[Gold Fish’s Car] 1

 

JI-YEON unwrapped a lollipop and popped it in . She looked happy and calm. Well, maybe because everything was moving on smoothly according to her plan, plus the weather was so nice too.

Meanwhile, Si-won’s eyeballs moved at the corners of his eyes, watching her cryptically and all of a sudden his forehead drawn into frowns. ‘Is this real? Am I really seeing this? This Fish Ball is eating a lollipop!’ His fine-knitted frowns caught Ji-yeon’s attention.

“Take it before I change my mind,” said Ji-yeon as she offered him an orange-flavored lollipop.

“Yah, are you kidding me?” he snapped.

“Is this kidding? I am offering, Siwon-ssi.”

“Tsk, lollipop at this age? I think you better keep it for yourself because I personally think that it suits your mental age perfectly.” Si-won retorted and his intonation fell firmly at the ‘perfectly’ word. He really meant it.

“You are far different from Gwang-soo. You’re not sporting at all,” she replied in almost inaudible manner as she her both lips and then continued her lollipop.

“Gwang-soo?!”’ He articulated that name in disbelief as his eyes grew bigger. “Hahaha!” he suddenly cracked up over that name. “You know what? He’s just a pet giraffe in the class. So, please don’t mention his name in front of me. I am not a pet lover,” Si-won sent her a warning as he threw her a quick peek. And when Ji-yeon didn’t react to him right away, his breath stopped. ‘Why did this girl have such a strange effect on me?’ His mental asked him as he eyed secretly the orange-flavored lollipop on her hand. He probably wanted to take it, but his focus settled on the road. The last lollipop he had eaten was during the day of his mother’s funeral. He hadn’t had any since then.

‘Does he hate lollipop that much? Or did I just say something stupid to him? Weirdo.’ Ji-yeon thought froze when suddenly her cell phone vibrated and it gave her a slight jolt. She looked at the incoming call and her jaw abruptly fell opened. “Omo!” she answered the call. “Oh, oppa…” she said quietly, hearing the wobble in her voice. Well, that over protective brother of hers was on the line.

“Where are you?!” his voice sounded worried.

Ji-yeon jerked upright at the sound of Yun-ho’s voice. Strangely, it felt so intensely annoying. It was almost 7 p.m. so it’s logical for him to be so concerned about her whereabouts. She glanced out the window and noticed that the late afternoon sky had darkened faster. “I’m on my way home, almost there so don’t worry too much.”

“Palli! It’s almost dinnertime and we’re waiting.”

“Ne, oppa.” Ji-yeon ended the call and let out a sigh of relief. It had been years and that brother was still in such manner, over protective. She was grateful though at certain extent, it was quite irritating too. Anyway, she considered herself as one of those luckiest people in the world to have something that actually were not hers since the beginning – biologically. She ended up pouting her lips.

“Ne, oppa …” Si-won mimicked her way of speaking. His tone had made her tip of ears steamed up. She tried to ignore the surge of irritation that she felt ran up her spine.

“I didn’t say it like that!” she said defensively.

“You just did Fish Ball,” he approved.

“And I am not Fish Ball!” snapped Ji-yeon.

“Acting cute, huh? Sheesh!” he threw another comment.

“So were you expecting me to say it in deep and scary tone then?” She shot him straight at his face. Si-won was dumbfounded over that question. The word ‘cute’ flashed into her mind and then disappeared in an instant. Ji-yeon replaced the word in her mind with ‘polite’. She let the silence drag long because she wasn’t in the mood to debate such crazy little thing called ‘tone’. That’s her way of speaking, so what? Was that a big deal to you Choi Si-won-ssi?

 

*   *   *   *   *

 

[Home Sweet Home] 1

 

YUN-HO was leaning against the wall by the front gate bell when Ji-yeon arrived.

“Oh well, baby’s breath and roses?” he said, arching one eyebrow at Ji-yeon who just came out from the car. His voice was hoarse and tensed. Suspicion darkened Yun-ho’s eyes at the moment he saw Si-won was standing next to her with the red roses on his grip.

Si-won handed her the bouquet and then shoved his hands in the pockets, acting like he didn’t have any concern with anything that Yun-ho had just said. They stood mere inches from each other.

