Part 22: Little Ms. Understood
Hide and Seek
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Part 22: Little Ms. Understood
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“You are being so silent Ki umma.” Taemin noted as they rode at the back seat of Jinki’s car. When Kibum learned the previous night that the others would also be coming to their supposed-to-be-umma-and-son-bonding he made Taemin promise that they would ride together in Jinki’s Audi or he wouldn’t go at all.
“Sorry. I was just thinking about my dream last night.” Kibum replied as he ruffled Taemin’s soft locks. “Don’t worry too much about me, okay?”
“Hey guys, we’re here!” Jinki announced when they entered the gates.
“Thanks for stating the obvious, hyung.” Minho deadpanned which made Taemin chuckle.
The parking lot was empty aside from a few motorcycles, a few other vehicles probably owned by the management and the two cars that were parked side by side near the entrance.
“No one else is here. Maybe it’s closed.” Taemin said when they got off the cars and were standing in front of the entrance.
“Naah, we just got the whole rink for us.” Jonghyun said as he slung his arm on Taemin’s shoulder.
“But not really, since Minnie’s uncle owns the place.” Hyunae said as she jumped onto Minho’s back, putting all her weight onto the male. Not that she weighed that much. Minho put his arms on the back of Hyunae’s knees and adjusted her on his back as if she was just his backpack. She giggled and raised her right fist in the air.
“To the lockers~!” she said. Minho chuckled but walked nonetheless. Jonghyun and Jinki laughed while Taemin sent death glares on their backs. Kibum just decided to stay silent, he didn’t felt like saying anything either.
Hyunae was already pulling out something from her locker while Minho was just opening his when the other four arrived. They put their bags down and the other two proceeded on opening their own lockers while Kibum and Taemin just stood there and watched them rather awkwardly.
“Oh I forgot! You have to get your skates first!”Hyunae said as she pulled her white skates from its bag and placed it on the bench. She stood up and walked towards Kibum and Taemin. “C’mon, follow me.” They all walked out of the locker and went to the shoe rental area.
“Let’s get your sizes first.” She said as she pointed on the mat on the floor which had different feet sizes that you place your feet on. Then she jumped over the counter and switched the lights on in the booth since no one was there to assist them. They said the sizes and she went into the isles of skates, pulling out what she needed.
They all went back into the locker room to find the three males almost done putting on their shoes.
“Is it your first time skating, Taemin?” Minho asked Taemin who was seated beside him, watching him finish lacing his skates.
“Uh, no. Not really. But the last time that I tried this out was a long time ago, with my family.” He answered as he removed his rubber shoes. “Maybe I was still in middle school then.” He put on the skates and started fumbling with the laces when a hand stopped him from tying his hand with the shoes.
“I’ll help you with that.” Minho said as he crouched down in front of Taemin, finishing the work.
Kibum on the other hand managed to tie it himself but then, he heard someone ‘tsk’ over it and when he looked up he saw Jonghyun towering over him.
“What?” Kibum asked, annoyance evident in his voice.
“You tied it too loose.” Jonghyun said as he copied what Minho did earlier. “If you slip, you might sprain your ankle.” He added as he untied Kibum’s work and did it properly. “There.” He stood up and looked at the others. “Let’s go~”
“How about a race?” Jinki asked as they went into the rink.
“I’m not really good at this yet. I’ll just be the referee.” Taemin said as he wobbled his way towards the handles.
“Me too.” Kibum said as he slid towards Taemin.
“Oh. I guess it’s still the four of us.” Jinki said shrugging a little. He faced Jonghyun and Hyunae faced Minho. "Rocks, Papers, Scissors!"
“Winner!” Jinki and Minho high-fived.
“Looser!” Jonghyun and Hyunae said at the same time and they laughed.
“First player goes around the whole rink, then come back to tap the next player and do the same.” Taemin said. “You guys start here.”
“Can we have a warm up first?” Jonghyun asked while stretching a little.
“Uhm. Sure.”
He skated slowly away from them at first but he increased his speed with every glide he took. Then the other three followed. After a whole lap in the rink, they stopped in front of Taemin and Kibum who just watched them all the while. They both didn’t know that the other boys were into this sport and they didn’t know Hyunae enough to know it too.
