Chapter Thirty Six;;

 

 

You strolled down the stairs as you buttoned up your sleeves. “Aunty? I’m ready.” You looked around as you stepped on the last stair and your eyes stopped at the grandfather clock. 11.05 a.m. “Aunty, let’s go.”

You walked past the hallways and into the kitchen where your aunt was washing the dishes. “Aunty?” called you again.

Your aunt turned and grinned at you before she wiped her wet hands using the dishes clothes. “Here is the list,” she walked past you to retrieve a piece of paper and passed it to you. “I wrote it down already.”

You stared down at the list. The usual things; rice, veggies, milk, etc.

You looked up right away. “Wait. Aren’t you going with me?”

Your aunt smiled again and only that time did you notice that your aunt’s smile was a very suspicious smile. You immediately straightened up your body while trying to gather up your thoughts altogether. “Please don’t say―”

Ding dong.

The bell rang almost at the right time you were coming to your senses.

You gasped as your eyes turned wide. “Aunty, you won’t be―”

Your aunty grinned as she patted your arm lightly. “You know I can’t go, don’t you? Your uncle is arriving in an hour so I need to prepare him lunch.”

Your jaws still dropped.

You still couldn’t believe your aunty was doing this to you. You exactly knew your aunt had this suspicious habit once you all left the charity party last night. Mrs. Kim and she looked so excited over something―not to mention they glanced at you and Myungsoo a lot.

Oh my god.

Oh my god.

Ding Dong.

“You can’t do this to me, aunty,” you whispered as she grabbed your hand and practically dragged you across the hall.

“Wait aunty! I didn’t wear my makeup and I didn’t do my hair and I’m just wearing such a big t-shirt and―”

Your aunt pushed you towards the door. Wait, how on earth am I already at the door?!

You didn’t even have a second to take a breath when your aunt grinned so widely at you and the next second, the door was swung opened.

Myungsoo turned to you and flashed his innocent smile. He looked so good in a white shirt with his hands sunken into the pockets of his faded jeans―and with a dimple that took your breath away. You just noticed something miracle; his dimple that you never cared to stare at from seven years ago, or from the first time you both met, was starting to leave a deep effect in your memory and your heart. His hair seemed so soft and so shiny under the Sunday sunlight that it made you feel like running your fingers in it, massaging his scalp.

Myungsoo was seriously an illegal fallen angel.

“You’re ready?”

You blinked when his voice hit your eardrum, dragging you back to reality. “E-eoh?”

Myungsoo let out a small chuckle at your clueless face. “If you’re ready, we can start to move then.”

How could his dimple look so lovely―it was just a hole―dimple is abnormal for god’s sake!

Oh, have you ever heard about dimples facts? Dimples are perfect imperfection. Yes, perfect imperfection because they are caused by a minor muscle deformity, yet on Myungsoo they seem beautifully perfect.

“Sooyeon?” Your aunty touched your elbow lightly, enough to make you wake up from your daydreaming.

“Y-yes?” You turned to your aunty absent-mindedly.

“If you’re done staring at Myungsoo, I suggest that both of you start moving. It’s going to be lunch hour soon and the traffic is not really good,” she stated.

Your eyes almost jumped out from their sockets―an effect of the tease you got from her. “Aunty!” you gasped in horror. Your cheeks flushed red.

And Myungsoo’s laugh didn’t help either!

“We’ll get going then, aunty,” he excused, lips still cracking the same smile. Couldn’t he stop smiling already?

You hated to admit it. You really did but there was something not good vibrating in your chest and it started to irritate you; your heart.

 Since when did he love to smile? 

I thought glaring was his top favorite habit?

Does he smile a lot nowadays?

At his workers?

“Yes, yes, sure.” Your aunty grinned before slightly pushing you out from the door, making you flinch in the process. “Go buy the groceries and come back safely, okay?”

You sighed in defeat. “Alright,” you said, while giving a why-are-you-doing-this-to-me look to her. She replied with another (teasing) laugh.

“We’ll get going then,” Myungsoo said.

Your aunt waved at him then winked at you before slamming the door on your nose. You stared at the wooden door unbelievably.

Myungsoo cleared his throat. “S-should we go, now?” he cautiously asked, stuttering in the process.

You let out a sigh and slipped your feet into your heels before following him to his car. You immediately went to other side of the car before he could open the door for you. Myungsoo must understand your feeling because he just let it go and quickly slipped into his seat.

“Seatbelt, please,” Myungsoo muttered as he started the engine and put in the gear.

“Ah yes,” You quickly tucked in the seatbelt and glanced around―anywhere but Myungsoo.

