Chapter 4
“Kyu, what’s with all this camera crap lying around?” Heechul demanded as he stepped on a manual when he went to the living room. He bent down and picked it up, proceeding to flip through it. He handed it to Leeteuk, who had entered the dorm after him. The two hyungs glanced at each other.

“Kyuhyunnie’s learning about photography,” Sungmin announced as he came out from the room he shared with the magnae.

“And why the sudden interest?” Heechul wanted to know, a smirk forming on his face. He grabbed the manual from Leeteuk and threw it on the living room table, where Kyuhyun was focused on writing something.

“You know I’ve always been interested in photography,” Kyuhyun voiced out, glancing at his hyungs. Leeteuk nodded.

“But not this badly,” Heechul countered, his smirking growing bigger. “Does this have something to do with a pretty female SM employee in the name of Jin Ri?”

“It’s not like that,” Kyuhyun told them honestly.

Leeteuk sat down beside the magnae and watched as he closed the notebook he was writing on and turned to him.

“We’re just looking out for you, Hyunnie,” Leeteuk affectionately said, ruffling his hair.

“Hyung,” Kyuhyun complained, patting his hair. “It’s really not like that.”

“The last time you said that, Zhou Mi kept on calling from China, phone bills piling up because you kept on moping about—,” Heechul butted in.

Kyuhyun glared at him. “Again, it’s not like that.”

“We noticed you’ve been going out a lot,” Leeteuk pointed out.

“Why are you guys here, anyway?” Kyuhyun irately demanded, piling his photography books on top of each other and bringing them to his room.

“We wanted to know if you guys wanted to come with us to dinner,” Leeteuk informed them. He looked around. “Where are Ryeowook and Yesung?”

“We’re in here,” Ryeowook called from the kitchen. He came out, followed by Yesung, and looked at them all curiously.

“Want to go out to dinner?” Kyuhyun asked them.

In the end, only Leeteuk, Heechul, Kyuhyun and Eunhyuk went to eat dinner outside of the dorms. Everyone else was either busy or pretending to be busy. As they drove, the boys continued on questioning and teasing Kyuhyun about his friendship with Jin Ri. Kyuhyun denied everything because there really wasn’t anything to admit. They really were just friends. Kyuhyun looked out of the window. Somehow, in the midst of his hyungs’ teasing and annoying, they ended up in Hongdae.

“Why are we all the way here?” Kyuhyun demanded, looking around and lowering his beanie as they stepped out of the car, almost covering his eyes. There were quite a lot of people as to be expected of a place that’s known for its nightlife.

“You need to have a little adventure in your life,” Heechul commented as he put an arm around the younger boy. “This is one of the few times we’d actually get to go out so be happy about it.” Kyuhyun thought about the many times he and Jin Ri had gone out and merely shrugged. He did go on adventures.

“This looks promising,” Leeteuk remarked, looking up at the sign of one of the establishments, the Catchlight building, that said Café Libro.

“Let’s hope there aren’t too many people inside,” Eunhyuk nervously said. People were starting to look inquiringly at them, wondering if they were who they thought they were.

“Let’s just try it out anyway,” Kyuhyun suggested, pushing the door open and going inside.

The café was full of the funk and décor of the sixties. The chairs and tables were decorated accordingly. They also had sofas, which had ornamental pillows. On one side of the café, there was a small design bookstore, where people could hang out while drinking their coffee. Further into the restaurant was an open garden that had tables scattered with red umbrellas. There were yellow lights everywhere, making the place seem a bit romantic.

All four boys seemed to enjoy their Italian meals. They’d barely spoken a word to each other since they started eating, all very hungry. They were all just focused on their pastas and their slices of pizza. Being seated at the corner of the garden restaurant, covered by red umbrellas, few people were able to recognize them.

Heechul stretched his arms as they finished their food. He leaned back on his chair and closed his eyes for a bit. Eunhyuk was leisurely going through some messages on his phone. Even Leeteuk was looking very much relaxed. This was probably the last time they would be able to unwind like this. Their fourth album promotions would start the following week.

