“The jealous are troublesome to others, but a torment to themselves”

~William Penn~

09 | A Night To Remember

I grew up being fascinated with watching the corny Disney animation fairytale movie, Beauty and the Beast. I was awed with the idea of a fair maiden like Belle to be able to look past those scary features of Beast’s and the terrifying personality that he possessed with years of living in bitterness for he was cast under a spell by a witch for being too proud of himself. I was even more awed when Belle later managed to unearth all his prince charming traits and fell head over heels in love with him, even before he changed back into his original handsome prince self.  As corny as it was, that was true love and I found myself clapping with glee when the prince and his maiden lived happily ever after in the end.

I have a confession to make though.

During the part where Beast was waiting anxiously for Belle at the stairs when they were about to dance together, I giggled like a small girl.

And now after Micky had asked me to the dance in front of all these people, the same thing happened. I started to giggle, just like a small child, just like I did when I was watching Beast and Belle dancing together.

I couldn’t stop it, not even when MinYoung was nudging my back painfully with her sharp elbow. If anything, my giggles became louder after that gesture from her.

I didn’t even notice that my girlish giggles seemed to be focus of everyone’s attention—everyone at the court, that is.

“Well, well, doesn’t Park Bom look too happy to go with you, Micky? She can’t stop laughing. Even a blind can see that she’s over the moon to go with you,” the announcer spoke to the microphone, making everyone around us thought that I was head over heels in love with Micky. My giggles suddenly came to a halt.

Out of the corner of my eyes, I saw how SeungHyun’s shoulders tensed up and how his perfect jaw stiffened. His eyes seemed to be boring holes to my body–emitting fire through its blazing stare.

He looked annoyed, almost angry. He couldn’t be angry at me now, could he? It wasn’t like I begged for Micky to take me to the dance. The whole thing confused me as well.

“This is boring,” SeungHyun finally said through gritted teeth, “I’m getting a shower.” Just like a boss, he turned and dashed out of the gym, deliberately pushing me out of the way with his strong shoulder as he did so. He didn’t even stop to see if I was alright, that jerk!

What the hell was his problem?

He was the one who asked MinYoung to the dance so why was he so irritated that Micky had asked me instead? Did he prefer Micky to fight with him over MinYoung? It was like the idea of me going to the dance at all angered him, like he didn’t want to see me there.

I was stumbling trying to balance myself when suddenly a pair of hands reached out to my shoulders to steady me. I looked up to see Micky smiling down at me. I smiled back, thankful that he was there to help me.

“Shower, guys! NOW!” I heard SeungHyun’s angry yell. He was standing at the exit doorway, glaring at his teammates. All the other players started to rush out of the gym, like their life depended on it, including the other three kingkas. I swear, even the coach looked frightened by his yell. However, Micky stayed rooted to where he was, with his hands still on my shoulders.

“PARK YOOCHUN!” SeungHyun bellowed. He must be really pissed since he was calling Micky by his real name. I stole a glimpse at SeungHyun and I could almost see the blaze around him. My own knees wobbled at the sight.

To my utter amazement, Micky started to chuckle. When he looked into my eyes, his eyes were dancing with laughter, like the sight of SeungHyun getting all frightening was amusing to him. I frowned at him, inquiring his thoughts through my eyes.

“In case you don’t know, Bom, you’re making our leader crazy,” he said, still chuckling, “I mean, look at him.”

What does he mean by that?

As far as I was concerned, I didn’t even do anything towards SeungHyun. He was the one who bugged me to death, intruding my mind with his annoying mischief and then asked my best friend to the dance. None of this was my fault. If anything, it was the other way around– he was the one driving me crazy. What did Micky mean by me getting SeungHyun crazy? It didn’t even make any sense.

“PARK YOOCHUN! DON’T MAKE ME COME AND GET YOU!” SeungHyun roared, like Micky taking a shower was a matter of life and death. Boy, was he pissed! I think he was about to struck Micky with a knife if the latter didn’t make a move towards the shower room now.

“Micky,” I said, my voice quivering at the thought of Micky being beaten to death by SeungHyun, “I think you really need to go shower. He might kill you if you don’t.”

Micky dropped his hands from my shoulders. Then, he glanced briefly at SeungHyun and smiled at me. “Yeah, I guess he really needs me to shower right now,” there was no mistaking that amused sound in his voice. He began to walk slowly towards the blazing, crazy SeungHyun who was burning him alive with his gaze.

Seeing that Micky was already making his way towards the exit, SeungHyun gave me a murderous glare before he dashed out and disappeared from my sight.

Micky stopped at the doorway, and turned to look at us. His eyes averted towards MinYoung and my gaze followed his eyes. MinYoung was blinking rapidly at him, probably still trying to make logic of all the things that was happening. It might be my imagination, but Micky was smiling sadly at MinYoung, like he was telling her that he was sorry for bringing me to the dance. Soon, he turned around and disappeared through the doorway.

