The following day, Hyoyeon went about her routine as usual. Wake up, do some pilates videos – it was strangely addictive – make breakfast for her dad and see him off, go to the school to pick up some forms and have a noisy group phone-call with her best friends. As the sun began to set that evening, she put on her freshly laundered jogging shorts, cool zip up and hat. Then, grabbing a water bottle on her way out the door, she lightly jogged towards the park.

A half hour later she arrived at her usual rest stop – the bench – and all of a sudden, she felt a wave of something that she hated to admit resembled disappointment. It was vacant. She looked around the immediate vicinity wondering if he had gone to the store but there was no evidence of him ever having been there.

Hyoyeon shrugged.

“This is good! I get to enjoy this place all to myself. Nice peace and quiet.” But she knew deep down that they were empty words. Somehow within the short span of a week, she had grown accustomed to his presence – it added something interesting to her day, specially since her friends were away.

“See you tomorrow” he had said, she was sure of it.

“Aish you idiot. He probably said that to make you anticipate it and then purposely let you down to make fun of you! You’re not friends remember? And those snippets of conversation don’t count.” Hyoyeon’s inner self scolded her as usual.

 

 

“Ah I don’t know and don’t care.” Taking her cap off and ruffling her head slightly, she was ready to stand up when something dropped into her lap.

It was square and slim and shiny….

“It’s a CD.” Hyukjae plopped himself down on the bench beside her.

“I know what it is,” she huffed in an annoyed tone (trying to overcompensate for her earlier thoughts), “but I’m wondering why you threw it at me!”

 

Surprisingly, he paused to study her for a moment; then, as if he’d made up his mind somehow he answered in a continued friendly tone, “H.O.T the band I was telling you about! You didn’t seem eager to share my earphones so I burnt it for you.”

Hyoyeon’s eyes widened – genuine shock was written all over her face – and then the expression changed to one of a person being genuinely touched by another’s gesture.

“For me?” she croaked; mind still quite unable to process this new development in her enemy turned frenemy-ship with Hyukjae.

 

 

For his part, Hyukjae too was taken aback. Seeing her blushing smile was not what he had anticipated – her cheeks were so cute – ‘wait what?’

“Don’t feel flattered or anything. I’m just giving you the CD as the H.O.T fanclub publicity rep. AND before you ask, yes there is such a thing!” His reply was curt but even that was lost on Hyoyeon.

She was busy turning the CD over and studying the cover. When she was done she simply got up and started walking towards her apartment.

 

Hyukjae cursed at himself. He should have just been nice. 'Once a mess-up, always a mess-up!' Just when they had finally reached a peaceful place, he had again gone and offended her – so far the only person he knew in this huge city. ‘I guess I should apologize.. I sh..”

 

Out of nowhere, he felt the sun’s light blocked from his eyes. ‘Is it going to rain?’ He looked up and saw... not a dark cloud, but the exact opposite – a sunny smile. A real, eye-reaching, half moon, twinkling smile - the likes of which he had never seen before.

“Thanks.”

With that, Hyoyeon spun around on her heel and ran as fast as her short legs would take her.

========================================================================================================

The next day was a Saturday.

Around 4 pm, Hyukjae dragged himself out of bed and peeked through the blinds. He sighed loudly in annoyance. As expected, it was still raining. It had been all day.

He went back to bed.

 

 

Sunday naturally followed and once again, he didn’t bother getting out of bed.

Lucky for him, his parents were in the throes of rediscovered college sweethearts phase and left him to do as he pleased. It was sickening seeing them look at each other with moony eyes over the dinner table – he should be the one going through that phase right now (that’s what the cool part of him said out loud when he talked to his cousin, Sungmin, who lived back in Daejeon) but deep down, he was thrilled to bits about it. It had been a long time since he’d seen his mom genuinely happy and never in a million years would he have expected his dad to be the person with her.

 

Thinking of dads made him think of her. ‘It’s only because she’s the only goddamn person I know in this hugeass town!’ he reasoned. But anyway, he had seen her with her dad last Sunday and the one before – once again dressed in a very weird looking dress that he could’ve sworn he saw his old guidance counsellor wearing (and that woman was almost 60!) They were talking to some neighbours about some special service at their church.. which was why he knew she wouldn’t be out jogging. Not that it had anything to do with his decision to stay in bed, mind you!   

