NOW

MARCH 2017

THE intensity of loud laughter with muffled conversation filling the night air was very surreal to Naeun. She was not used to being in a crowded place like this, especially when it was occupied with nothing but joy and ecstasy and being able to walk around between the people and be a part of this event kind of made her feel very warm and accepted, almost like she has stepped into a completely different world. Jongin looked down at smiling Naeun and he couldn’t help but smile himself. He leaned forwards to Naeun, bringing his lips close to her ears.

“Do you like it here? You haven’t stopped smiling since you first came inside.”

Naeun turned to look at him and gave him a kind smile before on her giant-sized lollipop. “I never knew amusement park could be so fun.”

“Wait till you try the all the fun arcade games, then you’ll learn the true definition of fun.”

“Oh my god-” Naeun’s wide eyes came alive at the mention of the arcade games. “Are those the games that let you have the crazy huge teddy bear if you hit all the targets? I’ve never tried one.”

“Yeah. Crazy huge.”

“Oh my God let’s go there!” Naeun, overtaken by eagerness and excitement, began pulling Jongin at his sleeves as she went to search for the arcade games corners of the park. “Wait- where is it?” She asked blankly after realizing she had not a clue about its where-about.

“This way,” Jongin pointed towards east. “C’mon.” Jongin said with a firm determination as he entwined his long fingers around hers and pulled her close behind him. “Let’s go hit some targets!”

They were plodding through big crowd before finally seeing the big sign of ARCADE SECTION written on a big colorful banner rose above their heads. Naeun looked around with her big eyes filled with sparked curiosity and wonder. All the booths were sandwiched with one another but they were still crowded with many excited players.

“This is so cool,” Naeun let those compliment slipped by without holding back. “I’ve been wanting to hit some targets, like chips or cards.”

“Let’s go then,” Jongin said lightly, and he was feeling rather glad seeing a fun side of Naeun which he never knew existed.

The first booth they went to was chip shooting; where players were required to shoot down the flying chips – maximum ten- to at least win a bobby head toy.

“The prize’s lame,” Naeun had boldly commented dryly after failing her fifth attempt. She wore a pokerfaced look as she pulled Jongin away who felt slightly ashamed of his boss’s terrible aim.

“Yeah,” Jongin agreed, only trying to be polite. “Let’s hit ducks over at that booth.”

“C’mon,” Naeun nodded with a weak nod.

The second game Naeun played did not have that much of a different rhythm from the first one either. The players were nevertheless still needed to shoot at all 5 ducks until they topple over with water gun, and to be able to score the big yellow fluffy mother duck as the grand prize, they have to have a good aim and accuracy, which Naeun has none of.

“Maybe we should not play any games that require you to aim,” Jongin said under his breath when Naeun threw the water gun on the counter, looking irritated and hopeless. “Y’know, just in case-“

“No,” Naeun snapped with a scowl holding up above her eyes. “I wanna win some crazy huge stuffed toys and I will win some crazy huge stuffed toy and I will have neither you nor anyone else stand in my way. Do you understand?”

“Yes boss,” Jongin nodded. First time he saw her this determined and it was actually kind of amusing.

“What about that booth?” Naeun pointed towards the left-end booth where the players were throwing rocks at some moving wax paper that had celebrity faces printed on it. “That does not look difficult.”

“Imma keep my fingers crossed on this one.”

“Don’t mock me,” Naeun spat harshly, hitting Jongin in his flat stomach not so un-lightly. “Why don’t you go get me some drinks, huh? And maybe some carp fish bread, with red bean fillings?”

“Right now?”

“Yeah,” she answered jeeringly as she rolled her tired eyes at him. “Be gone now.”

Naeun waited for Jongin to disappear into the crowd before her eyes first before turning around and walked over at the last booth she hoped to score some prizes on.

Naeun waited for her turn before paying 9 tokens to the host. The host dressed a waiter with sparkling red bow tie suffocating his fat neck smiled crookedly at Naeun when he handed her four pebbles.

“All you need to do is just throw your best these four pebbles at any celebrity faces that pass by and you will win that pink flamingo over there,” he said with alarmingly loud voice though Naeun was only standing next to him. His short and chubby finger ran naturally over at the hanging hot pink flamingo above the beam of his stall as he was signaling what was in store for any lucky winner.

