Chapter 19

Jae

Memorizing day hurts my brain. I’ve shoved so many lines in there that only Sunggyu’s smile can clear the fog from swirling around inside. The only problem is that when the fog disappears, so do my lines. It’s fun watching as your friends try to draw the right words out of their mind when they’re stuffed with them, but it’s not as amusing when you struggle to do the same. Saela has an annoyingly good memory for lyrics, so I’m not surprised when she doesn’t have trouble with her lines most of the time. It pisses me off, but I know I’m not alone in my struggle because Sunggyu’s always apologizing before he says the wrong line and taking a look at his script. I have to hold it behind my back to keep him from sneaking a glance to see if he’s right. After he tries to pry it from my fingers, staff laughing, he realizes he already knew the line. Woohyun is the complete opposite. When he didn’t know the line, he’d make something up. It was almost always completely off, sending the rest of us into fits of laughter. Krystal is a mixture between the two, cautiously starting her lines until she gets a nod of approval or a shake of disapproval from the director. Interestingly enough, I do nothing like anyone else. I just freeze. And wait. Eyes wide and staring at whoever I’m supposed to be talking to.

“Ya, Mak-Jae,” Sunggyu said once when I froze. My mouth twitched when my nickname returned along with his joking manner.  “Are the lines written inside my skull? I feel like you’re boring into my head with your eyes!” We all laughed, and I apologize to him, bowing respectfully and promising to stare at someone else instead. So the rest of the times I forgot my lines, I’d turn and stare at Saela wherever she was. Although everyone laughed at me, we all laughed at everyone else too. It was a comfortable day; challenging but comfortable. And Sunggyu was the best part.

I somehow find the strength to get through the day, but by the time we finish I feel like I know less of the script than I did when I started. The director tells us to practice as much as we can before tomorrow because we’ll be adding on. We all leave happily, waving goodbye to Krystal with only slight feelings of jealousy as she leaves. I’ll never stop being jealous of her, I sigh. Even though Sunggyu said those things, I won’t stop hating my role as his little sister. I mean I love the role; it’s fun to play someone so full of love for everyone around her, but it would be so much better if Sunggyu wasn’t my older brother. Oh well, I think when he reaches over to mess my hair up randomly. We’ll both obviously survive now

“Do you have a full schedule today?” he asks as I collect my things. I shake my head at him after I think about what Unnie said this morning in the car.

“Our Korean teacher is out of the country and our Choreographer is still in the hospital,” I tell him and when his eyes widen in surprise. I explain what happened to him as we walk outside, meeting Woohyun and Saela beyond the doors. It’s raining today and they’re laughing as they try to shove the other one out from underneath the umbrella, fighting to pull it out of each other’s grasp. I flip up my hood; I’ve always hated umbrellas. As I watch Saela push Woohyun’s shoulder farther and farther back, Sunggyu puts on his hood as well. When Woohyun looks like he’s just about to fall, laughing and yelling at Saela to stop, she rips the umbrella out of his hands and takes off. Woohyun throws up his arms to cover his hair, and runs after her yelling.

“They’re like little bratty kids,” Sunggyu laughs as they run around in front of the building. Grabbing at the umbrella and pushing each other around. I nod and Sunggyu steps closer to me. My eyes widen at him, looking around for people but Sunggyu points up. “There’s a roof here,” he smirks and stands next to me so our shoulders touch. I feel his warm arm against mine and it makes my whole body shiver. I remember the feeling of his arms around me, pulling me into him and I shiver again. I see him smirking at me out of the corner of my eye as we watch the others play. I try to distract myself from Sunggyu’s touch, and watch as Saela slips in a puddle, going down hard on her . Woohyun stops in his tracks, laughing so hard that no sound comes out. Saela looks down, disgusted at the water that’s soaking into her pants. She slowly gets up, stunned.

“Hey brats!” Sunggyu yells at them. Woohyun looks over, still laughing at Saela’s soaked . “Come here!” Woohyun grabs Saela by the arm and drags her with him to where we stand under the overhang. They’ve both abandoned the umbrella and it hangs in Woohyun’s other hand.  Both of them are damp, but Saela only seems concerned with the huge wet mark on her and legs. She hits Woohyun a few times, blaming him for making her slip, even though he was no where near her. “Do you want to do something fun?” Sunggyu asks to interrupt them, and Woohyun nods, really looking like an excited little kid.

“I want to change clothes,” Saela grumbles, looking at me and pouting. “I liked these jeans.”

“It’s just water,” I tell her and she frowns, showing me (and unintentionally the guys) her muddy . “And mud?” I add sympathetically, Sunggyu and Woohyun both laughing next to us. I could have sworn I saw Sunggyu raise his eyebrows at Woohyun before receiving an elbow.

“How about we go shopping?” Woohyun suggests and Saela whips her head around to look at him. Now she looks just as excited as Woohyun.

