The kissing issues - part 1

(Jiyong's P.O.V)

Chaerin walked along the room in a catwalk pace, her chin high, eyes empty and fixed on one undefined point in front of her. She attitudinised a typical runway model to simply amuse us, but the effect was quite opposite. No one felt like laughing, seeing such an object of beauty, moving with grace and seeming so professional as if she had just jumped off of Prada’s private plane in order to come here and amaze us. When CL and I had come back to the arts classroom, everyone was simply speechless. Indeed, I had to admit that the dress looked great on CL, far better than we had imagined while designing and sewing it.

She passed round rows of school desks and chairs, making one effortlessly lithe step by another and when she reached the last row, she turned around agilely like a ballet dancer, causing the wings that were sewn to the back of her dress to drift up.

I my breath in astonishment and had to prevent myself from applauding my own genius. Even though I had considered myself a fashion designer for a very long time, I never truly felt like one. Now, seeing a dress deigned by me (and Seunghyun, too) worn by a model (not professional one, but who cares), filled my heart with pride. Maybe it was too early to celebrate success in the competition, but I was almost sure our entry wouldn’t go unnoticed.

I felt warm fingers curling around my hand, squeezing it tight, so I looked up and saw Seunghyun’s joyful eyes that weren’t focused on CL’s presentation, but fixed on me instead.

“Ji,” he said. “I think we should add some more feathers on the wings and dye them all light brown. The front is fine, but if we put corset wires in it, it would be stabler and fay the waist, preventing the fabric from wrinkling. I’d also remove the shoulder straps. They’ll be no longer useful, if we turn the upper part into a corset.”

I blinked twice in surprise and snorted with giggles, covering my mouth with back of my hand.

It really wasn’t what I had expected to hear. I had waited for some comments on CL’s loveliness and charm or if not that, some enthusiastic words about our high chances of winning the contest.

But it was somehow pleasant, I couldn’t deny it, to hear that Seunghyun concentrated his attention only on the dress, not the person wearing it. Did I really want do hear how perfect Chaerin’s long legs were or how thin her waist was even without a corset? No, I doubted it.

“What’s so funny?” Seunghyun narrowed his eyes and pouted slightly, observing my mirthful reaction to his ideas.

“Nothing, Hyunnie,” I replied with a head shake.

I smiled wide at him, watching his expression changing from feigned offense to surprise and then to delight. My cheeks started burning under his loving gaze.

“’Hyunnie’?” he repeated, raising a brow.

“Hyunnie,” I confirmed, lowering my eyes. “You don’t like it?”

“Of course I do!” I felt his hand slipping behind my neck and pulling me closer. He buried his face in my hair and kissed my temple. “I love it,” he murmured against my skin, sending warm shivers down my spine.

I took so much pleasure in this simple gesture that my eyes closed automatically so that I could focus only on touch of Seunghyun’s palm against my skin, his lips brushing my forehead and strong heartbeats that shook my chest. I found it incredibly easy to forget about people surrounding us and my self-control and usual bashfulness were about to drift away. I gave Seunghyun’s lips an unspoken allowance to explore other parts of my face and I suddenly stopped worrying about who would see it or what they would think about it.

However, this short moment of mutual oblivion was soon destroyed by Seungri’s shout, which made a rough come-back to reality.

“Why is Seunghyun Hyung kissing Jiyong Hyung?!” he exclaimed, jumping up from his seat and pointing at us, making everyone follow his shocked gaze that rested on us.

It seemed that till now everyone was busy admiring CL’s dress and no one had noticed what we had been doing. But now their attention was focused on us and it didn’t matter how comfortable I felt in Seunghyun’s half-embrace, having so many people looking at me made me fidget in awkwardness.

My face turned beet red and all I could do was stare at Seungri, who froze in a strange position with his hand directed at us, his mouth slightly agape.

What should I do now? I asked myself, feeling expectant gazes on me.

Well, there was something I could do, but I guessed running away wasn’t a good option right now. It was strange that I managed to suppress my horrible inner flight instinct that-

My thoughts were suddenly distracted by Seunghyun’s hand that moved from my neck and wrapped itself around it, reaching for my jaw. Seunghyun cupped my chin in his palm and turned my head to face him. His eyes were filled with familiar flickers as he looked deep into mine. Right corner of his lips went up, curving them into a half-smile that always made my legs weak. It might have been witless of me not to realise what his intentions were, but it seemed that everyone else in the room shared my lack of understanding the situation. My assumptions were proved by a sequence of sharp drawn breaths that accompanied Seunghyun’s swift motion in which he pressed his lips directly to mine. My eyes widened in surprise and my heartbeat quickened from trot to gallop.

