[12/11/2012 10:45am JiHyo’s Apt.]

JiHyo

JiHyo just leaned back on the pillow on her windowsill staring out onto the neighborhood lit up by the sun; a piece of twizzler hanging out . Every few seconds she would take a bite and pull it further into . It was a habit she retained from childhood, to see if she would be able to eat the whole piece with no hands; this habit only arose when she was in heavy thinking mode. By the looks of the empty bags of Twizzlers littering her room, she had been thinking for a while. Ever since the wedding something had been nagging at her. She felt like she saw something that night but she couldn’t really explain it and now after thinking about it so many times we wasn’t sure if it just wasn’t her imagination.

It was only for a split second but she could remember the way Gary had looked at her. She really had been enjoying the night; Gary was a great date. He looked handsome in his grey suit and she appreciated the pocket square he bought to match her dress. She was secretly kind of happy Chang Ju couldn’t make it; not that she wouldn’t have enjoyed herself but Chang Ju was not a people person by nature and for most of the night she would have been urging him to come out of his shell, which he wouldn’t do, so inevitably they would be in their own bubble for the rest of the night. She didn’t want that, this was a wedding, a celebration of the newly wedded couple and she would have wanted to share in that celebration of HaHa and Byul with all of their family and mutual friends. So when Chang Ju said he couldn’t go, she was a bit relieved. She knew who she wanted as her date automatically, not that he was her default but she knew they would have an amazing time together. Ever since that night Gary texted her, she had been feeling like she needed to get closer to him. He sounded so vulnerable on the phone when he talked about not wanting to go home; she could hear loneliness ring hollow in his words. That small glimpse into his vulnerable side was gone just as quickly as it was revealed. She appreciated the fact that he trusted her enough to show that; even though it was unintentional. So she knew not to push him, though she wanted to know more. JiHyo missed the friendship they had cultivated before she began dating Chang Ju openly and officially; she felt that they were on the right track to regain that friendship, maybe an even better friendship than before.

 In truth Gary was the perfect one to accompany her; they were both well connected with Byul’s and HaHa’s family members and most of their friends were she and Gary’s friends also, so it was a great event. They laughed and made jokes with each other, mostly at HaHa’s expense before the ceremony began. From the second pew, she and Gary could see everything. Byul was a beautiful bride. The dress was a faint cream color rather than traditional white; the dress was cut in traditional hour glass fashion but the neckline, silhouette and train were all modern designs; a beautiful mix of two worlds. Oh and HaHa looked good too but who really paid attention to the groom on the wedding day?

Of course the wedding reception kicked off truly in HaHa style, the dance that he and Byul did was super cool. She had never seen anything like that at other weddings she had attended, but then again she couldn’t exactly call Mr. Ha DongHoon a normal guy. She hadn’t known the song they were dancing too but she guessed that since it was HaHa, it had to be Bob Marley. When everybody joined them on the floor later to finish out the dance, she was hoping Gary didn’t ask; he knew how shy she was about dancing in public, on the show she had no choice but naturally dancing was not her strong suit. But when he held his hand out to her, she couldn’t say no, but she was still nervous; Gary was naturally a great dancer. She couldn’t say that she didn’t enjoy herself, learning how to what Gary called “dutty wind” was really fun once she got the hang of it [that shall be added to my repertoire]. Dancing with Gary was an event; she was almost embarrassed at how well they moved together. With the “dutty wind” your hips are connected to your partners and you slowly wind your hips in a circle in tandem. She could still remember how Gary held onto her hips guiding them in motion while he stayed behind her; how he would match her pace even though it was slow and show her how to move her body up and down while she winded. Sometimes he would come and dance in front her and as she watched him she could tell Gary knew his body well and certainly knew how to use it. From one aspect she could see how ual this dance could be if you and your partner took it there; these were definitely movements that could be used in the bedroom and no one else on the dance floor was moving like that. She was glad when the song ended because it helped her shake free of those images that surely would have followed those thoughts. Gary must have heard her humming “Black and White” by Khalil Fong as they were walking back towards the table because after she told him it was one of her favorite songs, he asked her to dance again. She loved the simplicity of this song; the singer often referred to the beauties of the black and white cinema era. As an actress some of these women were great inspirations for her, like Audrey Hepburn in “Roman Holiday”, one of her all-time favorite old movies. She was in her own thoughts in Gary’s arms and just so happened to look up at his face. She met his eyes and was completely captured. He was looking at her in a way she had never seen before. There was something deep and powerful behind his eyes; like, like…she couldn’t put a name to it. All she knew was it just felt like time stopped, everything slowed down, JiHyo wasn’t even sure that she was breathing but she could felt that subtle slide of electricity up her back. She wondered if he felt it. She looked away just for a second just to gather herself and it was gone and she didn’t know what to think. She just kept trying to picture that gaze once again in her mind but it wasn’t the same in her head; she had to make sure she wasn’t imagining this but before she had the chance to ask Gary anything HaHa and Byul cut in for a dance. She and Gary didn’t really get the chance to dance together again for the rest of the night; they both were surrounded by friends; eating, laughing and drinking. She had put what she thought she saw out of her mind for the rest of the reception; she was sure she would think of it later. She was actually able to get a second with Kim JongKook to ask him to have lunch with her, under the pretext of wanting to change her eating habits and hanging out with her Oppa. She was sure he believed the catching back up with her Oppa part but completely saw through her wanting to change her eating habits. I mean, who was she kidding; she was Song JiHyo, recognized glutton of the Running Man crew. That’s the best part of hanging around all men; they respected a girl who could eat.

But it had been almost a week and a half since the wedding and she was still thinking about what she saw. But it felt now the more she thought about it, the more it felt like a figment of her imagination. She couldn’t read anything in Gary’s face after she saw it; he just had that normal goofy grin he wore when he was around her. He didn’t act awkward or weird the rest of the night; nothing he did gave her any indication that something had happened. Now she was wondering if something was going on with her; she felt that electricity along her spine again didn’t she? Was she going crazy? [No damn it! I saw it, I know it.] As for exactly what it was, she still had no answers. At this point it was driving her crazy. JiHyo just mussed her hair furiously to help clear her head of the thoughts. Until she figured this out, it would end up pissing her off. She checked the clock and saw she had to get ready; she would be meeting JongKook Oppa in an hour or so for lunch. She closed the bag of twizzlers to keep from eating anymore lest she make herself sick; this candy binge she’d been on had been was getting out of hand. She was already starting to get an headache from the sugar rush she’d been on. If she wasn’t trying to put the pieces together about Gary’s mystery woman, she was analyzing her random reactions to Gary. She paid more attention to his non-existent relationship than too her own. She would have to meet up with Chang Ju soon, to make up for some missed time. JiHyo couldn’t complain though, she made her own life complicated due to her damn insatiable curiosity but she had already come too far to stop now.

JiHyo walked into her bathroom to freshen up. While brushing her teeth, she grabbed her cellphone and sent a text to JongKook confirming their lunch. He said he was going to pick the place to have lunch and would let her know the day of. She grabbed her robe and headed back into the bathroom to shower and finish getting ready. JiHyo figured she’d hear back from him by the time she got out the shower.

Author's Note: Hey guys. I'm sorry for such the late update. I just moved out of the country and am just now getting settled in my new home. It has definitely taken some time. I hope no one has forgotten about me. I promise the stories will be updated much more frequently. Now that I have consistent working internet, life should be good. Please feel free to leave comments, likes, dislikes, suggestions, etc. and please tell your friends to check out more of this Monday Couple story. Hwaiting and Greetings from Angola, Africa.