[160601. Updated]

The two of you stared at each other, waiting on who’ll speak up first. You felt that if he was the one who’d talk first you would hear something awkward so that is why you had decided to speak up first. As you were about to bring about a random topic, both of you heard the bus coming. You two stared at the now halted bus.

“It’s finally here.” Taekwoon took a step forward but paused and looked at you. “Are you taking the bus as well?”

You nodded as the bus’s door opened. The people you two were with at the bus shed entered first. Taekwoon gestured for you to go in first; you climbed inside the bus and he followed. Once you let the sensor read your T-money card, he did the same. The bus wasn’t crowded so you chose to sit on the nearest seat you could be. The second row on your left. Surprisingly, Taekwoon didn’t sit next to you as you were hoping him to do. Instead he sat opposite to you.

The bus’s door closed and began moving. 

You rested your head on the glass window and stared at the rain. You could smell Taekwoon’s scent from the sweater. It smelled sweet and masculine at the same time. So much had happened today: you did what your older brother asked you to do which was get one of his favorite manga, you ran in the rain which was a first time for you AND you got to see the person whom you haven’t seen in a long while.

Speaking of that person… you glanced at his direction and instantly looked back at the rain outside. GAAH! He was staring!! You shut your eyes hard. He saw you you look at him!! You stole a peek once again. He wasn’t staring at you anymore but at the view outside the window, smiling. Why does he always look at the rain? You remembered him looking at the rain when you were at the shed as well. At that moment, it was you who were staring at him. He looks so different but not. He’s still the same Leo-oppa…but… you realized that you never even knew him in the first place. He was just some nice person that accompanied you when you were little. You didn’t share anything with him at all after that. It made you think of why he’s clearly nice to you. Maybe just maybe…

The bus stepped on the brake, stopping the bus at its next stop. Passengers entered; one group of them were teenage guys who were soaked from the rain but you didn’t care to advert your attention to either one of them.

One of them saw the empty seat next to you. He walked over to you and called your attention. “Excuse me, is this seat taken?”

You stared blankly at the guy, then to the seat and back to the guy who was waiting for you to answer. “No.”

“Can I sit here then?” He had a sweet gentle aura, somewhat like Hongbin’s but not at the same time.

“Sure.” You answered hesitatingly. Once he heard of your approval, he sat next to you. His clothes were wet so when he sat down you heard its squishy sound. You didn’t mind since he wasn’t even doing anything; Taekwoon, on the other hand, had his eyes closed and earphones plugged in his ears.

“Funny weather, huh?” he pointed at the window. You smiled accommodatingly and looked away. It wasn’t that you weren’t friendly, it was just because you were taught not to talk to strangers. But you instantly felt a bit embarrassed since that comment wasn’t for you but for his friends who were sitting behind the two of you. At least they didn’t see me smile like an idiot. You laughed to yourself, rebuilding the only thing you could think of.

“So…are you a high school student?” the guy asked nonchalantly. Not sure if you were the one he was talking to in that instant or if he was talking to his friends still, you looked around. He smiled cheekily, “I’m asking you.”

“Me?” you gestured a finger pointing at yourself. He nodded.

“Well, I—“

“you.” Both you and the guy turned to where the soft voice came from. Taekwoon pulled one of his earphone from his ear and glared at you or more likely at the guy sitting next to you. He cleared his throat and shook his head. “Oppa’s forgiven you…” he said impassively. What? He scooted to the window side seat and patted on the empty seat he previously sat on. “…You could sit next to me now…”

What? You, the guy sitting next to you and his friend stared stoically at Taekwoon. Taekwoon’s cheek was slowly turning pink. He was getting embarrassed but kept his poker face on. “you…”

“Uh…do you know that odd dude?” the guy sitting next to you asked, his eyes still on Taekwoon. You took a closer look at Taekwoon; his eyes were on you waiting for you to do something. It took a while before you finally understood what he was trying to convey. “Yes.” You got up and shrugged at the guy, “He’s my big brother.” Saying that made you cringe. How cheesy, you!!

