The Heart is a Fickle Thing

The Heart is a Fickle Thing
"Wahhh, this is taking longer than I expected; but it looks really really pretty." Chanyeol admired the jar of paper cranes he was working on. Currently, he had about a third of the jar filled. There wasn't a special reason to make these cranes, he just felt like giving something to his girlfriend that at least came close to representing her beauty. Paper cranes were delicate, colorful, and long lasting. That's what he felt when he was with her and thought of her. The love they felt was delicate but full of life and color. He could picture it lasting for a very long time and holding many memories.
 
While he was working on his 40th paper crane he heard his text tone. He scrambled to find his phone from underneath the pile of origami paper. He found it and looked at the screen. It was a text from you; his best friend.
 
You: YAAAAHHHHH!!! Uri babo Yeollie!!!!! Where are you dude? They're giving free pints of ice cream at the shop that just opened for promotions. They have you favorite flavorrrrrrrrr~ kekeke"
 
Yeollie: WAAAAHHHH! 1) you're a meanie :P 2) FREE??? I can't go though :(
 
You: Wae?
 
Yeollie: I'm umm... doing something...
 
You: what?
 
Yeollie: i'm making a present.
 
You: for me :DD?
 
Yeollie: ummm.... ani~ for jagi. :/
 
You took a moment after you read the text. Honestly, you should have guessed that was the reason. Yeolli didn't hang out with you as much when he got a girlfriend and he didn't give you suprises anymore. You missed it; they weren't really a surprise because he did it so often; but they were always sweet. Your room was filled with the presents he had given you since you first became best friends.
 
You: ahhhh arasso. I'LL GET YOU PINT :3333 NO WORRIES :D
 
You sent the smiley with a frown on your face and read through the texts; you never deleted your text messages.
 
Yeollie: GOMAWO!!! SARANGHAE CHINGU~!
 
He hugged his phone at the thought of having such a nice best friend. With ice cream waiting for him later, he set to work at a faster pace.
 
 
As he worked you were heading into the clothing store next to the ice cream shop. You were quick so Chanyeol's ice cream wouldn't melt and picked out a dress and heels you needed for your sisters wedding.  You went into the changing rooms and closed the stall door behind you. As you were checking the fit of the dress, you heard a familiar voice. It was Chanyeol's girlfriend and she was with her friends.
 
"I've been thinking lately; dating Chanyeol is getting kind of boring." You dropped the shoe you were holding and went closer to the stall door to hear the conversation.
 
"Boring???" One of her friends asked in shock. "How can it be boring? He gives you presents all the time. He's always planning things for you. Not to mention looking at his ulzzang face every day can't possibly get boring."
 
"Nothing is spontaneous. I can see every present coming; there's no spark." She continued to complain about her relationship with your best friend.
 
"So what do you plan to do about it?"
 
"I'm beaking up with him" You're eyes went wide and you covered your mouth.
 
"Breaking up??" They all chimed.
 
"He's kind of clingy and doesn't take anything seriously. He's a sweet guy but I just can't go along with that anymore."

 
"So how do you plan to break up with him?"
"Ugh.. I can't look at his face... it's too sad. What if I just use my phone?" She pulled out her phone and looked for his number.
 
"You're going to break up with him through a text??"
 
"Gosh no! I have a heart; i'm going to give him a phone call. At least that way it's a clear conversation" With that you burst out of the dressing room with your things in hand and ran past the confused girls. Rushing by the register you paid for you clothes and ran out the store. Chanyeol's house wasn't too far from the store but running in heels was taking you a while. You ripped them off and ran barefoot the rest of the way.
 
You finally got to his house and ran through the front gate and past the front door. His noona was there and jumped at the sound of the door banging open. "________ what are you doing here and dressed like that?"
 
"Can't talk now eonni i'll explain later. It's fine if I leave my stuff here right? Thanks!" You yelled as you went towards Chanyeol's room.
 
You opened his door without knocking and saw him sitting cross-legged on the floor holding his phone in his hand. His head was down and his longish hair covered his eyes. Around him lay the few pieces of origami paper he had left to use and the lone jar more than half way full.
 
"Yeollie..." no response. "Are you okay? Yeollie can you look at me please?" He shook his head. "Aigoo, what to do. All of these pretty paper cranes. You know if you make 1000, you get a wish right?  Don't you want to finish them?" Another shake of the head.
 
"Fine then, if you don't want to i'll do it. Here I brought your ice cream just eat it okay?"  You pushed the pint to him and took the jar that was sitting infront of him. Crossing your legs you began to fold the paper cranes yourself.
 
A few hours must have gone by because by the time you put the 999th crane in the jar it was dark outside and the only light was the lamp by chanyeol's bed.  You lifted your head to look at him and he was looking at you while eating his ice cream.
 
