Good day Citizens!

How is everybody doing??? Hope all of you were having a great holiday! Share your experience and great moments to journalistic club, and we will pick several stories to be featured in our magazines (by email to: [email protected]), radio show, or any kind of social media (to our twitter, facebook or tumblr, @sapphirejournalist).

We’ll be waiting!

Okay, enough with promotional stuff.

Citizens! I have a question, what comes in your mind when I ask you the meaning of romantic? What kind of acts, feelings or expression that make you think it’s romantic? Candlelight dinner for two? Stargazing on the hill? Jeju island? Roses?

Well, let me share some insight of my thought that I got during the end of our holiday term.

All of you probably realized that I have this kind of, I might say curiosity at its best with our ultimate couple, the President and the rebellious veteran student (I say curiosity, so yes, shut your tongue, it’s not an obsession!), Lee Sungmin and Cho Kyuhyun. I met them on Sunday, a day before new semester starts.

As bright as the sun up in the sky, I met one of the couple when I strolled around SM Town to shop, Cho Kyuhyun. He was very sleazy with wife beater and training pants, looking like coming up straight from bed. His short black hair was damp. A young man was walking beside him, wearing polo shirt, casual pants and a cap to hide his face. I was confident he wasn’t our President, because he had black hair. Sensing a scandal or something interesting, I decided to stalk and observe them.

They went to supermarket, talking and smiling few times. They were not hand in hand, but occasionally in the middle of their conversation, Kyuhyun would pat the young man’s cap casually, making his face more hidden. When the young man was taking groceries basket, the rebellious student suddenly hooked the other’s neck from behind and whispered something into his ear. They were chuckling and walking together afterwards.

I smelled a big scandal!! At that time, I was nervous, really really nervous and excited because I got a great information and news. That would become a great headline  for the new semester!

I put my face masker on, my beanie and sunglasses. Then, I followed them while my hand reached for a pocket camera inside my jacket.

They stopped at hair care products aisle and I stood three feet away from them. Both of them seemed busy choosing hair dye product. I heard some arguments from a distant.

“I always got my hair done by my stylist, why you won’t let me call her and insist doing it?” said the young man, slightly protest.

“Shut up.” Kyuhyun retorted. “I told you, I know how to dye hair. I often see my Mom doing it.”

“Wait.” The other seemed surprised. “You saw your Mom doing it?? So you haven’t done it before?”

“What’s the difference?!” Kyuhyun was defensive all of a sudden. “I told you I know how to do it.”

The young man sighed before replied again. “This is getting ridiculous, why I cannot go to my hair stylist?”

“Why are you asking too much?” Kyuhyun asked back, getting irritated.

“Because you’re not giving me a good reason!” The young man threw back again.

“I don’t want anyone else seeing you with this hair, okay?!” Kyuhyun raised his voice. I could hear him saying the next words very clearly. “You’re making too much trouble for me with your black hair! And I don’t want your stylist seeing you like this, or getting inspiration to make you like this again in the future!”

Kyuhyun was not finish as he went to speak again. “If Heechul can do it, why can’t I? I’ll dye it for you. Trust me.”

Then I couldn’t hear anything from them. It seemed everything was okay as they reached an agreement. But their conversation made me even more curious.

It was definitely something going on between Kyuhyun and that young man. Their conversation was intimate and the way Kyuhyun stated his reason… Hmm… Did I smell jealousy??

I decided to step closer to them, having my back facing both of them, I hoped I wasn’t too suspicious. As if the young man had the same thought with mine, he suddenly asked Kyuhyun.

“Are you jealous?”

There was few seconds of silent before I heard Kyuhyun’s voice. “Damn, right!”

“That’s why you made me wearing this hat? And insist to dye my hair by yourself?” The young man asked again.

“Yes, yes, and YES!” Kyuhyun shouted.

Thank god there was no many people at the store, so they didn’t attract many attention.

“Okay, I’ll let you do it.” A calm voice responded Kyuhyun.

“Are you satisfied now?” Kyuhyun was a bit groaning.

“Hyung, it’s not about me being satisfied for making you feel like this. I just think that you don’t need to be jealous because I also plan to dye it back to blonde for the new semester.”

Wait a minute. I just realized something. His voice, their intimacy, and their conversation about being blonde, new semester and Hyung-stuff…

“Besides… My hair stylist is married and has a son around my age. There’s no way she has a crush on me.” The young man explained.

“Tsk!” Kyuhyun chortled. “Nothing is impossible, Min. People are crazy these days.”

When I heard Kyuhyun’s words, I really wanted to confirm my suspicion. I turned my head a little to their direction hoping I would have a good look of the young man.

“I agree, I’ve seen those people. In fact, I’m with one of them right now.” The young man joked.

“Aisshh! you!” Kyuhyun hissed playfully.

I heard them laugh together afterwards. Before I got the chance to see the young man clearly and find my answer, they already walked away. I only saw the young man figure from behind. His image was totally similar like Lee Sungmin. And I believed it was him.

Being eager and passionate, especially when having a picture of black hair Lee Sungmin was at stake, I decided to follow them again. Their direction this time was meat section. I only watched them from a far, couldn’t even hear their voices. I was afraid they would find out if I stood closer.

Even though I didn’t hear their conversation at that time, I still could imagine what they were talking about, how fun it was and how they didn’t care about other things except each other. Kyuhyun hooked his arm around the other’s neck, showing off his possession to other people. And the alleged-President clung his hand on the other back, gripping Kyuhyun’s shirt loosely. They were talking and pointing at several kinds of meat in the display freezer.

