verse nine

The moon was shining brightly over the city of Seoul. It was already past midnight and, even though half of the souls there were sleeping, there was one particular young lady who wasn’t. She sat on her bed, waiting for the nightly news, for the entertainment segment, like she had done for the past four years. She was surprised, however, with what she saw.

Her eyes flickered with every shot that was shown on the television screen. Seated upright on her queen-sized bed, the young woman stared at the media box, tears streaming from her beautiful brown eyes. She had waited for the evening show in hopes of hearing good things about him, instead a picture of him with another woman in his arms was what she got.

Another picture was flashed, this time the woman was kissing him on the cheek, both were smiling at each other, looking as if being together, again, gave them so much happiness.

Kim Junsu and Lee Yeonhee.

Were they really an item, like the press and paparazzi said?

Are they? she asked herself. Shaking her head in despair and confusion, she clicked on the power button of the remote control.

She threw the thick duvet away from her as eased herself off her bed. With glistening tears in her eyes, she walked towards the middle of her room, to the treasure that stood there. She took her usual place before it, the black wood of the partition and pushed it up, gently, as if it would break very easily. She brought her hand up to wipe away the moistness on her cheeks and, just as she had done whenever he let her down, she played her heart’s song.

It was a new melody. A new song that she want him to – not sing – but hear, so he would know just how much she loved him.

With all her heart.

With all of her.



---



She watched as her friend flirted with the computer-slash-instruments technician. They had been whispering to each other, giggling, and whispering some more, for the past half an hour. Riin couldn’t help but watch, especially when she witnessed Yoochun brushing Soojin’s stray hair strands away from her face. The latter blushed and, once again, busied herself in troubleshooting the musician’s electric keyboard and telling him what had gone wrong and what to do the next time it happens. Not that Yoochun was listening, of course. He was just standing criminally close to her because she smelled faintly of roses, Yoochun’s favourite scent on a woman.

Riin gave out a soft chuckle when he looked her way and winked. He thanked the other woman heartily as he led her out of his workroom. He waved at Soojin – even though she didn’t turn back to see it – before placing himself on the seat in front of his friend.

“So what brought you here, again?” he asked, pretending to not know a thing.

Riin shook her head, but sighed. “Nothing?” she answered in a way that sounded more like a question rather than an affirmation. She smiled at him although she knew that he wouldn’t buy anything she’d say. Not at that moment anyway.

If Yoochun didn’t make a good boyfriend, then he was a good friend. And Riin wouldn’t have let him go for the world.

A lone tear rolled from her eye. She didn’t know where it came from or why it went out but she knew that she couldn’t do anything to stop it.

Yoochun sighed, as well. He stretched his arms wide and reeled Riin in. “Come here, my little baby. Let the mighty Chunie oppa make it all better.”

Riin let out a half-heart laugh, leaned into Yoochun’s embrace and onto his shoulder. She let him cuddle her weak form, humming a slow tune that seemed to bring her spirit up again. She buried her face in the crook of his neck as he combed her brown locks with his fingers. She stayed in his arms for as long as she could remember, pulling away only because she could’ve fallen asleep in that position if she didn’t.

She let her friend wipe away her tears and kiss her cheek. He helped her off the wooden bench by the door to the electric keyboard he had had repaired earlier. He put her fingers on the keys and stood behind her, his hands on her shoulder.

“Now let’s hear that new song of yours.”



---


She laughed at him, like she had done the whole morning. Yeonhee couldn’t understand why Yunho and Junsu were so frantic about the news the other night. It was the talk of the town. Everyone seemed to believe it.

That she and Junsu were, in fact, a couple.

“Yah!” she exclaimed making the singer and his manager turn their attention back to her. “What’s so bad about that?” she inquired.

Yunho glanced back at Junsu, gave him a firm shake of the head and headed out the door. Yeonhee watched the silent exchange and was devastated with the expressions they had on their faces. She turned back to Junsu and waited for his explanation.

“There’s nothing wrong with it, actually. But… come on, I don’t want rumors about us going around. It’s going to be pretty hard for the both of us,” he tried, in vain. Junsu didn’t even make sense of his own words. Yeonhee tilted her head to side to let him know that it was the same for her. “Look, it’s fine if it’s true. But we aren’t together. You want everyone to think that you’re with me even though you’re really single and available for Jaejoong hyung?” he tried again, emphasising on the last few words to get his meaning across.

“You’re right,” Yeonhee agreed, nodding her head. “I wouldn’t want that…”

“I knew you wouldn’t. But don’t worry, we know exactly how to stop those rumors.”

“How?”

“I’m going to tell them that if you liked me that way, we would have been together since years back,” he said, squealing with laughter afterwards. He ran out the door just as Yeonhee started to understand his statement.

"Yah! Kim Junsu!”