004.

To nobody’s surprise, Kyuhyun had much better preferred his teenage days spent over training and Star Craft than in this smoky hell mistaken as a club. He found nothing interesting in particular, and wasn’t even challenged by the tense alcohol in his shots.

He knew he shouldn’t be afraid if someone sees him here, ruining his not-yet-existent ‘idol image’, observing quietly as how half of the population in this room is drunk and dizzy and the other half is too busy caretaking the drunks.

He sighed into his fifth bottle of soju, his mind still running perfectly. He kept thinking back to the apple tree girl, and he felt shy thinking it, but her skin was calming and soothing. Contact with her wrist is like allowing a hand into a laminar flowing river.

He pasted his hand onto his face and desperately tried to extinct the rush of wine red on his cheeks from embarrassment.

Standing up on his feet steadily, he streaked through the harsh crowd, his eyes secretively scanning the club for her existence.

Seohyun escaped the flood of party-goers and stood panting at the edge of the dance floor, her hands on her knees and her eyes darting around the room. She let out a low cry of disbelief and kept looking.

She didn’t know who she was particularly searching for, her mother or the apple tree guy. Before she could decide her target, her eyes caught her mother at the end of the dimly lit bar.

She couldn’t say she didn’t expect it but it came as a shock anyways, her mother clinging onto the mysterious man and Seohyun slowly curled her fists, her breathing, unnoticed, became rough and uneven.

Her teeth involuntarily clenched together and she slid forward, her feet harshly grinding against the non-carpeted floor. She slipped herself against the wall of people in front of her.

If her imagination is a movie, Seohyun would rate it PG 18 for violence and blood. She imagined her anger crashing over her as she stormed towards the mysterious man beside her mom with a gun.

She stomped her way in the direction of her mom, still unnoticed by her mom or the mysterious man with her.

Kyuhyun’s eyes blurred ever so slightly and he shook his head to clear his vision again. His hands slid over his own skin and gave himself a small pinch, reminding himself of his drinking limit. He couldn’t afford to lose soberness.

He gently pushed aside the desolated and empty soju bottles, his feet landing on the floor steadily. He took a deep breath and lifted his head, heaving in the thick smoky air, and when he lowered his eyes he caught sight of her.

He smiled slightly tohimself, but it was a short smile, because his eyes immediately caught on.

He followed her furious and determined glare, down the spine of the crowded bar and to the tip, where two women stood, miserably in their own ways, trying to catch a same man’s attention.

His eyes widened when his mind zoomed ahead and he realized that one of the pathetic women was Seo-something’s mother.

All his thinking and realization did no good, as Seohyun continued pushing people aside with a fragile kind arm and they only ended up toppling over her. She couldn’t bring herself to put her anger upon innocent people, so she allowed herself to slowly progress to her mother.

She struggled against the waves of party-goers and was patiently inching forward when the DJ announced discounted martinis at the bar.

Before she could brace herself, all the force against her body breezed away, leaving her exposed. She quickly glanced at her mom and seeing that she was still not noticed, she didn’t know whether to feel relieved or disappointed.

Are we that distant now? She thought, looking down at her feet.

Kyuhyun’s signature smirk hung off his mouth as he watched her ponder quietly.

He knew it was impolite to do so but he wanted to pry into her life and help her alongside to solve her problems.

“Are you planning to move aside?” a heavily accented voice asked rudely, and when he looked up, surprised, the owner of the voice snorted back at him.

“Think he’s so good since he’s local,” she said in pure English, nudging her boyfriend in the chest with a bony elbow.

Kyuhyun’s face flamed up with embarrassment. English was not where his strength and knowledge is so he had no clue how to interpret their words.

“Sorry,” he mumbled, tripping over his feet to get out of their way as soon as possible, his arms flung to catch himself but it was too late.

He landed on the floor with his wrist bent awkwardly beneath his weight. The foreign girl laughed loudly, throwing her head up in the air whilst her male companion stood silently and shot Kyuhyun an apologetic look.

Swallowing a sigh, Kyuhyun stood up, bowed, and frantically searched for Seo-something again. He had lost her in the frenzy of the two foreigners’ commands.

A bead of sweat clung to Kyuhyun’s forehead. Kyuhyun had experience when it came to anger and he knew what madness could do to a person in the matter of a millisecond.

As fast as he lost her he found her again, this time so much closer to approaching her mother, her fist raising higher and higher.

The discounted martinis were still going on and Seohyun could proceed to her mother so much easier. She felt herself clam together and force surging over her small mass.

As she was mere steps behind her mother, her fist straightened to its strongest and she pulled back her arm, ready to launch a blow.

She knew she would carry no more burdens on her heart from his and she will not let guilt and regret fall upon her for this incident. She would learn to forgive herself because deep down, she promised herself that it was a favour. Seohyun knew that this was about the hardest decision she can stumble along in life and with this down she can fully forget her past.

She can start afresh with no memories of either of her parents and this will be the one and only thing she will store in her mind.

Seohyun had everything planned out. Everything was perfect.

Her arm drew back and she clenched her teeth.

Kyuhyun dove towards her. His arms flailed once again but he caught his balance behind her and his hands locked onto her wrists.

Seohyun looked back in shock, agape.

They stood staring at each other for awhile, finally able to survey the other without suspicion.

Seohyun’s eyes dropped from his enhanced facial features down to his shoes.

She was frozen by his sudden appearance and his bursting good looks but her waves of anger crashed over her again.

Standing taller, she looked daringly into his coke eyes. She unclenched and then clenched her teeth again.

“You stopped me.” She said dryly, her threatening eyes boring into his.

“I stopped you.” He said blankly.

“You stopped me,” Seohyun repeated again furiously.

“I…stopped you.” His voice came out uncertainly.

Seohyun wanted to raise her arm and smack his head. Punish him for his stupidity and for being naïve, thinking he knew so much as to stop her.

She wanted to strangle him for ruining her only chance of abandoning the horrible truths of her life and now she was stuck with a new collection of haunting memories.

She wanted to scream in his face and let him suffer the same amount as she did.

Kyuhyun didn’t know how nervous he was. He just kept his eyes focused on her concentrated face as her eyes returned a colder, more docile look, ignoring his act of kindness a timeless moment ago.

This wasn’t the conversation he anticipated but nevertheless he was smug because they had a conversation after all.

It didn’t come of as quite of a friendly chat but more of a one-sided enthusiasm, but Kyuhyun embarked her voice in his brain anyways.

“I’m sorry,” were the only words that could squeeze out of his mouth as he kept looking into her stern eyes, trying to melt off a corner of her cold glare.

Seohyun’s mind raced ahead. She didn’t know whether to brush it off and accept his apology or keep their glaring positions.

In the back of her mind, she registered him fully. Her eyes widened and she dropped her icy stance.

She recognized him from the photos on the company bulletins and all over the entertainment websites the trainees were required to scout. Cho Kyuhyun? She shouted at herself desperately, her hands groping onto the sides of her head in frustration.

She knew from all the music magazines and websites she read that he was not yet loved by the fans. She had heard of his issues with the managers, but yet at the same time she had heard of the praises from the staff.

She had learned, being the quiet trainee in the corner, that he had the voice of an angel that could make miracles.

She knew that he was careful and although not willing, that he cleaned up the practice rooms well.

Although he was not yet accepted fully and had almost no more power that her, she knew he could bring the death of her singing career.

“Seobaby?”

The all too familiar voice of her blood mother that had abandoned her and her father to fun and youth.

Seohyun gripped Kyuhyun’s wrist and ran.