ChaeRin?



“Do you like him?”

I laughed out loud. That was like the funniest question that had ever been posed to me in my 16 years of life.

DaeSung’s lips began to curl up into a smile. “What’s so funny?” he asked.

“Me liking him?” I laughed again, “That will never happen, trust me,” I wiped my teary eyes, “But why do you even ask?”

DaeSung’s smile faded as he shrugged at me. He looked so uncomfortable, like something was bothering his mind all of a sudden. “No reason,” he said quietly, “He’s good looking, just like MinHo. You used to love MinHo.”

I blushed to the roots of my hair. “No, I didn’t love him,” I protested, “MinHo was just a crush. I don’t even like him now. He’s kinda… strange.”

DaeSung’s eyes lit up all of a sudden. “What about your wedding by the beach then? What about your three children?” he teased.
“Shut up!” I said and nudged his arm with my elbow while he chuckled. Thinking about my past stupid fantasy with MinHo was truly embarrassing.

We were quiet for a moment, just staring at the darkness in front of us

“DaeSung…”
“Hmm?”
“Do you think I’m not feminine?”

DaeSung immediately turned to look at me. “What makes you say that?” His voice was oozing with so much concern that I suddenly felt very emotional. 

You know the feeling that when you’re thinking about something which really bothers you and then when someone ask you with concern, you automatically start to cry?
Yes, that’s what happened to me. 
The ironic thing happened to me.

I, Lee ChaeRin, started to cry in front of Kang DaeSung. 
And I cried like a hungry baby; I was really loud.

“He… said… that… I’m ugly. He said that I groan like a.. like a-” I said in between cries.
“Like a what?” DaeSung asked softly.
“Like a cowwww… huwaaaaa,” I cried again, “And he said that I’m.. that I’m.. boyishhh~ huwaaaaa~”

DaeSung handed me a handkerchief and I blew my nose loudly. He patted my back softly, like someone consoling a child. “Who said all those terrible things?” he asked.
“Choi SeungHyunnnnn~ huwaaa,” I started to cry again.
“That guy again?” DaeSung sounded irritated at the mention of his name.

Then, DaeSung did the the unthinkable; he pulled me closer to him and with one of his hand, he held my head and rested it on his shoulder. “There, there,” he said softly and patted my hair gently.

My tears gradually began to stop but I didn’t make any attempt to change our position; I was comfortable with us being like that; like all of my problems had magically been lifted off. His shoulder offered warmth and comfort to my gloomy soul.

“Don’t cry, ChaeRin-ah,” he said softly, still patting my hair, “I hate to see you cry because of him.”

“Do you think that it’s true?” I hiccupped, “About what he said about me?”
DaeSung groaned. “No, forget about him. He’s just an idiot. And besides,” he looked down to grin at me, “I already told you that I think you’re beautiful.”
I blushed. “Aish, you’re just saying that to make me feel better.”

DaeSung grinned but did not offer anything else.

We stayed like that for a few more minutes before DaeSung left me at the gate of my house. I looked at his retreating back, disappearing into the darkness of the night.

I wondered why I would be having this warm, fuzzy feeling each time after having some time alone with DaeSung. I was suddenly reminded of our dance practice earlier and had the weird butterflies in my stomach again.

Am I really going insane?

***************
 

YeJin called me that night to tell me that she was actually discussing with MinHo on how to make sure that DaeSung and I wouldn’t be making a fool out of ourselves.

“Shouldn’t you be discussing on ways that we can win this thing?” I said and heard YeJin groaned softly.
“Well, we kinda agreed that winning will be err.. impossible for you guys,” YeJin said sheepishly.

Some supportive friend she was.

YeJin said that MinHo would think of a plan and tell us the next day. I began to wonder what MinHo would come out with. Maybe he’d offer cigarettes to the juries or something.
That Lee MinHo is unpredictable, I tell you.

Before going to sleep that night, I had a text message from Baboon saying: Goodnight, Ugly Cow.

What a mean bastard. 
I hate him, I really do.
But when I think about DaeSung, all the anger ceased to exist. Like I said, DaeSung had that calming soothing effect on me.

***

During lunch, YeJin had to practically slap MinHo all over before he was finally awake to tell us of his genius plan.

“To make sure that you guys are not embarrassing yourself,” he paused to yawn and rubbed his sleepy eyes, “Ah, I’m so sleepy. Can we do this later?” he yawned again.
“Aish,” YeJin yelled, “You want me to slap you all over again?”

DaeSung leaned in to me to whisper, “I think YeJin has started to become like you,” he grinned.
I rolled my eyes.
MinHo mumbled something under his breath before clearing his throat. “Like I was saying, to make sure that you guys don’t look like a bunch of clowns on stage, I have thought of a plan. We all know that DaeSung has stage fright, right?”
“Right,” YeJin and I said in unison.
“And we all know that ChaeRin sounds like a lion with its tail on fire, right?” MinHo said.
“Right,” YeJin said.

Wait a minute.

