V—Change of Heart (Part I)

Right as I came down the street towards the house, I heard pattering footsteps running towards me, and Hyeri’s tiny figure came in my sight. I waved enthusiastically, genuinely glad to see her.

“Hyeri~” I called out. “What are you doing!”

“Unnie!” She shouted, hair flapping wildly around her face in the late-afternoon sun. “Look! Look what my brother bought me!” She tugged at a silver chain.

“Hyun Soo bought you something? Is it a pretty necklace? Aw, that’s so… nice!” I said, truly meaning it. “Can I see?” I crouched to her level to admire the jewelry. I remembered my own childhood, and how special even a painted plastic ring was to me.

His affection for his sister…well, apparently it was true. Hyun Soo’s broken smile from a minute ago flashed in my mind.

“Thanks for watching Hyeri. I really appreciate it.”

I shook my head violently, dissolving his stupid face from my mind. Ugh.

Hyeri proudly showed me the heart piece. The metal wasn’t glinting new, but was rather dull and slightly rusted.

I frowned, cocking my head. I didn’t want to jump to conclusions, but….

 “This…” I said slowly.

 I turned it over in my palm.

It was my locket.

 The very same one that I had lost last week.

How did Hyeri get it? Or the better question is…how…where….did Hyun Soo find it?

I looked up into Hyeri’s excited eyes. A sinking feeling entered me. I couldn’t take it back…. I wouldn’t. And honestly, I hadn’t thought much about my locket in a while. I was surprised how well I had been able to cope without it so far.

But… why did Hyeri have it?

I quickly hid my baffled expression, and feigned delight at her little treasure. “Oooh, Hyeri-ah! This must be a special necklace! Where did your brother buy it from?” I offered my hand, and we walked back to my house.

“From the store. You know that big one in Seoul? The one with the big lights—bang, bang bang!” She jumped up and down in excitement. “He told me he bought it from there!”

I felt a painful twinge in my heart. I didn’t have the spirit to point out the fact to her that no decent department store in Seoulwould ever sell a rusting faux-silver locket like that. Even so, she didn’t care. Maybe she did know that. It didn’t matter—her brother “bought” it for her, and she loved it.

“Well, you are the luckiest girl in the entire world right now!” I said, swinging her arm back in forth. “Are you hungry?”

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When the usual late-night knock at the door came, I jumped up and expected Hyun Soo to be standing there. Even if I wouldn’t take it back, I wanted to ask him where he found my locket. I couldn’t remember that day on the bus whether or not I told him about it…did he know, and keep it from me?

 But when I swung the door open, his mother was at the door.

I couldn’t help but feel disappointed.

I bowed. “Good evening, Mrs. Lee.”  I a nearby lamplight and motioned for her to step in.

Her petite figure bowed profusely. “I am sorry about us always being late—“

I shook my head vigorously. “It’s not trouble at all, really! I like Hyeri-ah around. She’s super sweet, and fun to talk to.” I nodded with a smile, trying to reassure her.

“I’m glad to hear that. Well, I don’t want to keep you. Hyeri-ah,” Mrs. Lee shook sleeping Hyeri on the couch. “Time to go home to bed~”

Hyeri groggily got up, pushing hair from her face tiredly. Mrs. Lee scooped her up, ignoring her sleepy groaning.

“See you later,” she whispered with a small smile, stepping out of the door with several more bows.

“Good night,” I said hesitantly. I was battling inside myself on whether or not…should I ask?

“Mrs. Lee!” I said to her back.

She turned, a kind smile on her face. “Yes?” 

The fleeting thought “How could the scowling Lee Hyun Soo possibly be her offspring” crossed my mind, but I pushed it away.

“If….if you…” I paused, now not even sure what I was getting at.

She waited expectantly.

“If you…need anything else, just let us know.” I bowed. “Tell Hyun Soo…I said hi.” I finished lamely.

Well that’s dumb, I instantly reprimanded myself. You’ll see him tomorrow. Just had to throw his name in there, didn’t you….

