❝ chapter seven: asking
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                                   chapter seven of forever mute, a -byungkitty-  storyline

Ji Eun and I waited for Aunt Lin to leave work before heading out to eat. Supposedly, the restaurant was nearby, so we ended up walking right when the sun was beginning to set.

The path from the entrance of our neighborhood led to a busy intersection, which we had to cross in order to get to the long road filled with shops on the other side. Once we entered the crowded area, Ji Eun pulled me over to the right side of the main road and pointed at a dimly-lit building in the corner.

"It's right there!" She said to both Aunt Lin and I before the flow of the crowd behind us pushed us forward into the restaurant. "Immortal Song!"

Immortal Song? Upon the familiar name, I looked up at the entrance sign and sure enough, it was. I began to lose myself in some more thoughts and before I knew it, we were already seated and being handed menus.

If I remember correctly, 'Immortal Song' was written in the back cover of the textbook Myungsoo gave me. It was written by someone named 'Jin' a few years ago. What did 'Jin' and this restaurant have to do with Myungsoo?

"May I take your order?" The voice of a boy halted my rush of thoughts and I snapped out of my daze. A waiter was standing at our side, wearing jeans and a casual blue shirt that matched the table cloth draped over the table.

Ji Eun's posture straightened and she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear before turning to the waiter. For some reason, her cheeks looked really flushed and pink. "W-we'll have three of today's special." She turned over to me and whispered, "Is that okay with you?"

I nodded and Aunt Lin answered with a smile at the sight of Ji Eun's blushing as she turned back to the boy, who scribbled our order down onto a small notepad. He flipped the notepad closed, clicked his pen, slipped it into his pocket, and winked at my cousin. "We'll be right out with it, Ji Eun."

Once he was gone, Aunt Lin eyed her curiously. "He seems like a very nice boy."

Ji Eun blushed furiously and looked down at her fingers. "Daeyeol is just a friend, that's all."

"Nice friend? Might as well tell the whole world you're in love with him." Aunt Lin teased and Ji Eun swatted her arm lightly.

"Auntie, don't tease me like that!" She whined and was about to complain some more when something caught her eye. "Look, the first singer's already onstage!"

I followed her gaze and noticed there was a stage on the other side. It was small, not big like those grand stages at music shows. My cousin looked over at me and read my mind again. "This particular restaurant has singers to perform for us and provide background music. Some customers come for the food, some for just the music, most for both."

Hiring singers seemed like a pretty smart idea. This place sure looked busy. I heard the first few notes of a song being played and looked up. There was a single person standing onstage, holding onto the microphone stand with their face looking at the floor. The introduction of the song finished playing and they lifted their face up, opening their mouth to sing the first few lines. The stage was kind of far away, but once I focused on the face of the singer, I gasped in surprise. It was Sunggyu.

With the caramel-colored bangs swept to the side, the somewhat tall figure, and the almost non-existent eyes, it really was him. The high school student looked rather different now that he wasn't in his uniform and was wearing regular jeans and a regular hoodie. Ji Eun, on the other hand didn't look surprised at this. She's probably already seen him sing before and didn't find anything strange about it.

At some point during Sunggyu's performance, the food arrived, but I didn't really pay attention. I sat, listening to the singing voice, and wondered what the history of the so-called gang, "Infinite", was. Since when did ex-gang leaders sing in restaurants?

Before I knew it, several songs had passed and a different singer was onstage. Half of whatever was sitting in front of me was gone, but I had no memory of eating it. Aunt Lin had gotten a call from her work and left first while Ji Eun went to look for someone, most likely the waiter-boy, Daehyun... or was it Daeyeol?

I sighed to myself and pushed my chair out. Standing up, I glanced at the already-paid check on the table before walking out of the place. The sky itself was pretty dark already but the buildings was lit by lanterns hanging here and there, like Christmas lights on a Christmas tree. Less people were on the streets now and the ones who were still out were probably hurrying home.

I turned to the right to walk along the sidewalk when I saw Sunggyu leaning against the wall of the restaurant. He must have gone out of the backdoor and was now waiting for... huh. What was he waiting for? I stopped walking and my shadow wavered over him, causing him to look up.

"Ye Jin? Is that you?" Said boy turned his head and locked eyes with me. He straightened his posture and took off the headphones he had on. "What are you doing here?"

Trying to think of a way to say something, I decided to just point back at the slowly-emptying restaurant. He followed my gesture and in realization, asked, "Did you see me...?"

I nodded and he looked back at the ground. "Sungyeol's parents own the place and they let me sing there, if you're wondering."

I kind of wasn't, because that was being nosy about something I didn't need to know, but just listened anyways. However, Sunggyu didn't say anything for awhile and I wondered if he knew I was still there. I positioned myself next to him and leaned against the brick wall as well. Several minutes past before he spoke again. "How was Myungsoo today?"

