All days are nights to see till I see thee,
And nights bright days when dreams do show thee to me.
~William Shakespeare, "Sonnet XLIII"~

18 | The Empty Spot

Things are changing in school. Really, it was not my imagination. At first I thought that it was but it was not. Even MinYoung felt the same way. You want to know why we felt that way?

It was because we were suddenly popular.

I kid you not.

I was no longer the unknown, average girl selling corns at night; I was already known as Park Bom. People actually remember my name and it felt weird. Before, my classmates used to call me “You” or “Oi” when trying to catch my attention; nowadays they were calling me by my real name. The weirdest part was, my blog ‘Don’t Touch My Corn’, the blog where I used to vent my anger on SeungHyun and was only attracting one reader—SeungHyun—had suddenly gained immense popularity and to date, there are 100+ comments on my post titled ‘Why I love corns’—something that would not even make any sense in my life. I seriously do not think that so many people like corns as much as I do.

It was surreal.

People kept saying how I was the luckiest girl in the world; that I had probably saved the world from aliens in my past life to be getting such good fortune. They were envious of the fact that drop dead gorgeous SeungHyun was my boyfriend, pretty boy HyunJoong was my best friend and the rest of the kingkas were close to me. They thought it was unfair that an unknown girl like me could be so lucky to be surrounded by so many gorgeous guys in her life.

The truth is, these people don’t really know the real deal behind it all. They did not know that I feel like dying when it had only been a week since SeungHyun left. They did not know that HyunJoong did not really give me any attention since he was busy doing something on his own—that boy is acting mysterious these days, always saying that he is in the middle of something important. These people also did not know that the rest of the kingkas did not really pay me much attention unless they wanted to bully me or tease or make a bet about me. Just yesterday, they had bet on whether I would cry if they keep talking about SeungHyun at my corn stall—which I did by the way. What can I say? I really miss SeungHyun.

However, all these sudden fame and unwanted attention were making me uncomfortable. It felt weird to be watched all the time. People were always talking about me, watching me, speculating on my next move, and it was driving me nuts.

I did not want any popularity. I just want SeungHyun. It has been a tough week all along and I was missing him more as the clock ticks. I want him back more than anything. Our phone calls had always been short—it was either he was too tired from practice to speak or I was too busy with my stall. We rarely had the chance to talk nowadays and the phone calls from him were decreasing by day. The first day, he used to call me more than 10 times but now, it is reduced to once a day or sometimes, none at all. Yesterday he did not call me so I called him and he said he was busy with practice so I hung up.

This long distance relationship was driving me insane.

I asked MinYoung if she felt the same way as I did but to my surprise, MinYoung was not as miserable as I was. Maybe this is due to the fact that no matter how tired he was, Micky was always making some time to call her and update her about him and this was driving me insane with jealousy. How come Micky was not as tired as SeungHyun to talk? This had only driven me to one sad conclusion: SeungHyun had lost his interest with me. Now that he is in a faraway place and has broadened his horizon, maybe he has decided that I was too uncool for him; that there was someone else much suited to his perfect self. After all, he did tell me that he think I was weird.

Due to this worries, I consulted someone whom I was sure would understand the misery of missing someone so badly—HyunJoong.

“Bom,” HyunJoong said and I looked up with hope, hopeful that he was going to tell me something useful that could put my soul at ease. HyunJoong shook his head. “Have you heard the sayings ‘Boys will never understand girls’?”

I nodded my head excitedly. “Yes, yes!” I said, excited that HyunJoong was getting my woe, “Exactly! SeungHyun does not understand me.”

HyunJoong gave me a look and I had a feeling that he was not going to say something that was going to ease my woes. In fact, I think he was going to add some more to that. “Of course he doesn’t understand! He’s a guy!” he barked, “I’m a guy too, in case you have forgotten. We don’t go around overthinking about trivial stuff like girls.”

Trivial? TRIVIAL?!! He’s calling my misery as trivial?!

HyunJoong must have noticed the horrified look on my face as he quickly added, “If you think that you’re going to be able to b1tch about him to me, you should find MinYoung because you won’t be able to do that with me. From what I see, it’s natural that he doesn’t want to call you every second of the day. He’s busy with practice and that thing means a lot to his future so I thought that you, of all people, would understand him better than I do. Girls!” he muttered angrily.