Kyuhyun looked around the place. It was really interesting to him how different kinds of people were seated around the café. His thoughts drifted to Jin Ri. He couldn’t help but think how she would enjoy such a place.

“Hey,” Eunhyuk suddenly said, straightening up from his seat. “Isn’t that…?”

The rest of the boys turned to look in the direction Eunhyuk was looking at. A couple of tables away from them were two girls dining together. One was laughing as she ate her pasta, while the other one giddily took photos with her professional camera.

“Jin Ri,” Kyuhyun immediately uttered.

~ * ~

“Will you stop taking pictures of me eating?” Sun Young demanded. “People are going to start to think it’s all I do. It’s a good thing it’s in black and white. That way, I don’t look too fat.”

“You’re not fat,” Jin Ri interjected, returning her camera in its case under the table. “And even if you were, you’d still be this amazing person.”

Sun Young rolled her eyes at her cousin. Sometimes she thought she was too positive and too happy. There were times when she wanted to call her on it, but she knew better. She knew the truth.

“So how’s the thing with Kyuhyun going?” Sun Young asked, giving her a knowing look.

“There’s no thing going on with Kyuhyun,” Jin Ri pointedly responded, rolling her eyes.

“What do you guys do when you hang out?” Sun Young wanted to know, taking a sip of her iced tea. She noticed how, whenever she called, she would always be out with Kyuhyun.

“We talk,” Jin Ri relayed with a shrug.

Sun Young waited for her to say more. When she didn’t, she said, a bit surprised, “That’s it?”

“Yeah.” Jin Ri nodded, chewing on her pesto pasta. “And we eat.” She grinned. “It’s kind of our common interest.”

“So what else are your common interests?” Sun Young asked.

“Why are you interviewing me about him?” Jin Ri raised her eyebrows. “You know we’re just friends.”

Sun Young shrugged. “I’m just really curious as to why he’s dumping all his problems on you when he has nine other people whom he could do that to.”

“He wants someone from the outside,” Jin Ri explained softly, playing with her food as she stared at her plate. “He’s lost.” She looked up at her cousin, who gave her a small and sad smile.

“Does he know that you’re lost, too?” Sun Young inquired gently.

Jin Ri smiled solemnly for a second then chuckled. She took out her camera once again and pointed it at her cousin. Sun Young, knowing that her cousin doesn’t like talking about sad stuff, decided to let it go. She rolled her eyes when she started taking photos of her again.

“The lighting here is lovely,” Jin Ri remarked as she started taking pictures once more.

There were a lot of reasons why Jin Ri loves taking photos. One of them was the fact that she could hide behind it. Taking photographs always made her happy. It allowed her to let go and just be.

As Jin Ri was looking through the photos she had taken, Sun Young suddenly gave her shin a kick under the table. Before she could react, however, her cousin nodded behind her. Jin Ri turned around curiously. The confusion on her face was replaced with a big smile when she saw Kyuhyun approaching them.

Standing up, she greeted him, “Hey! What are you doing here? Are you stalking me?” she teased.

“I could ask you the same thing,” Kyuhyun shot back.

She shook her head. “No, I’m pretty sure I was here first. You probably haven’t even heard of this place until now.” He gave her a sheepish look. She chuckled then immediately turned to her cousin. “This is my cousin, Sun Young. Sun Young, this is Kyuhyun-ssi.”

“It’s nice to meet you,” Kyuhyun greeted as she bowed and shook his hand.

“Likewise,” Sun Young responded with a smile.

“Is it just the two of you?” Kyuhyun asked.

“Yeah,” Jin Ri answered. She glanced behind him and gave a small wave to the other members. She then turned to her cousin, who had stood up. “We’re just about to leave, actually,” she told him, gesturing to the door.

“Right,” Kyuhyun said, smiling. He looked at Sun Young. “It was nice to finally meet you.” He then turned to Jin Ri. “I’ll call you later?”

“Sure,” Jin Ri replied. She packed her stuff in her bag. “Bye!” She grinned at him and waved at the other members.

