into my eyes.

  “My head hurts, but it will be fine. The doctor said I’m likely to be suffering from a headache for a couple of days.” I was trying to be as casual with them as I could be, considering Sungmin was standing next to me, but I had the strongest urge to let Xiao wrap his arms around me. Or all of them, for that matter.

  Judging from the way JongB was hanging back, hopping from foot to foot; how Xiao refused to move; how Jiwon’s gaze hadn’t left me; how Youngbin moved to my other side… I had a feeling they felt the same way too.

  “You have two hours before we have to be leaving for the airport,” Sungmin said, his tone dry. “Get to bed.”

  “Kate shouldn’t be flying,” Youngbin said, suddenly. “Do you not remember the time JongB knocked himself out playing basketball and we had to postpone a fan meeting in Osaka?”

  “Thanks for bringing that up.” JongB rolled his eyes. “How about we stop making Kate think I’m not cool?”

  Jiwon shot him a look. “You’re not cool. You’re a dork. If Kate thought otherwise, it’s best she finds out now.”

  “Why do you keep causing me pain, hyung?” JongB gasped, clutching at his heart.

  “Focus on this pain,” Jiwon muttered, leaning over and flicking JongB’s forehead.

  His cry of pain was melodramatic, and I was sure that the whole thing was happening because both of them were trying to make sure I felt better, in their weird way, but JongB’s high-pitched squeal might as well have been nails running down a chalkboard.

  “Enough, the both of you,” Youngbin and Sungmin snapped, eerily at the same time.

  Sungmin turned to Onyx’s leader, folding his arms. “Kate will not be flying to Los Angeles with us. The doctor has told her she cannot fly for the next seventy-two hours.”

  “We can’t leave Kate here!” JongB objected.

  Sungmin rubbed a hand over his weary face. “Can we please take this conversation out of the lobby.”

  “But hyungnim-”

  “But Kate needs to rest,” Sungmin countered. “Given the concussion.”

  Four eyes settled on me. “Yes,” Xiao agreed, wrapping an arm around my shoulder. I froze. Sungmin was right next to me and giving us both the weirdest look. And by weird, it was one of incredulity.

  I shuffled out from under him. “I’m fine. I don’t need the help,” I said, quickly.

  “Always got to be the touchy-feely one,” Jiwon muttered, also trying to cover for Xiao.

  Although the skepticism remained on Sungmin’s face, we moved over to the elevator. “How is Kate going to get to LA?” JongB asked.

  Sungmin blew out an impatient breath. “We can’t wait until the room?”

  “It’s a fan meeting!” JongB exclaimed. “Can it wait? Who is going to take the photographs? We’re going to have disappointed fans!”

  I held my hand up. “Guys, I will check out when you do, go back to my mom’s place to pick up my car, and drive down. The drive is only five hours or so. I’ll be there for the fan meeting.”

  “You’ll do no such thing,” Jiwon informed me. The elevator pinged open and we stepped in.

  I arched an eyebrow at him. I was all for him bossing me about in certain situations, but this was not one of them. “I think you’ll find we have no other choice.”

  “You’re squinting.” I looked at Jiwon like that was supposed to mean something. “If you can barely open your eyes now, how do you think you’re going to be able to make a five-hour drive, by yourself, in bright sunlight?”

  “With a lot of painkiller and my sunglasses,” I shrugged.

  “I’ve already taken care of it,” Xiao said.

  His words were drowned out by Sungmin. “Kate can stay another night in Las Vegas and then she can decide if she wants to return home for a couple of days before flying out to Chicago, or if she wants to get the train to LA to join us.”

  “I’ve already taken care of it,” Xiao said again.

  This time, the elevator pinged open and his comment was lost in the bustle as we walked down the corridor in silence to my room. I pulled my keycard from my back pocket and unlocked the door. “I appreciate the concern, but you all need to get what sleep you can, and then get to the airport. I’m going to get a couple of hours myself, and then I’m heading to my mom’s place to get my car.”

