I'M BAACK! - Jiyongchy

 

I wake up to the bouncing of my king size bed. I keep my eyes shut, hoping that the bouncing is just in my dream. I couldn’t sleep last night with the idol’s pleading face repeating in my head. I couldn’t empty my head, with the idol’s scent filling my memory.

 

I dreamt last night that the idol appears before me with doe eyed princess on his side. The princess look happy and young as she giggles to whatever he says. The idol looks radiant and satisfied as he smiles lovingly at the princess. Both look like they’re in a bliss and I am simply a bystander in their love story.

 

I grunt, annoyed that the bouncing of my bed doesn’t stop. As I growl and trash around, I hear a soft voice chuckling and the bouncing becomes more severe that at one point, I had my up in the air.

 

“YA!!” I take off my eye mask in anger only to be met by Mika’s glowing face.

 

“ANNYEONG CHINGGU-YA!!” She sings.

 

“AAACK!!!” I scream, surprise by the morning intrusion.

 

“Aish… I look pretty, why are you screaming!” She slaps my arm.

 

“What are you doing here??!!” I pull my blanket to my chest.

 

“Waking you up” She answers stupidly.

 

“What’s going on?” I look around my room, scared that there might be someone else lurking around.

 

“I want to take you out” She says.

 

“Out?” I rub my face to wake myself up.

 

“Yeah… let’s go out” She pulls my blanket off me.

 

I snatch the blanket back and cover myself, “How did you get in?”

 

She puffs her cheeks, “I’m your best friend. Everyone in this house knows who I am. Do I really need your permission to get in?”

 

“No, I mean my room. How did you get into my room?”

 

“Oh. I told your housekeeper to unlock it for me” She shrugs.

 

I sighs, “I need to fire her…”

 

“WHAT! Andwei! I like her!” She pouts, “Come on, don’t be a sour baby! Let’s have fun today, ok?”

 

“I can’t, Mika… I have plans for today” I give her an apologetic look.

 

She stiffens, “With who? Junsu again?”

 

I nod.

 

She throws one of my pillows across the room, “WHAT THE HECK IS WRONG WITH YOU?!!”

 

“What?” I am surprise by the sudden hostility.

 

“You know what he did to you!! Why are you hanging out with him now?!!!” She yells.

 

“He said sorry and explained everything” I explain, “And… he’s not that bad”

 

“He’s not that bad?! Are you insane?! Andwei! No! I forbid you on hanging out with him today!”

 

“Ya! You can’t do that! I already promised him!”

 

“So, you pick him over me?!” She grabs her chest and her face shows pain.

 

I sigh, “Mika… it’s not that… it’s just…” How do I explain to her that I don’t want to be around her for the time being because I know that somehow she will mention the idol’s name and open back my wound.

 

“Dakcheo! Just admit that you no longer regard me as your best friend!” She begins to whine.

 

“Mika-ya…” I get closer but she scoots away.

 

“Whatever… just hang out with that Junsu guy. Just forget about me” She turns her body and starts sobbing. Her shoulder moves up and down with her ragged breathing.

 

I panic. I never once made Mika cry. “Okay, okay, okay! Please stop crying! I’ll cancel my plan with Junsu!”

 

I quickly grab my phone and dial Junsu’s number hastily. After the second ring, he picks up with a sleepy voice.

 

“Yeobuseyo, Junsu-ah” I greet quickly.

 

“Ne~ calling me this early... wae?” He replies as he yawns.

 

“I need to cancel our plan for today” I say softly, feeling sorry for canceling.

 

“Mwo?!!”

 

“Yeah… Mika wants me to accompany her… it’s an emergency thing…” I explain.

 

“Oh… Mika? So you’ll be spending the day with Mika?” He confirms.

 

“Yeah… You know Mika, don’t you?”

 

“Yes, of course. Your best friend” His voice softens, “Say hi to her for me”

 

“I will. Thanks for understanding, Junsu-ah…”

 

“No worries… But I’ll see you tomorrow, right?” He reconfirms.

 

“Yeah, of course. Tomorrow we’ll meet” I verify.

 

“Arraso… Have fun today… Take care of yourself… I’ll call you from time to time” He says sweetly.

 

“Ne~ Annyeong” I quickly end the call.

 

I crawl across the bed, towards the sobbing Mika. Somehow her shoulders are no longer trembling as crazy as before. Her hands are covering her face with occasional sniffling from her.

 

“Mika-ya… I already cancel the plan. Don’t cry anymore, please… Where are we going?” I cooed.

 

“You already told Junsu off?” Her voice cracks.

