CALL ME • MYUNG JAEHYUN - Chapter 2: Chapter 2

It was late—later than midnight. My phone rang on my nightstand, the screen glowing in the darkness of my bedroom. I thought initially it was a mistake.
Unknown number.
I considered ignoring it. I almost did.
But something made me pick up.
".Hello?"
Silence.
For a second, I thought no one was there. A prank, perhaps, or dead air. But then—
A gentle exhale.
Not mine. From the other side.
I sat up. "Hello?"
Still no words. But it wasn't the empty kind of silence—it was the kind in which someone was present, listening.
And then, finally—
".You're awake."
The voice was familiar. Steady, soft, like the wind on the roof.
My lips opened a little in shock. ".You."
She didn't respond to it. Didn't have to.
"Why are you calling me?" I asked.
A pause. Then—"I wanted to."
That was all. No reason, no explanation.
I frowned, checking the time. "It's 1 AM."
"I know."
I waited for her to go on. She didn't.
I rubbed a hand through my hair. "You're not going to make me do all the talking in this conversation, are you?"
"You don't have to."
I sighed quietly. "So you called me to just be quiet?"
"Not nothing."
"Then what?"
Another silence. Then, quieter than before—
"I just wanted to hear someone."
The way she said it—like she hadn't even realized she'd spoken aloud—made something in my chest constrict.
I leaned back against my pillows, staring at the ceiling. The room was darker, quieter, as if the world outside didn't exist.
I could've asked her, asked her why. Why she needed someone to hear her, why she called me out of everyone else.
But I didn't.
Instead, I exhaled slowly, let the silence between us. And then—
"You wanna hear something?" I asked.
She said nothing, but didn't hang up either.
I reached for the nearest thing—a pen on my desk—and struck it softly against the wood. A slow, steady rhythm. Not remarkable. Just sound.
Seconds passed. Then minutes.
She never spoke a word.
But she didn't hang up.
Neither did I.
And when I woke up the next morning, the call was still there.