Chapter Ten

“Mrs Choi said I could start working tomorrow. I’ll be going there every day at lunch and I’ll be needing you to take care of your brother while I’m at the shop, okay?” Halmeoni said as she washed the plates.

I placed them on a metal plate stand near the faucet. “Yeah sure, no problem. I’m sure you’ll be doing a good job!” I encouraged her.

“Noona!” Sungjae called from the living room.

I glanced at Halmeoni and shook my head.

“What do you need?” I asked as I sat beside him on the couch.

He sat on my lap, pouting while fiddling with the remote control. “The TV won’t open. My favourite cartoon is about to start.”

Cartoons.

He loves cartoons as much as I love them.

“Let me see,” I stood up and tried to see what’s wrong.

I walked towards the television and rolled my eyes. “TV’s not plugged.”

I plugged it in and again sat down beside him.

He pressed the power button and switched channels until he got to channel 38, Disney Channel.

Phineas and Ferb’s theme song played and Sungjae started singing to it with his head bobbing up and down.

“Psh, my favourite cartoon’s way better than that.”

He waited for the song to finish before asking, “Why? What’s your favourite cartoon show?”

“Oh, they are three powerful and cute little girls that goes by the name of Powerpuff Girls. They were so cool. You can still watch it on channel 36, cartoon network. Try watching it sometime.” I smiled.

Looking back at my childhood makes me happy.

It was so perfect back then.

“Cute little girls? No thanks, I’d rather watch Phineas and Ferb invent cool things in their backyard.” He retorted, focused on his P&F business.

“Whatever,”

Whenever Sungjae and I are fighting over cartoons, he always wins.

I mean, why are cartoons so much cooler today?

“Ah, by the way, noona’s going to spend a one month vacation in Jeju so you better take care of yourself. Halmeoni’s going to be busy in managing the flower shop. You can always go there and visit here if you want. It’s just two blocks away from our house.”

I don’t regret telling Sungjae to take care of himself whenever Halmeoni and I are busy.

He’s still young and he already knows how to be home alone by himself.

I told him to just make sure that the doors are locked and to never let strangers in.

Good thing he’s easy to teach.

“One month vacation in Jeju? With whom?” He asked, still focused on the television.

“Kai,”

“Why?”

I had to lie, once again.

I’m not the kind of person who likes to tell lies. That’s a sin.

I’m usually the honest type. But when situations are like this, I knew I really had to.

“Because we won in a promo. A trip for two in Jeju.”

“What promo?” He was really inquisitive.

I tried to get away from his question, “Take care okay?”

but he was persistent. “What kind of promo?”

I sighed. “Just… a promo.” I grinned.

Please stop already.

Finally, Sungjae nodded. He gave up. “When?”

“I’m not sure when. Maybe after the engage-“

“Cool!” He suddenly shouted. “Look noona, they’re going to build a roller coaster!” His eyes sparkled at an episode he watched a million times already.

That’s one good thing about kids.

They don’t pay attention at serious talks like this.

I decided to just partake in his P&F addictiveness and forget about the fact that I almost told him about the engagement party. “Oh yeah! Cool kids.” I chuckled.

Then it hit me, if the party’s next week and my brother is still not aware about the whole thing then, does this mean he won’t be able to attend the party?

What about Halmeoni? She’s not going to be there too?

Eotteoke?

…

Halmeoni asked me to take the clothes that were hanging outside because it was drizzling.

I took everything and brought them inside the house.

It was dry already so we started folding it one by one.

I took this opportunity to ask Halmeoni about the upcoming engagement party. “Halmeoni?” I asked prudently.

“Hmm?”

“Um, about the engagement party, will Sungjae be able to go? He still doesn’t know about it.”

“Don’t stress yourself out. I already solved that one.” She smiled.

What does she mean solved?

“The engagement party’s Tuesday next week. Sungjae’s friend Changsub will be celebrating his birthday that day.”

I perked up. “That’s a good thing!”

“Another good thing is, Changsub’s mom invited him to stay overnight.”

Now, I was satisfied. Thank you, Lord.

“So, you will go?”

“Of course, I will.” She smiled. “But you need to buy me something to wear first.”

“Sure, no problem.” I giggled.

…

I was munching the last of my dinner when the doorbell rang.

I stood up and finished the glass of cold water in front of me then headed outside.

It rang for the second time.

“Aish! This person, so impatient.” I whispered as I opened our small gate.

Kai, who wore a Ralph Lauren baseball jacket stood in front of me.

“Hey, come in.” I said as I started to walk inside again.

He followed.

“Hyung!!” Sungjae stood up from his seat and jumped towards Kai.

I brought the dishes to the kitchen and Kai followed me. He sat on the counter.

I hastily washed the dishes.

After I finished putting them into the right places Kai hopped off from where he was seated and handed me two bars of Hershey’s Cookies & Cream.

My ultimate favourite.

“Cookies and Cream, thanks!” I gave him an eye smile.

“Where were you yesterday?” He asked, a bit of irritation in his voice.

“I had a date with Jooyeon and Sunhwa.”

“You didn’t even call.”

I looked at him. “Sorry I wasn’t able to call you with my invisible cell phone.”

He seemed to notice his fault and just laughed it away.

I shook my head.

We sat down on the couch. “So, what did you do yesterday?”

He leaned back and closed his eyes. “Took care of the sick guy, nothing special. You’re torturing me.”