“Really?” she asks, “You want to go shopping with us?” Woohyun nods sincerely and when both Saela and I look to Sunggyu, he nods too. “You guys are the best,” Saela beams at them and Woohyun smirks before turning into a “cool guy”.

“I know,” he says, looking around and faking boredom. “I hear it all the time.”

“You know what you don’t hear all the time?” Saela asks him and he looks at her questioningly. “That you’re modest.” Sunggyu and I laugh agreeing with her and Woohyun starts the verbal war. Pretty soon he’s poking her in the with the umbrella and she begins the physical war. Hoping that the children will follow, Sunggyu takes the lead with me next to him, promising to take us to the best shops he knows. I keep my hands in my pocket even though they’re not cold because I’m too scared I’ll want to hold his hand. He takes us inside popular stores and Saela and I haven’t been shopping in so long that we go a little crazy. Sunggyu follows me around like a cute little puppy, telling me his opinion on everything. I only have to pull something out and look at his face to know if it’s ok. I’m so full of happiness with every look he gives me that I never want to leave. Woohyun and Saela run off, looking for ugly clothes to put on each other, and we hear laughter when we near the fitting room.

“Jae!” Saela calls me over where she’s standing in front of a mirror. She’s wearing a pink cheetah print jumpsuit and regarding herself in the mirror. Woohyun’s laughing hysterically behind us and Sunggyu and I join him. “It’s really bad isn’t it?” she asks, pulling at the puffy shoulders and moving her arms so we can see the sequences sparkle all over it. She poses and even does a dance move from one of Crayon Pop’s weirdly catchy music videos. I nod and she laughs, disappearing back into the fitting room. Sunggyu hands me the pile of clothes he was holding for me, teasing me for the amount I have. I tell him to go away; he’ll probably have just as much as me when he’s done. He and Woohyun go into the men’s section right next to the fitting rooms and say they’ll wait.

I go inside, putting all my stuff down and trying everything on one by one. I meet Saela outside in between, taking her compliments and comments as truth. I tell her what looks good on her too like we always do when we shop. When things are to disgusting to leave the safety of the dressing room we take gross pictures and send them to each other from our own rooms, giggling to ourselves. I reach the end of the pile, and I’m surprised to see a mint green dress hooked behind the last shirt I remember picking out. It’s cute and it’s my size, so I shrug and pull it on. Stepping outside, I hear Saela gasp.

“That’s adorable!” she says, ambushing me before I’m all the way out of the door. She’s in a dress too, but hers is black and tight emphasizing her curves.

“That dress looks really good,” I point at her in the mirror and she frowns.

“I’m not too sure about it,” she says, turning around and looking over her shoulder. It clings to her in a good way. My dress flows around me, making me look curvier and I actually really like it. The little straps have soft flowers on them. They’re not gaudy or big so they’re pretty. “Woohyun picked this out,” Saela says, frowning at herself in the mirror. I raise an eyebrow at her, once again observing how short and tight it is. No wonder, I think, Saela would never wear anything that tight on her own choice. But hey, Woohyun did pick a good one. “Where did you find that one?” she asks, pointing to the one on me. I shrug and twirl the skirt a little bit; has the perfect amount of spin to it.

“I didn’t,” I laugh, “It was in my pile.”

“I found that one,” Sunggyu says, appearing behind me in the mirror with a grin. “Wow, I chose well.” I suddenly feel really uncomfortable as his eyes move over me in the mirror. My face flushes and I move to stand embarrassedly, legs and arms crossed. Sunggyu smiles when he meets my eyes in the mirror and I look down.

“Aren’t you two cute,” Saela says quietly, smiling at us. I want to reach over and hit her, but I’m interrupted by a loud noise from behind us. We all look back and see Woohyun holding onto a rack that he almost knocked to the floor. “What are you doing?” Saela laughs as he sets it back up and awkwardly steps around it.

“I got distracted,” he explains, looking only at Saela. “I didn’t think you’d actually try that on.” She laughs as he stares at her and looks back in the mirror.

“You’re right,” she sighs. “It’s a little too y for me.”

“No, it’s not,” Woohyun denies quickly, coming over to us. Sunggyu and I laugh at his hurried response. Saela regards herself in the mirror, shifting her weight back and forth. I watch Woohyun, and unsurprisingly, he’s definitely checking her out again. They start to argue about it and Sunggyu and I give each other exasperated looks. I sigh and move to go back into the fitting room to take off the dress and retreat back into my comfortable clothes. I’m about to close the door behind me when Sunggyu’s hand slips inside and he joins me.

“What are you-?” I start to panic and he puts his hand over my mouth.

“Shhh,” he says, closing the door behind him with his other hand. I’m frozen. He drops his hand cautiously and I take a nervous breath, backing up into the wall.

“What are you doing in here?” I whisper, the panic rising in me as he moves closer. He smiles at me teasingly, like he knows how much he’s making my heart go crazy. “You have to get out!” I whisper yell at him, hearing Woohyun and Saela laughing outside, all my nerves are on end.

