Meanwhile

“Huh….what a close shave,” Lee Seunghyun murmured to himself in a low voice. He let out a huge sigh of relief. He quickly put his phone; that was now closed, back into his pocket. He was really grateful that he was able to twist and turm his way out from the phone-call with Taeyeon. Any longer, then he would’ve probably spilled the beans; which would have meant the end of his life.

"Wow! She was some though customer. Really glad that's over," now that he had finally gotten all-inquisitive-Taeyeon out of the picture, it was back to square one; finding Seohyun. It was getting late, and the theme park was almost closing. He had to find her fast.

After taking a few breather, he reassumed to running around the theme park again, in search of the missing Seohyun. The night was getting colder, and the air was getting denser. It was making it harder for him to breathe. Sometimes, he felt like he was on an expedition, hiking a tall, breezy mountain. It was extremely hard to breath at that moment. But his will to find her, motivated him to just endure the suffocating air and keep on searching for her.

Damn! This is all my fault.

If I hadn’t taken her to that stupid ride,

things wouldn’t have been like this

Where could she possibly be?

He still remembered how it happened that night. After their unexpected kiss inside the haunted house, Seohyun went totally dead silent on him. The silent treatment made him feel really terrible; and guilty at the same time. Both of them stayed quiet for the whole remaining ride. From that moment onwards, Seohyun wasn’t even scared; even the slightest bit, with all the horrifying things inside the haunted house.

She just stayed quiet.  She didn’t even budge nor yelp when scary things pop out, out of the blue; when she should have. It was killing him to see her like that, but he didn’t have the guts to talk to her. He made a promise to himself to go and console her; if not ask her for forgiveness for his unparallel stupidity, after the ride had ended.

However; much to his despair, after the ride had finished, he didn’t even get a chance to catch up with her, when she suddenly bolted from the ride and went straight into the crowd of people that flooded the theme park. It was hopeless to chase her down with so many people running around. Few times he had mistaken another girl for her, during his futile search; and some even slapped him in the face, since they thought he was a ert.

He didn’t give up though, and still went on with the search until now. After the nervy-call with her kid leader Taeyeon; and after running around the theme park for the last few hours, he finally stopped running and helplessly got himself seated on a bench. He was sweating like a pig and his shirt was drenched with icy-cold sweats. He was totally dead beat; never had he run so hard in his life before. Panting and gasping for a much-needed air, he closed his eyes and cupped his face with his hands. As he was doing so, he kept remembering about the kiss inside the haunted house. To violate such an innocent girl like her like that, would’ve made anyone furious; let alone the violated. For some reason he kept blaming himself for the whole mischief, even when it was just an unintentional/accidental kiss.  

“Seohyun, where are you? Huh, I should have never brought her to that haunted house. Urgh…stupid me, stupid me, stupid me,” he cursed himself again and again. There was no use crying over spilt milk, but he really felt like a jerk at that time. Minutes go by, and she was still nowhere to be found. He felt like crying. He had never felt so hopeless before, and his heart was aching so much. He just hoped that she would miraculously show up out of nowhere, so he could at least ease down a bit, the feeling of guilt that he was suffering from at that time.

Suddenly; like a sign from God, he heard something. He quickly sat straight back up, and pricked his hear. He could hear a faint sound coming from somewhere. It was a sobbing sound; probably a girl sobbing somewhere near. He immediately stood up when he was sure that he wasn’t just imagining stuffs. He twirled around to try detect where the distant cry was coming from. Suddenly his eye spotted something not far from where he was sitting. He focused his eye on the dark figure, before he finally managed to make out an outline of a girl with long hair, sitting on the ground while hugging her knees. He couldn’t quite tell, but he was also guessing that the girl was burying her face between her knees while she was crying. Slowly, and as stealthy as a cat, he approached the girl; being extra careful not to make any sound that ought to surprise her.

The girl was sitting at the edge of a lake; that he had just realized, was right behind the bench where he had just sat on. The lake was medium-sized; probably occupied with small fishes only. Lights from the moon and stars that painted the night sky were reflected on it; giving it a faint glowing complexion in the dark night. Over the lake was a Ferris-Wheel that stood high above the ground. It was still lit up with lights from neon lamps that decorated its giant wheel. The lights were too, reflected on the lake; making its appearance noticeable on the surface water of the lake. You can say that the lake might have been a dull scenery in daylight, but it was still a sight for sore eyes during night time. He was mystified as to why he didn’t realize the lake sooner.   

(Anyway back to the story),

After taking a few more careful steps, he was now, finally standing next to the girl. As he had wanted, the girl didn’t notice his presence at all. She just continued to sit on the ground and sobbing, as he stared down at her. This time he was really sure that it was Seohyun. He could tell from the way she dressed. Her outfit was a dead ringer to what Seohyun was wearing that day; a red blouse, long white skirt, and finally, a bunny-shaped bag right next to her.

