chapter five

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Sa-rang hummed silently to herself as she made tea in my apartment. I watched her as she gently poured the tea into the small tea-cups that I hardly used. She handed me a cup and sat down beside me on the sofa, “You’ve been so uptight without me, Jong-dae. We need to do more things to loosen up those old bones of yours.”

I chuckled and rolled my eyes and took a small sip from the tea-cup, “I’m not that uptight. I’m still pretty youthful, and I party—”

“Don’t lie to me! Baek-hyun told me everything about you!” Sa-rang argued and covered her ears, “If you lie to me again, I’m going to...” she locked gazes with me, “I’m going to embarrass you in public. So, you lied about four times to my face and so when we’re in public I’ll make sure to embarrass you.”

I raised an eyebrow and smiled, “Fine then, Sa-rang. Tell me about China... Did you make friends?”

She shrugged and avoided my question, “Jong-dae, what do you think about taking a trip to the beach?” I sat up, “In the winter?” Sa-rang nodded and smiled, “I think it would be cute! Come on, haven’t you seen those Korean dramas where the boy takes the girl he likes to the beach during the winter?”

I scoffed, “I’m not wasting any gas to take you to the—”

“Please, please, oppa. I’ll do anything you want!” Sa-rang pouted and pleaded. I closed my eyes and sighed, “I don’t want to do this, but I guess—”

Sa-rang clasped her hands together and squealed, “You’re definitely not going to regret this! We’re going to have so much fun! I remember going to the beach with Yixing in China.” She gasped and clasped her hand over .

I smiled and cocked my head, “Who’s Yixing?” Sa-rang’s eyes widened and she looked away, “When are we going to the beach?” I raised an eyebrow as she tried to avoid my gaze. I knew she was hiding something from me, but I couldn’t identify what it was. I shrugged and sighed, “I didn’t say we were going to go to the beach. I said I guess we could, meaning... I’m not sure if we can take a trip.”

Sa-rang snarled and punched my shoulder playfully, “You are one rude little boy. I hope you rot in hell.” I gawked, “I’m the rude one? You’re the rude one here!” Sa-rang giggled and stood up extending her arms in a long stretch as she yawned. I watched her as she lightly patted her opened mouth with her hand.

“How early did you wake up?”

She shrugged her shoulders and messily ruffled through her thick, wavy hair, “About four in the morning, I guess? I watched you sleep—not in a creepy way—and I admired how peaceful you looked, and then it took a long time for my brain to compare and contrast all the muscles in your face it takes for you to remain emotionless and cold looking compared to your happy and nice smiling sleepy self.”

I awkwardly scratched the back of my head and chortled, “I think it’s time you’ve gone back home... or wherever you came from.” Sa-rang pouted her lips and scoffed dramatically, “I’m not going back home because I am on a mission,” she grabbed the tea cup from my hand and narrowed her eyes at me, “I’m here to recreate Kim Jong-dae. The boy who made me dream.”

I stood up and laid my hands on her shoulders giving her a subtle grin, “Maybe you should go home. That Jong-dae doesn’t live here, and I’m sorry to report that he may never return.” I removed my hands and Sa-rang began to groan in frustration and stomp her feet angrily on the floor, “You’re so—”

“Mean? Cold? Harsh? Ugly? Yeah, I get that a lot. Funny story, in high school—way after you left and never came back—these girls came up to me one day and—” Sa-rang stared at me blankly with a dead look in her eyes as if she wanted to shoot laser beams and burn my face off.

Before she opened , my phone vibrated in my pocket and I quickly pressed the answer button without even looking at the caller ID.

“Kim Jong-dae, we’re all coming over to your place. Make sure you and your—uh—girlfriend are dressed... in clothes.” Baek-hyun stifled a giggle and hung up. I held my phone out from my ear and snarled, “Ugh, what a sweet, friendly call.”

Sa-rang’s eyes widened and she smiled widely, “Who called? Is someone coming over? Was it Baek-hyun?” I smirked at her and slipped my phone back into my pocket, “Yeah, it was Baek-hyun, your boyfriend. He said he and the boys were coming over so dress in something more appealing.” There was a loud chain of poundings on the door, and I made long strides to the door and Baek-hyun jumped into my arms and wrapped his legs around my waist.

“I’m so gay for you, Jong-dae!” He laughed and hopped down patting my cheek, “Don’t go around looking at other women because it makes me jealous!” I pushed Baek-hyun away from me and feigned a retching sound, “You’re a homoual, and you freely express it happily. Something is very wrong with you.”

Baek-hyun puffed out his cheeks and smiled, “You’re so adorable when you’re mean.” Sa-rang giggled off to the side and Chan-yeol walked in with Sehun following him, Luhan, Jun-myeon, Min-seok, and the list goes on with a couple of girls I never seen before.

