Chapter 19: “Horrified looks from everyone in the room but I’m only looking at you- Taylor Swift”

-o0o-

Before they knew it, the results passed, none of the heroes in this story received the best group category, although for the duets, Yesung and Choonhee received first prize, Ryeowook and Beige earning second.

The others so far, enjoyed their vacation, the rest of them going back to business anyway the following day.

It would seem time flew so swift; as another month passed them, it was almost July, volunteers month for the doctors of Incheon Medical Hospital, the biggest hospital in town. They were already preparing for it.

The new drama All for You by WaeGyun, consisting of twenty episodes so far, was released for the first time, and press conferences were held to show how much support it was getting from fans of Yeeun and Kibum’s couple. They were already nominated for the Best Couple Award in the Seoul Film Drama Awards, and Yoona, to her amazement, was nominated for Best Actress, after her villainous acting in the series.

For Yesung and Choonhee, the classes were already over, resuming still in September. Daeyung offered summer lessons on the violin, the couple interested still in imparting their knowledge to the rest of the young minds.

One afternoon that faint last week of June, Choonhee was surprised that someone, despite how early it was, was already waiting on her by the receiving area to enlist her daughter for Violin Class. She smiled when she entered, her flowery dress loosely flowing down her tummy, seemingly diminishing the fat.

Choonhee held her hand out to greet the lady, her eyes already showing alliance of wealth and beauty. She seemed affluent indeed, her clothes causing her to look older than her real age. Her brunette hair was long, squaring around her appealing face.

They shook hands, Choonhee in wonder. “How...may I help you?’

She grinned. “I’m...waiting for Kim Jongwoon. Is...Yesung-sshi ready?”

Choonhee’s eyebrows rose in bafflement, first time it was that a woman went looking for her husband. Just surprisingly, Yesung came out from their living room, formally dressed for an affair Choonhee was not even involved. Her heart pounded heavily, making her sigh so loud it made Yesung vigilant of his wife’s inside thoughts.

He bowed his head, loosening his wrists when Choonhee stared at him. Being the wife in the story, she cleared when Yesung approached the other woman first, smiling at her first, and hugging her first.

“Yesung-sshi, I missed you,” the girl said aloud.

Choonhee rolled her eyes, incensed that she continued clearing .

“Ah, Choonhee-ah, this is Moon Geun Young,” Yesung introduced. “She was a major in Theatre same year as us, and she’s was a minor in Music. We met a couple of times before, and we’re going to meet some of the voice major sunbaes tonight. They said that they would be investing on our school, so that it’d expand even bigger. We won’t just provide music abilities but also the education preschool itself that kids need efficiently. They will hire more teachers to help, specialized in subjects we aren’t.”

Choonhee crossed her arms by her chest. “And?”

“And...we’re planning to go now,” Yesung stated numbly, smiling at her. “I did tell you that last night.”

“Shouldn’t I be the one to accompany you?” Choonhee asked, eyeing the other woman in discontent. “I too am the owner of this school, right?”

Yesung clapped his hands happily, shaking Choonhee’s shoulder as if to encourage her. “That’s right. Which is why you get to stay and wait for some parents who wish to enroll in the school for summer. Get it? I go to handle outside matters. You, being pregnant, need to stay home and take care of everything here.”

“And...When will you come back?” Choonhee asked, dead worried and insulted at his statement.

Moon Guen let out a short giggle, as she linked her arm around Yesung and hiding behind him. “I’ll be back as soon as possible.”

“You better,” warned Choonhee, pointing the pencil she had to his chin, scaring him a little.

Yesung grinned, planting a kiss on her cheek casually. “I will. I will, darling. See you in a bit. Don’t wait on me for dinner.”

“I never wait on you for dinner,” Choonhee retorted, still pissed. “I eat when I’m hungry.”

“All right,” Yesung said, satisfied as he turned his back on her, his arm supporting Moon Guen’s hand. “We’ll be off. The meeting starts at 3. See you soon, honey.” He walked out of the front porch, looking ever so dashing, holding and laughing with a woman who was not his wife, who was not Choonhee. That instantaneous moment where distrust stirred her...how could everything move so fast with just a blink of her eye? Almost every night, they would be whispering ‘I-Love-You’ until the other one fell asleep. Yesung would let his hands crawl to her belly, holding the baby so close in longing. Or at times, they would eat ramen or watch the late night shows. Or sometime they would tell stories of their lives...as if they hadn’t heard of it a million times already.

“Cha-gi-ya!” cried Choonhee with a smile from the doorway, Yesung turning around at the pet name. He waved back as well, Moon Geun suddenly facing her with those malevolent eyes that she hadn’t seen earlier from the pretty face. A frown replaced Choonhee’s bright goodbye, entering the house swiftly in fright---her heart beating just as fast.

Moon Geun might be the worst nightmare she did not want to play with.

-o0o-

Her hands were freezing at watching the scene, just like how her character would react to the two of them together. Nervously she rubbed them together, to attain heat, but it didn’t work at all. They were going to shoot a scene two episodes away from the finale of the story, Mina and Jo Seok were at war then. Just yesterday they fought, Yoona doing her best to create tears from her eyes---as Kibum shouted at her, pushing her to the wall before nearly punching her face. It was an epic scene, indeed, afterwards Kibum still emotionally attached to his character.

And now, from the background she was situated on her seat next to Leeteuk as he shouted ‘Action’.  Kibum and Yeeun were still warming up, as he took her hands into his, rubbing them to his face. Yeeun, blushing sensibly, looked away from the camera, shyly afraid that it might look too fake.

