Extra: Remembrance
The Little ThingsMarch 2009
He hated to wake up in the morning. It was always hard for him to wake up for school, but at least his umma or appa would force him up. Living with four other guys that found no problem with waking up at two in the afternoon made morning schedules rushed and crazy. The bathroom was definitely the worst. Since there was only one in the entire dorm, it was messy with Key’s cosmetics, Jonghyun’s razors, and various shampoos and lotions from the other two members. Since he usually woke up the latest, the bathroom would be stuffy with steam and smelly with men’s products. Key or Minho would make breakfast by the time he was out of the shower.
Onew felt a little guilty as the leader for being so well taken care of.
But not today.
He groggily woke up to his cellphone’s vibration. No one in the dorm used an alarm clock except Jonghyun. Even then, Jonghyun would only set them up when they had a schedule early in the morning. Key, Minho, and Taemin would wake up for school and leave him and Jonghyun to laze around until manager hyung drove them to the studio. But today, they had no schedule and Onew was determined to wake up to help his dongsaeng.
After all, today was the day Minho was taking his college entrance exams.
Onew knew Minho was nervous. The quietly confident member buried himself in books for the past few months during backstage music shows, trying to squeeze in various facts and formulas from multiple subjects. There were even times Minho would crack and storm out of the dorm in frustration over the noise from Key’s late night singing. Onew could relate; being an idol who still attended school meant less time to study and more chances of failing classes. Although there were people like Key and Jonghyun who decided to just pursue music, he and Minho were the practical ones. Unfortunately, studying for one of the biggest exams and performing and being on shows for nearly twelve hours didn’t match up. But at least Onew was living with his parents while studying for exams. Minho didn’t have the support that Onew had.
And the fact the flaming charisma was slowly breaking down from stress and work overload caused the group’s dubu to reach a decision.
… Is ramen considered a good pre-exam meal..?
It’s five in the morning. I should still be in bed rolled up in my nice kimbap style blanket..
Onew looked at the mirror in the bathroom after washing up. His hair was sticking up in all directions, making him look like a ruffled duck. He thought of his Donal Duck impression and dit it in front of the mirror.
He laughed quietly at his comedic genius.
For once, he was the first to use the bathroom. The rest of the members were still sleeping. Minho was planning on waking up at seven - this gave Onew two hours to prepare an extremely special, ultra sensation, super culture shock, and he meant seriously super well-being food meal for Minho to eat before his exam.
After putting on a simple blue cap and loose sweats, he closed the dorm’s door as quietly as he could before setting out on his mission.
As soon as he entered the supermarket, Onew realized one crucial problem.
He had no idea how to make a meal.
Sure, the Shinee boys cooked occasionally; ramen, eggs, rice. But they were put on a diet to keep their weight consistent, so most of the food was premade. And as much as Minho liked ramen, Onew had a feeling that eating ramen before an exam wasn’t the best decision.
Onew scratched his head violently as he mumbled, “Jidan… jidan is good. Chicken soup? No, we ate chicken yesterday. Miyeok guk? Ah.. Minho.. I’m sorry… I don’t know how to make a pre-exam meal..”
“Miyeok guk is fairly easy.”
Onew turned around in surprise. A girl a little younger than him with a basket filled with health foods smiled at him. He was puzzled at how anyone could be up so early to shop for food, but was desperate enough to accept the help she seemed to give.
“Seaweed soup helps stimulate the brain. Sorry, I couldn’t help but overhear you. But you look a little old to be a high school student,” she looked at him mischievously with a glint in her eyes.
Quickly wanting to clarify, Onew shook his hands in front of him. “Oh! It’s not for me. My dongsaeng- er, my friend is taking the entrance exams today. So I wanted to help him by making an extremely special, ultra sensation -”
“.. super culture shock, and you mean seriously super well-being food meal?” The girl finished with a small laugh and shoved a basket at him. “Here. These are the ingredients you need.. I’ll just go get some more for my appa. See you later Jinki oppa!”
