Chapter 12: Hello, awkward

I staggered into the kitchen, my nose just missing a collision with the doorway by a few centimeters.

A blonde was leaning against the wooden table, reading a magazine. She turned around to look at me. "Morning."

"Mor…ning… Hyo…" I mumbled, making my way to the kitchen counter.

My eyes were half-closed as I shook the cereal box a few times, before fumbling with the carton of milk that I had brought out from the fridge.

"Whoa!" Hyoyeon said as she snatched the carton away from me.

I looked down at my bowl of cereal. The poor little things were bobbing around in a sea of white, which was threatening to overflow.

I furrowed my brows, feeling rather annoyed as I tried to figure out how to hold on to the bowl without dipping my fingers into the milk.

Hyoyeon let out a frustrated grunt. "Let me do it. You, sit there."

I hummed in response, shuffling towards the kitchen table and dragging a chair out. I then slumped on the chair.

Hyoyeon put the bowl in front of me and pressed a spoon into my hand. After giving a slight nod of thanks, I took the spoon and shoved it into the cereal. And stopped.

"Soo? Sooyoung!"

I opened my eyes with a jolt. "H—huh?"

"You just fell asleep with your spoon stuck in your cereal!"

I couldn't tell from Hyoyeon’s tone whether it was meant to be a remark, an insult, or an expression of incredulousness. Probably all of the above.

I peered up at her, bleary-eyed, before dipping my head again.

"Ugh… I'm gonna get you some coffee."

In my hazy world, I barely registered the sound of Hyoyeon stomping around the kitchen.

Soon, I was greeted with the aroma of freshly brewed coffee.

"Tha…nk… you…" I slurred and took a sip of the coffee. I never liked the aftertaste of coffee, but it was an emergency.

My best friend plopped herself on the seat opposite me. "What is going on with you?"

"What?" The cogs in my brain were groaning as they tried to get up to speed.

"You've been like this since coming back from that Donghae guy's place on Friday."

Hyoyeon’s words were like a splash of cold water. On an icy winter day. "H—huh?" I said as I fidgeted uncomfortably on my chair. "It's nothing… Just insufficient sleep."

"Is that so?" She continued to eye me curiously.

I gave a small shrug and stuffed a spoonful of cereal in my mouth.

"You've been meeting this Donghae guy quite a bit," Hyoyeon pressed on as she quirked an eyebrow. "Anything I should know?"

I blinked a few times. The cogs in my brain were finally fully engaged. "Wh—what? Me and Donghae?" I chuckled loudly.

My best friend, however, remained staring at me, not seeming to be in the least amused.

I sat upright in my seat and grinned as I pointed at the fridge with my spoon. "See that magnet on the fridge?"

"Which magnet?"

"The one you bought, the ugliest one."

"Ow!" I rubbed my head. Hyoyeon had successfully smacked the last bit of sleepiness out of me with her rolled-up magazine.

I gave a pout, which was promptly ignored by her.

"Anyway… Donghae is a magnet."

She looked at me blankly.

"But Donghae is not attracted to fridges, he is attracted to other magnets."

She frowned, appearing to consider my words. There was then a swishing sound as she swung her magazine at me, but I was fully prepared and managed to duck my head in time.

"Is it necessary to beat around the bush? Just tell me that he's gay already!"

I gave her a broad grin. "But it's fun!" I then went on to stuff more cereal into my mouth.

That said, Hyoyeon was right. I haven't been able to get a good night's sleep since I returned from Donghae’s place on Friday night.

I probably should explain my relationship with Donghae a bit. Well, Donghae and I had met in the US during attending a meeting with my dad. So, he’s my friend back then when I’m in the US. While I was the American girl who couldn't speak a word of Korean, Donghae was the Korean boy who struggled in English, as his parents had only just relocated to California for work.  The similarity we had is just that we have the same situation in our family.

Anyway, that one year that we spent together was the only happy memory I had. Thereafter, my parents decided to go on another place. We kept in touch for a while, sending long letters over. But that was the time before Facebook and whatnot, and eventually we lost contact with each other.

Who would have known that he had moved back to Korea; that we would meet again in Seoul?

And who would have expected the immensely awkward teenager to grow up into a dashing young man?

I guess Donghae has the last laugh now.

Since our surprise reunion at the clothing store, I had gone over to Donghae’s place a few times to chill. That’s when he decided to go by his own and do some business, His parents were still based in the US, and so he was living alone here. His bachelor pad, cozy enough. I would spend the evenings chatting and joking around with him, and it would feel as if those years in which we were apart never existed. The shy and thoughtful Donghae whom I knew also gradually made his appearances more and more frequently.

So last Friday night, I had again dropped by Donghae’s place. After dinner, I lazed around the floor, while Donghae was glued to his laptop. I was getting rather bored, as my dear friend had been stuck on YouTube for ages, randomly surfing for interesting videos. The last time he spoke to me, I gathered that he was viewing videos of various female celebrities.

"Are you done being y yet, Donghae?" I asked as I lolled on the floor. No, I have no idea why a gay guy was watching videos of so-called hot babes.

"I'm not being y, Soo," he replied evenly, his gaze still affixed to the screen, "I'm just amazed that there are so many videos like this online."

"Yeah, and you have to actually watch them to be amazed," I retorted dryly as I sat up. Suddenly a thought struck me – my, err, video with Jessica wouldn't happen to have been uploaded on YouTube, would it?

I quickly got to my feet, and was contemplating whether to "accidentally" trip on the laptop wire when Donghae jerked his head up.

"Sooyoung!"

I stopped breathing. You gotta be kidding me!

"Look at this!" he said excitedly as he turned his laptop towards me.

My panic was quickly replaced by a sense of relief when I realized that it was not the music video. Instead it seemed to be a clip from a movie.

"Oh my god," Donghae gushed excitedly as he nudged the laptop nearer to me, "she's so hot I can go straight for her."

I was about to comment that the statement was so wrong in so many ways, but for some weird reason, I wasn't able to tear my gaze away.

I recognized the girl in the video immediately as one of those popular young actresses from Hollywood.

The girl sauntered slowly towards the camera, her hips swaying sensuously from side to side. She flicked her long, black hair behind her shoulder, before running her hand through those ily tousled locks.

As she came closer, her lips parted slightly in a smirk, while her smoldering gaze threatened to burn up the screen.

As I watched, my eyebrows climbed higher and higher.

The dark-haired girl's face started to blur, and for a moment I thought I saw dazzling, brown eyes.

…Jessica?

"Soo? Soo?"

Donghae was snapping his fingers in front of me. "Helllllloooooo?"

I stared at him, w