CHAPTER 15     Jingle~   And the sound of Soshi Café’s front door opening resonates within.   That’s her, sitting in the corner of that cubicle… I walked but did not take a seat, hoping that this would not take very long…   “So Taengoo… why did you call me here?” I even tapped my heels to feign annoyance.   She didn’t raise her head to answer me, but muttered, rather audibly. “Y-you’ve been cold recently… D-do you ha-hate me?”   Shoot! How do I answer?!   “I-I… I Might… Anyways, from the beginning it’s never the issue of liking or hating…”   “I see…” the chair’s legs scrapped the floor and Taengoo immediately stood up to leave.   “Don’t come back to my house anymore, go back to your Video Girl world”   HUH?! Wait!   What was that?!   I tried grabbing her wrist, follow her across the café and explain to her that I only answered that way because I HAD to but my heels were planted firmly on the ground.   What if I vanish after explaining to her?!   Then I really would lose her!   I was scared stiff and frozen.   I didn’t know what to do!   But as she was about to reach the front door of the café, she layed the final blow “It’ll be hard even if you stay with me more than this. You hurt me Sica, I don’t need you. Just vanish”   And I just snapped out of it.   Screw what Seohyun-ssi says!   “WAIT!!!! TAENGOO!!!”   “T-HE TRUTH IS I LOVE YOU! I’m sorry I was cold to you but-“   “Jessica-ssi…”   Huh?! Seohyun-ssi?! How could she be-? Badump Badump   “What you said just now is out of your programming. It’s against your job of putting Tiffany and Taeyeon together. Or have your forgotten about it?”   “I-“   “You can never say “like” or “love””   “I-I’m s-sorry Seohyun-ssi!!!”   “You know what this means right?”   “Pl-please!!! One more time… Give me a second chance!! One more time!!!”   “DISAPPEAR, SICA!!!”   NO! NO! NO!!!!!   “BLIZZZZZZZ” “BLIZZZZZZZ”   “KYAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”   “BLIZZZZZZZZOOOOOOM!!!!!!!!!!!”   … … …   “KYAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”   Wait… Where am I?!   Oh… Taengoo’s basement… “Hah…” “Hah…” “Hah…”   I stared at my outstretched hand for a few more seconds feeling the veins and tiny creases it had, before finally calming down and realizing I just had one frightening nightmare…   This is a first for me too… Video Girls don’t have dreams… we give them… and it seemed so real… I feel sweat trickling from my forhead and used my oversized yellow green (Yes Taengoo’s J) flannel PJ’s cuffs to wipe it off.   And secretly, I wished problems are easily wiped off and dried like that too.   But who am I kidding? Not problems, but me. Seohyun-ssi can EASILY wipe me off like that.     “Y-you’ve been cold recently… D-do you ha-hate me?”   If Taengoo asks me that, how should I answer?   I’m scared… everything might end then…   Taengoo… If you can hear my heart right now please know… I’m not cold to you because I hate you.   I-I just had to…   The fabric of my PJs crumpled as I clenched the part nearest to my heart. A drop of tear fell, trailed down my cheeks before I swiped it off and grimaced at the irony of this “wiping” thing.   “Better leave home before Taengoo wakes up and I waver again…”       XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX       RRRRRRRRIIIIIIINGGGGGGG   RRRRRRRRIIIIIIINGGGGGGG   Ugh… Who’s calling…? I-I’m so sleepy I stayed up all night thinking and making drafts for my picture book, and Sica wouldn’t even talk to me…   Sigh… it’s been days since she’s returned but she’s been nothing but cold…   RRRRRRRRIIIIIIINGGGGGGG   What’s going on Sica?   RRRRRRRRIIIIIIINGGGGGGG   RRRRRRRRIIIIIIINGGGGGGG   ALRIGHT! ALRIGHT! I’m answering Sheez…   If I find that these are just those sales agents, selling DuPont pans or tiles cleaning solutions, I’m SOOOOO gonna blow my socks off!!!   RRRRRRRRIIIIII- “Kim Residence, Hello…”   “Huh? Yu-ri?”       XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX       Myeongdong Station     Oh… there she is.   “Hello”   “OH! Hi TaeTae! It’s been a while! Fancy meeting you here!”   “Umn… Hi…”   “So? Are you in the district to shop?” She says, with that eye-smile of hers and my heart starts to beat a little bit BADUMP from the gesture.   DAMNIT! Aren’t I supposed to be over her now?!   “Oh… No… Umn… Yuri called my house, cause you already left your house (Story is based on the 90’s guys no mobile/smart phones in mass production yet! So let’s just pretend they didn’t have one in the present day word he he he) and told me to inform you that she couldn’t come because of dance practice.   Her faced changed from excited to disappointed in an instant “OH but it’s really an important performace! You see, it’s for a municipal thing, comission by the mayor of Seoul… so, it couldn’t be avoided” AND WHAT AM I DOING TRYING MY BEST TO MAKE HER FEEL BETTER?!   No Taeyeon, you’re only covering for Yuri your best friend. RIGHT! JUST COVERING.   Truth is, Yuri asked me if I can go somewhere with Fany on her behalf, but since I’m only beginning to finally give Fany up, it’ll be dangerous if I’m with her again… so I think it’s better if I go now.   “We-ell… I’m off” “WAIT TAETAE!”   Huh?   “TaeTae… Do you have time now?”   Gulp, No… please Fany don’t! Don’t make it anymore harder than it already is.   “…”   … … …       XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX       Myeongdong CGV     How did this happen…?   PABO TAEYEON PABO!!!! I wanted to bang my head on the cinema’s counter if only it wouldn’t make me look like a complete lunatic!   Dookongs… I need strength! Where arth thou?!   “Here Tae! Yey! I’ve wanted to see this movie!”   Sigh… I’ve been swayed by her eye smiles again… Damnit seriously they’re criminal!   I feel so wimpy though… my weak decision…   Does this mean deep down I still have feelings for Fany in my heart?   TSK. I aggressively scratched at my scalp even if it wasn’t itchy. But what can I do?! Fany has my type of cuteness, and her and eye smiles are NO JOKE. WAIT!!! Does that mean I like both Sica and Fany?!   Is that even possible?! OH NO!!! WHO DO I REALLY LIKE?!   “Excuse me Tae, but I have to go to the lady’s room”   “Okay Fany, I’ll just go ahead and grab us some popcorn”   … …   Sigh…   Well, it’s the first time I’ll watch a movie with someone who’s not my parents, relative or Yuri, so I guess I’ll just enjoy it and worry about my feelings for Sica and Fany later…     “Cough, Cough, Excuse me, two tubs of popcorn please!”   “What flavor?”   “Hmn… Strawberry (Pink, Fany will like it), and Cheese?”   “Okay it’ll be 10,000 Won”   Now that I think about it… this was also the cinema where Sica and I were supposed to watch a movie…     “If we see a movie, we have to just sit there for two hours. It’s a waste of time.”   She had that overheating problem, and then when we met up again in the evening, she kept on saying that and refusing to see a movie! HMP!   “WAIT! What’s this pink colour, I didn’t order strawberry!”   “Huh? Excuse me miss, this must probably be mine” I hurriedly walked towards the popcorn dispensing area and grabbed the two open tubs of popcorn being handed b