I didn't sign up for this
Happy endings, do they exist?Kyungsoo quickly tidying the counter before she left. Her ring flashed in the dim light (couple ring to be exact) and the sight of it still made her glow inside. She went official with her boyfriend, Kim Jongin last year and she loved him more than anything in the world. She saw clearly the contrast in her love life and Luhan's. While Kyungsoo returned home to her gorgeous boyfriend, Luhan had been having her heart swiftly crushed again and again by the next bad boy in her life.
"Yo, Kyungsoo, where are you off to?" Jongdae, her co-worker asked with a grin, tying an apron around his waist.
"I'm off to look for a friend. Boy problems," she said, untying her own apron quickly.
"Oh, okay, good luck with that," Kyungsoo gave him a thumbs up as she walked out the door, Black Soul Coffee shop, where she worked as a part timer for about half a year already.
Luhan lived in Hyehwa, just near the subway station. Kyungsoo dived into a branch of Seven Eleven and picked up bottles of soju and called for a fried chicken delivery before hopped on the subway. It was going to be one of those nights, she could tell. Luhan was so heartbroken by the way she sounded on the phone hours before. Neither of them were heavy drinkers, but she thought that tonight they might need a bottle or two (well, she bought seven).
Within twenty minutes she arrived at Luhan's flat. They had spent a few fun nights in there, doing their assignments together or dancing to some kpop songs on sweaty nights.
"Hi, babe," Luhan said now, opening the door slowly. Her sudden appearance revealed not only a wild change in hair color, but also a significant loss of weight for the two weeks they had been apart. Her normally dark brown had been colored purple, and she even had her nose pierced.
"Wow, Luhan. Look at you!" Kyungsoo said, putting as much false cheer into her voice as she could. Pulling Luhan into her embrace, she could feel more elbows and ribs than she normally did before, and it was a bad sign.
"Come on in," Luhan said, shuffling through her living room in her slippers. She was wearing a pair of black legging and a tight red shirt, giving her that y, girl-next-door look that seemed to attract all the wrong men. Luhan was full of y, beautiful and confident, and Kyungsoo had always been envious of that. She had been the cool girl since their high school up until now at university, and Kyungsoo had looked up to her.
The fried chicken arrived ten minutes later, and they poured out the soju and dished up the food, before retiring to the couch to enjoy it all.
"So, what happened, then?" Kyungsoo asked, lifting the drum stick part of the chicken to .
Luhan's face was instantly clouded with sadness. "Well, I thought everything was going amazingly well you know. I've met his friends, he'd met mine. But, I don't know, suddenly, it just went wrong. The whole thing just collapsed," Luhan finished, swirling the fork in the sauce and stare at it expressionless.
"What do you mean by 'went wrong'?" Kyungsoo asked gently, staring at her friend's face. A small tears welled up in Luhan's eyes and ran down her cheek. Kyungsoo put her plate down and hugged her.
"I'm so sorry," Luhan said, wiping her face as more tears followed.
"Don't be sorry, Luhan. We all get sad. And this is what I'm here for, isn't it?" Kyungsoo offered, rubbing Luhan's arm gently.
"He just stopped calling, and then everytime I called him, he would just cut off the call. At first I thought he must just be busy or something, but then, he sent me a text message, and all it said was, 'Sorry, I don't think I'm ready for a relationship.' And that was it. I'm so confused, Soo." Luhan said, looking at her friend with utter despair. "I did everything by the book, we didn't sleep with each other too soon, I wasn't jealous, possessive or clingy, the was mind blowingly good... I just, don't get it."
Kyungsoo didn't know what to say. She took a large sip of soju and looked into her bestfriend's reddened eyes. It was hard to know how to react in these situation, she realized. She's twenty three now and had done her fair share of dating, and, until she had met Jongin, it had been exactly like this. Boys lied. They cheated, they confused you, and she didn't understood why she wasn't good enough for them. And then she had met Jongin and everything had just clicked.
"I don't know why he disappeared. But Luhan, all I can say is that it's a blessing it happened sooner rather than later, and you just have to hang in there, and think positive, and do not blame yourself. Promise me?" Kyungsoo looked at her friend and she really didn't understand why a man would meet her and do not want to hang on to her forever. Luhan smiled and looked down at her nails. "Well, I'm really happy on my own. I'm just getting a bit paranoid because nothing has properly worked out for, well, a long time, really."
"I've had an idea, Luhan," Kyungsoo said, perking up, her eyes wide with enthusiasm. "What do you think about internet dating?" she dropped it into the conversation.
