"Yah, don’t you feel ashamed? You’re a man aren’t you?" My Uncle began on Yonghwa for the hundredth time today, "Look at her! Can’t you at least keep up with her?!" he raised his voice as he pointed to me. I was jump roping beside Yonghwa lightly and quickly while Yonghwa kept getting tangled up in his rope.

"Uncle, leave him alone. He’s been doing that for 20 minutes. He’s tired, that’s why he keeps messing up." I tried to defend him, after all I knew by now that Yonghwa was too prideful to defend himself. It was only the second day and I was already beginning to get down some of Yonghwa’s key personality traits.

My Uncle gave me the look—the one that says, ‘you’re only saying that because you like him’.

I glared back at him and then glanced at Yonghwa to see if he had caught that; luckily I don’t think he had. He was squatting down and holding his head in his hands, panting. Apparently he had neglected his body for most of his life because when it came to anything physical he was greatly lacking.

"Yonghwa," I placed my hand on his head, eww he’s sweaty. I wiped my hand on my gray training pants, "If you’re out of breath stand up and put your hands on your head, it opens up your lungs." I explained.

He obeyed and started walking around the sports center, something he had already had to do about ten times already today.

"Well?" My Uncle began.

"Well what?" I glared at him, if he was going to start on the whole, ‘you like him’ thing he’d get a new sparring partner.

He caught my look, weighed the options, then continued anyway; "When are you going to tell him you like him?"

I frowned, "I’m not going to tell him I like him." My Uncle smiled and was about to say something but I continued, "—because I DON’T like him." I made sure the message came out clear and he understood. He shut him mouth and frowned.

"You can be really stubborn when you want to be." He pouted and put whine into his voice. He was way too old to pout; it looked ridiculous to see a grown man pout like a child, probably why he was still a bachelor.

Yonghwa came back then, he was still panting but he probably figured he shouldn’t take too long. Good.

"We’re going to start jogging now." I demanded more then anything and then I was already starting to walk out of the building. Yonghwa followed after me obediently without a complaint. That’s what I liked about him, no complaints.

We walked to the park that I always made my trainees run through and once we got there we began jogging.

After a few minutes Yonghwa was already beginning to fall behind with shallow breaths. I slowed down my pace until I was next to him and I examined his breathing.

"Why don’t you try breathing?" I asked, my words came out differently than normal but I wasn’t out of breath like he was.

"I…. I am!" he panted out.

"No you’re not." I stated plainly, "You’re holding your breath for as long as you can and then you’re making up for it in shallow breaths. That’s not breathing, that’s hyperventilating."

He gave me a look like he was completely shocked at what I had said.

"What?" I asked.

"Then how do I breath?" he asked looking serious, which made that ridiculous question sound all the more funny.

"Pfft!" I broke out a huge smile; darn this guy was cute in a weird way.

"Come on, I’m serious!" he urged me impatiently.

"I know, heh, that’s what makes it funny." I told him honestly with a smile plastered on my face. I was having fun at least.

He looked at me like he was not amused.

"Okay, just talk to me." I told him.

"Why?" He panted.

"Because that will make you breathe easier, just trust me."

"What do I talk about?" he asked dumbfounded.

"Uh…" I moved away from him to avoid running into a biker, "What got you into music?"

"I’m good at singing." He stated and I looked at him to realize he had just tried to crack a joke. Heh, he really is too cute. I let out a little laugh and he smiled at my response, "Uh but in all seriousness, I love music. It helps me communicate words that otherwise I can’t say when serious. Words that are too stupid, embarrassing, heartfelt, or just whatever to be spoken I sing."

Whether he realized it or not his breathing was starting to level out.

"So what kind of words are you going to sing?" I kept him going.

He shot me a sideways glance, "Words that have meaning…heartfelt words that teach others not to follow the same mistakes I’ve made."

"Like what?"

"Like letting the one you love get taken because you were too prideful to tell them. Or like waiting until the right moment when the right moment is any moment…" he smiled, "Or playing a bad prank on your roommate."

"Haha, you played a prank?" I put emphasis on ‘you’.

He chuckled lightly and his smile turned mischievous, "Yes. Want to hear it?"

I nodded eagerly and he continued, "When I was really bored, I put paper cups filled with water on the floor all over the dorm and sat on the couch, waiting for my roommate to come in. Then I took my sweet time to marvel his annoyed face."

"Oh my gosh! You didn’t!" I exaggerated. That is so evil! And genius! I’m running with an evil genius!

"You should have seen how mad he looked! He looked like he had gone crazy with anger!" Yonghwa said while laughing at the memories.

We continued to run for a while longer and kept the conversation going, I think Yonghwa forgot he was even running after a while because he had no trouble keeping up with me. We changed topics often; we went from his family, to how his sister was doing, to how he misses his pets that he left with his parents, to how he did during the audition and what thoughts were in his mind, to favorite food, colors, animals, and everything else favorite. But despite the constant topic changes my mind kept wandering back to what he had told me about waiting too long for some girl. Dang she must have weighed heavily on his mind. I had to admit I was a little jealous of the lucky girl, she probably didn’t even know. Stupid girl, she must have liked him too so why didn’t she take the initiative? Pisses me off how girl always think guys have to confess first because they’re too afraid of rejection. Guys are afraid of rejection too! My mind paused, but then if she did confess that would mean he wouldn’t be single… Wait, what? I don’t care about that! It doesn’t effect my work!

