Shattered Hopes
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Kristine nodded her head as she gave Hero a hug. Suzy and Yunho smiled at each other, they were rather unsure of how to react. Were they together or were they not? They did kiss that night after the dance, but... it wasn't confirmed that they were a couple, at least not yet.
Yoochun came up with his thoughts occupied. Changmin looked at him with a laugh. "What is this? Are you trying to pull an Einstein look? We know you're smart enough already." Changmin stated in a rather sarcastic way when he saw Yoochun’s messy hair.
Yoochun glared at Changmin while the others laughed at him. "No, I woke up late today so I just came here, I didn't even get to eat anything yet!” Yoochun roared aloud, obviously not pleased with that.
Hero offered him a sandwich. "Here, take mine, I'm not hungry at all." Yoochun looked at Hero and shook his head. "Just take it, Kristine made me breakfast and lunch today." Everyone turned to look at the two couple in awe.
Changmin turned to Alyce. "Why don't you ever cook for me?" He pouted at her. Alyce turned to narrow her eyes at Kristine for starting it. "But it's ok, I don't know if it's edible if you cook it." Changmin joked around but Alyce stuffed bread in his mouth to shut him up. She glared at him and ignored his presence.
Something, or rather someone, caught Yoochun's eyes and he followed it... until that person met up with another person and gave that person a kiss. At that point Yoochun felt his world shatter into pieces. That was his Cinderella kissing some other guy, who's not Yoochun, himself. He was so sure that he would be the prince.
He turned back to face the group with a gloomy and sad face. Yunho raised an eyebrow. "What's up with the long face?" They all turned to face him and noticed Yoochun sighing while shaking his head.
"He looks like he's heart broken." Suzy stated with a slight giggle. Yunho looked her giggling at Yoochun and felt sour.
The bell rang and everyone headed off to class, while whining and groaning about school starting once again.
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"Mom, I'm home." Suzy tossed her bag on the couch and went into the kitchen. She grabbed the bag of rice crackers in the cupboard and went to sit down at the dinner table to eat it.
"Sweetie, how was school?" Her mom asked as she sat down at the table beside her.
"Eh, it's the same as always." Suzy said, munching on the rice crackers.
"How's Yunho then? I heard that you saw colour in his eyes?" Suzy's mom said with her eyes shining. "Can you see colour now?"
Suzy looked at her mom and shook her head. "No, it was only a few seconds and then it was all gone again." Suzy sighed and leaned back in the couch. "I don't know, it was weird." Suzy said with a frown. "Anyway, I have to go do homework now. The teacher gave tons on the first day back already!"
Her mom laughed at Suzy complaining and patted her head. "Alright then, you get busy, I'll call you down when dinner is ready." Suzy nodded her head and grabbed her bag to head upstairs with the plate of rice cracker in her other hand.
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"Yunho, how's it going between you and Suzy?" Yunho's mom asked as she sat down on his bed inside his room.
Yunho sighed and shrugged. "I don't know." He stated simply, which worried his mom.
"I thought you two were doing well, going to the party and all that?" His mom raised an eyebrow with a questioning face.
"Mom, you’re making me feel like a criminal with all those personal questions.” Yunho complained with in a whiny tone.
Yunho’s mom rolled her eyes at him. “Oh come on, you don’t have to feel so embarrassed by it, I mean, I’ll know sooner or later anyways when you two get married, so what’s the point in hiding it?” She said, waving her hands around in the air for dramatic effects.
It was Yunho’s turn to roll his eyes at. “I’m not even graduated from college yet. You can sure look far into the future.” Yunho stated sarcastically.
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“Hey, who are you looking at?” Hero asked Yoochun, as he saw his eyes zoned out into space, ignoring what’s going on around him.
Yoochun shrugged and sighed with a low voice. “I don’t know, I feel so heart broken right now it’s not even funny.”
Hero looked at Yoochun, who had his arms hanging off the table, with his head resting on his arms. If anyone who didn’t know what’s wrong with Yoochun, they would probably assume that he had not been sleeping for the past week. “Yeah, no kidding. You look like you’re half dead.”
Yoochun pivoted his head on his arm to aim his glare at Hero. “Tell me again why am I here?” He said with a flat tone.
Hero gave an uneasy smile. “Because you’re such a good friend!” That day after school, Hero dragged Yoochun to the mall to help him pick a gift for Kristine. Now they were sitting in a café after walking through many different stores, trying to find something for her.
“What’s the special occasion again? Why do you need to buy her a gift?” Yoochun grumbled. “It’s bad to spoil girls you know.” He said once again in a flat tone, making things up just so he could go home.
Hero punched Yoochun in the arm. “Oh please Yoochun, it’s not like you don’t spoil your girls.” Recalling to Yoochun in the past, buying whatever the girls asked him to. “You should stop mourning over one girl. You’re going to seriously die if this continues. Look, you’re even getting bags under your eyes.” Hero nearly shrieked out of horror.
Yoochun slapped his hands away. “But this one’s different. She’s actually not like the other ones before.” Yoochun sighed once again and buried his head into his arms.
Hero gave an exasperated sigh. “I only want to give her a one month anniversary gift, is it so hard?” Hero complained to God.
Yoochun turned to look at Hero and snickered seeing him in such a state. “Serves you right for being in that position playboy. So much for not caring for any girls.”
Hero smirked right back at him. “Oh, so I’m not the only one suffering right now. You’re even worse than me. At least I have a girlfriend. You’re still trying to find out more about the girl you like. Take in account that she’s not even your girlfriend yet.” Hero bragged in his face, pushing him further into depression.
Yoochun took a big gulp of his coffee in his cup. “I think… this is karma.” Yoochun stated. “You having troubles finding a gift because in the past, you were the ones receiving presents from your fan girls. Then there’s me, who never took notice of any of my fan girls, and now, it’s so hard for me just to find out about this one girl I’m crazy over.” Yoochun and Hero both sighed in shame.
“I hate you for being so smart sometimes Yoochun.” Hero said bluntly. “But you’re right.”
Yoochun gave Hero a weird look for stating something that was pointless. He got off his chair. “I’m going home, this is boring and it’s not going to end. Just do something special on that day then.” He suggested before heading out the door.
Hero wrinkled his nose. “Do something special? Like what?!” Hero hollered out but Yoochun had already left the café so he quickly ran out after him.
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“Suzy,” Mrs. Rances knocked twice on Suzy’s bedroom door before entering.
“Yeah mom?” Suzy looked up from her desk full of papers.
She sat down on her bed. “Are you really busy tonight?” She eyed the papers on her desk.
Suzy chuckled. “Oh not really, it’s just that I have to finish up a few designs, but they’re not due until next week. What’s up?”
“Oh well, I was just wondering, wouldn’t it be nice if our family have dinner with Yunho’s family tonight? It’s been a long time since we’ve had dinner together.” Mrs. Rances said, hoping Suzy would agree to it.
Suzy shrugged her head. “I guess. You mean go out for dinner or stay home or what?”
Mrs. Rances chuckled at her daughter. “No, Mrs. Jung has invited us to go over to her house for dinner tonight. She said the dress is just casual, no need to dress up in a fancy way or anything, it’s like a family friend dinner basically.” She explained quickly, trying to increase the chances of her going.
Suzy nodded her head. “Sure.” She said simply. “Just tell me when we’re leaving then. I want to finish as much as this as possible.”
Mrs. Rances smiled at her own daughter. “Good luck with your designs dear.” She gave her a -kiss on the head before leaving the room.
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“Min, do you think maybe we can set Yoochun up with someone?” Alyce asked Changmin as they plopped down on the bleachers near the outdoor basketball court they were playing basketball in.
Changmin raised any eyebrow. “Why’s that?” He narrowed his eyes at Alyce. “What are you trying to do?”
Alyce scratched her head. “Well you see, Yoochun seems to be dead and it’s scary to see him like that. I mean, he’s usually the cheerful playboy who is never serious and now he’s just acting so differently.” Alyce tried to explain but didn’t know how to.
“Well that’s what happens when you finally find the one you love.” Changmin then frowned. “Are you jealous of Yoochun?” He said with a hint of jealousy in his tone.
Alyce laughed. “No, no, he’s sort of like a brother to me I guess. Just like how Suzy and Kristine are like my sisters. I don’t like seeing any of my friends half alive anyways right?” Alyce gave him a convincing smile.
Changmin finally reversed his frown the other way around. “Who do you have in mind then?” Changmin asked Alyce before taking a long drink from his water bottle.
Alyce gave a cheeky smile. “Nobody. Well Suzy has Yunho now, and Kristine has Hero. OH!” Alyce snapped her fingers as she suddenly thought of someone. “Do you know who I’m thinking of?!” She grinned at Changmin, hoping he could read her mind.
“Wait, let me think first.” Changmin tried to think inside his head but it got too confusing so he started to count out their friends. “Hero is with Kristine, Yunho is with Suzy, Junsu is with G-Yan" Changmin nearly ended the list of couples off.
“Ah,now I think I know who you’re talking about…”
“Gretchen.” Alyce and Changmin both said at the same time with a grin at the edge of their lips, forming a smirk crossed with a grin.
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Suzy felt herself looking at Yunho’s house in awe when she stepped inside. The outside looked like a house similar to her families’. But on the inside of the house, it was decorated nice and neatly, using colours that Suzy would have not imagined would go well together. But that just proved Suzy wrong, the light coffee colour of the walls combined with pale milky white furniture along with the glossy brown wooden dining table.
Wanting to major in designing, Suzy realized how limited her knowledge was after seeing how daring the decorator of the house was.
She was admiring the house as she was walking so she wasn’t paying attention to where she was heading to and bumped into Yunho.
“Oh I’m so sorry!” She uttered an apology with a bow.
Yunho put his hands on her shoulders and lifted her back up. “Don’t worry about it. So what are you doing here?” Yunho asked, turning his head around, seeing that nobody else was there.
Suzy looked around and saw there was no one there but her and felt embarrassed. She felt her cheeks glow warmly. “I was mesmerized by the decoration and design of her house… so I just followed my eyes, instead of my parents.”
Yunho smiled. “I see, you want me to give you a tour around then?” He offered as he cocked his head slightly to one side, giving her his famous smirk.
Suzy rolled her eyes at his signature smirk but nodded her head with a grin. “Thanks.” She said as they started to walk side by side down the hall.
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Kristine felt her left eye twitching and felt that something was wrong, but she didn’t know what was wrong.
She groaned in frustration as the twitching of her eyes was starting to annoy her to a point where she might explode. She set down her pencil and turned off her lights, deciding to ignore it and go to sleep. Sleeping is always the cure to all her problems.
But this time, she twisted and turned around in her bed for a while. She was still unable to go to sleep yet. She looked at her clock. It wasn’t even ten o’clock yet, that explains why. She sat up and opened up her laptop and began typing away her Asian Civilization assignment.
If she wasn’t going to be able to sleep, might as well do something productive. Her twitching eye has stopped for a while. But then it also came back a while later. Kristine sighed as she silently prayed that it would not ruin her night and have her wake up the next morning looking like a panda.
That was the last thing she wanted to happen especially when she was going on a date with Hero tomorrow after school too.
She finally set all her stuff aside on her desk, and lied down on her bed, eyes closed, trying to count sheep in her head. She would try to sleep the old fashion way then.
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Suzy stifled a small yawn as her parents and Yunho’s parents continued to chat. Yunho, who was sitting beside her only chuckled at her.
Suzy turned to give Yunho a dirty look for laughing at her. She was so tired that her eyes were opened to barely a slit. She felt herself floating off and turning unconscious as her drowsiness took her in. Unknowingly, her head had hit Yunho’s shoulder with a light ‘thud’.
Mrs. Jung chuckled at Suzy. “Oh dear, Suzy seems to be exhausted, why don’t you all stay here for the night? It’s getting so late, I haven’t realized the time yet.”
Mrs. Rances looked over at her husband for his opinion. Mr. Rances was about to reject the nice offer when Mr. Jung spoke up.
“Oh James , just stay for the night. We have guest rooms anyways, it won’t be a both so don’t worry about it.” Mr. Jung confronted Mr. Rances as if he read his mind.
Mr. Rances shrugged and nodded his head. “I guess we can stay for one night then.”
The adults looked over at Yunho, who was silently sitting there, feeling a bit bored and out of his mind now that Suzy had fallen asleep. He noticed the four adults staring at him. He eyed all of them back uneasily. “Yes? Can I help you with anything?” He raised an eyebrow when his eye met his mom's eyes.
“Why don’t you bring Suzy to the guest room?” Mrs. Jung politely asked Yunho.
Yunho nodded his head and got up but didn’t know what way he should carry Suzy in. He scratched his head and looked at the adults who were staring back at him.
“On second thought, maybe you should let her sleep in your room, and then you can sleep on your couch. Suzy might be scared when she wakes up the next day not being in her own room, so you can be there.” Mrs. Jung suggested with a wide smile.
Yunho’s eyes grew bigger as soon as he heard Mrs. Jung suggesting Suzy to stay in his room. Not that he had a problem with it, it just seemed weird coming from his mom’s mouth.
“Oh no, it’s okay.” Mrs. Rances said, not wanting to create any trouble. “How can Yunho sleep on the couch? That’s not right for Suzy to take Yunho’s bed.” Mrs. Rances shook her head.
“Oh, it’s no problem, it’s a must. And Yunho, just carry her bridal style up, you might wake her up if you piggyback her.” Mr. Jung stated, joining in the fun teasing Yunho.
“Now hurry and go, you need to go sleep too, you have school tomorrow.” Mrs. Jung ushered Yunho upstairs back to his own room after he picked up the sleeping Suzy.
Yunho kept a mental note of getting revenge on his parents later on for playing him around and making him a joke.
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LIGHT BULB
A door opened and Suzy hid herself behind the blanket. The person stepped inside and it was Yunho. He saw her wake up and smiled. “Oh, you’re awake now.” He grinned at her.
Suzy frowned. “How did I get here? Why aren’t I at home?” She gave a pout as if she missed her home just from being away for a night.
Yunho chuckled. “Don’t worry, my parents insisted that your family should stay over last night because you fell asleep on my shoulders.” He smirked at that. “Guess you couldn’t keep away from me huh?” He teased her.
Suzy rolled her eyes and decided to ignore him and looked around his room instead. “So… I’m in your room then?” Yunho nodded his head and she nodded her head as well, observing the room like a professional. “I like the way you used the pale creamy white along with the light brown. It looks pretty and nice.” She stated simply.
Yunho raised an eyebrow. “I thought… you were colour blind? You can see colour now?” He was shocked and confused. ‘Had she lied to me all that time before?’ Yunho's thought.
Suzy also frowned and she finally realized. “Oh my gosh, you’re right!! I can see colours now!!!” She exclaimed excitedly. She stopped her excitement all of a sudden and frowned. “How did that happen though? It only happened in the evening, when I came to your house?”
Yunho shrugged as well. “I don’t know, you’re a mysterious girl now. But you have to get ready soon or you’re going to be late for school.” He said, glancing at the clock sitting on his night table.
Suzy gasped and quickly jumped out of the bed. “Shit!” She cursed. She ran to the door but stopped just as her hand reached the doorknob. “Wait, where am I supposed to go? I don’t have my uniform!” She slapped her forehead. “Ugh, I knew I shouldn’t have come yesterday. This is a disaster.”
Yunho pointed in the other direction. “The washroom is over there and you can take my sister’s old uniform, she doesn’t fit it anymore. It’s better than nothing.” Yunho tossed her a set of uniform at Suzy and she quickly caught it.
“Thanks!” She grinned as she raised her arm slightly, which was occupied by the set of uniform before running to the washroom. When Suzy entered the washroom, she noticed that there was a toothbrush set along with a towel ready by the counter.
Suzy looked at the direction of the door and giggled, trying to imagine Yunho setting it up for her. But then again, it could have been the maids or even his parents. Suzy frowned at that thought. ‘It was a funny thought though.’ She sighed as she began brushing her teeth.
Her mind wandered off to the problem that was brought up earlier. Could she really see colours now? She looked around while still brushing her teeth. She can see the black marbled floors and the white walls in the washroom. She suddenly felt happier that she could see colours now. If she wanted to become a designer, being able to see colours would be a very important thing. Before, when she couldn’t see colours, she relied mainly on Kristine and Alyce’s help.
After she finished, she exited the washroom to find Yunho just putting on his shirt. Suzy felt her ears redden as she saw his naked back. Never in her life has she seen a guy without any clothes in front of her, this was the first time. It was also her first time spending a night at a guy’s house.
Yunho turned around and saw her lost in her thoughts and smirked. “Hey, you daydreaming about me already?”
Suzy snapped out of her thoughts and gave him a face. “It’s too early to be dreaming about you. You would only come at night – when I get nightmares.” She retorted as she stuck her tongue at him. “Mr. Conceited.”
Yunho shrugged. “That just means you do think about me.” He leaned in closer to her face, with his smirk still on his face and taking advantage of his flirting skills and her lack of experience with guys.
Suzy shifted her feet on the ground and tried to think of something to talk back, but she was left speechless. All she let out was a big pout and a glare.
Yunho laughed as straightened up. “Ok, ok, just joking. Let’s go down for breakfast then. We’ll have to go soon if you want to be there on time.”
Yunho took her hand when he realized she probably didn’t know the direction. She walked behind him and he led her down the hall and then down a flight of stairs. They went through the living room to the family dining room and the four adults who were already sitting around the table greeted them.
Their eyes all simultaneously trailed down to Yunho’s hands, which were on her wrists and all smiled mischievously. Yunho quickly let go of her wrist when he realized they were all staring at it. Suzy hid her hand that Yunho had held behind her back upon his release.
“Uh, morning.” Yunho said in an awkward tone, unsure of what to do. Suzy was still standing there beside him and he took her hand once again and led her to a seat before he went to take the seat next to her.
Suzy finally found her voice again. “Morning auntie, uncle, mom and dad.” She said, acknowledging everyone at the table just as two warm plates of breakfast was set in front of Yunho and herself.
“Oh Suzy, you are so well mannered.” Mrs. Jung said gushingly with a pleased smile. “How was your sleep last night Suzy?”
Suzy smiled. “It was great, thanks for letting us stay here for the night auntie.” Suzy said politely as she began to eat.
Yunho leaned slightly to his left, where Suzy sat, and whispered quietly. “You didn’t say thanks to me for letting you sleep in my room.” He joked. He kept his mouth shut and straightened back in his seat when he felt the pain in his leg where Suzy had kicked him – under the table. He looked over at Suzy with a slight glare but she acted as if nothing happened.
“Oh, guess what?” Yunho suddenly spoke up. Everyone turned their attention to Aaron, including Suzy, waiting for him to continue on. “Suzy can see colours again.” Then everyone turned to Suzy, waiting for her to say something.
“Yeah, I uh, it well, it was since yesterday I guess. I didn’t realize this either until this morning when Yunho asked me.” Suzy said quickly, not sure how to explain.
Suzy’s mom beamed at the good news. “I’ll book an appointment with Dr. Tankietsy soon ok? Then we can get you checked up and all that.”
Mrs. Jung took this opportunity and spoke up. “Oh, why don’t you take Suzy to her doctor’s appointment then Yunho? Since you always have nothing to do at home anyways. You’ve been complaining a lot, why don’t you do something productive then. I’m sure Suzy’s parents will have to tend their company and will be busy.”
Suzy turned to look at Yunho with a raised eyebrow and a smirk upon her face, teasing him in a way, knowing he would reject his mom’s proposal. But Yunho’s answer surprised her, and his parents. “Sure.” Yunho said simply. He casually smirked back equally at Suzy, who was now somewhat shocked. His parents were also shocked, but inside, they were glad their son had finally taken on some responsibility. They couldn’t’ ask for more.
Yunho took a look at his watch. “Oh shit, Suzy, we have to go now.” Suzy quickly took one last bite out of her toast before getting up and grabbing her bag.
Yunho stood up and saw the displeased faces of their parents for his inappropriate language early in the morning. Let alone in front of guests. He quickly bowed down at a slight angle. “Sorry, please excuse us.” He said politely, trying to even out his language earlier.
Suzy also tiled her head slightly down. “Thanks again auntie and uncle. We’ll be going now.” She quickly followed Yunho out the door.
The parents looked at each other, satisfied. “Did you see them? They were so cute together.” Mrs. Jung said, feeling happy. “That just made my day, seeing two young teenagers becoming a couple.”
Mrs. Rances also smiled brightly. “Yes, and Suzy can even see colours now. All this is thanks to Yunho and your family.” She turned to Mrs. Jung and patted her hand. “Thank you, I don’t know how to express myself right now.”
“Oh no, no, I’m sure Suzy has made Yunho change in some ways too. Usually, he would reject anything I ask him to do. But today, he agreed when I asked him to take Suzy for her checkup. I have to thank you instead.” Mrs. Rances smiled at her.
Mr. Jung coughed and got up from his seat. “Well I have to go now.” He tapped his watch signaling that he has to leave for work.
Mr. Rances also stood up. “Yes, I’ll head out with you.” They excused themselves and headed out as the females stayed at the house. They got up and went to the living room to continue their chatting while the maids cleaned up their eating area they just ate at.
“Yunho…” Suzy said, her voice shaking a bit when they were outside the house.
He turned to look at her, head tilted to the side with a worried expression on his face. “What’s wrong?”
Suzy looked around her in a scared way. “I….. I can’t see colours anymore. I could still see it a while ago in the house, now I’m all back to my black and white world.” She felt tears beginning to drop down one by one on her cheek.
Yunho bent down a little to her level, as if he was comforting a little kid. “Don’t worry, we’ll get you to check up with the doctors later on today and see what he has to say about it ok?”
Suzy nodded her head as she gave some sniffles and wiped away her tears with some help from Yunho.
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Kristine and Hero met up at school and wanted to spend some quality time together. Just as they were going to walk off, Yoochun approached them coolly. He didn’t have his signature sunshine smile he was known for, yet he made effort to smile.
“Hey guys, morning. Where’s the others?” He asked, looking around them.
Hero was about to snap at him for ruining his time with Kristine but she held him back and pressed his hands tightly, telling him to not snap. Hero adjusted his hair and gave a half annoyed smile. “Oh, I guess they’re not here yet.” He said, gritting on his teeth slightly, trying to hint Yoochun he was being a light bulb.
Yoochun, being the oblivious one, didn’t get his hints or maybe Hero just wasn’t being specific enough. “Oh, well where are you guys heading to then?” He asked, looking around the hallway.
Hero was about to speak when Kristine cut him off. “Oh, we’re just going to get some drinks from the vending machine, that’s all. You want to come?” Kristine offered to accept his company. Hero turned to look at Kristine with a pout, pleading her not to ask him to come along.
Yoochun shrugged and grinned. “Sure! I have nothing to do anyways.” Hero gave a disbelief groan as the three of them walk towards the vending machines, with Yoochun in the middle.
I guess in this situation, you can say… three’s a crowd. One was oblivious to his surrounds, one was being the nice, and one was impatiently annoyed.
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Alyce and Changmin dragged Gretchen away from her friends that morning.
“Whoa, where are you guys bringing me?” Gretchen asked, trying not to trip over her own foot as she was being dragged. Alyce and Changmin gave her great big smiles and Gretchen raised her eyebrows. “What’s with that face? Either something bad happens or something bad will be happening.”
Alyce chuckled. “Hey, it’s not something bad, I think it’s considered something good, right Min?” Alyce winked at Changmin and he nodded his head with a secretive grin.
“Okay, shoot.” Gretchen said.
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“What?!” Yoochun exclaimed. “How can the be out of coke? It’s only the best drink on earth.” Yoochun groaned in displease. “This sucks.”
Kristine and Hero eyed each other with a worried expression. Hero got up to the sulking Yoochun. “Hey, hey, it’s okay, don’t worry, you want mine then?” Hero offered Yoochun his own unopened soft drink.
Yoochun raised an eyebrow. “Really?” Hero nodded his head. Yoochun took it with a grin. “Gee, thanks bud. You’re the best.” Yoochun patted Hero on the back.
Hero gave him a forceful smile back as he muttered something between his teeth. ‘Yeah, I must be to let you be a light bulb.’ It’s not that Hero has anything against Yoochun, but he would love to spend some time alone with his own girlfriend.
“What were you saying?” Yoochun turned and asked Hero. Hero shook his head as he held onto Kristine’s hands and walked on. Yoochun glanced down at their intertwined hands.
Kristine let go quickly and pretended to point at something nearby. “Oh look at that picture, it’s so pretty, I wonder who drew that.” She gave Hero a look as if saying they shouldn’t be like a couple in front of Yoochun since he would be sad facing couples everyday, especially when all his friends are all attached. Hero pouted but nodded his head with a silent sigh. Kristine gave him a quick kiss on the lips before Yoochun turned around after examining the picture Kristine was pointing at.
Yoochun frowned. “It reads… Son Dambi on the name. What kind of name is Dambi?” Yoochun asked aloud with a mocking laugh. “That’s a weird name.”
Kristine let out a small squeal. “Really?! I never knew Dambi was such a good artist. This picture looks awesome. Yoochun, stop being mean, if you met Dambi, you would totally love her!” Kristine gushed at her talented friend as she gazed at the picture. “Speaking of which, I haven’t seen her since forever.”
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“Excuse me?!” Gretchen asked in disbelief while laughing it off. “You’re trying to set me up with someone?” Gretchen narrowed her eyes at the two of them. “There’s some catch in this I know it.”
Alyce rolled her eyes. “You watch too much drama Gretchen, we just want to see our friends together, that’s all. And I’m sure you’ll love the guy. You two are like the perfect match, I swear!” Alyce grinned.
Changmin nodded his head. “Come on Gretch, it doesn’t hurt to give it a try right? I know you’re really popular amongst guys, and our friend just happens to be popular amongst girls too.” He gave her a grin. “I’m sure you’ll like him. Just say yes please?”
Gretchen stood still for a moment, thinking and eventually nodded her head. “Fine, but doesn’t mean it has to work out, I’m only giving it a try!” She said with chuckle. “You two are up to something though, I swear. Or you two won’t be playing cupid.” She waved her hands as she turned slightly around. “I have to go now, see you guys around and just tell me when you’ve arranged the date and place and all that.”
Alyce and Changmin high five each other as soon as Gretchen was out of sight. Operation matchmaker was on its way to success! Now all they had to do was find their male target – Park Yoochun.
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Yunho noticed Suzy staring out the window quietly as they passed by the different coloured houses on green lawns. He knew she had high hopes that morning when she realized she could see colours and now, her hopes were all shattered like a glass figure being dropped on the ground.
He glanced at the clock in his car. “We might be a bit late today Suzy.” Yunho spoke out, bringing Suzy back to focus. She turned to Yunho and smiled with a nod. “Suzy, don’t be like that.” Yunho said with a sigh. “It’s not that big of a deal if you can’t see colours.”
Suzy turned to look at Yunho with sad eyes. “But, it’s just like I can never complete a picture that way if I can’t see colours.” Suzy said sadly. “No perfect pictures for my whole lifetime.” Suzy said softly.
Yunho frowned seeing her so depressed. “Hey, it’s not that bad, seeing colours isn’t all that great either, trust me. You’ll go through all the hard times trying to determine what colour to use and which colour should go with which colour.” Yunho said, trying to cheer her up. He glanced sideways at her quickly, waiting for her reaction. He was about to sigh again but she noticed her shoulders moving in an up and down motion and he smiled, knowing she wasn’t sad anymore.
“Is it true?” Suzy asked. “You have troubles deciding what colours to use all the time?” She turned to face Yunho with curious eyes.
Yunho nodded his head. “Especially when you’re buying clothes or picking what to wear. You’ll be so picky. I’m sure you can probably never get out of the house if you were able to see colours to a date.” He teased her lightly.
She gave a soft giggle and pouted. “That’s not true!” She argued back. “You’re just saying that because you have a hard time deciding and then you can’t say I don’t have a hard time deciding so you push all the blame on me.” She accused Yunho.
Yunho laughed. “Whatever you say then Miss. Rances, I can never win an argument with you. Girls.” He said while shaking his head in defeat.
Suzy laughed just as they arrived on the school grounds.
After Yunho parked his car, a bunch of girls came surrounding his car. He got out and they all tried to catch his attention, but their eyes are focused on Suzy as she got out of his car and shut the door making a ‘thud’ sound, catching the girls’ attentions. When Suzy looked up, she saw a million pairs of eyes staring at her with a mix of jealous, admire, disgust and hate. Whispers were heard seconds right after she got out of the car.
“Who is she?”
“Isn’t she the girl who’s blind? Or was it colour blind? But whatever, it’s the same.”
“She’s not good enough for Yunho, just look at her.”
Some mean comments and whispers were heard over the others. Suzy lowered her head until her gaze met the ground as she excused herself through the crowd, wanting to leave the parking lot as soon as possible.
Yunho watched helplessly as Suzy walked away. Just as he saw her turn around the corners, his legs suddenly took over his body and started to run after her.
The girls all gasped and frowned while some pouted that they did not get his attention successfully.
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“Oh, there you are!” Alyce said cheerfully as she saw Yoochun walking with Kristine and Hero. Yoochun gave Alyce and Changmin a weird look.
“What’s up?” He asked. “I was with Hero and Kristine all morning trying to find you guys!” He said with a laugh. “How funny.”
“Okay, we want to ask when you’re free.” Kristine let out straightforwardly.
“What’s it for though?” Yoochun asked, curious.
Knowing Yoochun wouldn’ t give in until he knows the reason, Changmin shook his head mockingly. “We want you to meet a friend of ours!” Changmin tried to sound enthusiastic.
“I know all your friends already Changmin. Unless, it’s a girl.” Yoochun assumed and when he saw Changmin and Alyce’s sly smile in response he scoffed. “What is this? Set-Yoochun-up-on-a-date day? I’m fine the way I am. I’m still determined that it’s not over for me and her yet.” He said confidently.
Kristine spoke up. “But hey, you never know, maybe that girl IS the girl from the dance, it doesn’t hurt to just go and see right?” Kristine suggested.
Hero nodded his head in excitement. “Yeah, and it won’t hurt to make some new friends too. I mean, you have such a wide contact list of girls waiting to be your girlfriend I know, but you never know who she is until you’ve met her so give it a try okay?” Hero pleaded him “It won’t be that bad.”
Yoochun scratched his chin slowly, thinking his way through it. “Okay fine then,” He said at last with a smile. “She better be nice, but I’m sure no one can match up to my Cinderella.” Yoochun stated firmly with determination.
=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*
TWO OUTCOMES
“Yunho.” Suzy’s voice rang through his thoughts and he broke out of it and turned to face her for a quick second to acknowledge her before looking back at the road. “I kind of don’t want to go see the doctor.”
“Why?” Yunho asked curiously. “I thought you’ve always wanted to see colours again?”
Suzy shrugged. “I don’t know, my eye’s been twitching, I don’t think it’s something good… I mean, what if something worse is going to happen?” Suzy asked, being pessimistic for the first time in her life.
“Where’s the optimistic Suzy I know? Don’t give up, maybe it’s something good?” Yunho suggested, not wanting to see Suzy so helpless.
Suzy let out a small smile. “Thanks.” She said quietly. “For trying to cheer me up.”
Silence filled the atmosphere as both of them went off into their own thoughts again.