It almost felt as if it was our first kiss. And in some way of perception, it was one. A first kiss in front of other people.

Seunghyun pulled back, smirk still dancing on his gorgeous lips that had teased mine during less than five seconds and left them begging for more. I got used to more passionate kisses, but this one was very special and I still couldn’t decide if I was glad it had ended this quickly or I would rather it lasted longer.

“I kissed him, because he’s a great fashion designer,” Seunghyun answered Seungri’s question, but I couldn’t see how he reacted, because I didn’t dare to look up, afraid of facing Seunghyun’s friends.

“Oh…,” Seungri gasped. “I think so, too! Can I also kiss Jiyong Hyung, then?”

I jumped at his words, instantly bracing myself for a defense both mentally and physically. But there was another power far stronger than my flexed almost non-existent muscles that came to my aid immediately. And I didn’t mean Seunghyun punch on Seungri’s face, because that didn’t happen (even though I would like to see it happen). It was CL who reacted the quickest. She grabbed Seungri’s collar from behind, preventing him from running to me, and pulled him back onto his seat. He slumped on the chair, letting out a groan of disappointment.

“Whyyyy, Noonaaaa!” he wailed, massaging his back that hit the wooden backrest. “I just wanted to show Jiyong Hyung that I admire his work! If Seunghyun Hyung kissed him, why can’t I?”

His complaint was followed by a smack on his head.

“Don’t you see that Seunghyun is playing with you, pabo?” CL asked with a sigh.  

Seungri whined, rubbing the back of his head. “Is it true, Seunghyun Hyung?” he asked, keeping his panda eyes fixed on Seunghyun’s amused face.

“My comment is needless here,” Seunghyun chuckled in reaction.

Seunghyun released me from his embrace and patted my head, not wasting a chance to run his fingers through my hair in a loving gesture. Then he shared a high five with CL - both of them seemed to be pleased that they managed to resolve the situation this way.

“You’re so cruel, Sunbaes,” Seungri mumbled under his breath, but loud enough to make everyone hear his whine.

Even if they had heard it, CL and Seunghyun completely ignored it. They came closer to Taeyang and Daesung who had been looking at the whole situation with confusion filling their faces. Well, the latter one was far more shocked than the preceding. It was becoming more and more apparent to me that Taeyang knew more than Daesung did, but I wasn’t certain if the reason was him being Seunghyun’s closest friend, who he shared some of secrets with, or he simply noticed some things himself and found it quite easy to put two and two together.

Seungri was waiting for some reaction, but when he got none, he folded his arms across his chest and pouted. His shoulders slouched, head dropped lower and suddenly he looked like a lost puppy again.

Was it really the same Seungri? The same Lee Seungri, one of Dongwook’s most reliable followers (‘cause I wouldn’t call them his friends), who obeyed his every command and didn’t care about anything but their leader attention? The same guy who often observed Dongwook tormenting me and never said a word in my defense?

It couldn’t be the same Lee Seungri I thought I knew. The boy sitting here in front of me seemed harmless and vulnerable. He looked… almost like me.

I swallowed hard, catching myself comparing Seungri to my person.

Do I pity him? Probably.

I simply couldn’t stand a sight of a person feeling so… foreign and unwanted by the people around. I knew this feeling far too well, because it had accompanied me every day at school before I had befriended Seunghyun.

Does it mean I want to befriend Seungri? I wasn’t sure.

All I knew was that I didn’t want to see this hurt gaze of his panda eyes. It might have been a mask that he wore to deceive me, but I had an impression that it was his true self that came to light in Dongwook’s absence.

Having decided to give Seungri a chance, I made a few steps closer and stood right beside him. I bit the inside of my cheek, unsure what to do now. Feeling my gaze on him, Seungri looked up and smiled at me meekly.

“Jiyong Hyung?” he said, encouraging me to start the conversation.

I brushed my hair behind the ear sheepishly, not certain what I wanted to say.

“W-why are you sitting here alone, Seungri?” I managed to speak, raising my eyes to look at the rest of people who were gathered on the opposite side of the classroom, discussing something and laughing from time to time.

