Part 11: A short trip to memory lane
Hide and Seek
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Part 11: A short trip to memory lane
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“Ki umma~ wakey-wakey!!!” a little girl called as she bounced on Kibum's bed, her curly pigtails bouncing with her.
Kibum cracked an eye open and peeked at the cause of the noise and rocking on his bed. He arrived home late last night from their trip to Busan. Even if he was dead tired, he still had problems sleeping but didn’t know why. There was just something missing and he couldn’t put his finger on it.
“Ki umma needs morning popo.” Kibum said as he spread his arms open and puckered his lips slightly.
The little girl shrieked excitedly before diving in Kibum's arms and kissing him on the lips with an audible pop. Then she hugged him and rested her head on the crook of his neck. Kibum smiled but didn’t move. She noticed it after a while and pulled away to look at his ‘sleeping’ face.
“Ki umma?” but there was no response. She pouted and decided to put her little hands on Kibum's cheeks, pushing it towards each other, making Kibum look like a fish. She giggled and kissed him repeatedly. But when nothing still happened, she sat on Kibum's stomach and whined a little.
That was when Kibum opened his eyes and sat up while he roared playfully. She shrieked again and he began tickling her sides. Giggles and laughter filled his room.
“Did Chunhee miss Ki umma?” he asked when they were sitting on his bed afterwards, the little girl on his lap.
“Neh~!” she answered smiling brightly. He smiled back as he wiped her sweaty forehead.
“How much did you miss Ki umma?” he asked again as he fixed her messy hair from their tickle-me session.
“Thiiiiiiiis muuuuuuuch!” and she opened up her arms and extended them as much as she could.
“Waaaah~ Ki umma missed Chunhee sooooo much too.” She giggled at that and went to kiss his cheek.
Chunhee was his cousin but he treated her like his own child. She was the daughter of Kibum's dad’s sister. But she died giving birth to her and well, Chunhee's dad didn’t like it. Who would right? But because of that he often chose work rather spend time with his daughter. Kibum's mom, being the sweet and caring person that she was, insisted that Chunhee could spend the holidays with them rather than her nannies. And since then, Kibum always took care of her whenever she came over.
“Ki umma has a present for Chunhee because I heard she had been a good girl. Is that right?” Chunhee nodded enthusiastically.
Kibum put her on the bed and went to his luggage. He rummaged a little and when he found it, he called Chunhee to come over.
“Tada~!” He said as he pulled out a white polar bear beanie with long earflaps that had mittens on the end. “Do you like it?” he asked.
“Kamsahaeyo Ki umma~” she said as she hugged him.
Kibum could only smile and hug her back. He noted to himself to thank Jonghyun for helping him out later.
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“Yah Kim Jonghyun! Stop splashing water on my face! We are not in a swimming pool!” Kibum shouted as he held his arms in front of his face. But Jonghyun continued to send waves after waves of water on his direction. “I’m not playing games wi— mphftttttt!” another wave made it through his barrier and he was not able to finish his sentence, “YAAAAAAAAAAH!” but the culprit was already gone after he wiped his face. So you are laughing huh? Wait and see Kim Jonghyun! Kibum said in his thoughts as a somewhat evil smile crept on his bow-shaped lips. Jonghyun was chatting with one of their classmates when someone called his name. He knew that voice so well and needed not to be called twice so he turned his head on the voice’s direction. And a splash of water greeted him. “Babe! Babe! I’m sorry! I’ll do anything! Stop, stop!” he pleaded as he tried to move away while shielding himself with his arms and hands. The water stopped and Kibum spoke. “Anything?” “Yes! Anything... Hey, don’t tell me you want to have s—“ a big splash of water drowned Jonghyun's words and almost Jonghyun himself. “I was just joking! Please stop.” Jonghyun almost whined, if only it wouldn’t look so unmanly. “I promise to do anything.” “Help me buy a present for my cousin.” Kibum answered simply while he grabbed a towel and wrapped it around his waist then got out of the hot spring. “Yeah, sure. Anything for you.” Jonghyun said teasingly as he did the same. - - - “I told you to help me pick a gift for my cousin, not to ogle on girls.” Kibum said as they went out of the nth boutique that the mall in the hot spring village had. “I was not. They are the ones checking me out.” Then a knowing smile was on his plump lips. “E? Are you jealous?”And he began poking Kibum on his side. “Not in a million years!” and he slapped the elder’s hand. They entered a new boutique that sold different kinds of stuff. The girl behind the counter greeted them as soon as the bell on the door chimed. “Then spend the eternity with me.” Jonghyun said but Kibum was busy scanning a rack of colourful sundresses to hear. “What do you think about this?” Kibum asked as he held up a sleeveless yellow sundress. “Its winter and you want a kid to go around with that? Look for another one.” He said as he turned and walked to a corner filled with animal beanies. Kibum put the dress back with a pout and walked towards a rack of knitted mittens. “Hey, Bummie~! Look at this.” Jonghyun called while raising an animal beanie for Kibum to see. The younger lifted his eyes from the pink mittens that he was examining to Jonghyun’s direction. When he was just a few more steps away, he realized something. “Since when did you call me ‘Bummie’? And who said you can call me that?” he asked. “Hmm... I think when you kissed me before the play. I thought it’s okay because you are calling me ‘Jjong’.” He replied nonchalantly as he looked for other designs of animal beanies. “And since when did I call you ‘Jjong’?” he asked again as he raised an eyebrow. “I can’t really remember... maybe when you were drunk?” “, Jjong! Shut up!” the words slipped from Kibum's mouth as he looked around making sure that no one heard what the other said. “There! You said it again. But don’t worry, I like it actually.” And he smiled at Kibum as if assuring him that it’s really okay. “Oh! This