Yonghwa

We caught the bus on time. Seohyun, Jessica, Jonghyun and I went together by bus, while the others said that they would catch up with us on the spot. There was this newly opened theme park not far out of town. I just thought we could hang out and have fun after a while. Besides, there were so many things going on in my mind lately. I could use some recreation.

“Seohyunnie~ the storm earlier was pretty bad. Were you okay?” I’d known about Seohyun’s fear of lightning and thunder for quite a while.

“Don’t, oppa. I don’t want to think or talk about it.”

“Hahaha, you should’ve seen her face. She looked like a vampire in those movies. White-faced,” Jessica laughed.

“EONNI!!” she slapped Jessica’s arm but Jessica didn’t budge and kept laughing. “Ah, jeongmal…” she blew air through her nostrils.

“Oppa, you said there’s something you want to talk to me about…what is it?” Seohyun asked, trying to change the subject.

“Oh, that. I’ll tell you later, okay?” I smiled to her.

“Ne, oppa.”

The truth was, since two nights ago, Taeyeon had been acting differently. She talked to me less frequently. Sometimes, I was even sure that she was avoiding me. When I met her, she seemed to avoid eye contact. It was a miracle that she agreed to come when I invited her to go to the theme park with us.

After all the time we spent together getting closer with each other, she was all different since the night we met Tiffany.

I knew that talking to Seohyun about Taeyeon could stir something up, even though I wasn’t sure. I once thought that there was something between Seohyun and Taeyeon, because Seohyun used to be quite every time I talked about Taeyeon. But since lately they seemed to be getting along well, I thought that it was just my imagination. Besides, I didn’t know who else to go. Seohyun was the only one who knew about me and Taeyeon.

“There we go. We alight here.” As soon as the bus stopped, Jonghyun raised from his seat first and made way for the girls to get out of the bus first since he was seated in the aisle side.

“Such a gentleman, you are,” Jessica was pleased by Jonghyun’s action. “Yonghwa, why can’t you be more like Jonghyun-ssi here?”

“Ya! I can do that!” I didn’t want to lose to Jonghyun’s gentleman act.

I quickly got off the bus, and turned to Seohyun who was just about to get off. I reached a hand to her to help her down. She took my hand. When her feet stepped off the bus, she stumbled slightly. Even though she only lost her balance slightly, my body’s reflex system was overreacting. I caught her with my arm around her shoulder.

“Uh-uh. Seohyunnie, gwaenchanha?”

“Um…gwaenchanha, oppa…gomawo…” she said shyly. Then she turned her face towards mine. I was slightly leaning towards her, so when her face turned to me, our faces were only an inch away.

I saw her turning red as I felt my face also becoming hotter. Somehow my heart beat slightly faster. I’d never been so close to her like this. I was quite embarrassed.

“Uh, mianhae,” I immediately let her go and pretended to dust off my completely clean coat. I looked away as I tried to cool down my face temperature. Seohyun just kept silent and did the same thing as me. When things had cooled down, we continued to walk towards Jonghyun and Jessica who had weird looks on their faces.

“Um…that was uncalled for…” Jessica said, still giving me weird expression. She then turned her head away and whispered faintly to the air. I could make out the words ‘gwiyeowo’.

I turned to Jonghyun who was wearing the same weird expression. “What?” I shrugged.

“Nothing, hyung…” He said before going back to his usual always-smiling self.

We walked down towards the ticket booth. The queue line was quite long because it was already noon, not to mention Saturday. We decided to just go into the line while waiting for the others. Not long after we got into the line, there was a familiar scream.

“OPPAAAA!!!” The three fangirls were rushing in. They made so much noise that people around us turned and stared at us.

“Ya! Get a hold of yourselves! Can you not make commotion every time you’re around them?” Jessica scolded the girls and referred to me and Jonghyun.

“We can’t stop before they stop being so awesomely handsome. Which is impossible!” Sooyoung said before she giggled endlessly.

“Yonghwa oppa. Thank you so much for inviting us. This really means a lot to us.” Yuri suddenly said with a calm expression. Seeing her other two companions, she was surprisingly calm today.

“Ah, it’s okay. I just don’t want to leave out anyone from the fun.” I smiled and immediately regretted what I thought earlier because she ran back to the two others and joined the screaming fiesta. I heard her bragging to the two, “He smiled at me!! At ME!! AAAAKKK!!!”

“Hyung,” Jonghyun called. “Jungshin and Minhyuk can’t make it. They just texted me.”

“Ooh, arasseo. Guess we’re on our own, Jonghyun-ah…”

“Oh, and hyung. You just wait there on the bench with the others, me alone standing in the queue is enough.”

“You’re so kind, oppa. Jessica eonni is right. You are a gentleman.” Seohyun smiled to Jonghyun.

“Aniya, Seohyun-ah. You’re too much, jinjja.” He smiled back.

We went to the empty bench not far from the ticket booth. The three girls were already calmed down as they continuously inhaling and exhaling from time to time and sat at the other bench next to us.

Seohyun sat beside me. “Oppa, where is Taeyeon eonni? She’s coming, right?”

“Actually, I don’t know, Seohyunnie. She said yes, but from her tone, looks like she wasn’t sure.”

“Um, what’s wrong oppa? You seem troubled.”

