June 17, 2013

She turned to her right and saw a man, dressed in black from his hat to his shoes and he was running to cross the street and stopped in front of her smiling but it disappeared when he saw the tears coming out from her eyes.

"Myungsoo..." She looked at him, disbelieved. "Why..."

"Why are you crying?" He asked abruptly, holding her face up to have a closer look.

"It's just the dust." She lied, laughing.

"Dust?"

"Yeah, Seoul isn't as clean as our village." She laughed terribly and peeled his hands away, looking away. "That's right, what are you doing here?"

Myungsoo was still looking at her, feeling something was wrong but he decided not to pry about it just yet. "I was looking for your house."

"My house?" She asked, surprised and saw Myungsoo was smiling like an idiot.

"Yeah, but I got lost." He said, frowning through his smile.

"Why didn't you tell me you were coming?"

"I thought I wanted to give you a surprise but in the end, I lost my way but I guess I'm lucky enough that I ran into you."

"Lucky indeed..." She said, laughing wondrously."But why?"

"I got something for you." He said, smiling meaningfully. "Where were you going anyway?" He looked down on her clothes, and he cocked his eyebrow at her yellow Dooly t-shirt under her jacket and her running pants and sandals.

"I was just taking a walk." She said, sniffing, avoiding his gaze.

"A walk? Is your husband at home?"

Seul-ki's face changed. "Yeah."

"Why don't we go to your house first?"

"No!" She said, reaching out for his arm. "Um, Kim Sunggyu-sshi is busy doing his work at home, so let's not disturb him."

Myungsoo threw her a sceptical look which she didn't react to before sighing. "Fine then. Let's find a cafe and sit down so that we can talk."

Talk, Seul-ki gulped before nodding and began walking again, not even knowing where she was taking him. When she saw a cafe, she entered it and sat down opposite of Myungsoo and ordered a cup of tea while Myungsoo chose coffee for himself.

"How's your life?"

Seul-ki played with the end of her jacket under the table but her gaze was fixed on Myungsoo. "It's great."

"Really? Is he treating you well?" His tone sounded hard. She nodded. "Did you guys go for a honeymoon yet?"

She stopped fiddling with her jacket and thought hard about Myungsoo's question. "No..."

"Not yet?"

Never perhaps, she said to herself. "Yeah. Kim Sunggyu-sshi is busy. So, we're waiting for the right time." She felt awful when she had to lie to Myungsoo but she didn't feel like it was right to tell him what was happening in her marriage.

"I see. Well, perhaps you have to wait forever for that." He said, taking out an envelope. Seul-ki eyed it curiously when he slid it over the table.

"What's this?" She asked, picking it up and read her name and she then saw the name of a university at the top left corner. "It can't be..."

Myungsoo only smiled and watched as Seul-ki opened the letter hastily and read the content before she squealed and jumped in her seat. "Myungsoo!!!"

"What does it say?" Myungsoo said, pretending to not knowing the content of the letter.

"Lee Seul-ki-sshi, we are glad to inform you that your application into our university has been ACCEPTED. Ohmygodsun! I got accepted!!!" She said, laughing out loud. "I'm going to uni!"

"Well, hello, university mate."

"Yes?" She stopped laughing and looked at him dubiously.

"I got into the same university too. But I'm taking a different course of course." He chuckled. "No way I'm learning English." He made a face and watched as Seul-ki was gawking at him.

"Same uni?!"

"Yes." He said, laughing at her face.

"Oh my... I can't believe this. I thought none of the university would actually accept me but I actually got into the same uni as Myungsoo! But where is this uni?" She asked, looking at the address.

"It's about 40 minutes from here if you take the subway." He explained.

Seul-ki nodded to herself. "That's right, Myungsoo-yah, did you come here just to give me this?"

"No way. I was just taking a walk in Seoul to meet some friends." He said, with a straight face. "And I guess since you're living here, I want to pay a visit." Seul-ki looked at him and smiled, knowing well he was just pretending.

Their drinks came and they thanked the waitress before Seul-ki sipped her tea carefully, reading the letter again. She was to enroll in less than 3 weeks and she was really excited and all her worries about Sunggyu disappeared for a while. "How's Halmeoni?"

"She's doing well."

"Is she living with the Kims?"

He nodded. "Seems so. My mum kept on running into her at the market and asked how she was doing."

"Does she know I got accepted into uni?"

"Of course. I told her first. She was crying badly." He laughed.

"Halmeoni..." Seul-ki smiled to herself. "I want to go home..."

"Go home then."

"Huh?" She looked up to see Myungsoo who was making a judging look.

She smiled nervously and looked sideway but she said nothing. Somehow she knew Myungsoo knew something was off in her marriage but since it wasn't all that bad, it felt wrong to let him know, especially about the cousin part.

"Will you be staying here?" She asked, after a moment.

"I'm staying at my friend's house which is like 2 stations away." He said, drinking his coffee. "You should take me for a tour and see this place."

"A tour." She laughed nervously. She didn't even know the area since Sunggyu hadn't brought her around and upon remembering his promise, her heart sank. "Maybe later." She smiled and sipped her tea quickly. "Oh yeah! Jaejoong-sshi is making a solo comeback!"

"I heard." He chuckled.

