Soonkyu’s

       Hyomin told me she’s going to have her first meeting without her dad due to her big project tomorrow. I wished her good luck and told her she’ll do great.

         Meanwhile I was on the campus cafeteria with my friends and Hyoyeon’s friends. It’s lunchtime and we were eating merrily.

         “They’re here!” one of Hyoyeon’s friend squealed and everybody turned their attention to look at the door. 

         A group of senior guys entered the cafeteria and the girls began to gush over them. The three guys on the table (including me) just rolled our eyes.

         The girls turned quiet when they walked pass our table. They sat in a vacant table not too far from us and ignored the stares from all of the girls in the cafeteria. As you suspect, they were the popular ones. College was not much different from high school, but at least it was less bullying. Popular ones and the nerds still existed though.

         “Oh my gosh! Are they checking us out?” one of Hyoyeon’s friends started to squeal again.

         “They are soooo looking at us!” another one added.

         Hyoyeon was no exception. She was touching her hair, making sure it looked nice.

         I looked at the group of seniors to see if they’re really checking my friends out. Well, my best friend was one of girls they checked out.

         They were really looking at our table and whispered to each other. Suddenly one guy from the table got up and walked to our table. The girls were panicking like crazy, trying to tidy up everything while the guys just rolled their eyes again and again.

         “Hi.” He greeted all of us with his cool way.

         The girls greeted back. One with a stutter, one with red face, and surprisingly Hyoyeon’s the only one who greeted back without making herself looked like an idiotic-freshman-going-gaga-over-their-seniors. The guys also greeted back and nodded politely. He was our senior. We still needed to respect him, right? I also nodded politely and he made an eye contact with me.

         “So, you’re Soonkyu, right?”

         Eh? What the?! All of my friends looked at me in disbelief.

         “Err.. yes, that’s my name.”

         “My friends told me they saw you with Park Hyomin yesterday.”

         I knew it right away. He’s the ex-boyfriend Hyomin talked about. Wait, ex-fling. She told me I was her first ever boyfriend. Yep, I stated that with proud.

         My friends stayed silent. I smiled.

         “You’re dating her?”

         “Yes.” I answered and he widened his eyes.

         “Do you know how old she is?”

         “I know.” I got slightly irritated by his tone saying the word ‘old’. 

         He still looked at me and he scoffed, “Wow, she dated a little kid now? I never thought she would stoop this low. You must be filthy rich, huh?”

         Suddenly I was on my feet and I grabbed his collar.

         “Don’t ever talk about her like that.” I growled on his ear.

         He pushed me away, “What the hell?!”

         I let go his collar but still glared at him. I could see his friends were coming over.

         “Son of a b*tch! How dare you grabbed my collar like that?!” He was tidying his collar and I was about to punch him in the face for indirectly saying my mother’s a b*tch. My friends were fast to hold me in place and dragged me out of there.  

         Gossip spread fast. The next day, I was famous as a freshman who dated an alumnus. Not just an alumnus, but Park Hyomin, The Campus Heartbreaker. She just graduated 2 years ago, so juniors and seniors knew who she was. Even the professors knew her infamous reputation as a student who dated almost everybody.   

         I was very well aware that bunch of people looked at me and talked about me when I entered the campus. They didn’t even bother to tone down their volume as I walked pass by them. I could hear:

         “That’s him!”

         “Well he’s pretty good looking, but 6 years younger?”

         “She’s a e indeed.”

         “Maybe she’s into his money.”

         “I don’t think so. He rides public transportation. Maybe he’s the gold digger.” 

         UGH! I shot them death glares and kept on walking to my classroom. The class was almost full but thankfully my friends saved me a seat in the back.

         “Yo, Soonkyu!” Joowon called and I went straight to him.

         I sat down on the chair with a thud.

         “Rough morning?”

         “College is not much different than high school.”

         Minjun patted my back, knowing what I meant, “Don’t let it get to you, my friend.”

         “Yeah, thanks.”

         Honestly, I felt really irritated that they talk nonsense about Hyomin. Consequentially, they were saying how incompatible the two of us were.    

Hyomin’s

         Finally the weekend’s here! Honestly, being my dad’s apprentice was much easier than being the vice CEO. I needed to make a decision by myself that would affect the company. My dad supervised me time to time. Wooyoung as my business partner was very understanding also. I spent almost everyday with him, due to our big project. To sum it up, it was a hectic week and I haven’t seen Sunny at all. Weekend was like a little break to breathe before I went back to crazy work stuff on Monday.

         Sunny and I had a date today and he needed to take her mom somewhere first, so we agreed to just rendezvous in a restaurant for lunch. My dad’s driver dropped me off because Sunny would take me home later on.

         I entered the restaurant and looked for vacant table.

         “Hyomin Unnie!”

         I looked over to the source of voice calling my name and it was Hyoyeon. She was waving at me and she’s with a guy. If I was not mistaken, he’s one of Sunny’s friend I saw when I picked him up at campus.

         I approached them and Hyoyeon stood up to hug me.

         “Hi.” I hugged her back.

         She pulled away, “Why are you here alone? Where’s that stupid best friend of mine?”

         I chuckled, “He’ll be here soon. Need to accompany his mother elsewhere first.”

         “Ah, I see.”

         I stood there a little bit feeling awkward because the guy was staring at me with his mouth a little bit open. Hyoyeon realized it.

         “Unnie, this is Minjun, my other stupid best friend and also Soonkyu’s. Minjun, this is Hyomin, Soonkyu’s girlfriend.”

