Chapter 7
“Oh hyung,” Minho greeted in surprise as soon as he saw Kyuhyun walking around. SHINee was doing a photo shoot for their new album. “What are you doing here?”

“What are you wearing?” Kyuhyun asked, forgetting to answer his question.

“Uh nothing?” Minho chuckled. He had been asked to change into white jeans, no shirt, and this Indian-looking headdress for his solo parts in the shoot. “So what are you doing here? Aren’t you supposed to be resting?” he referred to his operation, glancing at his hyung’s bandaged ear.

“I’m fine,” Kyuhyun told him distractedly, surveying the place.

“Who are you looking for?” Minho looked confused for a second then smiled as he suddenly realized why he was there. “Jin Ri noona is right there.” He pointed at the right side of the studio, where the setups of computers were. Jin Ri was standing there, going through the photos with Jonghyun and Onew.

“So who told you?” Kyuhyun asked as they walked over to them. Minho smiled sheepishly. “It was Donghae hyung, right?”

“He mentioned it in passing,” Minho casually replied. “Noona, look who’s here.” He grinned and made a gesture towards Kyuhyun.

“You actually look like you’re working,” Kyuhyun commented when the SHINee boys left to change out of their album outfits. He sat down on the empty seat beside Jin Ri.

“I am working,” Jin Ri retorted, rolling her eyes. “Unlike you. I didn’t know idols had so much free time.” She shrugged.

“I do work,” he grumbled. “I just dropped by to get the demo and lyrics for the songs we’re recording for the repackaged album.” He leaned his head back and closed his eyes.

“You look like you need sleep,” she observed, looking away from the computer screen and at him.

“I’m hungry,” he muttered, opening one eye. “Are you done yet?”

“Yeah,” she answered, standing up and calling one of the staff. She conversed with her for a bit about the photos then she packed her camera equipment and her laptop. When she turned to Kyuhyun, she found him sleeping quietly on the seat, his head leaning sideways.

Jin Ri sat down on the seat she had previously occupied and just observed Kyuhyun sleep. She was honestly astounded at the kind of person that he was. He was smart and incredibly gifted. He embodied the saying brains and beauty because he really was beautiful in all his cleverness, even though it was snarky at times. There were a lot of things he was good at. But what made him shine was that he wasn’t afraid to try different things. What was even more interesting was the fact that he didn’t seem to realize all of this. He was just oblivious to his magnificence, which was probably a good thing, considering how audacious he could get.

“I didn’t know you were creepy, too,” Kyuhyun suddenly spoke up, slowly blinking and opening his eyes. He groaned quietly as he sat up and stretched his back.

She chuckled, despite feeling a bit embarrassed at being caught staring. She stood up and slung her bag on her shoulder. “I learned from the best,” she responded, giving him a pointed look.

Jin Ri had offered to drive Kyuhyun back to their dorms since he was only dropped off by their manager and a couple of other members, who had schedules. In turn, he promised that Ryeowook, who was home, would cook her some lunch as she had greatly declined his offer to cook for her.

“Jin Ri’s here!” Eunhyuk announced as soon as he opened the door for them and led them inside.

Yesung suddenly came out of nowhere and grabbed her wrist, pulling her into one of the rooms. Before anyone could do a thing to stop him, he had closed the door behind them.

“Er, Yesung-ssi,” Jin Ri began uncertainly, looking around. Her hesitation was immediately replaced with fascination as she realized that it was the room he shared with Ryeowook. “Are these your turtles?” she then inquired, crouching down to look closely at a glass box on the floor, where three turtles were housed.

“My babies,” Yesung proudly introduced. “I’ve told them about you. They said they wanted to meet you. Ddangkkoma, Ddangkkomaeng and Ddangkkoming,” he started, crouching down beside her. “This is Jin Ri. Jin Ri-ssi, my babies.”

“Hello there,” she greeted, unable to keep the giggle from her voice.

“I wanted them to meet you,” he explained as they both stood up. “Because you’re the reason why Kyuhyun doesn’t bother them anymore.”

Yesung smiled at her gratefully, after which he brought her back outside and into the kitchen so that she could have her lunch.