 You scooted your way out of your seat and sat next to Taekwoon and sighed. You looked at him placing his earphone back in his ear. “Judging on what you did, I say you were jelly Leo-oppa.” You giggled.

“I was being a good oppa.” Taekwoon closed his eyes and leaned comfortably on his seat. “Your brother wouldn’t like you talking to guys, I was doing him a favor…”

You eyed on the guy who wasn’t paying attention to you no more and was talking to his companions. Hearing what Taekwoon mentioned made you remember of what Hongbin said to you a few days earlier. “…Thanks, I guess.”

“Don’t mention it.” Taekwoon said, “Now, act like you’re my sister for a while.”

“Yes, Oppa.” You winked, snuggling yourself with the oversized sweater you were wearing.

Throughout the whole trip, you were seated next to your ‘big brother’. The guy who talked to you eventually got off at one stop with his friends. Unknowingly, you fell asleep and what happened to you after that didn’t occur to you at all. Yoou woke up, finding yourself lying on your bed. Eh? How? What? Was that all a dream? 

A knock on the door.

Before you could react to it someone had already opened the door. “you! Wakey—oh good you’re finally awake. Dinner’s ready, just so you know.”

You rose from your bed and noticed that you were wearing a new set of clothes. The blue sweater was nowhere to be found, not even a trace of it. Was I dreaming? You grabbed your phone from the drawer and looked at the time and date. “Oppa…how…did I get home?”

Hyuk laughed hysterically, crossing his arms while he leaned on the doorframe. “How should I know? By the time, I arrived here Dad said you were sleeping. Sleeping heavily that Mom had to change your clothes for you.” Your brother shook his head and commented how much of a baby you still were. But you didn’t care about that, all you cared about was how you got home and if what happened was just a dream. “I came home sleeping?”

Just before your brother could answer your question, Hongbin appeared. He squeezed your brother’s shoulder. “Hey, can’t you guys hurry? I’m getting hungry here.” Hongbin pouted, rubbing his supposedly empty stomach.

“What are you doing here, Hongbin-oppa?” you asked in an unmannerly tone. Hongbin raised his eyebrows, quite taken aback by how you just said it.

“Ouch. Can’t I come here and eat with you guys?” he asked, pretending that he was hurt from what you had said. “My parents are away for the night. They’re going to an event or party or something. I’m staying here for the night.”

“Tsk. You’ve hurt hyung’s feelings!” Hyuk teased, patting Hongbin’s back as a sign of comfort from the words he received from you. “Say sorry, you!”

You looked at your brother once again and place your hands on either side of your waist. “Why should I? I wasn’t doing anything.”

“Really? How about hurting my feelings, you?” Hongbin acted wiping a tear that fell from his eye.

Geez. I was asking on how I got here and they’re acting like kids… you sighed, rolling your eyes.

“Your parents want you three to come down,” a soft voice emerged from the two noisy ones. You froze in place when you saw him standing by your door, he glanced at you and hinted a smile. The smile disappeared when your brother and Hongbin looked at him.

“We’ll come down, Taek-hyung.” Hyuk nodded obediently; Hongbin showed two thumb ups. Your brother tugged you out of your place, “she’ll come down too.”

Taekwoon nodded and went downstairs ahead. Silence was brought up in the air as you eyed on the two males beside you were grinning like crazy people. Hongbin was the first to break the silence when he moved away from you two. “Who was that? First time seeing him…Your cousin?” Hongbin asked, Hyuk who was still grinning at you. It took half a minute plus Hongbin’s slap on the cheek for him to stop. Hyuk apologized and went back to his normal self.

“He’s not our cousin, hyung.” Hyuk gestured at the empty staircase indicating it was Taekwoon. “He’s actually you’s friendly neighborhood oppa.”