"Shinhye?" Yonghwa snapped me from my thoughts and I realized he had asked me a question, which I hadn’t heard.

"Uh…yeah." I gave an answer even though I didn’t know the question.

"Really? Do I know him?"

"Know who?" I furrowed my eyebrows together.

"Your boyfriend." What?

"I don’t have a boyfriend?" I answered confused. What’s going on?

"But you just said…" Yonghwa’s voice trailed off, "You sure are weird miss Park." He looked at me and smiled slightly, his eyes seemed to sparkle. For some reason he made my heart flutter and I blushed. Realizing it I hastily turned away and fell on my . "GAH!" I blurted out before I hit the ground with a loud thud and my head bounced up from the ground.

Owwwwwwwwwwwww! That’s going to hurt for a while!

I reached for the back of my head and felt a bump already start to form, "ARE YOU OKAY?!" Yonghwa hovered over me with a worried look all over his face. "Do you need a doctor? Where does it hurt? Did you hit your head? Are you dizzy?" His speed questioning made my headache worse. I held up my hand to stop him.

"Please…shhh." I whimpered and paused, "Just help me up."

Yonghwa wordlessly helped me up and gave me his shoulder for support; this was so not cool. My Uncle’s so not going to let this one slide.

When we entered my Uncle’s house, I was greeted with a frantic man in his thirties clumsily raiding the refrigerator for an ice pace.

"Is this all right?!" he acted like I was dying as he handed Yonghwa the pack, when did my head get on Yonghwa’s lap by the way? I didn’t really mind though so I just let it slide and didn’t complain. What can I say? It was comfortable.

"How hard did she fall? Did she hit her head?" He asked Yonghwa instead of me, as if I wasn’t able to answer him. I sighed at my Uncles overreacting, I figured he would be laughing instead of like this. Heck, I might even have preferred if he laughed at me instead.

"She’s fine, she hit her head though…she said she doesn’t need to go to the hospital though." Yonghwa spoke for me. He looked down to me and I lazily returned his stare. My heart was hurrying up like I was running, I wonder if he could hear it? He gave me a slight smile and my heart went jogging around in my stomach. Look, I was already getting affected by his charms. And that’s when I realized I was in the danger zone. I needed to escape! Escape!

"I—I’m fine!" I accidentally shouted as I rushed off of Yonghwa’s lap and ran into the bathroom. I slammed the door behind me, and my chest rose and fell unevenly. No—No! Don’t even think that thought Shinhye! You do not—NO!

"What was that about?" I heard Yonghwa’s bewildered voice through the thin walls.

"Meh," came my Uncles’ unconcerned voice and I could imagine his shrug, "When you gotta go, you gotta go."

WHAT?! Oh he’s going to get it…later.

I thought about staying in there but that’d be weird and it’s not like I could just wait it out until they leave, it wasn’t even lunch time yet.

After washing my face I sighed and walked out of the bathroom reluctantly.

"Are you…uh…okay?" Yonghwa looked at me and for the first time I saw him smirk.

"Yeah…where’s my Uncle?"

"He left to give boxing lessons."

"Oh…"

"Ready to continue training or are we done for today?" he looked amused and I wondered if I had anything on my face or in my teeth or something.

"What?" I demanded, "Why do you keep smirking?"

He smiled from ear to ear like the Cheshire cat, "Why should I tell you?"

"Whatever." I grunted. I’ll just make him work until he cries…Yeah that’s right; I got revenge like that.

"It’s a secret." He whispered and I wondered if I even heard him say it or if I imagined it. So I didn’t answer.

　

　

After a month had passed.

It was a long month filled with emotional rollercoasters for me, mostly consisting of me trying to hide blushes and deny my growing feelings.

Yonghwa seemed to get happier day by day. Soon he was jogging circles around me and bragging about how I couldn’t keep up. He could even lift more than I could at the gym and jump rope faster than me. Heck he even ate more than I did now! Guess it was the power of an entertainer, they could do anything when they put their minds to it.

I was getting more tired with each day, it was like he was draining my life energy.

We naturally we got more comfortable with each other, hanging out even when our schedules didn’t call for it. He was to begin his debut in a month and I knew soon enough I would be forgotten. Soon, he would be giving all his attention to his countless screaming fans instead of me.

Yesterday was our last day of training. I probably wouldn’t be hearing from him since his schedule would pick up a lot from here.

Do you know what’s the worst part? I secretly broke my record…secretly I fell for him.

I slumped into the couch beside Uncle Park.

"You didn’t tell him when you had the chance, did you?" My Uncle asked as he stuffed his face with popcorn.

I blankly stared at the rerun of some sappy drama that my uncle loved, "Nope."