Myungsoo the radio and a soft rhythm filled in the black sedan. You threw your gaze at anywhere but Myungsoo. Even the radio buttons became your focus. The sunlight shone brightly yet it didn’t stop people to wonder around the streets. Perhaps it was because it was close to lunch time.

But that was not what was on your mind.

Myungsoo’s fingers that were drumming lightly against the steering wheel were what were on your mind.

His hums that were following the music were what were on your mind.

His fresh mint scent was what was on your mind.

“What do you need to buy in the supermarket later?” he suddenly asked after it felt like years, eyes still on the road.

You jumped a bit at his sudden voice before you glanced at him. You saw how he smirked at your action. Damn smirk.

“I need to buy kitchen stuffs. Milk, eggs, veggies,” told you, shrugging. At the same time, you were internally cursing yourself for making it obvious. Why did I get shocked that I jumped on the seat?!

“I need to buy them too, along with some Mirae’s stuff. She’s going to throw a party for her friends.”

You turned to him. “You need to buy groceries too?”

Myungsoo glanced at you before turning his eyes back to the road. “Yup.”

You blinked. “You’re not here to accompany me?”

At your (silly) question, your eyes managed to catch Myungsoo smirking again. How could his smirks look damn good and―WAIT WHAT THE HELL DID I ASK JUST NOW?!

“I got some groceries to buy too, so you don’t need to think highly of yourself,” still smirking, he explained. Just like before when you guys were still together, he still loved teasing you.

You glared at him despite your red cheeks. “Yah! I never think of something like that.”

Myungsoo chuckled at your panic sound of your voice but he didn’t say anything.

You scoffed and crossed arms over your chest. Stupid Sooyeon, you blamed yourself while mentally slapping your cheeks.

Myungsoo glanced at you, smiling secretly. Well, at least that eased the tension a bit. “How was Japan?” he asked casually. But he noticed on how you turned stiff for a second before you looked out of the window.

It was a question that you wanted to avoid the most. You knew it was a simple question; how was japan―but then it might lead to more emotional questions; why did you leave? Or why was it seven years long? Or did you miss me? And more so―and you didn’t feel confident as you never had the real answers for those questions. “How was Japan?” was a driving question. It could drive your emotions towards destruction. It could drive other questions towards infinity, along with the answers.

I’d better not touch it. You thought.

Even you yourself were asking the same questions to yourself.

Maybe it was because you were only nineteen at that time that you were too carried away by your stupid teenager hormones and you wanted to fly away from all life problems. You were hundred percent sure you wouldn’t run away if you were a bit mature that time. You were very sure.

But speaking of that moment, you were scared and afraid, feeling rather insecure. You thought there was a dead end, no solutions. Then you felt darkness creeping over yourself. That was when you decided to run away, run as far as you could. You ran away in hope of getting out of the darkness to find at least a ray of light.

And now that you were back to your old place, did you succeed?

But things had already happened. To say that you regretted it for making that decision, you better let it flow.

And you were happy now so there was nothing else that matters anymore.

“Japan was fine,” you muttered after it felt like hours. You were trying to form a safe sentence. “But here’s is much better.”

That was the truth anyway.

His family was here.

Jiyeon was here.

Hoya oppa and Woohyun oppa were here.

Your lips cracked a bitter smile as you stared down at your tangled fingers on your laps.

Myungsoo was here too.

The last night dinner party was still fresh on your mind even though both of you were seated at different tables and you guys could only exchange glances and small smiles (because you two were too overwhelmed with each others' feelings). When the two families stopped for a small talk, both of you stood there silently and appreciated each other for not starting any conversation because again, the feelings were too much.

“You’ve grown up a lot, I see,” Myungsoo commented, smiling softly.

You looked at him. “Have I?”

Somehow the atmosphere was rather calm―maybe because of his sincere soft smile. It was weird of how you felt comfortable around him. Even best friends who separated for seven years might no longer be best friends to each other so how could you felt this peaceful to sit beside him?

Myungsoo nodded though his eyes were glued on the road. “You already know how to wear makeups, to wear heels casually and you looked like a woman. It’s a good thing,” he pointed out so sincerely that his heart was actually trying to escape his body through his throat, jumping out and running into your embrace. But he tried so hard to hold it back, by staring at the front with casual style.

You threw your gaze back from him to the road, didn’t noticed the small smile that was painted on your face.

 

 

On your hand right now were two lists of groceries.

Yours and Myungsoo’s.

This was why you should bring a woman when you’re going to buy groceries. Unlike man (*coughs* Myungsoo *coughs*), woman do not throw whatever they find first straight into the trolley. Woman are cautious.