I scowled at him. “And why?”

He narrowed his eyes at me. “I didn’t see you the whole day yesterday. It was boring as heck!”

I snarled. “Okay, let’s say we were together yesterday. We’re gonna have our pointless, senseless conversations. Isn’t that more boring?”

“It may seem boring to you. But it all makes sense to me.” He smiled.

That made me quiet.

My question was really mean.

Those boring conversations really makes sense especially when you’re best friends!

No matter how boring your conversation may be, best friends always find deep meaning to it.

See?

That arranged marriage thing is starting to ruin our friendship!

I can’t let this happen. I should really do something to stop this from happening.

I chuckled. “It makes sense to me, too!”

He looked at me. “Really?”

“Yeah!”

“Okay,” He shrugged.

He was offended. I was sure.

And I am sorry.

Kai’s POV

We went to Sungjae’s bedroom and waited for him to fall asleep.

I closed the door behind me. “I’ll be going now. Chaerin noona and I has to go somewhere.” I said.

Minah opened the door for me. “Oh, okay. Thanks for the chocolates!” She smiled.

I smiled back as a response, then got inside my car.

“Annyeong!” She waved goodbye and I sped off.

I’m not gonna sulk because of what Minah said.

Maybe I was in the wrong timing.

She talked like that because she was having trouble with something.

Maybe the marriage.

Maybe because of Woohyun.

I don’t know.

All I know is that she’s not in the mood for our boring talks right now.

The only reason I decided to visit her was because I got jealous with Sungjae.

She said that Sungjae was always there to cheer her up. And it occurred to me that that was my job too.

Then once again, I just made the situation worse.

Why can’t I do anything right?

Minah’s POV

Kai left and I felt alone.

The atmosphere suddenly went bleak.

I was guilty. I really wanted to apologize for what I said.

I missed him.

And right now, I want to be with him.

I went inside Sungjae’s room and found Halmeoni sleeping beside him. I warily tiptoed inside and took Halmeoni’s cell phone on the bedside table. I went out of the room and quickly dialled Kai’s number.

I bit my nail as it rang twice. “Please answer, please,”

He picked up.

I told him that he needed to come back because Halmeoni forgot to give him something and he told me to wait for him.

The sound of his car’s engine roared outside of the house and I immediately opened the gate.

He placed his car keys inside the pocket of his jacket and stood in front of me. “Where is it?” He asked, waiting for me to give him something.

I looked up at him with apologetic eyes. “Can you sleep here tonight?”

“Why?” He asked.

“Please?”

He sighed, grabbed his car keys and opened the door of his car.

Okay, he’s mad at me.

Kai bent down and took his cell phone. Then he closed the door and the car let out a squeak. “Let’s go,” He dragged me inside the house.

…

“A’ent ooo koing ooo take a ath eefore ooo leep?” I asked incoherently while brushing my teeth.

“Ask again after you brush your teeth. You sound martian.” Kai said as he opened the television and sat on the edge of my bed.

I gargled with water and spit it out. “I said, aren’t you going to take a bath before you sleep? I already prepared something for you to wear.” I placed my toothbrush in a pink plastic cup and wiped my mouth.

“I still have clothes here?” He asked.

I went out of the bath room. “Nope, you brought it all back to your house. You’re gonna be using my clothes.” I said.

He went inside the bath room and locked the door.

“The clothes are on top of the counter.” I yelled.

He opened the bathroom door and poked his head out. “The pyjamas,” He said firmly.

“Tough guys wear pink!” I wiggled my eyebrows at him.

“Seriously?!”

“Just wear it! Unless you want to sleep with just your underpants on.”

“That’s better!”

I rolled my eyes and he locked the door once again.

Kai went out of the bath room wearing his denim jeans and my Hello Kitty oversized shirt.

I placed my DVD of Titanic inside the DVD player and sat down on my bed.

“Wait, you said you had to go somewhere with Chaerin unnie, right?” I asked.

He sat down beside me. “I told her to cancel it because someone important needs me. Titanic again?”

Good thing the lights in my room were off so I didn’t have to hide my tomato red cheeks.

“You know that’s my fave,” I said as I placed a pillow on my lap and leaned on the headrest.

Kai did the same. “Okay then, let’s watch it for the umpteenth time.” He smiled and focused on the television.

We reached the middle of the movie and I started to get drowsy.

I looked at Kai who was still focused on the movie.

Slowly, I rested my head on his chest and fell asleep.

Kai’s POV

I was so focused on the movie that I didn’t notice Minah fast asleep already.

The movie just finished and I was feeling sleepy already. I carefully moved her head to her pillow when she abruptly scooted closer and said, “Stay, nampyeon…” She whimpered silently.

Husband, Hubby, My Man.

He just called me all of those.

Good thing she’s asleep so I didn’t have to hide my blushing cheeks. I don’t care whether she’s dreaming or not.

She called me husband.

And that makes sense.

I grabbed the remote control under the pillow and turned the TV off. I adjusted my pillow and tried to think of ideas to help me sleep.

I looked at Minah’s facial features one by one.

First her eyebrows, then her eyes, her nose, her lips. She hasn’t changed at all!

She’s still the Minah that I met years ago.

My best friend.

She just became a more beautiful girl.

This beautiful girl that’s going to be my wife… soon.

I kissed her head and went to dreamland.