Chapter 10: “But I miss screaming and fighting and kissing in the rain- Taylor Swift”

-o0o-

He overslept, and it was a Monday. Not because he was too tired, nor was it because he had lost his alarm clock. Taeyeon didn’t sleep with him that night; she stayed in Yumi’s room, hearing some sobbing in the middle of the night.

She hadn’t even bothered waking him up. He immediately ran for the windows, opening the curtains and letting the sunlight enter the master’s bedroom. Yawning, Leeteuk got outside, not wanting to time in anymore for work. Anyway, his associate would handle setting the characters to get ready. The hallway was silent; its cleanliness scared Teuk for it wasn’t every day the second floor appeared so clear. He assumed at once that Taeyeon had driven the kids to school and had herself seated in her own desk at the office. Eeteuk grimaced in comfort that she wasn’t anymore here to tick him off.

He optioned for the kitchen to look for some food he could heat up from the fridge, until finding one of Taeyeon’s scrawled penmanship in front of the fridge.

‘I’ll be staying in my parents’ house for the week. I’m taking Yungyeo and Yumi. We will talk when I get back. I’ve decided it should be this way rather than having seen us always argue all the time. For the meantime, I will try to think without you bothering me. Please respect my decision, Leeteuk-sshi. I thought we were on this one hundred and one percent. Take care.–Me’

Was she that serious? Was she really taking the twins away from him? He shook his head encouragingly, half-hoping that this was just another nightmare about his family. Taeyeon hadn’t even discussed about things like divorce and the children’s custody. He ripped the note from the door, tearing it hastily and opening the freezer in search for some meatloaf.

 Altering Taeyeon’s mind would be a heavy task, maybe a week was not enough to let the hatred sink.

-o0o-

His white coat was still as pure as an angel’s breath, she observed, despite the fact that the hamburger soiled his face with its sauce and meat. She winced at his state, making him look at her in ignorance.

“Aigoo, haven’t you seen a man eat after surgery? Do you know how hard it is? It’s disgusting,” Donghae told her whose eyes were nowhere but on him. She was smiling at his hunger, as she separated her chopsticks and placing them on the bowl.

She rolled in a few strands of noodles, shyly staring at her food. “No, you should look at yourself. You’re more disgusting.”

Donghae smirked. “Oi, that’s not true. I just like to have a burger, that’s all. You should have seen how Eunhyuk chow down on hotdogs last Christmas. Seriously...he’s like the hotdog freak or something. He’s amazing.”

“Do you miss your best friend, oppa?” Sica wondered, finally tasting the pork noodles.

He nodded feebly. “If I could have made time stop, I would have. Eunhyuk’s...fun with the NY at the end as well. He’s...cool. Nice kid, never knew how to hate anyone except maybe Boa.”

Jessica laughed. “His ex-girlfriend? Hyoyeon told many stories of her, but...I really don’t mind.” She gulped, tasting the cholesterol in her lunch, realizing this will go straight to her arteries. She looked back at Donghae again as he finished his lunch, a satisfied grumble. He burped loudly, covering his mouth to show how embarrassing that was.

“I’m sorry,” Donghae muttered, staring at an amused Sica.

Jessica clapped her hands. “That was amazing. I seriously would love see you barf off a bigger one.”

His eyes were huge on her, but she continued to shrug. “I didn’t think you’d consider that fun. You’re practically grossed out by this stuff, right? What happened to that kind of Jessica? But yes, it’s really fun.”

“Onew isn’t a fan of fun,” Sica simply responded, making Donghae nod. “You know how he is. He can be stiff and silly, but at times, he’s really serious. He’s a natural. He’d give you a warm hug when you feel really sad. Onew would want to help you so badly that he would sacrifice everything he has just to satisfy your needs. He never keeps you waiting, and he doesn’t talk back to me when I know I’m wrong. He’s just---”

“Perfect?” Donghae finished for her, wiping his mouth as he stood up, still smiling at Sica. He sighed after he noticed she appeared surprise at the respond. It was written in the back of his mind---the words that were said that night, those pathetic unmeant words that Jessica said. Onew. Always...always about Onew.

 “Aish, you didn’t have to rub it in, Sica. I know he’s perfect.”

Jessica covered , shaking her head. “No, no. That’s not what I’m trying to imply. I mean, yes, that’s true but---”

“But I never even been close to him,” Donghae added for her, sulking the angst in him. But his face showed none of this. “Okay, so that reason doesn’t make any sense. It still kind of hurts my ego, though. Having comparisons and being told to be like him...hey, Sica, what’s wrong with me?”

She stood up as well, when Donghae began walking away from her. She shuddered at what else Donghae had in mind for this time she only thought about him as a dear friend, for Onew was the only man now.  “Oppa, wait!” He turned to the doorway of the restaurant, hurriedly exiting the place where they usually had lunch together.

“Oppa, wait, I don’t get it!” confessed Sica who managed to catch up with him in the driveway.

Donghae smiled. “Nah, forget what I said. I just felt like saying it. After getting drunk at your party, you didn’t mean what you said that night, right?”

The blonde situated all the pieces of her puzzle promptly, not a second more, comprehending what happened to her that night. Donghae was the one who carried her to her room, who helped her get up there despite her mortifying condition. Jessica blushed suddenly, spinning around to fan herself with the strain. She wisped a blow from her lips, getting oxygen to breathe in.

Hastily, she returned to normal as she faced Donghae again, who was still lost. “Right. I’m sorry. Whatever I said that night, I’m deeply sorry. If I said some harsh words, I’m sorry. I was drunk. Oppa, please forgive me.”

