Shin Se Kyung

Obnoxious turbulence broke Onew’s unpleasant sleep on the plane. It was quite nearly impossible to catch any sleep in the uncomfortable plane seats, and this turbulence was certainly not helping the issue. Suddenly the pilot announced over the speakers, “There is a possibility we may encounter more turbulence. Please stay seated, stay calm, and fasten your seats belts.”  Onew, still practically asleep, groggily clicked his clunky belt together and laid his head against the airplane window, about to doze off again.

“Don’t you think if we head into some more turbulence you should avoid laying your head on the window?” Taemin, who was sitting right next to him asked, his eyes sparkling innocently with care for his hyung.  Onew sighed and changed his position in favor of resting his head on the uncomfortable chair again. Darkness etched itself over everything outside the window, and Taemin checked his wristwatch, revealing the time to be 11:48 pm.  After a long, drawn-out day in Thailand signing an infinite number of autographs, would they ever be able to get a good night of sleep?

Taemin stared off into the distance; Minho was directly in front of him in the next row of seats.  Taemin wondered if his tallest hyung was asleep yet.  Unfortunately, his seat belt prevented him of figuring that out.  Instead, he peered across to where Key and Jonghyun were sitting. Earphones were perched inside Jonghyun’s ears, and Key’s consciousness was weaving in and out of their current reality.  Everyone was quite exhausted. 

Without warning, the plane entered some really bumpy turbulence which caused everyone who was sleeping to bolt upright awake.  One of their managers turned around and inquired, “Is everyone okay?” concern evident upon her face.  Minho turned around from his seat to take a glance at the other members; Key responded, “Yes, everyone is fine, manager,” and drifted back to sleep.

1:32 pm. Key awoke rubbing his eyes sleepily and looked across the aisle at the other members, who were fast asleep. He glanced beside himself at Jong, who still had his earphones in. Jong noticed Key looking at him from his peripheral vision and turned to meet his gaze. Key took the opportunity to ask his friend, “Still awake?”

“Unfortunately…” Jong took the earphones out of his ears and started yawning to pop them.  Jong changed the position his head was in, laying it instead to the left, facing Key.  Key kept his eyes trailed forward, opening and closing them in random intervals. Jong stared at Key in deep thought for a while and then at last decided to break the comfortably shared silence.

“Key…” Key glanced at Jong to his right. Jong’s puppy dog eyes always got him... “I-I have something to tell you…”

Key tilted his head and creased his eyebrows in curiosity.

“I haven’t told anyone this yet…” despite himself, much nervousness crept into Jong’s tone.

Why was Jong being so uneasy about this? He’d shared many things with him before; why the nervousness now, all of a sudden? 

It took Jong ten full seconds to get out, “I met someone a couple weeks ago. Her name is Shin Se Kyung.  I really like her… I think she might be the one.” Key felt as though he’d just received a roundhouse kick to the chest, shock, sorrow, and hurt streaking through his veins.  His eyes glistened with urging tears, but he forced himself to snap out of it quickly.  Did Jonghyun not remember?

“You -- you think she’s the one?” Key kept his mask cool and natural; the last thing he wanted was Jong to realize how truly affected he was by this news, his heart shattered.

“I haven’t met someone as amazing as her before.”  Key felt as though Jong had just conjured a butcher knife out of thin air and stabbed him cruelly in the chest. He looked away, his eyes fixed unwaveringly on a stain on the plane’s carpeted aisle.

“You’ll have to meet her sometime.” Jong sat back in his chair getting comfortable; he allowed his eyes to shut for the first time the whole flight, as though he’d finally got something heavy off his chest that’d been sitting there some time. Key thought he’d been tired before, but now he was simply exhausted, like fate had just punched him in the gut and knocked all the wind out of him. Why did it have to be this way? He should’ve acted quicker to claim Jong. The sorrow and anger overwhelmed him and he quietly cried himself to sleep.