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Yoochun drummed his fingers patiently on the table beside his cup of latte. He was waiting for his so-called ‘blind date’ to appear anytime soon. He glanced at his watch and sighed. There was still about five more minutes before the actual time. Though Yoochun was unwilling to attend his ‘blind date’ but he had his gentleman side, it was only right for a guy to be waiting for his date to arrive.
He took another sip of his latte and the door opened and in came a slim lady with long light brown hair. Her big eyes was what caught Yoochun’s attention, she probably had the biggest eyes he had seen, or maybe it was the proportion of her face because her face was really bony and small in size.
Yoochun glanced out the window, wondering how the girl might look like. He noticed a figure standing beside his table and he looked up to see the girl with big eyes standing there.
“Can I help you miss?” Yoochun asked politely, wondering if she had on contacts to make her eyes bigger or was she naturally big-eyed.
She gave a big smile. “Hi, you must be Yoochun?”
Yoochun quickly stood up. “Uh yeah, and you are…?” He waited for her to continue her sentence.
“I’m Gretchen, nice to meet you.” She held out her thin arms with her small hands gesturing a handshake.
Yoochun smiled and took her hand like it was a fragile object and shook it lightly before walking to the other side of the table and pulled out a chair for her.
Gretchen seemed surprised by his gentleman actions and said her thanks before sitting down. “So uh…” Gretchen said, looking around, and a waitress came by to give her a menu.
“Why don’t you order first?” Yoochun suggested. “I’d feel weird being the only with a drink.” Yoochun joked and she nodded her head with a smile. Yoochun waved his hands in the air and the waitress came back to their table and looked at Gretchen, waiting for her to request her order. “Can I get a latte please?” She asked politely. The waitress nodded politely and took the menu back as she headed off to process the order.
“You like drinking latte too?” Yoochun asked.
Gretchen looked up surprised. “Yeah, it’s great, I think it wakes me up, well then again it’s coffee.” She stated the obvious and rolled her eyes at herself as Yoochun chuckled.
Yoochun nodded his head in agreement. “So what are you taking right now? For classes I mean.”
“Well I’m hoping to get into the art and design, I really love designing.” Gretchen said as she sighed. “But then… I don’t know, it’s hard to say. It can get really competitive too.” She said with a helpless shrug. “What about you?”
“Oh me?” Yoochun scratched his head. “Well, I’m just going to take over my dad’s company I guess.” He said giving off an awkward chuckle. “It’s not like I have other choices either, my dad wants me to take over so he’s been trying to train me a bit too.” Yoochun said matter-of-factly. “But I managed to excuse myself each time.”
Gretchen let out a laugh. “Oh, that’s bad. But then it’s only right to fight for your dreams.” She gave him a confident smile. “I’m sure you might can find some fun in doing what your dad is doing. It can’t be that bad. My dad has my older brother to look over, so he said I’m free to do what I want in high school but then upon graduation, he wants me to start working for him too.” She said, understanding what Yoochun meant.
Somehow, he felt relaxed when he was with her, like an old friend.
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Suzy trudged behind Yunho, trying to stall time. “Yunho, I… I don’t think I feel too well.” She said, holding onto her stomach, pretending to be sick.
Yunho stopped in his tracks, walked back to Suzy, took her hand and began walking. “You have to face it sometime Suzy, I’ll be there with you. I promise.” Yunho said sincerely as he tightened his grip on her hand to show him he meant what he said.
Finally, they reached the doctor’s office and Yunho knocked on the door.
“Come on.” A deep voice called out and Yunho opened the door, leading Suzy into the fairly large room with an attached mini examination room within it. “Sit down.” He gestured to the two seats in front of his desk. After they took their seat, he laid his pen down and looked up, crisscrossing his hands and propped his elbows on the desk, allowing his chin to rest on top of his hands. “So, Miss. Rances, you want to check on your eye I believe?”
Suzy nodded her head and Yunho smiled at her, trying to encourage her. “I think I can see colours again, but then, it went away shortly after… so I’m just wondering what’s wrong.” Suzy bit her lips.
The doctor nodded his head. “Ah, I see, not very common indeed.” He kept nodding his head and finally, he stopped and stood up all a sudden, alarming the two sitting down in front of him who were now also standing after seeing the doctor stand. “Well, let’s do a full scan of you first shall we?”
Yunho pushed Suzy slightly from the back when he saw her staying rooted, not moving. “Go on,” He whispered to her from behind. “Don’t be scared.”
Suzy followed the doctor after she felt Yuhno’s force put on her from behind, as if he gave her the power to walk.
After the scans were all done, they were back in the same positions as they started with, the doctor behind the desk with Yunho and Suzy in front of him.
“So, I have the results.” The doctor announced, making the two anxious. “It’s, not a good nor a bad thing, I suppose.” The doctor said slowly, making the anticipation within the two of them increase drastically.
The doctor paused for a few seconds before continuing on. “Ok, so you see, the situation is this right now.” He was about to begin when a phone call interrupted him. “Sorry, just let me get this first.”
Suzy gave Yunho a pout and Yunho shrugged back.
The doctor got off the phone after a few minutes. “Ok, so back to where we were. Suzy, you have a clot of blood blocking out her colour vision in your brain, that’s why you couldn’t see colours before. But now that you grew older, the situation is slightly different.” The doctor stopped to look at their reactions and continued on when he didn’t see any shocked reactions. “And according to the scans we made, the clot in your brain is now being affected by your emotions. It’s a weird symptom I understand, but that’s how it’s working for you.” The doctor explained.
“So, what do you mean by that Dr. Tankietsy?” Yunho asked.
“Well in other words, if Suzy is really happy, then she’ll be able to see colours, but if she’s feeling disturbed, unhappy or just negative in general, she won’t be able to see colours.” He explained more detailed this time around.
“Oh,” Suzy said with a smile forming on her face and she turned to look at Yunho, who was looking relieved.
Dr. Tankietsy cleared his throat and the two turned their attention back to him. “Uh just one more thing, Suzy, you have to make sure you control your emotions well enough though. If you are constantly negative or disturbed by something or if you suddenly get a big shock from something,” he took another pause, as if struggling to find the right words to use, “you might become blind.”
Suzy swore she heard her heart shatter when she heard the words. “You might become blind.” His voice kept repeating in her head. She had a horrified look on her face and she was scared.
Yunho on the other hand, didn’t know what to say, one side was good news, but the other was like a death sentence. He looked at Hebe who looked horrified.
Dr. Tankietsy got up from his seat slowly this time. “Now, if you will excuse me, I have to go to a meeting now.” He excused himself and ushered Suzy and Yunho out of his room.
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Gretchen was talking to Yoochun still when a figure caught Yoochun’s eyes. Gretchen noticed his eyes following something and she stopped talking and tried to follow his gaze but got confused, there were too many pedestrians on the street.
Yoochun quickly sprinted out of the café, leaving a confused Gretchen there. She quickly dropped a sum of money down on the table before rushing out after Yoochun. But unfortunately, Yoochun was already long gone.
She sighed as she walked away from the café, carrying on with her day. ‘That was an interesting…date. If it’s even considered a date.” She said bitterly. She felt like she was being abandoned by Yoochun when he ran out of the café, leaving her alone there and she was slightly angry at that, despite the fact that they were having a fun time.
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After Yoochun ran out of the café, he followed a couple which caught his eyes. His teeth gritted when he saw how close the male was to the female.
His fists clenched by his side as he spied at them from behind a large stone statute and they were sitting in the park. The guy had his hands over the girl’s shoulders and the girl’s head was on his shoulder, with his head tilted on top of her head, slightly leaning on it.
Yoochun’s eyes were shooting daggers at the couple, specifically at the male. He had totally forgotten about Gretchen, whom he had ditched earlier at the café. He was too concentrated with his task at the moment to have his mind on other things.
Turns out, the couple were watching the sunset. They stayed there for over an hour or so and Yoochun, who was still spying on them, also stayed behind the statute for over an hour. His back started to ache from leaning against the uneven surfaces of the statute. He looked up to glare at the statute of a figure whom he did not know and cursed the statute for having an uneven surface.
He quickly checked to see if the couple was still there but they were already gone when he looked. He got out from behind the statute and stood up straight, trying to find the couple whom he was spying at. He growled when there were no traces of them anywhere anymore.
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Alyce and Changmin had a date that evening and the two decided to watch a movie, something action-related and mysterious. Finally, they decided on ‘Benjamin Button.’
When they exited the movie theater, they were commenting on the movie.
Changmin held onto Alyce’s hands tightly. What would you do if I were like Benjamin Button? Like I get younger each year instead of growing older?” Changmin asked Alyce, curious to hear her an
Alyce shrugged. “I don’t know, that’s a good question. Maybe I’ll find some other guy who is more normal and just get married to him.” Alyce joked.
Changmin frowned at her joke. “That wasn’t funny.” He pouted. “If that’s what happened to you, I think I would go hide.” Changmin said.
“Why?” Alyce gave him a weird look, wanting to know his reason behind that.
.
“Well because then you’ll see me all old and wrinkly while you get to look young and pretty.” Changmin said laughing. It was his turn to joke around.
Alyce rolled her eyes at him. “Haha, very funny Min.”
Changmin was about to ask Alyce where she wanted to go eat when Alyce spoke up before he did. “Hey, isn’t that Kristine and Hero?” Alyce pointed. Changmin’s eyes followed the direction of Alyce’s fingers and saw Kristine and Hero walking out of the theater from the other direction, arm linked together and laughing while they walked and talked. Alyce looked up at Changmin with a slight glare. “Why can’t we be more like them?” She narrowed her eyes at Changmin. “They’re so sweet and we’re just… not serious half the time.” Her narrow eyes were now down to a slit.
Changmin, not wanting to deal with her at that moment, quickly escaped and approached Hero and Kristine. “Hey!” He said, waving at them, with Alyce now walking behind them.
Hero and Kristine looked up surprised to see Changmin and Alyce. “You guys here to watch a movie too?” When Alyce and Changmin nodded, he continued his question. “What movie did you guys watch?”
“Oh, we watched Benjamin Button.” Alyce replied. “What about you guys?”
“We watched Bedtime Stories.” Kristine replied, giggling. “It was such a funny movie. I loved it, right Hero?”
Hero nodded his head in agreement. “Yep, nice fairytale ending too, it was a sweet movie.”
Changmin and Alyce nodded their heads. “How about we grab something to eat then?” Changmin suggested and Hero agreed.
Alyce and Kristine eyed each other with the same expression – ‘it’s officially a double date now’.
INFATUATED
Suzy smiled, “Hey mom. Yunho just brought me back from the doctors.” She turned around to show her mom Yunho, who was behind Suzy.
“Hey Auntie, we just finished checking up so I brought her back.” He gave a good boy grin. “Well I’ll be going now then.” He used his thumb and gestured to his car over his shoulders.
“Oh no, why don’t you stay for dinner?” Suzy’s mom suggested.
Suzy turned around with her eyebrows raised suggestively. Yunho smirked at her face and turned to smile at her mom while nodding his head. “Sure, thanks.”
Suzy rolled her eyes and headed inside, with Yunho behind her. She stopped and turned around, with Yunho bumping into her. Yunho held her by the arms to stop her from falling over. “Whoa there!” He said with a playful grin. “Are you trying to test how reliable I am for you?” He whispered in her ear quietly, only letting her hear.
Suzy made a face at Yunho “Fine, I was going to ask if you wanted to come to my room, but I guess now you can stay in the living room and chat with my parents.” She stuck her tongue out and headed up the stairs.
Yunho gave chuckle and followed her up anyways. Suzy knew he tagged along but she pretended not to know, or care. When she got to the top of the stairs, she made a run to her room and slammed the door right in Yunho’s face, but was stopped by Yunho just before the door closed.
“Aw come on Suzy, I was nice enough to bring you to the doctors,” Yunho said in a singsong voice.
Suzy pouted. “I never even wanted to go to the doctors. I hate seeing doctors.” She said firmly, with a hint of whining in her tone, like a little spoiled kid.
Yunho laughed, “See, that’s why I had to bring to you to the doctors, because I know you won’t be going if you went by yourself.”
“I hate you.” Suzy stated but Yunho felt the pressure on the door disappear and the door had opened up and Yunho ended up falling on the ground, with Suzy standing in front of him, giggling. “Loser.” She stuck her tongue out at Yunho and skipped to her bed and sat there.
Yunho chuckled once again and walked to sit on her bed again. He pinched her cheeks, “So, what do you want to do now?”
Suzy shrugged, “I don’t know.” She looked around her room. “How about, we ask questions about each other?” She suggested. “I don’t know that much about you and I don’t think you know that much about me either.” She narrowed her eyes. “Unless you’ve been stalking me.”
Yunho shook his head and laughed lightly. “Ok, let’s do that then. You think too much, I don’t stalk people, its people that stalk me.” He said with his nose stuck to the air and Suzy threw a stuffed animal at him.
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“Hey Yoochun, so how did the date go?” Alyce asked him enthusiastically as soon as she spotted him entering the school grounds.
Yoochun looked up and saw Alyce and Changmin’s eager faces and gulped. “Uh… um…” He was trying to think of a nicer way to break the awful truth to them – if there was even a possible way that is.
Alyce saw Gretchen and quickly waved her over. Yoochun gave another gulp, knowing trouble would rise now that she was here too. He gave her an uneasy smile and she stared back at him, not showing any signs of anger or signs of cheerfulness.
“So how did it go you guys?” Changmin asked. “I’m sure you two had a lot in common.”
Gretchen let out a fake smile. “Oh we did Alyce, we totally had a blast.” She said sarcastically, but it was hidden in a tone that only Yoochun understood.
Alyce grinned. “Is that so?” She turned to Yoochun and wriggled her eyebrows and Changmin nudged him. “That’s good!!” Alyce gave a genuine smile at both Yoochun and Gretchen before grinning at Changmin, thinking they had succeeded.
Meanwhile, Gretchen diverted her attention towards Yoochun. She narrowed her eyes to a thin slit and Yoochun could feel her glare through the small slit. He shivered and gave her a weak and apologetic smile. Poor guy doesn’t even know why she was mad though.
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“Oh!” Suzy’s mom came running out of their kitchen, “Suzy dear!!” She hollered out the house, hoping to catch her before she left, but too late, Suzy had already ran out the door as soon as she saw the clock on the wall.
Suzy’s mom frowned and shook her head, “That Suzy, she forgot to bring her sketchbook to school!”
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Kristine and Hero entered, and immediately, she already felt eyes on them, she unknowingly shifted and walked at a slight angle, trying to avoid the stares people were giving them. She had to admit, Hero was popular around school, being the star soccer player on their school’s senior team, who wouldn’t be envious of her? But the problem now, was… whether they would be able to maintain their relationship.
Kristine had a bad feeling that a problem was going to arise soon. It was her sixth sense, and a women’s sixth sense is always accurate.
Hero was used to the stares by now, and he just walked on like it was no big deal, everything was all right. Was he really that oblivious or was he just ignorant?
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Just as Suzy entered the gates of their school, she realized that she forgot her sketchbook. “Ugh, you’re kidding me Suzy Rances.” She groaned at her own forgetfulness and clumsiness.
“Hey, what’s up?”
Suzy turned around and saw Yunho walking up beside her. She gave a small smile from the big frown she had on her face, “Nothing, I just forgot my sketchbook at home.” She was playing with her lips, trying to think of a solution.
“Maybe something will come up later,” Yunho suggested, hoping to cheer her up. “Remember what the doctor said… or I’ll have to make you happy the other way.” He said, with his eyebrows raised.
Suzy turned to look at him, a small frown still plastered on her face. When Yunho saw her still frowning, he advanced forward quickly and started to tickle her.
“AHHH!!” Suzy yelped out as she started running away. “Ok, ok, I give up!!! You win.” She sat down on a small bench nearby and looked at Yunho with a pout. “You’re mean.”
Yunho gave her a grin. “Well, I told you I’d make you laugh.”
Suzy rolled her eyes but gave a laugh. She poked Yunho in the arms, “You are such a big bully.” She stuck her tongue out just as the warning bell rang. She got up from her seat and turned to face Yunho. “Thanks again! I’ll see you later.” She smiled one last time before heading away.
Yunho watched as Suzy’s figure disappeared into the mob of students in the crowded hallway. He stood up, and headed the opposite direction, shaking his head while chuckling at himself.
‘Boy are you lovesick, Jung Yunho.’ He thought to himself as he stuffed his hands in his pants pocket and sighed, while staring up at the sky.
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When the bell rang, Alyce and Changmin headed off to their ‘shared’ locker, leaving Gretchen and Yoochun alone, standing there still. They stared at each other, and Gretchen turned away to walk off when she felt something tug on her wrist.
She knew it was Yoochun, she turned around and tilted her head to the side, showing some slight signs of impatient. “What do you want Yoochun?” She asked.
“Are you mad at me?” He asked in confusion.
Gretchen let out a disbelief huff. “Are you kidding me?! What do you think genius?”
Yoochun scrunched up his face, “But what are you mad at me for? What did I do?” He asked with complete innocence.
“Oh, why don’t you tell me how you would feel if you were talking with someone fine – keep in mind that it was a date, although a set up blind date but still a date regardless – and then the other person suddenly runs off without any explanations.” She pursed her lips, waiting to see his response.
He opened his mouth, comprehending why she was mad now, but shut it after a few seconds. She was right, he just ran off, leaving her alone without an explanation why. They were on a date too. He gave a sigh, “I had something to do, well I saw something, and I had to go take care of it.” He explained.
Gretchen raised an eyebrow and nodded her head. “Oh, well… what were you taking care of then?” She asked him curiously.
“Just some personal business.” He muttered, but loud enough for her to hear.
Gretchen shrugged, knowing she shouldn’t press him more if he didn’t want to share. Then, the final bell rang, indicating the classes have begun already. Gretchen’s eyes widened and she shrieked. “PARK YOOCHUN!! Thanks to you now I’m totally late for my class!!!” Gretchen screamed at Yoochun while pointing a finger at his face accusingly. “ARGH, DAMN YOU!!” With that, she ran off, rushing to her class.
Yoochun stood there staring at her run, wondering how she can just smoothly blame everything on him. He suddenly snapped out of his thoughts. “Shit, that means I’m late too!” He quickly ran off to his class as well.
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Suzy was walking to her locker, to drop off her books, while wondering if her teacher would be mad if she forgot her sketchbook. Although her teacher was nice, one thing she hated was students’ who forget their stuff at home. She sighed as she opened her locker to drop her textbooks from the previous class off.
When Suzy closed her locker, she was shocked to find Yunho leaning casually a few lockers down, staring at her with a lopsided smile on his face. She stared at him and angled her head, wondering what he was doing here. “What are you doing here?”
Yunho didn’t reply, but brought his hands and presented an item in his hands from behind his back. “Were you looking for this?” He got off the locker and stood up straight, looking slightly down due to their slight height difference.
Suzy’s eyes widened and a big smile formed on her face. “Oh my gosh!! Where did you get it?!” She grabbed the book and flipped through it, making sure it was her own one. “You are the best!!”
Yunho chuckled, seeing her getting so excited. “Don’t question how I got it, just take it.” He gave another lopsided grin.
Suzy was jumping around and she was so happy, she hugged Yunho, which shocked him. On top of that, she also tiptoed and gave him a kiss on the cheek, and continued squealing. Yunho stared at her, and after a few seconds, she realized what she did and her reactions had started to take place. She felt her cheeks warm up and realize she was blushing.
Yunho, on the other hand, slowly formed a smirk, as he leaned his upper body forward a little, “So you are totally falling for me now.” He chuckled, seeing her continue blushing.
Suzy looked up and pouted, “I don’t like it when you smirk.” She said bluntly, blinking her eyes at him.
Yunho let out a laugh and straightened his body again, “You are very cute. My smirk is something girls go crazy for, yet you’re here telling me you don’t like it.” He shook his head while chuckling. “What should I do with you Suzy Rances?” He questioned himself as he stared at her, who was still pouting.
Just then, the bell rang and she let out a shriek. “Gah! I’m going to be late!!” She gave Yunho another last hug, “Don’t take this wrong, and don’t smirk! I’m just thanking you one last time! See you!” With that, she ran off towards her art class. “If I’m late and the door is closed, I’m going to come after you!!” She yelled down the hall at Yunho. “And go to class!!” She instructed him before running down the stairs.
Yunho stood there, still laughing while shaking his head. “What should I do with you Suzy Rances?” He questioned himself once again; but he knew that was one question he didn’t have an answer to.
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“Hey Kristinne!” Hero called during lunch, gesturing her over to their table.
She let out a smile immediately and went over to Hero, “Hey!” She sat down beside him they gave a quick kiss to each other while the others who were sitting around the table rolled their eyes in disgust.
“Mr. and Mrs. Kim, we understand you two are loving, but please be considerate to those who are still single out here.” Show said, trying to imitate a professional voice.
Hero rolled his eyes and Kristine blushed awkwardly.
“Whatever, it’s not like you’re single, you’re a player.” Hero stated, shutting Show up completely.
Show made a face at Hero knowing he had been defeated. “Whatever, I’m going now then. See you guys around~” Show said in a singsong voice as he walked off.
While he was walking off, he zigzagged through the wide aisle, flirting with girls here and there as well as giving a kiss at random girls he had picked up from before.
Hero rolled his eyes at Show, “He’s such a big flirt.” He turned to Kristine with a cross between a cheeky grin and a smirk, “Aren’t you glad that I’m not a player?” He asked her.
Kristine rolled her eyes, “I don’t know… I mean you could’ve been one before we started dating… I never know.” She shrugged, but her voice already told Hero that she was joking and he got his answer. He gave her another kiss on the lips and she giggled.
“Yeah, yeah, calm down you two. School’s not for making out.” Yoochun came along and slapped the table gently. “We all know you two are loving, nothing’s going to break you two apart, so stop it.” Yoochun was in a way envious, but he was not desperate for a girl – he just wanted his Cinderella.
Just as he said that, he saw her walking into the cafeteria with her boyfriend. He scowled at the sight.
Alyce and Changmin came along, and were laughing, but stopped when they saw Yoochun scowling in a particular direction.
“Hey Yoochun, what are you scowling at?” Changmin asked, trying to follow his gaze but the cafeteria was so filled that he got lost.
“Nothing, I just see her with her boyfriend.” Yoochun grumbled. His mood was officially ruined to the extreme.
“Oh yeah, who is she? Maybe if you show me, I can find you a girl who is similar to her? I mean, come on, Gretchen's perfect for you!” Alyce tried to persuade him.
Yoochun nodded his head in the direction of his Cinderella. “Her, wearing the black cardigan with jeans. Hair half up, half down?” He directed Changmin and Alyce.
“Oh, I know her!” Alyce said in a chirpy voice. Yoochun quickly looked over at Alyce, waiting for her to continue on.
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Suzy was walking down the hall to her locker after her design class happily, thinking about what had happened earlier.
She giggled to herself out of nowhere. ‘I wonder how he got my sketchbook though…” She wondered, trying to figure out how he had gotten her sketchbook for her.
She didn’t remember leaving it in his car or anything, she was sure she left it at home too.
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Yunho saw his group of friends in the cafeteria, sitting around. He approached them but his eyes were searching for a particular someone.
“Where’s Suzy?” He asked, trying to sound casual.
Yoochun shushed him up immediately, as Alyce was in the middle of telling him what her name was.
Yunho rolled his eyes. “Fine, my good friend, who’s ignoring me because of a girl.” He said sarcastically, trying to make him feel guilty.
Yoochun looked up at Yunho, who had been conveniently standing beside his chair. “Look, you are the same as me.” He said, matter-of-factly. “You were looking for Suzy were you not? And you were asking you good friend here, and you didn’t even bother to greet me!” Yoochun said, now accusing Yunho.
Yunho was baffled. “What?! So now it’s my fault?”
Yoochun nodded his head. “Yeah, all of you guys, now that you all have a girlfriend, you’re ditching me and leaving me to die of loneliness.” He heaved a big long sigh, attempting to get his friends into his guilt trap.
Hero stared at Yoochun. “Hey, have you considered going for drama? You would probably even get main cast! You’re such a drama queen i mean king.” Hero said with a straight face, but cracked up afterwards.
Yoochun narrowed his eyes at him. “Screw you Hero.”
Yunho chuckled. “Don’t tease the poor single boy anymore, he’s still growing up.” Yunho said. Ironically, it had the opposite effect and it ended up teasing Yoochun even more.
Yoochun scowled at his friends, “You guys are SO mean.” He stated, emphasizing the ‘so’ in his sentence by using more force. With that, he got up from his seat. “I’m going outside to get some fresh air. I’m getting poisoned by your sweet nothings.” He said sarcastically.
“Hey!” Alyce hollered back but Yoochun didn’t pay attention to him. “I was just about to tell him what her name was…” Alyce scratched her head and Changmin patted her head and she shrugged it off.
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“Hey!” Suzy called out when she saw Yoochun walking down the stairs. “What’s wrong with you?”
Yoochun saw Suzy and shrugged. “Hey, Yunho was looking for you. He’s in the cafeteria with everyone else.”
Suzy nodded her head. “Do you want to talk? You don’t look okay.” Suzy asked gently.
Yoochun sighed and saw down on the grassy field. “I don’t know, I’m kind of losing hope with me and her –” Yoochun paused, “the girl from the dance.” He explained seeing Suzy’s confused look.
“Oh! The girl you met at the ball, that is so cute and romantic!” She squealed.
Yoochun lifted the left side of his face up a bit, slightly scrunching his face in the process. “Err, ok, but the thing is, like you said, it might sound like a fairytale and all, but there’s flaws to it. The prince in the fairytale gets a glass slipper. In ‘A Cinderella Story’ that guy has his Cinderella’s cell phone to track her down. Even in ‘Another Cinderella Story’ that star jock dude whatever, has like, dance to bring them together. And then there’s me, they should make me ‘The Final Cinderella Story’ which doesn’t have a happy ending.” He said sarcastically.
Suzy chuckled. “Well, there’s always ups and downs in a relationship. I mean, in ‘Another Cinderella Story’ the guy was like a popular guy like you, and the girl is someone who he doesn’t really know who. And plus, you two both met your Cinderella at a dance, and the guy didn’t have any evidence left from Hillary Duff saying that it was her, it was merely by his feelings and well her dancing too, but I mean to you, if you don’t have dancing, I’m sure there’s something else that attracted you to her. Or else you won’t be so lovesick here.” She said, teasing him slightly.
Yoochun turned to Suzy with a smile. “You are so smart!! God, if I knew talking to you would make my life easier, I would’ve found you in the first place!” He gave his signature sunshine smile. “Thanks again Suzy, I know what to do now. I won’t give up. I mean, I know how she looks like, I just don’t know her name yet.” Yoochun remembered that Alyce was supposed to tell him her name earlier. “OH I am luckier than that guy, I might find out her name by today.” He grinned. “Thanks again!” With that, he ran off quickly.
Suzy got up chuckling, and headed off to the cafeteria as well.
REVEALED
“Hey Alyce!!” Yoochun hollered out across the hallway, but she couldn’t hear him and headed down the stairs. “Damn it.” Yoochun cursed. “Now I’ll have to wait until after school.” He turned around in the opposite direction in frustration.
While he was walking, he bumped into someone. He heard the person let out a soft grunt when his broad shoulders hit against the person’s small figure.
“Sorry.” He said, looking down at the person. “It’s you.” His shock expression slowly formed into a small smirk. “I see we meet again, isn’t it fate?”
The girl looked at him, her eyes equally as wide as Yoochun’s had been when he was shocked. “Why are you here?” She asked bluntly.
“Well I go to this school, shouldn’t I be here?” He asked in a teasing tone.
“Oh.” She said. There was a second of silence between them.
Yoochun pulled a little adorable smile, hoping to get on her good side. “So are you going to tell me your name? Or I’ll have to call you Cinderella each time.”
She tapped her chin in a cute way. “Hm, I also said that you have to get it with your own ways didn’t I? I mean the prince found his way… it can’t be that hard if you are sincere about it. Besides, have I not told you that I already got a boyfriend?” She asked him, tilting her head to one side.
Yoochun was about to speak but the bell interrupted him. She gave him a small playful grin. “I have to go now, and good luck with finding out my name, it’s not that common. Bye~”
Yoochun watched her weave her way through the crowded hallways with her small figure and until he could not see her anymore. He sighed again and walked on. ‘This is harder than I thought. Park Yoochun, out of so many girls, why her?’ He questioned himself. ‘So many girls are after you yet you only have eyes for one – who already have a boyfriend nevertheless. It really is karma.’ He thought to himself as he shook his head chuckling.
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During art class, Suzy was doodling in her sketchbook, with her mind wandering off elsewhere.
She heaved a sigh. ‘Why is he so nice to me?’ She kept asking herself, yet she couldn’t find any answer. ‘Can he… like me?’ Suzy shook her head in small movements. ‘Nah, maybe it’s mom. She’s always like that, plus we’re family friends.’ She slightly frowned as she continued to doodle on her sketchbook.
After she finished sighing, she realized that all those times she had been thinking, her hands were guiding her and a slight male figure was on her sketchbook.
She gasped a bit, “Did I just… draw Yunho?” She asked herself quietly as she bit her lips. “Oh god.” She quickly flipped the page over and shook her head to snap out of her thoughts.
Suzy looked around the room, trying to see what she can draw. Her eyes landed on a pot of flowers sitting beside her on the windowsill. She smiled as she leaned to examine it more closely, but her eyes had a natural reflex to a few moving figures playing basketball in the basketball court.
“That’s Yunho and them…” She said as she lifted her right hand up to prop her elbow on the windowsill and admired Yunho playing basketball.
She smiled softly and took her sketchbook to draw a sketch of Yunho playing basketball. When she finished it, she held it up beside the flower, seeing how close her picture was to the actual person himself. She was amazed at how well she was able to sketch, it was probably one of her best sketches yet.
She had to give it a name, but he didn’t know what to name it and she didn’t want people to know it is a sketch of Yunho. While Suzy was still thinking, the bell rang and she bit her lip, trying hard to think of a name for the picture. The teacher’s voice rang throughout the classroom, ushering people to hand in their sketchbooks.
Suzy quickly scribbled something down – ‘Someone Special’. She then handed in her sketchbook before heading out the classroom, wondering why her hands wrote down ‘special’ after the ‘someone’. The left side of her lip curled downwards slightly, still unsure why that had come up in her title, but she shrugged it away, not giving it much thought anymore.
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Gretchen was heading out the door, when she bumped into Dambi. “Hey!” She greeted her friend. “Why are you rushing around?”
Dambi shook her head, “Have a date tonight.” She said with a slight grin.
“Still with Marco I suppose?” Gretchen asked as Dambi nodded her head while grinning from ear-to-ear. Gretchen patted her arm. “Alright, I’ll catch you later then ok?”
Dambi nodded her head and continued down the hall, when she bumped into someone again. This time, she looked up and saw the last person she’d like to see on earth – at least that’s what she is thinking of at that moment.
The guy smiled at her with a smirk. “So, how are you doing? Isn’t it fate that we’re meeting twice in a day?” He asked, his smirk not leaving his face.
Dambi stared at his smirk, irritated. “If you think meet me twice a day at school is fate, then I’m sorry to break it to you – but there are other guys and girls whom I have the whole day of classes with.” She said, staring up at him square in the eye.
