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Chapter 5

His Smile

            Shin Hye watched carefully as Lee Hong Ki traces with his left hand the chords of the guitar he is teaching her. She is sitting at the floor, holding her guitar with her left hand as she is supporting it with her lap. She is facing Hong Ki, who, on the other hand, looks so serious as ever as he is commanding her what to do.

            “This is A,” Hong Ki said, pointing his fingers on the part of the chords where it has to be.

            She heard everything that he said. She saw how he positioned his hand unto the guitar. And she saw the effort Hong Ki is putting in this guitar lesson they are doing. But right at that moment, everything is just passing into her mind, but it’s not sinking real into her. She is watching, but she’s not paying attention. She couldn’t understand it. But more to it, she just couldn’t understand herself.

            “Ya! What are you doing?” Hong Ki shouted, taking her back into reality. She blinked her eyes twice and she saw his irritated face as his eyes are shooting her deathly glare. Hong Ki is pissed off again.

            “Y-Yes?” she looked at Hong Ki, then to her guitar, almost clueless. “W-Well, I am trying to do what you were teaching a while ago, I guess,” she bit her lower lip as she looked once more to her fingers that are into the strings of her guitar. And she could guess that she had answered him very wrong. Well, basically because her hands are into a messed up position.

            “How many times do I have to remind you that I want you to focus!?” he raised his eyebrow.

            “Well, I am… focusing?” she tried to argue.

            “Oh yes, you are,” Hong Ki sarcastically retorted. “I’ve been teaching you about how many chords already yet you can't perfectly execute even just one chord!”

            She exhaled. “I’m sorry,” she said as she bowed her head partially. She never thought learning how to play a guitar was this hard. “Let’s just do it again.”

            Hong Ki’s sharp glares meant that he was already losing his patience. Surprisingly, he didn’t tell a word. He just shook his head slowly as he moved closer to her. He placed himself at her back. She then felt his arms enveloped her body as his left hand touched her hand on the strings. She felt shiver when he traced his hands on her, guiding it in the right direction of the chord.

            “Your hand is so stiff,” she heard Hong Ki commented that made her stare at him. He was so near she felt herself melting into him. “Relax. Just let your fingers sway into the chords,” he said, gazing up unto her. “You got it?”

            She can only nod mutely as she stares back into his deep brown eyes. She felt she was like drowning at the sight of his eyes. Those dark cold eyes which always seems to be calling her…

            She felt Hong Ki slowly let go of her and walked back to his original place. But she could still feel his warmth. And she could feel her heart beat loud and fast without a warning.

            Hong Ki went back on his guitar. He carried it into his lap and tried playing some chords with his hands. The melody of his guitar filled the air as if it was accompanying the loud beats of her heart. And it is absolutely a crazy feeing, like she was in some kind of a roller coaster ride.

            She sighed inwardly as she tightened her grip unto her guitar, trying to gain some focus and throw away all the crazy feeling she just had. It’s not just helping her. But just as when she placed her fingers on the strings, she heard a sound that somehow disturbed her.

            This time… This place…

            She heard her favorite song playing. That is her ringtone so she immediately grasped for her phone in her pocket to check if it was her phone ringing. But it wasn’t. Automatically, her eyes spotted Hong Ki who’s looking at his own cellphone. He is holding the gadget into his hands as it is blinking and creating loud sounds that filled their surroundings. They have the same ringing tone.

            Misused… Mistakes… Too long, too late…

            The ringing continued some more, and Hong Ki just stared at it coldly.

            Hong Ki tightened his grip on his phone before he clicked the reject button, ending the noise it created. He then put his phone down the floor and turned his focus back to his guitar.

            In not just a minute, his phone began vibrating and ringing again. But this time, Hong Ki rejected it faster. The sound died once more only to be revived again after a few moments. Hong Ki pressed the reject button again. Then, the phone rang again. Hong Ki rejected it once more. And the cycle continued for the next minutes.

            “Why don’t you answer it?” she suggested. “The call must be very important.”

            Hong Ki just gave her a cold stare. That made her sense that something was not right about the call. He is losing his patience.

            Hong Ki turned his cellphone off. Then he suddenly stood up and walked towards the door.

            “Hey, where are you going?” she called out to him.

            “I’m hungry. Let’s get out of here and take some break!” Hong Ki shot her a glance. “Hurry up!”

            Sensing the urgency in his voice, and his already cracking up temper, she hurried herself to follow him.

            Hong Ki walked in a fast-pace manner, passing at all establishments in the corner of the street, passing on all the people he met his way. On his back, Shin Hye is taking the same track he is taking. She’s trying to keep up with Hong Ki’s speed, following him silently. She can notice the heaviness on his every footstep, signifying his heavy disposition that very moment.

            Now, they are walking endlessly in the streets of Seoul, not sure where they are bound to go.

            She sighed. Something inside her tells her to talk to him, intervene and penetrate in the walls he created to cage himself up. Something is bugging her to do something for him. And she couldn’t resist in that little voice deep in her heart.