But Mrs. Lee kept her smile. “Thank you, Lia-yah. Our whole family appreciates your help and friendship.”

Weeks passed, and my interaction with Hyun Soo stayed at a minimum. I was rather surprised by this, since the last few weeks we had been clashing heads a lot all at once. But all of a sudden… it stopped. True, he returned to school and I saw him in gym, but we didn’t talk, even while on the same teams for games. Day in and out, he stayed in the same bored, expressionless stance and ignored the gossip girls. He wasn’t on the bus ever, and lately his mom had taken his place when picking up Hyeri.

I tried to deny that I was actually bothered by the fact that Hyun Soo wasn’t talking to me. But in the back of my head his stare kept bouncing back and forth, demanding my attention. But it wasn’t like we had much to talk about anyways. We weren’t bffs, or anything: he had made that clear several times before.

Was I being nosy? Was I being paranoid? Maybe I was bored, and needed more to do.

Even so…every now and then… a totally foreign thought crossed my mind.

Maybe…just maybe… did I like Hyun Soo—?

No. Oh-ho, no. I was anything but that, ok? I shook my head whenever the thought popped up. What was there to like besides his looks? I told myself. You’re not that shallow, Lia!

One day after school, I was heading down the bus stop per usual with my iPod. Shuffling through songs~ no, not that one…no….no, no~

I lost my track of my steps, and my forehead lightly hit something hard. I stopped immediately, and bowed. “I’m sorry!”

When I looked up, I realized the person hadn’t heard me, but kept walking on. I had hit a—

Strange black bag.My stomach dropped when I saw that I had bumped into Hyun Soo’s strange black bag.

I stood there, wondering if he had even noticed that we had crossed paths. Apparently not—he would have said some snide remark in passing.

I scoffed.  “Too busy to even notice he’s being jostled by people.” He continued walking on, hands in his uniform pocket.

 I bit my lip as I watched him walk farther and farther away past the bus stop towards downtown.

And then… this crazy thought entered my head.

Should….should I…follow…

And before I knew it, my feet were moving across the street, eyes fixed carefully on Hyun Soo’s back.

Inwardly I was pleading with myself to go back, but my body was compulsed to follow him. My heart beat fast, and a weird smile crossed my face. This was…exciting. Maybe in a strange, creepy way, but exciting nonetheless.

“This is not, I repeat, not stalking.” I said to myself, trying to reassure the idea that I was being neighborly and not a creeper. I was afraid that at any moment Hyun Soo would suddenly turn around and find me behind him. “This is my neighborly duty. I am taking care of his sister while he is out doing whatever he does, after all.”

But I sighed, knowing the lame ‘neighborly duty’ excuse was becoming dry, even out loud. Even if we are neighbors, following him seemed still a little invasive….so I guess….

 Ok, fine! Maybe I was just being a nosy curious person! This time I let myself admit that I wanted to know why he was gone all the time, just because I wanted to. Happy?

Hyun Soo walked slowly with his hands in his jacket pocket, the usual strange black bag over his shoulder. We walked past our neighborhood, towards downtown. I kept close to other people, eyes averted away towards the sky in case he turned around. Natural, keep natural…

Eventually, he turned the corner and stopped at an abandoned building.

In a panic, I hid myself a building away, peeking out from behind.

“Yah, Hyun Soo!” I heard a smooth male voice call out. I cowered to a side-wall automatically, heart pounding. I closed my eyes, praying he didn’t see me.

“Oh, Do Il!” I heard Hyun Soo say, laughing. “I’m not the last late one, ah?”

….Did I just hear Hyun Soo….laugh? I peeked to see his eyes became half-moons, and that weird smile came on his face again. He clapped the Do Il boy on the back heartily.

Hyun Soo has…friends? I was dumbfounded. Even this snide, mean guy has more friends than I do. The thought made me kind of angry. How is it that this sulking, critical guy has more friends than me?

 This was a golden opportunity to see Hyun Soo as himself, without the pressures of school or home on him. His laughter was light and…foreign-sounding with his deep voice. But it was kind of…cute, I guess you could say.