Seungri followed my gaze and winced.

“I guess they don’t like me,” he stated simply, shrugging his shoulders.

Even though I knew it was true, his words were like a sting in my heart.

“Don’t say that,” I replied, not knowing how to comfort him.

“Why?” he asked, looking up at me. “It’s quite obvious. They hate me. Especially Seunghyun Hyung and CL Noona. Haven’t you heard the way they spoke to me?”

A cold shiver run down my spine, when panda eyes stared at me expectantly.

“I’m sure they didn’t mean to be that cruel,” I said slowly. “Just forget about it, will you?”

Seungri’s brow raised high and his lips twitched into a smile.

“Does it mean I can kiss you, Hyung?” he asked boldly.

My breath hitched and my cheeks turned pink as I realised that he misunderstood my words.

I shook my head quickly. “I’m afraid you can’t, Hoobae,” I told him in a surprisingly calm and confident voice.

He cocked his head to the side. “Why?”

I sensed a moment of hesitation that was about to come, but then I realised that the answer was quite simple.

“Only Seunghyun can kiss me,” I responded, before I thought about the possible consequences.

Seungri’s eyes narrowed as he smiled at me slyly.

“You know, Hyung, my full name is Seunghyun, too,” he said with a smirk. “Seungri is just a nickname Dongwook Hyung gave me not to confuse me with his brother.”

Despite being shocked, I managed to retain my composure.

Old Seungri is back, I made a mental note for myself.

“You know what I mean, Seungri,” I sighed. “Only Choi Seunghyun can kiss me.”

“Is he your boyfriend or something?”

I blushed at this suggestion, which was, of course, true. I looked up at the ceiling avoiding meeting Seungri’s demanding gaze and he took my reaction as a ‘Yes’.

“So this is how the things are,” he said to himself. “Does Dongwook Hyung know about it?” he added, but again the answer was obvious. “He will be really pissed off, when he hears the news.”

“Please, don’t tell him!” I begged, suddenly realising what it may bring. “Seungri, please.”

He looked at me with a half-pout, probably considering his answer. Or rather teasing me.

“Okay, Hyung,” he said after a minute. “But I won’t do it for free.”

“What do you want, then?” I asked with hope.

He smirked again and patted his cheek with his index finger.

My eyes widened in shock. I didn’t know why I hadn’t realised what his intentions were. I was probably the slowest-thinking person in the room, really.

“No way,” I shook my head.

“Hyung, it’s just a kiss on the cheek,” Seungri coaxed.

I frowned and shook my head again. “No,” I repeated firmly. “I can only-“

“-kiss Choi Seunghyun,” Seungri made a face, echoing my words. “Fine. I get it,” he sighed, shrugging his shoulders. “So let me work with you on that fashion contest, instead.”

“With that I can agree,” I said, utterly satisfied that he had stopped pressuring me. I had planed to let him be our model anyway, so it wasn’t a big deal. But he didn’t need to know that.

Fortunately, Seungri didn’t come back to the topic of kissing during the rest of the meeting. Seunghyun and the rest had finally stopped discussing some details of the collection and we could move on to the next point on our ‘to do’ list, which was taking measurements of our soon-to-be models. Of course Seunghyun didn’t let me touch anyone, so he did it all by himself. It was quite funny to see how possessive of me he was. His panicking expression that appeared on his face, when I approached Taeyang with a tape-measure in my hands, was simply priceless. I regretted that CL didn’t take a photo of it with her iPhone as she did with the dress she was wearing. She posed against the wall with Daesung being her private photographer and we had to endeavour not to let her publish the pictures on her Instagram.

We decided not to set the date of next meeting until we got the results of the second stage, but Seunghyun and I knew we both would start working day and night on sewing the costumes just to have enough time to polish and perfect every detail. The contest was getting more and more exciting and I couldn’t wait to see my designs on the runway.

Everyone packed their stuff, we cleaned the mess we made in the arts classroom and we would have left immediately, if it hadn’t been for Seungri’s sudden realisation.

“What about the tailor’s dummy?” he asked, when Taeyang already had his hand on the door handle. “Isn’t it yours? I’ve never seen it in this classroom before.”

“Oh!” I exclaimed. “I’ve completely forgotten that I promised Mrs. Hwang to bring it back to the arts storeroom, from where I had borrowed it!”