         “Hi, nice to meet you.” I offer my hand.

         He seemed to snap out from whatever he’s thinking and shook my hand.

         “N-nice to meet you too.”

         “You know, Minjun-ah, it’s rude to stare at people and you’re making Hyomin Unnie feels uncomfortable, babo!” Hyoyeon smacked his arm.

         I laughed at Hyoyeon’s straightforwardness.

         “Uh.. sorry.” Minjun rubbed his arm that was hit by Hyoyeon and he looked at me again, “It’s just that I still can’t believe how Soonkyu can get such a pretty lady like you. No wonder he would get into a fight because of you.” He chuckled.    

         Sunny got into a fight?! I widened my eyes over what he said, “He got into a fight because of me?”

         “Soonkyu didn’t tell you?” Hyoyeon asked me back.

         “No.” I answered honestly.

         “Well almost got into a fight. If it’s not for Minjun and Joowon holding him back, he would’ve got suspended by now.”

         “What happened?”         

         “Um.. I guess it’s better if Soonkyu tell you himself and we actually have a movie to catch now.” Hyoyeon looked at her watch and stood up.

         “Oh, right! Come on.” Minjun also stood up, “Nice to meet you again, Hyomin-ssi.”

         “Nice to meet you too, Minjun-ssi.”

         Hyoyeon gave me a hug before got dragged away by Minjun.

         “Bye, Unnie!”

         “Bye, Hyoyeon-ah.”

         I heaved a sigh and sat on a vacant table. Why did Sunny almost got into a fight because of me? And with whom? Could it be my ex?  

         I took my cell phone from my bag and sent a text to Sunny letting him know I was here already. I was in the middle of my spacing out, thinking about possible reasons Sunny almost got into a fight when a family entered. They had two little kids, one was clinging to her mother while the other one was carried by his father. The father and mother still looked pretty young. It was rather normal since their kids were toddlers. The scene made me forget the whole ordeal of ‘Sunny almost got into a fight’ temporarily.    

         “Mommy, I want to be carried by daddy too!”

         “But we’re here already.” The man said and put his son on a chair. The boy stuck his tongue to his sister and she pouted.

         “Come on, don’t pout, baby girl.” The woman put her daughter on her lap, “Do you want your favorite milkshake?” her mom asked.

         Her pout turned into a wide smile at the word milkshake, “I WANT!”       

         I smiled at the scene and couldn’t look away from the happy family. The thoughts and questions I pushed to the back of my mind came back to me: Would I be like that with Sunny someday?

         “Hey, so sorry I’m late. Did you wait long?” and a kiss on my cheek pulled me out from my thoughts.

         “Nope. It’s fine.”

         He sat and smiled at me, “Have you ordered?”

         I gave him a small smile, “Not yet.”

         I instantly remembered Minjun said Sunny almost got into a fight and I frowned at the thought.

         He called a waiter and asked for a menu. The waiter came back shortly with it.

         “So, what do you want to eat?” he read intently at the menu.

         “Sunny.”       

         “Hmmm?” his eyes didn’t leave the menu.

         “Did you almost got into a fight because of me?”

         He instantly looked up at me, “Who told you that?”

         “I met Hyoyeon and your friend, Minjun, before you arrive.”

         “They were here? Just the two of them?”

         “Yes.”

         “Where are they now?” he looked around.

         “They have a movie to catch.” I heaved a sigh, “Sunny-ah, answer my question.”

         He didn’t look at me and stared at the menu again, “Yes, I did.”

         I took the menu from him so he would look at me, “With whom and why?”

         He looked at me unsurely, “With your ex, because he said bad things about you.”

         My heart softens. So it was with my ex and he tried to stand up for me.

         “What exactly did he say?”

         “That you stoop so low to date a little kid and accusing you as a gold-digger.”

         I didn’t say anything. I was worried because he lost his temper for nonsense things, but on the other side I was really flattered that he stood up for me.

         “Are you mad?” he looked at me guiltily.

         “Rather than mad, I’m worried instead. You shouldn’t lose your temper easily, Sunny-ah. What if your friends weren’t there to hold you back? You could’ve been suspended or worse, expelled.”

         “I know, I’m sorry.” He frowned.

         “But.......... I’m also flattered. Nobody had stood up for me like that.” I showed him a wide smile.

         He had twinkle in his eyes and his frown turned into a grin. I giggled before I leaned to kiss his cheek, “Thank you.”

         “My duty to fend my girl’s honor.” He said jokingly. 

         We ordered and we talked about how our week went. The food came and the atmosphere was good. I was drawn into the conversation and of course, his loving look at me, his sweet words toward me once or twice, and basically to his existence near me.

         But looking at the table where the happy family ate, I remembered the talk with my mom. When she asked me if I haven’t talk about the future with Sunny. Should I have that talk now?

         “Sunny-ah, did you really mean it when you told my dad that you haven’t think about your future yet?”   

Soonkyu’s                 

         I was a little bit surprised and confused with the sudden question but gave her an honest answer nonetheless, “Yes. I haven’t, but that’s not really a bad thing. What’s wrong with ‘live the moment’ anyway? I’m deeply in love with you and we’re happy right now, right?”

         Hyomin gave me a tight smile. I guessed the conversation ended there, so I continued eating. Hyomin also continued to eat. She looked down at her plate and said something very softly, it came out above a whisper.

         “But I want a future with you.”

         I heard it and froze for a while. I looked at her but she still looked at her plate. Was I supposed to hear that statement? Or did she just blurt it out mindlessly?

         I chose to pretend not hearing it.