Characters     : Lee Byunghun (L.Joe) & Shin Yoonjo (feat. 93liners)

Song               : Say U Say Me – VIXX

Inspiration     : Reply 1997

Summary       : Byunghun thought it was a dream when he saw how much she had changed – Yoonjo was no longer the ponytailed crybaby.

Note               : Jungwon Junior High and Yoon Clinic for Child are fictional, if it’s not obvious.

 

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“One shot, one shot!”

Byunghun raised the glass to his mouth, unfalteringly swallowing down the beer in one gulp. The others looked at him in contentment when he put back his empty glass on the table, chanting his name. Actually, he was not the type who drank too much alcohol, but in the presence of his friends, he could not say ‘no’ to beer and soju.

“Where are the others? This is no fun!” protested him as he stuffed potato chips into his mouth. “Yah, are you sure you have invited everyone?”

“Of course!” Hyunseong replied.

That night, an alumni reunion from Jungwon Junior High was held in a renowned fast food restaurant in the Gangnam area. It was very difficult to choose a date, considering each people now have their own activities and work routines that clashed with each others. It was even harder to inform the entire alumni about this agenda, since some of them had changed numbers too. Fortunately, one national holiday could eventually get them together, which was today.

It was almost eight in the evening, yet not even half of the organized seats were taken. The ones who had arrived were Byunghun, Gongchan, Hyunseong, Bomi, Eunji, Jieun, and some others.

“Yah, should we call the others and tell them to come quickly?” suggested Gongchan, taking his phone from his coat pocket. “We will call the girls… And all of you handle the boys, alright?” At Jieun’s statement, the others agreed silently and started dialing some numbers.

Thirty minutes later, the atmosphere in the restaurant had turned into a festive mood as more people finally come, roar of laughter and random cheers were everywhere. As they waited for their orders, they started conversation with each others, talking about their work and occasionally bringing up the topic about their school days.

 “Yah, is that noona coming too?” questioned Taemin suddenly. “Huh? Noona?” Some asked back, voicing out their curiosity.

“Ah! Did you mean the girl who transferred from that all-girls school?” Kyungsoo joined in. “I forgot her name— Shin, I’m sure it’s a Shin… something.”

“Shin Yoonjo.”

Several pairs of eyes instantly fixed their gazes at the man sporting the most striking hair color, Lee Byunghun, who was somehow listening to their conversation despite his full focus on playing Anipang. “What?” inquired him without looking back at his friends, his eyes were fixated on his phone screen.

“Aha! I knew it! Mr. Lee right here has something going on with her!” Sunyoung exclaimed.

“Gosh, please,” remarked him. He stopped playing almost immediately and raised his gaze only to meet his schoolmates’ questioning eyes. Some formed sly smirks and some purely seemed inquisitive. “Oh, please. I remembered her just because I used to pull pranks a lot with her.”

“But you know… When a boy likes to annoy a girl, sometimes it’s because he likes her. Am I not right?” Aaron commented, earning some nods from the others. “I mean, seriously. Look at me and Hyerim.”

Everyone simply cooed at the couple, especially at Aaron, who purposefully dragged Hyerim to act lovey-dovey with him, pulling her too close to him. The single men and women could only groan upon seeing Aaron and his show-off attitude. The representative of forever solitary men, the prankster duo Lee – Sungjong and Chanhee – mercilessly landed a double smack on his head, for the unnecessary public display of affection.

Aaron cried out a yell, instinctively placing one hand on the back of his head. The two Lee just shrugged their shoulders when the both of them received sharp glares from Aaron. “Serves you right!” Donggeun butted in, causing the place to burst out laughing one more time.

“—But, seriously, Byung. You did annoy her a lot!” added Hwayoung. “She cried a lot too, thanks to you!” The other twin, Hyoyoung said.

“Oh, did I?”

Byunghun frowned as he pondered to himself, memories of his junior high school year flashed in his mind. Apart from his so-so academic achievement, he was considered the first in extracurricular activities. He was quite the jock actually, since he joined both basketball and football club, and also participated in some joint practices and matches with other schools. As to why he did not grow a considerable height even after some jumping routines, that was still mystery.

He was the mischievous kid who always had jokes and tricks prepared, ready to pick out a random, new target in each day. Out of his classmates, Yoonjo was picked on the most. Sometimes it was just poking fun at her ponytails, or imitating her opera voice, or calling her nicknames she disliked. Those things were not serious to him, but surely she did not think so. It got to the point where she had enough and ended up going to Mr. Choi, only to have her eyes bawled out. This incident cracked him up, and Byunghun even titled Yoonjo as ‘the crybaby noona’.

“True that. Mr. Choi used to scold you a lot because of that, remember?” Jinho, who was quiet from the first, finally spoke up. He stared at Byunghun and grinned playfully, “Which brings us back to the question… Do you like her?”

“Did,” Byunghun corrected as he fixed his position, sitting up straight on his back. “You mean, did I like her?”

“But if you said it that way, that means you really did like her!” Jiyeon screamed gleefully.

“What–”

The crowd jeered at the revelation of Byunghun’s past feelings with Yoonjo, some clapping in amusement and some booing at him for not confessing to her. “Such a coward, aren’t you, Byunghun?” Daehyun nudged him teasingly.

“Oh, guys, shut it—”

The entrance door suddenly cracked open, sound of the bell alarming the people inside the restaurant. A young woman dressed in black and white stripes shirt and yellow skirt stepped inside, smiling brightly at the group who were gazing back curiously at her.