Kyuhyun walked back to his hyungs and sat back down on his chair.

“The girl she’s with looks familiar,” Eunhyuk commented. “Who is she?”

“Her cousin,” Kyuhyun answered.

“They have good genes,” Eunhyuk remarked. This earned him a slap on the back of his head from Heechul.

“Every pretty girl looks familiar to you,” Heechul snickered. He glanced at Leeteuk, who hadn’t said anything. Their leader looked tired. “We should get going.”

Kyuhyun rested his head on the headrest of the seat as soon as they got inside the car. Eunhyuk shifted on the seat beside him, his eyes closed. Leeteuk looked out of the window as Heechul slowly drove them out of Hongdae. Despite the satisfying meal, they were now all too tired to talk about anything.

“Kyu,” Heechul suddenly called him. “It’s Jin Ri.”

Kyuhyun lifted his head while Heechul rolled his window down. Jin Ri was walking on the sidewalk, her camera in hand and Sun Young nowhere in sight. She looked like she was in deep thought.

“Jin Ri-ssi,” Heechul captured her attention.

Jin Ri turned her head to look at him. A smile immediately appeared on her face when she saw him. “Oh, Heechul-ssi,” she greeted, stopping and giving him a bow. “On your way back?”

“Yeah,” Heechul answered. “What are you doing?”

“Where’s Sun Young?” Kyuhyun asked, popping his head out of the vehicle through the window.

“She went home,” Jin Ri answered, smiling a little. “You should be getting back.” She glanced up at the sky. “It’s late.”

“Can we drop you off anywhere?” Heechul offered, looking a bit disconcerted at the thought of leaving her walking by herself.

“You should ride with us,” Kyuhyun added.

Leeteuk leaned towards Heechul’s window. “Where do you live?”

She smiled at them and chuckled. “I’m fine.” She waved at them and bowed a little. “Good night!” She grinned then started on her way. She hadn’t taken a couple of steps further when Kyuhyun jogged up towards her and started walking beside her.

“I’ll walk you home,” he offered.

“I didn’t take you for a gentleman,” she told him teasingly.

“Why are you walking anyway?” he asked curiously, ignoring her comment.

“I like walking,” was Jin Ri’s simple answer. She glanced at him then looked up at the sky. “What do you think of when you look at the stars?”

“Er,” Kyuhyun stammered, looking up as well. He didn’t really look at the stars so he hadn’t thought about it.

She smiled, knowing what he was thinking. “You should look around you more, appreciate things more.”

“I do,” he responded earnestly. Ever since his accident, he had vowed that he would never take anything for granted anymore. He had been trying to fulfill this promise since then.

“You should look at the stars more often then,” she suggested calmly, a small smile on her face.

“What do you think of when you look at the stars?” he then asked her.

“Stuff,” she vaguely answered. She looked at him and chuckled. “You must think I’m crazy. We should get home.” She tugged on his arm and pulled him to a faster walk, a new spring in her steps.

Kyuhyun cleared his throat somewhat uncomfortably. He hadn’t wanted to admit it when he first talked to her and he hadn’t wanted to admit it when his hyungs called him out on it. But now he was going to. Jin Ri reminded him of someone who was very close to his heart a very long time ago. She reminded him of someone he tried so hard to forget.

Soon they reached the area where they could call for cabs. “You get this one,” she told him, hailing another cab. “I’ll get the next.”

“I can bring you home,” he offered. “We could share.”

She shook her head. “You have to get back. You probably have a packed schedule tomorrow.”

He sighed. He did have a full schedule the next day, which started at 6 AM. “How about you get this one and I’ll get the next? That way you can leave first,” he then suggested.

Chuckling, she agreed. “Good night!” She got into the cab, which drove away at once.

Jin Ri leaned back onto the seat and closed her eyes. It had been a while since she let herself slip like that. But walking in Hongdae always brought back memories. She pushed those thoughts out of her head and looked out of the window, smiling as she watched Kyuhyun’s figure getting smaller and smaller.