I looked at him with hatred in my eyes. “HyunJoong! You’re supposed to be my best friend!” I yelled, “Why are you taking his side?! Don’t you care about my feelings?!”

Just because he and SeungHyun had gotten along really well prior to the latter’s departure to Busan, it does not mean that he can stop being my best friend.

“Chillax, Bommie,” HyunJoong said, putting a hand on my shoulder, “Why are you turning into such a drama queen? I’m sure SeungHyun misses you as much as you do. Don’t be so worried. He must be working hard to come back early. You just have to be patient and understand that he’s working hard for his future, okay?”

I could not help it. I was feeling so frustrated that it drained me of any other emotion to feel and thus, my eyes began to well up; it was the only way I could let out all of those bottled emotion inside me.

“Hey,” HyunJoong said softly. He must have noticed the lone tear that had escaped my eyes and was rolling down my cheek. “Please don’t cry, Bom. It’s not as bad as you think. SeungHyun must be really busy.”

I nodded although I did not fully agree to what HyunJoong was saying. Sure, SeungHyun was busy but if he really likes me, he would make some time for me just like Micky did for MinYoung, right?

I let out a heavy rueful sigh and bit my lips, trying hard to stop the tears from pouring.

“Seeing how miserable you look, I’m going to tell you a secret,” HyunJoong said all of a sudden and I looked up at him. He was giving me his infamous killer grin.

“What is it?” I demanded. There was nothing in this world that could stop me from knowing a good gossip—or secret for that matter.

HyunJoong chuckled to himself. “Now I know how to stop your tears. From now on, whenever you start to whine or cry about your love life, I’ll tell you a good gossip. You’re such a busybody,” he said in a teasing manner.

I stuck out my tongue. “I am not a busybody!” I defended myself although SeungHyun had said that I was a busybody too before this. “So, what’s the secret?” I pressed, bringing the subject back to the secret.

“Promise that you won’t scream and make me go deaf after you know this?” he asked and I nodded my head repeatedly in glee. What could be the big secret, I wondered. I waited impatiently for HyunJoong to finish what he started. He cleared his throat. “Well, the big secret is something regarding your SeungHyunnie,” HyunJoong said and wiggled his eyebrows. He knew that I would be insanely interested if the big secret was something regarding SeungHyun and he was toying with time just to see me suffer.

I seriously think that HyunJoong’s main purpose in life was to see me suffer.

“What is it?” I demanded eagerly.

“What will I get if I tell you this secret?” HyunJoong teased.

“Yah!!” I yelled, “You’re supposed to tell me the secret to make me feel better. Just tell me already. Stop wasting my time!!” I knocked his head with my knuckle and he moaned in protest.

“Yah! Violence is really not necessary!” he grumbled in annoyance. “Fine, I’ll tell you now before you hit me to death.” He rubbed his head and gave me a vengeful look, like he wanted nothing more than to see me drown in the ocean.

“Don’t keep me waiting,” I said through gritted teeth.

HyunJoong coughed and immediately began to speak. “This is supposed to be a secret so make sure that you don’t tell SeungHyun that I have told you, okay?” he said and I nodded eagerly. “Just before he left, he asked me to meet him at ShinJi park. When I met him, he told me something,” HyunJoong cocked his head to look at me, “You promise that you won’t scream after this?”

“I will crack your jaw if you don’t tell me.”

That seem to have been able to make HyunJoong understand how serious I was. “When I met him, he told me that he was worried about you, with him being gone for six weeks after that and all so—” he started to give me a teasing smile, “—your boy asked me to take care of you while he was gone.”

“He did?” I gulped, “He was worried about me?”

HyunJoong nodded. “So that’s why I told you that he must have a solid reason for not calling you and stuff,” he said, “The boy is crazy about you, Bommie. What more do you want?”

I sniffed. Before I knew it, I was bursting into tears. There was no way that I could stop them from coming. SeungHyun really cared about me; it must be love. Although he had never said it himself, this shows how much he loves me. I hugged HyunJoong and sobbed on his shoulder. “Thank you for telling me that,” I sobbed, “Thank you.”

