Work Text:
If there was one thing Mingyu was great at, it was making friends.
The boy knew no boundaries when it came to being friendly, and people around him gravitated towards him as a moth would to a flame. He seemed almost perfect; his outgoing demeanor making it easy for him to converse with friends and strangers alike. His friends always wondered how he came to be the master of small talk, and were often jealous at how easy it came to him. Mingyu, on the other hand, never thought it was anything special, and always said that his mother happened to raise him well. Although he was somewhat grateful to his mother for his so called “strength,” he blamed her immensely for his largest weakness.
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“Mingyu! Don’t forget that today is your grandmother’s birthday!”
His mother suddenly barged into his room, throwing him a piece of paper with a series of numbers hastily scribbled on it.
“Do you mind giving her a call today? I know we usually give her a call together but something came up at work and I don’t know what time I’ll be home…I know she’ll appreciate hearing from you.”
“Can’t I just send her an email or a text? It’s 2017!” Mingyu exclaimed, suddenly heated over a seemingly reasonable request.
“You know your grandmother. She has no knowledge about computers or smartphones at all! You’re going to have to call her and greet her a happy birthday.”
His mother quickly shut the door, and Mingyu was left to stare at the small piece of paper in his hands. He closed his eyes and found himself breathing slowly, his heartbeat quickening.
You can do this . He thought to himself. It’s just a phone call to your grandma. You’ve talked to her a bunch of times before! You’re just calling her on the phone now. It should be totally fine. Totally. Fine.
Mingyu reached for his cellphone and gripped it tightly in his overly sweaty palm. Slowly, he started typing in his grandmother’s phone number. He never had to dial her number before, as that was always something that his mother handled, but this time was different.
Mingyu was alone.
With a shaky hand, he pressed the green button at the bottom of his screen and slowly brought his phone up to his ear. He held his breath while the dial tone echoed through his brain. It’s just my grandma, Mingyu reminded himself, it’s her birthday and I’m calling her and I’m going to say Happy Birthday and everything will be great and then I’ll hang up the phone and continue on with my day and everything will be fi―
Mingyu heard a click on the phone. Suddenly everything happened all at once.
“Hello! My name is Mingyu…your grandson Mingyu and...um...today is your birthday! I love carrots...do you know it? Wait, um, what?” Forget words getting stuck in his throat ― Mingyu couldn’t stop his words from coming out. “Anyway…so did you have a good breakfast? Like did you eat food? What about lunch? Food is good...like you need food to live and living is great! It’s way better than dying...not that you’re going to die or anything...I mean it is your birthday and you’re one year older but...wait I’M SORRY I didn’t mean to say that at all I was just..anyway happy birthday grandma...” Mingyu suddenly trailed off and a look of horror appeared on his face. What just happened…what did he just say to his grandmother? He’s the worst grandson in the history of the universe.
His thoughts were interrupted by a deep laugh. Mingyu wondered where the laugh was coming from, directing his eyes to the closed window next to him. No one was outside, and no one other than him was in the house, so it must have been from…
“Well that’s one way to greet your grandmother a happy birthday.”
Mingyu’s eyes grew wide. That wasn’t his grandmother’s voice, unless her soft, soprano lilt had somehow transformed into a smooth bass tone. His body froze, his eyes darting around his room, unable to logically think of what to do or say next.
There’s someone on the phone. And that someone is not my grandmother, he realized. And all at once, his worst nightmares came true.
He had flashbacks to him as a child, curious, wide-eyed. He would answer the phone every time it rang whether it be grandmother or telemarketer or scary, unknown caller alike. His mother had to resort to scaring him in order to stop him from speaking to every random person on the phone: she described ghosts and monsters finding ways to kidnap him, and his curiosity was replaced by fear. The little, imaginary evil spirits that used to escape the telephone every time it rang developed in Mingyu’s sight of view, and he couldn’t escape. He was an adult now; he was no longer a little 10 year old boy who was too scared to speak on the phone, so why was he still scared? He cursed at himself for being so terrified over something that’s so common in today’s society.
