FLASHBACK

=========================================

“Not picking up?”

Micky asks as he hovers over at her side---tippy toeing up like a ballerina attempting to check the details, but her face reveals it all.

Concerned, Sooyoung’s eyebrows furrow as she continuously redials his phone number yet she never once hears his loving-joyous-over exaggerated-greeting on the other end.

“Summer, hasn’t anyone ever told you that doing that expression is absolutely not attractive?” He tries his best to lighten up the mood by poking fun of her a tad bit like how an innocent kindergartener would do.

“Oh..uh..neh?”

She turns towards him and flashes the friend a semi smile that is as convincing as the idea of pigs falling from the sky…

“You sure are amazing at multitasking,” Micky remarks as he points to her hands busying themselves as one holds dearly to the cell phone while the other is occupied writing,

“With that amount of talent, you’re sure to be accepted in this year’s clown festival! Aish if only such a thing existed…then YOU KNOW HOW MUCH you’d make?!”

“Yah! Mickyyy~” She laughs while she nudges him with an intended soft kick, but which had actually turned more forceful than imagined as his tall self looses balance to resemble that of the Leaning Tower of Pisa for a split second.

“You can go running back to him and re-enact one of those epic cheesy scenes that one sees in a drama right when we finish this up.”

“Moengchonni (idiot)…neh, neh, Micky-nim~” she giggles underneath her breath.

“Are you sure this will work though? Is this seemingly good enough to trick them and get them off our tails?”

Micky shrugs innocently, “Well it should be good enough…apparently it looks legit to the eye, or at least that’s what they told me when I bought the copy.”

“How the hell did you even get your hands on a one of these? Don’t tell me you’re a WANTED man now and that you’re trying to seek refuge by using me as an excuse..”

The thought of a fake marriage contract easily falling on the hands of teenager just seemed impossible to Sooyoung.

“From the look on your face, you’re probably thinking I’m either crazy or secretly in love with you that I’d trick you into something that would lock you up as my other half in the hands of law…there’s always divorce if anything…”

“Noh…Micky Yoochun! Don’t even go trying to pull my leg like that…it’s definitely not funny!”

“It kind of is actually…just imagine, you and me?!” The idea of the two best friends being more than that was nothing short of ridiculous.

He had seen her during those awkward years where her mind told her one thing, but her body reacted in another during gym class; gifting her with a new buck toothed smile. She had seen him during those embarrassing years where he stood a good three to five feet shorter than the other boys in their grade, barely a centimetre or two taller than Sooyoung herself. During those years they spent and relied on each other in Japan…they were friends.

BEST FRIENDS.

That was all they were and all that they quite ever wanted to be because that was the perfect definition of the other to them.

“Don’t worryyyyy Summer sheesh. I got the thing from some cool guy I randomly met. He said his parents specialize in that sort of thing. Besides, one would have to trick me into marrying you in the first place!”

Tom & Jerry like cats and dogs…that was how their friendship was like.

“What’s him name?”

Sooyoung calmly asked as she continued to glide the black ball pen across the pages.

“Wae? I thought you had a boyfriend you oh so dearly loved~ Are you going to leave him for the cool dude I met?”

“Again, Micky you moengchonni…like that would happen.”

“His name was…”

Micky paused as the friendly strange male’s name went skidding through his lost memories.

“LAST ONE~” Sooyoung playfully exclaimed as she flipped over to the final page of the so called bootleg complicated contract.

“Ah neh his name was Cho Kyu---“

As the pen curved the last bit of her signature onto the dotted line, the roar of lightning accompanied by the flash of thunder randomly struck. The lights in the entire neighbourhood flickered on and off; the bright and darkness shaking the night sky.

Some strange omen too complicated it seemed, slowly crept its way into the lives of many waiting to get tangled in their web of relationships.

“Ah, jeogi-yo (excuse me)…are you ever going to tell me your name? Or better yet where exactly you’d like for me to drop you off at?” Soojin quietly asked as she continued circling the area, the two driving aimlessly amongst the rainy night.

“Could you let go of my hand?”

“N-N-Neh? Mianhae…” Soojin quietly pardoned herself for her rash actions. She peeked towards his direction every now and then. His face stood still as stone. Maybe it was the reflection of the shaded weather outside, but his skin looked clammy as much as it seemed confused.

“Stop.” Changmin’s voice firmly called out. It was likely the very first time for such proper annunciation to fall from his mouth that night.

“I’ll get off here...”

The tall framed guy quickly responded before dragging his body up and out. Within a blink of an eye he disappeared into the coverage of the noraebang building.

Soojin stayed there somewhat appalled by his random spurt.

She drew her hand to the shift of her car, only to have her knuckles bang alongside the small forgotten cellular phone that the unknown seemingly strange male had left behind.