He grinned back, “But it’s amazing, because you and I don’t have classes together, and our school’s so big, yet we are able to bump into each other twice a day. It’s destiny, don’t deny it.”
Dambi rolled her eyes, “Park Yoochun, you are very thick. Thick brained, thick skinned, and thick like GLUE.” She stated before stomping off.
Yoochun turned to watch her walk away. “Don’t worry, by the time I find your name, you’ll be in love with me. Cinderella.” He hollered the last words out loud, trying to irritate her some more.
Dambi clasped her hands over her ears and he laughed seeing her reaction.
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Alyce and Changmin were hanging out by the gate, when they saw Yoochun walking out the front door of their school with a dorky smile plastered on his face. Alyce and Changmin exchanged looks and Changmin raised his eyebrows while Alyce shrugged.
Yoochun smiled, advancing towards his two friends standing there looking confused at him. “Alyce~ I thought you were going to tell me who my Cinderella is?” He asked, a grin still on his face.
Alyce bit her lip. “I thought you were doing great with Gretchen?” She let out short laughs. “Aren’t you?” She asked uncertainly.
Yoochun didn’t know what to say so he chose to ignore her question. “So what’s her name?” He attempted his question once again.
“Well, if you insist, but it won’t do you any good knowing her name. Trust me.” Alyce warned him but he cocked his head to one side, waiting for her to continue. She gave a brief look at Changmin before sighing. “Her name’s Dambi, Son Dambi. But she already has a boyfriend.” Alyce quickly added after stating her name.
Yoochun ignored Alyce’s warning and tapped his lips slowly, while his lips curled upwards. “So that’s what she meant by her name’s not common.” He looked over at Alyce with a nod. “Cute name.”
Changmin frowned, “Hey Yoochun, Alyce just said she already has a boyfriend though… you’re not going to do anything funny are you?” He asked, somewhat worried. But he had faith that his friends knew his limits, he only wanted to make sure since this time it was different – he seemed to be for real.
Yoochun looked at Changmin seriously. “No, I’m serious about this. Besides, that boyfriend of her doesn’t deserve a good girl like her.”
Alyce looked at Yoochun in confusion. “Huh? What do you mean he doesn’t deserve her? Marco’s a nice guy.” She defended her friend’s boyfriend.
Yoochun shrugged. “Fine, don’t believe me, I’ll prove why he doesn’t deserve her though. Just watch and you’ll know I’m right.” With that, he walked towards the gate, leaving the school.
Alyce and Changmin once again, exchanged confused looks, wondering what Yoochun had meant.
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When Suzy reached home, she saw her mom in the living room, watching the afternoon drama on television.
“Hey mom.” She greeted as closed the door behind her. Although the Rances’s family was rich, they didn’t like to display it. Instead, they lived in an average home, while Mrs. Rance insisted on not hiring any maids as she could handle everything and she wanted something to do and not feel useless either.
“Oh Suzy, would you like some snacks or fruits?” She asked, getting up from the couch.
Suzy nodded her head. “Yeah but I’ll get it myself, just enjoy your drama.” She said with a grin. “I know it’s the ending today, so you can concentrate on it.”
Her mom chuckled and shook her head. “Oh, Suzy…” She trailed off as she took her seat again and engaged herself with the television.
Suzy grabbed an apple and a bag of cookies and took a seat on the couch adjacent to her mom as she munched away while watching the drama as well.
Her mom looked over at Suzy. “Oh, and how are you and Yunho? It seems like you two are quite close…” She smiled genuinely, with a hint of mystery behind that smile.
Suzy raised an eyebrow. “Why are you asking all of a sudden?” She narrowed her eyes at her mom. “What’s your catch?” She took a bite out of her cookie as she fixed her eyes back on the television screen.
“Well, if you two weren’t close, why would Yunho come during school time just to get your sketchbook for you?” Her mom stated casually, eyes back on the television again.
Suzy nearly choked on her cookie when she heard what her mom just said. “Yunho came to pick up my sketchbook for me today?!”
Mrs. Rances nodded her head, “Yes, and thank god I came back just in time. I was out at the supermarket doing grocery shopping, and when I came back, I saw Yunho sitting on the porch, waiting for someone to open the door. That poor boy, I think he was waiting for a long time too.” She took a glance to see Suzy’s reaction.
Suzy was still somewhat shocked. She recalled back to what happened earlier, and she realized that when she had taken the sketchbook from his hands, his hands were quite cold considering it was a sunny, nice day.
“You didn’t know that?” Mrs. Rances gaped at her daughter, who looked shocked and baffled.
Suzy set down the bag of cookies and looked at her mom. “I’m going to head out right now, I’ll be back before dinner.” She said quickly before heading out the door.
“Suzy, you forgot your jacket!” Her mom called out but she had already slammed the door behind her. When she turned back to watch the television, she had realized that the drama had ended. She sighed and picked up after Suzy’s garbage after she turned off the television.
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Yoochun was walking past a coffee shop and decided to drop by to grab a cup of coffee. He wanted something warm to drink anyways.
When he opened the door, a light melody played from the chimes above the door.
“Welcome,” a voice was heard from inside the store.
Yoochun frowned when he saw no one in the store. Out of nowhere, a head popped up from behind the counters and Yoochun jumped back, shocked by the sudden appearance of the person. On top of that, the person he was facing was the last person he’d thought of meeting under these circumstances.
“What are you doing here?” Gretchen scowled at him as she propped her elbows on the counter, staring out the window.
Yoochun approached her. “Is this your coffee shop?” He examined the design and the layout of the small cozy coffee shop.
She stared at him with a small frown. “No.” She stated simply, not bothering to explain anything to him.
“Then I’m guessing you work here?” He asked again.
Gretchen eyeballed the ceiling, trying to think of how to answer him. “In a way I guess you can say that.”
“Oh.” Yoochun said shortly. “I like the design of it, very cozy and home feeling. You even have books to allow customers to read while enjoying their coffee, let alone some popular novels for people of different age.” He complimented as he stared at the shop.
Gretchen grinned. “Of course, I suggested the designs!” She said triumphantly.
Yoochun raised an eyebrow, “I thought.. this wasn’t yours? He said with a slight amused smirk.
Gretchen rolled her eyes. “You roll your eyes at everything.”
Yoochun laughed. “And you just rolled your eyes too, I believe.” She pouted as she had been caught by Yoochun. “So how did you manage to design a shop that’s not yours?”
Gretchen looked at him and smiled. “This is my cousin’s coffee shop! So of course I got to design it, besides that’s what I’m majoring in loser. Interior design, plus that’s why I am considered a worker here but also at the same time not.” She explained.
“Oh,” Yoochun nodded his head. “So did he go?” He asked, looking around. Gretchen looked confused. “Your cousin I mean, where did he go then?”
“Oh, you mean Gahee – my cousin’s a girl.” She said. “She stepped out to get some more whipped cream and milk. She’ll be back soon but hey, my coffee is just as good so don’t you worry.” She said, defending herself.
“Ok then, I’ll take a cappuccino please.” Yoochun ordered as he took a seat.
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Kristine and Hero were walking down the streets, hand in hand, just as they rounded a corner, someone called out Hero’s name.
“HERO!” The two of them turned around and saw a petite girl around their age standing there, grinning.
Kristine stared at her and Hero with confusion as Hero let out a big grin. “ Hyo Joo?! Is that really you?” He asked, somewhat disbelief.
She ran over and gave him a big hug. “Oh gosh, it’s been forever since I last saw you. I miss you so much!” She squealed, hugging him even tighter around the neck.
Kristine looked down on the ground, feeling awkward standing there.
Hyo Joo and Hero broke the hug and Hyo Joo raised an eyebrow as she noticed Kristine standing there. “Who’s this pretty girl standing here?” She asked. “She can’t be your girlfriend can she?”
Kristine looked up at Hyo Joo and felt a pang of shock run through her when she heard her say that. She felt insulted by that comment of hers.
Hyo Joo seemed to be able to read her mind. “No, no, please don’t mistake, it’s just that, I’m surprised, that’s all.” She said, giving Kristine a friendly smile – at least she tried to.
Hero laughed, “Yeah, she’s my girlfriend.” He took Kristine’s hand and intertwined their fingers. “She’s Kristine, goes to the same school as me.” He turned to Kristine and smiled. “This is Han Hyo Joo, my childhood friend.”
Kristine swore she could see Hyo Joo’s face frown slightly in disappointment when Hero announced that she was his girlfriend, but she wasn’t so sure. All she knew was that her heart warmed up hearing Hero admit their relationship in public.
“Oh well, I have to run now, I’ll catch you later Hero, we’ll be visiting your family soon anyways so I’ll see you soon.” She gave him a grin before turning to Kristine and smiled. “It’s nice meeting you Kristine.”
“Bye.” Kristine and Hero both bided as she walked off in the direction she came from.
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Suzy ran until she reached the bus stop and just her luck, a bus happened to be there and she quickly hopped on it.
She played with her fingers as the bus traveled down the busy streets. “I hope he’s ok.” She prayed quietly to herself as she closed her eyes.
She knew Yunho wasn’t exactly healthiest guy on earth, and him waiting in the cold for that long really worried her, especially when he had cold hands on a warm day like today.
As the bus continued moving at a slow pace, she pondered why he was so stupid to wait in the cold for that long. Let alone skip a class to get her sketchbook too.
Finally, she reached the stop and quickly got off and ran to Yunho’s house, which was a few blocks down road.
When she reached the gate, she rang the bell and the gate opened, allowing her to run her way down the long driveway and to their front door.
The front door opened and the butler greeted Suzy. “Hello Miss. Rances, can we help you with anything?” He asked politely, while bowing slightly, showing respect to guests.
Suzy entered the house and scanned it quickly, but found it was useless since he might be out or in his room. “Is Yunho home?”
The butler nodded his head. “Yes Miss. Rances, he went straight to his room right after school. I’ve knocked on his door a few times but he did not answer so I didn’t bother him anymore. Would you like to go see Young Master?” He asked politely.
Suzy nodded her head eagerly, “Yes please.” The butler led her up the winding flight of stairs and into the hallway to Yunho’s room. Although she had been there only once, she could somewhat remember where Yunho’s room was.
The butler halted in front of a door and gestured his hands towards it. “This is Young Master’s room Miss. Rances.” He said, before bowing slightly once again and walking off.
Suzy knocked on the door a few times, but she got no answer so she opened the door slowly. The door creaked a little as she peeked her head in the room.
She saw Yunho sleeping on the bed, his face lost some colours and was replaced by a paler shade of skin colour on him. She gasped as she hurried to Yunho’s side, sitting on the bed.
He groaned slightly and turned to the other side, still sleeping. Suzy snaked her arms towards his forehead, feeling it and winced when she felt the warmness of it.
Suzy went inside his bathroom and soaked a wet towel and walked back out to tend him. She sighed as she softly wiped his face. “You are the silliest guy I’ve ever known.” She said as she poked his nose lightly while making a face.
But she grinned to herself as she stared at him, his brows were frowning slightly at the ends, as if he was in pain. “But it’s cute.” She said, in a barely audible voice with a giggle.
She put the towel down at his night table and studied his face features. She lowered her head, and gave him a small kiss on his forehead. Little did she know, her kiss had eased his frowning eyebrows away. Now, he seems to be relaxed but still sleeping.
REASON TO BE MAD
He got up and walked towards Suzy, bringing a blanket with him and gently laid it on top of her. She stirred a bit and he froze in his position, but she didn’t wake up.
Yunho exited his room quietly after he put on a sweater to keep himself warm. When he walked down the butler greeted him with a smile.
“Ah, Young Master, you’ve waken up, are you feeling better now?” He asked, following behind him.
Yunho nodded his head. “Yeah, thanks, I’m just a bit hungry now, is there any leftovers from dinner or something?” He asked him, taking a seat down at their dining room table.
The butler shook his head. “No Young Master, Master and Mistress went away on a business trip and you were sleeping.” The butler explained.
Yunho nodded his head. “Oh right, it’s ok then, I’ll cook something for myself.” Yunho was about to head into the kitchen but the butler once again spoke up.
“Young Master, Miss. Rances cooked some congee for you earlier today, it might be cold by now so you can always heat it up. She said it’s good for sick people.” He said politely, opening a lid to a medium sized pot.
Yunho grinned genuinely to himself, “Thanks, I’ll be fine here, you can go back to what you’re doing.”
The butler also smiled back, seeing his Young Master happy, and possibly in love. “Yes Young Master, I will head back to my quarters now if there’s nothing else you want.” When Yunho didn’t reply, he dismissed himself. He took one last glance at Yunho who is peering into the pot and smiling to himself.
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The next day at school, Yoochun arrived at school and was walking down the hall when he saw the same picture in the hallway, he realized – the artists’ name, was the girl he fell in love with at first sight. He chuckled at his stupidity for laughing when he first heard her name. But he’s got to admit, it was one non-expected name.
Yoochun leaned against the wall by the picture and looked around the school for once, observing what was surrounding him and realized that there were a lot of couples in the school – real ones that actually lasted.
He suddenly felt a rush of loneliness come across his body. All the other girls he went out with weren’t long lasting and it’s not like he expected them to be long lasting either. But all the sudden relationship going on around his friends made him want a real serious one too.
He saw all the happy smiles on a couple that walked past him, he was hugging her, and whispering in her ears as she giggled.
He sighed once again, wondering when will he ever be able to meet someone who did not care about his fame and money.
“The carefree Mr. Park Yoochun having a long face, that’s a first.” A voice interrupted his thoughts.
Yoochun looked over and saw Gretchen leaning against the opposite side of the wall and starring straight ahead, with her hands in her jacket pocket. She turned over and smiled at him. “What?” She asked, checking herself. “Is there something wrong with me?”
Yoochun shook his head. “Nothing, you’re fine. I’m not fine, that’s all.” Yoochun said straightforwardly.
Gretchen wrinkled her nose and frowned. “Why, what’s wrong? Problems?”
Yoochun sighed and looked at her. “I can’t believe I’m telling you this.” He groaned. “It’s just,” He bit his lower lip and slightly angled his head to the side. “Argh, ok, I like this girl but she doesn’t like me. There.” Yoochun summarized briefly.
Gretchen looked over at him, her face not readable. “Oh,” she said simply, but she broke out a smile. “I never knew the almighty player would be having love problems too.” She teased him.
Yoochun covered his face with his hands. “I knew it was a bad idea to tell you.” He turned to her. “Look, you better not spread this around.” He warned her.
Gretchen gaped. “What do you take me as, a gossiper?” She retorted back, feeling offended.
Gretchen shrugged. “Just making sure. Anyways, I’ll see you around then.” He said, turning to leave before Gretchen could say anything.
Gretchen stared at Yoochun’s back. “Why is it always me who watches you walk away?” She said softly with a sigh and turned around.
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Suzy woke up with pain in her neck, she sat up, but realized she was sleeping on Yunho’s bed. She frowned to herself, “I thought I was sitting on the couch?” She asked herself, pointing to the couch, trying to think backwards. “How did I end up on his bed?”
She glanced at the clock and gasped. “It’s morning already?! Oh no, I forgot to tell mom.” She quickly scrambled off the bed but stopped when Yunho’s voice interrupted her.
“I already called, and you fell asleep on the couch, so I put you on the bed instead.” He gave a cute smile, which made Suzy feel dumb.
“Oh, I still need to get home to change though.” She said, as she blinked her eyes remembering there’s still school.
Yunho nodded his head. “I took care of that already, we got you your uniform last night.” He smiled. “I’m smarter than you think I am.” He gave her a wink and Suzy rolled her eyes.
“Fine, then where do I get ready Mr. Genius?” She asked with light sarcasm in her tone.
Yunho smirked, “Just for you, you can use the washroom in my room.”
“Flattery doesn’t work on me.” Suzy said, clicking her tongue as she made her way to the washroom. But she stopped midway and turned around. “What about toothbrush and towel?”
“It’s in there already.” Yunho said, his smirk growing gradually, obviously proud of how well prepared he is.
Suzy didn’t know how to respond so she only headed into the washroom without another word while Yunho only laughed as a response.
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Kristine arrived at school the next day, to find Hero standing there, leaning against the stairway with the regular gang – but one person caught her eyes, Hyo Joo. Her eyebrows slowly furrowed together when she saw Hyo Joo’s figure standing there, beside Hero and everyone else laughing along. Suddenly, she felt somewhat distanced.
Hero noticed Kristine and waved at her, motioning for her to come over. “Hey Kristine!” He called out. He went over towards her and put his arms around her shoulder possessively. She smiled at him, feeling a bit secured that he cared about her.
“Hey, so what is Hyo Joo doing here?” She asked casually, trying not to sound jealous or anything.
“Oh, Auntie Kim told me to come to school with Hero for the week during my stay here, since I’m missing school anyways, so I might as well come here and learn a few things.” She flashed her model-like, picture perfect smile.
Kristine nodded her head while Hero grinned, “Now we can all hang out together, it’s been forever since we’ve hung out together.” He said, oblivious to Kristine’s utterly shock reactions and the slight jealous aura around Kristine.
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Yoochun was walking down the hallways, when he saw Dambi with her so-called boyfriend. He gritted his teeth, upon seeing how her boyfriend can be so carefree.
When he walked past Dambi and her boyfriend, his shoulders slightly brushed past Dambi’s. He was staring at her and Dambi had her head turned to face him.
“Dambi?” Her boyfriend called her back to herself.
Dambi regained her conscious and turned to her boyfriend. “Huh, sorry.” She apologized.
“Do you know him or something?” He asked, staring at Yoochun, who was now staring at him as well.
Dambi shook her head slightly, “No, he… just looked familiar.” She gave a faint smile. “Let’s carry on.”
Her boyfriend nodded her head and the two of them continued to walk on. Dambi’s head turned slightly to her side; her peripheral vision trying to aim at Yoochun but unfortunately, she couldn’t see him.
Yoochun on the other hand, turned his head around to stare at the couple walking further down the hall while he continued to walk on.
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“Hey Suzy!” Yunho called when he saw Suzy’s figure walking by in the hallway.
Suzy stopped walking and turned around, when she saw Yunho she smiled, “Yeah?”
“My parents came back from their trip and they want to invite you and your family over for dinner. To thank you for taking care of me.” Yunho said with a smirk.
Suzy looked at him and tilted her head to the side, deciding whether she should take it or not. “Hm, I guess that works, my parents would be ok with tonight.” She asked him.
Yunho nodded his head. “Sure, I mean, if you guys can’t then some other night is ok too. I know your parents would be busy too since they’re business people.”
“Ok,” Suzy said simply with a smile.
Yunho stuffed his hands in his pocket, walking alongside Suzy. “Where are you heading off to now?”
“Art class.” Suzy said, she turned to look at him with one eyebrow raised. “What about you?” She asked him back, narrowing her eyes at him.
“Nah, I’m just going to hang out with the others and play some basketball.” He said with a smile. “That’s my thing.”
While they were walking, someone bumped into Suzy, causing her to drop all her things. Her sketchbook and pencils were scattered all over the ground and Yunho bent down to help her gather her books. He took the sketchbook and flipped through some of the pages. “You have really nice drawings.” He commented with a genuine smile as he handed the stuff back to her.
Suzy felt her cheeks grow warm from his compliments. “Thanks.” She mumbled softly as she turned around. “I have to get to class now, I’ll see you later.” She said, a little louder this time before hurrying off.
He stared at her scurrying away and chuckled.
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Yoochun walked around the school aimlessly and stopped randomly at one of the hallways and peered down from his position, staring down at the green grass below him. He saw Gretchen posing for some pictures while some guy was taking pictures of her. With the sun shining bright on her like a star, he noticed her for the first time, she was pretty in her own little way. Too bad he didn’t meet her first but saw Dambi first. Maybe, just maybe he would’ve liked her instead.
He sighed to himself. “There is a lot of ‘what ifs’ in life.” He shook his head and walked off.
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Yunho was walking around the school, when he came across the featured artwork section. One picture caught his eyes, he tilted his head to the side, observing the drawing displayed. He stared at it and found it looking really familiar.
“Isn’t that… me?” He asked as he stared closely at the picture of a figure playing basketball, which is evidently a male figure.
His eyes trailed down to the lower right corner of the picture, to see who the artist was. His eyes widened slightly in shock when he saw the name – Suzy Rances, printed clearly on there, following by her signature. He rubbed his eyes, making sure he wasn’t seeing things.
“Suzy drew a picture of me?” He asked himself in a whisper. He felt his heart had gotten as light as a feather when he realized his eyes wasn’t tricking him and had a dorky grin on his face.
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After school, Yoochun was walking down the streets, when he saw something that angered him. He clenched his fists and glared at the couple walking down the street on the other side of the road, smiling and chatting happily, hands intertwined.
This was the exact scene he saw on the day of his blind date with Gretchen. He saw Dambi’s so-called boyfriend, walking down the street with another female. He had thought he was seeing things that day since he wasn’t able to catch up to them even though he ran out of the café. But today, he was proven right, he wasn’t seeing things that day.
He marched across the street, and headed over to punch the guy in the face.
“What the–” The guy fell on the ground and used his thumb to wipe the corner of his lips while the girl screamed slightly and ran to his side, checking to make sure he was ok.
Yoochun glared at the guy. “Don’t you already have a girlfriend?” He asked him, eyes still fixed in a disgusted glare at the couple in front of him.
The girl turned to the guy in confusion. “Huh? What is he talking about Marco?” She questioned him.
Marco turned to the girl and smiled. “Nothing, don’t worry about it, he’s just a crazy bastard.” He reassured her.
Yoochun scoffed. “Oh is that true? At school he had a girlfriend called Dambi, and now, he’s here dating you. He’s fucking a two-timer.” He spat in her face.
The girl looked at Marco. “What?! I thought… you said you already broke up with Dambi?!” She said, her eyes started to well up.
“Baby, listen to me–” Marco stretched his arms out to touch her arm but she only brushed him away angrily.
“Don’t touch me.” She replied coldly.
Yoochun laughed mockingly at him. “Liars will always get what they deserve in the end.” He smirked at him. “Wait until I tell Dambi what I found out.” He narrowed his eyes at Marco. “This isn’t the end of it.” He warned Marco before walking off.
Bystanders who had witnessed what just happened were gossiping in whispers and pointing fingers at Marco. Marco glared at the pedestrians, “What are you all staring at?!” He shouted at them, as he got up to his feet and walked off in madness.
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“Oh Yunho, how are you feeling now?” Suzy’s parents gushed at Yunho as soon as they arrived at the five-star hotel restaurant.
Yunho smiled at them politely. “A lot better now thanks to Suzy, Uncle and Auntie. Although I must say, her cooking skills could be improved.” The whole table laughed aloud upon hearing Yunho’s last comment. “But it was still good nevertheless.” He added quickly, hoping Suzy won’t be mad.
Suzy gave Yunho a dirty look as soon as she heard that. “It’s not like you can cook any better.” She muttered as she rolled eyes with a big unsatisfied frown.
Mrs. Rances chuckled. “Yes, this girl –” She turned to look at Suzy, “is a spoiled one, I’ve always tried to get her to learn some cooking skills, but she never really managed to pay attention. It was wrong of me to have brought her up in a wealthy family condition.” She chuckled. “That’s why we live in a small, cozy house now.” She said proudly.
Mrs. Jung, “Oh but she is very well-mannered though, compared to our Yunho. He is just like a bull! If he isn’t satisfied with anything, he will argue like there is no tomorrow until he gets it. He is more spoiled than Suzy is here.” She said, chuckling at Yunho.
Suzy smirked at Yunho. They were even now – at least to Suzy they were. “So did you know that Suzy is really good at drawing? I saw a drawing done by her in the display today at school.” He paused as Suzy cocked her head to one side, unable to figure out what he is trying to point out. “It seems like that drawing is of me playing basketball.” He said proudly with triumph.
Suzy gaped and felt her cheeks redden as she had caught. She covered her mouth with a gasp. ‘How did he find out?’ She asked herself. ‘Shit, she had handed in that picture to the teacher.’ She shut her eyes and groaned out loud while everyone at the table laughed at her lightly. “That wasn’t you!” She lied.
Yunho raised an eyebrow. “Then who was it? Guess what the name is?” Yunho asked the adults at the table. Before he could open his mouth to talk, Suzy’s hand had clasped over it, preventing him to speaking any further.
Following that, she dragged him out of the VIP room.
When they were out in the hall, Suzy stopped after rounding a corner. “Jung Yunho!” She hissed quietly. “You have such a big mouth.”
Yunho gave a smirk, which got on Suzy’s nerves. “What? I’m only stating the truth. And besides, ‘Someone Special’… I’m pretty sure you’re talking about me.” He gave her a wink.
Suzy stomped her foot and turned away from him. “Am not, I was thinking about my dream man.” She lied once again.
“And that is me right?” Yunho teased her even more.
Suzy turned around about to retort back but what shocked her most was the fact that he had kissed her on the spot, without her consent. Her eyes widened in shock and she could feel his lips form into a smile from pressing against her lips.
She blinked twice, before he pulled away with a playful smirk. “You are in love with me, admit it Suzy.” He said, the smirk not leaving his face. With that, he turned around and headed back into the room.
Suzy frowned and followed him back into the room, unsatisfied that he once again defeated her. “I hate you Yunho.” She said aloud. Yunho heard that and laughed as he opened the doors back into the VIP room where their parents were seated.
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Chapter 7
Mint Chocolate Chip
Yunho and the guys were hanging out together at Changmin’s house, while the girls were having their girls’ night out since the girls felt they haven’t been spending too much time with each other lately.
Yunho sighed as he leaned back on the couch, “Ah, life is good don’t you think?” He asked.
“That’s because you and Suzy are on good terms.” Yoochun pointed out dully. “There’s some other people who are still single in the world you know.” He stated, obviously talking about himself.
Changmin turned to Yunho, ignoring Yoochun’s bummed out mood, “Hey, so what’s going on between you and Suzy now? You two together are kind of or not yet? I see you two really close, but not exactly referred to as couples or are you just hiding it away from us?”
Yunho thought about it, scratching his head. “I don’t know…” he shrugged his shoulders. “I well, I sort of confessed in a way after the winter dance to her, but I’m not sure if she really understands what I mean and in a way, I think she might like me, but then sometimes we’re kind of not as close you know?”
Hero rolled his eyes, “Yeah… you are such a confusing person. Just go for it.” He encouraged Yunho. “Say it to her again then, see how she reacts this time.”
Yunho ignored the two of them and tried to switch topics. “So Yoochun, how about you? I think Gretchen seems to be interested in you no?” he asked, punching him lightly on the shoulder.
Yoochun scrunched up his face a little, “Her? Nah, she seems like she wants to bite my head off, we always argue.” He denied, shaking his head. “Besides, I might have a chance with Dambi now… I’m not sure though.” He said, drifting off.
“What do you mean by that?” Hero asked. “Are you going to confess to her? What about her boyfriend?”
“I saw her boyfriend, Marco, two-timing on her. He was going out with this other girl. Do you think I should tell her?” Yoochun asked, doubting what he should do.
Changmin frowned, “Hm, but you’re not that close with her though are you? Wouldn’t she find that a bit weird, especially when she knows that you like her?”
Yunho nodded his head. “Yeah, what if she thinks you’re only making it up to ruin her relationship with Marco? Man I never know Marco would be that kind of guy, he seemed like such a nice guy too.” He said, shaking his head disapprovingly.
Yoochun shrugged. “Yeah, who knows. But I’ll see, maybe, but she’ll find out eventually anyways.”
It was now Hero’s turn to sigh. Everyone turned to stare at him. “Hyo Joo… you know how she’s back for the week right?” They all nodded their head. “She said that she likes me. I don’t know whether I should believe her or not, but I mean, we are such good friends and stuff, now she comes all of a sudden and tells me she likes me, it’s so weird.” Hero complained. “I think Kristine’s suspecting something too.” He said in a worried tone.
Yunho raised an eyebrow. “Wow, it seems like I’m going through heaven and you’re going through hell.” Hero shot Yunho a glare and Yunho covered his mouth with his hand, shutting himself up.
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“I… don’t feel too secure, especially with Hyo Joo staying here. I overheard some students talking about her staying here long term now to finish off her education. She’s getting enrolled in the school too.” Kristine gave a frown, biting on her lower lip. “What if… she likes Hero too? Do you think Hero would like her too?” Krsitine asked her friends worriedly.
Suzy patted her friend on the shoulder. “Tin, relax. I’m 100% sure that Hero is heads over heels for you. There’s no way you can beat Hyo Joo, yes she’s pretty but to Hero, you are THE prettiest girl to him, so don’t worry and don’t doubt his feelings for you.” Suzy cooled Kristine, making her feel better.
Alyce nodded her head. “Yeah, I mean look at me, Changmin is like the most wanted Genius athlete in the school and I’m like the tomboy-girlish at the same time at school, yet we’re still together. Why? Because we trust each other.” She smiled supportively. “So don’t worry, just believe.”
Kristine stared back at her friends and finally smiled with a nod. “I should believe Hero. He only loves me.”
“Hm, speaking of which, I think… I should be a matchmaker!” Alyce said triumphantly.
Suzy raised an eyebrow and Kristine looked at her questioningly. “Why?” They asked in unison.
“Because, I’m sure Gretchen likes Yoochun!” Alyce said proudly.
“But you have to know – Yoochun IS one of the most wanted guys around school, obviously it won’t be a surprise that over half the school is infatuated with him.” Suzy pointed out pessimistically.
Kristine nodded her head. “Yeah, sorry to break it to you, but I don’t think Yoochun likes Gretchen that way. He might be going because you and Changmin set everything up for him and all. I still think he only likes Dambi.”
Alyce frowned. “Really? Damn, they would look so cute together. Besides, Yoochun should know that Dambi already has Marco, they’ve been together for quite a while too.” Alyce sighed in defeat. “Fine, I’ll just let them be, I just hope that Gretchen doesn’t really like him that much then.” She said hopefully as the other girls agreed.
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The next day, Suzy woke up to her phone ringing. “Hello?” She asked as she rubbed her eyes, getting up from the couch in Kristine’s house.
“Hey, did I wake you up?” Yunho’s voice was heard from the other line.
Suzy gave a light laugh. “Yeah, but it’s about time I wake up anyways.” She squinted at the clock on the wall. It was almost noon anyways.
It was now Yunho’s turn to laugh. “Oh, I was wondering, I want to talk to you. Do you have time today?”
Suzy tapped her chin, leaning against the window. “Yeah, I’m not doing anything anyways.”
“Ok, I’ll meet you at the school playground near your house then.” Yunho said with a confident smile on his face.
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Gretchen was hanging out in Gahee’s café, helping occasionally during the busy hours of the day. Just as it neared the afternoon, where quite some office workers came down for their afternoon break, Yoochun dropped by as well.
“Hello~ can I help you with anything?” Gretchen asked in a singsong voice while she was doodling on a piece of paper. She dropped the pen and looked up with a smile. Her smile faded away as she saw who it was. “Oh, it’s you.” She said with an annoyed tone.
Yoochun smirked. “Why the sudden change of tone when you saw me?”
“Because I hate you.” She said simply, as she continued to doodle on the piece of paper, passing time.