Luhan frowned slightly before laughing, "You're joking!" she shrieked now, leaning back in her seat.
"No, I'm not. If I were single, I would be on there, seriously. It's not weird anymore, believe me." Kyungsoo protested, holding on Luhan's arm tightly now as she laughed, too.
Luhan was unconvinced, and Kyungsoo realized she was going to use evidence. Real, hard evidence. "Okay, do you remember Baekhyun and Chanyeol? You know, the giant and midget couple who were at mine during Jongin's birthday party last two months?" Kyungsoo said. "They met on KkaebwithMe.com," she continued, nodding her head with authority.
"No way! I thought they said they met at a charity event?" Luhan asked, looking confused.
"Charity event, my . That's just what they tell people, but Jongdae told Jongin all about it in the kitchen that night," Kyungsoo smiled.
"Wow," Luhan said, her perfectly kept eyebrows raised.
"Come on, get your laptop and we can just have a look. If you don't like it then it's fine. But let's see what's on offer first. Please?" Laughing, Luhan jumped up from the couch and got her laptop. Kyungsoo opened up the browser and typed 'KkaebwithMe.com'. Immediately, they were greeted by a bright background and a search bar, allowing them to look for a men in categories according to age and location.
"Right then, Lu, tell me, how old?" Kyungsoo asked, adopting a game-show-presenter voice and sitting up tall on the couch.
"Uhm... he would have to be between twenty... to thirty?" Luhan said, looking up the ceiling for inspiration with a naughty smile.
"Okay, and just from Seoul?"
"Yes, just from Seoul."
Kyungsoo hit the key and the screen was taken over by dozens of little thumbnail photos of men in all shapes and styles. It only took them about two minutes before giggling and laughter ensued.
"No no no, not him. He looks like a e with that shirt! And not him either, he looks so high like he's on drugs," Luhan said, pointing at the screen. "Oh, click on him," she then said, putting her index finger on the face of one exceptionally cute man.
"Okay," said Kyungsoo, "So, his name is Kim Minseok, he lives in Apgujeong, work as a barista, and is a hopeless romantic, apparently... Cool!" Kyungsoo said, turning to Luhan, who was now smiling widely, she felt like her job to cheer her up had been accomplished. Even if Luhan didn't sign up to this site, it was worth looking, just to see the smile on her face. They kept scrolling through the pages and giggling at the profiles until late night. The combination of alcohol and laughter made the hours pass by like minutes.
They were scrolling through another dating site when Luhan suddenly grabbed a hold of Kyungsoo's arm, her nails digging into her skin.
"Ouch, Lu, you're hurting me!" Kyungsoo took her arm away from her friend's death-grip, half laughing half wondering if she had too much drink.
"Holy , Kyungsoo. Don't look, don't look!" Luhan yelled in reply. Kyungsoo stared at her, totally confused. As she turned back towards the screen, Luhan suddenly jumped onto her like a monkey wrapping itself around a tree branch.
"What the , Lu?" Luhan stayed still and held on to Kyungsoo. "Okay, Soo," Luhan said carefully, "I'm going to let you go, but just don't look at the screen, okay?"
"Yes, yes, I won't!" Kyungsoo laughed, totally confused by Luhan's behavior. "Just get off you mad cow, you're hurting me!" As Luhan climbed off her friend, she picked up and carried the laptop over to the kitchen counter.
Kyungsoo looked out the window, waiting for Luhan to snap out of this entirely strange behavior. But when she looked back, there was a tears in Luhan's eyes with both hands over . Kyungsoo stood up rapidly and started walking over to her. "Luhan, what the hell? You're starting to freaking me out now!" But what she saw when she walked behind her friend and looked at the screen freaked her out much more than her friend's erratic behavior.
There, on the profile was a photo of a man she recognized.
Kim Jongin.
Her boyfriend.
Smiling back at her.
His dark brown orbs were staring out of the screen at her, blazing away for all the women of the world to enjoy.
Her heart stopped. Kyungsoo felt weak. Confused. Dizzy. She had been with him for over a year now, she thought she was the happiest woman ever to get the perfect Kim Jongin for herself, but there was her boyfriend. "Kind", "dependable", "y" and "I dance too" were the words he used to describe himself.
You arrogant, unfaithful !!! Kyungsoo's thought was screaming on the inside.
She stormed back to the living room, grabbed a bottle of soju and tipped its contents down , wondering how on earth she was going to handle this.
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