Chapter 9:

“Kyuhyun oppa,” I heard someone called out to Kyuhyun as we were making our way through the cramp path to the village.

I turned around, seeing Jongmi running towards Kyuhyun, hooking her arms around his.

She looked up to beam at him before looking at the long path in front of them. I sighed before retracting back to where Sooyeon and the rest of the team were.

 I just felt sometimes, he should just spend time with Jongmi. I have no right to stop them from being together. Afterall, I was just a friend to Kyuhyun , now.

I have no right to get jealous.

I looked forward, only to see Kyuhyun staring at me, totally ignoring what Jongmi was telling him.

I just smiled before turning back to Sooyeon.

Well, we got to the orphanage pretty fast and, it was in a village. But they had prepared rooms for us all, and it wasn’t going to be that bad.

We had little huts with beds inside, so things wouldn’t be that tough for us people who lived in the city.

I was really thankful for that.

“Since you all are adults, I suppose there aren’t any problems with the rooms and the different gender barriers.” The team leader spoke up.

Everyone nodded, looking around, signalling to their closest friends to bunk together.

I felt a tap on my shoulder. Turning, I saw Sooyeon smiling at me.

“Can I bunk with you?” She asked in a soft voice. I let out a slight chuckle before nodding.

“Of course!” I smiled.

“Hanji, who are you with?” Kyuhyun walked over, placing an arm over my shoulder.

“Sooyeon.” I stated, turning to beam at him.

Sooyeon had already walked away the moment she saw Kyuhyun heading towards us.

“It’s almost the evening. We would have some dinner, then you all can get some rest before we start work the next day.” The team leader shouted before walking off, leading us towards the huts.

“Do you want to go for a walk later?” Kyuhyun asked, smiling at me as we walked side by side, tagging behind the rest of the group.

I nodded a little before breaking out in a short giggle.

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We took a slow walk outside the huts, heading towards practically nowhere. We just walked.

This place was rather beautiful despite the fact that they are poor. This place is lovely.

“Are you tired?” He asked, removing his jacket and placing it on my shoulders as we both sat down on the grass, I shook my head. It was getting pretty chilly at night.

“Thanks.” I smiled before tilting up to stare at the night sky, watching stars form.

“Look.” He pointed. I followed his finger, only to see the biggest and the brightest star tonight.

“It’s beautiful.” I stated, smiling as I closed my eyes, letting the wind caress my cheeks.

“Remember what I told you? I said you are like a star, always so shining, so...” He trailed off, looking at me.

“And so what?” I asked in slight confusion, raising an eyebrow.

“Beautiful.”

That shut me up.

Beautiful. What did it mean? Was it just a slight and casual remark?

I turned to look away quickly,  looking at anything except turning to him.

He fidgeted around a little, stretching his legs out.

“How is it going with Jongmi?” I smiled, trying to change the subject.

“There’s nothi- Hanji look!” He shouted, immediately pointing to the light that just flashed across the sky in a split second.

“Make a wish,” He said in a whisper, fluttering his eyes closed.

I did as he said, making a quiet wish that I secretly prayed would come true.

I opened my eyes, only to see Kyuhyun staring at me, a smile plastered on his face.

“What did you wish for?” He asked, turning to face the horizon that stretched far from us.

“I can’t tell you, otherwise it wouldn’t be fulfilled.” I replied, sighing.

“Why do you believe in shooting stars Kyu?” I asked again, now hugging my knees close to my chest.

“Shooting stars are so beautiful. But such beauty just goes off in a split second. And there goes the chance of wishing.” He stopped, sighing.

“I want to be able to catch every wish I can make each time I see one, because shooting stars keep your secrets and just zoom away in a glance. They are trustable.” He continued, lips curving to form a full smile as he stared up into the sky.

“I don’t want to regret not being able to catch a chance because such stars are rare to come by. There are only one chance for every human being, ever lived.” He turned to look at me, a slight glint in his eyes.

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“Hanji,” I heard someone calling my name, tapping me on the shoulder.

“Wake up.” I fluttered my eyes open, only to see Sooyeon squatting by my bedside, shaking me awake.

“It’s time we go for breakfast then we need to start our volunteer work already.” She whispered as I sat up, nodding.

I stood up from the bed, walking out of the mini hut and towards the open basin that everyone had to share.

I took a short stroll with my eyes closed, as I lifted my hair up in a swift motion, bunning it up into a messy bun on top off my head.

Sticking a toothbrush into my mouth, I looked around as I brushed my teeth.

“Good morning.” I heard a low husky voice, coming from behind me. I whipped my head around and towards the sound, only to see Kyuhyun who looked like he was half dead.

He was sporting a long grey shirt and some black track pants, along with his dark brown and messy hair that sat on his head. I broke out in a chuckle, almost choking on the toothpaste.

“What so funny?” He groaned as I spat out the toothpaste, rinsing my mouth.

“Nothing.” I hummed, giggling as I lifted my head up, wiping myh mouth with a towel.

“You sure you are not gonna tell me huh?” He asked, an eyebrow raised. He looked as if he was holding back a laughter.