“As long as...” he thought distinctly of what punishment to give her, and therefore arrive at something fitting.

“You buy lunch for both of us the whole month.”

Agreeing at once, Jessica bobbed her head. “Well, okay.”

Donghae smirked, patting her shoulder. “Anyway, Sunye said she’d be waiting for me at my office. I should really go.”

Sica’s face was stoned. “Yeah. Sure. You go on ahead. I think I’ll go for a walk today.”

He laughed at this comment. “Puny ankles? Walk? No appointments this afternoon?”

“Yup, for the first time,” Jessica replied, taking out her cell phone. “Oppa can’t come with me because he’s sick. He even excused himself from work today. I think I’ll invite Tiffany to go to the Spa with me. I feel terribly stressed. And you? Still have to finish your surgery later?”

He exhaled heavily. “Yes. I just don’t enjoy seeing someone in pain. I’ll be on my way, then. See you, Sica. Have fun at the spa.”

-o0o-

“I’ll be a little late. Please start memorizing your lines before we shoot. I changed my mind. Tell manager Kim to reset the scene. We’ll start with your scene with Yoona and Yeeun, scene 5 at high school. Tell Yeeun that. Eeteuk-hyung”

Kibum sighed, holding that blue notebook of his and at full wonder. Why would hyung be late? He had never been late when it came to his job. Oh but the secrets to married life, he now asked himself if it had anything to do with Leeteuk’s delay. Yeeun---who was also preparing her script---passed Kibum, oblivious to what else he was doing.

“Hey,” called Kibum, who had something very serious at the tip of his tongue. She turned, contemplating the words she had to portray later on. She waved and smiled, but after these gestures, she turned back on him again, walking away apathetically.

Aish. She was playing hard to get, he thought. “Hey, Yeeun-ah!”

His voice was so loud, other actors on the set told him off with mean eyes and fingers at their lips. He quickly bowed his head to avoid any more conflict amongst the rest of them, as Kibum noticed footsteps walking towards his direction. He looked up; a giggling Yeeun was meeting him for the first time.

She bowed her head. “Oppa, I believe we haven’t met. I will be playing Shin Hyunae, the character that your character likes.”

Kibum nodded, grinning. “I know that already, silly girl. I was calling you to tell you that Eeteuk-hyung won’t come early, and he wants you to know that we will be doing scene 5 first.”

“Yeeun-ah, should we go take a snack outside?” approached Yoona, her hair tied loosely in a ponytail. Yeeun recognized at once her bittersweet smile---the one that everybody teases as ‘grandma gorgeous’ because of the way her eyes disappeared and creases would show when she laughs. Yeeun, though she wasn’t sure if her unnie did it on purpose, looked at the way Yoona dressed today, her clothes so...girly all of a sudden. And exactly that was not Yoon’s fashion.

“I thought Kibum-oppa called me,” Yoona said, but Kibum quickly denied this.

“I said ‘Ye’ ‘Eun’ ‘Ah’,” Kibum clarified. “Not ‘Yoon’ ‘Ah’.”

She laughed, mortified. “Well, isn’t that weird? Kibum-oppa must know that Yeeun is my Hubae. She was in second year when I graduated from the university. She is a great actress and has done countless plays from drama to comedy.”

He just nodded. “Really? That’s cool. Way to go!”

Yoona stared at Yeeun who felt very uncomfortable through Yoona’s way of introducing her, not that it wasn’t true but because it had sounded too conceited when she proposed it to the man. Yeeun shyly had her head down, hoping that he would not see her blush fluttering across her cheeks.

He was distracted by Yoona’s smile as happily she left the two of them alone. Kibum stared from that girl to young Yeeun who waited for him to tell her the good news.

“Ah, Yeeun,” Kibum said, holding her shoulder. She looked up at him, his smile so smooth that it had her sidetracked. His eyes were beautiful; his body normal and well built. Her eyes traveled from his facial features going to those strong biceps.

“Eeteuk-hyung said that we’re going to shoot scene 5 first,” Kibum instructed as the girl nodded.

Yeeun opened her script, scanning quickly to the scene they were to perform later on. To her surprise, it was only his and her scene, the classroom high school stuff. Of course, Yoona had to show up a few instances as well, and this was critical for the of the story.

“Omo,” she said, shocked, her eyes jogging from line to line as she read the story. “I haven’t read this part of the story yet. Wait...what if I get lost? I don’t want to screw up.”

Kibum just snickered. “Ah, is this your first time to star in a drama?”

She awkwardly nodded, biting her lower lip. “Aigoo, I don’t want Eeteuk-oppa to be disappointed at all...”

He continued to stare at her, smiling as she talked nonstop about the failures she had undergone before being a part of the WG and being a part of the new drama. Kibum couldn’t believe it himself---a rookie like Yeeun would get to render a high rank that fast.

Yoona, who Kibum knew would have been the first choice, didn’t get the part. Why, he often wondered, but Kibum knew Leeteuk had his ways of judging an actor through certain clips. Maybe Teuk inferred Yoona wouldn’t accomplish much of the character’s personality, since (as Kibum heard it) Yoona’s ultimate specialty would be on glares and snotty stuff. She seemed comfortable doing this, but he, as someone who worked with her, found Yoona to be suitable in the field of hurt and comfort.

“Er...were you listening?” Yeeun wondered, moving her hand across Kibum’s blank expression.

He nodded weakly, sighing. “Yeah. You want to practice some of the parts with me, then?”

Yeeun giggled. “That’s would be lovely. But...we don’t interact with this scene at all. I just gaze at you occasionally to show some sort of affection. I think...I should work it out with unnie. You shou