Lion with its tail on fire? 

That didn’t sound very nice.
“What do you mean by me sounding like a lion with its tail on fire?” I said angrily.

“You know ChaeRin, like that horrible sound the lion will make if its tail is caught on fire,” DaeSung kindly explained and I shot him a look. 
“I know what it means,” I said, “But I wanna know why he makes such horrible comparison to my voice.” I shot MinHo an icy stare.
“Well, according to YeJin, you do sound like one when you sing,” MinHoo said matter-of-factly.
“Yah!” YeJin yelled, “It was supposed to be a secret, you moron!”

She wasn’t even denying that she said that.
I gave YeJin a death glare and she smiled apologetically. 

MinHo cleared his throat. “I don’t want to get in the middle of a catfight. You guys can do it later when I’m sleeping after this. It's only going to waste my time.”

YeJin and I groaned loudly while DaeSung chuckled.

“He’s funny, this guy,” DaeSung said to me and I rolled my eyes.

“Anyways, as I was saying, my plan is first to get rid of DaeSung’s stage fright since he claims himself to be a good singer which itself cannot be proven. Hopefully, after we get rid of that, he’ll be able to sing. Since singing is a God-given talent, I think we should pray very hard that he can sing without the stage fright or I cannot help you if the tomatoes started to be thrown,” MinHo said.

DaeSung’s smile faded.
“You still think that he’s funny?” I leaned in to ask him sarcastically.

“And as for ChaeRin, since she will sound like a, ehem, certain animal when its tail's on fire,” MinHo said cautiously and I rolled my eyes, “I have thought of the perfect plan.”

“Which is?” YeJin asked impatiently.

“For her to sit on a chair and act like a woman in love while DaeSung sings,” MinHo said, “People will think that it’s all part of the act, like he’s serenading her.”
“I-I-I have to sing like-like well, like I love her?” DaeSung stuttered.
“No need to be shy,” MinHo yawned, “It’s just an act.”
“An act?” I blurted out, irritated. I don’t know which was more irritating; the part where DaeSung had to pretend to be in love with me or the part where MinHo treated it like it was not a big deal.

“Yeah, no need to be shy. It’s called acting, by the way. Besides, it’ll be interesting,” YeJin smiled to herself but when she caught me looking she added, “Err.. Interesting to watch, I mean.”

I groaned. “Is that even considered as a duet?” I asked, “We might get disqualified.”
“If you’re disqualified, then we’re gonna save a lot of people from the trouble, aren’t we?” MinHo said, rubbing his eyes.

YeJin actually laughed at his remark. DaeSung stayed motionless.

“So what do you think, DaeSung? You want us to help you? The talent show is on next Wednesday. Today is Friday. So we only have 5 days before the show including today. Are you up for it?”
“Acting, huh?” DaeSung said to himself, “Acting like I love her,” his voice was soft like a whisper.
“It’s gonna be alright, Dae,” YeJin said, “We can help you.”

DaeSung looked thoughtful for a moment before he finally nodded his head.

“Yay,” YeJin cheered, “Operation Get Rid of DaeSung’s Stage Fright starts today after school. And you,” she pointed to MinHo, “don’t try to sneak out. You’re in charge of this.”
“Whatever.” MinHo said nonchalantly, “Now can I go back to sleep?”
“Aish, just go. Sleep all you want,” YeJin said in an irritated voice.

I was still dumbstruck by all these happenings. It still feel surreal. Everything sounds great for that genius plan of MinHo, except the part where I have to act like I was a woman in love.
Well, how could I do that when I wasn’t really sure what love is?
Oh, this is just too messed up!!
 

********************
 

The whole time during class I kept thinking about the talent show, about how I should look, about how I should act. Being humiliated was the furthest of my concern at that time. I wasn’t even scared of the possibility that DaeSung might sound like a frog.

When the school bell rang, YeJin was busy getting rid of the other classmates. Park Jung-su was giving her a curious look and HyeYeon and her crew kept whispering to each other; probably they were talking bad about me being with baboon the other day.

When there were only me, DaeSung, YeJin and MinHo left in the class, YeJin began clapping her hands and asked MinHo to get started with the project. By the look of it, I think MinHo was starting to regret being involved since YeJin was so passionate about it. DaeSung and I were instructed to arrange the tables in a straight line to make a mock stage and while YeJin arranged the chairs at the back of the class facing the tables for the audience to sit on. There was an empty spot at the middle of the class making a gap in between the ‘stage’ and the audience’s seats.

“Okay, DaeSung, you get up on the stage,” MinHo instructed, pointing at the tables.

DaeSung grumbled something to himself while he climbed up the tables.

“YeJin, you and I will sit and pretend to be the audience,” MinHo said before he and YeJin began walking to the chairs and sat down.

“Err.. hello?” I said, raising my hand, “What about me? What should I do?”
“ChaeRin, you just take a chair and sit at the corner there and act like a woman in love. Remember, I want to see the passion in your eyes. Today is all about getting rid of DaeSung’s stage fright. We will work on your acting later. Besides, no one really cares to watch you act at the talent show.”