Hongbin chuckled, knowing that Hyuk had used a famous sentence of a comic book. He looked at your for confirmation, doubting if what Hyuk said was false. You nodded in compliance, “Yes…he’s the oppa that I mentioned about when I was a kid.”

“Ah… Leo-oppa, right?” Hongbin clapped his hand, proud that he remembered the name. You rolled your eyes, nodding. How tacky I was back when I was a kid.

Hyuk laughed, reminiscing about how you called Hongbin, dimples-oppa back in the day. You kicked your brother’s shin and stuck your tongue out at your wincing brother. “I’m going down. Don’t bother looking for your manga! I’ll be reselling it.”

“You can’t resell it...AND…” Hyuk clenched his teeth, “It’s not !” You glared at your brother again and ran downstairs. UGH. I can’t believe he’s doing it again!! Once you took the last step, you heard your mom and dad laughing. You walked to the dining room and saw them already seated by the table with Taekwoon.

Your mom beamed, gesturing for you to take a seat. “Where’s Hongbin and Sanghyuk?”

“Upstairs, left them.” You casually walked and sat on your usual seat which was on the right side of your dad, across Taekwoon. You glanced at Taekwoon and smiled, “Hi.”

“Hello,” Taekwoon softly greeted back.  So it wasn’t a dream after all…Seeing that Taekwoon was sitting inside your very dining room and that he was wearing the exact clothes he had; the rain, the bus and the blue sweater definitely weren’t just a figment of your imagination. Speaking of the sweater, where is it?

“Feeling better, you?” Your dad asked, gently placing his warm hand on yours.

You nodded, assuring that you were alright. “Of course, Appa. Why wouldn’t I be?”

“Just asking. Don’t want my little girl getting sick.” He then tapped your hand and smiled delighted to hear you were doing fine. Just then two pairs of running feet came down loudly on the staircase. A childish cry was heard when your brother and Hongbin entered the dining room at last.

“Eomma!” Hyuk ran to your mom’s side and showed his usual-you-bullied-me-again face; your mom just rolled her eyes and laughed at your brother, enjoying how innocent your brother could still be.

“What do you want now, Sanghyuk?” she said eagerly. As your brother began ranting you on your mother, Hongbin slid to the chair next to yours and greeted you and your dad. He turned to Taekwoon and smiled, once again showing his deep dimples unconsciously and introduced himself. ”Hi, I’m not a relative of theirs. Actually I’m their neighbor. Just so happen to be Hyuk’s friend and you’s first crush, the name’s Hongbin.”

Hearing the white lie Hongbin broadcasted just now made you kick him under the table. Fortunately, Hongbin knew you too well and knew what you were about to do. Before you could even hear his whole introduction, Hongbin had already distanced his legs from your kick.

“HONGBIN-OPPA.” You clenched your teeth, controlling yourself from bursting. You turned to Taekwoon, worried that he might misunderstood some things but on the contrary, he seemed to be smiling at the joke. It was also at the same time, when Hongbin took back the joke.

“I’m kidding. you’s first crush was none other than Park Hyo Shin.” He chuckled. You swore you could have killed Hongbin for exposing a lifelong childhood secret if it wasn’t a sin nor crime. But ughh. Why involve my Park Hyo Shin-oppa. Taekwoon plainly nodded and introduced himself to Hongbin as well with just his name and a simple bow, no extensions or titles of some sort.

“Can I call you hyung then?” Hongbin excitedly asked. With only a few seconds, Taekwoon nodded and there began the two’s friendship.

Minutes have passed; your father rose from his seat and approached your brother who still hasn’t moved on with the ranting. He pulled or more likely dragged Hyuk to his seat next to Taekwoon. As he finally put your brother in place, he walked back to his seat. You giggled when you heard your dad sighing and complaining that he was getting hungrier by the second and food won’t come out unless Sanghyuk was still talking to your mom.

