T W O; 

 

 

 

The bright moon hung over the small town like a locket. The bleak dark sky was punctuated with millions of diamond-like stars , that were hardly seen in the city, were supposed to be a sign of everyone's tiredness. In other words, everyone was supposed to be sleeping in bed dreaming of dreams they cannot achieve. Ji Ae, on the other hand, was sitting up on her bed with her purple blanket shrouding her cold legs. Sleep seemed to remain out of reach. All she could think of was the closeness she finally had with Taemin and that thought alone was enough to keep her awake.

She stole another glance at the black night sky pinpointed with faintly glowing stars before grabbing her phone from her nightstand. She scrolled through all social media just to kill some time before the morning sun greets her. The photos of food in Instagram unintentionally provoked her empty stomach and she suddenly regretted checking her account. Faintly, she could hear her stomach growling like a ravenous wolf. Without another second thought, her fingers tapped quickly on her phone.

@Ladylike: Anyone who would buy me some food? This girl here is hungry.

It was just a tweet to just update her followers that were all supposed to be sleeping already and they'll most probably only be updated the next morning. She tossed her phone aside and continued staring at the sky half-heartedly as her mind wandered of to her childhood. 

The two little children had an innocent smile on their lips. They seemed to be holding hands but in fact, Taemin was the one guiding Ji Ae, who always had no sense of direction, to the playground she had been pestering him to bring her to. Their parents never worried and therefore they wouldn't bother themselves to keep their eyes on these two because they knew Taemin is strongly protective of Ji Ae. 

They had fun playing the swings where Taemin wouldn't allow Ji Ae to swing too high without his permission (She never got his permission), the see-saw that was obviously biased towards Taemin because of his tall height, the monkey bars that only Ji Ae cannot reach (She looked at Taemin with her lips pouted, green of envy) The sun almost slip past the horizon. Most children that were playing there had gone home and so Taemin decided to send Ji Ae back home first. 

When Ji Ae slid down the slide with Taemin behind her, she realized her pair of slippers had gone missing. The easily panicked Ji Ae burst into tears and said, "I lost my shoes." Calmly, Taemin bent down and slid her legs into his pair of tattered sneakers. At that, she stopped crying and looked at him with her large doe eyes. Beaming, he stood up and gave her his hand which she silently held before they headed to her house together.

Thinking about the things Taemin had done for her, she couldn't help but smile. She still remember how he endured the entire journey with pebbles stabbing his little delicate feet and ended up in the clinic an hour afterwards for the doctor to treat his swelling feet. Just then, her phone buzzed and steered her away from reverie. She picked up her phone immediately. "Hello," she said.

"Come out right now." And he hung up. She recognized his familiar voice and with the speed of lightning, she bolted down the stairs and out to her lawn without even being embarrassed of her purple pajamas. She knew that between them, there was no such thing as embarrassment. There he was, right in front of her gate in his pajamas as well but with a box of fried chicken within his grip. There was an evident glint on his face which she recognized as his perspiration. His white pajamas was made transparent by it too. He panted heavily but still managed to grin at her. 

"Don't tell me you came all the way here just because I tweeted that I'm hungry?" Ji Ae asked incredulously. 

Taemin rolled his eyes and lifted that box of chicken as though it was some kind of offering. "What do you think I'm doing here then? I ran all the way to KFC with this ugly piece of pajamas just to fill your stomach and I'm sweating all over, your highness." Taemin gripped her wrist and led her somewhere. "Come on, you need to eat."

Their feet brought them to the nearby playground they always came since they were kids. He swept the dust of the rickety bench before they both sat on it. Ji Ae took off her slippers and crossed her legs on it. (It was her usual habit and Taemin smiled at that, unable to believe that she was still the 5-year-old Ji Ae) While she was devouring her fried chicken, she could still hear him breathing heavily beside her. Balancing the box of remaining fried chicken on her lap, she held one drumstick and gave it to him. "Dhere, you nweed it more than I do," she uttered, her voice muffled by the piece of chicken.