All around us, the other students began to dissolve, leaving only me and MinYoung left on the empty court.

“I guess we’re both going to the dance, Bommie,” MinYoung said softly, her voice quivering, like she was really happy or sad, I couldn’t quite tell.

“Yeah,” my voice came out like a whisper, “I guess we are.”

“You and Micky, me and SeungHyun oppa. Who would’ve guessed, huh?” she said. I thought she sounded bitter when she was saying Micky’s name but decided to keep the thoughts to myself.

“Yeah, who would’ve guessed,” I said.

Then, together we started to laugh. Our laughter sounded forced, awkward and bitter but we kept on laughing because I know, laughing was the only thing we could do to stop ourselves from crying.

The thought of SeungHyun dancing with MinYoung–and then Micky later going to abandon me at the dance to court her and then both of them would be fighting over her while leaving me alone at the side, sipping my drinks like a loner while I stood to watch—gave a pang to my heart.

I sighed deeply. Somehow, the idea of going to the dance wasn’t as exciting anymore.

*****************

After we bade farewell at the bus stop, MinYoung left with a taxi to go home while I waited for my bus since I couldn’t really afford the taxi fare. There were a few other students waiting with me and after a few minutes, the bus came and I quickly boarded it.

The bus was empty except for a couple at the end and an old woman at the front. I took the seat by the window and was staring out when the bus started to move. All of a sudden, I heard a few knocks on the bus and the bus screeched to a sudden halt. I had to hold on to the head rest to keep myself from hitting the seats in front of me.

“You shouldn’t have done that, boy! That was dangerous!” the driver ahjusshi grumbled angrily and I looked up in confusion. There, at the front of the bus, was SeungHyun with his wet hair and flushed face. He looked out of breath, like he was running.

He couldn’t be running after this bus, could he?

I dismissed the ridiculous thought in my mind with a shook of my head. Why should he be running after this bus when he had a cool motorbike to ride home? It didn’t make any sense. I looked at him and he was glaring at me, like he was angry at me, like I had done something wrong to him.

SeungHyun started to make his way to the seats but was stopped by the driver ahjusshi’s angry yell. “Pay up first, boy!” he said. SeungHyun reached into his pocket for a few crumpled bills and forced them onto the ahjusshi’s hand. “Keep the change,” he muttered in irritation as he made his way further into the bus. He was still glaring at me so I decided to look out of the window as the bus started to move to ignore his burning eyes.

I felt his presence near my seat and I turned to look. He was standing by the empty seat beside me, still glaring at me. I would rather die than to be sitting beside him, not especially after what had happened tonight, so I put a hand protectively on the empty seat and said, “Seat’s taken.”

“By a ghost, I see,” he remarked sarcastically.

I decided to ignore his sarcasm and focused my attention back to the view outside the window. I felt him moving towards the empty seats behind and he sat on the seat exactly behind me, by the window. I felt the hairs on the nape of my neck began to rise as I could feel his burning eyes on me.

I sighed deeply. It confused me as to the reason why he boarded that bus. His house wasn’t anywhere near mine and the bus didn’t go near his neighbourhood either. I breathed deeply before turning my head to catch him staring at my back. He didn’t even flinch when I looked at him.

“Why are you here on this bus?” I asked in annoyance. I was trying to forget the image of him asking MinYoung to the dance that had been replaying in my mind and he being on the bus certainly was not helping at all.

A smirk began to replace the grim line on his lips. “Last time I check, this bus wasn’t yours,” he said. He leaned back against the seat and crossed his arm coolly over his chest, his eyes still on me.

“But you have a motorbike!” I pointed out, “And this bus didn’t go near your house. Why in the world did you board this bus?” I asked in exasperation.

He stared at me without saying a word and gritted his teeth, making his jaw stiffened. I fidgeted on my seat—on the verge of peeing in my pants—after seeing his intense glare. If looks could kill, I’d be long gone.

“Shut up, corn frog,” he said. I thought he sounded bitter but it might have been my imagination. “If you keep on talking, I will ask you to pay my 40,000 won tonight.”

I gasped. That was the reason why he was running after the bus? To get that 40,000 won from me? I couldn’t believe that he was so bitter because of money. “I-I don’t have them,” I said, “I already told you that I don’t have the money.”

SeungHyun was still burning me alive with his glare. “Well, if you don’t have them, I suggest that you shut up,” he said, “I’m not in the mood to talk right now.” There was something in his eyes and his expression was unreadable; he almost looked like an upset child.

I sighed in resignation and turned to look out of the window again. The day when I would be able to understand that crazy boy would be the day when I had become the most popular girl in school.