While Jin Ri was eating the delicious food that Ryeowook had prepared for her, Kyuhyun slid onto the seat beside her and watched her eat.

“I’m sorry that I wasn’t able to save you from Yesung hyung’s weirdness,” he apologized sincerely.

“You really like living up to evilKyu, don’t you?” she teased.

“Someone has to do it,” he airily commented. “The fans love evilKyu. I can’t let them down. In this business, what the fans think is the most important thing to consider.” He gave a resolute nod.

She shook her head. “You enjoy messing with your hyungs too much. Such an impudent magnae.” This just made him smile cheekily. “This is really good,” she then remarked about her lunch, savoring every spoonful. “I should ask him to teach me how to make this. My version .”

“Wookie will teach you anything you want him to teach you,” he encouraged her. “Anything about food, he’s game.” He watched as she went on enjoying her food. “But you cook well already.”

“There’s always some room for improvement,” she told him with a smile. “What else you want to learn?” she asked wonderingly and randomly, yet again. “I mean I know you can do it all…” She rolled her eyes when he smirked knowingly. “…but there must be something that you want to try your hand at.”

He thought about it. “I am learning photography,” he offered.

“What else?” she pressed. “I’m sure there are a lot more things you want to do.” She looked at him expectantly.

Kyuhyun rested his chin on his hand. He already knew what else he wanted to do, but he was interested in what she had to say. So instead of answering her question, he responded, “What more do you want to do?” He had learned that if he didn’t ask her, she wouldn’t say anything.

“I want to change something,” she admitted without faltering.

Jin Ri sat there and got lost in her own world for a moment and Kyuhyun allowed her to. He watched as she just stared at her food for a couple of seconds. As he was about to call her attention, she suddenly looked up and smiled as if nothing happened.

“If there was one thing you would change, anything, what would it be?” he asked, watching closely as her eyes shifted to him in surprise to his question.

She clasped her hands in front of her and answered without hesitation, “I would make time go slower.”

“Really?” he responded in wonder. “Why?”

“Because I always feel like I’m in a rush to do things and I don’t want that,” she answered lightheartedly. “I want to be able to just go through life one step at a time.”

“Aren’t you doing that already?” he mused.

She chuckled. “I must be doing a very good job of pretending.”

He gave her a curious look. “What do you mean?”

“Things aren’t always what they seem to be,” she answered with a shrug.

~ * ~

Kyuhyun was in the dorm, watching television, bored out of his mind. His hyungs had schedules all day, while he was stuck by himself because the management just wanted him to get a full rest after his operation. He had just grabbed his mobile phone from the table when it rang.

“I was just about to call you,” he greeted. “What’s up?”

“Are you busy?” Jin Ri asked. But before he could answer, she went on, “Of course you’re not. Do you want to go accompany me somewhere?”

“Where do you—hey!” he retorted when he realized what she said. “I could be busy for all you know.” He pouted and slumped down on the couch even if no one could see him.

“You were about to call me. That means you’re not doing anything,” she pointed out significantly. “Anyway, do you want have dinner with me and then go with me to this thing?”

“Are you asking me out?” he teased, sitting straight on the sofa and paying more attention. He could already imagine her rolling her eyes at him.

“I can tell you haven’t gone on a date in a long time so I’ll make you happy and say yes,” she solemnly responded.

“I would have you know that I have gone on a lot of dates recently,” he boasted, even jutting his chest out, although no one was around to see him.

“You’re not talking about me, are you? Coz as far as I know we’ve been out nearly every day that you didn’t have schedules,” she countered, chuckling.

“Admit it, you have fun on all those dates,” he teased, emphasizing the word dates. He grinned widely as he imagined her reaction.

“Whatever makes you happy,” she retorted in a bored tone.

“But, seriously, why are you always hanging out with me?” he suddenly inquired. Now that he knew her a little bit better, he knew that she wasn’t one without friends. Being as nice and friendly as she was, there were probably a lot of other people she could choose to hangout with.

“Are you complaining now? Make up your mind,” she demanded. He could her the laughter in her voice.

“Of course I’m not complaining,” he answered, suddenly serious. “I mean, you probably have many other friends, why choose to spend time with me?”

