Chapter 15 - Dugeun Dugeun

HER

The following week was much more relaxed, thank god! It was a little awkward with Daeyong at school on Monday, but thankfully, that didn’t last too long. By Tuesday things had gotten back to normal, though he was now calling me “Sora-sshi” instead of “Cheon-sshi”, which raised a few old ladies’ eyebrows in the staff room. But I don’t care, let them talk.

I was pretty happy because things seemed to be progressing well with Minseok too. Honestly, I don’t know what I’m doing, but his messages make me so happy! I really wish I could see him more… but he only really ever has free time in the middle of the night, which is a big no-no for me. I’m not really that desperate… But mailing seems to be okay, so for now, I’ll take the mails.

It’s kind of embarrassing though, I feel like a teenage girl; always staring at my phone, hoping for a text… oh! Here’s one!

HIM

I was sitting on the couch, giggling to myself as I reread one of Sora’s messages when Sehun came in the room.

“What’s so funny?” he asked, plopping down next to me.

“Nothin’” I answered, putting my phone away.

“Man, you’re whipped.”

“I am I not whipped!” I retorted, looking up to see him smirking at me.

“Ooh, you are completely, totally, whipped.” He laughed.

I scrunched up my face at him, which just caused him to laugh more and ruffle my hair before getting up and walking away.

“Hey!” I called after him, “I’m your elder! Don’t treat me like this!!”

“Sure, Minnie…” he chuckled as he walked to the fridge and grabbed a bottle of water.

“Seriously though, all you guys do is coo at each-other by mail” he said, coming back, “When are you gonna ask her out?” he opened his bottle and took a swig.

“I did ask her out.”

“That was last week” he said, his mouth still full. I waited for him to swallow and he added, “I mean for real. Obviously you like her.”

“Of course I do, but it’s not like we have any free time…”

“What is this then?” he raised his arms and looked around the room.

“It’s 2am, I can’t just call her…”

“Why not?”

“She’s sleeping.”

“Ahh… but still, you could send her a cute text…” he said, and then he clasped his hands, batted his eyelids and added in a high-pitched voice, “Sora-sshi! I miss you! Please be my girlfriend again!!”

I threw a pillow at him and he jumped out of the way, cackling as he did a little dance.

“Laugh all you want, I’m not mailing her that.”

“Ok, ok… all jokes aside, you should really tell her you like her.” he said, coming back to sit down next to me.

I shook my head, stubbornly.

“Minseok, what are you, five?”

I raised my eyes at him, giving him a flat look and he sent the same look right back at me.

“Okay, okay, I’ll ask her…” I sighed.

“There’s a good boy” he grinned at me, leaning in and reaching a hand towards my head.

“Ruffle my hair one more time, and I swear I’m gonna break you.”

He pulled his hand back and ‘umpfed’ before getting up. “fine.” he said, walking away, though I could hear him mutter loudly “though I wonder who’s really the elder here…”  as he headed back to his room.

HER

[Sora, do you have any free time tomorrow night?]

I tried to supress a squeal of glee as I read the message. Our last (and first) coffee date already felt like so long ago; I’d have jumped at any opportunity to see him again.

[I do]

[Would you like to have dinner with me?]

I chuckled because the offer was so polite, and quickly replied that I’d love to. He said he couldn’t really set a time, but he’d been promised that their schedules would be over by 8pm the next day, so he’d definitely have time to meet at a reasonable hour. We talked about having dinner and he asked if I liked Italian. Though who doesn’t, really? We chatted for a bit – I had time since it was lunch break – and then suddenly, he sent me this message:

[I really want to see you.]

I don’t know why it sent my heart beating in my chest. It shouldn’t be so surprising for him to say that, but for some reason I felt the heat rise up in my chest as I stared at my phone, not knowing what to answer.

I looked up at the clock just as the bell for 5^th period rang, and cursed silently, realizing that I had to go.

[Class is starting! Gotta go!]

I typed quickly before tossing the phone on my desk and grabbing my teaching bag. I got out of my seat, put the chair back in its place and turned to go, but then at the last minute I picked up my phone again and quickly texted him.

[Oh and, me too ^_-]

Then I ran off, giggling like a little girl.

HIM

I wiped my sweaty palms on my trousers as I waited for Sora to show up. I’d known her nearly half my life, so why was I so nervous??? Maybe it was because, for the first time since we’d reconnected, this actually felt like a real date.

I paced up and down the empty restaurant lobby, checking my watch every 10 seconds. It was a tiny Italian place, owned by a friend of mine, and it was empty except for the chef, a lone waiter who was busy in the back, and myself. As soon as I knew I’d be getting the night off, I’d called in a favor to my friend and he’d agreed to let me rent the place for the night. Sometimes, being famous did have its perks. The restaurant was located in a residential area on the outskirts of Seoul, too, so it wasn’t likely that we’d be bothered by paparazzi here, but still. Better not to take any chances. Although I’d already told my members about it, my boss still knew nothing about the Sora situation, and I wanted it to stay that way. For now.

About 5 minutes later, the bell above the door tinkled and I looked up to see Sora walk in. She looked beautiful, in a tiny wine-colored wrap dress and a small jacket, with her long hair falling down in soft waves on her shoulders. My breath caught in my throat. She looked around the dark and deserted lobby, seeming to wonder if she was in the right place, and then her eyes lit up as they fell on me and she smiled.

HER

“Sora!”