 

“I did... today it’s just you and me, no Junsu” I rub her shoulder.

 

Suddenly she turns. Her hands no longer covers her face and it shows her perfectly clean eyes. No tears, not even a little. Her face is bright and lively with perfectly applied eyeliner and mascara, no smudge. “ASSA!!!!”

 

“Mwo?!!!”

 

“Let’s go shower!!” She pushes me out of my bed into my bathroom and closed the door firmly.

 

What the heck?! I thought she was crying a second ago!!

 

***

 

I button up the last button of my Theory denim shirt. I’ve had this shirt for months but I never wear them. I mean where the heck am I going to wear a denim shirt anyway?! I grumble as I tuck the shirt inside my jeans. Yes, jeans. I’m also wearing jeans! Ugh… From the moment I put on this outfit, I know today is going to be a bad day…

 

 

“Why are you tucking it in!!” Mika shrieks.

 

“I already wear what you picked me, so don’t even try to complain about how I wear them” I hiss.

 

“Aish… I was thinking of pulling your shirt up and make tie in the middle, showing off your flat abs!” She rubs my stomach.

 

“Ya! Stop it!” I slap her hand away.

 

She giggles, “You’re so grumpy!”

 

“Thanks to you” I murmur.

 

“Hey you bought these stuff yourself!” She blames me.

 

“An ex-friend gave me this shirt!” I protest. It's her fault for picking up such filth.

 

“An ex-friend?”

 

“Yeah. There’s this girl in Frisco. She ditched our gang because she couldn’t keep up financially. It’s good that she had the dignity to kick herself out, really” I remember her. I notices her running out of money but before I could say anything she was gone.

 

“And the jeans?” Mika points at the boyfriend-fit Rag and Bone jeans I have on.

 

“I bought this jeans because I went into a wrong store! I can’t not buy something before I leave!” I reason. How rude would I be if I enter a store and went out empty handed?

 

“Wrong store?”

 

“Yeah, I went into this denim store, I thought they sell books”

 

Mika falls down in laughter, “Books?!”

 

I shrug, “They had books in their window display”

 

Mika laughs louder.

 

***

 

I secure my seatbelt as Mika put the gear into life. She hums some tunes as she beams her smile at everyone in my home; my maids and my securities. She waves goodbye before zoom out of the gate. Up until this second, I still have no idea where she’s taking me. But from the way I dress, I know it’s not going to be about chaebol.

 

“I hope you’re not taking me to YG” I blurt. I just want her to know that I intend to cut all ties with that world.

 

She tenses but doesn’t answer. She simply drives and stare a head as if she didn’t hear my question.

 

“You know what happened…” I add. I know she knows. I may not have told her, but she was there. People there must’ve told her. The fact that she keeps on contacting me afterwards says it all.

 

Suddenly, she turns the car to the curb without giving me even a slight warning, making me yelp in surprise. She parks it hastily before she takes off her seatbelt and turns her body to me, resting her right knee on top of the seat. “I heard what happened…”

 

“I know but I don’t want to talk about it” I quickly cut her. My heart is still a mess. A week doesn’t cure it at all. It may blur it, but I could still feel the sting. Talking about it will only resurface everything.

 

“I don’t need you to talk about it. I gave you a week off, to spend your time with that . But now, you need to come back to me, be my best friend”

 

“I am always your best friend! I just--”

 

She raises her hand to cut me off, “I need you to be my best friend now, today.”

 

I stare at her, wondering what she wants and what she means by her words. I know my face must’ve shown confusion because after a minute, she sighs and begin to explain the reason of why I am needed now, today, in this exact date, as her best friend and her supporter.

 

“I met Seunghyun oppa when I went to BigBang’s concert. The moment I saw him, I felt some jolt inside me and I knew then that he’s something else. We begin to talk and we clicked. Our weirdness, our interests, they all match. I knew he felt the same way but for months our relationship goes nowhere. We only talked when Jiyong oppa took me to hang out with his friends, even though he got my number from the first time we talked.” She sighed, raking her hair. “Finally, I gave in. I thought I should take the ball and roll it. So I went bold and kiss him one day. But he didn’t kiss me back, he just stand still like he was struck by lightning. It hurts… Really bad. So I decided to ignore him even though deep down I know he felt the same way. It was in that club that we went when you first got back that I finally met him again. I was drunk and in the car I began to sob. Apparently, my crying set him off edge and he finally admitted his feelings for me.”

 

I smile genuinely. What a beautiful love story she has. She works for what she wants and she finally got it. That’s the way the world should spins so everyo