Only because it was so out of his element.

 I strained my ears to hear and keep concealed at the same time.

“Come on, Byung Hee says we got a new beat to work on.” The Do Il boy said in a calm voice. I heard some scraping of gravel and footsteps disappearing. I waited a few minutes before peering out from behind the concrete wall.

The building they went in was a worn-out concrete slab decorated with graffiti and a rusting thatch roof. It was squeezed between other gray counterparts, but this one looked especially old.

“Don’t tell me this is where he ‘works’,” I made air-quotes with my hands. I cautiously peered through the window. It was grimy, so I could only make out blurred figures. So Do Il and Hyun Soo weren’t the only ones here…

“Alright, I got this far, and now none of this is my business.” I said out loud, pulling myself away from the window. At least, that’s what I should think. But was this his “job” he made me feel so guilty about accusing him of missing school?

I quickly looked around me to make sure no one was coming, then headed down the musty concrete steps. Luckily there was a wall on the right side, so I was blocked from their view, but I could sit on these steps and hear the conversation crystal clear. I crouched down carefully, heart still pounding.

“Yah, yah! Ha Jong couple!” I heard another male voice say this time. “Stop your love quarreling!”

“We aren’t a couple--!” A boy with a Busan accent interjected.

“A-yoo! Stop pinching me!” A deeper voice reprimanded. I heard a slap and some cursing.

“Seriously kids. Stop it, aish~” Yet another guy said.  “Byung Hee’s gonna tell us about the gig we got this week!”

There was a moment of silence. I held my breath, waiting.

“My friends. I have found my muse.” The Byung Hee boy drawled.

“Not this again, Byung Hee--”

“Tch. Crazy punk.” I heard Hyun Soo jeer. My ears perked up.

“Fine, don’t believe me. But thanks to my muse, we have my song. Friends!” the Byung Hee boy shouted suddenly, even though no one was talking.

I gasped and jumped in place. Petrified, I didn’t dare to blink or breathe.

Was my cover already blown?

“We have our club performance next week. Expect ‘round, oh….60 bucks each. Hahaha!” Byung Hee laughed merrily.

I let out a shaky breath of relief, putting a hand to my heart. That was close…. But… this Byung Hee seemed a little… peculiar.

 I slowly stepped down the stairs, sitting where I could look closely without being seen. There was a total of six boys with various instruments gathered around in the dimly lit basement. Their hair was unkempt, clothes tattered. But they weren’t your average ruffians: they were really good-looking.

The black speaker boxes, a set of drums, a keyboard, and various guitars and microphones told me this was a make-shift band practice room.

“Dude, stop kidding me!”  A tall boy shouted excitedly, who had a lollipop in his mouth. “They told us they would only pay 20!” He punched another guy.

“Man, we’re gonna be rich!” A short boy with wavy black hair pumped a fist in the air.

“Famous!” A taller, lanky boy with orange curly hair said, punching the short boy. “All the ladies will line up for us on opening night!” He swooned.

“Yahhhh!” They all shouted and made a commotion, hugging eachother, jumping around crazily. Drums started playing, and I heard guitars making an uproar.

Hyun Soo stamped a foot on one of the speakers, and strung his electric guitar riotously. “Eye Candy foreverrrrr!” he hollered hoarsely, pumping his fist in the air.

I had to stifle my laugh by cover my mouth. This was never-before-seen image of Lee Hyun Soo: it was like a completely different person using his body!

“Wow…” I mouthed to myself in awe. This whole band thing… was so… real.

So Hyun Soo was part of a rock band, and his job was…playing gigs at clubs?

“… I wouldn’t have to work double-shifts to support my family and help buy my guitar.”

It finally all clicked together, made sense. His bag had a guitar in it, and he played at clubs to help his family out. I leaned back against the concrete wall. “I learn something new about this kid everyday.” I whispered to myself, unable to stop smiling.

thanks for reading thus far!! the romance will start to settle in in the next chappies hahahaha!! <3333 please comment below!