Sounds like a stupid plan!
I rolled my eyes and took a chair to sit at the corner.

“Now, I think that we need some more audience. Let me call for help,” MinHo took out his cellphone and began calling some people over.
“Pstt.. YeJin,” DaeSung said, “Do I have to sing now? Without music?”
“Aish, just do what he says,” YeJin said, annoyed, “Pretend that this is the talent show.”
“But I don’t know how to pretend!! I feel weird singing without music,” DaeSung whined and stopped when YeJin gave him a cold look. “Okay, fine,” he muttered.

I sighed deeply. This is going to be a looooong practice, I thought.

MinHo later emerged into the class with the added audiences, who were none other than the three bullies. DaeSung’s eyes widened with shock when he saw that the three bullies seated themselves at the audience seats.

“The-they’re gonna watch me sing?” he stuttered.
“It’s okay, DaeSung-ah, we’re just gonna watch. No need to be afraid,” Bully #1 said while the other two bullies smiled at DaeSung.

Man, it was still weird to have them behaving nice.

“Okay, okay, don’t waste anymore of my nap time,” MinHo said, “Start DaeSung.”

All eyes were on DaeSung. He cleared his throat and I began to see his mouth moving like he was singing but no sound was audible.

The bullies muttered loudly amongst each other.
 Bully #1: Do you hear that? It seems like he’s singing.
Bully #2: I can’t hear it either but his mouth was moving.
Bully #3: Thank God. I thought I was going deaf.
MinHo: Aish. CUT!!

DaeSung paused as he looked at MinHo who was already standing up from his seat. “Why?” he asked.
“Either you’re singing to a bat or we are all deaf because we absolutely CANNOT hear your voice,” MinHo said.
DaeSung blinked hard.

Bully #3: Why bats in particular?
Bully #2: Maybe he thinks he’s Batman, always sleeping during the day?
Bully #1: Shh.. if he hears us, we might not be able to buy the cigarettes from his shop anymore.
Bully #2: Ah, I got it. Because bats talk in supersonic wave, right?
Bullies #1 and #3: Who cares?

“Try again, Dae!! Fighting!!” YeJin cheered.
MinHo sat down and yelled, “Start!”

When DaeSung was just about to open his mouth, MinHo yelled, “Cut!” and pointed at me, “ChaeRin, I said to look like a woman in love, not a woman in labor.”

Aish, this guy!
I wasn’t even acting. I was just sitting there looking at DaeSung.

“Okay, Take Three. Start!!” MinHo roared like a director of a music video.

DaeSung cleared his throat and was about to open his mouth again when my cellphone rang.
“Aish, what is it again?!!” YeJin groaned while MinHo sighed.

I looked at them sheepishly and answered the call.

“Yah, Lee ChaeRin!!” Choi SeungHyun yelled trough the phone, “Come to ShinJi Park this instance. If not, I will hunt you down, I swear!!”
I gulped. “Wh-wh-why?” I asked.
“Don’t ask why, just come here! If not, I’m going straight to your mother. !!” I heard him muttering angrily and hung up.

“Sorry, guys, I gotta go. Something came up. We can do this again some other time. Just continue with DaeSung,” I said before taking my bag and rushing out of there. I could see DaeSung and YeJin looking at me but they didn’t try to stop me.

I ran the fastest that I could to ShinJi park. I nearly trampled over an old lady crossing the road and I even made a little boy lost his ice-cream to the ground when I ran past him. I could hear all sorts of profanity words cussed at me but I couldn’t stop. Choi SeungHyun sounded damn furious and only God knows what he was going to do to me.

Could it be he was angry because he finally found out about the English homework? Man, his teacher might have embarrassed him to death and he wanted to punish me. 
! I should have brought YeJin with me!!

When I arrived, Choi SeungHyun was standing there impatiently, his hands on his hips while he gave me a death glare. I swear his eyes were shooting daggers at me.

“Why do you want me here?” I asked as I neared him.
“If this country has no law, I swear I will kill you,” he hissed angrily and there were fire in his eyes, “Do you know what you have done? The whole school thinks I’m gay and in love with my best friend now. My teacher wants to send me to the school’s psychiatrist and my friends are afraid to be near me,” he said.

My jaw dropped to the ground as I saw him hiding his face with his hands and sobbing loudly.
He sounded so sad that I had the sudden urge to give him a hug. 

“I’m so sorry,” I said apologetically, “I didn’t know it'd that big of a deal. I wish I could undo what I’ve done.” 
“You think this is a joke, don’t you? Are you happy seeing me like this?”
I patted his back.

Suddenly, to my surprise, I saw him bursting out laughing. “Haha, you are stupid indeed, Lee ChaeRin,” he said, still laughing, “I think my acting is too good. I should get a best new actor award.” 
He continued to laugh, holding his stomach while I looked at him in confusion.

“What the is going on?” I muttered angrily.
“Fooled you!” he sai