Some could say that Mingyu wasn’t the greatest when it came to phone calls.
“Uh…hello? Are you okay over there?” The deep voice projected through the phone and pulled Mingyu out of his panic for a brief second. Mingyu, still in shock over the whole situation, opened his mouth and words fell out once again.
“Wh-wh-who are you? Where is my halmeoni? What have you done with her? It’s her birthday today how could you do something to her today out of all days?! My mom is going to KILL me when she finds out! Oh my god oh my god oh ― “ He was in a pure panic. Mingyu couldn’t control himself: hyperventilating, clutching at his chest, tears spilling onto his cheeks, his room seeming tighter and smaller and suffocating―
“Hey! It’s okay, it’s okay,” The voice on the line was deep and soothing. Mingyu’s breath hitched. "Everything is fine. Don’t worry, just breathe.”
The stranger on the other line continued to speak in a soft and reassuring tone, and Mingyu felt himself calm down―or, at least he could finally breathe again without feeling death upon his shoulders.
“Are you okay now?” The voice through the phone asks. The caring and concerned tone in his voice doesn’t go unnoticed by Mingyu, and it was enough for him to be comfortable enough to reply.
“Y-yeah, I’m fine now. I’m…um...not really used to making phone calls is all.” Mingyu is greeted with the same laugh as before, but this time he found himself slowly smiling at the sound.
“I kind of assumed so.” the voice replied with a chuckle, “I guess I should let you know that you have the wrong number."
Mingyu felt the palm of his hand smack his forehead before he even knew what was happening. Of course the one time his mom asks him to make a phone call, he has to royally mess up.
“I am SO sorry! I’ve dishonored my family’s name, just leave me to die in embarrassment and shame.” Mingyu buried his face in his free hand, and wished he could just disappear in thin air and never return. His unintentional rhyme really didn’t help his case.
“Don’t apologize! I needed a break from this paper I was writing for my uni anyway.” Mingyu could hear the smile on the stranger’s face as he continued, “To be honest, if I were your grandmother and I heard your birthday message I would be so happy. I feel like ten years have added to my lifespan after how hard it made me laugh.”
Hearing this made Mingyu feel much better, as if the sun that had crushed down on him decided to return back into the sky. He started to think about how ridiculous the whole situation was and almost laughed at himself. A stranger on the phone was actually able to pull Mingyu out of his fear of speaking to strangers on the phone.
It didn’t help that the stranger’s voice was one of the most soft, deep, and comforting things he has ever heard in his life.
“So, since I know your name is Mingyu and you apparently love carrots, I guess it’s only fair to introduce myself. Hi Mingyu, my name is Wonwoo…and now that I think about it I also really like carrots.” Wonwoo laughed through the phone, “Anyway, I really have to go finish writing this paper, but I hope your grandmother has a great birthday.”
“No thanks to me and my horrible dialing skills.” Mingyu felt himself blush―purely out of embarassment, of course.
“Eh, but without that we would’ve never talked! And I liked talking to you.” Aaaand Mingyu’s blush only deepened. “Bye Mingyu!”
“Bye Wonwoo,” Mingyu replied before he heard Wonwoo hang up on the opposite end. He stared at his phone for a few minutes, processing what happened. It was then that he realized he’d been smiling ever since he heard Wonwoo introduce himself.
Most of the time, wrong number calls end there―in a quick apology and an even quicker goodbye, both parties eager to end the embarrassment of making a mistake. But Mingyu… didn’t feel that way.
He wanted to talk to Wonwoo again, even if he did feel embarrassed and scared half to death. So he hurriedly sent a text to the number he mistakenly thought was his grandmother’s.
Mingyu (10:10 am)
I’m not like that in real life, I swear!!
Wonwoo (10:13 am)
Prove it to me sometime :)
Mingyu grinned at his screen. Maybe making phone calls wasn’t as scary as he thought it was.
He never ended up greeting his grandmother a happy birthday.