“No I am not.” I teased.

“You are gonna regret it.” He said again, flicking his facewash bottle cap off the bottle. He is just going to wash his face and I could escape!

“Nah, you can’t do anything to me.” I beamed in sacarsm, knowing I was pushing him over the edge.

He walked towards me, cornering me by the tap.

“Kyu.” I said in a firm tone, getting scared on the inside.

I felt both of his palms cupping my cheeks as some soft liquid trailed its way down to my chin after he removed his hands.

His facewash.

He burst out in laughter, clutching his chest as he almost tumbled onto the floor.

“Kyu!” I shouted, running after his sprinting figure.

He stopped, turning around to face me. His face all red from laughing.

“You should have seen your face!” He laughed again. I sighed, shaking my head and looking down at my feet. His laughter stopped and footsteps could be heard.

“Hey I am sorry I didn’t mean it alright?” He placed a finger on my chin, forcing me to look up at him.

I chuckled before moving forward, tiptoeing.

Cupping his head with my hands, I tilted my head left and smudged all the facewash left on my right cheek on his face.

His eyes widened, knowing he had fallen for the trap.

I burst out laughing in return before running off.

“Hanji come back here!” He yelled out, laughter evident in his voice.

“No!” I continued running forward till hands slipped around my waist, pulling me to a sudden stop.

He turned me around. Kyuhyun smirked at me, as I looked at him, amused.

His cheeks were smudged with facewash and so was mine.

That’s when I found his gaze boring back into my own.

His hands slowly lifted themselves up, thumbs caressing my cheeks as he wiped off the facewash.

“Kyu, what are you-”

“Shhhhh,” He shushed me up as he continued to look at me in the eyes, wiping off the evident facewash on my cheeks.

Once it was cleaned, his hands cupped my cheeks in a slow motion as his eyes seemed to give off a different sense of warmth.

He started leaning in.

“Kyu, kyu!” I shook him, hands tracing down to touch his arm.

He seemed to have snapped out of a daydream, suddenly retracting backwards.

His eyes seemed to hold some sort of a mixed emotion. He was shocked about his own doings.

“I am so sorry Hanji, I didn’t mean to. I just- I just-…” He stuttered as he looked down, hands touching my own.

“It’s fine.” I stated. He looked up immediately, those brown orbs boring into my own again.

I smiled as I grabbed my bestfriend’s hand, walking back to where we should go.

*****************************

Half the day passed, and well, we did quite a lot of work for the orphanage today. I was in charge of painting while Kyuhyun was in charged of getting the bricks and all the hard labour work.

I would turn once in a while from my working form, looking at him as he walked back with bricks in his hands.

His sleeves rolled up, showing off a bit of skin and some firm muscles.

“Take a break!” I heard the leader shout. I placed the brush back into the bucket, walking towards the Kyuhyun. He seemed to be in a little pain as he scrunched up his nose while examining something on his hand.

“What happened?” I demanded in shock as I sat down beside him, taking his hand in mine.

There was a huge gash on his palm. It was bleeding profusely.

“Kyu, get me the tissues.” He reached over, getting the box of tissues as I cleaned the wound up.

“What happened?” I looked up, only shock to see how near his face was to mine.

I looked away quickly, distancing our heads.

“I was carrying some bricks and there was a nail in the brick, cutting me while I placed it down.” He sighed as he looked at his bleeding palm.

“It must have hurt, so much.” I said in a soft voice while I cleaned off the blood. My eyes widened at the words I said. It wasn’t meant for him to hear that. I felt hurt to see his hands like that.

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Well we have been in this village for about three days and it been becoming a routine for the both of us to go for a walk alone together every other night after we had finished work and dinner.

“Hanji-ah, do you remember that girl from our neighbourhood when we were younger?” He started off,  sitting down by the grassy ground.

“Which? The long haired one?” I asked again, blinking my eyes.

“No, it’s the girl with short hair, the one who I told you I had a crush on when we were younger.” He paused, eyes darting left to right, looking at me from the corner of his eyes.

“Yeah, I remember. You didn’t know her name back the Kyu.” I laughed it off, looking forward.

“I know her name now.” He turned to me, a smirk plastered on his lips.

“What do you mean?” I was shocked. Well,  it was pretty much more of the fear I had inside me.

“I bumped into her a few days ago. Her name is Jiyeon.” I nodded smiling. I stood up on my feet. Kyuhyu saw what I did, and he did the same too, brushing the grass of his pants.

“Do you still like her?” I faked a smile, looking at those brown chocolate that seemed to be swirling around in his eyes.

I was really anticipating his answer. I just wanted to know. But some part of me didn’t. I didn’t want to feel hurt after knowing his answer. I didn’t want things to get awkward.

“Well, I don’t know…” He trailed off, stopping in his tracks as we walked again.

“You know Kyu, normally feelings would just come back even after you haven’t seen that someone for years. Maybe you longed to know.” I said, sticking my hands into the tight pockets of my hoodie.

“But sometimes feelings might not even be clear, you never know. Feelings play with each other.” He replied, not even looking at me now.