Ji-yeon allowed her gaze to drop to Yun-ho. The most annoying thing was, he didn’t seem to care but kept staring at Si-won. She could feel twinge of anxiety playing within her. She knew that once Yun-ho got an idea into his head, there was no stopping for him. Slowly, carefully she slipped her hand at his arm as her discomfort returned. “Let’s go in,” her voice was uneven, trying to get him to comply.

“Oh, yes,” Yun-ho replied in instant and settled his gaze at her and at the exact moment Yun-ho caught a glimpse of Siwon’s eyeballs enlarged as if they were almost fallen out from their sockets when he saw Ji-yeon’s hand was holding his left arm. Yun-ho intentionally squeezed it tighter when he noticed that it intimidated him badly and tried to hold in the laughter between his lips. “Oh, sorry, we’re busy. We got a project to do tonight and it’s going to be soooo tiresome. So, would you excuse us?” Yun-ho shot him a request.

There’s a sudden change on Si-won’s expression. He glanced at Ji-yeon, blinked, and then looked again, his eyes growing enormous. Why, when Yun-ho spoke of the words so tiresome make his whole face flame? Just like a slide show presentation, the scene whereby he saw Yun-ho was standing by the window, topless last month flashed in his mind and the sentence “We’re more than that” declared by Yun-ho at the school cafeteria was singing in his ears. ‘Tsk, *byuntae!’ His head came up with that vocabulary. It sparked in it automatically. Undeniable, he simmered with irritation. He wondered on why he felt in such way. ‘Oh, well, lovey-dovey couple. Right.’ He struggled not to let it obvious and ended up smiling enigmatically and turned to his car.

“Good night, careful!” said Yun-ho in a cheesy tone.

It was a simple greeting but Si-won could feel that there’s a slight cheeky tone tagged along with the whole sentences. He turned and sent him a glare, a familiar kind of expression that he used to show when he sensed something that’s not right for him.

“Gomawo,” Ji-yeon butted in, breaking the glaring moment between the two lads. “Oh, for you,” she handed Si-won a grape-flavored lollipop.

His figure was motionless but not his round eyeballs. They were moving actively to follow her every movement. In other words, his mind just lost somewhere. Perhaps he was too engrossed with Yun-ho’s statement and the topless thingy. Seeing him unresponsive, Ji-yeon decided to slip it into his blazer’s left pocket and before she turned to Yun-ho, she leaned a little bit closer to Si-won as if she wanted to tell him something.

Si-won jerked to that sudden move, he could feel nervousness was tingling within him. Her eyeballs dropped on his. That’s a very unusual stunt for him – especially when it was done by a woman for the first time in his entire life. Oh wait. She was not the first. Was she? Right, Jessica, Tiffany, Sunny and Yoon-ah, those beautiful piranhas had done it hundred times to him, shouldn’t it be like something familiar and natural kind of scene? No! It was fresh, cute, alluring; naughty, tempting, and in one word it’s y. ‘Oh, ! What has gotten in my mind!’ he almost blurted it out from his full lips. Miraculously, he managed to stand still, not moving an inch at all.

“Don’t worry, your secret’s safe with me,” she whispered that sentence carefully and smiled lightly before she turned around and clung back onto Yun-ho’s arm.

‘Sheesh, what’s wrong with her tone? You don’t have to whisper it like that. Aish!’ Si-won sighed and tried to budge his feeling of dissatisfaction.

 

* Byuntae = ert

 

*   *   *   *   *

 

[Gold Fish’s Car] 2

 

“DON’T worry, your secret’s safe with me…” That sentence teetered in his mind, bugging him too much. He shook his head furiously, shooing away that unwanted tickling from clogging his mental. And the fact that she leaned closer to him with the stare of her eyes settled on his - transfixed, had triggered the weird pain in his chest again. He brought up his left hand to rub it, wishing that it would ease that pain a bit. “Eishh!” he grunted, totally irritated and at the same moment an unfamiliar song filled the air out of nowhere.

 

Careless, careless, shoot, anonymous, anonymous, heartless, mindless, no one who care about me.

