03.
Hidden Wings
03.
Her eyelids flutter slightly for a few moments. She stifles a small yawn and clamps her hand over her alarm clock, pushing it away from her.
Soft rays of sunlight penetrate through a small slit of her curtains. She pushes them to the side, smiling. Standing up with a straight back, she watches the scenery. At this time, there are unhurried cars. Often, there is just one or two passenger in the car. The zooming buses are practically empty, and joggers run down the streets with their dogs.
This is one of her favorite times of the day.
Off to the side, on her wall, there is a calender.
Today’s date is circled with red ink.
It’s her birthday.
She decides to take this day to relax. The date is circled to remind her that it is her birthday, not because she has any plans.
Earlier in the morning, she had a long conversation with her mother while she was making herself a nice cup of tea. It’s nice of her mother to remember her birthday, and she’s relieved to hear that she wasn’t asked to return home.
She can’t return yet.
She decides to take a walk around the city. She doesn’t know her way around, and she has only studied the map twice before moving. She wants to explore the city, learn her way around. She doesn’t mind getting lost.
She walks out of the apartment building and sees a small market right across the street. It seems their specialty is selling coffee and energy drinks. She’s intrigued by the unusual combination. She walks inside the market and scans the aisles, looking for anything potentially useful.
Her eyes fall on a handsome boy. He seems to be around her age, around the age of nineteen. He’s not wearing the standard uniform, but just a white v-neck shirt and black sweats. He has heavy eyebags, but he doesn’t look tired. The eyebags make him look wise, not old. He has the same mysterious eyes as Yongguk.
“Do you need help, miss?”
She blinks. She realizes that he’s addressing her, and she shakes her head. “No, I’m sorry.”
“I’ll be here if you have any questions.”
Her eyes widen upon realizing that he has a Busan dialect. It actually matches him and makes him seem more approachable. He his thick lips and rubs his shoulder, and she looks at the clock. He must have woken up at a very early time to start work, but he doesn’t show any signs of fatigue.
“I’ll keep that in mind, thank you,” she replies politely. She’s about to continue walking up and down the aisles when he stops her.
He sits down in a wooden chair and looks up at her. “Is your name Song Jieun?”
“Y-yes,” she stutters. She squints her eyes slightly, trying to get a better look at this person. She can’t help but notice how handsome he is, no matter how hard she tries to ignore it. “May I ask you how you knew that?”
“My name’s Jung Daehyun,” he introduces himself and points at the wall. She follows the direction of his pointer finger and sees a picture of him. He has a black mask on that covers the bottom half of his face, but she can clearly see that it’s him. There are five other males in the picture. Himchan is behind him, the crook of his elbow on his shoulder, and Yongguk is near the back, almost out of sight.
“Oh, I see. You’re one of my new neighbors, right?” She nods in understanding, walking up to the picture and leaning down to examine it. Yongguk looks bored, almost like he was forced into taking the picture. Himchan’s smiling, as always. The tallest boy has a wide smile, and he also seems to be the youngest. The two others don’t interest Jieun at all.
Daehyun confirms this with a short nod.
He doesn’t seem to be interested in anything else besides her name, so she ends up saying goodbye to him and walks out of the market.
“Have a nice day,” he stands up and bows politely.
And again, she can’t help but notice how handsome he is.
She’s sitting on a wooden bench, and she can still smell the faintly fresh paint. She stands up to double check that the paint is dry before sitting back down. She intends to read a novel to pass the time, seeing that it’s great weather. It’s sunny, but there’s a cool summer breeze. The sun warms the back of her neck, but it’s not too hot. It’s just warm enough. She opens her novel and takes the bookmark out.
There’s a wrinkle forming between her brows as she concentrates on her novel. Her eyes swiftly dart from side to side, and she flips through the pages at surprising speed. However, she has a habit of returning to the previous page and reading it over again. She wants to finish the novel quickly, but she also wants to absorb the information into her mind.
Directly across the street from her, there’s a teenager painting the exterior of a house. He’s painting the part of the garage with a light blue color, and he has to bend down to dip his brush into his paint can. Each time he bends down, he twists his head and looks at Jieun before resuming to paint.
Jieun notices this, but she chooses not to say anything. It bothers her a little, because each time, she loses concentration. She hopes that he finishes painting soon, but eventually, she lifts her head up and watches him paint.
From this moment, he stops turning around. He focuses on his work, and his work only. Each time he dips his brush, he awkwardly stays stiff and raises his arm, effortlessly reaching the high crooks, the angles.
She ends up closing her book to watch this teenager. He’s tall and lanky. His slightly wavy pink hair compliments his pale skin, and she enjoys watching his back. His movements are lightning fast at some points, but at others, he deliberately takes time to stand back and watch the paint dry.
When he finishes, she sees his shoulder rise and fall in a slow manner. He sighs, steps back, and proudly admires his finished work.
He turns his head to the side and yells, waving his arms.
“Yongguk!”
Yongguk’s hands are into his large pockets, his hat pulled to the front. His distinguishable lips and the tip of his nose are the only visible facial features Jieun can see.
She is unable to hear their conversation, but only watch them converse. The boy is taller than Yongguk, but it’s obvious that Yongguk is older. The boy seems animated about something, and his hands move along with his mouth.
“Yes, sir!"
He runs off, and Yongguk stands still.
Their eyes meet.
She doesn’t expect him to even acknowledge her prescence, and she was spot on the target. He looks away cooly, as if he never saw her, and walks after the boy.
It takes her a moment to put the pieces together.