“Did I forget to mention that we play ice hockey sometimes?” Jonghyun asked with a slight grin on his face as he saw the surprise on their faces.
The dancers just shook their head no. Kibum bit his lip when his eyes met Jonghyun’s.
“And Hyunnie here, is a figure skater.” Jinki added in. “She’s second to Kim Yuna.”
“Yah! Stop it! You're doing it again!” Hyunae smacked Jinki lightly on the arm.
The members of the band laughed in some joke that the dancers were not able to understand.
“Let’s just begin the race.” The girl said again, trying to hide the slight blush in her cheeks with her white hoodie. She fixed her black bubble skirt and went to her position.
“Bring it on, Baby!” Jinki said as he stood next to her.
“One, two, three, GO!”
And then, they were off.
“Will Jinki hyung make it?” Taemin asked to no one in particular. “He trips himself on plain solid land and he’s going top speed now.” Jonghyun and Minho chuckled.
“Don’t worry, Taemin. He’s the opposite when it comes to ice.” Minho assured him with a smile.
He nodded and just watched the race. He could see that Hyunae was laughing but her speed was still constant beside Jinki who was also smiling. When they were half way through, he went ahead of her by a little bit, but then she then grabbed a handful of his jacket, pulled him back and dashed away.
“YAH!” they heard Jinki yell followed by Hyunae’s laughter. With a turn of her lite body, she was skating backwards, facing Jinki.
“We didn’t have rules about doing that, Dubu oppa~” she sing-sang. She turned again and went faster.
“Jinki hyung! Make it fast!!!” Minho called while Jonghyun positioned himself to meet Hyunae.
Jonghyun stood in a ready position, his right hand outstretched waiting for Hyunae. He was off the moment their hands met.
“Go! Go! Go! Bling!!!” she cheered with both her hands up in the air. Jonghyun looked at her direction and raised two thumbs up.
But not long after Minho followed.
“Minho hyung, Hwaiting!!!” Taemin shouted. Kibum smiled knowingly at him and Taemin blushed. “Ah, you're getting it all wrong Ki umma!” he whined, flailing his arms in the air and almost slipping on ice.
“I didn’t say anything.” Kibum said with raised eyebrows, acting innocent.
Soon enough Jonghyun finished with Minho at his heels. Jonghyun and Hyunae had a little victory dance while Minho and Jinki just scoffed at them.
With unstable feet, Taemin slid to Minho which left Kibum alone on the side of the rink.
“Hey.” Kibum tore his eyes from Taemin who was then being pulled by Minho towards the center.
“Hi.” Hi?! What the hell Kibum?
“Look. I’m sorry for whatever I did or said for you to be cold to me again.” Jonghyun said after a moment of silence filled with the squeals and giggles from the others.
“It’s not like that.” Kibum mumbled, looking anywhere else but Jonghyun because he knew that the singer would have those irresistible eyes again and he might just spill that he was just so jealous which he was still denying to himself.
“Whatever it is, just please forgive me and talk to me again.” Kibum heard the pleading in his voice. He seemed to be so desperate and maybe even frustrated for everything. And Kibum was not able to stop himself from looking at Jonghyun that time. He looked like what Kibum was thinking he would look —a look that would have challenged Taemin’s aegyo. The younger sighed, he couldn’t say no to that.
“Okay, apology accepted.” And he smiled to himself.
“I’m forgiven?” Jonghyun asked as he held Kibum’s hands. His eyes were shining as if he was a kid in a toy store.
“Make me say it again and I’ll take it back already.”
“What?! No! nononono!!!” Jonghyun said as he shook his head. Then he had that goofy grin when he realized that Kibum was just joking. “Come on!”
The next thing that Kibum knew, he was also being pulled away from the safety of the handle bars. They moved smoothly on the ice, or rather Jonghyun did while Kibum fought with his body for balance. There were several times that he slipped and if not for Jonghyun holding his hand and steadying him all the time, he would have fallen hard on his . Sometimes, Jonghyun would let go of him and stand ahead of him waiting for him to skate alone. It was like teaching a baby to walk for the first time.
