Chapter Five ~
Power off.
Ji Eun scanned her, chuckling. Her friend had spent hours at Ji Eun's house, indecisive between two dresses. Finally she'd chosen a simple black shift dress with metallic silver accessories like a layered necklace and a ring. Ji Eun had pinned up the Eunji’s hair in a top knot bun, a few strands of hair already falling down.
“Eunji, you look like a goddess. You're gorgeous, okay?”
Ji Eun had opted for quite the casual look, dark blue jeans and a crochet swing top that was hidden by a green parka coat.
She’s about to press the doorbell when her phone starts to vibrate, Ji Eun blinking in surprise before fishing it out of her pocket.
It was her dad.
She casts a sideway glance at Eunji who looks at her curiously. “Just a sec, let me take this,” Ji Eun bites her lip before sliding her thumb across the screen, bringing the phone closely to her ear.
“Hello?”
“Yah, Jean! Where are you right now?”
“Um...I’m with Eunji,” Ji Eun feels her blood pulsing and shifts her glance downward.
“But where are you?”
She’s distracted as Eunji starts pointing to the doorbell repeatedly. Is she asking whether she can press it? Ji Eun nods her head, forgetting what she had wanted to say.
“Jean? Hello?” His voice sounded annoyed. The doorbell rings, footsteps shuffle nearer to the door.
“Ah, sorry...We’re studying,” Her nonchalant voice hides an internal panic.
“Jean, I know you’re lying. If you’re not home in fifteen minutes….”
“I’m coming! Let me just say goodbye to Eunji,” Ji Eun quickly ends the call, her pale face making Eunji alert.
“What?!”
“We have to leave. Sorry, it’s just I think my dad found out or something. I don’t know….we just have to go back,” Ji Eun’s words are all in a rush as she already starts to head back to the car.
She hears the door opening and Eunji explaining some gibberish but doesn’t look back, getting in the driver’s seat while waiting anxiously for Eunji. Where was that girl?
Slam!
“Alright, go!"
“What happened?” Myungsoo asks as Sungyeol turns around. He had gone to open the door, but Sungyeol had interceded, saying it was his “friend”.
“She had to leave,” Sungyeol glumly plops down on the couch, sighing.
“Eh? Why?” Myungsoo looks out the window, seeing the backs of two girls as they hurriedly drove away. “What’s the rush?”
“I don’t know...Eunji was speaking so fast I couldn’t understand,” Sungyeol shrugs in shoulders in frustration, groaning. “I organized this party just for her! Ughhh…”
Myungsoo just smirks, amused at his friend’s displeasurement. Yet again, the doorbell rings.
“Well, looks like the actual party’s started,” He leisurely walks toward the door, hearing the familiar chatter of deep voices.
“Eyyy, Sunggyu, Woohyun, just the right time!” Myungsoo wears a boyish smile as his friends enter the house, giving them half-handshake half-hugs, their fistbump routine.
“I don’t know what to do, Eunji, he’s going to be so mad…” Ji Eun curses inwardly, her hands gripping the wheel of the car so tight that the knuckles change to white.
“Calm down, it won’t be so bad,” Her friend tries to comfort her, but it doesn’t help.
“You don’t know how he is!” Ji Eun almost screams, exhaling a deep breath. “Sorry, I just wish I could ing escape this house.”
Eunji bites her lip, trying to think of an answer but no good ones coming up. The two of them sit in tense silence for the rest of the car ride to Eunji’s house, both not knowing what to say or how to say it.
“I shouldn’t have gotten mad like that, I’m sorry…” Ji Eun pulls into the driveway, giving her friend a guilty look.
“It’s okay, but text me when you get home, okay? It can’t be too bad,” Eunji sympathetically gives her a wave as the car pulls out and heads back onto the streets.
Myungsoo retreats into the kitchen as more guests arrive, letting Sungyeol take the reigns. He seemed to have recovered, while Myungsoo, the introvert, was feeling out of his comfort zone. Sipping on a glass of water every few seconds, he takes out his phone to scan the notifications.