“Hyunae...I...I love you,” Kibum told her, Yeeun pulling back her hand.

“I know,” she said. “I...do too. But...we just can’t---“

Kibum stopped her speech, hastily locking his lips on hers so avidly that Yeeun’s blush became more and more evident through that shot; Eeteuk requested to switch the zoom on the other side, this time Kibum’s expression with the kiss. It was so imperfect, yet something about it made every part of the panorama down-to-earth.

“Yoona, get going.” Eeteuk suggested, Yoona engrossed with the scene, tears already forming in her eyes. She needed a little push from Eeteuk before she entered the scene behind the fake door, staring at them in jealousy and hurt. Yoona was crying, eyes already filled to the rim that she didn’t emotionally taken control of it before Teuk yelled cut once more. It was all part of the act, she reminded herself---the camera stopping finally its film on her, as Yoon sobbed silently.

She stared at Kibum and Yeeun, not stopping the two-minute kiss; Kibum was already laughing with the advantage, Yeeun also enjoying this moment, wishing it would just last.

“Guys, I yelled cut,” Leeteuk shouted again, the other two still absorbed. Yoona finally weakened with what Kibum was doing, that she sat on the floor, unable to stop her tears, but she remained quiet, until Kibum noticed her. She smiled, hoping to cover up the sadness, the moment he laid eyes on her, hurriedly the actress wiping her tears with glee.

“Hey, Yoona! You hungry? Let’s go grab lunch,” Kibum decided, leaving Yeeun to stare at the open. A minute ago, they shared something so surreal, that only she felt his lips quaver as he moved closer, holding her head to tilt against his. It was a sensation that when he let go---it was as though the whole world had stopped as well, she could barely hear a thing anymore.

She hadn’t absorbed totally what was happening before Kibum and Yoona approached her, their hands before her.

“Come on, let’s eat!” Yoona commanded, Yeeun taking her hand to stand up and bowing her head.

How weird it was, Yoona thought when they walked together to the restaurant, that Mina and herself were both stuck in critical situations she herself hadn’t realized before.

-o0o-

At the new site, Beige wore her white hard cap over her head, going over the floor plans for the innovative building Mr. Cho had requested, a future hotel owned by their company. She was entrusted with this work, completely keeping herself in identifying which materials would withstand any kind of typhoon South Korea had to face.

With a pencil, she made the necessary mistakes, replacing them with better ones she thought of and were very affordable. The budget plan for the said project was with the company’s most reliable architect Ryeowook, who came by the area that morning.

He didn’t know if she’d be surprised with the gift he brought her, but the look on Beige’s bubbly face tickled him to feel warm. Ryeowook bashfully handed the bouquet of flowers to her, plus the special card buried deep in the long stems. She smelled them with delight, thanking Ryeowook.

“These are terrific,” she commented, grinning. “You have to tell me how you could squeeze this in that tight schedule of yours.”

He laughed, just like how he always would when she joked around with how little time was in their hands. They hardly go out on dates, but in some way, Beige knew his presence was enough to gratify her needs of being with him. He took his place next to her, standing well as though it was really his spot---as though that place was reserved for him alone, just to be next to Beige.

“Say...you want to go out and have karaoke?” Wookie proposed, afraid to glance up to the woman that he kept his eyes steady on the blueprints.

Beige, also pretending to be busy, ecstatically agreed. “That would be lovely if we both had the time.”

“Time’s always on our side,” Wook related to her openly. “Tomorrow’s a Tuesday. I requested Kyuhyun-sshi to give both of us a day off.”

Beige sternly looked up, astonished. “But...it will lessen my monthly pay to about---“

He placed a finger on her lips, silencing the girl at once. “Kyuhyun’s letting this one slip. He said not to tell anyone about it, but he still will include this in our pay. He said he had never done this before to anyone except us because he owes us something. He’s the sweetest kid in the world.”

She was touched by his epic attempts, smiling she replied, “How did you bribe him to do that?”

“Bought him a new console he could play at his apartment,” Wook explained. “The game costs more than our monthly salaries combined but because he insisted, I had to give in. That’s a bargain.”

“You didn’t have to do that,” Beige said.

He shook his head, balking at the thought. “I had to, silly. I mean, we both need time for ourselves. So...how about it, Beige?”

Ryeowook tied his blindfold, holding Beige’s hand as she led him to her art class. He had no idea where she was taking him, but he knew the present he asked from her was due today. He was giggling in excitement, wanting to see the drawing she made.

“Don’t take off your fold just yet,” Beige instructed sadly, handing him the canvas. He held it closely to his chest, eager to look at the drawing. “Okay. You may see it.”

He loosened the tie, surprised as he laid eyes on the drawing of him and Luna, a lovely pair they were. He gave her consecutive bows until Beige said that it was no problem.

“Hey, that’s what friends do,” Beige told him, giggling at him.

Ryeowook grinned at the drawing. “Thank you so much. Is there anything I can do for you?”

At some point, Beige also remembered another drawing Ryeowook would surely love. She smiled, declining the offer of his return. She approached a group of canvases lying together on the floor, taking out a certain drawing behind them. It was about 12 inches squared. Her bright brown eyes glimmered shyly, away from the light as she gave Wook another piece of canvas with everyone in Dorm 13 in it, Kibummie being in the middle with that endearing smile.

Wook looked at her, mouth wide open, shocked. “What’s...this for?”

“For you,” Beige said quietly, flushing. “It’s a gift. Di