“So it’s only you alone working again?” Yoochun asked, looking around the small, cozy coffee shop and saw a few customers sitting on the couch, reading a magazine and enjoying their drinks.
Gretchen shook her head. “No, Gahee’s in the kitchen baking some goods.” She clicked her tongue and stared at Yoochun. “What are you doing here? Don’t you have other better things to do than bother someone else’s life?” She muttered the last sentence under her breath.
Yoochun chuckled upon hearing her complaint. “I just thought I’d pay you a visit!” He gave his signature sunshine smile which captured many girls’ heart.
Gretchen only rolled her eyes. “Please, your sunshine smile isn’t working on me.” She threw the pen she was holding at his face lightly. “What do you want?” She asked, taking out her note pad and another pen from the counter.
“You pick for me, something good.” He turned to find a comfortable spot in the shop while Gretchen made a face at his back before going to brew his drink.
After a few minutes, Gretchen arrived at his table and set down the drink. “Here you go, this is my favorite drink.” She gave a big smile. “Try it.”
Yoochun eyed her suspicious before picking up the cup cautiously and taking a small sip from the cup. He tasted the drink a little, it was sweet with a hint of bitterness in it. He smiled back at her. “It is good.” He agreed while taking a bigger sip.
She giggled at him. “I told you so.” She said before leaning back in the chair to relax and enjoy the sunlight seeping through the window in the shop.
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Suzy rounded the corner as she glanced at her watch. “Oh god.” She mumbled and quickly ran across the street to meet Yunho. She was already ten minutes late. Her mom told her to run something off for her right before she left and that took her some time to finish.
She arrived at the park and found Yunho sitting on one of the benches in the park, staring at the kids running around the playground.
Suzy approached him quickly. “Yunho I’m so sorry, my mom just told me to help her with something right before I left.”
Yunho looked up with a smile. “It’s alright, take a seat.” He patted the spot next to him and Suzy sat down next to him.
“So what did you want to talk to me about?” Suzy asked, getting to the point.
“Uh…” Yunho started but paused again. “Well, you see… if you still remember back to the winter dance? When I took you home… do you remember what I said to you? Or did you get what I was trying to tell you then?”
Suzy frowned, trying to remember back to that night. “Well, depends what you mean. It’s been quite a long time ago. Why?” She asked him. It’s not that she had forgotten, but she didn’t know what he was trying to get at. Her cheeks went a tint of pink when she remembered they kissed, although they had kissed a few times after that time.
Yunho had a serious look on his face now. “Ok, I will tell you again. I just want you to know that I like you and I would like you to be my girlfriend.” He said straightforwardly. “I know that night I might not have specified it but now I am, because the way we are right now, I’m not even sure what relationship we are and well it’s killing me when I think about it.” Yunho confessed honestly with frustration hidden under his tone.
Suzy stared at Yunho’s true confession and without saying anything, she gave him a hug. “I’m not really someone who knows how to talk but, I… think I like you too.” She broke off the hug but Yunho pulled her back in. “Yu…Yunho…” She stuttered, shocked by his reactions.
Yunho broke the hug and smiled teasingly. “What, you started the hug first.”
Suzy pouted slightly with a frown. “Fine.” She gave a big smile when Yunho extended his hand to take Suzy’s hand into his.
They got up and started to walk around the park, hand in hand like a real couple. It was a quiet walk, with small conversations here and there, but it was romantic for them.
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Hero met up with Kristine later on in the afternoon. “Kristine, do you want to come to my house for dinner tonight?” He asked her with a hopeful face. “I want my parents to meet you!” He said enthusiastically.
Kristine’s face turned nervous and she felt the temperature around her raise drastically. “Uh, me…meet your parents?” She stumbled over her words. “But…” She saw Hero’s smile fall a few inches. “I would like too, but I’m scared.” She hung her head down, staring at her feet.
Hero tightened his grip on her hand. “It’s ok, I’ll be there. My parents would love you for sure.” He gave her a supportive smile. “Besides, when I told them about you, they were dying to meet you. They always ask when I would bring you home.” He said with a laugh.
Kristine gave a relieved look upon hearing Hero say that. “Ok then, wait, I should get them something shouldn’t I? Let’s go see what I should get them since you’ll know what they like!” Kristine said enthusiastically while dragging Hero down the street.
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Yoochun took a deep breath before walking into the store to find something he needed. ‘Can’t believe the Park Yoochun will end up doing this… it is totally karma isn’t it?’ He asked himself as he stared up at the sky.
He opened the door and entered the store. He walked around, trying to find someone who can guide him or give him some more information.
He tapped someone on the shoulder, “Uh excuse me…” The person turned around, and Yoochun found himself staring at no other than Dambi herself. He gulped, he would never be able to say it out loud now.
Dambi frowned upon seeing him. “What are you doing here?” She asked in shock. “Is there something you want?” She cocked her head to one side, waiting for him to answer.
Yoochun’s throat went dry. “Uhh… I wanted to buy some… food. I got a bit hungry.” He gave an uneasy smile while rubbing his stomach. “I didn’t eat lunch yet.” He said cheekily, which was a lie considering he had coffee and some snack at the café.
Dambi nodded her head and tapped her chin. “Oh. Hm, you can get food in that aisle.” She tiptoed a bit and pointed her index finger to a few aisle down from the current aisle he was in.
“Thanks.” He muttered before hurrying off. Dambi gave a small frown of wonder before shaking her head and continuing what she was doing before he interrupted.
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“Hello Auntie, Uncle.” Kristine greeted Hero’s parents when she entered his house.
Just then, someone emerged down the flight of circling stairway and as soon as Kristine’s eyes met the person, she was shocked.
“Hey Kristine.” The person greeted her cheerfully. The person came over and gave Kristine a big hug before greeting the elder couples sitting on the couch and joining them. “I see you’re here for dinner.” She said with an inviting tone.
Kristine looked over at Hero for an explanation but he wasn’t looking at her.
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“Let’s get some ice cream!” Suzy pointed at an ice cream store across the street happily, like a little kid.
Yunho chuckled and nodded his head. “Ok, let’s go.” They crossed the street together and headed inside the store.
“I want…” Suzy tapped her chin as she pressed her two palms on the glass dome keeping the ice cream cool and protecting it. “I want mint chocolate chip flavor.” She tapped her finger on the corresponding area on the glass while staring back at Yunho. “What about you?”
Yunho moved around and looked at the different flavors. “Hm, maybe I’ll get cookie dough flavor.” He said as he eyed the light brown colored ice cream. “Yeah, I’ll get that.” He stared back at the worker, ordering it formally. “So one mint chocolate chip and one cookie dough, both on waffle cones.” He looked over at Suzy to confirm.
Suzy nodded her head. “Yep, one scoop.” She added in, which Yunho forgot to mention.
The worker nodded his head and took a scoop to make their cones. After Yunho paid, they continued their way to Suzy’s house while eating their ice cream.
“I want to try yours!” Suzy said staring at Yunho. Yunho chuckled and held out his cone for her to scoop with her spoon. “Is both our ice creams brown?” She asked Yunho curiously.
Yunho was puzzled at first but realized that Suzy was after all color blind. He shook his head with a smile. “No, yours is green and mine is light brown, but a really pale brown.”
Suzy wrinkled her nose. “Why is mine green?” She held out her ice cream before her eyes as if examining the colour although she couldn’t tell the difference. “Shouldn’t it be…” She eyed the sky and tried to think of her imaginative colour of her ice cream. “Brown ice cream with white little chips for the mint?”
Yunho laughed. “No, mint chocolate chip means that it’s mint flavored ice cream with chocolate chips in it silly.” He said, poking her head with his index finger lightly.
Suzy pouted. “Oh.” She continued to enjoy her ice cream, while thinking. “OH, I get it now!” Suzy suddenly burst out. “Mint flavored, but why would it be green, shouldn’t it be white since it’s mint?” She asked.
Yunho shrugged. “Maybe it’s peppermint? I don’t make ice cream, I don’t know. Maybe I should go learn to make ice cream so you will love me more.” He said jokingly.
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Heaven and Hell
The atmosphere during dinner was tense.
Hero looked up and coughed awkwardly. “So why are you staying here now Hyo Joo?” He asked her, he was also a victim.
“Well your mom invited me to stay and then my mom was talking to auntie over the phone I guess and she convinced my mom that I should stay here for the rest of the year.” She said happily as she picked up piece of vegetable from the dishes on the table. “By the way, your cooking is really cook auntie. I definitely miss eating your cooking.” She said, flattering Hero’s mom.
Hero’s mom gave a laugh. “Oh Hyo Joo, don’t praise me. I don’t usually cook much anymore but today since there are guests, I decided to cook myself. I’m glad you like it.” She turned to Kristine and smiled. “How do you like the dinner so far Kristine?”
Kristine looked up and gave a big smile. “It’s great, thanks for having me over again auntie.” Although she wasn’t exactly what you would call happy at the moment, she was still happy with the fact that his mom was nice to her.
For the remainder of the dinner, Kristine was rather quiet. Hero knew it was a bad idea after all to bring her home for dinner.
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Gretchen just finished changing out of her clothes and headed out the door when she saw Yoochun leaning against the wall beside the door, as if waiting for someone. She stopped and cocked her head to one side, staring at him in wonder. “What are you doing here again? It’s pretty late now, shouldn’t you be home?”
Yoochun shook his head. “There’s no one home so I’m bored. Let’s go for dinner?” He suggested.
Gretchen shrugged. “I guess I’m a bit hungry too.” She reluctantly agreed after some mental hesitations and thoughts.
“Hey, I was wondering, if you can help me with something.” Yoochun said, shoving his hands in his jeans pockets. He suddenly seem like a shy teenage boy who is confessing to something he wouldn’t tell adults.
Gretchen nodded her head. “Go ahead, I’m listening. Or wait, we can talk while we eat, is that fine with you?” She suggested.
Yoochun nodded his head. “Fine with me.” He said with a smile. “Where do you want to go to eat?”
Gretchen shrugged. “How about… McDonalds? I haven’t had those in ages!” She exclaimed, suddenly getting excited.
Yoochun looked at her as if she was an alien. “What?!” She asked sounding offended by his stares. “It’s normal for someone to like McDonalds or crave for it once in a while. It’s good, and it’s cheap too.” She stated, as she walked ahead, hurrying to the closest McDonald’s which was just around the corner.
“I’m sort of doubting whether you are really rich or not.” Yoochun stated as he shook his head but jogged lightly to catch up to her. “Hey, wait up!”
Yoochun’s eye practically bulged as he stared at how much food Gretchen had ordered. “Are you sure you can finish all these?!” He asked for the fifth time already.
Gretchen shrugged. “Probably not, but that’s why you’re here for. Besides, I want a little of each, so just order it all, you’re loaded anyways.” She said while laughing. “Now you know why I chose to come to McDonalds? If I went to expensive restaurants it would’ve been horrible wasting their food since they use so much effort to make it, and here, they just make and not care so it’s not as bad.” She said with a grin.
Yoochun chuckled. “You are one unique person with different set of thoughts.” He commented.
She frowned for a few seconds but dropped it and replaced it with a smile. She clapped her hands together in front of her, “Ok, time to dig in!!” She said before taking some fries first. “Mm, I haven’t eaten these for so long!!” She said, savoring the taste and enjoying the moment as if it was the most precious food in the world.
Yoochun couldn’t help but chuckle at her. He also opened his box of Big Mac and started to dig in. As he ate his burger, he eyed the tray again – one Chicken McNugget meal, super sized which includes large fries and large drink, a hamburger, a chicken Caesar snack wrap, one cinnamon melt, one blueberry pie and lastly, a McFlurry to top it all off as dessert for the perfect dinner.
Gretchen took a piece of the nugget and dipped it into the barbecue sauce, before looking up at Yoochun again. “So, what were you going to ask me about?”
Yoochun set down his burger. “Right, I was wondering… if you were a girl and had a boyfriend, but that guy is cheating on you and someone finds out, would you want them to tell you or not?” He asked curiously.
Gretchen thought on the question while she chewed on her food. “Hm, that’s a tough question. I guess it also depends how much I love that guy though, and how much I trust the other person.” She shrugged. “Why are you asking that?” She asked suspiciously.
Yoochun shook his head. “Well, there’s this girl I like, and I know that her boyfriend is cheating on her.” He sighed. “So I don’t know what I should do.” He confessed.
Gretchen stopped chewing when she heard what she said, she was speechless too. “Oh.” She said slowly. “Well just follow your heart.” She plastered on a smile, trying to sound encouraging to him.
Yoochun looked at Gretchen, his face unreadable and then he let out one of his signature sunshine smile. “Thanks, I knew you were going to be a great help! It seems like I can only talk to you about these things man, if I talk to the other guys, they don’t even help at all, all they know is how to tease me.” He said, shaking his head. He picked up a few fries from the tray happily.
Gretchen let out another small smile as she continued eating her food as well. Of course, she couldn’t eat it all so Yoochun had to finish off the ones that she couldn’t eat, which was basically over half the food on the tray. Luckily Yoochun was in the mood for eating.
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“Yunho, Yunho…” Suzy called out all too suddenly. Yunho quickly stopped and let go of her hand and held onto her elbows, supporting her in case anything happens. “I’m seeing little bits of colours!!” She exclaimed happily. “I can see some of them!! They are still a bit dark, but I can see it!” Suzy called out in joy.
Yunho watched Suzy jump around, cheering and somewhat dancing in public. Although many pedestrians who walked by would give them odd stares but he didn’t care. All he knew was that, Suzy might be able to see colours again. Then her world would be lit up.
After Suzy calmed down a little, they continued their walk home to drop Suzy off before Yunho went home.
“I wonder what would be my favorite colour once I get to see colours again.” She said with a little kid trying to decide which flavored ice cream they want. She then turned to Yunho. “What is your favorite colour? Maybe I’ll end up liking whatever you like!” She said, listing all the possibilities.
Yunho gave a laugh, “Hm, what colour I like? I don’t know really, it depends on my mood I guess.” He said with a shrug.
Suzy frowned. “Oh, that sucks.” Then her frown deepened a little, “Aw, it’s… it was only temporary.” There was an obvious hint of disappointment in her tone.
Yunho squeezed her hand in his. “Don’t worry, give yourself some more time. I won’t be going anywhere if you were wondering.” Yunho joked, lightening up the atmosphere.
Suzy jabbed Yunho in the arms lightly. “Yeah, yeah, Mr. Conceited never changes. Who knows, maybe I’ll end up with someone else after I see colours again!” Suzy joked around.
Yunho pouted. “Aw, don’t say that, then I might end up being single for the rest of my life!”
Suzy giggled when she heard his corny words. “I wonder how you had become so popular with girls. Your pick up lines are so bad!” She teased Yunho.
Before Yunho could retort back, they had already arrived at Suzy’s house. Yunho swung Suzy’s arm lowly, not wanting to let go. Although the distance between them had grown, their arms were still lingering onto each other, not willing to let go yet.
They stayed standing there for a few moments, until Suzy finally looked at Yunho apologetically. “Sorry, I really have to go now, I’ll see you tomorrow in school though ok?” Suzy said with an encouraging smile.
Yunho pouted with a sigh. “I guess. I’ll see you tomorrow then.”
They let go of their linked hands and Suzy closed the gap to give Yunho a quick kiss on the lips before heading inside.
“Goodnight, don’t catch a cold on your way back this time.” She warned, adding a little tease to embarrass him.
Yunho nodded his head. “Night, I’ll see you tomorrow.” After Suzy was inside, she immediately went to the living room window to watch Yunho walk off.
-----
Hero was walking Kristine home after the dinner. The walk was rather quiet, none of them knew what to talk about nor would they want to start the talking.
Kristine couldn’t take the silence so she broke the ice. “So, I see you and Hyo Joo are really close.” She said, a tone of jealousy was behind her sentence.
Hero tensed up a slightly at her question. “No, it’s not what you think. I.. We’re… She’s just… an old friend that’s all. I haven’t seen her since she left nearly ten years ago.” Hero explained hastily.
Kristine looked over at Hero, observing him as she slowed down her face. “Well… what do you think of her now?” She asked cautiously.
Hero opened his mouth, and closed it again, trying to think what to say in a careful way. He paused a few moments before speaking. “Well, she uh, definitely has grown up I guess, I mean, in her own way that is.” Hero quickly explained.
“How about when you were kids? Did you like her?” Kristine bombarded Hero with questions.
Hero started to get a little frustrated over the trust Kristine had in him. “Kristine, we were only kids then! How would I know if I like her or not? It was merely just childhood, childhood friends.” He clarified. He realized the tone he had used was a little harsh. “I’m… sorry. I just…” He stuttered, not knowing how to explain it. “It’s just that, you need to trust me.” Hero said, almost pleading for her trust in him. “I only like you.” Hero reassured.
Kristine looked at Hero, not showing any expression. “I, have to go now.” She said in a barely audible voice. She pointed to her house, which was right beside them. “I’ll see you tomorrow then.”
Hero stared at Kristine entering her house. Before he walked off, he kicked a nearby rock and swore. Clearly he was pissed off, the pedestrians nearby stared at him and whispered to each other, wondering what was wrong with him.
-----
“Let’s watch this movie!” Dambi suggested excitedly as she turned over to look at Marco. She frowned when she saw him spacing out. Dambi tugged on his arms lightly. “Marco?”
Marco turned to her. “Huh?”
“Are you feeling ok? Do you want to just go home instead?” Dambi asked with concern.
Marco shook his head. “Oh no, it’s ok. What movie did you want to watch again?” He looked at the poster in front of them. “He’s just not that into you.” He read the title, and flinched a little. He gave a cough, “uh sure… I’ll go buy the tickets then?”
Dambi nodded her head. “I’ll go wait in line to buy some food then.” She smiled and departed with him.
Marco wondered whether Yoochun had told Dambi or not about him two-timing. But from what he had observed today, she didn’t know yet. Either that, or she was playing dumb.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------Chapter 9
Bribery
========Yunho came over to Suzy’s house the next morning to walk her to school. When Suzy’s mom opened the door, she was surprised to see Yunho standing there.
She let out a small gasp of surprise. “Oh Yunho, you’re here so early!” Mrs. Rances looked at the clock on the wall briefly, “It’s only 7:45!” She opened the door a fully. “Why don’t you come on in and have a seat? Suzy’s still getting ready for school.” She smiled. “Would you like some breakfast as well? I always cook a little extra food during breakfast.” She added, letting Yunho know it won’t be a bother.
Yunho smiled and nodded his head. “Sure Auntie, I’ll just wait until Suzy gets down though.”
She smiled at Yunho. “Ok, you can watch some the TV if you’d like too. Help yourself to things around here, treat it like your own home.” She said before heading into the kitchen to finish off what she was doing.
Suzy came running down the stairs in a rush in less than five minutes. “Mom~ why didn’t you wake me up today?” Suzy whined as she ran to the dining table and sat down. “Now I’m going to be late. Who was at the door by the way?” She asked, helping herself to a glass of orange juice. “Do we have guest today?” She asked again when she saw another plate of breakfast on the table placed neatly in front of her seat.
Before Suzy’s mom could answer the questions, Yunho walked to the dining room table to greet Suzy. When Suzy saw Yunho, she nearly choked on her orange juice.
She coughed a few times, getting the orange juice all gulped down. “Why are you here so early Yunho?”
Yunho chuckled and sat down in front of her. “Because I’m here to pick you up to school. If I didn’t come, then you would be late for school.” He teased her.
“OH! So it was you at the door. Did you know your doorbell ringing woke me up this morning?” Suzy said with a pout.
Yunho chuckled once again. “That’s why you have to thank me, or else you wouldn’t have even woken up! Then it would be trouble because from what I hear, you are not a morning person.” He said, raising an eyebrow while grinning.
“Yeah, yeah, it’s morning, nobody’s a morning person.” She defended herself stubbornly, although she knew he was right. She turned to the kitchen. “Mom, come eat breakfast with us! Yunho’s being mean to me!” She said.
Suzy’s mom came out with a stern look. “Now Suzy, Yunho’s the guest. Why would he be mean to you when he came here early in the morning to pick you up for school?”
Suzy turned to stare at Yunho and stuck her tongue out at him. Yunho chuckled at her childish side. Suzy heard his chuckle and she stole a piece of bacon from his plate while Yunho stole some scrambled eggs from her plate.
“Hey!” Suzy called out. “I love scrambled eggs!!”
Mrs. Rances shook her head at the two teenagers bickering in front of her. “Ok you kids, hurry and finish your food so you can go to school on time.” She concluded.
As Suzy was about to head out the door with Yunho, she just remembered something she needed to tell her mom. “Oh mom, I’m going to Dr. Tankeitsy’s for an appointment so I won’t be home until later tonight.” She notified her mom before leaving.
They headed into Yunho’s car. “I’ll go with you to the doctors today, I’m free.” He offered. Suzy nodded with a grin as he started the engine and speeded off into the morning bright sun.
----------------------------------------------------
Yoochun heaved a deep breath and coughed as he approached Dambi at her locker when he found her locker writing something, most likely her homework. Dambi turned to the voice of the cough and cocked her head to the side in a cute way. “Hey.” Yoochun said with a smile.
“Hi.” She said simply with a smile.
“Well, ok, look, I’m more of a straight forward person because I’m used to being like that. And I just wanted to warn you… that Marco is two-timing you so just watch out yourself.” He said, “I saw him a few days ago or so.”
Dambi frowned. “No, I think you might have the wrong person, Marco can’t possibly… we’ve been together for so long already.” She said, politely rejecting Yoochun’s warning. “But thanks for your concern anyways.” She said as she shut her locker. “I’ll see you around then.”
Now it was Yoochun’s turn to frown, he quickly started walking alongside Dambi. “Why do you believe him so much?” Yoochun asked.
“Because he’s my boyfriend.” She said confidently. “I trust him.”
Yoochun stopped walking when she said that and shook his head as if in sympathy. “One day you’ll know…” He said slowly aloud, half talking to himself.
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Kristine arrived at school a little earlier then usual as she had something to do.
“Hey Kristine!” When Kristine turned around, she saw GD. “Hey GD.” She said, smiling back.
“I was wondering if I could borrow your notes from history class from last day?” He asked desperately. “I wasn’t in class and someone just told me that we have a quiz on it today.”
Kristine nodded her head as she rummaged through her bag. “Hm just give me a second, I should have it…” She said, looking through her binders. Then she remembered where it went. “Um, I actually don’t have it, I just remembered I lent it to Hero.” She let out an apologetic smile.
“It’s ok, don’t worry about it, is it ok if I ask him for it though?” Show asked Kristine. “Then I can return it to you tomorrow since we have chemistry together anyways.” He said.
Krisitne nodded her head. “Yeah, for sure. Go for it. I’ll see you around then, I have to go now.” She quickly waved her hand and said her goodbye before heading off to her first class.
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“So what do you want to do later on since you’re taking arts?” Yunho asked randomly as they walked down the halls, heading to Suzy’s locker.
Suzy looked at the sky ambitiously. “I want to be an interior designer, but then the thing is I can’t really see colours… so it would be a big problem in terms of selecting the right colours and all, that’s why I was really happy when the doctor said there is a slight chance I might see colour again, because that means I’ll have the chance to pursue my dreams!” Suzy said, getting delighted.
Yunho nodded his head and sighed. “You are so lucky to be able to pursue your dreams.”
Suzy frowned and looked at Yunho, “Why are you so sad?”
“Well it’s just that… it seems like everything for me is set already. My parents plan for me to take over their business so I have no choice or dreams to pursue.” Yunho said, admiring Suzy’s passion for her interest.
Suzy nodded her head, not saying anything. “Well, maybe you can talk to your parents. Say for example, have them give you a chance to do whatever you like first. And then you can take over afterwards, talk to them.” She suggested helpfully.
Yunho lightened up after hearing her suggestion. “Oh right, why didn’t I think of it.” He asked in wonder. “You’re so smart Suzy.” He said, bringing her into a hug and embracing her tightly. “You’ll be by my side supporting me right?” He asked her.
Suzy smiled as she hugged him back. “Of course.” She reassured him. “Until the day you don’t want me anymore.” She promised.
“I would never not want you.” He said with an affirmative grin. They then intertwined their hands and started walking down the hall again.
Students who passed by them whispered to their friends when they saw Yunho and Suzy together. Jung Yunho, one of the most popular guys in school, was now officially taken.
Some girls stopped in their tracks while others dropped their books, all of them shocked. He looked so sweet and caring with Suzy too, they were all envious of Suzy’s position.
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Gretchen was sitting on a bench outside reading a book when she felt a tap on her left shoulder. She turned away from her book and looked behind her left shoulder but saw no one. She frowned and when she turned around, she saw Yoochun sitting on the right side of her.
“OH God!” She exclaimed in shock, her free hand brought to her chest and patting it softly. “You scared me so badly!!” She said, glaring slightly at him. “What do you want?”
“What are you reading?” He asked her nosily as he leaned in front of her to read the cover of the book. “Remember me?” He said. “Is it good?”
Gretchen nodded her head. “Yeah, it’s really funny. But it’s probably not your type of books – wait, do you even read?” She asked, raising her eyebrow up.
Yoochun looked offended as he opened his mouth in shock. “Of course I do, it only depends if I find a good book or not though.”
Gretchen sighed. “I love Sophie Kinsella’s books, it’s just so… perfect… girl meets dream rich man. I wonder if that would happen to me, but then again, this is reality.” She reminded herself. She couldn’t help but think of herself in that position though and sighed dreamily.
Yoochun sighed. “I wish I had a happy ending too.” He said, narrowing his eyes a little at the book in her hands. “Oh you know how I was talking to you about last night?” He asked her.
She nodded her head and looked at him, closing her book, ready to listen to him say whatever he was ready to say.
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Hero was walking down the hallways as usual when he saw GD approach him. “Hey what’s up?” He asked, patting him on the back. “Haven’t seen you in a while.”
Show gave a lopsided grin. “Yeah, well I’ve been really busy lately. Anyways, I just wanted to ask if I could borrow Kristine’s notes.”
Hero wrinkled his nose. “Kristine’s notes? Why would I have it?”
GD shrugged. “She said she lent it to you. The notes from the last history class, I wasn’t at school that day so I have to catch it up.”
“Oh, yeah, I think I do have it.” He said. “I have to look in my locker though.”
“So how are you and Kristine doing?” He asked, nudging Hero slightly.
Hero sighed hearing his question. “Don’t even talk about it. Problems are coming up already.” He said pessimistically as he handed the notes to GD.
GD nodded his head in acknowledgment. “Yeah, it’s ok, which couple don’t have problems to go through right? It’s ok, problems just prove how strong you two are.” GD said as he raised the notes a little higher in the air, thanking him that way. “Good luck with that ok? Don’t give up, you two are really compatible.” He encouraged him one last time before heading off.
Hero let GD’s words dissolve into his mind. ‘Problems just prove how strong you two are.’ Hero though back to GD’s words. “Does that mean we’re weak?” He shook his head. “No, we’re stronger than this.” He decided that he wouldn’t let it go that easily.
He’ll do whatever he can to get Kristine to trust him again. With Valentines just around the corner, it would be his perfect time to tell her just how much he loves her.
--------------------------------------
After school, Suzy and Yunho headed towards Dr. Tankeitsy’s place to get Suzy checked up.
Yunho took Suzy’s hand in his as they walked. Suzy turned to look at him and frowned. “Why did you leave your car at school?” She looked at him with wondering eyes.
Yunho smiled and looked at her. “Because I don’t feel like driving right now.” He said mysteriously as if he was hiding something.
Suzy swung their intertwined hands and pouted. “Tell me, you’re hiding something.” She said, half pouting and half frowning.
Yunho pinched her nose lightly. “No, you’re too noisy. I’m not telling you.” He said, being even more mysterious.
Suzy stopped walking and withdrew her hands from his to fold her arms across her chest. “I refuse to walk with you until you tell me.” She threatened and looked away to the side.
Yunho chuckled and walked to her and pulled her out of her posture. “Let’s go little girl, you’re going to be late for your appointment.”
Suzy sulked alongside him, refusing to talk to him.
Yunho laughed along the way, seeing her childish behavior. “Are you going to keep this up? You’re going to have to talk to me sooner or later…” He said matter-of-factly. “You know you love me too much to stop talking to me.”
Suzy looked at him and opened her mouth to speak but realized that she wasn’t supposed to talk to him and shut her mouth again to walk on, but her hands still in Yunho’s grasp.
They passed by an ice cream shop and Yunho thought of an idea. “Suzy~ do you want some ice cream?” Yunho asked nicely.
Suzy’s eyes lit up when she heard Yunho’s question. She turned to look at the shop and bit her lip, debating in her head whether to answer his question and get ice cream or keep up with not talking to him. She made faces while tilting her head to one side, trying to decide. Finally, she looked up at Yunho with narrowed eyes. “Is that bribery?”
Yunho chuckled. “No, it’s treating my girlfriend to something… but you are talking to me though.” He said with a smirk of victory while Suzy showed signs of displease. “We’ll get it on our way back.” He said, while pulling her away from the shop and towards the hospital.
Suzy blew her cheeks up in anger. “Hey, you tricked me.” Suzy protested at Yunho.
Yunho chuckled as they entered the hospital. “You are going to be late, I promise we go for it after ok?” He said as he pressed the button to call for the elevator.
Suzy tapped her foot on the ground. “Mr. Jung, I’m not very pleased with you.” She stated firmly.
Yunho leaned in closer to her face and smirked. “Really now? If I give you a kiss will you be pleased with me then?”
Suzy tilted her head back a little, feeling under pressure by Yunho’s closeness. “I’m going to tell your parents that you’re bullying me.” She warned him. “They’ll believe me for sure!” Suzy said triumphantly.
Yunho smiled again and backed away. “Alright, I promised you an ice cream when we leave, I won’t dare to lie to you.” He said, flattering her.
Suzy rolled her eyes, “Yeah, but you will trick me.” She muttered and stuck her tongue out at him.
Yunho gave her a quick kiss on the lips to hush her up. “Aw, don’t be mad. I’ll tell you later if you really want to know then.” He said with a lopsided grin, while Suzy’s cheeks turned a tint of pink.
Chapter 10
Prove It.
==========Suzy skipped her way to the elevator with Yunho behind her, smiling upon seeing her being happier. “So, that was good news wasn’t it?” Yunho asked, as they stopped to wait for the elevator to pick them up.
Suzy smiled and nodded her head. “Of course, I’ve been a good girl, that’s why.” She tried to brag.
Yunho poked her head lightly on the side with his index finger. “Yeah, yeah, you silly girl.” He couldn’t help but chuckle as Suzy pouted at him. “Ok, so where are we going now?” Yunho asked her, knowing very well where she would suggest and bring up.
Suzy gave a mischievous grin. “You promised me ice cream.” She said but it came out more like a demand.
Yunho rolled his eyes. “I knew you wouldn’t forget about that.” He said with a wide grin. “You’re so predictable.”
“Am not.” Suzy protested. “Fine, then guess what I have on my mind right now?”
He smirked and looked at Suzy directly in the eye. “You’re trying to think what flavor ice cream you want, aren’t you?”
Suzy’s mouth opened in a gap and shifted her gaze around the room. “Nooo,” she dragged out her response.
“You’re lying, I can see through you like paper.” Yunho teased.