He said my name with a little lilt in his voice, just like he used to when we were kids. It made me smile as it tugged at something from forgotten memories. But the man standing in front of me was definitely not a little boy anymore. He didn’t look as polished as he had on our last date, when he’d come straight out of a fancy photoshoot, but somehow, this version of Minseok was even ier. His hair (which was now a dark shade of brown; almost black) was more relaxed though it had obviously been styled with some sort of product to give it a casual “oh, I woke up like this” look, and he was wearing black pants with a black dress shirt, open at the neck with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. I tried to keep my composure as he walked over to me, all smiles, and offered to take my jacket.

“Why is there no one in here?” I asked, looking around surreptitiously.

“Because I only want to concentrate on your tonight” he said in a smooth voice, looping my hand through his arm and leading me towards the dining room.

“Oh god, don’t” I laughed, “you’ve never been good at playing Casanova!”

He hung his head down with an embarrassed smile, before looking up, already recovered, and saying “I guess my superstar charms won’t work on you, huh?” and he looked so adorable I couldn’t help a small laugh.

“Nope!”

The dining room was also empty – no big surprise there – and he’d brought me to the only table that had been set up with full cutlery, a small vase of flowers, and flickering scented candles. He pulled my chair out for me and I sat down, before he walked over to take his own seat. I looked around for the menu but didn’t find one.

“No menu?”

“Oh, I hope you don’t mind.” he said, suddenly embarrassed, “everything’s already been pre-selected.” he gave me a sheepish smile.

And as if to confirm his words, a waiter suddenly appeared with a bottle of wine, which he presented to us before uncorking it and serving us both a tiny amount in our respective glasses. I watched Minseok swirl his around, sniff it, and take a small sip. Then he nodded to the waiter who filled his glass a little bit more, then mine, before placing the bottle on our table, taking a little bow, and leaving us.

I must have looked dumbfounded because when I looked back at Minseok, he was smirking at me, elbows on the table and chin propped up over his linked hands, looking all too pleased with himself. I stared at him for a moment, trying to reconcile the suave connoisseur of a moment ago with this giddy chubby little face and finally said:

“Didn’t your mama teach you you shouldn’t put your elbows on the table?”

I hoped that the wise-crack would hide the blush on my cheeks, but I don’t think it worked.

He winked at me from his position, then straightened himself up and said “yes, mam!”

He winked at me. Minseokie. Winked. At me. What was the world coming to???

HIM

Dinner was perfect. There’s no other word for it. It was perfect. Not only was the food amazing, but the company as well. It might sound strange, but I had forgotten what it was like to have an intelligent conversation with someone who didn’t complain all the time, or check their phone every 5 seconds. Sora hadn’t even looked at hers once during the whole meal! And it was refreshing to just be talking about normal things like our families, work life, or noisy neighbors. And to top it all off, she didn’t seem to care about the celebrity aspect of my life at all. I mean, of course, she was curious, but she was more interested in hearing about my silly dorm stories and what I did when I traveled abroad, than she was about which celebrity friends I’d collected and if I could introduce any of them to her. There had been too many people like that in my life recently…

I don’t know. Sora was just… Sora.

We sat there talking for hours. Long after our dessert plates and coffee cups had been emptied. Neither of us wanting the evening to end. Or well, at least, that’s how I felt.

“You keep looking at your watch,” she told me after a while, “do you have someplace to be?”

“Ah! Oh… no…”I answered, embarrassed. I hadn’t meant to do that. It was a nervous habit. “I’m just worried because it’s getting late. You have to wake up early for school, right?”

She laughed at me. A bright, loud, unabashed laughter just burst out of her and I looked up, confused.

“Tomorrow’s Sunday” she said.

“Oh!” I exclaimed, and she started laughing again.

I scratched the back of my head in embarrassment. “I’m sorry, I tend to lose track of what day it is unless someone reminds me…”

“I only do that on vacation” she chuckled.

“Well, I never have any vacation… so I guess the opposite works too…” I said cracking a smile, but instead my comment made her instantly sober up.

“Never?”

I shook my head. “I work every day.”

“Since when?”

“Since…” I paused, trying to think, “… I can’t remember” I said helplessly.

“Wow…” she said, staring into her empty coffee cup.

“It’s not all bad you know…” I said brightly, trying to liven things up so she wouldn’t worry.

“How can you live like this?” she asked me seriously, and her eyes sparkled, full of hurt and empathy for me. I wanted to hug her.

“No rest… no privacy…” she went on, “people wanting to snap your picture everywhere?”

“… It’s what I know…” I answered, helplessly.

She gave me a sad smile.

“Honestly, it’s not all bad,” I made my smile as honest as I could. Although for the first time in a long while, I did wish that I had more freedom to do whatever I wanted with my own life.

“It was my dream” I simply said after a long pause, unsure if it was for her benefit or for mine. “It’s the price I gotta pay.”

“Yeah…” she whispered, “I know…”

________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Heeeeeeeeeeeey!!!! Do you remember me??

I know I've been a terrible author with this fic, waaah... I'm sorry... I really want to keep going with it, and I do have an idea of where this is going, but honestly, I've just been more focused on other stuff... (i.e. lazy). There's also the whole Tao issue and I've been debating about whether to include it in the story or not (since I've mentioned the Luhan bit already) and it's been kinda stressing me out... so I kept putting off writing a new chapter... anyways, I'm sorry. I'll try to be better in the future!!!

-AoH