  “You shouldn’t be driving!” Jiwon hissed.

  “No one needs to drive. No one needs to fly,” Xiao said with a shrug. “I’ve taken care of it.”

  I looked up at him, the others doing the same. “What do you mean by that?”

  “I hired a bus.” He said that as though it was the most obvious, logical thing anyone could have done.

  제 9 장

  Stay With Me

  “Say that again?” I said, sure the concussion was now making me hallucinate.

  “I hired a bus.”

  “A bus?” JongB repeated.

  My head was pounding, and I really did want to try to get some sleep before the long journey, but this wasn’t a conversation for the hallway. I pushed the door open and ushered everyone inside.

  As soon as the door was closed, Sungmin was the first to speak, rounding on Xiao. “What the hell do you mean you hired a bus?”

  “Kate can’t fly, and we need a photographer. A bus was the cheapest option for Onyx and our team to get to L.A. So, I hired one.”

  “How?” JongB’s mouth was hanging open, but he was looking at Xiao with revered awe. He shook his head, going to fist bump the older member. When Xiao returned the motion, JongB grinned. “Hyung, that’s fucking genius!”

  “How did you manage to hire a bus?” Sungmin spluttered.

  “Did an internet search, submitted a request, and someone called me back before you both got back from the hospital. I’ve arranged for it to pick us up at the same time we were due to check out.”

  “It’s three in the morning,” Jiwon said, slowly.

  Xiao shrugged. “This is the City That Never Sleeps.”

  “Actually,” I interjected. “That’s New York City.”

  Xiao frowned, looking at me. “Then, what is Las Vegas.”

  “The City of Sin.”

  “That’s Vancouver,” Jiwon muttered. I refused to look at him. I could already feel my neck burning at that memory.

  “What’s Los Angeles?” Xiao asked, still frowning. My guess was he thought L.A. was the City of Sin.

  “The City of Angels.”

  “Nope,” JongB said, firmly. “It can’t be.” I turned to look at him and arched an eyebrow. As someone born and raised in Chicago, I was surprised he was getting that one wrong. “The angel is in front of me.”

  While both Xiao and Jiwon groaned, I laughed. Then regretted it as it made my head vibrate.

  “You hired a bus.” Sungmin looked like his head was going to explode.

  Xiao leaned back against the wall, folding his arms. “It’s not good for MinMin to fly so soon after a general anesthetic, either.”

  “Genius,” JongB muttered.

  Sungmin held his hands up. “Everybody, get to your bedrooms and meet downstairs at five, like planned.”

  “Does that mean we’re taking the bu
s?” JongB asked.

  “It means everybody, you included, get to your rooms and we will meet downstairs at five,” Sungmin repeated through gritted teeth.

  “We’re totally getting the bus,” JongB told me, giving me a wink as he walked to the door, Jiwon right behind him.

  I didn’t respond. I was sure if someone said anything else, Sungmin would snap. Even if that didn’t involve a small murder spree, it probably would involve shouting. My head felt like it was trapped underwater while a woodpecker hammered at it.

  At the door, Sungmin paused and looked back. “And what about you?”

  I opened my mouth, ready to assure him I had every intention of getting sleep, but a voice behind me answered first. “I’m staying here.”

  I jumped, not having realized that Youngbin was still in the room with me.

  “I beg your pardon?” Maybe not a murder spree, but Sungmin definitely looked like he was ready to throttle Onyx’s leader.

  “I’m staying here,” Youngbin repeated, both slowly and forcibly.

  “Youngbin, I’ll be fine,” I hissed at him.

  “You have a concussion. Someone needs to keep an eye on you.” He was speaking to me, but his gaze was locked in a silent battle with his manager.

  Sungmin shut the door and stepped back into the room. “Are you two fucking each other?”

  That was the first time I’d heard Sungmin swear. I stood there, frozen, unable to think of a response that wasn’t going to get Youngbin in trouble.

  “No,” Youngbin responded.