SeungHyun didn’t say anything else for the rest of the journey. I figured he must be sleeping since he must be exhausted from playing the game. I was sleepy as well and my eyelids began to feel heavy. I rested my head on the window, shut my eyes and soon after, I dozed off into la-la land

I was dreaming of eating all the delicious food–ice cream, cakes and steamed corns—when I suddenly felt the hard knocks on my head followed by the immense pain afterwards. The pain drove me out of sleep and I opened my eyes to stare at someone’s neck. I blinked rapidly, trying to make sure that I wasn’t dreaming. Then I realised that my head was comfortably resting on someone’s shoulder. I could smell the faint scent of wood and musk, fresh like the smell of soap.

Oh my God!

Don’t tell me that I had landed my head on someone’s shoulder?

“Wake up, sleepyhead,” the voice—a boy’s—sounded familiar.

I promptly sat up straight and tidied my messy hair. “Sorry,” I said. I brushed off the hair covering my eyes, only to look into SeungHyun’s eyes. My jaw dropped to the ground.

“Close your mouth. I’m afraid some flies would enter if you don’t,” he said and I bit my lips dumbly. “So, did you have a good sleep?” he asked, giving me a smug smile, “I heard you were saying something about ice cream.”

I felt the blood rushing to my cheeks. SeungHyun began massaging his right shoulder, the one where I had rested my head on for God knows how long.

“You—how—why—when?” I stammered. I couldn’t even find my voice, like there was a huge lump in my throat. Before I dozed off, I still remember him sitting behind me, not beside me. Since when did he come to sit beside me, I wonder. And why? He wasn’t supposed to let me rest my head on his shoulder. We weren’t even that close to begin with.

“Before I answer all those stupid questions on your mind, I need to let you know that it’s near your stop already,” he said.

I quickly looked out of the window and saw that he was right. I immediately pushed the buzzer button for the bus to stop. “How do you know?” I asked in confusion.

“I sent you back with the taxi after our sogaetting, remember?” he asked.

I felt the anger rushing over me. How could I forget? He insisted that I pay for the taxi fare after we came out of the McDonald’s but after humiliating me in front of the taxi driver when I said that I couldn’t afford the fare, he laughingly paid for the fare instead.

The bus came to a stop at the bus stop near my house and SeungHyun stood up. I thought he was giving way for me to go out but he was following me to get off the bus. The bus immediately left the bus stop and I stared at SeungHyun in confusion.

“Why are you following me?” I asked. It was obvious that he was following me. I mean, why else would he be there at the bus stop near my house. It didn’t make any sense otherwise.

SeungHyun stuffed a hand inside his pocket. “To answer all those burning questions of yours,” he said simply, smiling deviously.

“I do not have any burning questions to ask you!” I protested. It was a lie. Of course I had so many questions to ask him but it wasn’t that urgent that I need them answered that night itself. “And besides, this can wait. Just go home,” I urged him. SeungHyun didn’t budge a centimetre so I gave him a slight wave and continued to walk towards my house. I hoped he would get the hint for him to leave me alone.

Unfortunately, he didn’t. I felt his presence beside me, walking by my side, matching his strides to my pace. I gritted my teeth. “I thought I made it clear that I didn’t have any burning questions to ask you,” I said bitterly.

“You don’t but I have some questions to ask you,” he said calmly.

I narrowed my eyes at him. Then it hit me. I finally understood why he was doing all this. “You want to ask about MinYoung, don’t you? This is what it’s all about, isn’t it?” I asked. I didn’t know why I sounded so bitter.

SeungHyun left my question unanswered. Instead, he just smiled mysteriously. I didn’t want to press the matter further since I was beginning to feel annoyed whenever the thought of them together occurred in my mind. We walked side by side in the silent of the night until we finally reached the front gate of my house. I fumbled with the keys while SeungHyun leaned coolly against the wall by the gate.

I turned to face him and took a deep breath to calm myself. “Okay, I’m ready. Ask away,” I said, “Ask me everything that you’re curious about MinYoung. I’ll answer them as many as I can.”

“Excuse me?” he said instead, sounding confused, “When did I ever say that I wanted to ask about her?”

Then, it was my turn to be confused. “You asked her to the dance but you’re chasing after me, so I assume that you want to know more about her since I’m her best friend and all,” I said.

SeungHyun laughed like it was the funniest thing that he had ever heard in his life. “You really have a tiny brain like a frog,” he said in between his laughter.

I felt the anger rising from inside me. Who gave him the right to say that I have a tiny brain? I may not be the smartest girl on the planet, but I definitely wasn’t dumb. “Good night!” I said angrily and opened the front gate. I had wasted enough time entertaining him and his degrading comments. I figured that enough was enough. Taking a shower and getting a good night’s sleep would be a much better choice.

“Wait!” he said, grabbing my arm just before I was about to go inside. “I need to ask you something,” he continued. I glared down at his hand on my arm and he immediately let it go.

I turned to face him and crossed my arms across my chest. “I don’t know if I can answer your question, since I have a tiny brain and all,” I said bitterly.

Much to my dismay, SeungHyun star