 

It sent Si-won a strong jolt of shock that he almost jumped out from his skin. It kept on playing, getting increasingly louder and louder at a time. Weirdly, the lyrics kind of chanting a spell in his ears and soon goosebumps were all over his body. “Ah! Musowo,” he cried. Quickly, he steered his head to the radio, but he noticed it wasn’t . Now, it was really loud as if it was really somewhere next to him. He rummaged the cushion on the passenger seat beside him. There it was. A cell phone was ringing and vibrating.

 

Careless, careless (mama), shoot, anonymous, anonymous (mama), heartless, mindless (mama), no one who care about me (mama)

 

He pulled over by the roadside, took the phone on his hand as it was still ringing. He studied the screen and saw the incoming call – Huiren. Abruptly, his jaw dropped and soon after that his lips slowly curved up to a suspicious smile. His left eyebrow arched and his eyes depicted their cunning, sly look. That caller’s name instantly brought only one person in his mind – Park Ji-yeon.

“So…” he paused. “Someone left her cell phone here, I see…” he unconsciously talked to himself, sounded fishy.

 

* Musowo = scary

 

*   *   *   *   *

 

[Home Sweet Home] 2

 

“NO dance practice tonight?” Ji-yeon suddenly threw a question.

Yun-ho let out a long sigh, not sure whether it’s a relief or regret. “None,” he replied shortly.

Ji-yeon took out the ingredients from the refrigerator and put them on the dining table.

“Really?” she asked again. It was unnatural that this Crazy Legs was staying at home for the whole evening. And now he even pampered himself on the couch, watching television. It’s something, which was unusual for Ji-yeon. She was used to his absence from evening until midnight since the day she moved in that house a month ago. “Good news then. We can prepare the dish earlier and oh!” Ji-yeon seemed to for her next words.

“I need to call IU to come over. We’ve planned to make it together,” she reminded herself and hurriedly snatched her bag, rummaged it, searching for her cell phone.

“She’s making it with that guy. Don’t bother,” Yun-ho supplied as he changed the channels over and over again, boring.

Ji-yeon immediately stopped every movement when she heard Yun-ho’s saying. “Oh, Yonghwa…” She pronounced that name softly. That name came crashed to Yun-ho’s memory. The chaotic incident happened between them, the guy who wore black shirt during their PE – he was always around with her – IU. He no longer even recognized that he was feeling guilty towards her or maybe he just didn’t want to think about it that much. He felt tense, stressed and exhausted with what had happened so far. He needed space to give his messy mind a rest. But each time he tried to, the counselor, the dance competition, and the coach, one by one crept into his head.

“Oppa!” she called.

“Oh…” he answered with the remote controller still in his hand.

“You’ve been changing the channels like hundred times already,” she informed him.

“There’s nothing interesting to watch really,” he tried to cover at his petulant spill.

“Kwaenchana? You look ill. It must’ve been the complex and long routine. Screw it.” Ji-yeon blamed the dance practice that Yun-ho had been attending every day without a single miss.

“The weather wasn’t so nice these days,” he rose up logic reason, his voice was faint, gradually fading away.

He didn’t have the intention to tell her that he was no longer involved with the dance practice. The tournament that they would be having next week – he would not be joining it too. Mr. Gong Yoo had cut him out from it. No, he quit. He chose her over a routine. Did he regret it? Not even an ounce of it. He thought that’s the bravest decision he had ever made. Yes, that was at the first place. But now when Chang-min told him about Ms. Min Jung as one of the judges, his heart sank, drowning. He brought back Chang-min’s suggestion telling him to apologize to Mr. Gong Yoo so that he could rejoin the representatives. But, he just didn’t feel like going to. Something stuck between them. Something that people used to say as ‘pride’. He knew that he messed up. Apologize? He couldn’t.

“Shall we start?” Ji-yeon asked. Eagerness was evident on her face. It startled Yun-ho and brought him back to his senses.

“Hmm … not before you hit the shower. Someone stinks here. I think you know who it is,” Yun-ho eyed her mischievously.

“Do I smell that bad?” she sniffed herself.

“I think that duckling have tagged along his odor with you,” he proclaimed as he shooed her away from the kitchen.

“Duckling? You mean Si-won?” Ji-yeon asked, puzzled.