“Got it,” Naeun grinned with a triumphant smile, glancing quickly at the sweaty host who looked eager to end his tonight’s shift. “You just need to get that flamingo down and all ready for me because I’ll be sure to win that.”

“Good luck, and remember you have only 4 chances. You miss one and it’s over. There’s no asking for extra.”

“I got it,” Naeun repeated, removing the friendly tone off her voice. “Can I start now?”

“But of course, miss,” the host was surprised a little when he sensed Naeun’s thin patience against him and hurryingly began removing himself from the center booth to allow Naeun all the space she needed to shoot the faces. “And ready,” he paused before blowing into a high-pitched whistle. “Go!”

Naeun picked up the first small pebble from the counter and threw it towards Wonbin’s face was speeding by, and instead of hitting the 6 by 6 cm of the square paper, the pebble flew between the big gap between the papers.

.

She took another one and the same thing happened to her. Except that she missed Jang Hyuk’s face.

Oh c’mon!

Naeun grabbed another pebble from the counter – her third one- and began throwing at the pictures that were passing by rather quickly with major haste. And unfortunately, she missed that one either. The pebble bounced off the wall behind the pictures and fell right between her feet. Naeun was already feeling like giving up but she took a last glance at the flamingo and was determined again to win at least one prize that night.

Naeun gave a small huff at the pebble as a good luck sign before pulling her hand back and throw the pebble away. The last pebble however was very light and did not have enough weight to let it fly just enough to reach the picture, and instead it just dropped 4 seconds after being in air.

When the pebble disappeared behind the counter, Naeun could already feel something inside her also disappeared – and she believed they were courtesy and manners.

“Are you serious?!” Naeun wailed at the host, who was sweating a lot more than when he first served Naeun after realizing the tension rising in her voice tone. “Are you ripping me off you dimwit? I paid you 9 friggin tokens to have you deceive me in my face?! Damn you,” Naeun was panting and clearly unsatisfied with the so-so service from the host. She bent down and grabbed the third pebble she used earlier. “You want me to shoot the celebrity face? How about I shoot your face instead?!”

“Calm down, miss,” the panicky host began ducking when Naeun started throwing pebbles at him, some mixed with real ground pebbles. “You’re assaulting me! I could sue you for this!”

“You lied to me and you dare talking about suing? You wanna get assaulted? I’ll be happy to really assault you! C’mere you shallow, greedy deceitful obesed ahjusshi! You don’t know whom you’re messing with!” Naeun was blowing her top off as she began climbing over the counter to grab the poor host’s collar. The bystanders around were too speechless and flustered to do anything to stop Naeun because, obviously, a lady in a dress bending over the counter with roar of a lion and clawing ability of a hawk was not an everyday sight.

“What the f-” Jongin who caught the chaotic scene after sauntering along the snack booth earlier began picking up his speed and rushed towards his crazy boss.

What now?

He threw his arms around Naeun’s waist and peeled her off the counter to avoid any unwanted accidents, and he was actually not worried about Naeun. It was the scared little host that he feared would end up in hospital.

“What’s gotten into you? Good God! Will you calm down? It’s just goddamn animal toy!” Jongin snapped at her harshly, dismissing everyone’s stares around them.

“That fat man lied to me! The last pebble he gave was friggin light and it barely flew over the counter! He planned this all along! He lied to all of us!”

“I was not lying! Your aim was terribly bad and the light pebble was coincidentally putting an end to your hard effort,” interrupted the host with raging annoyance, eyes glaring down at Naeun and Jongin in turns.

“Oh you did not just say what I think you just said,” Naeun intruded with a deep snort and was in position to charge at him but thankfully, Jongin was quick to grab her waist again, putting a safe contril over her riling attitude.

“Yah Son Naeun! One more movement from you and I will amputate your legs I swear to God,” Jongin shouted at her, making her flinch a bit before turning to the poor host. “I’m sorry for all of this. I am truly embarrassed with what just happened and I don’t know what else to say rather than sorry.”

“Don’t apologize to him! He’s a fraud. He rips off thousands of innocent kid every night and you’re just gonna let him get away with this?”

“Shut up - please,” Jongin breathed heavily under his breath and forcefully nodded at the host for all the crazy mess he got into tonight. Jongin drew his hand just behind Naeun’s head and pushed it down – basically a gesture of apology towards the scared ahjusshi.