Onew dropped the shopping basket in shock. He started wide eyed at the girl, observing her intently. She looked vaguely familiar but he didn’t know that many girls outside his sunbaes. Soft facial features, a smirking grin, glinting eyes, American accent..
Realization hit him as he took a step towards her and tripped over the basket he dropped earlier.
“You.. You! ____ ya?!”
She smiled.
“It’s been a long time, Jinki oppa.”
Onew was back in the dorm, stirring a large pot filled with seaweed. He stared at the girl currently chopping various vegetables on a cutting board.
“You’ve changed,” Onew stated bluntly, watching her hand skillfully use the blade. Grinning goofily, he continued, “ You never used to cook anything before. You would always brag about how your mom made the best boxed lunches compared to my aesthetically beautiful boxes.”
She snorted lightly. “I don’t think that putting in rice, tofu, and egg rolls counts as ‘aesthetically beautiful’ Jinki.” Suddenly, her mood turned somber. “Besides, after you don’t have someone to cook for you, you don’t have much of a choice to learn.”
The air between them suddenly turned stagnant.
Onew looked at his old friend sadly. ____ was part of his group of friends in middle school. Although she was younger by a few years, a few simple meetings and small talks eventually evolved into a friendship. But after her mother had died, she suddenly moved to the United States with her father.
It seemed that despite all of these years of living away from the country that reminded her of her mother, she still hadn’t healed.
Still, he felt guilty for bringing up something so serious in their first reunion. “_____ ya, I’m sorry -”
“Save it. It’s in the past. It’s all just in the past,” she glared at the vegetables as she harshly began to chop them.
He hesitated once, twice, three times before softly speaking. “You know, it’s okay to grieve.”
She turned to him suddenly, putting on a bright smile on her face. “Shut up Jinki oppa. Don’t act like you understand when both of your parents are still living,” her voice was light and friendly, but her tone indicated the end of the conversation.
“Fine then. Anyway, it’s almost seven and I’ll have to leave for a schedule soon,” Onew said while rubbing his chin, hoping his exaggerated acting would cheer his friend up.
Instead, it seemed to backfire.
Her eyes frantically looked in his. “You’re leaving? I’ll head out first then! I’d better get back. Please send my greetings to your mom and dad and tell them I’ll visit their store soon! I’ll tell my father you said hello,” she quickly grabbed her bag, continuing to speak in a sing-song manner. “Just keep the soup warm and it’ll be fine on its own.”
Onew panicked at the sudden exit of his friend. They had just reunited after years of being apart and she was already walking away from him. Years back, she always hated being the one to leave from a meeting with friends first. She never told him to shut up no matter how much he talked. She never looked so, so afraid of someone telling her that they were going to leave.
Who was this person?
“Hey, stay for a few minutes. Minho’s probably going to come out of the shower soon and I’m pretty sure he’d like to thank you for making him the meal.”
She seemed to stop her steps towards the door for a moment.
Just a moment.
But she continued on into the hallway towards the front door. “It’s okay oppa. Please say you made it! Besides, this is probably the first time you woke up so early in order to do something for someone. You deserve the credit. I’ll see you later, Jinki oppa”
And before he knew it, she was putting on her heels and swiftly left the dorm.
As the front door closed, the bathroom door opened.
“Hyung, who was that?” Minho asked while toweling his hair.
Onew stared at the door sadly.
“A ghost.”
Author's note: Hey guys! I'm so sorry for not updating on Wednesday like I said I would. School has been really hard on me (which is sad considering it's my senior year TT_TT) since I'm taking 3 AP classes. :\
Sorry this chapter seems to make no sense whatsoever in the plot, but there are extremely important things I brought up for the plot later on.
Our chicken dubu leader is so hard to write. I love his "Hello Baby" quote I inserted in there though, if you can find it. I couldn't resist. :]
By the way, if you want to know when I'm going to update the next chapter, I post it as a status in my profile. The next update won't take as long, I promise!
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