"Are you ever going to?"

"Nope." I sighed and looked at the ceiling.

"Soon enough he’ll be a big star, if you don’t take your chance now you’ll never get another one." He stated.

"I know."

"Still not going to try?"

"Why should I?"

"Because maybe he feels the same?" My Uncle offered.

"Maybe." I agreed.

My Uncle finally dropped the calm, indifferent act and got annoyed, he stood up and threw the popcorn bowl on the ground, it bounce a few times before landing across the room. It was empty and plastic of course, or else my Uncle wouldn’t have done that.

"What?" I asked distantly, not effected by his tantrum.

"Get off your lazy now and call him!" he yelled down at me.

"NO!" I raised my voice up to his level.

The ringing of the phone interrupted us before our little argument got any more heated. Uncle Park looked at the caller ID. I looked at Uncle Park and he looked at me, the look in our eyes sharpened as we continued our staring competition. The loser had to answer the phone. I felt how my eyes dried and this sudden urge to blink came over me. NOOOOO! I tried to oppose it by all means but no, I blinked.

"DAMN IT!"

"MWAHAHAHHA!" Uncle Park roared in victorious laughter.

I glared at him one more good time before getting the phone.

"Hello?" I asked.

"Hello?" Yonghwa mimicked me then let out a small chuckle, "Can we talk?"

"Sure, we’re doing it right now." I answered dully as I glared at my Uncle. He got me into this situation.

Yonghwa let out a short nervous laugh, "That’s not what I meant. Can you come over to the park we always trained in?"

I noticed the past pretense and frowned at it, I didn’t like it, if I had my way it would be ‘that we train in’ but that was just me being silly and unwilling to part.

"Yeah…When?" I mentally sighed, I always hated parting and I had been trying to avoid him so that he couldn’t say goodbye to me, goodbye was so final. And my childish mind reasoned that if he didn’t say goodbye then it wasn’t goodbye.

"Now."

"Yonghwa it’s going to be dark soon." I whined like a child.

"Sorry. Please?"

I looked up and saw my Uncle giving me a look that said if I didn’t agree that he’d knock me out and drag me there.

"Fine…"

　

　

I jogged to the park and then realized he said no specific place. Typical boy and typical me. Any normal girl would have asked where in the park but NOOOOO, not me. I never thought of such simple and obvious things.

It was still bright enough outside so I decided to wing it and go to where we usually started our jogs—at the bottom of the hill.

I got lucky and didn’t have to search any more because that was where he was.

"Hey." I greeted him, and to avoid eye contact I looked to the right of him.

"Hey…Uh Shinhye. Can you look me in the eyes?" he asked straightforwardly as he closed the gap between us.

"What are you talking about? I am." I obviously lied.

"You’re avoiding eye contact?" he asked, sounding a little amused.

"N-no." my heart fluttered already from how close he was. Stupid heart.

"Then look me in the eyes." He said.

Don’t ask me to do that…

"Well?" he urged me.

I shifted my gaze a little to the left and met his gentle honey-brown eyes.

"Better." He smiled and cleared his throat, "Uh…"

I waited for him to say it…I knew what he was going to say already. He was going to say goodbye and then we’d be nothing more than strangers again.

　

"I love you."

"Goodbye, I’ll miss you too." I said slowly and then turned to leave.

"What?"

"Goodbye." I repeated and already felt sad to be leaving.

"Did you hear me?" he questioned as he grabbed my shoulder and turned me back around to face him.

"What?"

"I love you." He repeated.

"Who?"

"You."

"Me?"

"Yes."

"WHAT?!" I shouted as my eyes widened! WHAT? He loved me?! Since when?! My mouth gaped open and I knew I had already ruined this whole confession. Yonghwa smiled completely amused.

"Well?" He asked gently and I had no clue what he was asking me.

"You love me." I answered like a retard.

"Yes I do, how do you feel about me?" he asked patiently.

My eyes widened again, "Does this mean we’re dating?" I asked incredulously.

"Depends, do you like me?"

"I love you!" I said maybe too loud and excitedly. I felt my ears and face redden from instant embarrassment.

Yonghwa smiled and his beautiful light laughter filled my head, "Good." He pulled me into a hug.

"Then we don’t have to say goodbye?" I asked aloud and felt my lips smile against his shoulder.

"Nope." He pulled away just enough to see my face then craned down to take my lips, in a gentle loving kiss. I felt my soul soar and made a realization. I laughed into Yonghwa’s lips and he pulled away and looked at me puzzled.

"What?" he asked confused.

I smiled from ear to ear, "You broke my perfect record."

"The one about you never falling for your trainees?" he tried to clarify.

"You knew about that?" I asked shocked.

"Yeah, that’s kind of why I waited so long to confess. The odds were kind of against me I figured." He gave me a lopsided smile.

I laughed lightly and stole a short kiss, "You mean we could have been doing this earlier?" and then we locked lips again, enjoying the long awaited contact and slowly taking our time in deepening it.

 

 

And this is how….

 

Jung Yonghwa ruined my perfect record.