“Okay—now that everyone’s here, how about dinner?” Your dad clapped and rubbed his hands together, gladly leaning back on the spine’s chair. Your dad reached out to your hand while you did the same with Hongbin until the six of you held hands and formed an informal prayer circle. Your father closed his eyes and began reciting a prayer. Everyone closed their eyes once they heard your dad spoke except for you and Taekwoon. The two of you stared at each other, neither of you looked away until your father ended his prayer. After that, you released your dad and Hongbin’s hands from your grasp.

“Let’s eat.”

Your parents were the first one to dig in and the rest followed. It was no doubt your mother’s cooking since you saw some of the side dishes were you and your brother’s favorites. After a while, you began talking with everyone about random topics. Eventually it was led to your dad asking what your brother and Hongbin did that day. “Nothing much, Hongbin-hyung and I went and play at the arcade and for some reasons, we ended up playing with a 7 year old girl.” Hyuk reached for a pickle from the side dishes.

“A 7 year old girl that kept beating us in the game.” Hongbin chewed diligently.

Laughter erupted in the room; the topic was then moved to you and Taekwoon. FINALLY! It was your dad who began with the story. He started with him getting worried over you since it rained hard all of a sudden, he called you but you didn’t answered his first three calls. The fourth time, someone answered after the third ring and it was Taekwoon. At first, he mentioned that he was furious at you since you didn’t pick up his calls and a boy was the one who answered it and not you but then he panicked once he realized that you were with a boy. Your dad began thinking on a particular western movie in which the actor’s daughter in the movie was kidnapped, as he was about to say the infamous line, You don’t know me but I will find you…the boy spoke that he wasn’t doing any harm to you and that you weren’t able to answer the phone because you were sleeping.

Your dad mentioned that he was skeptical at first but then started to believe him when the guy mentioned personal information about himself. “I felt like a main character of an action movie at that time.” Your dad proudly said, leaning back on the chair like a boss of a mafia.

“A flopped movie.” Hyuk mumbled but loud enough for everyone to hear. Taekwoon bit his lower lip forcing not to laugh.

Your dad caught what Hyuk said. He glared at his very own son and shook his head; he turned to your mom who was sitting by the end of the table. “Did you hear what your son just said, dear?!” he pouted.

“Yes, I did.” Your mom continued eating. While you watched your parents exchange words, Hongbin leaned close to your ear and whispered. “This scene looks familiar.”

“What do you mean?”

“Hyukkie and your dad have the same aura.” You glanced at your dad who was still at it with your mom then at your brother who was talking with Taekwoon. You smiled, completely agreeing to what Hongbin had said.

“Aiiiiisssh. Whatever. Where was I with the story?” your dad gave up and returned with the storytelling you longed to hear.

“You not trusting me, Mr. Han.” Taekwoon reminded.

“Ahh yeaahh that part, thank you Taekwoon for reminding. Well, I asked Taekwoon here –pointing at him- where you two were and he told me that you were riding a bus and we’ll be heading to another stop.” Your dad reached a glass of water and drank, “So I told him that I’ll come and pick you up on the very next stop because you –looks at you- had become a bother to his young man here.”

“you wasn’t a bother, sir.” Taekwoon defended shyly. “I’m fine with it.”

You looked down, feeling the heat on your cheeks. You were glad to hear Taekwoon saying that but you knew that even a little bit that you were really a bother. Your dad continued on with the story; he was only a minute early when the bus finally arrived. He quickly spotted you since you were piggybacked by a ‘tall, handsome man’ exact words from your dad. “It was weird at first because you wouldn’t let go of Taekwoon.” Your dad chuckled as he described how you looked like a koala hugging its bamboo stick. So like Hyuk-oppa. Teasing…

“Was she heavy, Taek-hyung?” your brother asked, with a smug grin on his face. “Because truthfully, I always have a hard time carrying that rascal.”

