Vanilla Sky Request

“Emma, Emma! Take a picture of me! I want you to remember me forever and ever!”

Yoseob’s eyes shone in the light, smiling brightly at my camera and me. I smiled back, nodding quickly and leading him to the perfect spot. I needed somewhere not too bright or too dark, so that the picture would come out just right.

“There!” I pointed to a bench by the tree just outside the school. “Sit there, it’s the perfect spot! Parfaite!” I added in French, just for the fun of it.

He settled at the bench, and had to wait for another few minutes for me to get the right position to take a picture. The background was absolutely stunning, and I just knew it. Not wanting to waste anymore time, I held the camera securely and pressed the button.

Click! The sound was already registered in my head, the familiar, comforting click of the camera that brought so much joy and love to my soul.

“How does it look like, Emma?”

Yoseob rushed over like a little bunny. I always found the way he ran pretty amusing, so I chuckled every time. He snatched the camera from my hands and I found myself holding on to a volume of air. Shaking my head, I peeked over his shoulder to see what the photo turned out as.

He turned around and grinned, leaning over to kiss me on the cheek.

“You are now declared as Yang Yoseob’s very first high school best friend!” He placed an imaginary crown above my head and pretended to adjust it.

Playing along, I did a little curtsey with the fake long skirt. He hugged me tightly and my hair affectionately. I decided, right at that moment, that he would be one of the people I never wanted to let go.

9 Years Later

“Oh my God, I know right? He was so sweet, really. What with the cheesy pick-up line and all!”

Gina, my ‘partner-in-crime’—she worked with me as world-famous photographers, gushed about her soon-to-be boyfriend, Doojoon. I envied her a lot. At least she had someone to love her.

“He’s very nice, Gina. You really should confess to him since you’re head over heels for the guy. He seems like the first one you aren’t going to break up with a month later.”

It’s not that her relationships were bad, Gina was a great girl, but she got bored easily, you see. Every now and then she’d break another man’s heart, and another would be waiting for her. With such a beautiful body and face, she had a line of men!

“Tch, says the loner herself. You should get a guy. I have so many on my contacts suitable for a fine lady like you, Emma. Half French and the other half Korean? Every man is dying for such a girlfriend nowadays.”

Gina’s retort came out surprisingly strong, and I felt my heart sinking. Yoseob was with Jieun now, and I couldn’t do anything but wish them luck in their relationship. I’d always liked Yoseob, more than a friend—my heart always told me, but my mind said to forget about him. I was torn.

And the worst part was that I couldn’t save myself from this sticky situation.

“Mhm…” I muttered absentmindedly, barely listening to Gina, and practically nodding my head off at everything she was saying.

“Emma! Are you listening?”

“Yeah,” I replied, “You just said that you loved Doojoon.”

“No, you baboon!” She narrowed her eyes furiously, then relaxed her gaze and sighed. “You’re thinking about him again aren’t you?”

I shook my head. She didn’t believe me, so she yanked my hand hard and said, “Come on girl, we’re going for a full-on madi-pedi to cheer you up, like, pronto. You have to get out of that… that state you’re in right now.”

Half an hour later we were seated in a nail parlor and going for a deluxe treatment. I was tempted to take a picture of the Zen environment for my latest task, but Gina refused to let me and sat me down.

“Yes, Barely Peach shade for the fingers and Berry-Go-Round for the toes please.” Gina requested, and passed the colour palette back to the assistant.

“I’ll have Turned Up Turquoise for the fingers and Liquid Vinyl for the toes, thank you.” These two colours I had never tried before, but decided to have a go since Gina was paying.

Yeah, she offered to pay the full set, even thought it’d probably cost a lot by the time we were done with treatment and colour, and I had the experience—don’t even get me started on the last time I went for the deluxe of anything.

“So,” Gina asked, folding her arms and scanning my outfit. “You’re planning to get Yoseob or anything? Because with that outfit, you’re never going anywhere.”

“No Gina, I’m not planning to get Yoseob anywhere, for your information. On the contrary, I don’t even like him anymore.”

“Are you sure?” She asked, and I nodded. “Then you won’t be jealous when I tell you that he’s got a new girlfriend. Her name’s Lee Jieun. You probably are familiar with her. She’s quite pretty actually. I heard she’s quite the fighter though.”

“Of course I’m not jealous! I’m happy for him.” Forcing a smile, I tried to remain as pleasant as possible. “I’m glad Yoseob’s finally found a girl. He ought to get one at such a age, really.”