The boy is the tall boy in the photograph. He has pink hair now, but it was previously a bright blond. She’s envious of such people who can pull off any hair colors, and she glances down at her own chestnut brown hair. She would really like to dye it, but she doesn’t want to maintain the colored locks.
“Jieun?”
Her elbow is lying on the bench, and she twists her neck at the direction of the voice.
It’s Hyosung. She’s in casual attire, which everyone seems to be on this Sunday morning. She’s holding a small pouch, and she sits down next to Jieun.
“I stopped by your door, but I guess I didn’t manage to catch you early enough,” Hyosung sighs. Her nose crinkles and she looks up, seeing the freshly painted house directly across from her. “Oh, Zelo did a nice job again. He’s going to have a good future, seeing as he’s so talented.”
“Oh, how did you know-?” Jieun begins to ask.
Hyosung cuts her off. “He’s the most requested painter in this city,” she explains and waves her hand, indicating that it wasn’t a big deal. “I can’t believe he’s still growing, and he’s already so tall. Could you tell he’s only fifteen?”
“No, not at all,” Jieun looks down at her book and randomly flips a few pages. “I assumed he was at least seventeen...”
“Most people do,” Hyosung laughs and playfully pats her on the shoulder. “Do you usually wake up early and read in parks?”
Jieun shakes her head. “No, it was just a spontaneous decision.”
“Oh, can I see your phone again? I think I may have gave you the wrong number,” Hyosung asks and reaches over to take her phone.
She’s punching in her number again when she seems to have pressed the wrong button, and she looks up at Jieun weirdly.
“Jieun...is it your birthday today?”
Jieun nods, peering at her friend suspiciously. “Where did you go?”
“I accidentally pressed back and somehow landed on the calender section,” Hyosung explains. “Why didn’t you tell anyone?”
“My birthday isn’t anything special,” Jieun shrugs and leans over, returning back to the contact section. “There.”
Hyosung gives back her cell phone and stands up, pulling Jieun up with surprising strength. “Let’s go, let’s go!”
“But where are we-”
“It doesn’t matter!” Hyosung laughs and runs off, never loosening her grip of Jieun for a second.
“...Did you just rent an ice cream truck?”
“Yes, yes I did.”
The two girls are in the back of the ice cream truck, trying out every single avaliable flavor with a small spoon. It’s parked on the side of the park they were just at, and they’re laughing as they scoop up more ice cream.
“You’re going to get brain freeze!” Hyosung laughs and throws her spoon into the garbage can. “I give up, I give up. I’m full!”
“You can never be too full,” Jieun declares, squinting her eyes playfully. She pulls out another spoon and laughs.
Jieun’s thinking they should have returned the ice cream truck, but Hyosung insisted on driving home with it.
She chuckles at the memory. Previously, children were running after the truck, screaming at the top of their lungs.
They both ended up passing out ice cream, and they didn’t charge a single cent.
“What’s the occasion?”
Himchan has an amused smirk on his face, jumping inside the truck and examines the ice cream. “Well, don’t you two have bottomless pits for stomachs...”
Hyosung elbows Himchan playfully in the ribs and points at Jieun.
“It’s her birthday!”
“Explain to me why we’re buying balloons?”
Yongguk is looking at Zelo strangely, who seems to bouncing up and down with excitement. He’s picking out balloons, choosing his favorite from all the pink selections.
“I told you, I told you, Himchan told us to!”
He points at his final decision.
Soft, delicate pink balloons.
“Oh, you two are fast.”
Yongguk raises an eyebrow at Himchan, but he remains silent.
Zelo runs up to Himchan. He is tightly holding onto the balloons strings, and he breaks out into a big smile. “We’re done!”
Himchan affectionately ruffles the younger boy’s hair and points at Jieun, who is trying to maintain a poker face. He can’t help but want to laugh at her expression. It’s clear that she is trying to figure out a plan to get away from them, but Hyosung has hooked her elbow around her elbow.
“Now, give it to the birthday lady,” Himchan teases and tilts his head, in the direction that Jieun is in.
“...Should I run into the truck and hide in there? I’m sure I can live in there for a few days, just living off of ice cream,” Jieun mutters, but Hyosung just pinches her cheeks in amusement.
“Aw, aren’t you adorable,” she teases and beckons Zelo to come closer.
Zelo runs up to Jieun and hands her the balloons. “Happy birthday! I hope you have a great birthday! I’m Zelo! Hi!”
Jieun can’t help smiling at the boy’s genuine cheerfulness, and she reaches over to receive her balloons.
He accidentally lets go.
“Ah, I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” Zelo yells as he jumped off the ground, attempting to grab at least to grab one balloon. He looks down at the ground when he fails.
“...I’m sorry.”
“It’s fine, it’s fine,” Jieun reassures him and pulls him into a big hug, patting him on the back. “I’m really happy you were so kind to give me balloons. I adore balloons.”
A shadow looms over the two, and her attention is grabbed by Yongguk.
His large hand is holding onto one balloon.
“Happy birthday, Jieun.”
Jieun releases her hold on Zelo and can’t help but look away, hiding her smile.
“Ah, thank you very much, Yongguk,” she bows with gratitude and smiles at all her new friends.
“I’m really happy,” she confesses, her cheeks slowly beginning to redden. She begins to set down her book on the ground, wanting to tie the string to her wrist.
Yongguk beats her to it and slowly ties the white string to her wrist. Jieun takes this moment to peek up at his face, but just as soon as she looks up, he lifts his eyes.
She gasps, looking away in embarrassment. She clenches her eyes closed, scolding herself for getting caught.
Her heart is still beating.
He steps back as if nothing happened, and she looks at her wrist.
She looks up at the bright blue sky, her balloon floating along with the wind.
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