“Oh look! The elevator’s here!” Suzy said all too loudly as she went inside. She was clearly in denial.
When they reached the ice cream shop, they got their ice cream and decided that they would go home instead of sitting there to eat since they had a lot of homework that day.
As they were walking, Suzy turned to look at Yunho. “So why didn’t you drive today? You said you’d tell me later!” Suzy insisted on knowing again.
“Because I want to spend more time with you. Driving is too fast, walking is more slow and steady, don’t you think?” Yunho asked back, turning to look at her.
Suzy was stunned at his answer, and felt herself warm up regardless of how cold the ice cream was in her mouth and stomach. She felt her cheeks light up a little with a small smile plastered on her face. She looked at him but didn’t give an answer, instead all she said was, “Let me try some of yours!” She took her spoon and scooped some ice cream from Yunho’s cone and ran off.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
“Yunho, dinner time.” Yunho’s mom knocked on his door a few times.
“Coming.” Yunho called back out. He turned off the light in his room and headed downstairs.
Yunho’s dad was sitting at the head table, and turned to see Yunho. “So Yunho, I heard you went to the doctor’s with Suzy today?” He asked.
Yunho nodded his head. “Yeah.”
“How is her condition? Any better?” Yunho’s mom asked.
Yunho nodded his head with a big smile. “Yeah, the doctor said the clot is actually decreasing, but really slowly though.” Yunho’s parents looked at each other and smiled, it didn’t happen everyday that Yunho smiled so big.
---------------------------------------------------------------
“Yeah,” Suzy said happily. “The doctor said I only have to keep up the cheerfulness and happiness in me, then I’d be seeing colours again in no time!” Suzy’s parents exchanged grins, predicting what her source of happiness had been lately.
Suzy’s mom smiled proudly at her daughter. “That’s my optimistic daughter!” She picked up a piece of drumstick and put it in Suzy’s bowl. “Here, have a drumstick, it’s your favorite.”
“Thanks mom.” Suzy said cheekily like a little kid.
Suzy’s dad smiled as he too, picked some carrots and put it in Suzy's bowls. “And carrots help with eyesight too, you’ll need lots of that to help you out.” He grinned.
“Thanks dad.” Suzy said with a big smile.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
The next day at school, Yoochun was walking and turning a corner, when he heard a voice talking. He looked and saw that it was Marco, so he quickly hid behind the wall, and eavesdropped a little.
“Hey baby, don’t worry, I’ve already broken up with her.” Marco cooed over the phone.
Yoochun made a face when he heard that. ‘He is such a faker.’ He thought as he rolled his eyes at his sweet-talking. ‘So bad at sweet talking too.’ He commented inside his head.
“Yes, I’ll meet you today after school at four at the theater near my school ok?” Marco asked. “Alright, I’ll see you later then.” He ended his phone conversation and walked away in the other direction.
Yoochun came out from the corner and stared at Marco’s back, shaking his head. Then he thought of an idea and smirked. “Marco, you should get karma for what you did.”
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Hero and Kristine were still not exactly talking as much, which didn’t help at all now that HyoJoo goes to their school. Kristine would occasionally bump into Hero in the hall and they would look at each other, but Kristine would usually walk off hastily.
Hero was getting frustrated over the fact that Kristine was avoiding him. He felt that she was avoiding him. He tried to call her, but she won’t pick up his calls or text him back to his messages.
He was stressing out during lunchtime, he hadn’t seen for for two whole days already and it was already killing him. He missed her.
“Hey Hero, what’s wrong? You don’t look happy.” Hyo Joo asked as she took a seat adjacent to him. She felt his forehead. “You’re not sick.” She stated.
Hero pushed her hand away gently. “Just, leave me alone.” He said with a low voice, not wanting to hurt her.
“It’s me isn’t it?” Hyo Joo sighed. “If you want, I can always explain to Kristine that there’s nothing between us.” She offered, staring away from him in guilt.
He looked at her and shook his head. “No, it’s ok. Don’t worry about it.” Hero said. He got up. “I’m going or i'll take a walk, see you later.” With that he walked off, leaving Hyo Joo sitting at the table staring at him and feeling hurt.
Hero walked outside and sat down under a random tree. He closed his eyes and breathed in the fresh air then exhaled as if he is letting out all his frustrations and problems.
When he opened his eyes, he saw Kristine walking out the door and her eyes met his eyes instantly. She stopped walking and he got up slowly, their eyes still staring at each other yearningly.
They both smiled and advanced towards each other, as if a pair of ex-lovers, except they were worse. Technically they hadn’t broken up yet, yet it seems like they did.
“Hey.” She said, trying to sound casual but the coarse tone didn’t fail to come out with her words.
Hero smiled. “Kristine, I – I just wanted to apologize for that night… I know my tone was a little harsh…” He said, desperately wanting to patch up.
Kristine smiled with a fake smile. “It’s ok, don’t worry about it… I mean I think this way between us is cool. We’re still friends right?” She said suggesting something.
Hero grabbed her arms. “Kristine, no, I don’t want us to end… please.” He begged her. “I really missed you these past few days.”
Kristine twisted her arms gently, getting out of his grasp. “Hero, don’t be like this.” She said, fighting herself to hold her tears in, not allowing herself to show weakness.
Hero grabbed her into a hug. “Kristine… what can I do for you to accept me again then?”
Upon his hug, Kristine felt herself let loose and break free. “Do you know how insecure I have felt ever since Hyo Joo came into the picture? I knew from that day you bumped into her… there would be trouble. I’m not saying that she’s bad or anything, it’s just that I think… I don’t know, maybe it’s not working out between us.” She said at last. “The insecure feeling is really getting to me.” Kristine broke out of his hug and stared at him, with tear stains on her face.
“I’ll prove to you!” Hero said, his forehead with creases on them, showing his strain and mood. “I promise you, I’ll prove it to you, just stay with me.”
Kristine stared at him and lowered her eyes on the ground. “I … I’ll wait until you can prove it to me.” She said.
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Yoochun went around the school, searching for Dambi. When he finally found her, he quickly dragged her out to the hall.
Dambi frowned. “I was talking to someone back there!” She said, mad at the way he just came in and dragged her out.
Yoochun shook his head. “No, this is really important, do you have time today after school?”
“Are you asking me out on a date?!” Dambi asked in disbelief. “I thought I told you I had a boyfriend already.” She clarified to him.
Yoochun shook his head once again. “As much as I want to go on a date with you, no. This time it’s really important, you have to come with me and see something for yourself.” He said firmly.
Dambi sensed his seriousness for the first time and reluctantly agreed. “Okay then.”
“Meet me today after school at the front gates of the school ok?” Yoochun asked and she nodded her head cautiously. “I’ll see you today then, I have to go now, remember, don’t be late!” He reminded her again and turned around to hurry down the halls.
Dambi tilted her head to the side, wondering what was up with him.
------------------------------------------------------------
Suzy was in art class again, sitting at the window. She stared out the window and saw that Yunho was playing basketball again in the court. She observed as he played professionally like a real basketball player. Although he wasn’t a match against the all-star basketball player Changmin, he was still really good.
At one point, she saw him look up and meet her eyes. He grinned as he waved at her. She smiled back, but didn’t wave back as she didn’t want to get in trouble. She held up her sketchbook, hinting him that she was in arts class. Yunho smiled and continued to play.
During class time as she was drawing, she felt a little vibrate in her pocket and took out her cell phone. She saw that it was a text from Yunho. She looked up to make sure the teacher wasn’t looking before opening it to read what he wrote.
-hey, did u draw a picture of me again?
Suzy giggled silently seeing his text. She couldn’t believe the teacher had posted that picture of him though, or else he won’t be so cheeky around her and teasing her all the time.
Szuy hit the ‘reply’ button and texted him back.
-u wish, that was only once I drew u! >:P
Seconds later his reply came in.
-haha ok, I won’t bother u draw then, see u later k?
Suzy smiled and texted him back.
-ok
After sending him the last text, she suddenly had a new idea of what to draw. She flipped the page to her current sketch to a fresh new blank page and started drawing a new idea.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
After Yoochun waited impatiently for Dambi to show up, he was almost afraid she wouldn’t show up. When he finally saw her, he heaved a sigh of relief.
When she approached him, she stared at him with a questioning face. “I’m here, now what?”
Yoochun didn’t bother replying her and quickly took her hand and dragged her along with him. Finally, they reached their destination – the theater.
Dambi was getting really suspicious of Yoochun now. She planted both her hands on her hips. “So you brought me to the theater, saying you had something really im–“ Before Dambi finished her sentence, Yoochun placed his hand over her mouth, hushing her as he brought a finger to his lips. Dambi glared at him some more.
Yoochun pushed her a little to the side to hide behind a wall as she tried her best to resist but it didn’t help. Yoochun let her stand in the front, her back to him and pointed to a figure waiting by the door as another figure approached the first figure. Yoochun let go of his hand and warned Dambi once again. “Make sure you’re quiet.”
The two figures kissed each other and turned around to head inside the theater to buy their tickets. When Dambi saw who the two figures were, she let out a gasp, but covered her mouth with her hands. She turned to look at Yoochun with wide-eyes.
Yoochun nodded his head. “I told you so, you didn’t believe me though. Even if you want to reject me, please go with someone who’s worth you.” He scolded her for being so naïve.
Dambi grabbed onto Yoochun’s hands, which surprised him. “Let’s go in, I’m going to give him a lesson.” She said with determination. “I want to see just how he will explain himself.”
But just as they entered the theater, they saw Marco and the same girl as Yoochun bumped into the other day, buying popcorn and Marco whispering things in her ears while she only giggled and slapped him in the chest.
Dambi marched up to them with Yoochun following. “Marco.” She called out.
When Marco turned around and came face-to-face with Dambi, he was shocked. “Da…Dambi.” He stuttered.
“Yeah, surprised to see me here to catch you two-timing on me?!” She asked, getting angrier each second.
The girl quickly got out of his grasp as well and glared at him. “What?! You told me you broke up with that girl already!!” She said, also getting angry.
Dambi looked at the girl, who was equally as angry as she was and knew she was also a victim. “Yeah Marco, explain yourself huh? Why are you lying to two girls at once?!” She said, advancing to him, poking his chest at the same time with the other girl standing beside her.
Marco didn’t know what to say but when he noticed Yoochun standing there behind Dambi, he narrowed his eyes to a glare. “Hey you!” He barked at him. “You planned this didn’t you?!” He accused Yoochun.
Yoochun gave a disbelief face, “Me? I don’t have time to plan anything against you. You get what you deserve, you all brought this along with you.” He said with disgust.
Dambi looked at Marco and gave him a slap across his face. “That’s for two timing me.” She gave him another slap. “And that’s for blaming other people when you’re the one who’s done something wrong.” She looked over at the girl, and waited for her to slap him as well.
She held up her hand, hesitating whether to slap him or not. Dambi rolled her eyes and did the slapping for her. “This final one is for the other girl you lied to. Don’t let me see you ever again.” She warned him before walking off.
Yoochun walked up to him and gave him a punch in the stomach before walking out after Dambi. The other girl shook her head and walked out sobbing.
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Back at the school, Yunho was waiting for Suzy at her locker, but it had already past fifteen minutes and he was getting worried.
He started going around the school, looking for her. He stopped in his tracks, and decided to go check the art room to see if she was staying to finish her drawing.
As he had guessed, he saw her sitting at her desk by the window, concentrating deeply at her drawing. He leaned against the door and smiled, admiring her serious side.
When Suzy looked up, she was surprised to see Yunho standing by the door. “Hey, what are you doing here?”
Yunho stepped inside the classroom and walked towards her. “You dare ask, I was so worried about you, you could’ve texted me to tell me you were staying behind to finish your art.”
Suzy leaned over to give him a peck on the cheeks. “Sorry.” She apologized. “I promise there won’t be a next time?” She gave him a cute smile in which he let out a smile upon seeing that.
“Wait, I’ll go pack up now, I can do this at home.” She said as she closed her sketchbook and grabbed her pencil case.
As they were walking down the street, hand in hand, they were enjoying the radiant winter-spring sun shining on them.
“So, what are you planning to do this weekend?” Yunho asked Suzy.
Suzy turned her head to look at Yunho with her head tilted to the side. “Why are you asking me that?”
Yunho smiled. “Well, I was wondering… we’ve never really been out on a real date before, and I just wanted to ask if you’re not busy, then we can go on a date?” He suggested.
Suzy gave a cute smug smile. “So you’re asking me out on a date?” She said, a little shyly.
Yunho nodded his head while he chuckled. “Yes Miss. Rances, would you like to accompany me this weekend then?”
Suzy giggled and nodded her head. “Sure, weekend sounds great.” She smiled nonchalantly.
Chapter 11
Playing Hard to Get
==========It was Thursday after school and Kristine, Suzy and Alyce were finally spending time together after what seemed like ages. They sat down at the food court in the mall with their shopping bags on the side.
Kristine smiled with satisfaction. “I feel so much more better now.” She sighed as she leaned back in her chair, tapping her index on her chin, wondering what she should eat now.
“I guess it’s true when they say shopping can cure a broken heart.” Alyce said jokingly but only to earn a slap on the arm by Suzy and Kristine pouting at her.
“I didn’t officially break up with Hero yet.” She clarified. “He’s still yet to prove to me.” She said with a sweet smile, feeling warm when she mentioned Hero.
Suzy rolled her eyes. “I told you she’s still in love with Hero! She won’t be mad at her that easily.” Suzy stated as if she was a professional.
Alyce smirked at Suzy knowingly. “Look who’s talking, the one who’s oh-so-very-sweet with her boyfriend now.” She teased.
Suzy’s eyes wandered everywhere guiltily. “Oh look, I think I might want burger today! Or no, fries maybe? I should eat something light, I’m eating dinner at home…” She asked aloud, changing the topic.
Kristine was still deciding what to eat. “I feel like… having sushi today!” She exclaimed happily after a few minutes of indecisiveness.
Alyce grinned when she saw what she had already wanted. “I have a craving for stir-fry today. Shall we then ladies?” She asked, holding up an arm.
The other two nodded and they all brought their fists down, playing a game of rock-paper-scissors to decide who stays behind to watch the stuff and who goes to buy the food.
It turned out Alyce won over both of them so she headed off to buy her food and Kristine won Suzy, so she was going to buy Suzy and her lunch while Suzy stays behind to watch their stuff.
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When Suzy got home, she saw they had guests over at their house and smiled when she saw Yunho, and his parents sitting on their couch. She smiled politely at the adults in the living room talking. “Mom, dad, auntie, uncle and Yunho hi.” She greeted everyone.
Yunho also smiled when he saw Suzy come back home. He was feeling out of the circle with the parents having their adult talk.
Suzy’s mom saw that Yunho was happy to see Suzy, “Yunho, why don’t you accompany Suzy to her room since we’re just having some adult talk here?” She suggested.
Yunho smiled and excused himself as he left the living with Suzy to go to her room, helping her carry her bags.
When they got upstairs he looked at Suzy teasingly. “So why do girls enjoy shopping so much? Look!” He held up the bags he was holding for Suzy and gave a sloppy grin.
Suzy frowned. “Hey, it’s not only a girls’ thing. I’m sure there are some guys out there who enjoy shopping just as much as girls do!” She defended herself. “Besides, I finally got some time to spend with Kristine and Alyce. It seems like ages since I’ve last talked to them.” She said with a happy smile on her face.
Yunho chuckled. “You see them everyday at school!” He argued back.
“Jung Yunho, are you trying to argue with me?” She asked in a cute way, planting her hands on her hips like a demanding little girl.
He shook his head with a grin. “No, but it seems like you are the way you are standing right now.” He said, nodding her posture.
Suzy rolled her eyes “Ok, fine. So why are you guys here tonight?” She asked.
“I don’t know, it’s always been a parents thing going to other people’s house for dinner and occasionally inviting others.” He shrugged. “There might not be any occasion, just a gathering, like you and Kristine and Alyce today.” He guessed.
Suzy thought about it. “Oh, I guess that’s right. So, the people your parents invite to your house, does that include pretty daughters?” She asked suspiciously with her eyes narrowed at Yunho while leaning closer to him, closing the gap between them.
Yunho smirked like he did the first time Suzy had seen him at the restaurant. “Why, are you jealous?”
Suzy snapped out of her posture, turned around and shrugged. “No, but I think I have a right to ask my boyfriend that question.” She said bluntly before she can realize what she said just gave away her answer.
“It’s ok, you know I wouldn’t like them anyways.” He said, giving her a hug from behind. She giggled when she heard him say that, feeling a rush of giddiness inside.
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As Kristine went home, she saw a bouquet of gorse flowers outside her front steps. She frowned as she picked it up. “Who would give me a bouquet of gorse flowers?” She asked herself out loud as she picked it up. “Or did they drop it off at the wrong house?” She looked around to see if there was anyone.
She realized there was a card tucked in the midst of the flowers. She pulled out carefully, not wanting to hurt the delicate flowers. She opened the card and started reading what was written inside it. “Dear Kristine, I sent you these gorse flowers instead of the cliché red roses because gorse stands for ‘love in all season’ in flower-language and I want you to know that’s how I feel with you. Roses aren’t enough to express myself. I’d love you more than just all season, an eternity forever is more like it. Please forgive me, I want to spend every valentines day from now on with you and only you. Love, Hero.”
She put the bouquet of flowers down on her dining table and sat down on the chair. She felt herself touched by his words. She let out a small, infatuated smile at first but it eventually grew out to be a big smile she knew meant she had already forgiven him.
Kristine sighed as she leaned back in her chair and stared at the ceiling. “Am I too soft-hearted? I’m such a hopeless romance.” She scolded herself or being weak as a girl, especially when it’s the guy who did something wrong in the first place.
But she knew that Hero really loved her deeply, so she’ll let it slide this time. If Hero didn’t care for her, he wouldn’t be that desperate to explain to her in the first place.
Kristine gave another giddy smile before picking up the gorse flowers and her belongings up to her room. Then she thought of a way to get back at Hero, not make him jealous but pretend she still didn’t forgive him yet – that is what he deserves.
Kristine grabbed her pajamas and skipped her way to the bathroom to shower before getting her beauty sleep, getting ready to face Hero tomorrow and become his girlfriend once again.
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“Hey Dambi… you okay?” Yoochun asked the next day at school caringly as he gently laid his hand on her shoulder.
Dambi looked up at Yoochun, her eyes showed evident she still cried over Marco, and it literally tear Yoochun’s heart apart. What was so good about Marco that she had to cry over him?!
“I… I don’t know…” She choked over her own words as she felt tears hanging from the brim of her eyes by a thread on the verge of falling down on her face once again. “It hurts though.” She sniffled. “We were together for so long, and my first love. I can’t believe he’d do something like that.” She said, her eyes staring up, trying to prevent her tears from falling down.
“It’s ok, you did great though, you showed him that you were strong, you didn’t show any weaknesses in front of him.” Yoochun said gently. “If there’s anything, you can come look for me anytime ok?” He offered. “A shoulder to cry on, someone to talk to, you have me.” He said.
Dambi looked at him, her expression unreadable. “Thanks Yoochun, I should’ve believed you at first.” When she thanked him, she was grateful but her tone went to regret when she mentioned how she didn’t believe him at first. “I even doubted you, and… told you off by saying I trust him.” She said, biting her lips, trying not to cry. “I can’t believe it.” She said, holding a finger to her teeth and biting on her finger.
“Shh, it’s ok.” Yoochun said, wrapping an arm around her shoulder, bringing her closer to him, giving her half a hug.
Dambi allowed herself to lean on Yoochun for support as she dug her head in his shoulders, crying quietly.
Out of nowhere, Gretchen came around the corner and immediately halted when she saw Dambi crying on Yoochun’s shoulders, with Yoochun hugging her from the side. She gasped and her books dropped on the ground making a loud ‘bang’ sound, catching everyone’s attention, including Yoochun.
Gretchen’s mouth opened to a gap, still stunned. She quickly recollected herself together when she met Yoochun’s eyes, staring back at her. She bent down and quickly gathered her books, hugging it close to her chest. She looked at Yoochun one last time before making a one eighty turn and running back around the corner she just came out of, and quickly hid herself, leaning against the wall. The cold brick wall against her wall was nothing compared to her heart, which felt like it dropped from a high building, just like when you fall down from a roller coaster in a high distance.
Yoochun saw Gretchen run away, and wanted to go run after her to see if she was okay, but with Dambi still crying on her shoulder, he was unable to move. In the end, he stayed where he was, comforting Dambi and eventually, Gretchen had gotten off his mind.
While on the other side of the corner, Gretchen felt herself wanting to cry. She felt the tears forming in her eyes as her eyesight become slightly blurry from the tears already forming. She quickly wiped it away with the back of her hands, trying not to seem like she cried.
Gretchen took a deep breath and sneaked a peek from the corner and saw that Yoochun was now comforting Dambi. She smiled bitterly. ‘I guess they’re together now.’ She thought to herself. She flattened out her clothes and gathered her posture, as if starting afresh. ‘You knew he’s always liked Dambi, he only saw you as a friend.’ She scolded herself mentally. ‘Now, just try and act normal and stay away from Yoochun.’ She warned herself.
Gretchen also made a mental note to herself that if she ever ran into Yoochun unfortunately, make sure she congratulate him for his wish to come true.
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Everyone had heard the gossip about what Marco did. News spread around really quickly around their school especially when Marco was one of the popular figures at school and Dambi being the cute girl at school.
Alyce sighed as she heard what happened. “I can’t believe he’d do that though, he’s such a jerk.” She shook her head and glared at Changmin. “If you ever did that to me, I would swear I would never talk to you ever again and possibly murder you.” She warned.
Suzy slapped Alyce on the arm. “You won’t be able to, you’d love him too much. But I feel so bad for Dambi. Not to mention that was her first love too. It must’ve hurt.” She said pitifully. “First love is always a soft point for girls.” Suzy said matter-of-factly.
Yunho pouted upon hearing that. “Am I not your first love?” He asked like a innocent boy who just realized Santa Claus doesn’t exist.
She shook her head. “You are, but I’m just saying. It would for girls, first love mean the most to them.” She said, with her lips curved up a little on the left side of her mouth.
Kristine approached them and took a seat, feeling exhausted. “Oh my god, it’s overwhelming.” She complained.
Everyone at the lunch table looked at her in confusion. “What’s overwhelming?” Suzy asked.
“This!” Kristine exclaimed as she pulled out 5 gorses’ from behind her back.
Alyce wrinkled her nose. “Why do you have a 5 flowers with you?” She took one of the flowers. “Do you have a secret admirer?” She asked, getting excited.
Kristine shook her head. “No, it’s all from Hero. Everywhere I go, some random students would come up to me and give me a gorse, telling me to forgive Hero.” She stated.
Suzy giggled. “And you’re complaining from that? I think it’s cute.” She expressed her opinion, with Alyce nodding her head in agreement.
“Yeah, this had got to be the first time I’ve seen Hero so serious about a girl I have to say." Yunho admitted. “I’ve never seen him care so much for other girls.”
Upon hearing that, Kristine’s facial expression softened and questioned herself if she was going too far now.
“That’s true.” Changmin chimed in. “Hero has been really frustrated the past few days when you didn’t talk to him. He hasn’t been eating properly and when he plays basketball with us, he’d get hit with the ball because he’s so out of it!” Changmin complained. “He’s not functioning properly, forgive the poor boy Selina.” Changmin urged.
Kristine looked at Changmin then at Yunho and then at Suzy and finally at Alyce. All of them nodded their head in encouragement. Kristine bit her lip and pondered for a few minutes, finally she stood up, ready to look for Hero.
“Wait!” Changmin stopped Kristine. “Here, bring him this, he’ll eat it if you tell him to.” Changmin held out a sandwich and Kristine took with a smile.
“Thanks, I’ll see you guys later then.” Kristine quickly bided her byes and headed off to search for Hero.
It didn’t take long before Kristine finally found Hero. She saw Hyo Joo trying to get Hero to eat something but he tried to shrug it off, ignoring her. She felt herself smile at seeing him so faithful and living up to his words.
“Hero!” She called out and both Hyo Joo and Hero turned to look at her.
Hyo Joo noticed when Kristine called Hero, his face immediately lightened up. She felt that she wasn’t as important to him anymore and she finally realized that she had missed him before and now he found someone better. When Hero was walking towards Kristine, she walked off by herself.
Hero smiled like a dork as he approached Kristine. “Hey Kristine.” He said almost out of breath.
Kristine looked at him and hit him on the head lightly. “Why are you being so stupid? How can you not eat properly?” She scolded as she held out the sandwich in her hands. “Here, eat this sandwich.” She offered.
Hero’s eyes literally popped open when Kristine offered her the sandwich. “Does that mean… you forgive me then??” He asked excitedly.
Kristine didn’t reply but only urged him to take the sandwich by thrusting the sandwich closer to him. “Take it.” She insisted.
Hero didn’t want to push it any further so he just took it silently and ate it, while Kristine sat down beside him. “You are so silly. I got your flowers already yesterday, you didn’t have to waste money sending me more today.”
Kristine got up and started to walk off. Hero also got to his feet quickly. “So what does that mean?! Do you forgive me or no?”
Kristine didn’t turn around, but halted on the spot. “If only you stop telling others to give me the flowers. It’s embarrassing having random people come up to me giving me flowers out of nowhere.” She said, before continuing walking down the hall back to the cafeteria. As she walked off, she felt herself giggling silently, a smile not leaving her face.
Hero also had a dorky grin on his face, knowing that Kristine’s answer already told him she forgave him. He quickly picked up his bag on the floor and ran to catch up with Kristine.
Chapter 12
Single Awareness Day.
==========Today was finally Saturday, a day many couples have been waiting for – Valentine’s Day. Suzy woke up early in the morning, unable to sleep because today, she was going on an official date with Yunho.
She woke up early in the morning to get dressed. She called her mom in her room, asking her to pick a dress with a nice colour for her.
In the end, according to what her mom told her, she was in a pink sundress. The weather outside was just nice, sunny and warm, a perfect day to go on a date.
Suzy had butterflies in her stomach all morning just waiting for Yunho to pick her up. It was after all, her first ‘official’ date with Yunho.
She felt herself giggling like a little girl just thinking of what he might have planned for them. It was then when she realized that she was really in love with Yunho.
Finally, Yunho had arrived after what seemed like ages to Suzy and the two of them left together.
“So what are we doing now?” Suzy asked Yunho eagerly.
Yunho looked over at Suzy and chuckled. “You’ll see.” He stated simply, playing a mysterious role.
“Curiosity kills the cat.” Suzy pouted. “But I’ll trust you this time.” She said with a cute smile.
“Ha.” Yunho laughed. “You’ll like it for sure.” He said reassuringly.
A few minutes later, Suzy couldn’t resist asking again. “Are you really not going to tell me?” she whined in a cute way.
As much as Yunho wanted to tell her, he wanted to give her a surprise, because he was sure she’d like it. He grabbed her hand and squeezed it tightly for a few moments. “Just hold on, you’ll see.” He gave her a quick grin. “Just know that you will love that place ok?” He reassured her once again.
“Ok then.” Suzy pouted once again, defeated by Yunho.
Although she wanted to know where they were heading too, she didn’t exactly want Yunho to tell her. She liked the way Yunho was being secretive, it was really sweet of him, and mysterious.
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Kristine woke up to the ringing of her cell phone on her table. She groaned as she rolled over to the side of her head, and grabbed her cell phone to pick up whoever called her that early in the morning. She rubbed her eyes before clicking on the button. “Hello?” She asked in a mumbling voice as much as she tried to sound awake.
Hero, the one who called Kristine, chuckled when he heard her still in a sleepy mode. “Hey, today’s valentines’ day, shouldn’t you be awake and baking me something?” He joked.
Kristine felt herself feeling embarrassed having pointed out she wasn’t exactly being a good girlfriend. “Who says I don’t have something for you? Of course I do, I made a cake! Yesterday too!” She defended herself, but ended up biting her lips. The truth was, she didn’t have anything done.
Hero was surprised. “Oh, then I’ll come over in about an hour or so? I have to help my mom with some things first, and then I’ll head over ok?” Hero said, “then we can hang out or go out and do something from there?” He asked.
Kristine nodded her head even though Hero couldn’t see her. “Sure, that sounds good. Take your time.” Kristine stated, silently praying he would take her advice and take his time.
“It’s nothing big, probably take me half an hour maybe, so I’ll see you later.” He said and Kristine bided her goodbye.
After she hung up, she sat up straight on her bed and wailed. “Why do I have such a big mouth? I don’t know how to bake a cake!” She sighed. “If I buy it from a store, he would know for sure I didn’t do it.” Kristine bit her lips as she started pacing back and forth in her room.
Sighing, Kristine went over to her computer and started to search for a cake recipe – preferably a quickly and easy recipe, one that she can make in… half an hour.
She scanned over the list of websites quickly and finally found a nice recipe online which sounded easy enough. “Chocolate Cake – even the name sounds simple enough!” Kristine cheered, feeling a bit of confident in herself.
She quickly got off her computer and changed into some casual clothes, before heading downstairs to see if she had all the ingredients she needed to use. Her parents weren’t home for the weekend as they told her they wanted to spend their thirtieth Valentine’s Day alone on a vacation, so she had the house all to herself.
As she gathered all the ingredients together, she realized that she was missing the most important one of all – the icing. What is a cake without icing on top right? She sighed and decided she would make a quick run to the corner store while the cake was cooling.
She carefully read the instructions while she mixed the ingredients together. Just as she finished mixing all the ingredients together, the doorbell rang.
“Darn.” She said, “I thought I could make it.” She pouted as she trudged to the front door, ready to be laughed at by Hero.
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Yoochun was walking down the street aimlessly, staring at all the couples around him.
“Am I the only single person left in this world?” He asked himself aloud, unaware that he was speaking out loud. "Valentine's Day shouldn't be called Valentine's Day, it should be called Single Awareness Day." Yoochun complained in conclusion.
He sighed as he sat down on a random bench when he passed by a park.
He stared at the children running around the playground. A little girl was running but she tripped over a small rock and ended up falling down. Her knee had been scraped and was slightly bleeding, then a little boy around her age quickly run over worriedly and was talking to her.
After a few moments of speaking, the little boy got up and bent down a little, and the little girl climbed on his back, getting a piggy-ride from the little boy.
Yoochun scowled and felt like a Grinch on Christmas. “Even little kids are coupled up, what world is this?!” He muttered in jealousy.
He got up and decided to leave, not wanting to see anymore cute little couples running around innocently holding hands.
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Changmin was waiting for Alyce by the theater to go see a movie. He checked his watch for the umpteenth time. Alyce had never been late for their date before, well she wasn’t late yet, but she was usually around ten or fifteen minutes early, it was five minutes to their set time. Their movie was going to start in twenty minutes.
Finally, Changmin saw Alyce hurrying through the front gate and rushing over towards him. His worries all slipped over his mind and his eyes was shocked, mouth hung open.
Alyce approached him and gave a small smile. “Sorry I’m late…” Alyce looked down at her foot and the ground. “I… wanted to dress up a little for our date today.” She said cheekily.
Changmin realized he was still stunned and quickly snapped out of it. “You… look amazing today Alyce.” He said genuinely as he leaned over to give her a kiss on the lips to greet her before taking her hand and going to line up to buy the tickets.