“I don’t know where you get the idea that I have many friends,” she began to answer. “Anyway, I hang out with you because I wanted to know what it feels like to be friends with an idol.” She began laughing when he protested rather violently at her answer. “Alright, calm down,” she continued, fighting back her laughter. “I hang out with you because… you’re good for me.”

There was silence on both ends for a moment, both pondering Jin Ri’s words. They’d never really talked about this before, never voiced out any of the happy feelings that they had towards their friendship. But it was definitely something that they dearly appreciated.

“So what is this thing that you want me to go to?” Kyuhyun asked, moving the conversation away from that topic before it got too cheesy and uncomfortable for both of them. He didn’t think he needed to tell her how he felt.

“Are you a football fan?” Jin Ri wanted to know.

~ * ~

“Kyu, where are you?” Sungmin asked through the phone when he had looked in all of the rooms and found that he wasn’t in the dorm. They had just all gotten back from their respective schedules and from the FIFA World Cup opening performance that they did. “Jungsoo hyung is looking for you.”

“I’m with Jin Ri,” Kyuhyun told him loudly, glancing at Jin Ri, who looked curiously at him as she heard her name. He covered his other ear to hear better.

“Where are you, at a boxing match?” Sungmin inquired curiously, hearing all the boisterous cheering and howling of people in the background.

“Something like that. I’ll be home soon. Tell Jungsoo hyung I’m fine,” Kyuhyun assured him.

“Alright,” Sungmin agreed. “Tell Jin Ri I said hi.”

“Sungmin hyung says hi,” Kyuhyun told Jin Ri as soon as he ended the call and pocketed his phone. She smiled in return. He noticed that she wasn’t as cheerful as she was when they first arrived.

He really was surprised when she had mentioned that they were going to a FIFA world cup viewing party. He wondered about the event when she had told him to wear a smart casual outfit, instead of just jeans and a shirt, like he usually did. When they arrived, he finally understood. It wasn’t a normal viewing party. The attendees were celebrities and well-known socialites. But he hadn’t had a chance to ask her about it because, as soon as they had arrived, she was swept into hugs and small talks with nearly everyone there. She was a part of that world.

He lightly poked her arm when he saw her sigh quietly. “Do you want to go?” The excitement was dying down as the game was nearly ending. South Korea had scored two goals against Greece. It was an amazing experience for him to have witnessed this on a really big screen with such an interesting crowd.

“It’s almost over,” she reminded him, smoothing her hair.

“You look tired,” he told her, glancing at the time. It was nearly 2 o’clock in the morning.

“Gee, way to make a girl feel self-conscious,” she retorted with a smile. But she stood up and told Sun Young that they were leaving.

On the way to the car, walking side by side, Kyuhyun felt like Jin Ri was going to fall any moment because of her sleepiness. So he put an arm around her and made her lean on him as they moved towards the car.

“Let me drive,” he offered, getting the car keys from her hand.

“But how are you getting home?” she asked, looking up at him. “I’m not going to let you walk at this time.”

He snickered. “You make me sound so helpless and fragile. Don’t worry about me.”

Jin Ri fell asleep almost immediately as they got in the car and drove towards her apartment. Kyuhyun drove silently, glancing at the sleeping girl once in a while. It was then that he realized that she looked more tired in the past few days he had seen her.

“Stay for a bit,” she suggested, rubbing her eyes and walking to the kitchen. “I’ll make you coffee and you can bring my car home.”

“It’s not really necessary,” he told her, following her and sitting down on one of the chairs. “Our dorm’s not far from here.”

“Your fans won’t be happy when they find out I made you walk home at such an hour,” she reminded him. “I’m sure they’re all camped out outside your building.” She chuckled at the thought. The dedication of the fans to the group really astounded her sometimes.

She handed him his coffee mug and sat down across from his, sipping her own cup. “I sense that there is something you want to ask,” she observed, smiling warmly at him. He merely smiled back, but she gave him an encouraging nod. “Go ahead.”

“Where are your parents?” he voiced out. He had noticed that she never talked about them and, as with everything about her, he was curious.