“We are so, so sorry,” Jongin said weakly, ignoring the piercing glare Naeun shot him mercilessly and just swallowed everything down his throat.

He heaved a sigh before grabbing Naeun’s bag that was lying silently on the ground before pulling Naeun away with him whilst clenching his teeth.

I deserve an A for this, or at least a day-off.

“JONGIN,” Naeun called for the hundredth time from behind while keeping up with Jongin who was really walking fast. “Jongin, stop.”

But he never did stop, or turn around to look at her. She wanted to laugh at their situation now- oh how things have turned in just a couple of hours – but she felt very broken to do so.

“Yah Kim Jongin,” she called again, her voice cracked, and she pushed her hand forward to pat him on his back. “Are you mad?"

Jongin stopped, and his chest rose as he was letting air out of his stuffy lungs. He turned around after some fleeting seconds and looked down at her.

“What?”

“Are you mad?” Naeun’s held up a sad gaze at Jongin and he thought she looked way too innocent and vulnerable. “I’m sorry.”

“About what?”

“About what happened back there.”

“What exactly happened back there, Naeun?” Jongin asked coldly, ignoring the fact that Naeun was struggling to hold back her tears. “Tell me everything that happened back there. Explain why I – and other 10 or maybe 20 strangers  - had to witness a demure-looking hotel heiress climbing over the booth counter trying to strangle a terrified fat man who was only doing his job?”

“I-“ Naeun stuttered, and her eyes were lucid. “I am so sorry. I did not mean to flip out like that. I’m so sorry.”

Jongin clutched his two hands on his hips and heaved a very heavy sigh as he looked down for a moment of self-mockery. Maybe it was wrong to agree to everything she suggested in the first place.

“Okay,” Jongin finally said as he looked up at her. “Okay. Fine.”

Naeun was very close to break into tears looking at Jongin’s worked up facial expression. She did not know why she felt very emotional that night. “Please don’t be mad.”

“I’m not mad.”

“Yes you are.” Naeun insisted, and her voice sounded like a scared puppy with both ears pushed downward. “You are very upset and I feel very terrible about it.”

Jongin sighed inwardly after some time as he hung his head low. “I am very upset, true, but I’m not mad.”

“Okay,” Naeun let out a glad kind of sigh. “I know I messed up, and I know that was very uncivilized way of getting mad but you need to know that that fat man pushed my buttons. Can you believe he threatened to sue me for assault?!”

Jongin’s brows arched at how shameless she was covering it all up. “I saw you threw pebbles at him first.”

“He was ripping me off.”

“Okay,” Jongin shook his head helplessly in surrender mode as he held up both his hands and began walking away in cynical snort. “Whatever you say, boss.”

Naeun smiled a little when she realized Jongin was beginning to loosen up and melted around her. She hated cold Jongin just now. “Oh and thank you for stopping me. It was hell embarrassing.”

“You have no idea,” Jongin chuckled with a faint turn on the lips.

Naeun then pulled out two pieces of rectangle cards from her side pocket of her bag and showed it to Jongin. “You can have this.”

“What is that?” Jongin asked as he stared down at two yellow cards. “Magic coupons?”

“Magic coupons,” Naeun answered with a small nod. “I got them before I tried out the last booth. It was no grand prize but the lady appreciated my effort and gave me this as a constellation prize. I received four of them but I want to give two to you – to thank you for your patience. I always make a mess everywhere I go. And I’m actually a nuisance to most people, that’s why I don’t always hang out with many people. But you endured it well, and I thought you should at least have this.”

“Wow. What exactly do magic coupons do?”

“Well, yours-,” Naeun managed kindly as she pointed out the ‘power’ of each cards held. “-said LET’S FORGIVE ONE ANOTHER and LET’S PROMISE EACH OTHER SOMETHING. Basically, the holder has the power to ask someone to fulfill whatever that’s written on the coupons. But you also need to be apart of the deal in order for the magic to valid.

“O-kay. What does yours say?”

“Mine says LET’S EXCHANGE SECRETS and LET’S FULFIL EACH OTHER’S WISHES.”

“Cool,” Jongin said. “But can I have the let’s exchange secrets one?”

“No,” Naeun denied quickly. “Why?”

“Because I know you will misuse that against me and I don’t know if I like having to force open my sealed secrets.”

“Oh c’mon, you have the let’s forgive one another coupon, like how awesome and powerful is that coupon. You can mess up all you want still have people forgive you for that. That’s a winner, I’d say.”