“Actually…” I paused and looked at Jessica who sat beside Seohyun at the other end of the bench. She seemed to be watching us since the moment we sat together on the bench. Without me having any intention, Jessica gave an understanding nod and stood up. I could only smile to thank her.

“I’ll just go there and keep him company, guys.” She pointed at Jonghyun.

“Arasseo,” I said before turning to Seohyun.

“Actually, the past two days, Taeyeon’s been a little different than usual. She rarely replies my texts. She doesn’t answer my calls. And when I meet her, she seems to be avoiding eye contact. The way she talks to me was also different, as if I am a stranger to her. She feels distant…” I lowered my head as I talked.

“I don’t understand. Why does she change like that all of a sudden? You two seemed to be closer than ever the last time I saw.”

“I know. I don’t know what to do. I cannot find what I did wrong. Every time I asked her, she always say it’s nothing and that I didn’t do anything wrong. I mean, I’ve gotten very close to her, why are we suddenly back to become strangers? Eotteokhae?”

“Oppa, since when did she change like this? I mean, did something happen before she became like this?” Seohyun’s face was curious.

“Something did. You remember the time when you were out with Jungshin? We went home together that time and went to eat patbingsoo in the mini market near your apartment. Not long after we finished, we met someone who happened to be Taeyeon’s long-time-no-see friend who just got back from the US. Taeyeon’s reaction when meeting her was strange. She barely moved. She looked shocked. Not surprised, but shocked, in the sudden presence of her friend. Her friend looked cheerful, but she just stood there barely saying anything. I didn’t understand anything, and still don’t,”

“Hmm…at least, now I know that it’s not because of you or something you did, oppa. It looks like there’s something between her and that friend of hers. But it means that it’s beyond us. We can only find out by getting answers from her directly,”

I sighed. “I think you’re right, Seohyunnie. Now, what do you think I should do?”

Seohyun went silent for a moment. I could see her facial expression became darker. But then she finally spoke.

“Have you thought about confessing?”

I was taken aback by her answer. “Confessing? Well…”

“Yes, oppa. Just confess to her. Tell her how you feel. She could give you the answer about it after that. Or at least, you will know what you should do next. It’s better than to be hung over without explanation like this, right?”

“I think you’re right, Seohyunnie. But, what if I’m not ready? What if I’m not ready to hear her answer?”

“But you have to, right? Actually, confessing doesn’t mean you have to get an answer, because it’s not yet a proposal. But in this case, her reaction will be the answer itself. You have to be brave, oppa. You just have to believe in it. It is better than to live any longer with a puzzle in your mind that you can never solve,”

I went silent. I kept contemplating and considering about what Seohyun told me.

“Um, oppa. I’m sorry. I’m sorry if I’m not making sense…” Seohyun said to me.

“Ani, Seohyunnie,” I looked up to her and grabbed her by the shoulders. “Gomawo, Seohyunnie. Manhi manhi gomawo!” I shook her shoulder and gave her a wide smile.

“I’ll confess to her today when opportunity comes. In fact, Seohyunnie, I was already thinking about confessing to her before this happened. After she changed like this, I became not sure of everything all over again. But now, you’ve made me sure again. Thank you so much, Seohyunnie~”

“Um…ne, oppa.” She said silently.

“Here guys, we’ve got the tickets.” Jonghyun and Jessica came and began distributing the tickets. “Here, hyung, the two tickets for Taeyeon-ssi and her friend that you asked.” Jonghyun handed me two extra tickets.

“Thank you, guys…” I thanked Jonghyun and Jessica.

Just then, a familiar voice called me.

“Yonghwa-ssi!”

I turned towards the voice and saw two girls approaching us. It was Sunny and Taeyeon.

“Yonghwa-ssi! Thank you for inviting us! I’m so excited! This is my first time going to a theme park,” Sunny’s mood was as bright as ever.

“Jinjja? That’s great then, you get to have fun with us here for the first time.” I said to her. “Oh, and by the way, Sunny-ssi, these are my friends. Seohyun, Jessica, and Jonghyun. And those girls are Sooyoung, Yuri, and Hyoyeon.”

“Annyeonghaseyo,” everyone greeted Sunny.

“Annyeonghaseyo. My name is Lee Soonkyu, but everyone calls me Sunny. Nice to meet you,” she greeted back.

While Sunny was interacting with the others, I turned to Taeyeon who was standing quietly next to her. I gave her a smile and she returned it with a more awkward smile.

“Annyeong, Taeyeon-ah. I’m really happy that you came,”

“Ne, Yonghwa.” She answered.

“I already got you the tickets. Let’s go inside,”

She only nodded.

We went inside the theme park, all nine of us. Everyone looked very excited, except for Seohyun and Taeyeon. I saw Seohyun by Jessica’s side calling me in a whisper. Then she raised her fist and mouthed, ‘fighting!’.

The moment I stepped inside, I found myself doubting about everything all over again.

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Author's note:

Annyeonghaseyo yeoreobun :D

it's another update! This will be split into two parts because it's too long if I make it in a single chapter kkk

I hope I'm not boring you guys with this story hehe and sorry for mistakes~

Thank you for all your support of comments and subscriptions! :D I really appreciate all of them

Gomapseumnida~