[kyle's notes]: just reviving myself after a lot of stress (from personal, professional and so many other) problems hahaha

 

WARNING: LOTS of ERRORS ahead

 

 

 

Shin Hye nearly winced at the umpteenth mention of her other best friend’s name. She carefully watched Seung Ah out of the corner of her eyes. Since the moment they settled themselves in the room after giving Il Woo a brief greeting, he hadn’t stopped talking about the girl who left the premises couple of hours ago. So Min.

 

So Min this. So Min that. Whenever Shin Hye tried to shift the topic, Il Woo still managed to shift it back to So Min. She wondered how Seung Ah could still sustain her pretense of not being affected and then also wondered if she could do the same. If this was Geun Suk talking about another girl – not to mention, her best friend – for what seemed like donkey's years, she didn’t think she could last as long as Seung Ah was lasting.

 

A deep crimson crept up her cheeks along with a tremble of her skin folds. How she took the analogy to Geun Suk was beyond her. What was she thinking mentioning that guy in her thoughts? This was Seung Ah and Il Woo she should be contemplating about – Seung Ah and the guy she liked. Not Shin Hye and the guy she liked.

 

 

 

Dang!

 

 

 

Only the hair on her head didn’t stand up with such context. The guy she likes. The guy she likes. The guy…

 

 

 

‘Crap!’ she screamed in her mind. During the past few days, Geun Suk hadn’t been bothering her like what he usually did since the ID incident at the university gate. And she had to admit, she was so used to his bugging that his sudden cessation made her stomach lurch. Was this how it feels to be missing someone? ‘This shouldn’t be happening!!! This can’t be!!!’

 

 

 

“What’s wrong?” a concerned Il Woo asked, still in his hoarseness.

 

 

 

It was only then that Seung Ah’s attention was diverted. She focused on Shin Hye’s state before assessing her own. Sure enough, her best friend was occupied with something else but she couldn’t give her full attention to her. Not when her heart was on the verge of jumping out of its cage and out the window – straight from the fifth floor of this hospital. Sighing, she excused herself to the cafeteria for a dose of coffee. “Do you want anything?” she asked and when the two shook their heads at her, she shut the door gently to proceed on the activity. She wanted to be alone. She needed to be alone.

 

 

 

Back in the room, Shin Hye denied anything that caused her to daze out of their talk. But Il Woo wouldn’t buy it.

 

 

 

“Was it Geun Suk?” he guessed next.

 

 

 

And dear Lord, what a sharp mind this one had.

 

Shin Hye thought of fibbing but it would be too obvious, so she thought of a better idea. “No. It was not Geun Suk or neither of your bandmates. Oh, it could be So Min though since she’s one of my best friends. Speaking of best friends, yes, you got it right. It was Seung Ah. I dazed out because of her. Because she’s so gorgeous, beautiful, wonderful and…” she said in one breath but stopped when she noticed the kind of gaze he was bestowing her. “What?!”

 

 

 

“Does that mean you’re gay?” he queried incredulously, unsure if he had the right to ask. But he drew his conclusion according to her words. She just described Seung Ah as a gorgeous, beautiful, wonderful and—whatever she was going to say next. Not that he was opposing. But…

 

 

 

“WHAT?!”

 

 

 

“You said—”

 

 

 

“I know what I said!” Shin Hye snapped at him, suddenly irritated by the implication. She repeated her words in her brain; and then guffawed in the absurdness of it all. Oh her gosh! She? Gay? Where the hell did that come from? “Yeah. I guess that gives you the right to be curious.”

 

 

 

Il Woo raised a brow higher, “So?”

 

 

 

She swallowed hard, sending a telepathic apology to Seung Ah for her impending betrayal. God forgive her. “No, I’m not gay. I was just wondering how Seung Ah must have felt after all those talking you did.”

 

 

 

The man’s curiosity rose to another notch. “The topic about So Min?” She nodded. “What do you mean how Seung Ah must have felt? Is she not too comfortable to talk about your best friend? Do they have a falling out?”

 

 

 

“Easy, boy,” raising a hand. “One at a time. Nope to both questions answerable by yes or no. As to what I meant about how she felt…” she gave him a quizzical look. “You sure you still don’t get it?”

 

 

 

“What is it?”

 

 

 

And she could swear he could be the numbest man in the campus. “Uhm. Okay, how about this – let’s think of a scenario. There’s a person you like. You visit her to see how she’s doing but then she talks about nothing but another boy – it’s your best friend – but still a boy nonetheless – a boy other than you. How should you deal with it? Pretend you’re not affected? Continue with the charade? Or excuse yourself for coffee?”

 

 

 

“Scenario,” Il Woo reiterated afore his brain cells worked to put the statements into picture. She spoke too damn fast that he wasn’t sure how he coped. When he was trying to figure out what his choice would be – about the pretention, charade and coffee – his mouth opened along with his eyes. Shin Hye couldn’t mean that… “!”

                                                                                                             

 

 

The girl had a perturbed expression. She wasn’t expecting any curses to come out. “What?”

 

 

 

“I think I might need…” the door opened and someone came in, “… a word with Seung Ah.”

 

 

 

“Okay,” Shin Hye replied as she glanced over to her friend – she was holding a coffee-in-can. “You heard him.”

 

 

 

“Alone,” Il Woo finished, slightly surprised by the fact that the long-haired lady seemed not to notice the read-between-the-lines insinuation of his statement.

 

 

 

“Excuse me?”

 

 

 

“Excuse us.”