I put my heavy backpack in Seunghyun’s hands and ran to the dummy. I started pushing it towards the door, but it turned out it wasn’t as light as I thought. One of seniors and Mrs. Hwang’s favourite students had helped me with it in the morning, so I had no idea how much it actually weighed.

“Let me help you, Hyung,” Seungri offered enthusiastically, seeing my attempts to move the dummy. “I’ll carry it to the storeroom, but you have to come with me and show me the way.”

It was a quick reaction. My short glance that I shot at Seunghyun’s face was like a spark. Seunghyun made an eye contact with CL, CL looked significantly at Daesung and Daesung turned to Taeyang who was the only one who had neither a backpack nor a bag with him, so he was nonverbally chosen as my saviour.

“I guess it’s too heavy for your skinny arms to carry, Seungri,” Taeyang chuckled, sounding casually. “I’ll do it,” he quickly came closer to the dummy, moving Seungri away with his hand.

“B-but-!” Seungri cried. “I have to go with him!”

“No, you don’t,” Taeyang snapped. “I’m going with Jiyong.”

“I’ll go with you two, then!” Seungri blurted out. He and Taeyang almost started fighting for the dummy, tugging it from one side to another with an awful scratching sound on the wooden floor.

“Stop it!” CL shouted, covering her ears. Everyone looked at her, being grateful that she managed to stop the annoying sound.

“CL-ssi! You’re still having the dress on,” Daesung pointed at CL who looked down and started laughing.

“Oh my, I completely forgot about it!” She chuckled and as she raised her head to see our amused expressions, a flare appeared in her eye. “Seung-chan, come with to the restroom and help me with taking it off,” she suddenly came up with a good idea to distract Seungri.

“N-no, N-Noona!” Seungri stammered with a blush. “I need to go to the storeroom.”

“Oh, stop it already!” CL waved her hand. “It’s Jiyong who really has to go there as only he knows where to leave that dummy. And if he’s leaving, you’re staying, because I won’t let Daesung nor Seunghyun see me in my underwear.”

Seungri let out a long whine and the rest of us had to suppress giggling.

“In which way am I different from them?” Seungri cried.

“Well,” CL started with a mean smirk dancing on her lips. She put a hand on her hip and raised her chin. “I guess I don’t see you as a man.”

That was too much. We couldn’t bear it anymore and burst out laughing. I laughed, too, feeling tears of utter amusement filling my eyes. I no longer cared about Seungri’s hurt feelings, because I was easily able to sense that he was up to something wrong.

“Come on, Seung-chan!” CL rushed him, pretending not to see his offended expression. “I want to be home before the start of the new episode of America’s Next Top Model, which airs-“ she stopped here to catch and put up Daesung’s hand with a wrist watch on it. “In exactly 15 minutes. So we need to hurry!”

She let go of Daesung’s hand and grabbed Seungri’s instead and dragged him out of the classroom, despite his loud whines of displeasure.

Their leaving was followed by another wave of laughter and only after we had managed to pull ourselves together, Seunghyun asked Daesung, if he was coming home with us. I got to know that both of Seunghyun’s friends lived in his neighbourhood, but only Taeyang accepted the offer of a lift, because Daesung had already promised CL to give her a ride home.

We finally were able to leave the arts classroom. After Daesung had exchanged goodbyes with me and Taeyang, he and Seunghyun headed towards the school parking.

Taeyang and I were left alone in an awkward silence, because none of us knew what to say.

“So where is that storeroom?” the other boy finally asked, making me realise that we were standing there like frozen, looking at each other for a good minute.

“Oh!” I gasped, blushing slightly in my thoughtlessness. “Follow me,” I commanded and led Taeyang to the storeroom in the basement. There were two staircases and a few long corridors on our way and I had to try hard not to walk too fast, leaving Taeyang far behind me. Much as I wanted to be friendly, I wasn’t prepared for talking with him. Our possible conversation could easily move to the topic of my relationship with Seunghyun, that was why I wanted to avoid it.

When we finally reached the storeroom, I discovered that its door was unlocked. It was enough to twist the knob around and the door opened with a clicking sound, making me frown.

“What’s wrong?” asked Taeyang, who had just managed to catch up with me.