“Don’t even think to pronounce his name. It ruins my mood,” Yun-ho said to her and reached for her shoulders.

“Fussy chef,” she murmured as she threw a long face.

“I heard that,” Yun-ho said and steered her next to the staircase.

“Whatever…” she rolled her eyes as she climbed upstairs.

Yun-ho went back to the kitchen; and he made himself comfortable at one of the dining chairs. His eyes ventured the table and eventually glued on the red roses. He knew what event that Ji-yeon was preparing for. It’s an event that he would always cherish the most since two years ago – Ms. Lee’s birthday.

 

*   *   *   *   *

 

[Full House]

 

HE reached out for the front door when he heard the bell was ringing. He looked at the screen first, studied the face of the very first ever visitor he had since he moved in that mansion.

“Shei?” he asked.

“Shi wo,” she looked up to face the camera.

Being short was a curse. He zoomed in that familiar face. She waved vigorously as smile flew from her pinkish lips.

“Oh, deng deng,” he replied and hurriedly opened the door for her.

IU stepped in and studied the interior of the house. She saw a gigantic television, a king-sized dining table, and lots of other expensive furniture. ‘This house is spacious!’ she beamed. A huge family portrait caught her attention near the staircase, her eyes rested on it for few seconds. She could see a little boy sitting on his father’s lap while another baby was being held by the mother. That woman seemed familiar to her. She felt like have seen her somewhere. When was it? She couldn’t remember.

“You live alone?” she asked curiously.

“Yes.” A short and firm reply from Yong-hwa.

“Ni de baba he mama zai nar?” she tried to sound friendly by asking him in Mandarin.

“The kitchen is here,” his voice echoed, leaving her question unanswered.

IU walked briskly to catch up with him and soon enough she hovered at the kitchen, bewildered. “Your house is big,” she threw a compliment, amazed at the same time. “You’re totally chaebol,” she added.

“Chaebol shi shenme?” he asked that unfamiliar word.

“Oh, right. You’re only 80% Chinese. Chaebol? It means you’re rich,” she supplied him with an explanation.

“I’m not rich, my dad is,” he corrected her as he took out the ingredients from the paper bags.

“Yeah, funny,” she said somewhat disapprovingly. “You don’t hire maids?” she shot another question, feeling suspicious.

“Maids? I don’t need them. I’m big enough to handle my own self,” he informed her as he turned the tap on to wash his hands.

“Oh…” IU nodded lightly, seemed understood over Yong-hwa’s statement.

Soon after their Q and A session ended, the two guitarists started to prepare Jjajangmyun. Yong-hwa had no idea why on earth this person all of a sudden craved for that dish. But he did not dare to ask. The only thing significant for him was spending time together, creating memories while he still could. His gaze fell on her. He thought he started to grow fondness of her. He might took it as being sympathetic or compassionate or maybe in between. He wasn’t sure of it himself.

“Are you on pills?” she enquired him.

“Pills?” he winced. His eyeballs wandered around at the dining table. The empty glass and the pills were still there. He had them just before she arrived.

“Oh, I couldn’t sleep well these days. I was thinking maybe I needed those to help me hit the bed,” Yong-hwa confessed as he moved his eyeballs to the corner of his eyes cautiously. He noticed her was pondering over the pills idly.

“Oh, well. We’ve been practicing the song for the performance all these while. It must’ve been hard on you. Mianhae.” Just like Ji-yeon, she would always have something to blame on. “Maybe we should tell Mr. Gong Yoo to find other replacement,” she came up with a suggestion.

“Kwaenchana. No worries,” he assured her and smiled.

“You looked pale. I guess you’ve started to age quite rapidly these days,” he joshed, changing the topic before it further to unwanted questions again.

“Mwo?” she glared at him, looked concern. The word pale sounded okay with her but not until the word ‘age’ hit her ears. “Do I?” she demanded expectantly, touching her cheeks with both palms.

“I’m not sure. But I think you need to consider facial treatments,” he threw a suggestion, narrowing his eyes at her nose. “Hmm … what about starting it with a facial mask?” he said and quickly smudged a short line of bean paste on her nose.

“Yah …” she wiped it and stared at him.

Soon the kitchen rang in laughter.

 

*   *   *   *   *

TO BE CONTINUED