Carefully, he got himself seated next to her and stared at the lake that was in front of them. He didn’t want to greet her first. As-a-matter-of-fact, he just sat there and waited for her to notice him first. He didn’t want to bother her or make her run away again. 2 more minutes went by before Seohyun finally acknowledged his company. She turned her head to look at him, and that’s when Lee Seunghyun noticed how swollen her eyes were, after crying so hard; and also how sad she looked. They both stared at each other for a while as silence swooped in, and filled the air between them. The atmosphere was calm and steady. The night breeze made the air even colder between them. Seohyun shivered when the cold breeze caressed her body. Lee Seunghun was aware of her shivering. He smiled and wrapped his hand around her shoulder. Seohyun was surprised with what he was doing; no doubt about it, but she didn’t budge from where she was sitting or even showed any sign of protest. Instead, she just let him rest his hand around her shoulder and laid her head on his chest.

He was a bit taken aback by her respond. It wasn't what he had expected; he actually thought that she might have strangled him or something. Never the less, he was also thankful that she didn’t turn down his offer. He figured that she must’ve been tired of running away from him all day long, and crying so hard. The thought of her crying all alone in the dead-cold night, for the past few hours made him realized how lonely she must had felt. He hugged her closer to him, when he thought about it. Seohyun didn’t do anything and just let him be. She had been crying there for quite a long time, and the cold air almost made her freeze to death. When Lee Seunghyun finally came to the rescue, she was really glad that he had finally found her. His body felt soft-to-the-touch, and really warm. Warmth was exactly what she needed at that time. She hugged him back and closed her eyes as she embraced the warmth of his body. He simply smiled when she returned his hug; at least she’s showing some responds.

She feels cold.

It must’ve had been lonely and depressing for her to be all alone, crying in the cold out here.

Should have found her sooner.

Was she waiting for me all this time?

Huh….I’m such an idiot.

All of a sudden; while he was still preoccupied with his thoughts, he felt his shirt getting wetter. The flowing liquid felt warm to his skin. He looked down and that’s when he realized that Seohyun had started to cry again. Faint wailing sounds accompanied her falling tears. She hugged him even more tightly. Lee Seunghyun could only shook his head and try to understand her as he may, how sad she was at that time. He caressed her head gently and patted her back; like a mother would to her children.

“There, there….why are you crying?” he asked her in a soft voice.

“I’m sorry Seungri-shi. You must had been searching for me all this while, and I’ve troubled you a lot”

“What? Don’t be ridiculous. It was my fault that you ran away, okay. I’m just glad that I’d finally found you now”

Seohyun released her hug on him and sat straight back up again; after wetting his shirt with her tears. She wiped her soggy, wet eyes with her hands, before staring at him with her red-eyes. Lee Seunghyun was muddle-headed when she suddenly smiled at him. Her smile was just like the smile that people would usually give when they finally met someone close to them, after being apart for so long. The smile automatically made him smile too. Soon, they found themselves throwing in the aisles at how awkward the moment was, between them. He was happy to see her laughing again. It really made his search meaningful. He didn’t just found her, but he also got to see her smiling and laughing again that day. (Yeah! :D)

After a while, Seohyun finally ended her laughing session and stared at him with the same smiley-face. “Thank you Seungri-shi”

“For what?”

“For not leaving me. And also for trying to find me. You don’t know how grateful I am when you found me”

“It was the least I can do. Besides, your members had been trying to reach you. That’s how I knew that you were still here. You should call them or text them, you know”

“Really! They had been calling me. Oh no! They must be worried sick right now,” Seohyun checked her phone that she had turned off earlier. There were hundreds of miss calls from not only the other members of Girls Generation, but also her manager and her other friends; there were also some from her fake-husband, Jung Yonghwa. Her face looked troubled as she scrolled along the miss call’s list. She suddenly felt really bad for making them worry so much.

Lee Seunghyun cracked up when he saw her contorted face. Every time, it never failed to make him laugh when he sees her face turns serious. It was really funny when she’s serious. He was also laughing about how worried she was about her members, when they’re the one who had been sweating out about her all day. He shook his head, when Seohyun turned to him with a puzzled look printed on her face. She still had her phone in her hand as she watched him trying to restrain himself from laughing any further.

“Why? What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, you pabo! Come on, we better get going. It’s getting late now,” he quickly stood up and stretched his arms, while she put her phone back into her bunny-shaped bag.

He smiled at her and extended his hand for her when she looked up at him. She smiled, and reluctantly took his hand and got herself standing again with the help of his support. She smiled at him as a token of gratitude. He simply retorted the smile with his own smug-smile, before cupping her face with his two hands.

“Come on, Jajang-freak! It’s time to get you back home,” he smiled and pinched both of her cheeks like she was some sort of a teddy bear or something. She squealed when he pinched her like that. When he let go, she quickly caressed the spot on her cheeks that had now turned red. She puffed her cheeks and made a sad-aegyo, pouting expression at him. He laughed when he saw her like that. He shook his head again when he had finally stopped laughing at her, before reaching for her hands. They held hands together, as they started to saunter their way towards the theme park’s exit gate. Seohyun grinned when she saw his hands holding hers.

As they were walking next to each other, she looked at him from the side. Unconsciously, a smile crept along her lips as she admired his complexion from the side. There was something about him that never failed to make her heart flutters every time she looked at him. And the way she kept calling her Jajang-freak, really did remind her of the boy that bought her, her favourite bunny-shaped bag when she was little. She always felt protected and warm when she thought about him, just like when she was with Lee Seunghyun.

Thank you…oppa