September 29, 2013

Myungsoo was watching Seul-ki with the corner of his eyes, and although he was holding a magazine, he wasn't really reading anything and when he saw how she was smiling to herself, he rolled his eyes and smiled mockingly. Seul-ki's eyes were fixed on the camera screen, scrolling pictures after pictures and she found herself smiling widely every time she stopped at a picture of Sunggyu.

"Be careful with that." Myungsoo suddenly said, frowning when Seul-ki began squirming out of nowhere. Seul-ki made a face and squeezed her eyes.

"I know."

"And stop making such a scary face." He said, scoffing. "Are you done? I need that back."

"So stingy! I've yet to transfer the files! Can't you wait? It's not as if you have a class after this."

"Just do it quickly. I don't trust your hands handling my camera."

"I got it! I got it!" She said, raising her voice. "I will transfer the files now. Aish. Why is your mouth like an ahjumma's these days..." Myungsoo glared at her though she was the least affected and went on transferring the files from his camera into her laptop. "Myungsoo's pictures are nice." She said absentmindedly, after a moment of silence, as she went through the pictures again.

"You mean, pictures of Kim Sunggyu."

"I didn't say that!" She retorted, her ears getting a little red.

"Sure." He said, snickering and clacked his tongue. "When you look at his pictures, it's just like the way you look at TVXQ's photos. With your eyes this big and you will have this stupid smile on your face." He said, widening his eyes and then he laughed when he saw Seul-ki narrowing her eyes.

"Very funny."

"I know." Seul-ki rolled her eyes and when the files had all been transferred, she ejected Myungsoo's camera and handed it back to him. Myungsoo took a piece of cloth and started to wipe the camera here and there, with a serious face. "Are you by the way going to make posters out of Kim Sunggyu's pictures I took?"

"Yah!" She screamed. "Why would I do that!"

"Who knows." He laughed mockingly. "What time do we meet tomorrow for the concert?"

"Two at the subway station."

"But it will start at 6." He said, ridiculing her.

"We need to get in line as early as we can!"

"But we're sitting."

"I need to look around at the merchandise!"

"Fine!" He moaned and got up from the chair he was sitting on, and slung his camera bag across his shoulder. "At two then. Does your husband know about the concert?"

She nodded. "I told him a few days ago."

"Did he ask you where did you get the money to buy the ticket?"

"I told him I won a contest." She said, sniffing and rubbing her nose.

"A contest?" He laughed. "You don't even have enough luck to win a lucky draw to win a pack of tissues."

"Well I can't tell him that I borrow Myungsoo's money..." She said, pouting miserably. "I'll pay you back, soon."

"I know. You're my regular customer anyway. Well, I'm going first." He said, getting up from his seat.

"Where? You don't have class, right?"

"Why would you care?"

"Because I'm your friend."

"Not telling."

"Yah!"

"I'm going to Coffee Cojjee." He said, with a wide grin.

"No!" She stood up and grabbed his camera bag, startling him so much. "You can't go without me!"

"Why can't I?" He asked, trying to peel her fingers off his bag. "Yah, you're going to drop the camera!"

"You can't go without me!" She repeated, with a more desperate face. "What if Kim Jaejoong is there and he notices you and falls in love with you!"

"For the 1000th times, I'm telling you, I am not gay!" Myungsoo said, freaking out.

"Still!"

"I am not going there. I'm going someplace else."

"Where."

"Somewhere."

"With whom."

"Someone."

Seul-ki slowly let of his bag and looked at her friend carefully, blinking actively. "Date?" Myungsoo said nothing but he looked up to avoid her gaze and without any answer, he sprinted away, leaving Seul-ki confused. "Date... Isn't it... Aish, our Myungsoo is all grown up." She sighed, smiling and picked up her bag and headed for her next class.

When Seul-ki got home that evening, she immediately changed into something comfortable and lay down on her stomach while turning on her laptop. She then clicked on the folder of the pictures that Myungsoo took during the beach trip but after just a couple of pictures, Woohyun appeared at the door, with a sleepy face.

"Oh, Woohyun-sshi."

"You're home." He said groggily and sat down next to her and narrowed his eyes to have a look of what Seul-ki was looking at, "Are those pictures from the beach trip?"

