Chapter 15: “And the story looks a lot like a tragedy now- Taylor Swift”

-o0o-

Practice, practice and more practice was what made all the group’s performances appear perfect enough for the presentation that night. Weeks passed and the day of reunion finally arrived.  It was already lunchtime that the boys checked in to their respective lodges, divided they were for they wouldn’t anymore fit, along with their significant other. Teukie, along with his wife, was settled in one cabin. Joining him would be Heenim and Sohee, Donghae and Sunye, Kibum occupying a room for his own, and Sungmin with his family.  Just across their cabin was another pretty one, where Yesung and Choonhee stayed, with Kyuhyun and Ryeowook sharing one room. Shindong and Kangin also shared, with Hangeng in another---Hyukjae was sharing with Siwon-sshi.

Farther away, another cottage where the women stayed was a bit closer to the shore than their rooms. Yuri and Yoona both agreed to take one for the night. Sica was with them as well with Onew, Seohyun and Yonghwa on another quarter. Tiffany felt comfortable owning one room for herself and Hyoyeon. Sooyoung decided to claim one for her alone.

Siwon, in his flowery shirt with sweat trickling down his chest, walked down the hall, his eyes hidden under the shades. He was dialing Stella’s number all day, edgy to hear her voice again but she wouldn’t answer. Did something happen to her flight to America? Her plane should have boarded them now to LAX. He reminded her to call him as soon as she arrived, but as the hours passed indifferently, there seemed to be none of her interactions.

“Siwon-sshi!” Heenim called him, also in his beach shorts. “We’re going to practice one more time before we head for lunch. You coming with us?”

He waved back, smiling and tucking his phone. “Wait for me, hyung!”

“Have you seen Kyuhyun-sshi?” the man wondered. “He said he’d be by the shore to have some fresh air. He hasn't come back yet. Have you seen him? The maknae have gotten lost in this place! Aigoo, it’s very troubling. He has to come and practice his lines.”

Siwon scowled. “We should go look for him now.”

-o0o-

                                Banmal Song.

“What to do? I am still patiently attracted to your cute smile...” Yonghwa strummed his guitar, while singing along with Seohyun, who was quietly releasing her voice. She started laughing again at the middle of the lyrics, covering as she leaned against him playfully. Their luggage for the night was already settled in their room, as the other girls came in and out to leave behind some of their stuff.

Sica was wearing practically her beach attire now as she got in the hut, with shades raising her blonde hair up, and a light purple tank top paired with a white striped mini skirt. Her flip-flops appeared adorable on her toes.

“Seohyun-ah,” she passed the two of them, bowing her head to show respect.

The maknae looked up at her unnie. “We’re going to practice?”

Jessica nodded. “Yes, sweetie. So...if it’s okay with Yonghwa, I will borrow you for a while. The others are by the bridge practicing. We only need you.”

Seohyun quickly nodded, apologizing to Yonghwa. “I have to go, then.”

Yonghwa shrugged, taking his arm off her shoulder. “It’s okay with me.”

“Let’s eat together,” Seohyun suggested, getting up from the bench and stretching. “By the mess hall, I mean. There’s a buffet table full of food. Let’s go together, okay?”

“Depends if I’m really hungry and you’re still practicing,” Yonghwa mumbled cheerfully, then afterwards planting a kiss on her cheek. “Don’t take too long. We still need to do our shot.”

She knew of this of course, their duet. “Yes, yes. I will,” and she followed Jessica outside to continue their rehearsals. They had trouble perfecting it, especially Yuri who knew so much of dancing but failed to execute accordingly. Most of the time, Sunny also disappoints the group for making horrible steps that she simply forgets.

As Seohyun noticed, they were already in their formation so she took hers; Jessica rounded them about, playing the recorder from the start as they position themselves. Her unnies had no sandals on or flip-flops, except maybe for Sooyoung whose feet were sensitive to the sand that she had to wear closed doll shoes. Seohyun wanted to feel comfortable, and with this, she had taken off her own as well.

“I can’t believe we’re staying with Sica tonight,” Hyoyeon stated, teasing the blonde as she approached them.  “I can sense something fun’s going to happen between Onew and her tonight...”

Jessica just stuck her tongue out, making funny faces. “We don’t do that stuff, Hyo.”