He looked awful - half-dead, his shoulder slumped. "Nah, I bought this for you anyway. I've had a lot for dinner." This was him. Lee Taemin, a immature boy on the outside yet so caring and considerate on the inside. Anything that has to do with Ji Ae will always concern him, let alone her hungry stomach. Even though he had to sacrifice his sleep and probably take a shower again, he will always make her his top priority. Lee Taemin, her best friend, her soulmate.

They spent the rest of their time just talking about the silly things they'd done when they were young and laughed over it in disbelief. "I can't believe we got our head stuck between the gate's bars just to reach for a tennis ball," Taemin said, full of mirth.

"I know right. We could have just gotten Mr. Kim to get it for us anyway. What was wrong with us? Idiots, we are." Ji Ae laughed as he nodded in agreement. "Anyway, we'd better go home before-" Her sentence was cut off when a stray cat nibbled both her slippers and sneaked away so quickle that its moment was a blur. Before she could chase after the cat that has got white stripes against its orange fur, Taemin whizzed past her and went straight after it without a second of hesitation, vanishing into the darkness. After being stunned for a few moments, she scrambled to her feet and decided to go after him to tell him that it was okay. The pebbles on the ground stung her feet but she still had the smile on her face just thinking about Taemin's ridiculous naivete.

It took her a long time to reach him since she couldn't catch up his large strides, especially when the pebbles are attacking the base of her bare feet. She saw him breathing heavily with his chest heaving up and down rapidly, as if he had just run a marathon. He was inhaling as much air as he could to feed his oxygen-deprived lungs and it was after a few minutes until he could talk to her without taking a deep breath between every single syllabus. "Damn, I never like cats. That one just leapt and disappear," he panted. Then, as if he just regained all his energy from the last bit of oxygen, he shouted, "What do you think you're doing?" The sharpness in his voice made Ji Ae jump. 

Looking at him with complete confusion, Taemin pointed at her feet. "You are not supposed to walk around without your shoes! Didn't I just go to get it for you?" Ji Ae was itching to tell him "And you failed, didn't you?" but with a lightning swiftness, he bent down to lift one of her feet. Unbalanced, she immediately held to the post lamp next to her. Taemin, who was clearly unaware of that, was skimming the base of her foot while sweeping off the tiny pebbles. After having done with both feet, he turned his back on her, indicating her to climb on his back for him to carry her all the way back home. 

Decided not to turn down his offer, she pressed against his back and laced her hands around his neck. He lifted her up without any effort and headed back home. "Still angry at me?" Ji Ae asked while poking his neck with her index finger. Taemin shook his head but she knew he still was and she actually found that adorable. "Thought I ought to remind you how my feet swell after walking bare-footed on this very street."

It didn't take them long before they arrived at Ji Ae's front gate. "Hey, are you not going to wake up?" Taemin said, shaking her hands. It took him at least 20 attempts before she finally opened her eyes and realized she should be going already. She realized with him by her side, she was able to sleep so easily. Unlike the days when she was a thousand miles away from him, she could hardly sleep without dreaming about him.

He let her down on her feet. He thought of a number of things he wanted to say, and didn't say them after looking at her pair of eyes that spoke exhuastion. After tearing his gaze from her, Taemin saw a box of fried chicken lying beside the gate. "Seems like I'm not the only one," he said, pointing his index finger at it, which Ji Ae then followed his line of vision. 

"Someone's jealous," she teased, picking up the box of fried chicken. 

Taemin's eyes swung to regard her instead. "Of course, who wouldn't want to be the only one?" He pulled the box of fried chicken of her grasp. "I'll eat this in your stead. Help me thank the kind soul." He threw his arm around her, holding her tightly to him. They were locked in an embrace for a very long time before he whispered something in her ear.

"Sweet dreams."

 

 

 

♦            ♦           ♦

 

 

 

They were walking together across the road, talking about Taemin's life in Japan. Birds were soaring in the sky overhead, the abundant sunlight was shining down on them, making them sweat all over. They didn't mind though. They were as happy as they can be. Then came the horrible incident Ji Ae had ever witnessed. 