  I didn’t dare blink. Technically, we hadn’t done anything other than kiss, so that wasn’t a lie.

  “But when someone has a concussion, someone needs to stay with them and keep an eye on them.”

  Sungmin closed his eyes. I could almost hear him counting to ten as he breathed in and out. When he finally opened his eyes, he didn’t look any less murderous. “Be downstairs at five,” he growled, storming out of the room.

  At that point, my legs buckled, and I collapsed heavily on the end of the bed. “Kate!”

  My head sank into my hands as I took deep breaths. I felt like crap. “I just need some sleep,” I croaked.

  While I continued to breath in through my nose out through my mouth, willing the dizzy spell to disappear, Youngbin moved around the room with purpose. The next thing I knew, he was presenting me with a bottle of water and some painkillers. I took them both, sipping at the water until the bottle was empty.

  By this point, I’d gone past caring what Youngbin saw. I discarded my jacket, kicked off my sneakers, and crawled up the bed, collapsing on the pillow. I didn’t even have the energy to turn the lights off. Thankfully, Youngbin did. I let out a sigh of pleasure as the room descended into darkness.

  “Xiao hired a bus,” I mumbled.

  Beside me, the bed dipped as Youngbin stretched out beside me. “Yeah.”

  With the last remaining energy I had, I shuffled over, settling into the crook under his arm as his chest became my pillow. “Not that I’m not grateful, because I am, but he’s going to get into trouble. And so are you.”

  “I didn’t lie to Sungmin.”

  I couldn’t stop the yawn. “Don’t get in trouble because of me.”

  “Did you go to the police?”

  My foggy brain wasn’t quite registering that one. “Because you lied to Sungmin?”

  “No, because your ex-boyfriend attacked you.”

  “He didn’t attack me,” I said, slowly.

  “Then what happened, Kate.”

  I opened my mouth, ready to reply, then frowned. “I don’t really remember. We were talking about something.” I closed my eyes, trying to remember the details, but my head was filled with fog. I couldn’t even remember what Damien had been wearing. “It’s not important. I’m leaving in a couple of hours anyway.”

  “What about after?”

  I lifted my head to look at Youngbin. The room was that dark, I could barely make out more than the profile of his nose, and a slight glint to his eyes. “After what?”

  “After the tour. When you go home.”

  When I go home? Was this just a holiday romance for Youngbin? His words hammered at my heart more than the invisible woodpecker at the back of my head.

  We had an end date?

  I’d been thinking about moving to Seoul to work out how to make this work, and Youngbin was thinking about the end already? Was that why he had denied things to Sungmin?

  Is this how they all felt?

  I lowered my head, squeezing my eyes closed as I fought back tears.

  Fuck.

  I’d become invested.

  I cared.

  I wanted more.

  “I guess I’ll deal with it then,” I muttered. “I don’t want to talk about this. I want to sleep.”

  Despite the headache, it took a long time before I could fall asleep. When I was gently awoken by Youngbin, after what only seemed like ten minutes, my headache had subsided to a dull thrum, but I still felt groggy.

  I didn’t have time to do much more than wash my face and brush my teeth, but a shower was a willing sacrifice for some sleep. It didn’t take long to get ready, before I pulled open the door and almost walked into CX. “Oh!”

  “I’ve just heard.” He stepped into the room, his hands cupping my face as he pulled it towards him, examining my face, and then the top of my head. “Are you OK? This is the same guy from the diner, right?” Something behind me caught his attention – his eyes flicked to that, then slowly back to me.

  In that instant, that concern had been replaced with confusion. “Why is Youngbin here?” he asked.

  Youngbin materialized at my side as my hands went to CX’s, gently pulling them from me. “She has a concussion,” Youngbin said, as though that explained everything.

  “You spent the night here?” CX stepped back.

  Youngbin shrugged, glancing at his phone. “Someone had to make sure she woke up. We need to be downstairs for the bus. CX, grab one of Kate’s cases.”