Alyce blushed when Changmin praised her. It was true she never really dressed up, that’s why she felt like it today, especially on Valentine’s Day. It’s supposed to be a special day.
“I was hanging out with the girls on Thursday, and they advised me to dress up a little for Valentine’s Day since it’s supposed to be special. Do you like it?” Alyce asked shyly.
Today, it seemed like Alyce was more of a girly personality. Usually, she would be the cool, fearless and protective type, but today, she played a totally different role. Although unused to it, Changmin enjoyed how he was more of the dominant one today.
“Yes, I’d like it even more if guys weren’t staring at you all the time though.” He said, eyeing their surrounding.
Alyce giggled hearing a jealous Changmin speak. It was definitely amusing to her. “Well guys would only be looking because your girlfriend is something to look at.” She whispered, trying to be optimistic.
Changmin smiled and gave her another kiss. “Of course, you’ve always been as pretty as today to me.”
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When they finally arrived,Suzy was asleep in the car. Yunho chuckled when he saw her head against the window. He was starting to wonder what she was thinking when the car ride became a little quiet.
“Suzy, we’re here.” Yunho gently shook her awake. “Wake up sleepyhead.” He said in a soothing tone.
Suzy rubbed her eyes as she stirred awake. When she heard that they had arrived she quickly sat up excitedly. “Really?” She looked around and gasped. “Yunho!!!” She said, grabbing his arm and flinging it around enthusiastically. “I LOVE YOU!!” She cried out loud, expressing her love.
“Of course you do.” Yunho smiled. “I know you well enough so know what you would like and not like.” He smiled teasingly as Suzy blushed.
She quickly exited the car as Yunho followed and went over to her side, taking her hand in his and heading towards the carnival. Yes, as childish as it seems, carnivals were one of Suzy’s favorite places to go, because there, it is like going back to your childhood.
After entering and paying for the admission, Suzy looked around with large eyes, as if being released into the wild.
“Where should we go first?!” She asked, tapping her chin,
Yunho shrugged. “I don’t mind, you pick. You have the choices today, I’ve never really been to a carnival much before.” He said casually while taking a whole glimpse at the carnival rides and stands.
Suzy gaped at Yunho in surprise. “You mean, you’ve never been to the carnival before?!”
“Well, I have… maybe once or twice, but it was a long, long time ago so I don’t even remember.” He said. “But it’s ok, you can be the tour guide today and show me around.” He said with a cute smile. “Since it seems like you always come here.” He pinched her nose as he wrinkled his own nose to match hers.
Suzy frowned in a joking way. “Hey, that’s not true I haven’t been here in a long time. But I just like carnivals, that’s all!” She stared at Yunho with a big smile. “We can explore it again together! Just the two of us.” She said the last sentence in a lighter voice, almost as if she was shy.
Yunho grinned and tightened his grip around Suzy’s hands. “Well, why don’t we start off with that roller coaster then!” He said, his eyes sparkling with excitement. He rarely had that look on his face.
“That looks so scary!!” Suzy wailed and whined as Yunho led her to the roller coaster, to be specific, it was more like dragging her to the roller coaster.
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When Kristine opened the door, it was her neighbor from next door. She was an old granny whom lived by herself and occasionally, her grandchildren and children would visit.
“Hi, dear.” She greeted Kristine warmly.
Kristine smiled. “Hi, is there anything wrong?” She asked worriedly.
She shook her head with a short laugh and held out an envelope. “Oh no, no, there is just a mail for your parents that the mailman accidentally got mixed up with mine I suppose. So I’m here to give it to you. I see you’re busy baking, so I will leave you alone then dear.” She said as Kristine took the envelope. “Bye now.” She turned around and walked slowly down the steps while gripping on the handrail so she won’t fall.
Kristine closed the door in relief. “Phew, thank god that wasn’t Hero.” She quickly hurried back to the kitchen and finished off her mixing. All she had to do was make sure the butter was mixed well and put it into the oven to bake and then wait.
Just as she was about to take the cake out of the oven, her doorbell rang again. She frowned, wondering whom it can be this time.
When she opened the door, She can face to face with a smiling Hero. He leaned and gave her a kiss on the lips before entering the house and Kristine closing the door behind him.
After taking off his shoes, he sniffed the air. “Hm, what smells so good here? It almost smells like… baking.” He said with an eyebrow raised, questioningly.
Kristine let out an embarrassed smile. “I was baking you a cake…” She said in a quiet voice, almost too embarrassed to say it out loud.
Hero chuckled and pinched her nose. “It’s ok, I knew you wouldn’t be getting me anything.” He shrugged casually, he didn’t really mind at all to be honest. “Because the best Valentine’s Day gift for me this year is your forgiveness.” He said giving her a tight hug.
The moment seemed to last forever, until Kristine smelled something burning. “Oh no!! My cake!!” She groaned as she quickly got out of Hero’s embrace and ran towards the kitchen with Hero following close behind.
After she took out the cake, Hero and Kristine both stared at the lump of dark brown ‘thing’ in front of their eyes. Kristine frowned, not happy with the result.
“I spent so much time on it too.” She said sadly as she took the plate and went towards the garbage can to dump it out.
When she dumped it out and brought the plate back to the table, she sat down with her elbows propped on the table, feeling bummed out.
Hero smiled. “Hey, how about we bake another cake? A perfect one this time?” Hero suggested. “Then we can enjoy it after together, and it’d be like our masterpiece together.” Hero said happily.
Kristine lifted her head from her palms and stared at Hero. “Do you know how to bake?” She asked uncertainly.
“You don’t know until you’ve tried.” Hero stated with a wink as he got to the counter and quickly cleared it off, ready to bake another one.
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Yoochun walked around but he doesn’t seem to be in his best mood. Everywhere he goes is filled with red, pink or hearts.
He decided to find Gretchen and chill with her for a while instead. It would have probably sucked the most for Gretchen since she had to work on Valentine’s Day. She will most likely be exposed to more couples or they might even stay in the café, snuggling with each other while enjoying a drink together, sharing it.
Yoochun shivered at the thought of a sweet couple. Only those who are single would be feeling bitter and lonely on a day like this.
As Yoochun headed towards the café he was deep in thoughts. ‘Why is Gretchen the first person that comes to mind?’ He wondered. ‘Maybe because we’re both lonely and single people on Valentine’s Day.’ He sighed once again.
Since Yoochun was deep in thoughts, he didn’t realize he had bump into someone until the impact he felt against his shoulder and the soft cry from the other party.
“Oomph.” The other person cried out softly when they ran into each other.
“Oh I’m sorry.” Yoochun said apologetically, hoping that person was ok.
When the person looked up, Yoochun and that person were both surprised to see each other.
“Dambi?” asked in a surprised tone. “What are you doing here?”
Dambi let a confused face. “Yoochun? Well, I’m here… just by myself, I was going to go buy a takeout for dinner, that’s all.”
Yoochun took a quick glance at his watch. “Wow, it’s already this late?” He asked in disbelief. Dambi nodded her head with a smile.
“What are you doing here?” It was her turn to ask Yoochun now.
Yoochun smiled. “Well same as you, except I didn’t plan on getting dinner just yet, I was walking around. But speaking of dinner, I am feeling a bit hungry!” He said with a laugh while patting his stomach lightly.
Dambi smiled and let out a small laugh. “Well, how about we go out for dinner together then? Since we’re both heading for dinner anyways.” She offered. “And I can thank you for warning me about Marco I guess.”
Yoochun raised an eyebrow. “Are you over him already?”
Dambi shrugged. “Well it’s not really matter of getting over him or not. Yes we have been going out for a long time… but someone like him shouldn’t be worth my time being sad over.” She said with a bright smile. “I’m ok now.”
Yoochun let out an extremely genuine smile, glad that she was over him now. Does that mean he has a chance now? His luck is definitely changing now. All he has to do is take some actions and maybe he will end up with his Cinderella in the end.
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When Changmin and Alyce were finished watching their movie, they went to their favorite restaurant for dinner to end their Valentine’s Day night. It had gone well so far, they watched an action and drama movie, a genre they both enjoyed watching.
“Wow, I love how the characters were so expressive!” Alyce gushed as they excited the theater.
Changmin nodded his head. “It was definitely a good movie. I’m glad you liked it.” He said with a warm smile as he put his arm around Alyce’s shoulders.
Alyce gave a big smile. “Of course, we both like the same genre movie, so if you like it, then of course I would like it. Likewise for you too, if I like it, then you would like it too right?” She directed the question to him.
Changmin nodded his head. “Yes, you are the smartest one of all, let’s go, I’m sure you’re getting hungry too right?” Changmin asked, removing his arm from Alyce’s shoulder and holding onto her hands like a normal couple.
Alyce nodded her head eagerly. “Yeah! I didn’t really eat anything ever since lunch before I left, so it’s about time I’m hungry now!” She said while laughing.
Changmin chuckled at her cuteness. That was one thing he loved about Alyce, she never failed to hide her true inner self and feelings.
They walked towards Changmin’s car hand in hand, laughing and talking amidst all the other couples on the busy night street.
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Finally, when it was dark and late, Yunho decided that it was time for them to go. Although Suzy didn’t want to leave yet, she still left with Yunho regardless of how much she wanted to continue going on all the rides. She would never get tired of here.
Yunho chuckled at her. “Are you sure you are almost becoming an adult?” He asked her in a teasing-jokingly way.
Suzy pouted. “There’s always the little kid inside me!” She said proud and triumphantly.
“If you want, I can take you here again.” Yunho suggested, knowing she would agree to it immediately.
Suzy’s eyes lit up under the streetlights in the dark night. “Really?! You promise me?” She asked enthusiastically.
Yunho nodded his head. “Yes, I promise ok?” He confirmed as he opened the car door for Suzy to go in.
“Wait!” Suzy quickly shouted. “I forgot the teddy bears inside!!” She said with a big pout. “Can we please go in and grab it?? I want to keep it.” She urged pleadingly.
“But it’s late and we are going to eat dinner, I don’t want you to starve.” He said patiently, as if he was talking to a little kid.
“But… I want to keep it because you won it for me…” Suzy said quietly with a sad expression.
Yunho heard her and smiled. “Ok fine, just for you.” The truth was that Suzy wanted to keep the teddy bears because he had won it for her. Although it didn’t take too much tries for Yunho to win her the teddy bears, she still treasured it. He was happy, he had never felt this way before with the other girlfriends he had. He would give them jewelery, clothing, and yet Suzy only got teddy bears and her reactions were the same. “You are such a simple-hearted girl.” Yunho said quietly under his breath.
After retrieving Suzy’s two life-sized teddy bears, they headed out to the car once again. Suzy held one in her arms while Yunho held the other one in his arm, their hands intertwined in the center.
“We have to treat them like little kids, we’ll be the parents for the night!” Suzy giggled as she proposed her silly idea. “And then, you’ll keep that and I’ll keep this one. So we can remember today, ok?” She asked, more like a command.
Yunho chuckled and smiled. “Ok.”
When they reached to the car, Yunho casually placed his teddy bear behind the driver’s seat and closed the door and opened the front door to go to his own seat.
Suzy frowned when she saw that and put her hands on her hips. “Yunho! You’re going to kill your kid if you don’t put a seatbelt on him.” She said sternly while her two hands planted on her hips. “You’re going to be a bad dad in the future.” She stated bluntly.
Yunho smirked upon hearing her words. “So you do want to be my wife in the future.” He concluded. He shut the driver seat door and opened the back to fasten the seatbelt around the chubby teddy bear.
Suzy stood there, face turning red, especially her ears. She had been caught off-guard by Yunho once again!
When Yunho finished shutting the back door from where he was, he looked up to see Suzy standing there. “Hey mommy, you need to fasten the seatbelt on your daughter.” He teased her as he opened the driver seat door and sat in, starting up the car.
Suzy quickly put the seatbelt around her teddy bear and sat in the passenger seat. “You are always picking on me.” She complained with a big pout. “That’s not fair.”
Yunho laughed. “No, you are just too cute. You don’t think before you talk that’s all.” He said.
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Kristine’s eyes widened with excitement as Hero opened the oven and the smell of baked cake traveled around the kitchen. She clapped her hands and jumped in delight. “Oh my gosh Hero, how do you know how to cook?!” She exclaimed. She grabbed onto Hero’s arm after he put the cake down gently, careful not to let it flatten down.
Hero smiled proudly. “Of course, I’ve always been dragged to the kitchen by my mom and grandma since I was young. It’s something passed down in the family, plus they would always tell me to try new things they made.” He said as he observed the cake.
He looked over at Kristine and grinned. “I guess it’s fate that I take care of you in the future.” He teased. “I’ll be the one cooking your meals and baking you goods.”
Kristine felt herself redden as she remembered what had happened to her attempt at baking a cake that ended up being burnt. And later, while she and Hero were baking other goods, she realized she had mixed up the sugar and salt anyways.
Kristine smiled at the sight in front of her and sniffed the air. “Ah, I love the smell of baking!” She squealed. She stared at the table full of goodies in her kitchen. “I can’t believe you baked so many goods, it was fun today!” She gushed at Hero and out of nowhere gave him a big hug. “It’s my first time baking… and I don’t know, it gives me a warm feeling to be baking with you.” She confessed softly with a smile. “Thank you.” She broke the hug and gave him a quick kiss.
Hero was stunned at her sudden confession but broke out into a smile within a quick second. “Baking is a lovely thing to do… especially with the person you love.” He said as he hugged Kristine from behind.
Kristine looked up at the clock and realized it was already past dinnertime. “Wow, it’s so late already! I guess… it’s way past our dinnertime isn’t it?” She looked at Hero with a playful grin.
Hero nodded his head. “But it’s ok, we still have this table full of goodies we can feast on.” He said eyeing the plate of sweets.
That whole afternoon, Hero and Kristine had ended up spending it in Kristine’s kitchen baking goods. They had baked cookies, cupcakes, cakes and muffins. They didn’t even realize the time.
“How about… we just end it with a movie night while eating these up?” She gave Hero a big grin. “I also have pop and chips too, so we can just spend it at home rather than going out so late?” She suggested.
Hero nodded his head. “Yeah, I think I’d like to rest after doing so much work! I haven’t done baking in a long time, it’s a surprise to me that I still remember those recipes.” Hero said as they both brought out all the plates of goodies to the living room and then came back to bring out the pop and chips to start their movie night.
They both decided on a few movies to watch back-to-back and snuggled on the couch together.
“Thank you for giving me the best Valentine’s Day ever.” Kristine said while Hero sat down after dimming the living room lights.
Hero smiled as he wrapped his arm around Kristine. “Anything for you… as long as you forgive me.” He said, holding her closer to him.
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Yunho was driving Suzy home after eating their dinner. They had dinner at food stands on a street in the city known for having the most food stands and the most varieties of food. Although most ‘rich’ people would find it disgusting and nasty, it was probably one of the best quality food Yunho and Suzy had ever tasted before. One contribution to that assumption was that because they were eating with each other’s company and it was Valentine’s Day – everything was sweet and good to them.
Yunho smiled as he took a quick glance at Suzy, who had her head against the window, fast asleep. She probably had a long and fun day to be so tired and worn out now.
He realized he had slowed down his speed so the car won’t be rocking as much therefore Suzy can have a better nap, also because he wanted to spend more time with her. It seemed like he could never spend enough time when he was with Suzy. As corny as it may sound, he wanted to spend every moment of his time with her for the rest of his life.
Unfortunately, everything comes to an end and their endpoint was their arrival at Suzy’s house, where she had to go home.
He shook her shoulder lightly. “Suzy, we’re at your house now.”
She stirred awake slowly as she moaned a little, not wanting to wake up. She rubbed her eyes and unfastened her seatbelt as she sat up and stretched her arms. “Oh… thanks for such a fun day Yunho, I had a lot of fun.” She said still with a sleepy tone in her voice.
Just as she turned to open the car door, Yunho tugged on her arm lightly and she felt herself flinging around and a surprise was waiting for her. Before she knew it, Yunho’s lips had crushed onto hers. It was a light and sweet kiss and Suzy felt herself melting into his arms.
When they broke apart, Yunho smiled at her. “Goodnight.” He said as he gave her one last kiss on her forehead.
Suzy smiled. “Take good care of your bear! It would remind you of me when I’m not with you.” She said as she shut the door behind her and took her bear and entered the gate to her house.
After seeing Suzy enter her house, Yunho drove off with a everlasting smile plastered on his face.
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Yoochun was walking Dambi home from their dinner. Although it was an uncalled dinner, it felt like a date to both of them. At least that’s what they were treated as at the restaurant by the waitresses and waiters. They had politely denied it at first but eventually stopped because it was Valentine’s Day after all.
They were walking side by side when a few teenagers came charging towards them. Yoochun quickly took Dambi’s hand and held her in his embrace, protecting her. Dambi’s only reaction to the quick few seconds of action was a surprised gasp.
After the bunch of teenagers ran past, Yoochun realized he was hugging Dambi really tightly. He quickly let go of his arm around her and apologized. “Sorry… uh, are you ok?” He asked, checking to make sure she was not hurt.
Dambi nodded her head and without realizing, she was smiling and she couldn’t seem to wipe the smile off her face. “Yes and thank you.” She said, playing with her fingers and her foot shuffling from left to her right on the ground. Dambi mentally tried to hit herself. ‘Stop feeling so nervous and giddy!’ She instructed herself, but for some reason, her body is not listening to her brain.
Dambi quickly turned around and started to walk in embarrassment with Yoochun reacting fast and catching up to her. He noticed her smiling nonstop and he too, also smiled from himself. Is this what they called ‘great minds think alike’? They both definitely have the same scene in their head.
When they reached Dambi’s house finally, they stopped and there was an awkward moment between them.
“Um, well I guess I should get going now.” Dambi said with an awkward laugh, which suited the situation they were in now.
“Uh Dambi?” Yoochun called out. Dambi stopped in her tracks and turned around, tilting one head to the side waiting for him to continue on. “I just wanted you to know that…” He took a deep breath, ready for his confession. “I will be waiting for you until you are ready to start a new relationship.” He said. “Do you know what I mean?” He asked uncertainly.
Dambi stared at him, trying to control the happiness inside her and the trying to stop the smile that wants to creep up to her lips. She nodded her head slowly. “I know what you mean… why don’t you… give me some time to think about it? How about I’ll tell you at school on Monday?” She suggested.
Yoochun nodded his head and smiled. “Ok, sounds good. Goodnight.” He bided as Dambi turned around and continued going into her house. After making sure she was inside her house, Yoochun turned around and started to head for home.
Dambi realized that she had forgotten to say something to Yoochun. She quickly ran to her living room patio and opened the big glass door and stepped out. “Hey Yoochun!!” She called out and Yoochun stopped and turned around to look at her with a surprised expression. “I wanted to say thank you for your company on Valentine’s Day. Happy Valentine’s Day to you too.” She said, finally letting out her smile.
Yoochun grinned. “You accompanied me tonight too.” Following that was some awkward silence. Yoochun shuffled his feet around a little while Dambi looked around awkwardly. “So, I guess I’ll see you on Monday then.” He said with a smile. Dambi nodded her head in agreement and waved at him as he turned around and walked away.------------------------------------------------------------
Chapter 13
Rarity 101
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Monday rolled around the corner quickly, and Yoochun found himself feeling really nervous. Though he knew why, he didn’t like the fact that he was falling into the deep trap of love.
He sauntered to school slowly, almost afraid to face Dambi’s rejection – if she was planning to reject him that is. But it was a fifty-fifty chance. She was different, an unpredictable girl. She had her ways around him you could say.
Along the way to school, he bumped into Gretchen, who also happened to be walking to school.
Gretchen raised an eyebrow, staring surprisingly at Yoochun. “So what are you doing walking to school? That’s a rarity 101.” She joked.
Yoochun scrunched up his nose slightly. “Rarity 101? Does that exist?” He asked.
Gretchen laughed. “I don’t know but whatever, so what are you walking?”
“I… just feel like it today.” He said, not wanting to reveal the real truth.
“Oh come on, that’s such a lame excuse.” Gretchen said with a roll of her eyes, not buying his excuse. It seemed like she could read him like a piece of paper.
Yoochun’s eyes stared back at her in shock and told Gretchen she was right. He finally sighed. “Ok, so I well… Dambi is telling me her answer today.” He said, staring down at his feet while he walked.
Gretchen’s mouth formed a small gap in acknowledgement. “Oh,” was all she was able to manage out. “That’s good then, you’ve been waiting all that time for this moment haven’t you?” She urged, trying to help him build some confidence.
Yoochun shrugged. “I don’t know, she might reject me after all.” He said. “I mean, knowing me and well not a good reputation for girls like her.” He stated.
“Girls like her?” Gretchen repeated in a questioning way.
“Good students and serious in relationship. I mean, I’m not saying I won’t be serious with her, it’s just that it will be my first time I guess.” He said with a slight shrug. “So I don’t know…” He shrugged and inhaled the fresh morning air in a large quantity. “You know what? You are really a great friend to talk to, I feel so much better now.” He said, with his head looking up highly again.
Gretchen gave a small smile. “Really?” She asked as he nodded his head. She remained silent after that. ‘A good friend.’ She repeated in her head. ‘Does that mean… whatever.’ She told herself, trying to get that off her mind.
When they finally arrived at school, they both separated off.
Yoochun headed straight to Dambi’s locker. It would probably kill him slowly if he had to wait for after school. From afar, he saw Dambi putting some books into her locker. He smiled upon seeing her. “Dambi!” He called out and she turned around and saw him.
She smiled as he approached her. “Hey, morning.” She said. “You’re so early today?”
Yoochun scratched the side of his forehead with his forefinger in a shy way. “Well, um, I wanted to know the answer.” He said, flashing a cute smile.
Dambi stared at him and paused what she was doing for a few moments. Yoochun cocked his head slightly to one side, waiting for her answer. “Err, well…” She started off saying, a smile crept onto her face, one that she couldn’t hide. Eventually, she nodded her head instead of saying.
Yoochun’s eyes smiled in happiness as he leaned over to give her a hug. “You know how long I’ve waited for this?” He said happily.
Dambi laughed. “But, I’m not sure how it will go, we’ll give it a try ok?” She clarified her position. Even though they weren’t officially couples, Yoochun was still happy over the fact that she was willing to give them a chance to try.
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It had been almost a few weeks since Yoochun and Dambi were together, and they were still together. Although they had never really admitted to be officially coupled, they were definitely acting like one. Especially when other girls were flirting with Yoochun, Dambi would get jealous.
Besides the shocking news of Yoochun being taken, the next new topic would be spring break that was coming up the following weekend.
“Guys, let’s go on vacation?” Suzy suggested excitedly. “I really want to go somewhere other than rotting at home.” Suzy complained with a pout.
Yunho grinned. “I agree, it would be nice to have chill an relax.”
“Where can we go though?” Kristine asked the hidden question. As a result, everyone turned to one another and shrugged.
“I suggest we go to… New York!” Alyce exclaimed. “I’ve always wanted to go there.” She said, grinning from ear-to-ear.
“I was thinking more of California…” Suzy said with a dreamy look. “It’s like… the best place on earth!” She burst out happily. “Well, that’s what other people say.” She added quickly following it.
Kristine’s eyes wandered around. “I want to go Hawaii though… I can get a nice tan meanwhile.” She said. “Plus, I can use some of the nice hot weather there!” She grinned as well.
The guys all looked at one another, still being indecisive. Dambi and Gretchen, who were both sitting at the table with them, both suggested the same idea. “Let’s go to Florida!” They said in unison. The two of them looked at each other slightly surprised by their unison and burst out in laughter together.
The rest of the girls and all the guys shrugged as they agreed to the idea. “I guess it’s two against one for all the other ideas.” Yoochun concluded and smiled. “Florida it is then.”
“Let’s all go shopping after school then!! I mean, it’s only a few days before we’re heading off right?” Kristine suggested, getting hyped up. The guys looked at one another, showing signs of hesitation went along with the plan anyways while the other girls agreed.
After school, they were all standing at the front gates of their school, trying to decide the ride to the mall. Gretchen seemed to be the odd number there, but they didn’t want her to feel bad either.
Yoochun scratched his head. “Why don’t you come with me and Dambi then, I’m sure you won’t mind right Dambi?”
Dambi smiled at him. “No, you can come with us.” She smiled invitingly at her.
“Actually… it’s ok, maybe I’ll just get someone else to drive me instead, I was thinking of asking him to come along too if you guys don’t mind.” She said with a bright smile, having a particular person in mind.
Yoochun raised an eyebrow when he heard the male description ‘he’. “Who are you planning to ask?” He asked with a hint of suspicion.
Dambi slapped his arm gently. “Yoochun! Don’t be so nosy, of course it’s her boyfriend.” She said smiling warmly at Gretchen. The other girls all squealed upon hearing Dambi’s assumption, while Yoochun was stunned.
Gretchen felt herself blushing from Dambi’s assumption. “No, no, he’s not my boyfriend, just a close and good friend only.” She quickly explained. The others obviously did not believe her but only nodded her heads slowly, pretending to acknowledge it.
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After school, they all met up and eagerly waiting to see whom Gretchen was talking about. They all gaped in surprise to find no other than GD standing next to her.
“GD?!” Yoochun sputtered out as if he was the last person to expect standing there.
GD flashed his cute smile. “Hey yo. Gretch told me to come and that you guys were going on a trip?”
“Gretch?!” They all echoed after him, obviously caught off guard by how close they really were.
Gretchen felt herself heat up again. “Uh, that’s a nickname he gave me… our families are friends so we knew each other since young... and it’s a childhood nickname.” She quickly explained as she cleared her throat. “So uh, why don’t we get going now then?”
The others all nodded their head and in relief when they heard that they were family friends. That means Gretchen would be off limits to GD. He had a playboy reputation at school and the last person they’d want him to hurt is their good friend.
When they reached the mall, they decided to go off in their separate ways. One, they could spend more moments together and two they wouldn’t have too much people in a store at once.
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Suzy and Yunho dashed off to a sunglasses store to find a pair of matching couple shades.
“Yunho, Yunho, look at that!!” Suzy pointed to a pair of kiddie sunglasses with Mickey Mouse decorated around the black frames on the edge. She giggled as she examined the cute sunglasses.
Yunho wrinkled his nose. “Don’t tell me you want to get that?” He asked in horror. It was in bright colors, though Suzy couldn’t exactly tell, it was in colors of bright green, red, pink and yellow. He gulped, trying to imagine himself wearing it.
“Of course not.” Suzy giggled once again. “I know it’d look silly on you and you’ll probably die rather than wearing that.” Suzy stated, reading his mind like a book.
Yunho smiled in relief when he heard that. “To be honest… the sunglasses itself I don’t have a problem with… just that the… colors are a little not my type.” Yunho tried not to make it sound bad because she couldn’t see it. He thought he saw her wince a little when he mentioned the colors of the glasses. He touched her arm gently. “You ok?” He asked in a soft voice.
She turned and gave him the brightest smile she could muster. “Yes, now let’s find ourselves nice matching sunglasses!” She said bubbly as she smiled, making her eyes turn into thin slits. After Yunho entered the store, she stared at the Mickey Mouse sunglasses one last time before heading off. Truth be told, she actually liked those sunglasses.
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Gretchen and GD were walking around when they decided to go into a store that was decorated with summer decorations.
They went towards the male section first before heading into the females section and then decided to go to the fitting rooms together and come out to see whether the clothes matched or not.
Gretchen picked out some khaki shorts, surfing shorts and some t-shirts for GD to try on while GD also picked out some sundresses and tank tops as well as some shorts for Gretchen before heading into fitting rooms.
As they headed to the fitting rooms, they passed by a display of ladies undergarments and GD jokingly picked up a pair of boyfriend boxers and shoved it to Gretchen. “Hey Gretch, you should wear this. I’ll buy it for you.” He joked.
Gretchen rolled her eyes and took a random bra off the hook, which happened to have hearts all over it. “Ok, and you wear this to sleep.” She said and they both burst out into laughter while the sales at the changing room looked at them weirdly.
They looked at each other after seeing how much trouble and commotion they were making and giggled to each other quietly as they continued lining up.
Gretchen realized that, being with GD brought them closer once again. They hadn’t been talking much recently and she didn’t know what triggered her to ask him to come along to the trip. Maybe it was because aside from being close to Yoochun in the past few months, GD was her closest guy friend and that everyone else was going as a couple.
GD also realized that, he missed being with Gretchen. He had been spending so much time playing around with other girls that… he realized it had been a long time since they had hung out together and had so much fun. He could only blame it on high school, friends and puberty. Guys start dating girls, girls start flirting and so on.
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Yoochun and Dambi, who happened to be passing by that store, noticed them.
“Look at Gretchen and GD, they look like they’re having so much fun.” Dambi pointed out as Yoochun turned to see Show shoving a pair of female boxers to Gretchen and then Gretchen shoving a bra to GD.
“Yeah.” Yoochun said simply. He was in a haze right now, he didn’t know what he was feeling, was he jealous of them or what? He looked over at Dambi and smiled. But he was sure Dambi is the one he really loves. Then what did he see Gretchen as if the one he loves is Dambi?
Dambi tilted her head to the side. “I actually think they’re quite compatible, they would really look cute together.” Dambi admired in gush.
Yoochun raised an eyebrow. “Gretchen and GD? But GD’s reputation at school…” He trailed off slowly.
Dambi nodded her head. “I guess, but you never know. Plus they are childhood friends.” She gave a hopeful smile. “Maybe something will happen over the trip!” She said suggestively with a big smile. “Let’s go on, we haven’t even started our shopping yet!” She laughed as she took Yoochun’s hands and the two headed off. They headed into an accessories store and started looking at bracelets and necklaces.
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“This pair of boots is so nice.” Kristine said admiring the pair of boots in the display window. “Let’s go have a look!” She said with shining eyes as she ran inside the store.
Hero stared at Kristine and then at the pair of boots. “But… Florida is hot, why would you need boots?” He asked himself aloud.
Kristine had also came to that realization and Hero only chuckled at her childishness. “Let’s go look at sandals and flip-flops then.” She suggested as they entered another store nearby, where there were varieties of summer footwear to pick.
“OH! These are so cute.” She squealed in delight as she ran towards a rack of flip-flops hanging. Some were beach thong sandals while some were flip-flops and others were sandals and flip-flops for outing.
Hero also looked over and picked out a pair of brown heavy-duty string material-base with yellow outlining around it. “I think this would match you.” He said, taking it out of the hook and showing it to Kristine.
Kristine looked at it and smiled. “I love them!!” She hugged Hero tightly. “You know exactly what I like.” She said with a pleased smile. “What about you? Are you planning to buy any summer footwear?” She asked him.
Hero shook his head. “Probably not sandals… but we can get a pair of matching Converse!” Hero suggested. Converse is a brand of flats that was popular throughout the whole world. It also has various different patterns and occasionally features limited editions.
Kristine’s eyes twinkled after hearing his suggestion. “Ok!!” They headed off to another store after paying for the flip-flops to search for the right pair of shoes.
Alyce and Changmin were browsing through a store of different hats. They giggled as they tried on silly hats such as cowboy hats, wizard hats, witches’ hat and many more.
Changmin took a big frilly sunhat and placed it on Alyce’s hat. “My fair lady.” He pretended to be formal and bowed down slightly, holding out one hand as if it were ancient England.