He’ll come out and look for it she figured, as the idea of running into the noraebang after a stranger—a male stranger to be exact---was in a way dangerous.

She watched the time in her car’s digital clock tick away with no signs of any human walking out anytime soon.

!@#$%^&

For the nth time the phone began to vibrate, the sound distinctly audible among the trickles of the rain along the windows.

“Soo.”

It read. She figured it to be probably someone special. It occurred to her then that the Soo character would be the key ingredient for the situation in order to make things right. Whoever it was would be just the right person to come, return the phone, and help deal with whatever issues the guy had.

As Soojin opened the flip phone up, the screen image disintegrated quickly before it completely turned off. ZERO battery. Within that split second, she pondered on the very little capture she was able to spot. T’was a picture of two, lovers she presumed. Him most likely being one while the other had happened to give off a different vibe. The only thing she was able to spot in that brief moment was the honey colored skin that differentiated her from many in the sea of porcelain white toned females in Korea.  

Interesting she thought as she momentarily had herself remember of a little sister she was separated from too soon as little kids. Summer she recalled, the step-sister that disappeared one day alongside her father in the journey to start a new life in Japan…all the while she herself stayed back in the familiar grounds of Korea, never really fully knowing her father or that chld that she was partially related to.

As time continued to slip by, Soojin finally gathered the courage to face the odd stranger once more. She was always the more innocent of the two while that Summer as she recollected had an underlying spunkiness to her that would awaken every now and then. She herself was a plain Jane she thought…possibly the reason why they would always dump her for someone better…possibly the reason why she was always alone.

It was time like this where she’d wonder how her unknown dongsaeng was doing…

She entered into the building; a small cozy foyer found it covered in the tackiest wallpaper on all four that one could imagine. However, there was a small charm about the place, somewhat eluding a Japanese vibe in a way one could not describe, but only feel.

She politely greeted the old couple at the desk before questioning if they had seen what she lied to be her ‘friend’. Following the instructions given, she walked down the passageway of slender hallways, mini rooms left and right---some filled with happy goers and others completely empty.

It was the very last room to the left. She peeped through the circular mirror. He sat on the side sofa directly at the corner position; motionless. Besides the swaying of his arm holding the soju bottle, he was completely still.

One. Two. Three. Four. Five—she counted…the number of emptied bottles the guy had seemed to had consumed already.

Concerned for a possible case of alcohol poisoning, the nurse instinct in her caused the girl to rush into the room and prevent him from swallowing any more. He stared at her; obviously with the eyes of a drunken man, but Soojin can’t help but feel wrapped in his gaze.

“Y-Y-Y-You’re phone…you left it,” her words stuttered out.

He grabbed the hand that holds his cellular and pushes it against her lips, her lipstick smudged alongside the silver casing.

“Why are you always around me?”

He muttered out to her, his breath strong with the heavy smell of alcohol.

“N-Neh? Jeogi-yo are you alright?” Soojin innocently asked.

“AND HOW ABOUT HIM?! IS HE ALRIGHT?! WILL HE EVER BE THE SAME AGAIN?! WILL HE EVER BE ABLE TO STEP BACK ONTO THE PLATE AND PLAY BASEBALL THE WAY HE HAD BEEN TO THIS DAY???!!”

His voice crackled, sadness and regret seeped through every word.

“He’ll be fine,” she answered calmly---her heart ached for the guy before her.

Changmin lifted his head up slowly till his eyes directly stared into hers. He surprisingly grabbed her by the neck and pulled her to him, their lips meeting for the first time in a long deep kiss.

Her initial thought to pull away diminished. The feeling of being wanted or more so needed after so long made her feel welcomed and in a way, she enjoyed it. She dropped the phone onto the floor before raising her own hand to explore through the guy’s baseball uniform. They slammed down aggressively onto the couch, a few clothing pieces taken off from their bodies.

“I-I-I don’t haasewsf h-havee one..”

He drunkenly stammers in between the smudging of their lips.

“In my purse…” she whimpered as she broke apart from the guy to search for some barrier protection.  

With her light body atop of his, his mind cleared up for a second as if recognizing something, but not quite comprehending for the soju effect got the better of him. He lifted his arm away from her bare waist and grabbed her neck. Bringing her down close, he sees something interesting…yet again, unknown.

“Do you have a sister?”

He found himself randomly asking as if the question was meant to pop out.

Dumbfounded, she replied calmly, “Mmm neh; although, we’re practically strangers. I heard she’s getting married.”

Married.

Soojin recalled the time her mother had brought up news about her step-sister possibly tying the knot. She was truly happy for her, but at the same time envied the girl for achieving something she had been searching for.

When she turned to look back at her position now with the unknown guy wrapped in between her legs, she figured why not live in the moment and forget all that is in the past. She pulled him up with a swift tug and kissed him once more.