Eventually, he was able to stay standing and ‘run’ on ice. It was fun. The rush felt like flying and he enjoyed it. When Jonghyun was teaching him how to stop properly, Hyunae slid past them with Jinki chasing her —they were playing tag. She run in circles around Jonghyun and Kibum, a big circle at first, Jinki still chased her. Then the circle got smaller and smaller, trapping the pair inside. Jonghyun held his hand out for Kibum to take since Hyunae or Jinki might bump onto him in their crazed chase. Kibum took Jonghyun’s hand and he was pulled closer, their bodies almost touching.
Jinki decided to hide behind Jonghyun to surprise Hyunae when she passed. When he popped in time, he was able to tag Hyunae and he sped right away, the girl now chasing him. But in the process, he accidentally pushed Jonghyun which caused him to lose his balance and topple down with Kibum.
Jonghyun was not able to hold Kibum but he was able to stop himself from falling over the younger one, with his hands on either sides of Kibum’s head and his knees straddling the younger’s hips.
“COLD!” Kibum shrieked when his back had contact with solid ice, the extremely low temperature immediately seeping through the fabric of his clothes. His reflexes acted that instant and he pulled himself up by wrapping his arms around Jonghyun’s neck. He just realized his actions when one of Jonghyun’s hand pulled him closer by the waist and a chuckle tickled his ear, sending goose bumps all over his arms.
“You’ll fall if you let go.” Jonghyun whispered to him when he was loosening his hug. And Kibum stilled, he felt the smile tug on Jonghyun’s lips as the singer pulled both of them up.
“Yah! Why are you both so lovey-dovey here? Go get a room!” he heard Jinki say when he was just steadying himself. He remembered that his arms were still around Jonghyun while Jonghyun’s hand was still resting on his waist. He pulled away but the other didn’t remove his hand off him.
Jonghyun laughed quietly before saying “Says the guy who pushed me.”
“I did?!” Jinki asked pointing to himself, eyes opened wide.
Jonghyun just nodded, smirking. “Hey guys, let’s eat something. I’m hungry.” He shouted for everyone to hear since the rink was more or less the size of two basketball courts. He guided Kibum out of the rink and they both walked towards the bleachers.
“Call Mexicana!!!” Jinki yelled back as he followed the pair.
Minho and Taemin got out hand in hand since Taemin was still slipping a lot.
Hyunae was left in the rink alone, she raced with herself and made a whole lap before she did two triple jumps, one after the other, towards the center of the rink. And there she did an axle jump and another spin before executing the layback camel spin with a bent free leg*. When she walked to the bleachers, she was welcomed with a round of applause. She laughed and bowed at them.
Just when they were laughing on how Jinki lost his front tooth when he was eight during a hockey practice, the delivery man turned up with their orders. They enjoyed the food and had other rounds of laughter from stories from the past. Then they started packing and preparing to go home.
“Hey, Bling.” Hyunae called as she fished something from Jonghyun’s bag. “I’ll borrow you Babies for now okay?” and she skipped to Kibum, hooking her right arm on his left as she raised her other hand and showed the singer’s car keys. It took hima while to register what she said which gave Hyunae time to move closer to the door of the locker room with Kibum in tow.
“Yah! You can’t just—“ Jonghyun tried to protest but she beat him into it by turning to Jinki.
“Dubu-ah~ please take care of this dino boy for the moment.” She said in a sweet tone which made the guy in question laugh. But he agreed without delay.
“Gomawo~” she sang and pulled Kibum out of the locker room. “Let’s go~!” and she broke into a sprint dragging Kibum along. They got into the car and when she hit the national road, they burst into fits of laughter.
“Did you see his face when we ran out of the room?!” she asked as she held tight on the steering wheel and glanced momentarily on Kibum, still laughing.
“Ne! He looked like he’ll spit out fire through his nose!!!” Kibum said while drowning in his laughter. “Oh my God! That was so priceless!”
Slowly their laughter died down and they both caught their breaths as they speed through the highway.
“Why did you do it by the way?” Kibum asked as he looked at the younger girl on the driver’s seat.
“I don’t know.” She shrugged and continued. “Maybe some bonding time alone? I always wonder what kind of person you are. Jonghyun oppa always talked about you. He’ll go ‘Bummie is like this’ and ‘He’s so perfect like that.’ and it made me wonder. Hell, he looked like a love sick puppy through the web cam and a hundred times more in person. Eurghhh! I tell you it’s not really pretty.”
