13

Connecting Flashbacks

Hyesu sat outside of the ward restlessly. She was tired, but she couldn’t sleep, after Kai found out she was Eunhye.

She closed her eyes, and suddenly, all the memories came back to her.

--

Eunhye giggled, as she squinted her eyes and carved on the bark of the young plant.

While Kai, carved on the other side of the bark, grinning. They both drew a person, a girl and a boy, then extended the arms of both the carved persons so that they would be joined together.

“There!” he exclaimed and dropped the pieces of tree stick, dusting his hands as he got up. Eunhye nodded her head and grinned, clasping her hands. He helped her up then looked at the small young plant that was still growing. “We shall come back in ten years, and check out the tree,” he said.

“Well it would be taller than us in ten years time,” Eunhye commented.

Kai stole a quick glance at Eunhye and he giggled.

“What’s so funny?” she asked.

“You have soil near your cheek,” he laughed and rubbed the soil off her cheek.

--

“How stupid was I in the past..” she muttered under her breath, shaking her head.

--

“Jongin! You need to read! Improve both your Korean and English! They both !” Eunhye shouted, running after him while he just frowned and covered his ears, running away from her. She was holding onto a book running around the house just for him, making a fool out of herself.

“My languages are fine!” he shouted back.

She sighed and stopped running after him. “Well it’s your English that needs to improve,” she shouted.

When she saw how Kai was still avoiding her, she rolled her eyes and just flipped the page. “Chapter five!” she shouted, focusing her attention on the book. “Ju didn’t know what to do,” she continued, her eyes scanning around for Kai. “He was confused. Should he even follow Soyeon to the field? He knew what Soyeon wants-him to ride a horse. But he can’t. He know he can’t. But-“

“Kim Eunhye!” he groaned and sat on the sofa, panting as he closed his eyes. “I give up,” he groaned once more.

Eunhye smiled in victory and plopped herself beside him. “Kim Jongin. I’ve been trying to read to you for the past two weeks. Finally you surrendered.” She smiled.

He shot her a look and pouted. “Well that doesn’t mean I will listen.”

She pouted. “You should know reading is a fun thing. If I can read why can’t you? You are only a month older than me, you shouldn’t comply to me ya know.”

“Oh stop bragging about your English. My English is good too,” he said while Eunhye nodded her head sarcastically. “Wow, I didn’t know.” Then, she started tickling him out of the blue which caught him off guard.

He started bursting into laughter, whining and laughing as he rolled around the sofa, unable to get up on his feet and Eunhye tickled him more in his waist. “St-stop. A-asthma,” he gasped for air while Eunhye slapped his arm, continuing to tickle him. “I’ve known you for your life. You can’t possibly trick me.”

“I’m se-serious..” he gasped. His face turned red and his eyebrows began to frown. That was when Eunhye started to worry. She stopped and looked at him. “Are you alright, Jongin? Are you crazy you should have told me you had asthma!”

He then started to tickle her back, making her laugh as she rolled over, flinging her hands weakly as she laughed aloud.

Kai quickly wrapped his arms around her waist, while she calmed herself down and fidgeted, struggling while Kai kept her firm under his grasp.

Then, he swiftly planted a kiss on her cheek, letting go of her. “You!” she screamed and touched her cheek, frowning, but couldn’t help but smile.

“Harrassment,” she muttered and smiled. Kai looked at her, their faces just a few centimetres apart and he chuckled.

--

Kai smiled at the thought of it. He was young. Only sixteen at that time. And also that was the time, when Eunhye just disappeared.

Seven years passed, and here he is. Meeting Eunhye, and the greeting wasn’t very nice.

“What did I do..” he whispered softly, thinking back. But he wasn’t thinking about the problem, his mind was slowly drifting away on the flashbacks.

Starting when he was young, Eunhye was already his neighbour, elementary and high school. She was everywhere in his life. Even after he moved away from a higher social class than her, they still kept in contact, and both were in love.

--

“Jongin! Check this out!” she exclaimed, pulling him along with her into the book shop as he went further into the book shop and came to the section where there was a rack placing thick glasses. “Accessory that comes with the books. Wow,” she said and put on one frameless glasses.

“Nerd,” he muttered and laughed. Eunhye slapped his arm and looked into the mirror, then took another identical glasses, forcefully putting it on Kai.

“Hey!” he shouted and took it off. “Please don’t be a fashion terrorist, and drag me to be one too,” he commented, while Eunhye glared at him playfully. “What did you say?” she asked, raising an eyebrow and having her palm balled into a fist.

Kai laughed nervously and quickly ran away from her, while she just chased after him, from one section to the other.

When she went to the fiction section, she stopped in her tracks and turned to look at the books in the section. “Kai!” she whispered. “Take a look.”

“What?”

“The sequel to a better day and a better night. The day of the night. How cool is that?” she said, smiling as she took it from the shelf and went to the counter.

“You’re gonna buy it?” Kai asked, following her to the counter. She nodded her head. “It’s really nice. After Ju overcame his phobia, Soyeon fell sick. And it ended there. The sequel will tell the outcome of Soyeon,” she said while Kai rolled his eyes. “Well you didn’t read this book, you definitely won’t know a single thing.”

He scoffed. “Who said so. When Ju overcame his phobia they rode the horses almost everyday, even on rainy days, which then Soyeon slipped and fell, injuring herself and Ju was so worried then he ran home instead of taking the horse. How stupid,” he said. “I remember the last part was the part where it was the touching scene. Ju and Soyeon was separated because of Soyeon’s father. He always didn’t have a good impression of Ju and when Soyeon was calling for Ju in her sleep, her father even brought her to another place, and Ju had no idea. That he waited for day and months and-“

“Aha!” Eunhye shouted and pointed a finger at Kai. “How would you know the story since I stopped at chapter seven? You stole the book didn’t you?”

“What?! Of course not! I bought it alright!” Kai said defensively and Eunhye pointed another finger at him. “Aha! You agree with me that the book is nice isn’t it, or else you wouldn’t spend the money to buy it.”

“I.. I”

“Oh just stop it. You love the book don’t you?” Eunhye said and grinned in triumph. “I knew I am such a good story teller.”

Kai smiled and nodded his head. “Yeah yeah. You deserve a kiss alright?” he said, and swiftly pecked her lips.

--

He sighed. And just like this, a few days later and she disappeared. He never got a chance to find the book anymore.

“Eunhye..” he said, and shook his head sadly. “What did I do..”

D.O. hid behind the door, then closed the door and walked towards the living room.

--

“Ah yes. Next Tuesday I’m holding my birthday at my house. You should know what time to come, right?” Kai asked, intertwining his fingers with hers as they walked along the road.

She nodded her head. “Ten in the morning.”

“Well, I’m actually enterting SM Academy four days after my birthday so.. I hope you would really attend my birthday party. My father won’t chase you out like last year, I promise.” He gave her an assuring smile and kissed her cheek. Eunhye looked at him and smiled, nodding her head.

“You know what to do even when my father chases you out, right?” he asked, wiggling his eyebrows at her and she rolled her eyes. “Close my eyes, take a deep breath. Go out to the gate and call you three times.”

“Good. I’ll give you another kiss,” he said and kissed her lips. This time, a bit longer. Eunhye pulled away and gently smacked his arm. “A bit too long, isn’t it?”

“Nah, I think it’s too short. Alright. I need to go now. Remember, ten in the morning sharp, next Tuesday,” he said and kissed her forehead before he left.
-----