“Excuses again, Jessica? You two are sharing a bed back in Incheon, and you manage to lie about it now?” Hyoyeon smirked, nudging Sooyoung who was looking at her skinny legs that go all the way. She seemed taller when she wore tiny white shorts. “Don’t you think she’s going to own Onew tonight?”

Sooyoung looked up, unmindful of their conversation, her expression just as blank. “Not really. Chief won’t touch things he doesn’t like touching. Unless of course, Jessica starts strip teasing,” the woman looked at Sica who suddenly flinched at her comment, a bit of her heart insulted. Her words pierced her ears repeatedly, as if telling her that Onew really would not touch Jessica simply because he didn’t like to. Sica knew this was untrue, but somehow, it still hurt---coming from someone Jessica Jung almost treated like a real sister.

Sooyoung noticed how she thought clearly her words. “Am I right, Sica?”

Jessica smiled pleasurably in reply, hearing the intro music start. “Aish, you don’t know anything, dear. Best not to just in.”

The tune started, and Tiffany gave her flirtatious wink to an empty audience. Jessica was at the right side in front, Sooyoung behind her. Yoon, Seohyun and Hyoyeon were also settled behind, while the other five stayed face.

“Just like how we practiced ladies,” Taeyeon led the group, singing the first verse.

Seohyun got lost with the parts, lines, and steps, a lot worse than how the other girls expected her to project. Tiffany stopped the music. Being the maknae, Seohyun hastily apologized to the girls, who were instructing her of sitting down for a while or taking a stroll by the shores.

“Can I, unnie?” wondered Seohyun.

Taeyeon looked at the others concurring looks, so she nodded. “Go on, dear. I know you’re still tired from the travel.”

“I travel farther and she gets to rest?” complained Sunny, folding her arms.

Everybody laughed, their amusement fading in her ears as she walked barefooted on the perfectly white sand of the beach. The sea was so joyous that day, the way it pounced from wave to wave, moving across the ends of the shoreline, dragging with it the sand. It was the only sound she heard, the calling of the sea. Maybe she was a mermaid destined to go underwater. Oh, she would love to jump in and enjoy the free sunshine.

She stared at the straight horizon, in faint thought about Kyuhyun once again. Somehow, the more she knew that they were going to see each other again, the more chances of thinking that they were just mere strangers or batch mates of the said party. But her heart wouldn’t stop from being rather swift during that minute, pulse rate extensively speeding up. She didn’t know why, but it just did. Seohyun closed her eyes, pretending that it was nothing. Her hearing was active, only the crashing of waves in front of her moved her surroundings. That until the sound changed into a melody, into a simply piano piece, where his voice was heard, the deepness and strength of his voice brought her to the time where she had been treated to a weekend in one of his mother’s resorts.

Her I-pod was on shuffle then, and one of his songs played. She remembered calling him that time to come and eat first before swimming, but Kyuhyun was feisty. He did not intend to go back; swimming was much more fun. With a kiss on the lips, Seohyun didn’t want to reprimand him anymore. If she considered having the whole beach reserved private just for the two of them, then it was definitely worth it. For she hadn’t realized his hands were already on her , slowly taking off the cloth that covered her two-piece bikini. Embarrassed then, she pushed him away, while he simply laughed and apologized for being uncontrollable...

That lurked memory in her mind suddenly made her feel so sad. As she popped her eyes open, the sea still vigorously blew at her, wind kissing her pale skin.

“Kyuhyun-sshi!”

Seohyun hadn’t realized of the tear that fell from her eyes, pain throbbing as she heard his name more clearly. Why were her dreams so vivid? With the pain, she turned around and saw where all the commotion was.

Heechul and Siwon were both calling Kyuhyun from afar. Seohyun’s heart raced against the speed of light when she saw him smirk at them, plodding towards them and somewhat hauling in some sand in between his toes. She heard him shout ‘You found me! Thank you!’. She hadn’t noticed that he too was taking a few breathes of his own; he didn’t even see her with him there, didn’t even take in her presence on the seashore. They were about ten meters away. If they had seen each other, she could have talked about so many things to him openly. She could have asked about the house and if he was going to hire a housekeeper to take care of it because it would be ugly if he neglected it.