            “So,” she walked passed to him and faced him. “Are you really planning to eat and have some break, or should we waste our time with this limitless walking you’re trying to do?”

            Hong Ki stopped and stared at her for a moment. His dark cold brown eyes are telling her of his unknown stories of sadness and loneliness. And the more she looks at those burning eyes, the more she wanted to understand and comprehend all those things she sees inside it.

            “We’re done today,” he lamely responded. “You can go home now. We’ll just resume tomorrow.”

            “What?” she has her forehead knotted. “You sure are crazy at times, Lee Hong Ki,” she commented, rolling her eyes on the absurd thing he just told her.

            “No. I am not going home unless we both eat something. You won’t tire me for a long walk just to send me home afterwards,” she told him with conviction in her voice.

            “Who told you to follow me?” Hong Ki snapped back at her. “You were the one who decided to follow on my track, babo. If you want to eat, do it alone by yourself.”

            “No, master. You were the one who told me that we are just going to have a break and resume afterwards that is why I was following you, babo,” she retorted sarcastically. “Now, let’s go and grab something to eat because I am really hungry and tired for all you know,” she said, rolling her eyes before she grabbed Hong Ki’s sleeves and dragged him to the nearest fast food house she saw.

            They were both greeted by the aroma of the food the fast food house is serving as they entered the establishment. She didn’t know how hungry she was until she had sniffed the good and tempting aroma inside. If not for what seemed an almost endless walking they had, she wouldn’t be this hungry. Hong Ki is indeed a ridiculous creature. He was this unpredictable jerk.

            There are numerous people inside, but they were able to find a vacant spot they could sit unto. She pushed Hong Ki to sit down before she went to the counter and ordered for their food, not bothering to ask him what he wants to eat. Not long after, she returned with her tray full of hamburgers, French fries, glasses of soda, and her favorite sundae.

            She hurriedly sat down, wanting to finally quench her hunger. She one by one took their food out of the tray and pushed a burger, fries, a glass of soda and a sundae to Hong Ki with her other hand as her right hand is already clutching for her burger.

            She gazed at Hong Ki and smiled contentedly at him.

            “Let’s eat, c’mon!” she encouraged him. Then, she fixed her gaze unto her burger and grabbed some sachet of tomato catsup, and happily spread rich amount on between her burger buns. She became excited when she finally took a bite on it. She could feel her tomato catsup spreading out of the buns with her gentle squeeze. And she was satisfied by the complementing taste of the burger patties and the generous amount of her catsup.

            Hong Ki stared at her as she is munching her food. Park Shin Hye is already happy and contented just by munching with her burger.

            “Such a kid,” Hong Ki mumbled softly.

            Catching his words through her ears, she gazed at Hong Ki who is watching her eat.

            “You should try eating, too, Lee Hong Ki instead of just staring,” she said as she munched into her burger once more. Now, she was not contented anymore by just biting generously on her burger. She now dipped her fries into her favorite chocolate sundae before she brought it into . The taste of cold sweetness and a little saltiness occupied . However, it was still complementing for her.

            “C’mon, you should try some,” she urged him with a smile. She gently pushed in front of him the strawberry sundae she ordered for him. “Berry berry strawberry ice cream for the grumpy kid.”

            Hong Ki stared at his already melting strawberry sundae. Then, he stared back at her. She is smiling at him, urging him to finally taste the food in front of him.

            Hong Ki stared at her for a moment, building an awkward silence in their air which made her held her eating for what seemed a long while, and made her anticipate on what he will say after. Then, he gently dipped his spoon into the cup of his ice cream and scooped some of it. He looked at it for a while before he brought it to his mouth for the judgment.

            “It tastes good, right?” she excitedly asked, anticipating for his response. Hong Ki mutely nodded as an answer.

            “Wow, that’s the very first time you agreed on me,” she said, grinning cheekily. “That’s good, Hong Ki. You’re beginning to be normal,” she tapped Hong Ki’s hand softly while laughing a little.

            Hong Ki stared at her with awe.

            “So you mean I don’t seem like normal to you, Park Shin Hye?” he glared at her, raising an eyebrow.

            She wanted to burst out laughing at his annoyed expression but she just chose to contain her laugh by munching on her already melting ice cream. At least now, he wasn’t wearing that cold, stiff and distant expression he has a while ago.

            “This is really good,” she commented, gliding her tongue unto her lips, tasting the sweetness of her ice cream as if Hong Ki was not giving her his deathly glare. “You know what; I remember my childhood days every time I get to eat ice cream.”

            “And in fact, you also eat like a child. Look at that mess in your face,” Hong Ki snapped at her. “You really are such a kid.”

            “Ooppss, sorry,” she smiled sheepishly as she wiped the traces of ice cream on the sides of her lips. “But really, eating ice creams makes me remember my childhood. That time when I was still little, and still cannot comprehend everything. Those days that I still got a long time waiting for me, greeting me each day... Those moments that ice creams could make me stop from crying and eventually make me feel good.”