"Uh-huh." She smiled and nodded and watched as Woohyun produced something from his pocket. Then Seul-ki realised that he was wearing his jeans from last night, and wondered if he had fallen asleep in those. Woohyun put down an envelope on the floor and slid it over to her. "What is this?"

"Your payment for patching the dolls' eyes."

"OH!" She sat up and hurriedly picked up the envelope and peered inside and smiled widely at the cash inside it, although it was nothing much. Then, she brought the envelope upside down and counted some amount and put it down on the floor and slid it over to Woohyun who watched questioningly.

"What's this?"

"The payment for the shoes Woohyun-sshi bought for me."

"I told you I was going to buy them for you. You lost your shoes because of me."

"But it was only one of the pair, so this is the payment for the other shoe." She said, beaming. Woohyun looked at her, feeling amused.

"You're so persistent."

"It's only fair. Besides, old people keep on saying it, that you should not buy shoes for other people." She said, looking thoughtful as she couldn't recall the reason behind the myth.

"Yes, that is when you do not want the person to walk away from you." He chuckled. "Does this mean Seul-ki doesn't want to walk away from me?"

"Is that really the reason?" She asked, looking nervous.

"Uh-huh." He said, and quickly grabbed the money on the floor. "So Seul-ki won't ever walk away. This is great." He laughed and Seul-ki smiled nervously, getting on her stomach again but then she almost freaked out when Woohyun got onto his stomach as well, next to her, with his face only a few inches away.

"I look handsome. Oh, I look cute in this." He said, with a faint smirk when he pressed for the next picture. Seul-ki laughed nervously and fixed her gaze on the screen, asking herself whether she should get up because of the uncomfortable proximity. "I am really photogenic, am I? Comparing to the other kids. Comparing to Gyu-hyung."

"Sunggyu-sshi's pictures are nice." She said, without thinking and Woohyun immediately turned his face towards her, and a smile crept across his face, making her nervous. "I mean, everyone's pictures are nice. Myungsoo is good at taking pictures anyway. Hahaha."

"Of course." He said, laughing a bit, turning his gaze back to the screen and pressed the next button to see all the pictures. "This brings back memory, honestly."

"What memory?"

"Just an old memory." He said, pouting a bit. "When we started out in uni as freshmen, we made a trip to the beach once." Seul-ki pulled back her lips, waiting for him to continue on. "Gyu-hyung, me, Youngeun, Howon, Sungyeol and Dongwoo whose driving weren't very good at that time." He laughed and made a weird squeaking sound.

"Who is Youngeun?" Her voice was really curious, as Woohyun had observed.

"Ah. She was Gyu-hyung's past girlfriend."

"Oh." Seul-ki felt something in heart just dropped at that moment, just as she dropped her gaze down on the keyboard. "Where is she now?"

"Um... Remember when I said she came back? I am not sure but she's around, I guess." He said, shrugging a little. "I wonder if hyung is contacting her nowadays?"

Seul-ki was awfully quiet, and her heart began beating a bit faster. "Why did they break up?"

"They never did."

"What does that mean?"

"Well, Youngeun left suddenly two years ago, just a couple of months after they started dating. I heard from Dongwoo that it got something to do with her family and debts but I'm not too sure. But Gyu-hyung and Youngeun never did break up."

"Oh..." Seul-ki's gaze were following the letter T to V to F to X to Q on the keyboard repeatedly, trying not to think too much but was faster to ask her next question. "How much did Sunggyu-sshi like her...?"

"He loved her." He said, looking up ahead him, beyond the laptop, at the posters on the wall. "Although they had known each other before uni even started, there was nothing official. They were friends, close friends, for years before they made it so."

"I see..."

"I think that they should really get back together since Sunggyu-hyung never did get over her during the period she was gone but I don't know. He seemed angry when I told him about it."

"Does Woohyun-sshi think that Sunggyu-sshi still like her?"She asked, quietly.

Woohyun turned his face to Seul-ki again, who was still having her face down, and he noticed that she might have looked a bit pale. "I'm not sure. Why?"

"Nothing." She said, shaking her head and smiled nervously, and got up quickly. "