Although he knew cleaning up would only force him to find and remember things he wanted to be forgotten, he had nothing else better to do, and it wasn’t like he had other plans anytime anyway.

 

He stood up and wiped his hands on his old, worn out jeans. Looking around the dark room that was lit up by the early morning sun's rays, he decided that he would clean upstairs first. There was simply too many boxes down here. Too much effort to move all of the boxes. 

 

Kim Woobin's idea of cleaning up would differ from a normal person's. A sane ordinary person would put things back where they belong to create more space for themselves so they could move about their day without having to worry about tripping over piles of dirty laundry. 

 

Kim Woobin's idea of cleaning goes along the lines of grabbing everything on the floor and shoving it into a nearby closet, never to be seen again. Well, at least until the next time he decides to open it. 

 

Whilst sorting the laundry from the random objects on his floor, he stumbled upon a small, rather odd object. Buried under an old white t-shirt, it was a small, plastic ring with an overly sized bright colored gem. It was similar to the kind of thing you would get from a machine where you would have to insert a coin into a slot and turn the knob. Then you would have to wait until a small egg popped out from the other hole and the prize would be waiting inside. 

 

He turned the small ring around in his hand, observing it. Everything was made out of plastic from the gem to the shank (the circular part that you put on your finger). The gem was a light blue and the shank was spray painted a silver color to pass it off as "metal."

 

Unconsciously, he put it on as he, once again, recalled a memory from the past. 

 

"Hey, do you have a quarter?"

 

"Um, no. Why?"

 

"Because I wanna try that out."

 

He pointed at a small machine located in from of the grocery store. 

 

"Kim Woobin! Don't you think you're a little too old to be playing those kinds of things?"

 

"Psh. No. Now do you have one or not?"

 

Yoona sighed and opened her bag. Grabbing her coin purse, she pulled out the only quarter she had and handed to it him, all while saying, "I swear you're five-years-old."

 

Giggling like a five-year-old girl ready to have a tea party with stuffed animals, he scurried over to the machines.

 

"Choose the right one because I don't have another coin for you to waste on this," Yoona called out.

 

Woobin hurriedly inserted the coin into the small slot and turned the knob...

 

...and nothing happened. 

 

"What the heck? Why isn't it coming out?"

 

"I'm pretty sure you need to wait, Woobin."

 

"Hmph. Fine."

 

Woobin turned his head to look at Yoona, only to turn his attention back to the machine a few seconds later. 

 

Yoona was trying not to laugh, as Woobin had been so excited, he chose the wrong prize machine. Instead of whatever boyish plastic item that he wanted, Woobin had chosen the one for little girls, which has prizes like plastic jewelry and such.

 

Woobin turned around and glared at Yoona. She tried to make her expression somewhat annoyed, so that she wouldn't give it away.

 

"There. I waited. Now why isn't it working?"

 

Yoona sighed, ready to give him some sort of lame excuse when she heard Woobin growl. 

 

"Stupid machine!"

 

Woobin turned around and kicked the machine, to Yoona's horror.

 

"Kim Woobin," she hissed, loudly. "You're going to break the darn thing and then we have to replace it and deal with the manager of the store and then we-"

 

She was interrupted when she saw his crestfallen face as he turned to face her from his spot on the floor.

 

She sighed and gave him a small smile.

 

“This one’s probably broken. Let’s try another one next time, okay?”

 

Woobin smiled, but he was still disappointed. She reached out a hand and grabbed his.

 

‘Sometimes he’s just like a little kid,’ she thought.

 

She tilted her head slightly so that she could glance at his expression. He was still upset she could tell.

She was about to suggest they go get ice cream to cheer him up when she was interrupted by the sound of a small rattle.

They both froze and slowly turned around. As she stared at the machine from a distance, a small pink plastic egg fell out and dropped into the slot. 

 

"Yay!" 

 

Woobin turned around and sped towards the entrance of the store.

 

“Woobin!” Yoona ran after him.

 

She arrived just as he leaned down and plucked the small prize from the slot.

 

"Okay! I'm satisfied! Let's go home now!"

 

He straightened up, turned around, and promptly walked away. Walking past her, he grabbed her wrist and dragged her towards the direction of their parked car. Still in awe, she allowed him to drag her away while she questioned the magic of the machine.

 

Siting in the passenger’s seat, he cracked the egg open, giddy with excitement…

 

…only to find a small child’s sized ring with a giant plastic blue gemstone in the middle.

 

As he stared at it in shock, Yoona burst out laughing in the driver’s seat.

 

Woobin moaned, “All that work and this is what I get?”

 

Still cackling, she managed to respond, “You chose the wrong machine!”

 

“Why didn’t you tell me?! Yoonaaaaa!”

 

“Sorry, sorry! It was just too funny to pass on.”

 

Slumping down in his seat, he grumbled, “Well then now what? I can’t fit this, nor would I want to wear it in the first place, and this wouldn’t have happened had a certain someone told me that it was the wrong machine in the first place.”

 

At this point, he was glaring at her, and she was biting her lip to keep from bursting out again.

 

“I don’t want to throw it away either…”

 

They drove on in silence for a few minutes, passing by four traffic lights until Woobin sat up again.

 

Clearing his throat, he held a strand of hair from his fringe and began twisting it between his fingers.

 

Mumbling something barely audible, he looked out the window.

 

“I’m sorry, what was that? I didn’t quite hear you,” Yoona said, eyes focusing on the road, clearly having heard what he said.

 

He gulped and she smiled widely.

 

“I-I said, You can have it then…”

 

“Whaaaaat?”

 

“YOU CAN HAVE IT THEN!”

 

Ducking his head to hide his embarrassment, he looked down at the floor of the car.

 

“Why, thank you. But I’ll have to politely decline your generous offer.”

 

“What?! Why?!”

 

“Cause it’s tacky and pink and way too small! Thank you for thinking of me though,” she said, taking her eyes off the road for just a second so that she could take the ring from his outstretched hand.

 

He exhaled a sigh of relief, but then frowned, after realizing what she had just said.

 

“We’re almost home!”

 

Woobin blinked.

 

Did all of that really happen? Is she really gone?

 

He shook his head slowly, trying to shake off the remaining memories of those days.

 

Hastily shoving the remainder of the piles of clothes into the closet, he slammed it shut and began making his way back to his bed, having given up on everything at the moment.