I was off-guard, not expecting a question like that, but thought about my answer. This was when it finally dawned to me that I could learn some things from Sunggyu. I pushed myself upright with arm and reached into my pocket for a sticky note or something to write on. Fortunately, I found a bubblegum wrapper and flattened it out. Turning back to the boy, I made a scribbling motion with my hand to ask for a pen and he pulled out a pen from his hoodie pocket.

I could feel his eyes watching me as I wrote in my rigid Hangul symbols; is Myungsoo's mother sick? He scanned the question before leaning back against the wall. "Myungsoo's mom? You haven't met her, have you?"

What kind of question was that? I shook my head anyways, since we technically haven't met, and he let out a sigh. He paused for a moment before answering again. "She's a nice woman," pause, "but she's also deaf."

Deaf? But I thought she was mute, like me...? I gripped the pen and was about to write something else on it when the door to Immortal Song opened and a couple of rushed footsteps came over to us.

"Ye Jin, there you are!" And like always, it was Ji Eun. "I was looking for you."

Sunggyu nodded his head at the boy from before, who was trailing behind her quietly. He looked quite familiar, now that I think about it. "That's Daeyeol, Sungyeol's younger brother."

Daeyeol nodded and spoke up. "Sungyeol's washing the dishes right now, if you're wondering." My gaze lingered on him and I had to admit, he really did look like his brother. The same eyes, the same nose, the same chubby cheeks, the same tall figure, and even the same hair. He seemed pretty nice and surprisingly, I could tell he wasn't paying any attention to my burn. Either Ji Eun said something about me or he was naturally nice, not judging other people at first glance.

"Anyways, I was looking for you so we could go home. It's getting late." Ji Eun explained to me and I nodded. I gave the pen I was holding back to Sunggyu and slipped the gum wrapper back into my pocket.

"See you at school, Ji Eun." Daeyeol said and my cousin waved to him as we began walking down the path back to our house. "You too, Ye Jin."

I quietly looked at Sunggyu and he looked back, giving me some sort of salute before putting his headphones back on and stuffing his hands inside of his pockets. Another figure came outside, mostly likely Sungyeol, who Sunggyu must have been waiting for. I watched as they went the opposite way and Ji Eun began to talk about what Daeyeol and she were going to do tomorrow.

"We're going to go somewhere fun, maybe an amusement park or something." She smiled happily and practically floated off the ground. "But don't get the wrong idea! We're going to go with some of our other friends, so it's not a date!"

Her not-so-secret crush was rather cute, actually. I stared at her expression for a while and for the first time since I came here, a small smile crept onto my face. If I made the right friends, then maybe I could at least be comfortable, if not entirely happy, like her, too.

A normal weekend went by and it before I knew it, it was back to school again. Aunt Lin had been out with her friends for most of the weekend and Ji Eun was nice enough to not disturb me and just focus on her own things. She would play the guitar right before going to bed and the soft strumming of the strings was really calming. Maybe she could sing for me some time, if she would let me listen.

The morning on Monday was pretty hectic because there was a short power outage at around 7:30am. None of the alarm clocks had gone off and the lights weren't working so we had to rely on the light from the screens of two phones. By the time I had gotten downstairs, Aunt Lin was already rushing out the door and Ji Eun had left for school first, leaving me behind.

My shoes were partially on and my heels were sticking out of the back of the shoes when I finally stumbled out of the house. Remembering to lock the door, I ran down the streets without knowing what time it was and if I was already late or not. Did Korean schools have punishments for tardiness?

I must have ran about two blocks before I bumped into another unexpected problem- literally, I just ran into it. Or should I say, him.

Turning a corner, I crashed into someone and cause myself to stumble forwards and them to stumble backwards. The other's back hit the wall of the corner's building and winced. I turned around to look at who it was and my eyes widened, shocked to see Myungsoo.

And it wasn't just Myungsoo; it was a battered up Myungsoo. His hair was messed up, his clothes were disleveled, his school uniform shirt was missing a few buttons, and not to mention there was a bloody cut under his lip and a bruise under his right eye. He glared at me for a second before turning away and walking off without a single word. I stared after him and realized he was limping. Part of me wanted to leave him and just go, but the other cursed part of me thought it would be wrong to not help him.

So, I shifted my backpack onto both shoulders and walked after him.

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✉(A/N);

Did I just update this story in less than half a month since it was last updated? Whoa. What is this sorcery. Even I don't believe it O.o But... maybe that explains why it's so short, makes no sense, and ends at such a weird place. Oh well. ( by the way, sunggyu's performances at im2 were amajjang ).