"So... how're you feeling?" You asked slowly.
 
"Is this how you comfort a friend? By stealing their wish."
 
"You didn't want it." You smiled a little thinking that he wasn't feeling terribly bad. "Still, if it makes you feel any better there are only 999 cranes in this jar. If you want the wish; you can make the last one."
 
He glanced at the paper in your hands and took it. Folding it up into the small shape of the crane; he moved his hands gently. When he was finished he presented it to you in the palm of his hands. You pushed the jar towards him and he let the bird hover of the mouth of the jar.
 
"I wish... I wish to find someone who gets me. Someone who won't break my heart and will love me for everything I am. I want to find someone that loves me no matter what." His hand shook and a tear fell from his face. He let the crane fall into the jar and there was silence. "Hmm.. I guess the wishes don't happen right away huh."
 
"Nope, they take some time. They wait for the right moment when the wish should be granted. If it comes too early it might be taken for granted and if it comes too late then it will be missed."
 
"I guess you're right, but how long do you think it'll take for it to be the right time; for my heart to stop hurting and feel happy again?"
 
You gave him a small smile and pushed his hair away from his face, "Pabo, be patient; but I have a feeling it wont be too long, just wait till your heart hurts less and less and then bam one day she'll show herself to you." He looked at you and glanced at your hands that had little paper cuts and your feet that looked worn from running there. He felt a different type of lurch in his heart and rubbed his chest.
 
You leaned your head on the bed frame and he followed suit. "Gomawo," he said.
 
"Neh pabo."
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Chanbeakhunhan #1
Chapter 1: Please update soon
thecafewriter
#2
Chapter 1: [2/2) ...but when you use them too much, it interrupts the flow of the story and alienates the reader. One of the key responsibilities of the writer is to get the reader to firmly grasp onto the story and keep them submerged in it, but sometimes using too much romanized Korean will make the reader lose their grasp of the story :/ Usually, I would just stick to Korean honorifics since those tend to be the most commonly used and even then, use them sparingly :) Also, the part where they are texting, maybe you should format them into italics or change the font to Courier, just to make it easier to read and to be able to distinguish them from the rest of the story. Just a suggestion.

Also! I wanna talk about transitions. You write one-shots really well since you keep the pace very fast and steady, but sometimes, it is possible to go too fast. For example, when the girl bucks it from the store to Chanyeol's house, it does read a little bit too fast, and I think you missed an opportunity to reveal some of the girl's inner thoughts and feelings. Same goes for the scene in which she painstakingly folds the rest of the cranes. Missed opportunity to induce some feelz by revealing his or her emotions and thoughts! By revealing their thoughts and feelings in those moments, you could have slowed the pace a bit thus making the story a more interesting reading experience and revealed some insight into the characters.

Okay... that's about all I have so far. But I hope you'll continue writing! You seem like a promising young writer :)
thecafewriter
#3
Chapter 1: [1/2] It's been a while since I read your stuff, haha. Welcome back, I guess :) Anyways, d'awww it's a Chanyeol x paper cranes story! Hehe, a bunch of these have been popping up ever since Chanyeol fed us that bit of inspiration. He's such a sweetheart and I felt so sad for him when he told us how the relationship ended :/

Anyways, compliments first! I'm really impressed by this because your writing is really improving so much, and it makes me happy to see how hard you've worked to get better at writing! :'D So, congratulations on your improvement! I think I'm seeing a lot of improvement in your structural organization; I must say, that was a smart move of you to cut out Chanyeol's phone conversation by having it take place "off-screen" if you know what I mean. It really helped the pace of the story and kept the focus off the girlfriend and on the main girl. A wise choice (^^) Also, I liked that you kept the girlfriend classy despite her being the most obvious antagonist of the story. It shows that you're more sophisticated in creating conflict; it adds tension to the story without stooping down to using villainous caricatures, and it gives the story an air of authenticity. Second, I actually kinda like that Chanyeol and the girl didn't end up together at the end :) I mean, I was kind of expecting it but now that I step back and look at it, it was kind of a smart move since most guys wouldn't move on from their girlfriend the NIGHT that they broke up. Plus, it would kind of taint the integrity of the girl's love for him if she confessed right away without giving him time to heal. Again, another good choice and evidence of you thinking about the story deeper :)

Some critiques: I think you should avoid using too much romanized Hangul in your stories. Sure, the idols do speak Korean and most of the Korean words you use are easily recogonizable (i.e. eonni and chingu mean "older sister" and "friend" and most fans would know that) but when you use them too much...
merr0398
#4
Chapter 1: please do make a sequel.. kekeke i like it very much... :)