“Good then,” she didn’t seem to catch my falter right at the end—either that or she completely ignored it, “I was thinking you’d be annoyed.”

I shot her a look, and she returned to her magazine, pointing out to me that SNSD was on the cover of Cosmopolitan. I told her I didn’t really care and she just told me to suit myself. I shrugged.

Feeling a buzz in my pocket, I took out my BlackBerry.

-// Emma<3 It’s Seobie. Listen, I have to tell you something like right now. Are you busy? //-

For a second there I got kind of mad, because I first heard about it from Gina, and not Yoseob who used to tell me everything first. And why had he put a ‘heart’? I wasn’t his girlfriend! Shouldn’t you text that to Jieun or whatever? Wouldn’t she be jealous? Then I realized how stupid I was, I tapped my phone lightly and replied.

-// I’m doing madi-pedi with G, so I’m kind of busy right now but I think I can receive a call? Why don’t you call me? //-

Almost immediately, my phone rang. Gina had her headphones on, so she couldn’t hear a word. I answered the call.

“Emma."

“Yoseob, hi.”

There were a few moments before Yoseob actually spoke again. And when he did, he said, “Emma… I have a girlfriend now.”

“I heard.” I could barely bring myself to reply more than those two words.

“Aren’t you happy for me?”

“Yeah.”

“Oh… I’ll talk to you another time then.”

“Okay. Bye.”

And I hung up. I scolded myself for being such a dimwit, and not congratulating him or anything.

-// Sorry Yoseob, I was kind of thinking about other stuff. I’m happy for you, I really am! ^^ Good luck with the girl okay? Seobie hwaiting! <3 //-

2 Months Later

“You alright on your own, Emma?” Gina asked.

We were at the airport—there were three of us, Gina, Doojoon and I. They were sending me off to make sure I was fine. Gina put on an extremely concerned look and Doojoon flashed a smile at me. I knew both of them trusted me in my decision.

See, after that day where Yoseob and I had that awkward conversation, we never really talked a lot, and I couldn’t get over it, so I decided that I’d move to Paris for a bit and clear up my thoughts.

“Be careful…” Doojoon was saying. I snapped my head up, trying to listen to their words.

“I know. I’ll see you guys in a few months’ time alright?”

“Take as long as you want. Hey, I’ve got to make a phone-call, don’t go first ‘kay?”

I nodded as she walked off. I suspected something, but I didn’t want to cause any troubles between us before I left. Meanwhile, Doojoon and I conversed about Gina. He humored me as he told me their dates over the past few days. Apparently, he knew Gina inside out after their countless 20-question dates. I was satisfied about the two of ‘em.

“Alright Emma. You can go now. I’ll see you soon okay?”

I could see tears b from her eyes and I smiled slightly. Reaching over, I gave Doojoon a short hug and told him to take care of Gina, whilst for Gina, I gave her a kiss on each cheek, reminding her to stay this way until I came back.

“Bye…” The two of them waved and I walked towards the departure hall. Then my phone buzzed. On the screen flashed a name I hadn’t seen in a very long time.

Yoseob

Accept | Decline

I decided to accept the call.

“YAH! EMMA! WHO GAVE YOU THE PERMISSION TO LEAVE WITHOUT TELLING ME?”

I pulled the phone away from my ear and replied calmly, “It doesn’t matter whether I told you—”

“Stay right there and don’t move a muscle. Whatever you’re doing, don’t move at all.”

It sounded like he was running from something, and his voice was breathless.

A few minutes later, he spoke again, slower this time. “Emma, guess where I am.”

I looked around, up, down, left and right, and I still couldn’t see him. “Quit playing an—”

Before I could finish talking, I was swept off my feet and made a 180-degree turn, and someone kissed me. I opened my eyes and I saw Yoseob. I was stunned.

For a moment there I couldn’t even respond, but when I came back, I kissed him, passionately and urgently. From short and sweet kisses, it turned into a full-on battle for dominance. When Yoseob pulled away, he caressed my cheeks softly and pecked my forehead.

“Please don’t go… Listen Emma. All this time I’ve been with Jieun, I’ve been thinking about you more than I could ever imagine. I realized something when Gina—yes, Gina called me—told me that you were leaving. That I would break down and feel that great pain inside, because Emma, I love you. I love you so, so much.”

He looked at me expectantly, waiting for a reply. I smiled, and I could feel tears rolling down the sides of my cheeks.

“Truth is, I love you too, Yoseob.”