Oh. They’re even talking through the internet? They must be really close. Wait. Did she just said that Jonghyun talks about me?!
“Anyways, when I get to finally meet you, I knew why just by watching you smile and be yourself around people. But I wanted to know more of you than what I hear from others.” She glanced at Kibum and smiled at him at the end of her mini speech. She rounded a corner and pulled over a classic looking café complete with the typical wooden sign and striped umbrella booths outside.
They went out of the car and Hyunae led him inside. A bell chimed, announcing their arrival. The café was almost empty aside for two males in one table and an old couple in another.
“Annyeonghaseyo.” The boy behind the counter greeted as he wiped his hands on his apron. “Oh, Hyunnie it’s you and I see you brought a new friend.” He said when his eyes landed on them. Hyunae beamed at him and waved while Kibum gave a small bow and they sat on the counter stools.
“Hi, Sungmin oppa, this is Kibum oppa. Kibum oppa, this is Sungmin oppa.” She introduced them rather hurriedly.
“So, he’s the one that the Dino boy always talks about?” Sungmin asked Hyunae who just nodded, still smiling. Kibum looked away and bit on his lower lip trying to hide the adorable blush on his cheeks. “Where is he by the way?”
“I don’t know. Maybe on the way here?” she shrugged her shoulders and leaned over the counter to whisper to the barista. “I just kidnapped his boyfriend you know.”
Sungmin chuckled and went to make a drink. “The regular, right?” he asked Hyunae who just raised two thumbs up.
“How about you, oppa?” she then turned to Kibum who was looking at the menu written in colorful chalk.
“Mochaccino.” He replied with a tentative smile.
As they waited, Kibum looked around the place and he wondered why there were only few people even if it’s the weekends, not to mention that the café was near different malls and parks.
“One Choco-chip Frappuccino for Hyunnie and one Mochaccino for Kibum.” Sungmin said as he placed both orders on the counter. They both got their drinks and Hyunae asked Kibum to sit in one of the corner tables.
When he placed his drink on the table, he noticed some squiggly scribbles on the center of the table. He tilted his head a little to make out what it meant.
“Dubu, Dino, Keroro and Bb Doll.”
His quickly tore his eyes from the table and looked at the girl sitting across him.
“The engraved names there are Dubu, Dino, Keroro and Bb Doll.” Hyunae said as she pointed on the scribbles that Kibum was trying to decipher a while ago. She sipped at her frappe before continuing. “That is what we call each other when we were younger, Jinki oppa, Jonghyun oppa, Minho oppa and I. We were also regulars in this café since it opened a few years ago. Teuk oppa, the owner of this café, was so furious when he saw Jonghyun oppa etching that with his fork before. That was EPIC!” she ended it with a hearty laugh and Kibum could just smile as he watched her.
“You’re really close with them, aren’t you?” he then asked as he mixed the whipped cream with the rest of the drink. “Especially with Jjong...hyun.”
“Of course~ you won’t even want to know half of it. Those boys —yeah specially that Dino boy!— they love to tease me! They say it’s because I’m the only girl around. Aigoo. But I still love them despite that. Unfortunately.” She chuckled again. Then she turned her eyes on Kibum who was gazing on the names again, as if tracing the scrawny curves with his eyes. They were silent for while. “Hmmm... I guess I haven’t introduced myself properly. That’s why you’re not comfortable with me.” She then stood up, Kibum tried to stop her but she already bowed 90° to Kibum.
“I’m Kim Hyunae, Kim Jonghyun’s younger half-sister.”
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a/n: first of all,
Merry Christmas everyone!!!
sorry for the looooong wait. well, i've been very busy the past few days to say the least. and i was a bit sick to so please excuse the mistakes here and there (but please do correct me if you see anything okay? thank you)
the title, by the way, is a play of words... it's actually 'misunderstood' since Hyunae (aka me) was misunderstood to by Kibum as 'someone' close to Jonghyun when she was in real life his stepsister... that's it...sorry i'm rambling XD
i hope some things are cleared up... lol. sorry for tricking someof you /hides from things thrown at me/
hmmm.. what else? well, i won't be staying long since i have to help my mom in the kitchen. Merry Christmas again. talk to you soon :)
Bye~! ♥
photo by:maybesomedday@deviantart
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