A lorry dashed towards them and there he went. Taemin was knocked across the street, 10 meters away from her, the edge of the lorry scraped her arm ever so slightly. He way lying on the ground in a crumpled heap, horribly still. His chest was no longer moving and blood was dripping down profusely from his open wound. 

Everything was out of earshot until her vision focused on his limp body. She then realized she had been screaming at the top of her lungs. The agony was paining her and her knees went out. Ji Ae held the thin fabric of her T-shirt above her chest. Her chest felt as if an iron band was being slowly tightened around it, cutting her breath by inches. Her lungs were burning, screaming for air. Witnessing his death was worse than dying.

She jerked upright on her bed. When she came awake, it was with a shock that was like the shock of breaking through a layer of ice. When her mind finally came back to focus, she saw Taemin staring at her with a concerned expression. "You okay?" he asked worriedly, his thumb wiping the tears off her cheeks. Ji Ae didn't realize she had been crying. 

She traced the outline of his face with her fingers, as if reassuring herself that he was real. She felt her lips tremble, and pressed them together hard to stop the shaking. In her dreams, she actually missed him with an almost physical sense of something lacking. It was as if there was a missing piece of puzzle and she knew her life will never be complete without him. Guess that nightmare happened because she was too afraid of losing him. 

Taemin held her fingers that landed on his cheeks, his warmth seeped into her bones and it actually made her feel a lot better, "You don't have to accompany to school for the damned registeration if you don't feel like it," he said, still staring at her.

"It's fine," she uttered when the realization suddenly hit her, "hey, why are you here? I thought this is my bedroom."

He stood up and smiled, knowing that she was back to her real self. Ji Ae looked especially tiny against the bulk of him, like a doll. "Apparently, your mother loves me more than you can imagine."

Flinging her blanket back to her messy bed, she shook her finger, "I do not appreciate the fact that you boast about how my mother favours you like you're her own son. However, I have no time to argue with you about that. You do realize we are running out of time, right?" she pointed at her alarm clock. 

"So?"

"Well, in case you haven't noticed, I am a girl and I'm not supposed to get dressed with you here."

"Like you have anything on your body to intrigue me," he teased.

She pouted and threw a pillow at his direction. "Shut up. Out you go now," she said. He caught the pillow with his quick reflex and left the room, roaring with laughter. Ji Ae chuckled, "That idiot."

 

 

 

♦            ♦            ♦

 

 

 

The sun dipped to touch the edge of the horizon by the time they finished their business with the admistration office. "That old hag. I would have finished this whole thing up within 30 minutes without her 'help'. She kept shoving forms into my hand. Like I don't have enough forms to fill in already. What's wrong with her?" Taemin muttered angrily, his arms folded before his chest.

Ji Ae stared at him in openmouthed horror. "Rubbish! It was a form to apply for scholarship. She didn't even give me one when I first came to this school. Do you even realize how lucky you-" She stopped midsentence when she noticed Taemin was no longer listening to her. He was peering at a bunch of girls with a rapt expression. "Who's that girl?" he asked dreamily, as if his soul had evaporated a long time ago. "That girl with striaght, long hair."

She didn't even need to look at who he was talking about to tell him that it was Krystal, the girl whose beauty  would overwhelm every guy she passed. Taemin beamed, the feel of his heart pounding through his shirt made him dizzy with joy. He reached his fingers out and pinched his best friend. "Ouch!" Ji Ae hollered. "What the-"

"It's real then. Ji Ae," he looked at her with an utmost serious expression on his face that even her, Taemin's only best friend, hadn't seen. "I've found my Goddess. You won't believe me but she's all I see among that sea of girls."

"You're right. I don't believe you. C'mon, you can still see me. There's no such thing as love at first sight. You just had a sudden peak of testosterone and that stimulated your desire for lust. You must have experienced this before, considering what a ert you are. You just want to make out with her, don't you?" she said suspiciously, highly doubting Taemin's words.

Taemin shook his head vigorously. "No. I've never felt this way towards a girl. I've made my decision. Tomorrow's the first day of school, right? She's mine," he said, his mouth curved into a pleasant smile.

Oh no, he's really serious about it.