“Feelings is something someone should be clear about. It’s in themselves. Don’t you think?” I retorted.

“I don’t know.” He simply answered.

“I should just clear out on my own thoughts. Take some rest you are tired too, goodnight.” He smiled before turning and entering his hut.

I sighed as tears threatedned to spill, but I held them back as I took another stroll down the grass patch.

“What are you actually thinking about?” I shook my head as I fell on the hard ground as my legs gave way.

Why was I so hard on him? Why did I even need to be so bothered about whether he likes Jiyoon or not?

I closed my eyes, burying my head into my knees.

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Well more days passed and it’s been almost a week that we have been here for the mission trip. Four days had passed and I haven’t gotten a chance to even speak to Kyuhyun.

Our nightly walks stopped, and those times when he would just put down everything and talk to me about things. It stopped. It all stopped. I thought about his words that night, over and over.

Maybe he needs time.

Well I don’t know what is going on in his head right now, but i know for sure that I want to talk to him.

I haven’t been taking the initiative either to go talk to him.

I just needed to sort things out on myself too. I just thought I needed to know where to draw the line between friends.

Bestfriends.

“Take a break guys!” I heard the same familiar voice of the leader again as I dropped the brush into the bucket. Walking towards the bench table, I sat down with a loud thud on the seat, closing my eyes and letting the cool wind caress my face.

“Hey, you alright?” I opened my eyes only to see Sooyeon smiling at me as she placed an arm over my shoulder.

“Yeah, just tired. Haven’t been getting much sleep lately.” I sighed, pinching the bridge of my nose.

She placed a hand over my forehead only to flinch back almost immediately.

“Hanji, you are having a fever!” She exclaimed.

I nodded a little, as I felt a slight gush of pain in my head.

“I am just having some headache. I will be fine, don’t worry so much. Let’s get to work.” I smiled, standing up and getting the paint brush.

We continued for the next few hours, painting and building. The school we were building for the kids was almost completed and it looked really great.

I was painting my last wall for the day.

I hadn’t been feeling really good for the past few hours, and it seems like my energy is draining by the second.

The paint brush fell from my hands as I placed a hand on my forehead, pounding it a little, hoping the headache would disappear.

I heard footsteps and Sooyeon turned me to look at her as her eyes widened in shock.

“Hanji, your nose is bleeding!” She shouted, pulling me aside to take a seat as she passed me a cloth to clean up the mess.

“Sooyeon, I am fine.” I smiled before getting a few pieces of tissue.

“You are getting really pale.” With that, she stood up and ran towards the team leader who was a few blocks away from us, helping out with the building and carrying off bricks. The team where Kyuhyun was in.

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“Now, rest here and don’t move so much. Just take a break.” I nodded as I closed my eyes.

I snuggled into the blankets, drifting off to sleep.

-Kyuhyun’s pov:-

“Oppa! Hanji isn’t looking good, please let her take a break or go take a look at her!” I heard Sooyeon exclaimed. As soon as I heard Hanji’s name, my head was whipped around to the source of where the sound was coming from.

I walked over to Sooyeon and the leader immediately after hearing what they talked about.

“Sooyeon, let me come with you.” I tapped her on her shoulder.

She nodded, signalling me to follow her from the back.

We entered the hut they shared and Hanji was asleep. The way her lashes rested on her face, it was beautiful. Her lips were slightly parted as she slept. It was cute, really cute.

“Yes yes, her nose was bleeding so much just now,” I turned to Sooyeon who was explaining the details to the leader.

I walked towards her, taking a sit on the side of the bed as I watched her sleep so soundly.

I had been ignoring her these days. I just wanted some time to think before I could take things to another level.  I was clear, so clear that I liked Hanji, since we were younger.

Jiyoon, she just came by and I guess what I felt about her back then was infatuation. But Hanji was right, she was definitely right. Feelings do come back sometimes. Even if it’s just infatuation.

Yes I had to admit that I felt that pinch of those feelings I had for Jiyoon coming back to me the moment I saw her that day and when she finally told me she noticed me since we were younger.

But I had someone in mind each time I talked to Jiyoon on the phone. I realised I didn’t feel anything for her.

I liked Hanji. No no, I loved her, all these years that feeling I had for her never changed. She had always been on my mind. That image of her standing in front of me laughing hysterically  as she held that chocolate ice cream cone in her hand that she smashed into my face.

It was final, I loved her and I won’t let her get hurt. I dom’t know if she liked me but I am going after her.

Sooyeon and the leader had left the room a while ago, giving me sometime with Hanji alone.

I lifted a hand, slowly and gently touching her cheek as I took notice of her features.

“Give me time,” I whispered. 

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Hey you guys! I srsly can't stop myself from writing after i thought of some plots during my free time! I just wanted to write it all down just in case i forget but i couldn't resist not showing you guys what i have wrote! I know this chapter isn't great but i hope you guys like it! :) it's  still building up to the next chapter! Watch out for some dramaaaaaa! :) 

Well i guess i am going to continue writing and not go on hiatus, but i will just update at a slower rate. ^-^ That's good news uh. :) 

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