No messages from IU.
He sighs and puts the phone back in his pocket.
“So. Where were you?” Ji Eun fidgets uncomfortably, her gaze shifting.
“Jean. Look at me,” Her father’s tone darkens, each word making her feel even more tense.
“I really was studying!” She desperately pleads, finally focusing her eyes onto his face. Who was this stranger? His shadowed eyes, hair dotted with specks of white, trimmed beard. He couldn’t be the one who had taught her to play chess, spent countless hours reading together with her, taken her to cozy restaurants. The man that had comforted during sleepless nights. The man that bought the eight year old Ji Eun toys and stuffed animals.
This man couldn’t be him.
It wasn’t her father.
Since when had this stranger intruded into the well structured life Ji Eun had lived.
“No you weren’t - don’t lie to me, Jean.” His harsh tone brings her back to the reality. The reality that had shattered that warm life into pieces.
Her feelings numb, the stress in the air strangling her.
“Believe what you want. I’m going to do my schoolwork,” The defiance in her words makes Ji Eun feel confident, turning around and quickly moving upstairs. She knew she would regret it later.
“Jean! You - come back here now!” Her father shouts from downstairs, and Ji Eun knows she’d pay for it later.
“Ah, what have I done,” she murmurs to herself while flinging herself onto the bed in her room, with the lace on her top. Her thoughts drift to the music file that L had sent her….
She grabs her phone, unlocking it and finding the sheet music. Sending it to her email, Ji Eun makes a mental note to print it later.
IU: thanks for the file! I’ll start practicing it :)
A few minutes later, she gets a response.
L513: Nah, I’m happy that we can work together haha whatcha doing?
IU: umm….my parents have this auction dinner thing soon so I have to go to that T-T
L513: ouch
IU: ikr
Footsteps near her door makes Ji Eun sit up straight, hiding her phone behind her back.
“Jean,” Her father comes in, closing the door behind him. What now?
She stays silent.
“I told you to clean up the downstairs, what are you doing?”
Her chapped lips are moistened by a run of her tongue.
Interrupting the silence, her phone suddenly vibrates, a notification sounding as her ringer was on.
Crap, Ji Eun thinks to herself.
Her father takes out his palm. “Give me that - I see it’s a distraction.”
“No, it’s not! I’ll go clean the downstairs now - wait just -” She tries to fight back but it’s pointless. The phone is taken away and neatly tucked in her father’s pocket.
“Go,” with a nod of his head, he motions to the door.
She stands up hesitantly, wondering why her father wasn’t leaving as well.
“Uh..okay,” Ji Eun moves towards the door, still looking behind her while slowing walking down the stairs.
What was he doing in her room?
She thinks to anything that might seem suspicious and shakes her head. As long as he couldn’t log into her computer it would be fine.
“Why isn’t she responding?” Myungsoo murmurs to himself, biting his lip which was an often habit.
“Hmm?” Sungjong, wondering if his friend had said anything, shows a curious expression.
“Ah, nothing,” The older shakes his head, smiling.
Sungjong narrows his eyes, watching Myungsoo closely. “You’re interested in someone aren’t you?”
“Pshh, no,” Myungsoo distracts himself by trying to find his drink, eventually taking a random cup and sipping it.
Sungjong reveals a triumphant smile. “Well, I won’t push you...for now, at least,” He jokes. “Anyways, who's that girl over there? She’s so..pretty..”
Sungjong, younger than Myungsoo and his friends, didn’t know many people at this party and usually stuck with Myungsoo during gatherings. This was his first actual “party”, though, and was quite wide-eyed with all the new “cool” things. Myungsoo blinks a few times, focusing his eyes on the girl across the room that Sungjong had pointed out. Highlighted dark brown hair that fell in locks around her waist, a calm disposition that could be mistaken as icy - it could only be Soo Jung.
“Oh, that’s Krystal...or Soo Jung - I think she goes by either..”