Taekwoon rubbed the nape of his neck, thinking on how to approach the question. He shook his head and looked at you, “your sister’s light as a feather.”

“Heard that Oppa? I’m light.” You smirked. Hyuk could only laugh sarcastically and just nod at what you said.

Then your dad continued, “So in the end, Taekwoon carried you home. The rain had stopped by then which was a good thing. When we reached home, I asked mom to clean you up and I asked Taekwoon to stay for dinner as a way of thanks.”

Taekwoon bowed courteously, thanking for the delicious dinner. Your dad patted his back and told him that he can come by anytime he wants. By the time everyone had finished their dinner, you and your mom volunteered to clean up the table while the boys head to the living room and discuss about boy stuff. While you gathered the dishes from the table, you remembered the blue sweater Taekwoon lend to you. Maybe mom knows where it is… “Mom was I wearing a blue sweater a while ago?” you asked, handing the last batch of dishes to your mom who was busy washing the dishes.

“The oversized one?” you nodded and asked where it was. “It’s in the laundry, dear. Why?”

“Nothing.” You lied. Before heading out, you asked your mom if she still needed anything. As soon as you heard your mom answer no, you went to the laundry room and looked for the blue sweater. You want to be the one who’s going to clean it because you felt like you needed to. After a few digging, you found the sweater. You picked it up and stashed it in another basket. Finished with operation-get-blue sweater-and-wash-it-yourself, you went to where the boys were but only found Hongbin sitting on the sofa, texting someone. “Oh. Oppa, where’s the others?”

Hongbin gestured at the front door, “your dad is going to take Taekwoon-hyung home.” he pointed at the staircase, “Hyukkie’s reading the manga you bought for him.”

You were supposed to get mad at Hyuk for finding the manga but Taekwoon going home was more important. “EH?! But I haven’t been able to thank Leo—Taekwoon-oppa properly!”

“you,” Hongbin firmly said, grabbing your attention. “I said, ‘is taking home Taekwoon-hyung home’. They’re still out—“

Without any hesitation or letting Hongbin continue you hurried outside. You saw your dad and Taekwoon getting in the car.“Appa! Can I talk to Taekwoon-oppa for a minute?”

“Sure.”

Taekwoon stepped out from the car and walked up to you with an impassive expression. He didn’t speak and just waited for you to do it first. It took you half a minute, clenching of your fists and a deep breath for you to speak. “Oppa, I want to the thank you for bringing me home—“

“You’re welcome.”

“I’m not done yet.” You squeezed your eyes shut. Jeez…he didn’t let me finish. You took another deep breath and you opened your eyes. “As I was saying, thanks for bringing me home and about Oppa’s sweater I’ll give it back to you as soon as I can and the thing that you did earlier on the bus…thanks…and sorry for bothering you, I’m sure you had some other plans before this happened.”

Taekwoon still had no expression when he asked you if you were done. Once you nodded, he began to speak. “Like I said, you’re welcome. As for the sweater, you can do whatever you want with it. I have tons of it; and…” he leaned in, levelling his eyesight with yours, and pinched your cheeks softly. “You’ll never be a bother to me.”

He tousled your hair and smiled, “See you soon, you.” He walked back to the car and waved a simple goodbye.

You smiled cheekily and waved back, “Take care Appa, bye Oppa.” By the time Taekwoon got in the car, its headlights were switched on and the car moved backwards. You stood by the front door as you watched the car disappear from your sight.

“I won’t get to see Leo-oppa again…” you mumbled to yourself.

“I doubt that.” You gasped, seeing Hongbin standing next to you. He smiled apologetically for startling you. As you two head back inside, you asked what Hongbin meant with what he said. “Oh that, it’s because we asked hyung if he wanted to meet with us tomorrow and hang out after school.”

“After school?”

Hongbin nodded and opened the door for you, “Didn’t he tell you that we three happen to attend the same school?”

Eh…Eh? EHHH!?!?!