 

 

 

Shin Hye studied the man’s features to gauge some hint. But she only found his seriousness which had her wondering if her decision of betrayal was the right thing she did. “Uhm—kay,.” Finally accepting defeat, she strolled out the door, mumbling an apology to Seung Ah as she passed where she stood. She doubted if her best friend heard it but she still felt the need to apologize.

 

What if Il Woo got the exact meaning of her words and got mad? What if his meaning of ‘having a word’ with Seung Ah meant he’d confront her and then reject her? What if he really has feelings for So Min?

 

 

 

‘Oh No!’ Shin Hye placed both hands on each cheek, turning to give the door a last look of desperation. If Seung Ah went out of that room in tears, it’d be her fault and she’d most likely bring the guilt of it to her grave.

 

 

 

***************************************

 

 

 

“He what??!” So Min bolted out of her seat on the sofa. She strode to the front door where Wang Hee was standing after opening the door at the sound of the doorbell. The husband and wife went to her family’s house after band practice. She surely missed living there and finding her brother in the living room was an added bonus – their parents had called saying they were at her in-law’s house. She didn’t mind for it meant more quality time and getting to know between her and her twin. But then the unexpected visitors had to come and ruin the happy family mode.

 

 

 

“I’ll come with you.”

 

 

 

“What?!” So Min wasn’t aware that she was yelling. She was just starting to cling to the idea of having a brother and now it was being threatened. “Why are you coming with them? You didn’t do anything wrong, I’m sure you didn’t. You can’t just take him away without further reasons, sir. This is very irrational; so very…”

 

 

 

“So Min,” Hyun Joong interrupted, seeing the signal look Wang Hee threw at him. He wouldn’t want to risk having his wife smashed by two police officers if she didn’t stop her blather. “It’s okay. It’s just an interview.”

 

 

 

“But…”

 

 

 

“Listen to him, So Min,” Wang Hee said this time, gesturing at Hyun Joong. “Listen to your husband and listen to me. I’ll go – it’s just an invitation like they,” pointing his chin to the two men by the door, “said.”

 

 

 

So Min’s stare lingered on Wang Hee’s eyes, “You’ll be okay?”

 

 

 

He hesitated before answering, “Yes.”

 

 

 

But she knew better. Holding on to Hyun Joong’s hand to steady herself, “You’ll call me?”

 

 

 

“Yes,” he repeated, turning his back to the couple to follow the officers as they escorted him to the police car.

 

 

 

Yes, he’ll be okay and of course, he’ll call her. He wasn’t shocked when the policemen came to find him. He knew they’d look for him first in his old apartment – his landlady must have told them he moved out then told them about working in the coffee shop; then his co-workers told them about his present address – his workplace was the first place he chose to update his address. Or it could be that Jung Min – the very understanding and considerate Jung Min – was the one who told the police about him working in his coffee shop. Either way, they’d still find him.

 

 

 

Come to think of it, he was actually expecting them to come. Bring it on – he was ready and prepared for this. He didn’t have any inkling what the driver had confessed. Did he say the accident occurred due to, well, an accident? Or did he say that an accident was what really they agreed of? Whichever it was, he couldn’t shake off the feeling that something, or rather someone, was working behind it. Someone had a more revengeful motive than he.

 

 

 

***************************************

 

 

 

Geun Suk yawned, entering the hospital cafeteria for a cup of coffee – he needed one if he wanted to look normally functioning in front of their injured bandmate lying on a hospital bed. Kyu Jong’s late disappearance at practice had Mr. Hwang make them work twice the usual. Watching Hyun Joong’s attentiveness to So Min hadn’t helped one bit. It just made him ponder when he’ll be able to feel such towards another entity. It was a perilous territory to step into and he wasn’t sure if it was something he wanted to wander through – the matters of the heart are very unpredictable; succeed and you’ll be happy, or fail and live with regret for the rest of your life. It was a good thing Kyu Jong showed up thirty minutes since the rehearsal commenced. It gave him something to put his attention other than Hyun Joong being a mother hen to his wife. The dude had lots of talents – in studies, playing drums, being a husband.

 

Shrugging of the beleaguering thoughts, Geun Suk carefully lifted his cup from the machine after getting it full of hot coffee. He was sipping a bit, trying not to scald his tongue when something hit him resulting to a spilled coffee – a spilled HOT coffee – all over his arm.

 

 

 

“OH ! ! IT’S HOT! OH !” He yelled, not minding the shaken faces that looked their way. The language was foul, yes, but the pain was unbearable. “Man, that’s going to blister,” he said breathlessly while shaking off the droplets remaining on his arm. “Oh, damn,” he muttered as he examined and blew on the damaged part – it was red and very painful.

 

 

 

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. Is there a nurse in here? Or a doctor? Please, help us. He must be attended to,” the culprit of the bumping said frantically to the others. “Please, let me take you to the doctors to show my apology.”

 

 

 

His arm was aching awfully that the thought of feigning manliness slipped his mind. Saying that he’d be fine without the arm being treated would not be the last thing registered in his mind right now. He needed it bad! He allowed the person to accompany him outside the canteen to the emergency room where first aid treatment was being given to fresh injuries like his. Lifting his sight, he saw the lady’s back as she walked in front of him, asking the staff where he could be brought. Why did the figure look familiar? And the voice, why did it sound like… “Babe?!”

 

 

 

“What babe?” the girl whirled, suddenly annoyed by the endearment of a stranger. “Who are you calling ba—Geun Suk?!”