There’s a part of them both that doesn’t realize the sub conscious retaliation to the whole act on his part.

Even though the mind may be struck by the effects of the alcohol, the heart will remain untouched.

She smiles as she gently bites his bottom lip, “I found it.”

END OF FLASHBACK

=====================================

Micky stands there caught in between something he’d rather not question or know more about; the tension in the air seemingly vibrating off the walls is a bit too much for his taste.

“I’m just gonna go…uh…this way…” he awkwardly says as he excuses himself and walks out into the living room area, all the while forgetting the key fact that all his clothing is secretly stored away in that bedroom closet.

He walks around the headquarters like a boss with just the white towel wrapped around his waist…he’s Y and he sure as hell knows it. Nothing in particular fascinates him since all that surrounds the little precious dorm seems to be that of girly little things that no guy would quite jump for joy. He heads over to the small bookshelf to the side, wondering if the Summer he knows still collects those hundreds of cooking books. He smiles when he sees some familiar titles of Japanese editions he had sent her a while back, but something else at the top causes him to grin those pearly whites to the extreme maximum ability.

He picks the picture frame up, a photograph of Sooyoung and another girl whom he figured to be the roommate. Skin as white as snow and eyes that powerfully struck at his heart strings, the idea of stealing the picture right then and there occurred to him.

She turns her head once more and her eyes fall down at Changmin's long body occupying her bed.

Her heart aches.

She brings her hand up to push aside his tangible locks when suddenly the body moves. Her hand gets caught in his hold as he fully forces her body up and over onto the bed as well--for such a small space, it’s doing a pretty damn good job in occupying two bodies that are longer than the norm.

“Y-Y-Yah…” Sooyoung stutters as their faces meet side by side, her head gently leaning on his arm. Uncontrollably, her eyelashes batter to a new record of quickness. When she spots him staring at her, she tries to dodge the connection, but he grabs hold of her round face in one of his large hands.

“You were staring at me not too long ago, why the rush to stop? Hasn’t anyone told you that you have a bad habit?” He smirks cheekily.

“Arasso…I’ll quickly change it then…” she replies back shyly as she tries to squirm out of his tight hold---which secretly, she is overwhelmingly happy to meet once more.

Changmin always enjoyed the tug-of-war they played. The underlying ‘come hither’ pleads the two actually scandalously thought about. Sooyoung’s fidgeting brought back moments that were never replaced all these years apart. He knew just how exactly to react in order for the fish to stop flapping. He threw her completely down, locking her thin waist in between his own thighs as he brought himself over. All this occurring in the quick flash as if all the stored energy inside him decided that then would be the right time to release itself. Pinned underneath, Changmin smiles that semi-devilish trademark of his and commanded sternly:

“You. Stay. Still.”

!@#$%^

“CHOI SOOYOUNG OPEN THE DOOR NOW. I FORGOT MY KEYS SO OPEN UP!” A slightly high pitched voice screams.

Smart little Yoochun figures right away that the voice behind that screaming demand is the nameless girl in the photograph, so without hesitation he unravels the locks…the fact that he’s supposed to be in hiding flies out of his mind and so does the fact that the only thing keeping him from showcasing his complete manhood is a small white piece of cotton around his hips.

“Why HELLO there~” He swings open the door happily and strikes a handsome pose.

“Who the hell are you?” The sudden questionable face totally catches Micky off guard as it wasn’t exactly the angelic smiling figure he had wanted to see from her. Instead, she stares in complete confusion at his semi self stupidly greeting the girl who actually lives in the complex.

Before any proper introductions can even be exchanged, the girl pushes him aside and rushes towards the bedroom. Yet again, she finds another awkward scene…

“YAHHH! CHOI –THE-FREAKING- SOOYOUNG! WHY THE HELL DOES IT SMELL LIKE IN HERE?!?!”

The girl looks terrified as her eyes seem to be a centimeter close to ripping out of its sockets.

“Omooo…Jess…this IS NOT what is looks like…” Sooyoung quickly exclaims as Micky then enters the room with a strikingly similar surprised face.

Looking back and forth, Jessica holds an envelope up in the air,

“Now which one of you is that Park Yoochun? Which one are you married to Sooyoung?!”

“BWOHHHH?!?!”

Sooyoung screams out while in the back ‘Mickey Mouse’ falls to the ground, blacking out from the news..taking the quote "OH BOY~" to a whole other level....

---------------------------------

A/N:

The flashback scenes in these past chpts are intended to unravel slowly just how the hell the two broke up and got their relationship so complicated. I've been MIA foreverrrrr & I'm so freakin shocked to see the # of ppl subscribed to this~ truly thankful! Currently trying to get back into writing so bear with me...