Alyce chuckled and slapped his hand, as she placed a cowboy hat on his head. “Howdy mister.” She greeted him.
They continued going through differently types of hat, and eventually, they ended up getting customized hats fashion baseball caps for themselves. But it wasn’t matching or the same, it was to their own likings and style. The two of them felt that they don’t need matching clothing or accessories for themselves, they just had to be with each other and that’s all it matters.
---------------------------------------------------
When they all met together in the end, they were all occupied with shopping bags.
Suzy and Yunho already had their sunglasses on their faces, as it was a sunny day anyways. Alyce and Changmin also had their hats on, showing it off already.
Hero and Kristine didn’t want to wear their matching shoes yet because they didn’t want to dirty it yet. They were planning to wear it the day they leave.
As for Gretchen and GD, they each had their own handful of shopping bags and didn’t get anything that was labeled couple but they did buy some similar and in a way matching t-shirts. GD had bought one that read ‘Mr Grumpy’ while Grethceb’s read ‘Little Miss Happy’. Another one was where GD had a t-shirt of a cookie monster while Gretchen had one of Elmo.
Dambi and Yoochun had bought some leather necklaces for each other and they brought it up to another level and had rings engraved in their initials ‘Y&D’ on the inside. They had both worn in after they got it.
They all decided to go for Japanese food before heading home and packing, after all, it was only a few days before they headed off now and all of them were getting excited.
Chapter 14
Sleeping Arrangement
==========“I’m so excited!!” Suzy exclaimed as they sat in the airport waiting for their flight. She sat down beside Yunho but couldn’t help it and got up and paced around in a skipping style.
Yunho chuckled seeing her get so excited. “Haven’t you been on an airplane before?” He teased.
Suzy pouted. “Yes, but this time it’s different, I’m going with my friends! And you.” She said, giving a cheeky smile. “You know, I think my parents would only let me do that because they know you.” She stated. “Which means they don’t trust me.” Her smile turned into a frown upon the realization. She tapped her chin a few times while thinking. “Hey, that’s not fair, I’m their daughter.”
Kristine got up and linked her arms around Suzy’s. “It’s alright, you know Yunho’s going to be their son-in-law anyways.” She said, giving Suzy a teasing look.
Suzy’s face flushed a little. “Hey, is today pick-on-Suzy day?” She retorted. “How come I’m unaware of this?” But her complain didn’t last long. When another airplane landed and connected to the passenger tunnel, she got excited and ran over. “OH, I think that’s the plane we’re going on!” She said as she walked back to Yunho’s side and sat down beside him. She held onto Yunho’s arms. “I’m so excited. I haven’t been to Florida before!” She announced.
Alyce stretched and woke up from her sleep. “Suzy, you’re so loud like always.” She stated, now at the process of rubbing away her sleepiness. “Are we boarding yet?” She asked. Changmin also woke up beside her from her movements.
Dambi shook her head. “Not yet, but soon enough I think. Like Suzy said, I’m pretty sure that’s our flight.” She repeated Suzy’s words. She looked over at Gretchen and smiled. “I’m really excited too actually.”
Gretchen smiled. “Yeah.” Gretchen turned to GD and grinned. “Hey remember that time when we were small and we went on vacation in Hawaii?” She poked him in the arms.
GD chuckled. “Yeah! How can I ever forget?”
Everyone looked at one another, feeling interested and listened in on their conversation. “What happened?”
“Well Gretch here, thought it was funny to go off to the beach by herself and it wasn’t a good day to begin with and then it started to pour really hardly. So then the adults got worried, and well me too,” He gave a slight cough as he admitted his caring feelings for her, “and then we walked all over the beach in the cold rain and still couldn’t find her. I swear our parents were about to call the police, but we came across a small little cave and heard her crying inside.” GD explained.
Gretchen hit GD on the arm. “Hey, I didn’t know it was going to rain, plus I was small that time and it was a long time ago!” She argued in defense.
GD rolled his eyes. “Yeah, and she ruined my perfect self too.” He pointed to a big scar on his knee. “She made me piggyback her all the way back to the hotel one day from the beach and I tripped and ended up scratching myself really badly.”
“I was tired that time.” Gretchen said with a pout.
Yoochun looked to and fro the two. There was definitely something going on between them, the chemistry was not invisible. He felt slightly more relieved now seeing GD’s care for her. Though why, he did not know.
“You two would be so cute together.” Kristine, Suzy, Alyce and Dambi gushed together. The guys smirked at GD seeing how caring he could be to a girl.
A smile crept up on Gretchen’s face although she tried to hide it so she looked away instead and used a finger to swipe her bangs and fix the invisible mess. GD also scratched himself on the head and looked away.
“Oh look, we can board the plane now!” Gretchen and GD exclaimed at the same time. They looked at each other, while everyone else eyed them both with mysterious grins. They ended up giggling together as everyone got up and took their carry-on bag with them.
As they were seated, Yunho saw Suzy take out her sunglasses and play with them with a smile on her face. Yunho smiled seeing her smile as he took something out of his pocket. “Hey Suzy.” Suzy turned to look at him with a questioning face. “I got this for you – well us.” He handed the small pouch to Suzy.
Suzy looked at him with a weird look as she opened it and gasped. “Yunho!!” She said happily as she took a pair of sunglasses out of the pouch. As she took out the pair of sunglasses, she blinked and as she opened her eyes, she saw a quick flash of red on the glasses and let out a gasp. But after she blinked again, it was gone.
Yunho smiled warmly at her. “Do you like it?” He asked. Suzy nodded her head eagerly as she put them on. She took out the other pair of sunglasses and placed it on Yunho’s face and giggled.
“You look really silly.” She stated and took it off. “I think you’d look better with the other designer sunglasses, more sophisticated look on you.” She said.
Alyce and Changmin were watching some action movies on their laptop since they didn’t like the movies on the airplane so they shut off the screen of the plane and opened their laptop to watch movies. They also got some junk food and started munching away. Since they were in first class, they pretty much had all the priorities not everyone could have.
Hero and Kristine had fallen asleep during the flight because they had stayed up too late the previous night talking over the phone. Knowing Kristine, she insists on catching up on her beauty sleep and Hero couldn’t really do anything much since they sat together so he too, fell asleep.
Dambi and Yoochun were looking through some brochures and looking at some tourist attractions in Florida as well as some main shopping malls and some nice beaches to relax in. They also looked at what foods were famous there and maybe if there were any carnivals around they can go.
Gretchen and GD were playing some card games against each other, and occasionally some arguments would come up but Gretchen always won in the end. Show gave an excuse that she was being too unreasonable and he didn’t want to argue. The others were all surprised on seeing another side of GD. He wasn’t like that to everyone, not especially the one-time flings he had with the other girls at school. Does that mean something significant? That was a question the rest had in their heads.
As soon as they landed, they all got off the plane and rushed to the hotel to drop off their stuff and decided that for the rest of the day, they would relax and just chill around the hotel. There were different resources available at the hotel so they won’t be bored. Maybe later on in the night, they would go to a club or something, depending on their jetlag condition.
-----
“Ok, so what is our sleeping arrangement?” Hero asked.
Changmin wrinkled his nose. “That sounds wrong.” He bluntly stated out loud. Only did he realize he had let that slip out when he earned a punch from Alyce.
“Well, we have an uneven number of girls and guys.” Suzy said, looking around at the five couples.
Gretchen tapped her chin. “Why don’t we just stay with whoever we came with then?” The others looked at her and raised their eyebrows.
“We’ve done that before, when we were younger, sometimes we sleepover at each other’s house when our parents’ have dinner and it got too late.” GD explained. “So we won’t mind if you arrange it like that in case you were wondering since we’re not well dating and all that. Or you guys can pair up with each other and I don’t mind sharing a room with Gretch.” He said looking over at her and smiled.
“I guess that’d work.” Alyce said nodding her head. “I don’t see a problem with that.” The others all agreed to that decision since the two people who aren’t couples don’t mind sharing a room, why would they all mind sharing the room then.
-----
The next morning, Suzy woke up to the bright sunrays seeping through the curtains in the room. She mumbling groaned and tried to roll over but hit something instead. She opened one eye to a small slit and saw Yunho there. She laid her head back on her pillow, remembering that the rooms they were given only had one bed, so they had to share it, which wasn’t the problem right now. All Suzy wanted to do was continue sleeping.
Upon the force pushing against him for a slight second, Yunho woke up groggily as well. “Ahh…” Yunho yelped slightly as his eyes met the sunlight when he tried to turn to see why Suzy had bumped into him.
The two of them laid on the bed lazily, not wanting to get up from the comfortable position, lying on the big soft bed. “I think we should wake up,” Yunho said. “It’s such a nice day today too.”
Suzy nodded her head with her eyes closed. “Yeah, but my body’s telling me a whole different story.” She stated matter-of-factly. “I think we should go to the beach.” She said, turning to face Yunho although her eyes were still closed.
Yunho chuckled seeing her talk while half sleeping. “Sure, if you ever wake up!” He laughed.
Before Suzy could retort back, there was a knock on the door. “Who is it?!” Suzy and Yunho both answered the sudden knocking on the door woke both of them up fully.
“Wake up you guys~” Alyce’s voice called from the other side. “I was thinking, we should go to the beach and play some beach volleyball.” She suggested, still on the other side of the door.
Suzy shot up from the bed immediately, “Really? Beach volleyball?! I’M UP ALYCE, GIVE ME FIFTEEN MINUTES!!” Suzy called out loudly, causing Yunho to wince from her shouting.
“Ok, we’re meeting in the lobby.” Alyce said before leaving.
Yunho stared at Suzy in an amusing way. “That didn’t take too long to wake you up. I should use that method sometimes.” He said jokingly.
Suzy stuck her tongue out at Yunho and got out of bed quickly. “I call the washroom first!” She said during the process of running to it.
When they were done, they headed downstairs to find everyone there already, waiting for them. All of them rose up from their seats as soon as they spotted Yunho and Suzy walking towards them.
“Whoa~ nice sunglasses, can I try them on?” Hero asked, pointing to Yunho’s sunglasses. But then he noticed Suzy wearing the same pair. “Ok, never mind, I didn’t see it before that it was a couples thing.” He said in an embarrassing tone.
Suzy looked up at Yunho and smiled as she snuggled a tad bit closer to him, feeling giddy inside. Yunho wrapped an arm around her waist in response as he led her out of the hotel with everyone else.
The beach was not a very long walk, and they enjoyed the walk as a morning exercise. When they arrived at the beach, it was already semi-crowded, but luckily, they all found a nice spot.
Kristine, Dambi and Gretchen decided to just hang around off the side for some tanning while the boys along with Alyce and Suzy went to play beach volleyball. They were playing four to a team, which split them up evenly.
After playing for a while, Suzy felt a bit tired and decided to leave, Yunho was going to leave with her but Suzy insisted he continue to play and she was fine.
When he headed back, she saw that they were all sleeping on the towels they brought with them. Suzy sat down on her own towel and looked around, feeling the nice warm breeze pass her. Suzy’s eyes lit up when she saw an ice cream store across the street.
She shook Kristine on the shoulder slightly. “Kristine, I’m going to buy some ice cream ok?” She told Kristine in case she woke up and could not see her.
Kristine sat up, rubbing her eyes after she took off her sunglasses. “Ok, I’ll go with you then.” She turned around to grab her bag but was held back by Suzy’s hands.
“It’s alright, I’ll be fine. It’s just across the street.” Suzy said with quick smile to assure Kristine. “Besides, I’m sure you don’t want any ice cream since it’s fattening.” She rolled her eyes with a teasing smile. “So it’s no use if you go with me anyways.” She let go of Kristine’s arm and stood up. “I’ll be back soon.”
After a few minutes, a sound between a shriek and a scream was heard. Kristine’s ears perked up and realized that it was Suzy’s voice. She quickly got up and ran towards the direction of the voice, as Gretchen and Dambi both woke up puzzled but followed her, sensing something was wrong.
Chapter 15
Miles Apart.
==========Krisitne’s eyes widened in shock at the sight in front of her, she felt her knees go weak as she took small steps towards it. There were people all gathered around the person lying on the ground.
Dambi and Gretchen, who had now caught up with Kristine, also gasped upon seeing the sight.
“I’m going to get the others.” Dambi notified the others before running off to find the others. Gretchen nodded her head as she went by Kristine’s side, supporting her.
Suzy was in a car accident while she was crossing the street. The driver of the car was talking on his cell phone and accidentally dropped it on the ground while driving so he tilted a little to the side to pick it up, by the time he sat back up and saw Suzy, he quickly braked but it was too late.
Krisitne started crying by Suzy’s side as Gretchen quickly got someone from the crowd to dial emergency for ambulance.
Within five minutes, the others all came rushing to the scene, with Yunho in the front, running as fast as he can. Yunho had mixed feeling inside him, he was worried as well as angry at himself for not insisting on leaving with Suzy. If he had gone with Suzy, then the accident would not have happened.
-----
Everyone was now at the hospital, waiting for the doctor to come out. As soon as the doctor came out, everyone rushed to his side.
“Doctor, how is she?!” Yunho asked, gripping onto the doctor’s arm.
The doctor gave a small smile. “Well, there’s good news and bad news. Which one would you like to hear first?”
“Bad news,” They all said at once. At least they would have a good news afterwards to hopefully compensate for the bad news.
“Well, the bad news is, due to the impact on her brain, there may be a possibility of memory loss, we will do further x-rays and examinations on her when she wakes up.” He took a slow, long pause. “Now for the good news, the blood clot in her brain has disappeared as a result of the impact, so now she is fully capable of seeing colors.” The doctor gave a polite nod before heading off.
Upon hearing the bad news, everyone was stunned. They saw Suzy being wheeled out on a hospital bed by a nurse. They all gathered around the bed and followed it as the nurse wheeled her. She was still unconscious, but the nurse assured them that she would be awake by later on that night or latest tomorrow.
-----
“It’s ok Yunho, Suzy’s will be alright.” Hero tried to comfort his friend, who was sitting emotionless on the chair holding onto Suzy’s hands tightly. He didn’t cry, which got everyone to worry because usually if he was frustrated or angry, he would let it out somehow, but this time, he was emotionless. His face didn’t show any expressions either.
Everyone else around the room exchanged worried glances. “Why don’t we call Suzy’s parents first then?” Kristine suggested. “I’ll call and notify them first.” Hero left with Kristine to make the phone call.
“We’ll go get something for you guys to eat, you haven’t had anything since breakfast Yunho, you need some food inside you.” Changmin said as he held onto Alyce’s hands and both of them exited the room.
Dambi, Yoochun, Gretchen and GD all stayed outside the ward, leaving Yunho some time alone with Suzy. Kristine and Hero came back to join them after making the phone call.
“What did they say?” Gretchen asked first.
Kristine shook her head sadly. “They’re going to come here first flight tomorrow along with Yunho’s parents. They want to see Suzy and probably bring her back or something.” Kristine said between sobs. Hero wrapped an arm around her shoulders, bringing her into an embrace.
Dambi also started to sob seeing Kristine sob, which created a chain, Gretchen’s eyes were also getting moist. The tears were inevitable for all of them.
-----
The next day, Suzy and Yunho’s parents came first thing in the morning and before they signed into a hotel suite, they hurried to the hospital to see Suzy.
Suzy’s eyes twitched a few times before it slowly opened. She stared at the people surrounding her, not speaking a word.
Suzy’s mom sat by her side and took one of her hand, while her friends all held onto her other hand. “Suzy dear, how are you feeling?”
Suzy blinked once or twice. “Mom? What are you doing here?” She asked in wonder. “Where… am I?” She asked as she looked around but felt her head aching. “Ahh…” She groaned in slight pain as she tried to sit up.
Suzy’s parents sighed in relief after getting the assurance that their daughter at least remembered them. “Suzy, you had an accident during your vacation here with your friends… apparently,” She paused for a second, before finding the right words to say, “A car had hit you when you were trying to cross the streets.” She finished off.
Suzy turned her head to the side and frowned. “Mom, who are they?” She asked, withdrawing her hand away from her friends, feeling slightly scared by the amount of stranger surrounding her.
Kristine felt herself about to break down so she turned around and walked towards Hero, which he quickly gave her a hug. Alyce had responded differently. She let out a friendly smile. “Hi, I’m Alyce.” She said warmly, holding out a hand for a handshake.
Suzy looked at her mom hesitantly before taking her own hand and shaking Alyce’s hands. “I’m… Suzy.” She said cautiously. Her eyes wondered to the rest of the young adults standing around her.
Alyce quickly gave a quick introduction to everyone around the room. “Uh, this is Changmin, he’s my boyfriend. And that’s Kristine and her boyfriend Hero,” Alyce said, pointing to Kristine sitting on the couch with her head on Hero’s shoulders. Hero gave a small wave and a smile. “Then there’s Dambi, Yoochun, Gretchen and GD.” Alyce ended off.
Suzy smiled at all of them but frowned when she saw someone whom Alyce had not introduced yet. She tilted her head to the side. “Alyce, you forgot to introduce him?” Suzy said, pointing at Yunho.
Everyone had an uncomfortable face on as Alyce cleared her throat. “That’s… Yunho. He’s well, a friend of ours and your family friend.” Alyce said, trying to decide whether to tell that he was her boyfriend, but Yunho gave her a look which told her not to.
Suzy smiled at him. “Hi, Yunho.” She turned to look oat her mom. “Mom, I want something to eat, I’m hungry.” She said with a small pout.
Suzy’s mom placed her hands in Suzy’s hair, ruffling it a little. “What would you like dear?”
“Some rice noodles would be nice… and some congee maybe?” She suggested. “Thanks.” She turned to two unfamiliar adults standing behind her mom and beside her dad. “Um, mom, who are they?” She said in almost a whisper, hoping not to sound rude.
The two adults gave a small smile. “We’re Yunho’s parents. We’re really good friends with your parents so when we heard about you, we came along to visit.” They said politely.
Suzy nodded her head. “Oh, thank you.” Suzy stretched her arms widely, feeling awake and energized. “Ahhh~” She sighed as she squinted her eyes at the window.
Just then, the doctor came in with a few nurses. “Oh, hello there. I’m afraid I can’t allow too many visitors at once for Miss. Rances,. And if you please excuse us, we’re going to take Miss. Rances for some examinations since she woke up to see how she’s doing.” He said politely as the nurses helped Suzy off the hospital bed and put her onto the wheelchair.
-----
Yunho placed his chin on the palms of his hands, looking at the window absentmindedly. His friends all looked at him, worrying over him, he still hadn’t been able to eat since last night.
“Hey Yunho, eat a little, you need some food to keep you alive.” Yoochun said gently as he handed Yunho a bowl of noodles.
Yunho stared at it but shook his head. “I’m fine, I’m not feeling that hungry. If I do get hungry, I’ll get something to eat myself.” He said, turning his attention back to the view outside the window.
It was a bright and sunny day, like always, except now they were missing one person, and the trip was ruined.
-----
Suzy was sitting in her room feeling really bored so she decided to go for a walk around the hospital. She stumbled upon the kids’ floor, and ended up seeing a bunch of kids playing around in the kids area and couldn’t help but join them.
Little did she know that someone was watching her by the door, when she finally stood up feeling exhausted, she was surprised to see someone staring at her while smiling.
“Hey…” Suzy frowned, trying to remember his name.
“Yunho.” Yunho said with a faint smile. “So, how are you feeling today?”
Suzy smiled triumphantly as she took a seat off to the side. “A lot better!” She said excitedly. “I hope I get my memory back soon though.” She frowned upon saying that. “I don’t remember any of my friends.” She said with a small pout.
Yunho looked at her sadly and mumbled to himself under his breath. “I wish you had your memory back too.”
Suzy didn’t catch his words so she looked up. “Pardon me?” She asked politely as if talking to a stranger, which he technically was.
Yunho shook his head lightly. “Never mind, your parents sent me here to get you to go back to your ward. It’s time for your daily check up and if all is fine, your parents want you back in Korea.” He explained.
Suzy’s eyes lit up. “Really? That sounds good, I miss Korea already. I don’t even know why I’m here in the first place.” She said with a wrinkle of her nose. She stood up and walked out the door of the playroom, with Yunho trudging behind her.
Yunho couldn’t bear looking at her and acting like he was her friend, he missed her like crazy and seeing her treat him like a stranger just made it worse. Suzy turned around and stared at Yunho while tilting her head to one side cutely.
“Hey, why are you so slow?” She asked with a teasing smile on her face, trying to challenge him. But when Yunho only smiled back politely, she walked to him, took him by his wrist and led him back to her ward. Yunho only smiled distantly as he stared at Suzy from behind.
It was like they were miles apart yet she was just in front of him. How ironic.
Chapter 16
Reminisce
==========It had been a few weeks and yet Suzy didn’t seem to have remembered anything yet. Gradually, they were losing hope on Suzy remembering the past. But on a better note, Suzy had started a fresh new friendship with her friends, and it seems just like the old times, they filled Suzy on most things – except for one because it wouldn’t be helpful if they told her, their feelings won’t be the same anyways.
During one of their classes, Suzy was partnered up with Yunho, mainly because all their friends were together. Kristine was with Hero, Alyce with Changmin, Dambi with Yoochun, and Gretchen with GD.
They were doing a little in class assignment for their English class on poetry. They were to write a poem describing their partner.
“So… you’ll have to tell me a lot about yourself,” Suzy said with a huge grin. “It seems like I’ve never really hung out with you. I’ve been around Hero, Changmin and Yoochun quite often but I barely see you around.” She said bubbly. “I guess this assignment will bring us together as better friends?”
Yunho nearly winced at how she described their relationship as ‘friends’. They were more than friends, at least they were. He quickly brushed it aside and decided to not think about that until she was ready. “So, we have a list of information we need to know about each other…” Yunho said, staring at the sheet in front of him. “Oh these are easy. Favourite food is candies, and favourite animal is dog…” Yunho kept going on with the list, filling out the answer while Suzy stared at him astonished. When Yunho finished filling in the answers, he looked up to face Suzy and immediately realized his mistake.
“Wow, how do you know me so much? We weren’t even that close ever since I woke up!” SUzy asked in amazement.
Yunho stalled some time to find a good excuse. “Uh, we were friends before you had the accident, plus our parents are friends.” He said smiling while nodding his head. “But one thing I don’t know is, what’s your favourite colour?”
“Oh yeah, that’s right.” Suzy said giggling. “Silly me. And my favourite colour… I like red!” She exclaimed happily. “It’s bright and happy.” She explained. “Ok, so let me ask you some questions now.” Suzy started listing off questions while Yunho answered.
Their friends looked at how Yunho and Suzy were working together and felt a little relieved that they were at least starting to know each other again, at least that’s what it was for Suzy.
After asking her questions, the two of them went back to their individual work to write their poems, occasionally they would take a look at each other for physical feature and descriptions.
-----
“So how was class today?” Suzy’s mom asked as Suzy came home after school.
Suzy smiled as she grabbed an apple from the fridge. “It was good, I’m surprised though. Yunho seems to know a lot about me! Since well we barely hang out and all that.” Suzy stated out, still a little shocked at that fact.
Suzy’s mom paused what she was doing for a second but resumed quickly. “Well… we are family friends and we occasionally have some dinners together so you two have some time to interact too.” She said patiently.
Suzy nodded her head. “I guess so, but we were partners for English class today, we had to write a poem describing each other.” She filled her mom in on what happened that day at school, before heading to the living room to watch some television before going to do homework.
-----
Yunho walked home absentmindedly, deep into his thoughts. Maybe it was time for him to take a break from everything.
“Hi honey,” Yunho’s mom greeted him as he entered the front doors.
Yunho looked up and smiled. “Hi mom.” He continued walking but halted and turned around. “Mom?” She looked up at him with a questioning look. “I was wondering, didn’t you say dad wanted me to do an intern at his company overseas for a while? I was thinking, maybe I should give that a try, and I mean, I can also study there a – to improve English too.” Yunho quickly added.
Yunho’s mom put down the newspaper she was reading on the glass coffee table, “Are you sure Yunho? I mean, you didn’t want to before… and now…” She trailed off, not wanting to mention what had happened.
“Well, it’s not like I won’t be coming back, I will come back, being an intern is only for a while. Right?” Yunho asked for confirmation.
Yunho’s mom adjusted her position on the sofa. “Well, your dad was thinking, if you really did well, maybe he will place you permanently overseas to look over the company while he stays here at the main branch.” She paused before continuing. “And I’ll understand if you don’t want to though.”
Yunho shook his head. “No, it’s alright, I can give it a try, it’s only right I help out dad after he’s been doing this for many years, I should start learning too.” Yunho insisted as he turned around and continued his way up the stairs. “I’ll be ready to go anytime, just tell dad that.” He added quickly before taking two steps at a time to get to his room quicker.
His mom looked at him and sighed while shaking his head. “It must’ve had a big impact on him.” She said sadly to herself. She hesitated to take out her cell phone and dial to her husband to tell him the news. It might sound like great news on the cover, but underneath it all, everyone knew it was sad news.
-----
Yunho lied on his bed, reminiscing the memories he shared with Suzy.
{She shifted uneasily on her two feet, staring down at the floor.
When she looked up, she saw a guy smirking in front of her.
She only blinked her eyes in response, not knowing what to do.
She looked over at her parents and they nodded their head in approval at him.}
The first time they met, he chuckled remembering the scene exactly. It wans’t until now that he thought back, did he realize he had changed… from smirking a lot with that killer smile of his, to smiling more like a cute high school boy, more innocent. Was it possible that a person can become more innocent?
Then there was the time when he felt like Romeo and Suzy was Juliet. He was talking to her through a window and from ground level to second floor. He smiled remembering that.
{“Hey!” he called from below.
“What do you want? It’s so late now, what are you doing here?” Suzy whispered to him quietly, not wanting to disturb the already quiet neighbourhood.
“I saw you at the window when I was walking by, so I was just wondering what you were doing.” He looked up and grinned. “Thinking about me perhaps?”
She stuck her nose to the air. “Psch, as if, you wish I was thinking about you. But sorry to break it to you, I was only admiring the snow.”
“Ouch, that was so straightforward it hurts twice as much as it should have.” Yunho put a hand over his left chest. Suzy rolled her eyes, thinking what a great drama queen he would be. “Hey, don’t you think this kind of scenery and setting looks familiar?” He asked her with a smirk. She frowned and shook her head, not comprehending his words. “Jeez, haven’t you read Romeo and Juliet before, where Romeo talks to Juliet from beneath her bedroom window? You’re sure romantic.” Yunho stated sarcastically and rolled his eyes.
Suzy pouted once again. Obviously she was lacking some experience in terms of romance. She shook her head. “It’s getting late now, I’m going in. Bye.”
Before Yunho could say his goodbye, she already shut her window. “Did I say something wrong? She sounds sad, or is it just me?” The confused Yunho asked himself as he started walking off into the dark night.
After Suzy closed the window, she trudged back to her bed and fell asleep wondering why this guy was bothering her lonely life.}
Recapping those sweet and silly memories, Yunho soon fell asleep with a smile on his face.
-----
{Suzy turned around about to retort back but what shocked her most was the fact that he had kissed her on the spot, without her consent. Her eyes widened in shock and she could feel his lips form into a smile from pressing against her lips.
She blinked twice, before he pulled away with a playful smirk. “You are in love with me, admit it Suzy.” He said, the smirk not leaving his face. With that, he turned around and headed back into the room.
Suzy frowned and followed him back into the room, unsatisfied that he once again defeated her. “I hate you.” She said aloud. He heard that and laughed as he opened the doors back into the VIP room where their parents were seated.}
Suzy quickly shot up from her bed. She just had a flashback of her and a guy. But she still had no idea who the guy was, he was blurred in her dreams. He had a really familiar figure though. A really familiar figure, as if someone she had known for half all her life.
Due to all the thinking, her head started to hurt again. “Ugh…” She groaned in pain as she held onto her head, trying to ease the pain. She quickly opened the bottle of pills on her night table and took one tablet and a few minutes later, her headache eased down.
She sighed in relief as she sat up against her bedpost. “Who was that…?” She asked herself, but this time, she made sure she didn’t make herself think too much. With no luck, she slipped back under her blankets and tried to sleep again.
Chapter 17
Puzzle Pieces
==========Yunho’s dad had agreed to have Yunho as an interim at the company and was happy to accept him. They had arranged for Yunho to fly over during the weekend, which gives him little time to bid goodbye to his friends here.
Yunho stared out his window at the moon shining brightly outside, zoning out. He wondered what would happen if Suzy remembers everything during his stay overseas. Would she tell him right away or keep it to herself? He shook the thoughts out of his head and decided to make the best out of the few days he had left.
-----
Yoochun stared at his phone lying on his desk, wondering if he should make the call to Gretchen. They were sort of in an awkward relationship right now. They probably had feelings of affection towards each other at one point, but it was gone like the wind now. They each had someone else in their lives now.
He sighed and decided to get it over with or he knows he won’t be able to act himself. After a few rings she finally picked up.
“Hey Gretchen, it’s Yoochun.”
“Oh hey,” She said back cheerfully. “What’s up? Oh and I forgot to congratulate you and Dambi. I’m so happy for you two.” She gushed over the phone. “And if you end up bringing her to the café one day, it will be on the house.” She offered.
Yoochun smiled, feeling relieved since she sounded casual about the whole thing, “I’ll see, I’m just catching up with my good friend since it’s been a while since we talked. So how are you and GD? You two are actually compatible together.” He commented. “And he treats you totally different compared to other girls.” He added.
Gretchen could feel herself tint in a shade of pink. “Not....you too Yoochun.” She whined a little, but inside, she knows she has a special bond with GD. “Maybe because we’re family friends.” She reasoned out.
“Whatever you say Gretchen, but you know it inside you probably like him too.” Yoochun continued his teasing while Gretchen rolled her eyes. “Oh hey, I’ll talk to you at school or another time ok? I have another call coming in.”
Gretchen chucked. “Yeah, go already, it might be Dambi and you don’t want to miss her calls.” It was her turn to tease him back. “Bye, I’ll see you at school.”
With that, both of them hung up, feeling like a big rock had been lifted off their chest. It might be the fact that they had cleared everything out, which had been in a foggy state before.
-----
For some odd reason, Suzy had been getting twitches on her eye the whole day. She sensed that something was wrong, but she couldn’t quite put her thoughts into what. Was it foreshadowing that something bad will happen?
She walked into the living room and plopped down onto the couch and pouted. Her dad was watching the evening news while her mom turned to look at her with a small frown, wondering what’s wrong.
“My eye’s been twitching ever since I got home from school.” She sighed, reading her mom’s mind. “I don’t know what’s wrong though, it’s like something bad will happen. Usually that’s what it means when your eye is twitching right?” She asked to confirm.
Mrs. Rances chuckled and nodded her head. “Yes sweetie, that’s what happens, but don’t worry too much about it, it might just be a little thing.” She comforted Suzy while patting on her arms.
Suzy sighed and leaned back in the couch, resting her eyes. “Yeah, maybe I need sleep.” She said as she got up. “I’ll head to bed now then. Night mom, night dad.”
On her way up, she wondered whether she would have another weird dream like before. Maybe it was from her past? To her, she felt like she was lost in a desert, without any sources of direction whatsoever.