“Then you have it.”

“You cannot make me do things, Jongin. I’m your boss.”

“Alrighty,” Jongin said, raising a brow at her before swiftly turning his back on her. “You can walk home then. Bye-bye Naeun.”

“Yah!”

THE drive back home after a long night was something Naeun enjoyed personally. She liked seeing at the bright street lamp, flashing colored light from nearby shops and the busy city of Seoul filled with people walking around, wide smiled plastered proudly in everyone’s faces.

“This is the kind of happiness that I feel content about,” Naeun said suddenly after being silent for some minutes.

“What do you mean?”

“Y’know,” Naeun said with a smile filled with purpose as she turned to look at Jongin. “I like seeing smiles of people’s faces. It kinda gives me hope that life isn’t actually crappy. You just need to wait. Your turn to smile will come soon.”

Jongin did not say a word of response to Naeun after she has turned away to dwell again in her deep thoughts. He glanced at Naeun, and then he was remembered of his dead friend.

Why couldn’t Taemin wait?

What so badly about his life?

Taemin did not live a life much different that his own, so, why the need to commit suicide?

Why didn’t he believe in his turn to smile?

But the more Jongin asked all these questions to himself, the angrier he got of Taemin. His friend was no longer there to answer him and the knot inside him turned and twisted even harder – something he knew he could not break apart or destroy.

“I think-,” Naeun said again suddenly, and it pulled Jongin away from losing himself in his own mental battle of emotions. “That people need to be more appreciative of other people. You cannot treat people like they don’t have feelings. At least, that what I wish people would do when they are with me.”

“Yeah.” His throat was dry and itchy. “Have people been really rough on you?”

“I don’t know. Sometimes I can tell, but most of the time I can’t –like - Minhyuk,” Naeun finally began explaining, deciding it was best to let Jongin take a glimpse into her sad broken life. “My fiancé, he, uhm, gave me this white diamond bracelet earlier at our lunch and for one second I was very, very happy being around him. But then, some top mall owner or CEO, I don’t know, came up to our table and I was taken by surprise when she saw the bracelet I was wearing. She recognized the bracelet, and told me that I was lucky to have a thoughtful fiancé as him. And I thought maybe I was, until it finally dawned on me that he was pulling act. All he needed to do was look me in the eyes after cueing ‘cut’ in his head.”

“The lady ended up sitting together with us, and she and Minhyuk talked a lot about their on-hold business deal, and I just sat there, like a mute little dummy who was put out as a display. He used me. That jerk used his own fiancée to secure a business deal and I was fooled for a moment into thinking that he actually cared for me. He knew all along the bracelet he gave me was similar to what her dead husband gifted her on her last birthday with him, and he used that advantage on me. He ing used me.”

Naeun was not holding her head down nor was she sobbing. Tears did come out of her eyes but she was strong about it when she opened to let everything spill. She trusted Jongin, and she was not hesitant about it.

“You know,” Jongin commented carefully, looking at Naeun with a ray of determination in his eyes. “If your fiancé ever hurt you again, don’t back down. Charge at him like a hungry wild cat like what you did at the poor old man. One little warning and I bet he’ll be like a dumb old donkey.”

“Oh my god you called him donkey-” And for the first time ever, as though she was put on a mask of laughing gas like how dentists always use on kids to make their fear go away like magic, Naeun threw her head back and laughed so hard her stomach actually hurt after some time. Her jaw was aching and she was sure Jongin saw her snot coming out of her nose.

This was crazy, Naeun thought, that this stranger sitting comfortably in the driving seat next to her made her felt appreciated.

“Sorry I called him donkey.”

Naeun chuckled after her laughter has leveled. “Get out, jongin. You don’t actually mean that.”

Jongin smiled at her, looking fine and unapologetic as he turned right and slipped into Haneul Street, and before they realized it, they were only 5 minutes away before reaching their apartment building.

****

Giving you guize an update on Naeun and Jongin's amusement park date because you wonderful beings deserve it :3

I've never been on a date in my life so I don't know if this was heart fluttering or beautiful but I think this is enough because Jongin and Naeun aren't exactly dating

/yet/

hahaha  //wiggles brows//

This chapter is my personal favorite so I hope it would be you guys' too <3

Hope you guys had fun reading it :)