I shook my head. “Nothing. It just occurs that I didn’t lock the door properly in the morning,” I told him, pushing the door. “I hope that no one has taken advantage of that,” my voice echoed in the cellar.

We entered the vast room and I shivered at the obscure atmosphere it was emanating. The place was cold and smelled of dampness, turpentine and clay. It was hard to move there, because of the total mess and various objects scattered all over the floor or standing on one another, creating unstable constructions that might collapse on you in any moment. To make matters worse, the light had broken down about a month ago and no one had made any effort to fix it, so dwelling in the storeroom turned to be even more hazardous and life-threatening.

“You can put the dummy in the corner and cover it with that blanket,” I told Taeyang and gave him the large piece of fabric that had covered the dress made for CL.

“Sure,” Taeyang agreed with a nod. “But don’t leave me here alone, okay?” he pleaded, when I started wandering around the piles of things stored here by the art teachers who as artists had a tendency to be complete slobs. I knew it from my own experience.

“Don’t worry, I won’t,” I assured him with a giggle. “I just want to check, if they have a sewing machine here.”

“Don’t you have one at home?” I heard Taeyang asking, but I couldn’t see him as I had already disappeared behind a wall of shelves filled with different jars containing oil paints.

“I have one, but I thought I can make my sister help me with sewing the outfits for the collection,” I replied loudly to be sure he could hear me.

His only response was snorting with laughter.

I smiled to myself and thought that Taeyang was actually a very likeable person, who I wouldn’t mind making friends with. The idea was cheering, but it quickly stepped down for my usual disgust with the place I found myself in. I decided to find the sewing machine the quickest I could and leave the storeroom immediately.

However, the sewing machine didn’t want to be found or there actually wasn’t any in that cellar, because I checked every heap and cupboard and didn’t come across any sign of it, no matter how hard I searched for it. The lack of proper lightning additionally hindered the task.

There was only one last part of the room left, the darkest and most hidden one, but I had never dared to go there before, so I decided I wouldn’t try discovering the uncharted area now.

I was about to turn around and leave the nasty place, but then I realised that it was probably the only chance to investigate the unknown space between the last rows of cupboards, while having someone in the storeroom with me. A thrill of unexpected excitement run down my spine as I approached the first cabinet. Its drawers occurred to be full of colorful buttons of various sizes and shapes. I started looking for some that could be used in our designs, basing my choices on their texture and form, because I couldn’t really asses their colour in such a poor lighting. 

Only when I heard a muffled clamour somewhere near me, did I realise I was being observed. I was able to hear someone breathing and it made the hair on my arms bristle. I spun around swiftly, my action being followed by a beam of light that stretched through the darkness out of nowhere and dazzled me.

“Boo!”

There was another clamour and a silent curse.

I jumped back, feeling my heart racing in my chest. A shadow emerged from murkiness and I expelled a relieved breath, because I already knew who it was.

“Taeyang!” I cried at the boy who stood there with a flashlight that was lighting up his face. “You’ve scared the out of me! I thought I would die from a heart attack!”

Taeyang giggled, seeing my pouty expression.

“Sorry! I found that flashlight and I couldn’t help it!” he replied in an amused tone. “But it wasn’t my intention to kill you.”

“I hope so!” I responded and smiled at him wide, my pulse slowing down at least.

“Have you found the sewing machine?” he asked, finally holding the flashlight in a normal position.

“No, there isn’t any. So I guess we can go now,” I replied, coming closer to him. “Seunghyun is still waiting for us.”

I completely forgot about poor Seunghyun who was probably bored to death by now.

We quickly left the storeroom and in the depths of my pocket I found the key Mrs. Hwang gave me.

“This time I’ll close it properly,” I murmured to myself, turning the key in the lock twice.

We were already on the stairs, when we heard a commotion - the sound was obviously coming out of the storeroom.

“So one of those crazy constructions has finally collapsed,” Taeyang joked, but he was probably right.

“I’m sure it was the one I bumped into, when you had scared me,” I added with a smirk.

I actually smirked. Jesus. I would never smirk at Seunghyun.

“Should we come back and clean the mess?” Taeyang asked, raising a brow questioningly.

I shook my head in reaction. “They won’t see the difference! No one cares about that place.”

But there was someone who did care. Not about the storehouse, but about me.

The certain someone named Choi Seunghyun who shot me an upset look at the exact moment, when I opened the door of his car and sidled into the passenger seat...

To be continued