Jin Ri’s eyes widened a bit. This wasn’t what she expected him to inquire about. She just gazed at Kyuhyun for a moment, somewhat appraising him. She liked him. He was nice, funny, and adventurous. He was always there for her. She really didn’t know what it was the he saw in her, but she found that he liked being around her and she appreciated that. But she wasn’t sure if it was enough for her to let him in.

“You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to,” he then went on. She didn’t say anything. “I have something to tell you, though.”

“What is it?” she asked curiously, finally speaking up.

He took a deep breath. “You remind me of someone I fell in love with a long time ago,” he confessed.

She smiled at him instead of looking embarrassed like he thought she would be. “Tell me about her.”

So he did. Kyuhyun told her about how they met in one of his classes during high school, how they just clicked instantly. He told her about her love for laughter, about how she smiled at everything. He recounted about their shared passion for music. He reminisced about how they would write songs together—bad songs—and pretend that they were famous performers. He chuckled as he remembered all the memories they had created together.

Jin Ri watched as Kyuhyun told her all of these things and it made her curious. “Did you ever think that she was the one?”

“She isn’t,” he answered confidently. “If she was then she would’ve understood the demands of my work. If she really loved me, she wouldn’t have left me.”

“Love isn’t the only reason why we stay with or leave people,” she stated.

He stared at her, feeling a bit surprised. “Then what other reasons are there?”

“Everything is a factor in any relationship,” she responded. “But just because someone left you, doesn’t mean that they don’t love you anymore; just like the way when someone is with you, doesn’t mean that they do love you.”

“Do you really believe that?” he wanted to know.

“I believe relationships should make sense,” she elaborated. He looked confused so she continued. “If the person you’re with makes you grow, inspires you, makes you become a better person, there are no objections from your family, your friends, then it makes sense. There isn’t going to be a battle between your mind and your heart. But if the person you’re with makes things in your life complicated then I think you should rethink it.”

“It’s not that simple,” he countered. “You can’t just compartmentalize it into two boxes. Just because things have become complicated in your life, doesn’t mean that it’s that person’s fault.”

“That is true,” she acquiesced. “So what if your old girlfriend came back?” she pressed. “What if she said that she understands now, that she’s sorry she ever left?”

“I think…” He thought about it. “I would accept her apology. But things have changed so much—I have changed so much. I’m not the same person I was in high school.”

“What if she told you that she was still in love with you even after all these years?” she pressed. He hesitated. “Do you not love her anymore?”

“I’ll always love her,” he replied, his eyes softening. “But… so much time has passed.”

She smiled. “It isn’t always about love.”

He had to agree with her on that. It wasn’t always about love. He finished his coffee and looked at the time. “I think I should get going,” he told her, standing up and bringing the coffee mug to the sink.

“I hope I didn’t offend you,” she said, looking closely at him as she walked him to the door.

“I’m not offended because of your opinions,” he promised, glancing at her. “Everyone is entitled to believe what they want to.” They stopped in front of the door and he looked at her, like he was studying her.

“But there is something that you didn’t like about what I said,” she concluded based on his facial expression.

“It’s not that,” he denied. “It’s not about what you said.” He paused for a moment, staring at his shoes. Then he looked at her again. “But I am curious about your reasons for not being able to trust me.”

“What?” she blurted out, shocked.

“I know we haven’t known each other for very long, but I want you to know that I am your friend and that you can trust me,” he avowed.

“I do trust you,” she earnestly countered.

He smiled and chuckled, shaking his head. “I think we’ll both know when the times comes that you do.

“I’m sorry,” she sighed, admitting all that he said, bowing her head.

“Don’t be sorry,” he told her, touching her chin to make her look at him. He put his hand down and smiled. “I should go.”

He opened the door and stepped out. “Get some rest,” he ordered somewhat sternly.

“I will,” she assured him.

“Good night,” he said, turning to go.

“Good night, Kyuhyun.” Kyuhyun stopped in his tracks and turned back to face her. Jin Ri stared back at him curiously. “What?”

“Nothing,” he lied, shaking his head. “Bye.”

It was only when Jin Ri was finally in the comforts of her bed, thinking about the conversation she had exchanged with Kyuhyun did she realize what made him look back at her the way he did before he left. It was the first time she had ever called him by his name.