Byunghun eyed her as well, his gaze following the girl as she claimed the nearest, unoccupied seat. “… Who is it?” whispered him to Daehyun. 

She is cute, though. He thought to himself.

“Isn’t it that noona– Yoonjo noona?”

He shot back a look at Daehyun, eyes widening. “No way…” Before the latter could respond, he had changed his attention to the blonde woman, making sure if she was really the same girl with the crybaby noona he used to make fun of.

“Yoonjo… Noona?” Sungjong called out, uncertain.

Her pouty lips then formed a small smile. “Evening, everyone! It’s good to see you again!”

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It was a blast.

Despite their busy works and activities, everyone made it to the reunion. Everyone lost their sense of time and partied hard without knowing that it was almost close to midnight. Three hours was not enough, but then, the saying ‘time flies when you’re having fun’ was just proven right.

The entire alumni exited the restaurant altogether, lively expressions on their faces. It was time to go back to their respective hectic schedules. After bidding goodbye to each others, some immediately left and returned home. At the moment, there were only six people left – Byunghun, Gongchan, Chanhee, Eunji, Bomi, and Yoonjo.

 “Yah.”

He turned his head to Chanhee, who was standing beside him. The two were slightly apart from the rest. “What?”

“It’s your chance, stupid,” murmured Chanhee lowly. He cocked up his head slightly to the side, motioning Yoonjo who was still chatting with the other four. Byunghun slanted his eyes at him, confused. “Oh, please. I know you’re interested with her– you even dropped your jaw!” Chanhee, frustrated, could roll his eyes at his best friend.

“Alright, alright.” He sighed heavily as he held up both his hands in defeat.

“– Yah, I’m going back with Eunji and Bomi, alright?” Gongchan suddenly shouted, comfortably wrapping arms around the two females. “I want to experience Bomi’s wild driving.”

Byunghun laughed and shook his index finger lightly. “Wrong move.”

“What wild driving?!” Chanhee inquired back, in an overly-exaggerated manner.

“Yah, yah, it’s not wild!” clarified Bomi, puffing her cheeks. “Well, it’s more like a crazy driving,” Eunji added, shaking her head lightly.

“I’m coming, then!”

“But, what about unnie–” Bomi peered at the older woman.

Yoonjo grinned, “No worries! I already called the cab!”

The two male narrowed their eyes at Byunghun, giving him the signal to, at least, stay until the cab arrived since Byunghun could not personally take her home. His car experienced too much breakdowns, he swore he would afford a new one when his savings are sufficient. “All of you you can go home, then. I’ll stay with noona,” he coolly stated. “Just be careful, though. Bomi is really dangerous.”

“Okay!”

Once the group was inside the car, Bomi waited no more and started the engine hurriedly, the silver convertible car whooshed with a screeching sound and eventually disappeared from their sight. Byungjun and Yoonjo were alone at this instant. The two merely exchanged awkward glances with each others, not knowing what to say.

“Long time no see, Lee Byunghun,” Yoonjo started.

Byunghun nodded, biting back a smile. “I believe so.”

To be honest, he doubted his eyes. Shin Yoonjo had changed so much, it’s almost impossible for him to believe she was the same person from back then. The bright yellow hair color had replaced her initial, dark brown hair color. The red blush on her cheeks, the pink lipstick, the light eyeliner, and the mascara. Byunghun had to admit that she had gotten prettier now that she matured like this.

“So, where are you working now, noona?” asked him, wanting to keep the conversation going.

“At the clinic downtown… Yoon Clinic for Child.”

“Ah, I know that place!”

Who am I kidding… I can’t even remember my way to work without the help of GPS, he mused inwardly.

“And how about you, Byung?” she questioned back.

“I’m working at the same company and department with Chanhee, noona. You can drop by to visit us sometimes!”

She let out a chuckle. “Wow, I can believe after all these years, you’re still inseparable with him.”

“I know, right–”

Byunghun trailed off when he noticed the female was constantly rubbing her upper arm, the thin fabric of her shirt was no match with the current weather. Like a gentleman he was, he took off his black coat and carefully wrapped it around her body. “Byung–”

“Return it to me next time,” said him simply, offering another smile at her.

“Next time?” She blinked at him.

“Yes, next time, noona.”

A familiar vehicle zoomed towards their direction and abruptly came into a halt just right in front of the pair. The car’s window rolled down automatically, revealing the driver’s face. “Anyone called taxi?”

“Ah, yes, this lady right here,” replied him.

Byunghyun did not quite understand where did he learn all of them, but he continued to impress Yoonjo with his gentleman acts. He opened the door for her, and Yoonjo immediately slipped into the taxi, muttering a simple thank you afterwards. “Be careful, noona,” He reminded.

“Wait, your number–”

“Don’t worry.” He pulled out his phone from his pocket and held it out. “I saved yours already.”

“Good then! Thanks again, Byung.”

He closed the door securely after her and even through the black-tinted windows, he still could see the wide smile plastered on her face. The driver the engine and slowly, the cab pulled away from the scene. Byunghun watched as the vehicle zoomed and vanished into the night.

I guess, first love never dies, huh?

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__ryura is back with another fanfic.

fine, I know I still have ongoing stories to be updated, 

but this idea had already bottled up for quite a long time,

that's why I finally posted this collection of oneshots,

stories inspired from roleplaying experiences.

I hope you enjoyed the first chapter featuring Byungjo!

see you when I see you! 

 

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