Bravely fixing on the thought of nearing him, Seohyun started walking towards the boys, sighing as she nervously thought some reserved dialogues.

“Hyun,” she did not expect to hear this voice oh so quickly. “We still need to practice Banmal song.”

Seohyun found Yonghwa already right in front of her, waiting for her return to the cottage. She smiled unwaveringly, facing him now and bowing her head in apology. “I’m sorry for being a burden, Yong-oppa.”

“You’re prettier with your hair curly,” Yonghwa grinned, disheveling her wavy hair. “Aish, come on.”

Seohyun nodded, as he held her hands into his, the two of them walking typically back to their cottage. With due comparisons, Kyuhyun was an exact opposite. He preferred her hair to be very straight, until the very ends of each, not a single fold in them, not a piece of hair left untouched by the iron. They were indeed two individuals with different personalities.

But how could she be thinking of another man when she was with Yong now? She was very much happy with him so why bother keeping in touch with the past. She must learn how to move on.

“What were you doing here?” Heenim asked Kyuhyun, who quietly stared at the clear sky.

He on the other hand coped up with this fact so appallingly that it burned his heart to bits. His view shifted to where Seohyun was staying, now already hands locked with her soon-to-be husband sometime this year. The other half of his heart told him to let go more efficiently, she was out of his hands now, she was free. If he clung to her too tightly, she would surely wish to break free.

Kyuhyun sighed. “Wondering what it would be like if earth lost all of its air. What would you think...would the earth feel? Would earth be just as lonely?”

The two men laughed at the metaphor Kyuhyun had in mind, little that they know it was connected to his own self. Heenim was first to answer this.

“Everything, everything living on earth, would die naturally if all the air disappeared.”

“God will not let that happen,” Siwon added.

Heenim rolled his eyes. “Again with you and God.”

“That’s why you and Sohee-ah don’t have kids,” Siwon retorted, laughing. “You don’t believe in God.”

“I believe in me and my wife,” Heechul replied. “Daebak! Now you understand?”

Kyuhyun looked down now, as the three of them walked back to one of the practice rooms to get Why I Like You and It’s You (because each group had to prepare another extra presentation, in case they won the award) finished at once. Heechul was indeed correct. Everything inside of him died along with her desertion. What made him even sicker was the fact that she moved from one to another so easily...as if it hadn’t hurt him long before. Everything inside of him just faded, no life to live by because all of his love ran out.

Kyuhyun was rather surprised to see her strolling by the shores alone, fiddling with her fingers again and at times looking at the skies. His leisure time was saved by this angel, for he found it amusing to see her just stand and look like she was praying. A smile crawled to her face as she closed her eyes but afterwards, he saw how her emotions shifted from joy to extreme pain. He saw the teardrop that fell on her face, even when she was a bit far.

That should have been him there, holding and kissing Seohyun’s head as the two of them passionately walked by the shore. Where had the love gone?

Today, she was beautiful, except maybe the hair. Too beautiful that he wanted to talk to her if he still even has the guts and charisma to do it...but his hyungs called him and it was time to get into business.

-o0o-

The area was huge, the breeze from the ocean blowing in. Some of the performers were already wearing their outfit for their show, ready and nervous about the contest. The program began with a silent prayer, as the manager of the resort relayed his message for everyone.

In one table sat Heechul with his wife at his right, and on his left was his Chinese friend Hangeng, already bespectacled after eleven years of not seeing each other. As far as being 33, he was still a bachelor. Sitting beside Hangeng was their friend Siwon, also un-partnered that night because of Stella’s departure for her review. Donghae and Sunye were sitting close to each other, holding hands and speaking in hush tones. As for Yesung, he was busily complaining to Choonhee about a rash by his neck. The wife hurriedly looked, punching him when she found out this as another excuse to get her close to him. She even muttered ‘ert’.

Whereas the other table was filled by the rest of the boys, Eeteuk and his wife were on one corner. Sungmin and a bleached blonde-haired Sunny, plus Jinhye were sitting with them. Ryeowook and Beige were both preparing tensely about their duet later on, blowing and making hooting noises. Kyuhyun was out of place, noticing that the rest were coupled with each other. He should have just sat next to Heenim and the others. That wa