“When you said ‘we’re coming over,’ I thought you meant the guys not the guys and their—their buddies!” Jong-dae hissed into Baek-hyun’s ear. His friend simply shrugged, “I didn’t bring my buddy so... I’m by myself on this.”

I chuckled and patted his back, “You’ll have to—” My eyes caught Chan-yeol’s and he raised an eyebrow and glanced over at Sa-rang who was chatting with Luhan the flirt. I rudely walked away from Baek-hyun and over to Chan-yeol, “How was the shift this morning without me?”

He rolled his eyes and poked his tongue at the inside part of his cheek as if he was resisting the urge to scoff at me, “It was...” he looked at me and sighed, “Truth is, the shift was boring. I didn’t laugh during the whole shift and Jun-myeon was trying to be funny. Do you know how corny his jokes are?” I snickered, “Deserves you right for being a moody brat last night.”

“Well, I was offended that you didn’t pick me up for the party, and you never told me that you were bringing that girl to it either! At least tell me these stuff instead of surprising me like I’m some normal friend.” Chan-yeol argued and looked over my shoulder, “That girl is really pretty though. How did you hook up with her?”

I laughed and waved my hand in the air, “Hook up? Me? Her? No way, Chan-yeol. She’s just my childhood friend. Trust me, I don’t go around .” Chan-yeol smirked, “Whatever you want me to believe, but I’m not going to buy it completely. Probably by the end of this month, you two will be holding hands.”

“That’s only in two weeks!”

“Friends always fall in love,” Chan-yeol replied and smiled at Sa-rang and waved. I shook my head, “Not always. I’m not gay for you, and we’re friends.” He snarled, “Shut up. I was talking about the friends that are straight which is over fifty percent of the South Korean population.”

I suppressed a laugh and a hand ran up my arm and onto my shoulder. I turned and saw Sa-rang with a flirtatious smile curling on her lips, but her eyes were staring into mine but Chan-yeol’s, “You’re that guy!” she exclaimed.

“Do you always meet people with that phrase or is that how you try to hit on guys because it never works.” I sarcastically interrupted. Sa-rang glared at me, but the anger washed from her face as her eyes concentrated back onto Chan-yeol.

I slipped away unnoticeably and Jun-myeon grabbed me by my elbow, “Where were you this morning? I didn’t get a sick call or anything from you!” I feigned my sweetest smile and chuckled, “You know, you have really pretty eyes and your voice is so darn smoothing. I could fall asleep to your voice if you just sang to me. Serenade me, Kim Jun-myeon.” My boss slapped my arm, “Stop changing the subject. I’m afraid I’ll have to cut down on your salary.”

“But I was just—”

“Kim Jong-dae!” Baek-hyun sang angrily and reached for my hand, but I quickly grabbed onto Jun-myeon’s and hid behind him.

“What are you doing?” Jun-myeon whispered, but I simply smiled and Baek-hyun’s eyebrows knitted closely together, “Jong-dae, what are you doing hiding behind Kim Jun-myeon?” I chuckled and averted my gaze to Sehun and Luhan who were talking to some of their female buddies.

“I’m trying something new. I can’t stay in a relationship with someone very long, you know?” I stuttered as I lied. Baek-hyun crossed his arms across his chest and heaved a sigh, “I’m not really gay for you, Jong-dae.”

“Yeah, I know, but you scare me with your peppy gay talk. It’s so homoual that it’s kind of scarring.” I replied. Jun-myeon began to angrily shake my hand off of his and he walked over to Min-seok glancing back at me with a worried expression on his face.

I couldn’t help but laugh at his reaction. Baek-hyun rolled his eyes and slung his arm around my neck although he was a few centimeters shorter than I, “I think that if you cleaned up some, and Sa-rang helped you out with the manner thing and flirting, you could have some girls itching to get in this place.”

I gently lifted Baek-hyun’s arm from my shoulders and smiled, “One, I don’t want to get in a relationship right now, and two, Sa-rang can’t even flirt. Have you seen her?” Baek-hyun smirked and pointed to the left where Sa-rang was her lips and playing with the strings on Chan-yeol’s hoodie twirling it around her fingers pulling him closer to her.

I felt my ears grow hot, and I gritted my teeth. Baek-hyun chuckled, “I think she gets the idea of flirting. You don’t.”

As I watched Sa-rang and Chan-yeol laugh and blush I began to feel something burning at the bottom of my chest. I looked down at my hands that were tightly clenched into tight fists and Baek-hyun laughed, “Are you jealous?”

I coughed loudly catching Chan-yeol’s and Sa-rang’s attention and rolled my eyes, “No, I’m not jealous. I’m just feeling a little... n-nauseous.”

“You’re becoming a little defensive for a guy who doesn’t care, aren’t you?” Baek-hyun sneered and chuckled walking away.