-----
The following day at school, Yunho announced to the teachers that he would be away from school and studying overseas as an international student meanwhile. The rumor spread around quickly and by the end of the first period, everyone knew about Yunho moving away – or that’s what they all referred to it as.
The gang huddled in a group to discuss about what to do and if there was any possible way to make Yunho stay, which was Suzy but the problem was Suzy didn’t have any reaction to it because she couldn’t remember anything at all.
{ Kristine and Alyce both ran to find Suzy as soon as they heard their boyfriends mention about Yunho moving overseas and studying there internationally. “Oh my gosh, Suzy, did you hear what happened to Yunho?” Kristine exclaimed before Alyce could say a word beside her.
Suzy frowned a little, “Why, did he get in trouble or something?” Suzy wondered questioningly.
“Yunho’s moving overseas and will be studying as an international student while helping out his dad as an interim at their company!!” Alyce poured out in a desperate manner.
Suzy’s face remained blank, “So? It’s good for their company though! He can take practice and gain experience while helping out his dad, I think his dad will be happy plus that just means he’s maturing into a man!” She smiled brightly. “I’m happy for him, why do you guys all look worried?” She asked aloud.
Alyce turned to Kristine and bit her lip. “Uh, nothing, we’ll just miss him too much that’s all.” She said with a forced smile along with an awkward facial expression.
Kristine nodded her head quickly, “I mean yeah… you know he’s been here for so long with us and we’re such good friends already. We’ll miss him lots.” Kristine said with nervous chuckles.
Suzy grinned. “Yeah, he’s really nice although I don’t remember much of him but he’s a really caring friend.” At the mention of that, Alyce and Kristine exchanged looks once again. “But he’s still lucky, I would love to visit overseas, I’ve never done that before!!” Suzy said happily but quickly put her hands over her mouth. “Oops, I might have before, but I mean ever since I woke up.” She giggled cutely.
Kristine and Alyce shook their heads in defeat as the three of them walked off to their classrooms.}
Everyone in the group exchanged hopeless looks.
“I guess we’ll just have to wait and see when Suzy will remember him, and when she does I guess she can go find Yunho.” Hero said hopelessly with a lazy shrug.
Changmin sighed. “That is if they don’t find someone before she remembers and IF she even remembers, that’s the problem right now.” He stated. “She can’t remember a thing.”
All of them looked at one another dejectedly, feeling bummed out at the fact that they could not do anything to make Yunho stay or make Suzy remember something. They could tell her about her past, but that won’t be the same and besides, she might not have the same feeling. She had to find the feeling herself in order for it to be special.
-----
“Hi honey, how was school today?” Suzy’s mom greeted Suzy as she entered the house, throwing her bag on the couch and going into the kitchen to grab some snacks. “Anything new, special coming up?”
Suzy shook her head. “Nope, same old school. But one thing – apparently Yunho’s going to study overseas as an international student because of being an interim at his family’s business.” She said as she took a sip from the straw out of the can of coke. She headed out to the living room and turned on the television, wondering what good shows were on to see.
Suzy’s mom frowned upon seeing how her daughter seemed to have no reaction when she realized her boyfriend will be leaving her yet she kept quiet. She just hoped Suzy might be able to remember him soon. If possible, before he left the country this weekend. “He’s leaving on Saturday morning, are you going to send him off?” She asked as she walked out of the kitchen and sat on the couch adjacent to the one Suzy is sitting on.
Suzy nodded her head, “Yeah I’ll be going with the others on Saturday morning. Are you going to come as well?” Suzy turned her attention to her mom, away from the television as she raised an eyebrow. “After all, he is your friend’s son.” She stated matter-of-factly.
She smiled and nodded her head lightly. “Yes, I’ll be going as well but I’ll be going with Yunho’s parents. Yunho will be going out with you guys on Saturday morning and then we will all meet up at the airport later on.”
Suzy nodded her head while wrinkling her nose. “Yeah they were all being silly and saying something like having their last breakfast together. It sounds like Yunho is either dying or going to war or never coming back.” She rolled her eyes remembering exactly what her friends had made their farewell sound like on Saturday.
Suzy’s mom smiled gently, with wrinkles forming on the side of her eyes. She got up from her seat and stretched a little, “Well, I’ll be preparing for tonight’s dinner then, I’ll call you when it’s ready. Don’t watch too much; make sure you do your homework too.” She reminded before disappearing into her territory.
Suzy stared into space after her mom left and laid her head on the top of the couch, staring up at the empty ceiling. ‘It feels weird having Yunho leave… was I really close with him before?’ Suzy asked herself. ‘Why do I have to be the unfortunate to have lost my memories?!’ She questioned herself in frustration. She felt like crying with all the different emotions buried inside of her right now, making her feel extremely moody. She got up, turned off the television and decided to head upstairs to her room and do some homework while listening to music. Music had always helped her soothe her mind.
After she closed her door and turned around, she noticed a small little crack on her window against the bright sunlight. She frowned as she walked closer to her window trying to examine it. She ran her fingers on it gently, making sure she doesn’t cut herself if it was cracked. Fortunately, it wasn’t a crack, it was just some dirt on the window, making it look like a crack. As she stood on the spot, she looked down at the driveway and suddenly, her mind went blank and a short image popped up in her head.
{A figure was standing on the driveway, staring back at her with a blurry face. But somehow she managed to see the little smirk hanging proudly on his face. He had holding a rock in his hand after throwing one on her window.}
The image quickly faded away like a sudden breeze and Suzy was left hanging in the thin air with the small clip of image. She frowned once again as she leaned against her window, staring down at her plain driveway, wondering what she was missing still. She stared at the flower blossoms growing on trees and the roads all covered with small flower petals while the sun was shining brightly overtop.
Suzy sighed as she trudged back to her desk and plopped down on her chair. Because she literally threw herself on the chair, her elbow knocked over her cup of water sitting on her desk and poured all over. Luckily she had a plastic sheet of protector on top of her desk to save her photos underneath. While she was rearranging some stuff around on her desk, she lifted her notebook from the lower right corner of her desk and her eyes were caught by a certain piece of paper with some writing on it, abbreviations to be exact. She frowned with a gasp as she slowly ran her fingers over the paper, trying to think when she wrote that and why, and how.
-----
Hero and Kristine were on a date and walking around the mall after an evening movie. They were walking hand in hands while stopping every so often at a random store to look at the clothes on display.
“I can’t believe Suzy can’t remember anything, not even us… and most of all not even Yunho.” Kristine said sadly as she leaned her head on Hero’s shoulders, using him as a support. “It must be very hard for Yunho isn’t it?” She asked Hero.
Hero nodded his head. “I’m suspecting that’s the reason why Yunho is agreeing to be an interim at his dad’s company. As far as I know Yunho was never really interested in his dad’s business before.” He said with a slight shrug. “But I can be wrong, people can change.”
Hero felt Kristine give a tighter squeeze on his hands than usual. “As bad as this sounds, but Suzy losing her memory is teaching me how to treasure every minute with you.” Krisitne confessed sheepishly, feeling herself light up in embarrassment.
Hero chuckled. “If you ever forget about me, I’ll make sure I bug you until you remember me.” He said.
“Then I’ll hate you though for being annoying.” Kristine argued back.
Hero shook his head. “We’ll see, maybe you’ll fall in love with me again because of my good looks.” Hero couldn’t help but boost himself up while combing his styled hair gently with his fingers, giving it a small messy effect.
-----
Yoochun and Dambi were eating dinner together at the restaurant happily, sharing a couple’s dinner set. The steaks served on their plates were in heart shapes with the sauce spread nicely and evenly on it.
“Yoochun… how come… you like me?” Dambi asked out of wonder, which surprised Yoochun.
Yoochun smiled like a dork, “That you’ll have to ask yourself. Why do you have to fall into my arms at the dance and let me see you, resulting in love at first sight?” He reversed the question back to her.
Dambi rolled her eyes with a chuckle. “That is so corny Yoochun!” She exclaimed, feeling embarrassed but at the same time giddy. Yoochun could only chuckle seeing her reaction to his cheesiness. “But really, why. I mean, I’m just a really nobody at school, no one really knows my existence much around school and you’re mister popular.”
Yoochun shook it off. “It doesn’t matter what others say, just as long as we know we like each other ok? So stop asking so many questions. Eat before the steak gets cold.” Yoochun hushed her up and instructed her to finish her dinner first.
Chapter 18
Departure
==========Yunho sat on his bed while staring out his window into space that he didn’t hear the knockings on his door. “Yunho?” Yunho turned around and saw his mom standing there, holding onto the doorknob and staring at him with sad eyes.
Yunho smiled and fully turned around, “hey mom, what’s up?” He asked casually.
His mom came in a sat down on the bed beside him and stroked his hair like a little boy. “I’m so sorry things didn’t work out between you and Suzy… I promise I won’t force you into another relationship ok?”
Yunho smiled and nodded his head. “Thanks mom, and besides… I think dad will overload me with work once I get there, you know how dad’s always wanted me and Junki to help him out.” Yunho shrugged. “And there’s really no rush I guess, I’m not even graduated from high school yet.” He reasoned.
Yunho’s mom nodded her head and stood up, staring down at Yunho. “Well, dinner will be served soon ok?” She coaxed once more before leaving the room. After his mom closed the door, Yunho laid back on his bed while stretching.
‘I want what life would be over there…’ Yunho couldn’t help but wonder. In some ways he was excited to go there, but a part of him also wanted to stay behind with all his friends and mom and Suzy.
---
Kristine, Alyce, Dambi and Gretchen were gathered around at a café, trying to decide what else they can do before Yunho boarded that plane tomorrow and left for an unknown period of time.
“I say... we just tell Suzy straight forward what happened between them.” Alyce, being the hot headed one, suggested right away. “There is no way Suzy can remember Yunho in time guys.”
Kristine shook his head, “No, we can’t, she won’t have that feeling towards him again… it won’t be the same.” She argued back. “So even if we did tell her, it would be useless, it might have an opposite affect and make her avoid him.”
Dambi sighed and brought her chin to rest on her palms, “But if we don’t try, we’ll never know if it’d work!” She wailed out loud. “I swear I would cry at the airport if Yunho does leave Suzy alone.” Dambi warned everyone in advance.
Gretcehn bit her lips, “Well, we can try what those shows always say, we can well… put some force to Suzy’s head and hopefully she will regain her memories?” Gretchen suggested hesitantly, “But it’s a stupid idea…” She quickly added in.
The rest of the girls immediately objected to it. “No!”
“What if Suzy’s memory goes even worse and doesn’t remember us?!” Kristine shrieked out loud in horror.
Alyce nodded her head, “Agreeing with Kristine, I don’t think this one will work Gretchen, sorry.”
Gretchen shook her head. “No, no, it was a stupid idea anyways.” She said with a sigh. “Poor couple…”
“There’s really no way to help them?” Dambi asked once again while the others looked at one and another and slumped their shoulders with dissatisfied expressions.
---
Suzy couldn’t concentrate on her homework for some odd reason. She set down her pencil and stared at the corner of her desk once again. After her discovery of the initials on the corner of her desk, she couldn’t help but feel curious at what that stood, was it her boyfriend?
She stared at it again. JY & SR inside a heart was carved on the corner of her small desk underneath the plastic protection sheet she had on her desk. She slipped her hand underneath the plastic sheet cover and ran her hands over the carved initials. She frowned while she continued to stare at it with curiosity but nothing came across her mind. Her mind was still blank regardless of how hard she tried to remember the initials and think of someone. She was sure SR was her initials, Suzy Rances, who was JY though, was it her best friend or her boyfriend?
She felt another headache on its way so she quickly scrambled around for her painkillers and opened the lid to take one pill. She shook her head as she headed back to her bed, ready to go to sleep and not wanting got think about it anymore. It had been killing her lately, getting on her mind most times, she had a feeling that it was someone important that she should remember real soon.
---
The next day, Yunho woke up a little earlier than expected. He took his time to get ready to leave to the airport with his friends and his mom would meet up with Mrs. Rances to go a little later.
After Yunho was ready, he grabbed his suitcase and headed downstairs for breakfast and decided to just wait around in the living room if he had extra time.
What surprised him was, while he was eating breakfast, his friends all arrived a little earlier than he had expected. “Hey, you guys are here so early.” He commented as he took a sip from his glass of orange juice set in front of his plate of nicely cooked breakfast.
The others sort of shrugged slightly, while giving a small smile, obviously not wanting to bid goodbye to one of their good friend.
Yunho chuckled and got up while shrugging on his light jacket. “Ok, I’m ready to go now.” He grinned as he got up. He gave a little stretch before smiling back at his friend. “Mom, I’m leaving with the guys first!” He hollered quickly, while waving to the butler and maid present in the living room, while another one was cleaning up his breakfast plate and utensils.
The butler nodded his head politely with a smile. “Well will miss younger master.” He said firmly as he raised his head once again with a smile.
Yunho nodded his head and started to head out with Changmin carrying his suitcase for him. “I’ll miss you guy,” he sad to the butler before closing the door shut behind him.
After about an half hour drive to the airport, they checked Yunho in and sat down at a café, enjoying the rest of the morning before Yunho had to head in for his flight.
When the time finally came for Yunho to board the plane, everyone stared at him with sad eyes. Though Yunho had a smile on his face, he wasn’t really smiling inside, the only person who was smiling genuinely was the clueless Suzy, who really thought Yunho would be having fun overseas working.
Yunho’s mom quickly embraced her son tightly in her arms, while sniffling a little. After a few minutes of hugging and sniffling, they finally broke apart. Yunho chuckled at his mom, “Mom, you are embarrassing me,” He joked lightly. “I’ll come back during holidays or something, plus you can also come and visit me too.” He grinned while giving his mom a final brief hug.
Yunho then turned towards Suzy’s mom and smiled. Suzy’s mom presented a red packet envelope, like those given away during Chinese New Years. “I wish you the best of luck there Yunho…” She thrust the small envelope gently into Yunho’s hand and wrapped his fingers around it while adding a little pressure to his hands within hers, as if telling him it would be ok.
Next, Yunho saw Suzy was standing beside her mom and he stuttered for a few seconds and wondered what he should do – should he give her a hug or just handshake? He decided to go with the handshake just because she doesn’t remember him – yet hopefully. Suzy smiled back, “Have fun overseas!!” She said as she initiated a hug as she leaned forward and wrapped her arms around Yunho. “Make sure you come back and visit us sometimes too, and hopefully by then I’ll remember you.” She gave a grin after she broke the hug.
Yunho’s eyes shone when she said that. “Make sure you call me when you remember everything,” He said smiling with a hidden meaning, “You’ll know why when you remember everything.” He gave a wink to her before walking on to the next person. The wink left Suzy pondering with a smiling frown, wondering what he had meant by that. She rolled her eyes and thought of it as an inside joke between them from before probably.
Yunho quickly gave the rest of the people a quick hug before picking up his carry-on bag and backing away slowly. He waved with the passport and airplane ticket still in his hand with a half-hearted smile. “Bye, I’ll miss you guys!” He said one last time before turning around and walking away.
Everyone turned their heads slightly towards Suzy, seeing her reaction and secretly hoping something will come up miraculously and she would remember everything again. Unfortunately, that did not happen, Suzy was still standing there with a smile on her face, waving.
--- 5 YEARS LATER ---
“SUZY!” Kristine shrieked as she saw Suzy entering the coffee shop. Suzy winced as she saw people around them give them weird stares. She quickly step towards the seat across from Kristine and hushed her up.
“Kristine!! That was so embarrassing, everyone was staring at me!” She hissed. “I can’t believe you’d do that to embarrass me.” She said with a soft laugh. Although it was embarrassing she couldn’t help but smile at her friend. “Where are the others?” She asked as she arched her head to look across the coffee shop but couldn’t find anyone anywhere.
Gahee came out of the kitchen and smiled, “Gretchen’s not working today, she’s on a date with Yoochun for the morning, but she’s on her way back I believe, she can’t possibly miss out on your birthday!” She said with a grin as Ricky also came out from the kitchen and gave a little wave to Suzy.
“Hey there Suzy, I’m glad I don’t have to see you at my office again as my patient but here as a friend.” He said with a grin. “And I should totally thank you for introducing Gahee to me.” He said as he wrapped his arm around Gahee’s shoulders. The two had met during Suzy and the others’ graduation party, where the two instantly clicked off, and now were just engaged.
Suzy chuckled and was about to say something but stopped when she saw the others all come inside the door at once. Alyce immediately squealed in delight at the sight of Suzy and charged towards Suzy, attacking her with a big hug. “Oh my gosh Suzy it’s been like forever since I last saw you!!” Alyce said between sobs.
The guys smiled and waved at Suzy politely while the girls each took turns to give a hug to Suzy.
Suzy chuckled as she looked around the table, staring at each of her friend, although one was missing. She had gone to study at Europe for interior design, her dreams of becoming a designer had come true, not only did she become a successful designer, she had also graduated as architecture. She picked today, also her birthday, to come back to meet everyone up and to bring them two pieces of good news.
As everyone settled down, she smiled mysteriously and couldn’t help but break the news to them. “So, I’ve successfully graduated as an interior designer…AND as an architecture. I’ve got a job offer given here so I’ll be staying here permanently.” She announced and waited for her friends’ reaction. The girls all squealed excitedly at their friend’s accomplishment as the boys all grinned and congratulated her.
Gretchen quickly got up from her seat and ran into the kitchen. Suzy gave a questioning look at the others but was only returned with mysterious grins. Gretchen quickly came back out with a big green cake. Suzy gasped and covered her mouth with her hands when she saw the birthday cake presented to her by her friends. “Oh my gosh… you guys…” Suzy said and couldn’t help but feel her eyes starting to water up.
The girls all gathered around and gave Suzy a group hug. “Happy Birthday Suzy, we missed you so much.” They all said together and eventually broke into laughter at their unison. “It’s your favorite ice cream flavor, mint chocolate chip. We figured you’d still like ice cream after all these years so we got you an ice cream cake.” They said proudly.
Suzy nodded her head as the hug broke apart and she admired the cake. Everyone urged her to make a wish and she clapped her hands together, closed her eyes and made a wish. But as she made a wish, something popped up in her head.
{“Let’s get some ice cream!” Suzy pointed at an ice cream store across the street happily, like a little kid.
He chuckled and nodded his head. “Ok, let’s go.” They crossed the street together and headed inside the store.
“I want…” Suzy tapped her chin as she pressed her two palms on the glass dome keeping the ice cream cool and protecting it. “I want mint chocolate chip flavor.” She tapped her finger on the corresponding area on the glass while staring back at him. “What about you?”
He moved around and looked at the different flavors. “Hm, maybe I’ll get cookie dough flavor.” He said as he eyed the light brown colored ice cream. “Yeah, I’ll get that.” He stared back at the worker, ordering it formally. “So one mint chocolate chip and one cookie dough, both on waffle cones.” He looked over at Suzy to confirm.
Suzy nodded her head. “Yep, one scoop.” She added in, which he forgot to mention.
The worker nodded his head and took a scoop to make their cones. After he paid, they continued their way to Suzy’s house while eating their ice cream.
“I want to try yours!” Suzy said staring at him. He chuckled and held out his cone for her to scoop with her spoon. “Is both our ice creams brown?” She asked him curiously.
He was puzzled at first but realized that Suzy was after all color blind. He shook his head with a smile. “No, yours is green and mine is light brown, but a really pale brown.”
Suzy wrinkled her nose. “Why is mine green?” She held out her ice cream before her eyes as if examining the color although she couldn’t tell the difference. “Shouldn’t it be…” She eyed the sky and tried to think of her imaginative color of her ice cream. “Brown ice cream with white little chips for the mint?”
He laughed. “No, mint chocolate chip means that it’s mint flavored ice cream with chocolate chips in it silly.” He said, poking her head with his index finger lightly.
Suzy pouted. “Oh.” She continued to enjoy her ice cream, while thinking. “OH, I get it now!” Suzy suddenly burst out. “Mint flavored, but why would it be green, shouldn’t it be white since it’s mint?” She asked.
He shrugged. “Maybe it’s peppermint? I don’t make ice cream, I don’t know. Maybe I should go learn to make ice cream so you will love me more.” He said jokingly.}
Suzy’s eyebrows furrowed together as another flashback from her past haunted her again. She had been getting random flashbacks of her past from the last five years and ever since the accident. Each time as associated with a mysterious guy – nevertheless it was the same guy of course. The most frustrating part was, his face was blurred out for some odd reason.
But this time, his face had become clearer. Suzy gasped loudly and her eyes shot open widely in shock. Her friends all frowned at her sudden unexpected reaction.
---
Yunho walked out of his office and was greeted by a thin chirpy girl around his age. He smiled instantly and she jumped up to give him a hug, which he immediately returns. All the girls sighed enviously at the sight of their boss hugging the girl. “Wait for me in my office ok? I just have a quick meeting to attend.” He instructed as she nodded her head obediently and headed off to his office.
Yunho chuckled as he continued his way towards the conference room for a meeting. After the meeting ended fifteen minutes later, he headed back into his office and was greeted by the girl again. “Sorry for the long wait, let’s go for lunch now shall we?” He asked invitingly with a grin.
She rolled her eyes as she spun around on her heeled boots and walked off, with him behind her and shaking his head at her princess-like attitude. As if sensing him shake his head, she turned around and narrowed her eyes at him, “Let’s go, I feel like having sushi today!” She said excitedly as she clasped her hands together childishly.
“Ok, ok, whatever you say… let’s go.” He said as he held an invisible escalator door opened for her in a gentleman-like manner. She slapped him on the arms playfully as she entered the invisible door Yunho had opened for her.
Chapter 19
Love's Aftermath
==========“Suzy, are you okay?” Kristine gasped as Alyce put her hands gently on her shoulder. They all exchanged nervous and scared looks around the table.
Suzy squinted her eyes and tried to shake her head, “No… I’m getting another flashback…” Suzy bit her lip. “That guy is familiar… I know him… but I can’t remember his name – it’s on the tip of my tongue!” Suzy said in frustration.
The others could only sit there and look at Suzy struggling for her memories. Finally, Alyce couldn’t take it anymore. “Can it be Yunho?” She asked, giving out the answer. Everyone turned to look sharply at Alyce but she only shrugged back, not wanting to see her friend going through all the struggling to remember.
Suzy stopped her struggling, and stared at Alyce, her mouth opened in a gap. “That sounds… familiar too. Wait no! Yunho is the one who left overseas though, how can it be him?” She asked, rejecting the thought. The others all sighed and silently shook her head in despair.
“Well, why don’t we get the cake going first?” Gahee suggested, breaking the somewhat tense atmosphere. “Let’s leave all the frustrations for after today, after all, it is your birthday today Suzy!” She said, giving Suzy a quick hug before going into the kitchen to get a knife for Suzy to cut the cake.
Although everyone was disappointed at the thought that Suzy didn’t see Yunho as that way, she had remembered him but in her memory, he was a really close friend and probably didn’t think they used to have gone out prior to the accident.
---------------
Yunho stared at the girl from behind and shook his head. “Hey wait up will you?” He asked while laughing as he ran after her.
The girl turned around and stuck her tongue out at him, “Why don’t you walk faster than? Stop being so slow Yunho!” She whined a little as she continued her pace, leaving Yunho lagging behind.
On their way to their destination, Yunho passed by an ice cream truck and smiled at it. “Happy Birthday Suzy.” Yunho said quietly as he stopped for a quick moment and continued staring at it, until the girl hollered out to him.
---
After hanging out at the café, Suzy had to go to see the company she will be working at for an interview. Although she had already been accepted as an employee, it was a formal thing to do for companies to do interviews for their employees.
Since there was still time left, Suzy decided to go visit her old neighborhood, before she had moved out. Her parents had already moved elsewhere after she had gone to Europe, and now that she was back, Suzy was living by herself in a cozy apartment.
---
“Hurry up Yunho!! Junki’s waiting for us at the airport!!” She complained, putting her hands on her hips and frowning disapprovingly at him.
Yunho rolled his eyes, “Ok, ok, jeez, and I thought I was your favourite cousin.” Yunho pretended to frown. The two of them entered the airport, ready to pick up Yunho’s brother, who came to visit them as well as taking care of some business for a few days.
Yunho grinned at the sight of his brother as Junki grinned back as well. The two shared a quick hug before Junki backed away and pretended to not know the girl. “Well, who is this young lady now?”
She pouted at Junki and stuck her tongue out. “Junki, stop being so mean to me! I can’t believe you’d forget about me!! I’m Lee Da Hae duh!” She said as she stuck her nose in the air, pretending to be snobby.
The three all chuckled and rolled their eyes, giggling along the way as they headed for the exit to the parking lot where Yunho had parked his car. “So how has it been?” Yunho asked.
“The same usual stuff, but… I’m engaged though.” Junki grinned.
Yunho’s raised an eyebrow at Junki suspiciously. “Really? Who is it?”
“Nam Sang Mi, you know her too,” Junki stated matter-of-factly. “Mom really likes her too, she’s even urging us to marry on an earlier date!” Yunho rolled his eyes at his eager mom. “That’s mom for you.” He chuckled while shaking his head.
“Can I come to the wedding too?” Da Hae asked with a toothy grin. “I’ve never gone to a wedding before!” She exclaimed as Yunho unlocked the car and the trunk opened automatically and the two guys loaded Junki’s luggage on the back together.
“Yeah, that’s part of the reason I came here, to give you guys invitation cards.” Junki said, taking a card from his carry-on bag. “Here, that’s for you Da Hae and your family. And Yunho, you don’t get one, you’re in my family.” Junki laughed and Yunho punched him on the arm for being so silly.
---
As Suzy stopped in front of her house, she felt herself smile genuinely. The house was still the same altogether, with flowers on the front, and the swing hanging on the tree her dad made for her when she was younger. She went to the side and stared at the window that used to be her bedroom.
{Suzy narrowed her eyes a bit and saw that it was the same guy from school this morning. “Funny how I still don’t know his name yet?” Suzy wondered aloud and laughed.
“Hey!” he called from below.
“What do you want? It’s so late now, what are you doing here?” Suzy whispered to him quietly, not wanting to disturb the already quiet neighborhood.
“I saw you at the window when I was walking by, so I was just wondering what you were doing.” He looked up and grinned. “Thinking about me perhaps?”
She stuck her nose to the air. “Psch, as if you wish I was thinking about you. But sorry to break it to you, I was only admiring the snow.”
“Ouch, that was so straightforward it hurts twice as much as it should have.” Yuhno put a hand over his left chest.
Suzy rolled her eyes, thinking what a great drama queen he would be.
“Hey, don’t you think this kind of scenery and setting looks familiar?” He asked her with a smirk.
She frowned and shook her head, not comprehending his words.
“Jeez, haven’t you read Romeo and Juliet before, where Romeo talks to Juliet from beneath her bedroom window? You’re sure romantic.” Yunho stated sarcastically and rolled his eyes.}
Suzy gasped as that flashback struck her like lightning. Alyce had been right, it WAS Yunho all along and she didn’t even know that. She didn’t even feel suspicious as to why he seemed so especially nice to her. She only thought of him like a friend.
With that, she quickly ran off to her next destination, ignoring the fact that she had an appointment to go to.
---
Yunho sighed as he sat in his office, his elbows on arms of the chair and chin on his palms, staring out the window in space. His dad decided to let Junki take over the business here until the wedding, while Yunho was going to go back so they can have good relationship with all the staffs here and overseas at the headquarters.
He was happy that he will be back to see everyone but his mind drifted him off somewhere else he had tried not to think about for the past years, but failed miserably. He opened his wallet and stared the picture he and Suzy had taken all the way back when they were dating. He couldn’t help but wonder how she was now and whether she had found someone new or not.
---
“Mom, dad!” Suzy yelled as she banged against the door to their house. When she got no answer after knocking for a few minutes, she sat on the steps of her porch and flipped open her cell to dial Alyce’s number.
“Hello?” Alyce answered in a bored tone.
“Alyce, can you please tell me what happened to me and Yunho before I got into the accident?” Suzy asked, on the verge of sobbing. “Did we used to date?” Suzy asked, her emotions getting all mixed up. Somehow, the feeling was just right thinking about Yunho at the moment.
Alyce gasped through the line. “You remember everything Suzy?”
“Not all, but I’m starting to get them back after a flashback, I think I’m piecing it together but can you tell me anyways please?” Suzy begged.
Alyce sighed. “Yeah, you and Yunho used to date and were really happy and sweet but when we went for vacation that year you got into an accident and forgot all about us. He was sad and that’s the main reason he left too. His excuse was to help his dad out yeah, but really, he was sad.” Alyce spilled.
Suzy felt her lips trembling. “Thanks Alyce, I’ll talk with you later ok?” Suzy said as she closed her cell and hugged it to her chest, letting her tears fall on her cheeks. She felt stupid for forgetting about someone so important in her life. As she closed her eyes, more and more flashbacks of her and Yunho came up like a video clip of her past.
---
Yunho stepped out of the airport, back in his hometown. He breathed in the polluted air and couldn’t help but cough a few times. The air in the states were a lot fresher he had to admit, but this was Korea and he really liked it here to be honest, more than in the states.
He was finally back and he didn’t know what to do, the chaffeaur was at the airport to pick him up and head home, but somehow he wanted to find his friends. It had been forever since they hung out, ever since he went to the states, he had been busy with either work or school and didn’t even have time to talk on the phone but occasionally email a few times a month and that was about it.
He quickly sent a text to his friends over his blackberry phone and instantly, he got a quick reply. He grinned and shook his head, from reading the text, they still seemed like the same old guys he used to know.
---
Later on that night, Suzy’s phone rang and when she picked it up, Kristine had called to tell her to come out to hang out. Suzy agreed and they decided to meet up at the club.
After a few minutes, Suzy left her apartment and headed to the club that they were meeting up at.
---
“I wonder what their reactions would be like seeing each other again.” Kristine asked as she took a drink of her cocktail drink.
“Yunho still likes her, I’m sure of it.” Changmin said matter-of-factly.
The others all agreed along that hopefully they would resolve all the problems and that they will be together again since they both still have feelings for each other. Well for Suzy, she found her feelings for Yunho.
---
Just as Suzy turned the corner on her way to the club, she saw a familiar back view of someone in front of her. She squinted her eyes and realized who it was – someone who she could recognize anywhere.
“Yunho!” She called out excitedly.
Yunho stopped in front of her and turned around slowly, afraid his ears were fooling with him. “Suzy?” He asked hesitantly. She smiled as she took big strides towards him, closing the large gap between them. “What’s up?” He asked casually.
Suzy kept her face straight. “Nothing, I just happen to be mad at someone right now.” She said, showing a little frown now.
Yunho wrinkled his nose, “Really who and why?” He asked curiously.
“Someone named Jung Yunho because he left me all alone for five whole years with no memories at all about us.” Suzy said, narrowing her eyes at her target.
Yunho’s confused face gradually turned into a large half smirk and half grin. Suzy also felt a smile creeping on her own face, and the two continued to stare at each other, after being apart for five whole years without contact. With one swift movement, he grabbed Hebe’s shoulders and brought her into a longing hug with Suzy hugging him back.
The aftermath of love was bitter... yet in the very end, it was sweet once again.
THE END
Labels: by: Lyshim [sexy_green]