is cute right?” he said as he showed Kibum another beanie. He handed Kibum the beanie and the latter turned it around his delicate hands. “Yeah... it’s cute.” Then Kibum put it on Jonghyun’s head and started laughing, his pretty eyes turning into half moons. “Yah! Why are you laughing at me?!” Jonghyun managed to ask despite the fluttering of butterflies in the pit of his stomach that seemed to be awakened by Kibum's sweet laughter. “You look like a dinosaur.” And he continued to laugh with the back of his right hand covering his mouth. “Me?! A dinosaur?!”Jonghyun took a step towards Kibum who took a step back. “You didn’t just say that huh?” he continued advancing on Kibum. And unknown to the younger, his steps were directed to the vacant fitting room. “I— I was — just joking!” Kibum breathed out between laughter, he just couldn’t stop. Jonghyun narrowed his eyes on him like how a predator eyed its prey. “RAWR~!” Then he pounced on the Kibum. He lost his balance with the sudden impact and the weight of Jonghyun’s body on him pushed them down further. Jonghyun wrapped a protective arm across Kibum’s back, cradled the younger’s head on the crook of his neck and with a swift movement, turned both of them around. They fell on the carpeted floor with a soft thud and a grunt. When Kibum got to his senses, he quickly pushed himself up and looked at Jonghyun who was still on the floor with a pained expression on his handsome face. “Jonghyun, are you okay?” he asked quietly as he lightly tapped his cheek. He grunted a response and opened his eyes slowly. “Am I in heaven? ‘Coz I can see the most beautiful angel in front of me...” this earned him a slap on his left shoulder. “OUCH! What?!” “I hate you!” Kibum said with a glare. But even before he was able to turn away, he felt Jonghyun's lips touch his on a quick peck and he almost chocked on a whine building in his throat. “You know you don’t.” Jonghyun said with a smirk as he looked into Kibum's eyes. Mehrong!And Kibum stood up and went out of the fitting room with a blush on his cheeks. Jonghyun was just right behind him and they could feel some stares from the girl behind the counter and some other costumers on them. “Erm... my uh...friend tripped.” Jonghyun said to no one in particular, one hand scratching an imaginary itch on the back of his neck. They finished their purchase and walked back to the pension house. - - - |
“Chunhee-ah~! You are already pretty, come down here now.” Kibum's mom called from downstairs. They promised to take Chunhee to the mall and do some Christmas shopping too. When Kibum and Chunhee stepped off the stairs, she did a little pirouette and giggled when her purple skirt ballooned.
The mall was crowded, to say the least. People were coming here and there, in and out of different stores going on about their Christmas lists.
After a few hour spent with buying clothes and shoes and gifts, they went to the ice creamparlorbecause the little angel said she was hungry. Kibum and his dad were carrying shopping bags in both hands so they decided to put those in the car while the girls wait for them in the shop.
As Kibum and his dad were walking back to the mall, Kibum's phone rang.
“We’re on the way back, mom.” He said as soon as he answered the phone.
“Chunhee is missing.” Was what made Kibum stop walking and for his dad to turn and look back on him, mouthing a ‘What?’
“We’ll right be there, don’t worry mom.” And he hung up.
“What happened?” his dad asked, sensing the panic in Kibum words.
“Chunhee is missing.” Then they hurried back to the ice cream shop.
His mom was there and Chunhee was nowhere to be seen.
“She said she’ll just look at the toppings... then when I looked at the counter she’s already gone!” she almost broke down in sobs as she told the story.
“Have you asked the guards? Or looked in the comfort room?” his dad asked as he her back.
“I already did that... but... nobody had seen her...what if someone took her? What do we do?”
Kibum tried to comfort his mom, said soothing words and held her cold hands. He knew that this was one of her greatest fears. She almost lost Kibum before and the situation was like happening all over again.
“I’ll go find her. I’ll give you a call.” Kibum said as he stood up, “She will be alright mom.” And he left.
Kibum tried to retrace their steps hoping that he would find her in one of the stores that they had gone in. Chunhee was a curious cat just like him and maybe something caught her attention. Kibum was praying that she would be okay and he hoped that she would find her own prince just like Kibum when he was lost. He arrived at the mall atrium where Jonghyun played the piano once.
! Chunhee is missing Kibum, don’t think about that!He said to himself as he shook his head to clear it.
There were many people there he decided to do and 360° turn to get a quick view. Then he spotted a familiar tint of purple nearby. He made a beeline towards that direction, never taking his eyes off of the skirt, excusing himself to the people on the way.
“Chunhee-ah!” he called when he was just a few meters away.
The little girl tore her watery eyes from the person front of her and looked at Kibum. She smile and ran towards him. Kibum stooped down and welcomed her in his arms. The stranger walked towards them and Chunhee broke the hug to look behind her.
“You are right, Ki umma found me.” she said happily.
“I told you...” the stranger replied as he pat Chunhee’s head.
Kibum knew that voice. Or maybe his mind was playing games with him.
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a/n: who could this person be? :DD you can take wild guesses everyone :))
btw guys, little Chunhee there is a fictional charaacter made by me...if you find any similarities to any other character it is not intended...
as always, thank you to all lovely readers and subscribers ♥
photo by: yummaiwatermelon @deviantart
hmmm... i just wanna share this little convo with my younger cousin(she's 12 or 13 y/o)
*while watching RDD live perf*
cuz: unnie, if SHINee will have a concert here, will you watch them?
me: YES of course!!! i'm so gonna die if i won't be able to see these guys!!! waaaah!!
cuz: haha. then if they'll have a concert make sure to bring me with you okay???
lol. i made her a SHAWOL and a LOCKET at that xD
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