"I'm so excited!!! Do you think he'll make a showcase? A concert maybe? Yunho and Changmin are going to hold a world tour too!" She said, excitedly. "There goes my savings!" She added, .

"That's right." Myungsoo said, smiling. "Have you been to Kim Jaejoong's cafe?"

"Coffee Cojjee! Ohmygodsun, why didn't I think about it?" She asked herself, stoned.

"Let's go there someday."

"Maybe we'll be able to meet him..." was hung opened and Myungsoo laughed a bit. "That's right. How's Yu-rim doing?"

"She's going to a beauty school, I heard."

"Woah! Is she serious about being a coordi noona?"

"Seems so." He chuckled.

"Tch. Seems like Yu-rim is a step ahead of me." Seul-ki said, biting her lips and noticed the clock on the wall. It had been almost an hour since she went out and her mind went to Sunggyu, wondering what he was doing at home. Somehow she felt like she didn't want to think about him at that time. So, she went on talking and exchanging stories with Myungsoo until it was late in the evening. They walked towards Seul-ki's apartment but since Seul-ki barely knew the way home, they eventually got lost.

"Yah, Lee Seul. You don't even know the way to your own house?" Myungsoo asked, with his alien voice.

"I-I... I still can't remember the roads well." She said, looking around her. The sun was sinking low and she was feeling anxious when she noticed that none of the landmarks were familiar.

"We're lost, aren't we?" Myungsoo asked, before whining and made a miserable face.

"Shut up! I'm trying to remember." Seul-ki scolded him and looked at the tall buildings. She couldn't even remember how Sunggyu's apartment looked like and they all appealed as the same to her. Suddenly, a car sounded its honk next to them and she saw as Dongwoo was waving at her.

"Seul-ki!" He said, excitedly. "What are you doing here? Ho? Isn't this your friend from the country?" Dongwoo asked, excitedly.

"Dried squid man." Myungsoo commented, with flat tone.

"Yeah, that was me!" He laughed uncontrollably. "So where are you guys going?"

Seul-ki explained the situation and Dongwoo was laughing hard again. "Hop in, I'll drop you there."

They got into the van; Seul-ki sitting at the front seat while Myungsoo sitting quietly at the back.

"Lee Seul-ki." Dongwoo called, with a whispering voice.

"Um?" She looked at him, a bit surprised.

"What's this thing about cousin thing between you and Sunggyu-hyung? Why are the kids saying that you're hyung's cousin?" He asked; his voice still hushed. Seul-ki glanced nervously at Myungsoo who was furrowing at the back, clearly had heard everything that Dongwoo said.

"What cousin thing?" He snapped.

Dongwoo widened his eyes and slapped his mouth.

"Lee Seul." He said, with that tone which meant that he demands a clear answer.

"It's just a game that Sunggyu-sshi and I are playing. We're pretending that we are cousins instead of spouse to um, trick his friends." She said, laughing.

"Really?" Dongwoo asked, turning to her in disbelieved.

"Yeah. See? Even Dongwoo-sshi doesn't know about it."

"That's a weird game. Do you think it's an appropriate game to play?" Myungsoo nagged endlessly.

"It's just for fun. We'll let them know later to give them a surprise." She said, laughing loudly and sounded so unnatural, though she was wishing hard that Myungsoo wouldn't suspect anything.

"Really now! I didn't even know about that." Dongwoo said, tilting his head, laughing a bit. "Sunggyu-hyung is keeping too many things from me these days."

Seul-ki laughed again and tried looking at Myungsoo who only glared at her. She turned to the front and gulped before Dongwoo stopped his car in front of her apartment. They got off the van and thanked Dongwoo before waving him goodbye. Myungsoo reached for her cheek soon after Dongwoo left and startled her. She looked up worriedly at Myungsoo who was making a grim face while her cheek softly, right at the spot where Sunggyu slapped her.

"Did he hit you?" Seul-ki stomach twisted badly and she felt like throwing up but she smiled and shook her head.

"What are you talking about?" She asked, peeling his hand.

"Lee Seul."

"It's nothing."

"I told you I'll chop him up if he hurts you."

"It wasn't Kim Sunggyu-sshi's fault. It was mine."

"Still," He sighed. "I don't like this."

"I got beaten up many times before, Myungsoo-yah. This is nothing." She said, smiling nervously. "And it wasn't his fault. I was being disrespectful. That is why..."

"If it happens again, I won't let it slip easily." He said, with a hardened tone.

"Um." She didn't feel like looking up at Myungsoo and thought of how she was going to face Sunggyu again. She still felt disappointed in him but she knew her words were wrong as well.

"Lee Seul what are you not telling me?"

"Tell you what?" She asked, pretending.

"Is that game even real?" He asked, worriedly.

"Of course it is. So, Myungsoo has to play along or I'll hate you forever." She said, smiling evilly. Myungsoo wasn't convinced but he sighed and patted her head, making a mess of her hair. She didn't complain but she laughed before she stopped abruptly.

"Let me know if there's something, okay? I'm only 2 stations away so give me a call if you need me." He said, slapping her forehead gently when he noticed Seul-ki wasn't paying any attention. He turned to where she was looking at and saw Sunggyu standing near the entrance with a straight face but if you study his eyes carefully, they were full of fury.