‘Church..’ Hyukjae’s mom wasn’t the religious type and had never made him set foot into a house of worship which was one of the rare things he thought she’d gotten right.. but all of a sudden, he felt oddly curious. There were a few things he felt thankful for these days…

‘Maybe I can ask her to take me along …’ Upon realizing where his train of thought was leading, Hyukjae snickered loudly. ‘I’m going insane for real!’ The realization was enough to make him jump out of bed and head into the shower.

============================================================================================================

 

Monday finally came along and with it came the sun. Hallelujah!

He tried not to anticipate it too much but the curiosity was killing him. He needed a frie.. no nothing that serious.. no, he just needed some human interaction that wasn’t either of his parents. The CD seemed to have been a step in the right direction… she had smiled. ‘But she also ran away, you creep!’ his inner devil taunted him.   

Still, there was only one way to find out – so he walked to the park and set himself on ‘their’ bench.

 

He glanced around the park – no sign of her neon zip up racing through the park. As he looked around, he wondered what really was up with her terrible sense of fashion – she seemed like two different people with and without her dad – but both equally badly dressed. The thought made him laugh out loud.

 

 

“You are really strange.”

The voice came from behind him and by now he could recognize it. He composed himself and gave her what he hoped was a friendly smile. She had an identical one on her face.

“I made cookies. They are my mom’s special recipe.” A box was shoved in front of his face. The aroma already made his mouth water.

 

“Wait, where are you going?”

“Home. There are some more in the oven. See ya.”

‘Well that was ........ anti-climactic.’

==============================================================================================================

As the days wore on, their conversations slowly went from 5 minutes to 10 minutes to 15. She filled him in on school and some of the teachers and students there; he told her crazy stories of all the rebellious things he had done; and they also talked about music, tv shows, what was there to do around the city. But naturally, 80% of their time together was spent bickering. However now, it was more for the fun of it. In a way, they both felt like they had met their match.

So after two full weeks, Hyukjae finally decided to take the plunge and make it official.

 

 

“Come on Hyoraen– I mean, Hyoyeon, we’re both in the same boat. All of summer left and no friends to hang out with so what do you say, we become friends.. like officially?”

“You forget that I am away from my friends by choice. I don’t need a hang out buddy. You on the other hand, don’t have any at all.”

He gave her a miffed look, “No need to rub it in, thanks. But come on, seriously, school doesn’t start for another three months and I don’t know anyone else in this place. Except for this half hour of hanging out with you, I’m bored out of my mind.”

“And it’s my problem because…?”

“Not problem.. I can be your project.. like a charity project.”

 

“Why are you so desperate all of a sudden?” she eyed him suspiciously. Hyukjae’s mouth opened all ready to spout an instant white lie but if he was serious about being friends, he should be honest, right?

He sat down beside her.. careful not to get too close and swallowed. This honesty thing was harder than he expected. “Well… it looks like I might be sticking around for a while.. so it would be ,, you know..”

She wasn’t giving him an easy out –

“You’re going to make me say it, aren’t you?”

“If you are serious about this, then yes.”

“Fine, it would be interesting to see what it’s like to have a real friend.There I said it.”

“Why don’t you have any?”

He shrugged, “Like I said, my mom likes to get up and leave a lot so why bother making friends when it’s not going to last.”

 

 

“That’s..” Hyoyeon’s voice was soft… gentle even, “that’s really sad.” It took Hyukjae by surprise too and his eyes widened a little – as if he was seeing her in a new light – and he smiled. A genuine gummy smile.

Hyoyeon turned her gaze to her feet quickly. Her cheeks suddenly felt warm.

“So.. does this mean you will be my friend for the summer?”

She cocked her head to the side, a tiny smile playing on her lips as well, “What’s in it for me?” She already knew she was going to give in – it was unexplainable but that one revelation suddenly made her feel like she understood him – but no harm in making him sweat it out a little more.

“For you, you ask?” he stood up in front of her, “you get to tell the whole world that you were my friend for a whole summer before I became world famous.”

“World famous?” she guffawed. “For what? Brooding and being a big rebel is not a skill.”

“I’m going to be the best dancer the world has seen since MJ.” He said simply.

She continued to look sceptical so he had an idea. “Okay, how about this? I will dance and if I don’t make you drop your jaw on the ground, then I won’t bother you. But if I do, you have to be my friend for the rest of the summer.”

“Alright then.” She had a damn good poker face when she tried!

 

“Let’s set the rules first. If I win, you have to hang out with me all day, 5 times a week.”

“FIVE?”

“I’m really bored.”

“Two.”

“Four.”

“Three and that’s my final offer.”

“Deal.”