  “There’s a bus?”

  “Suitcase.”

  Youngbin pulled me out of the way for CX to get past me, then led me out into the hallway with one case. By the time the elevator had arrived, CX had arrived with the other.

  The ride down was in awkward silence. Or, at least, it was awkward for two of us. Youngbin was on his phone, and CX was keeping his attention pointedly on his feet. The atmosphere was forgotten about the moment the door pinged open and I stepped into the lobby. The rest of Onyx, MinMin included, descended on me like grandparents descending on a child who had fallen over.

  I held my hands up, their endless questions trailing off. “Guys, I’m fine, but my head is killing me. Can we please keep it quiet?”

  “JongB, go wait outside,” Jiwon instructed the anxious rapper.

  “Why?” he demanded.

  Jiwon snorted. “Because everyone here knows you can’t even keep quiet when you sleep.”

  I smiled as we walked over to the check-out desk where Sungmin was busy working through the process. We waited for him to join the group. The rest of the entourage was watching with curiosity.

  “What’s the verdict, hyungnim?” Xiao asked. “Because the bus is here.”

  I looked out front where Xiao was pointing. Low and behold, a mid-sized bus was there, waiting.

  Sungmin let out an exasperated sigh, but before he could speak, MinMin did. “I feel dizzy this morning.”

  “After effects of the anesthetic yesterday,” JongB piped up.

  I had absolutely no doubt in my mind that MinMin did not feel dizzy. Not only had I just witnessed JongB elbow him while Xiao was speaking, but JongB’s addition seemed equally as rehearsed.

  Either way, I was still thankful.

  Sungmin was looking at MinMin like a father looking at a son who had just pointed out something that showed his dad was being a hypocrite. He rubbed at his temples, then, with a resigned sigh, hung his head. “Get on the bus.”
<
br />   Under normal circumstances, I would have protested.

  Of course, under normal circumstances, I wouldn’t have had a concussion and it wouldn’t have been an issue.

  Instead, I just followed the others out to the bus. The bus driver loaded the cases on while I followed Onyx onboard. It was a mid-sized bus, big enough for each of us, including the staff, to have a pair of chairs to ourselves, and there was a toilet at the back.

  It was like being at school. The staff took the seats near the front, and Onyx went for the back. I was going to take a seat somewhere in the middle, but Xiao tugged me to the very back, past the toilet. “Xiao,” I just want to sleep,” I protested. Much as I appreciated him renting a bus, my plans were to be as unsociable as possible.

  “And you can,” he agreed. He slipped into the seat on the back row, in the corner, then pulled me down beside him. “Lie down. You’ll be more comfortable this way.”

  I’d spent a summer on a tour bus. Fun fact: the artist gets one with a bed and a sitting area. The team, including the dancers usually go on a second coach which only have reclining seats that only go back about four inches. I was used to sleeping on buses. The idea of using Xiao as a pillow was tempting. “I plan on sleeping the whole way,” I told him.

  “And I plan on sitting right here,” he assured me.

  The hell with it. My head was starting to pound again. “Just give me a second,” I told him. I pulled some more painkillers out of my bag, swallowing them without water. Once my bag was stored away, I curled up on the seats next to Xiao, using his lap as a pillow.

  Just as I was closing my eyes, JongB materialized. He draped a blanket over me. “It came with the bus. There’s more back there if you need them.”

  “What’s going on?” CX asked, his head appearing over the back of the seat. There was something weird to his tone, and I couldn’t quite find the brain capacity to work it out.

  “Kate has a concussion.”

  I could see CX try to refrain from rolling his eyes at JongB. “Yes. I’m in the group chat.”

  I frowned, turning my head to look at Xiao. “There’s a group chat about me?”

  “CX is talking about the Onyx group chat. Manager Sungmin messages us all in that,” Xiao said, softly. “Go to sleep.” He looked at JongB and CX. “Beautiful as she is, she doesn’t need an audience while she sleeps.”