“I just wanted to say something,” he whispers back. With my back already against the wall, I have nowhere to go. “You look beautiful,” his mouth is close to my ear, his breath making me shiver. “You have to get this dress,” he says, his playful smile present in his voice. I feel his hand brush in between me and the wall. My eyes widen and I push my back flat up against the wall when he pulls the zipper down a little.  “Or else I’m going to keep pulling.”

“Ok,” I say, pushing him back from me. My heart is beating so fast that I can feel it in my hands. “I’ll get it,” I breathe and Sunggyu’s still smiling at me.

“Good Mak-Jae,” he says like I’m his pet and reaches up to mess up my hair. I frown a little bit, his eyes move from mine to my pouting lips and he plans a gentle kiss on them. I gasp a little as he presses me against the wall to kiss me again. Then he slips out of the dressing room, the door closing soundlessly behind him. I slide down the wall; eyes squeezed shut and head racing.

If he ever does that again, I try to control my wildly beating heart, I’m a goner. When my hearts returned to normal, I stand up and change. I put the dress on the “to buy” pile and feel a shiver pass through my body. Even though my skin is still burning, I exit the fitting room and rejoin my friends. Sunggyu acts like nothing happened and neither of the other two noticed. Saela and I buy our clothes and Woohyun tells Saela she should have gotten the dress.

“Where would I wear it?” Saela asks him as we leave the shop. “Whenever we do anything, our stylist coordinates our outfits.”

“You could wear it when we hang out,” Woohyun laughs and Saela hits his arm. “Best friends tell each other what to wear right? I have a few other ideas too…”

“You’re such a ,” she laughs, but I see her shiver slightly when said it. I wonder again what happened that night she stayed up, but I have an inkling that it’s better if I don’t ask. Sunggyu leads us to a noodle shop, Saela and Woohyun making a bet to see who can put more hot sauce in their noodles without drinking. After almost using the whole bottle, Woohyun wins and we have to listen to them talk about how much the other one cried the rest of the time. Saela’s makeup is smeared from the tears and hilariously enough, Woohyun claims this was one day he didn’t wear eyeliner. Woohyun and Sunggyu walk us home and I suddenly remember something slightly important.

“Saela!” I yell startling her as she reaches out to hit Woohyun in the shoulder. “We didn’t tell Unnie what we were doing! We’re going to be in so much trouble,” I groan and her face turns to panic.

“I’m never going to be aloud out of the house again,” she says dejectedly, her shoulder slumping and her face ashen. “I’m going to become her pet that she only brings out to show people. And then when I finally die from lack of sunlight and socialization, she’s going to hold a terrible funeral where-”

“No you won’t,” Woohyun laughs and holds up something in his hand. It’s Saela’s phone. She makes a grab for it instinctually but he pulls it out of her reach. “I texted her and told her that you would be doing extra memorization practice until late and would get yourselves home.” Saela’s arms drop slowly and her face regains some of its color. Sunggyu claps him on the back, a silent compliment on his quick thinking.

“Really?” I ask, looking at Unnie’s house and trying to see if there are lights on. It’s not that late so she should still be up.

“I also changed your background and your passcode,” he adds laughing at Saela’s instantly pissed expression. She rips it from his grabs and tries to unlock it. She looks to Woohyun with a threatening expression and he laughs again. “I love Woohyun,” he tells her. She closes her eyes slowly in defeat and then types it into her phone. I hear the unlock noise followed by Woohyun and Sunggyu’s laughter. She groans and holds up the phone so I can see. It’s a picture of both of us looking at ourselves excitedly in the mirror with some of the clothes we bought on. The little bubbles above our heads read, “I love Sunggyu!” And “I love Woohyun so so much!” I wonder when he had enough time to edit the picture and when stole her phone. He’s something else, I think as Saela hits him.

“Let’s just go inside,” she sighs, hanging her head and pushing the door open.

“You’re welcome!” Woohyun calls as the door closes behind her. He laughs and then stops suddenly when he looks at us. Sunggyu gives him a look that I don’t catch and then Woohyun starts to back up awkwardly. “I’ll just go first,” he says and turns, starting to walk quickly away from us. At the sight of him going and Sunggyu staying, my heart starts to beat frantically again. I look at Sunggyu, almost kind of hoping that he waves and follows. He turns his head to me, smiling when he finds my eyes already on him.

“Well I’ll see you tomorrow,” my voice says from somewhere else. I step backward, avoiding his eyes, but he reaches out for me, chuckling.

“Ok,” he says, pulling me into a hug. I feel his lips linger on my head for a second and then he’s messing up my hair and pulling away. “See you tomorrow, Mak-Jae.” He smiles; sending my heart and nerves over the edge, then turns and walks off. The way he walks, confident and smug, makes me think he really does know how much he kills me.

          Just a cute little chapter for tonight :) "The Chapter" is coming sometime this weekend O.o

 
Yep. That's right, Minho. Be extremely excited.