            “You seemed to have good memories from your childhood,” Hong Ki mumbled softly, munching on his owl bowl of ice cream.

            She gently shook her head. Loneliness flashed in her eyes as she reminisced her younger days.

            “Looking back, it was never really that happy. It was not so carefree,” she said. “At those times, I cannot understand why I cannot do all the things I wanted to do as a child. I cannot sing when I wanted to because my father prohibits me to do so. I cannot hug him and kiss him for a lollipop because he was distant to me. And I grew up like that. I grew up only with a father who was so near to me but I couldn’t reach unto. We are separated not only by the concrete walls of our house, but walls that are thicker that those. Walls that I couldn’t see and couldn’t even understand why it exists...”

           She sighed as she remembered that sad part of her life. But still, she had managed to give him a warm smile.

            “But I didn’t feel bad about that. Whenever I feel incomplete about my life, I just look at the things that I have and I feel blessed. When I couldn’t understand things, I just think that everything has its reasons,” she reflected. “And whenever I feel bad, I just eat ice cream to somehow comfort myself,” she smiled cheerily as she put a spoonful of ice cream in .

            “I don’t believe you,” Hong Ki declared. “I mean, how can you have such perspective in life? How can you speak so positive about life as if problems are just easy things that could vanish if you just shrug your shoulders? Are you still human?”

            “Believe me, my problems are not those kind that you can easily shrug with a shoulder. It may be greater than that of yours,” she replied. “But nothing would change if I don’t look up with everything with hope. I’ll just stress myself out, and eventually make things worse,” she told him before she dipped another fries into her sundae and brought it into . “Uhmm… This is really delicious!” she happily remarked. “You should try this, too, c’mon!”

            “That’s ridiculous,” Hong Ki commented on her way of eating her sundae and fries as he eyed her like she was some kind of an alien. “I’ll just stick on the proper way of eating these things.”

            “Whatever!” she rolled her eyes on him. “But I swear this is delicious. You’re no fun Lee Hong Ki. You’ll be missing something if you didn’t get to try this.”

            “I’d rather miss that something than to look like a fool like you do. You are so childish, Park Shin Hye,” he retorted.

            She eyed Hong Ki sharply before she stuck her tongue on him. She even rolled her eyes on him. For how many times does he have to emphasize that she’s like a kid?

            Pouting, she just dipped another fries into her sundae and filled . But secretly, on the side of her eyes, she is silently watching Hong Ki eat his ice cream. And as if her eyes are fooling her, she saw the side of his lips raised, curving into a cheeky and amused smile, thus lighting up his eyes.

            She blinked her eyes and stared suspiciously at him. He has his spoon now on his mouth as he is also looking at her with wonder in his eyes. There are no traces of smile in his lips anymore, but his eyes are not dark and gloomy, for sure. Does that mean Lee Hong Ki really did smile just a while ago?

            “Why?” Hong Ki gave her a questioning glare as she was still inspecting his very face.

            She wanted to ask if she really did see it right. She wanted to confirm if the ice-cold jerk, Lee Hong Ki is also capable of smiling. But she is afraid that if she does so, he might lose the radiance she’s seeing in him now. He might mask himself up once again.

            She gently shook her head. “No, nothing. Nothing,” she said as she gave him her warm smile. “I hope the ice cream made you feel alright for whatever that is that’s troubling you.”

            And I hope to see you smile, too. Again. For the second time. And for all the time.  

            Hong Ki looked outside the glass walls of the fast food restaurant. Having noticed him do so, Shin Hye also turned her attention outside the glass walls. And they were both greeted by the shower of the winter season. Beautiful, pure while flakes from the heaven above are slowly pouring down to kiss the land.

            It is winter season, and falling snow are casual. But still, it is beautiful. It’s magnificent. The scene is breathtaking, and magical. Things may really seem so ordinary, but lies in it is an immeasurable beauty.

            Hong Ki glanced at the amazed Shin Hye. She has this expression in her face like it was her very first time to witness the snow falling from the sky. Such a kid, indeed.

            His lips curved into an amused smile as he was seeing the fascination in her eyes. She is like the sunshine in a cold winter’s night.

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Hey ‘yo! Chapter 5 is already here! I hope this was good!

I’m sorry for not updating. I just found it hard to make this succeeding chapter coz I really don’t know what should happen next. But now, I’ve made up my mind, and came up to this. So I really hope this was nice and relevant to the previous chapters. I would want Hong Ki to slowly open up to Shin Hye.

I’m trying my best to make each chapter interesting and full. I hope I’m satisfying all of you guys.

I also hope to gain more readers and subscribers, maybe 30 subscribers before christmas? haha..

And please please comment guys. I want to hear a word from you. You can cheer me up, or write what you think about the story. Give me some inspiration.

It will be Christmas vacation very soon. I hope I can use that time to update more.

Can I also ask you another favor? Please hit the upvote button if you think this story is deserving. And thank you very much for those who hit the upvote button already... :)

Spread the HONGSHIN love<3 saranghae!!!