“Isn’t she pretty?”
“Uh..yeah, I guess,” Myungsoo shrugs it off naturally but still glances at her one more time. She was smiling softly this time, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear. She did have quite an aura.
“Myungsoo! How ya doing?”
“Oh, Dongwoo, you surprised me,” Myungsoo chuckles, at first wondering whether he had been caught staring but seeing that it was only the playful Dongwoo.
“Dude, this party’s pretty hype - you having fun?”
“Uh-”
“Of course you are! I mean, like, you invited everybody!” Dongwoo goes off laughing, his voice erupting into chuckles.
“I-”
“Oh wait! Do we have anything due tomorrow for physics?”
“We have-”
“Only the worksheet about the diagram right? Okay, okay, gotcha,” Dongwoo gives him an unknown hand gesture, grinning. “Nice talk, nice talk, I’ll catch up with ya soon, man,” He pulls him in for a hug, jumping off elsewhere.
“Wow, he loves talking,” Sungjong comments as Myungsoo just stands still. He was used to Dongwoo’s extravert personality. Sliding his phone in his pocket, he glances at any of the notifications. None from Line…
IU had just been talking to him…
Ah, was he being too clingy? Myungsoo dwells on his thought, wondering why his mind was so fixated on IU. They had just met, it was weird how familiar she was to him. As if they’d known each other for years.
No, don’t assume things, Myungsoo thinks to himself. He didn’t want to jump to the conclusion that IU and him had met before and bring his hopes up. It’d just bring him down…
“Myungsoo?” That voice, so elegant.
He clears his throat, looking up. Oh, it was her - Soo Jung. “Hey,” He cracks a charming smile.
“I was just going to say that I’m heading out now - I think all my friends ended up going off somewhere with their significant others,” Her voice has a hint of awkwardness, but she laughs lightly with hands clasped around a glass half full of coke or something.
“Of course, I’ll walk you out” Myungsoo responds, glancing at Sungjong. He was struck in awe at the girl’s presence.
“Oh, this is Sungjong - He’s two years younger, but pretty mature for his age. Oh, you know Sungyeol? This is his little bro,” Myungsoo introduces the two, knowing the boy would be elated.
“Hi, Sungjong,” Soo Jung smiles softly, nodding her head a bit.
“Ah..”
“Well, I guess you need to get going,” Myungsoo starts to move and she follows, heels clicking lightly against the polished wood floor.
“You moved here this year, right?”
“Yes, from northern California…”
“How do you like this LA weather?”
“Um, it’s nice,” She shrugs, both of them laughing awkwardly.
They arrive at the front door and Myungsoo opens it politely for her, turning on the porch light that illuminated the front of the house.
“Ah, thank you for the party, I had fun…” She bowns and starts to walk ahead before pausing and turning around.
Myungsoo raises an eyebrow. Did she have something to say?
“This might sound really weird...but can I have your number?”
AN: Ahhh, chapter update so late T-T My goal for one chapter a week will probably not work xD Anywayssss, new development of Krystal from f(x) hehehe - I wanted to do someone that's shipped with Myungsoo as well and I don't really know Jiyeon from T-ARA and I was thinking about Suzy, but then it would get confusing in my head so I chose Krystal because I like f(x) :3 Also Myungstal yayy (tho hyukstal is da best ya know) Anyways, I think Myungsoo and Krystal had way more chemistry in My Lovable Girl than Rain. LIke...just make him the first lead T-T Let's see - I made a little chapter story layout for myself so this should go a bit more smoothly now! I've never done that before, so we'll see how it goes xD If you like the chapter, please loeave a comment! They are my #1 reason to release updates faster xD Hmm, yeah, I don't think there's anything else I need to say - I mean I can ramble on and on forever but that's not the point of this xD infinite showtime is great guyz shceck it out ~ and astro is debuting next month! you should check out their web drama as well!!!!!!! i can't wait for their debut :D and stay warm! luff you guys ~
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