Suddenly Kyuhyun turned his face at the other’s direction. He had hard expression on his face. For about three seconds, Kyuhyun freezed, like waiting for the other’s reaction. Then, the other turned his head a little to face Kyuhyun and chuckled. His shoulders were heaving a little. Kyuhyun grinned in response. He was moving his face towards the other to aim for a kiss when the other backed away to avoid him.

The young man laughed and moved Kyuhyun’s arm from his shoulders in a snap. After he released himself, he stepped away casually, leaving Kyuhyun in protest.

“Hey! You cheated!”

I heard Kyuhyun’s voice yelling in protest.

“I was right! Wagyu is from Japan!!” He added.

The young man stopped and turned around to face Kyuhyun. He shook his head and said something. His hand folded on his chest.

“It’s the same thing!” Kyuhyun argued with a loud voice again.

The other just shrugged and shook his head, stating his disagreement. After few seconds, it seemed he asked Kyuhyun to take their meat from the butcher. The latter did so before he stomped away to chase the former.

I lost them out of my sight when sacks of rice blocked my view. I rushed to the meat section right away, following their movement. When I arrived at the aisle they went, I found it empty. There was no one walking on the long aisle. Well, they probably turned again to one of the sections. I decided to move forward to look for them.

It was easy to find them, since the shop was quite empty and Kyuhyun’s voice was pretty authentic and loud. They were at the snacks row, picking some chips and cookies. The young man seemed busy choosing some brands. He had two brands of cookies in each hand and asked Kyuhyun to choose. The man being questioned pointed at his left hand easily, not wasting any seconds. The young man with a cap was hesitate to put it inside their basket and turned to Kyuhyun once again. He said something with right hand raising another brand, probably defended the not chosen brand. Kyuhyun listened to him carefully.

After the alleged-Sungmin finished talking, Kyuhyun took both brands from his hands and put all of them inside their basket. He grabbed the young man’s hand and led him to walk again, leaving the snack row.

It made me grin. I could imagine how Kyuhyun was amused of the other’s behavior in choosing a brand of cookies. It was a first time for me to see Kyuhyun being accommodative to others. He didn’t shout, argue or irritated at the young man for being complicated over a cookie.

I continued my journey to stalk them. They were talking most of the time, playing quizzes with some products around them, hitting each other playfully, arguing about something, and laughing it off afterwards. They were up and down, one time they smiled at each other, the next thing they were in a serious debate. There was another conversation between them that made me unconsciously smiling to myself hearing it. They were at the cashier, ready to pay their stuff, when Sungmin (I finally confirmed it was him!) asked Kyuhyun whether he wanted to buy cigarettes or not. Kyuhyun refused the offer by shaking his head.

“Are you sure?” Sungmin was quite surprised and asked Kyuhyun again the second time.

“Yeah… I wanna try to quit smoking.”

Sungmin stayed quiet, but his face was totally confused. Feeling responsible to explain, Kyuhyun said again. “I want to be healthier, so I can stay with you longer.”

Sungmin smiled at that. “I like your reason, Hyung. You don’t use me to put on the blame and you do it for your own sake.” He smiled wider.

I must admit, Sungmin’s big smile was radiant and contagious, making Kyuhyun (and me) smile.

The moment was perfect for Kyuhyun to kiss Sungmin, and I was kind of confident he would go for it when he lifted his hand. But instead of doing so, he went to fix Sungmin’s cap down to conceal Sungmin’s face. “Hide it. Your smile is too bright and I don’t want others to see.”

I almost got into trouble when Kyuhyun suddenly realized my existence (and my stares) at the cashier beside them. He glared at me with sharp eyes. I pretended to look away and walked off casually from them.

My experience with them was definitely interesting and insightful. I learned something new from them. As a couple, they are not the harmonious type of couple who goes in sync most of the times (even though they liked to have skin-ship).

They argued, they debated, they got angry at each other because they were being themselves, two people with opposite personality. They made fun of each other because they accepted one another, feeling comfortable with their differences. They smiled at the end of each argument because they made adjustment. They didn’t use the other as a reason to change. In that sense, they didn’t put the blame on the other, and didn’t play a victim of another. They reflected their feeling from the inside, and then they acted it out because they held the same principle, to make the relationship works.

That day, Kyuhyun and Sungmin were not doing something romantic it made my heart in awe. They were not even kissing, which was very rare from the last time I saw them. However, I don’t know why, I find them as a very romantic couple.

When I think about it again, romance is actually a simple thing. Kyuhyun and Sungmin are romantic because they reach mutual concession. They press down their differences and value their principle to be together. Sungmin let Kyuhyun to dye his hair, and Kyuhyun let Sungmin to have both cookies, isn’t that romantic thing to do? Romantic couple doesn’t need a lot of money to feel the romance. Their willing to compromise with each other for the sake of being together is enough for them.

I come into conclusion, if someone ask me to define romantic, I probably will say, compromising.

Remember Citizens, in the end, it takes two to tango!

03.29.2015,

L.H.

ps. Too bad I haven’t got the chance to take picture of our President, Lee Sungmin, with black hair. If you curious on his looks, let me say a word, “Damn Mama! He looks good!” (oops, that’s five words)

pps. But I managed to take one candid picture of their romance when they went out of the dorm in the evening.