Although SeungHyun was so far away, I was glad that at least God had given me HyunJoong in my life. I was never more thankful. He may be annoying and irritating, at least he was there.

“Yuck, Bom! Your snot is on my shirt!”

Then again, maybe not.

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

“She is being weird,” HyunJoong grumbled during lunch, “Hello? Earth to MinYoung?” he waved his hand in front of MinYoung who did not seem to have acknowledged his gestures. “Well, she’s dead,” he said to me, pouting towards MinYoung.

I giggled. “You’re just being silly,” I said, “It’s evident that she’s missing Micky.”

“But they just talked on the phone just now!” HyunJoong pointed out.

“MinYoung’s lucky. SeungHyun doesn’t even call me,” I complained.

HyunJoong rolled his eyes. “Here we go again,” he grumbled in annoyance, “Listen girls, I don’t want to sit around with you guys when you two are moping around like this. I might turn into a sissy should I hang around you guys any longer. So, to protect my manlihood, I’m going to sit with the guys.” He stood up with the tray of food in his hands and was prepared to leave us there.

“Yah!” I yelled, “How can you just leave us here?! You’re supposed to be our friend! We did not run away when you were acting weird about your sister last time, did we?”

My outburst seemed to have managed to bring MinYoung out from her stance and she looked up at HyunJoong in confusion. “Huh? Where are you going with the tray?” she asked.

HyunJoong gave me a look.

“Sit down!” I instructed, “If you sit with them, I promise that I’ll call you at midnight when you’re already asleep and make ghost voices,” I threatened. I knew that there was nothing more irritating to HyunJoong than anyone disturbing his beauty sleep with a prank call.

HyunJoong slowly resumed sitting on his chair and he slammed his tray on the table in protest, causing the soup to splatter everywhere. “If you do that, Bommie,” he said slowly, “I’m going to start a fire in a corn field so that you won’t have any more corns to eat.”

I gasped loudly. He was threatening me with my precious corns?! How dare he?!

“What is going on?” MinYoung asked, a dazed look on her face, “Are you two fighting?”

“No, we’re not, MinYoung-ah,” I said, trying to reassure her, “It’s just that pretty boy here wants to leave us to sit with the kingkas because he said that we’re acting weird.”

MinYoung looked at HyunJoong with disappointment in her eyes. “You’re going to leave us? You know how we feel after Micky and SeungHyun left for the stupid camp. I can’t believe you want to abandon us.”

I nodded in agreement. “I’m so disappointed with you, HyunJoong,” I said.

“To hell with this, I’m sitting with the guys,” HyunJoong declared and abruptly left us. He was practically running out of the cafeteria.

“Hey, how can you just leave us here?!” I yelled after him, “I thought you’re supposed to take care of me!!”

It was of no use. HyunJoong had already vanished from my sight.

“Guys,” MinYoung grumbled, “They will never understand us.”

I nodded. “They never will,” I agreed.

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

HyunJoong surprised both me and MinYoung when he called us to go to Lotte World with him and the guys that weekend. We both had immediately agreed since we did not want to feel alone on weekends. At least, going on the rides could ease our minds from missing our boyfriends.

However, things did not go as perfectly as we had planned and I had thought that it was a grave mistake to go with them. It was because as soon as they saw me, the dorky kingkas were quick to make fun of me.

“Why do you look so miserable, Bom?” HeeChul were the first to ask.

“That’s because she misses her SeungHyunnie,” JiYong were quick to add.

The kingkas then resorted to make kissing faces to one another and I rolled my eyes. Seriously, I should not have joined this outing when I found out that they were coming too. I should have learned my lesson from the numerous times that they had bullied me before.

“TOP called yesterday,” TaeYang said, “He said the practice is driving him insane. He only has like six to seven hours to sleep a day.”

I looked at TaeYang weird. “Only six to seven hours of sleep a day?” I said, “Isn’t that enough? How much time does he need for sleep? 24 hours?”

HyunJoong chuckled.

“He usually sleeps around 10 hours a day,” TaeYang said, “How come you don’t know that? I thought you’re his girlfriend?!”

Upo