“Can you stop throwing everything into the trolley, Myungsoo?” that was the first sentence you said to him since the both of you entered the supermarket. Then you decided that you were going to decide what he needed to buy and Myungsoo should just follow you from behind with the trolley.

“Snacks,” you muttered as your eyes roamed around the snacks section.

“Snacks?” Myungsoo left the trolley for a while to take a peek from your shoulder.

You nodded absent mindedly, not aware of the fact that you and Myungsoo were having a very close proximity that your cheeks could touch without leaving spaces if you turned your head to face him.

“Why would Mirae need snacks?” he frowned as he pushed the trolley back.

You glanced at him. “She’s throwing a party Myungsoo, of course she needs snack.”

“Well, she’s 21 right now, not fourteen anymore,” Myungsoo sighed. “She really needs to stop eating snacks, really.”

“And who says 21 years old can’t eat snack?” You crossed your arm and you raised your eyebrow at him.

Myungsoo pouted, still cute to your sight. “But she’s twenty one.”

“You never ate snacks when you were twenty one?” the question that you asked was supposed to be a plain question but as soon as it escaped your lips, both of you stiffened automatically.

“Just pick anything for Mirae, then,” Myungsoo slowly muttered, trying hard to focus his gaze at the trolley not at you.

You nodded vigorously at that. “A-ah, alright.”

“Good.”

Both of you looked at everything but each other in the next second.

Why on earth you asked that question, Sooyeon?!

You were mad at yourself.

Congratulations! You have succeeded in making the situation turn awkward, brilliant!

Stupid!

You bite your lower lip as you picked a few snacks and put it into the full trolley. You and Myungsoo exchanged awkward glances and looked away in the next second. Couldn’t it be more awkward that this?

“OMOOO HANDSOME OPPA!” then you heard a girl whining from afar. It came from a salesgirl at a snack booth you both were heading to.

Both of you looked at the salesgirl as she waved her hand energetically at both of you―or should you say―at Myungsoo?

Myungsoo politely bowed his head at her. “Uh, hello,” he greeted her back.

“Ah yes, hello handsome oppa,” she said, blinking her fake eyelashes cutely at him. “Would you like to taste our new potato snacks?” she asked with cheerful tone, bringing a tray filled with potato chips in her hands closer to Myungsoo. 

You the one who was standing behind Myungsoo already made a disgusted face. Her annoying actions never failed to make you feel like puking. She might slap you if you say this to her, “Hey, miss. I’m sorry but you look like a freaking squid.”

Doesn’t she see me here or what?

The girl handed out a small bowl at Myungsoo. “Have some then, oppa,” she said, flashing a (cheesy) smile. You hated her nasal voice. “It’s sweet with a taste of hot and spicy. Definitely a great flavor!”

Myungsoo was hesitant to take one. “Uh...”

“Handsome oppa?”

“I don’t really like snacks. Sorry,” Myungsoo apologized, quickly bowing with an apologetic smile before he turned his body slightly to look at you. His action revealed your petite body that was safe behind his own body before, welcoming you to the sight of the salesgirl. “Sooyeon-ah, would you like to have some?” he asked.

The salesgirl blinked. “Uh? There’s somebody behind you, omo. I didn’t see her, sorry,” She spoke. She threw you a glare as she put her forced smile.

You threw her a glare back. “Thanks but no, thanks,” you replied. You walked away immediately and Myungsoo rushed as he needed to push the heavy trolley and ran after you.

“Don’t you think it’s quite rude to leave her like that?” Myungsoo panted once he reached the spot beside you.

“If you think it’s rude, why don’t you continue entertain her?” you sarcastically suggested, shooting him a glare.

“Yah!”

You looked at him. “What?”

Myungsoo stared at your face before a small smile formed on his face along with his cute little dimples.

You frowned. “Why are you smiling?”

“You’re not jea―”

You looked away immediately. “Don’t use your stupid nonsense mind reading here. Let’s go to the cashier, right now.”

Myungsoo was just staring at you as you were starting to walk again, but this time his smile widened until it hurt his cheekbones.

You still remember it after all. He chuckled lightly before pushing the trolley again.

 

 

You wiped the corner of your eyes with your fingertips. “You should stop being a prankster, Jongin.” You started speaking between your laughter.

“I know right?” Jongin grinned. “I never thought there would be somebody waiting for me to come back, really,” he continued when his laugh faded.

"Jongin.." you called his name, heaving a sigh at the change of his personality. "Of course they would wait for you. They are your family."

Jongin just smiled faintly as he poked his cold black bean noodles using his chopsticks―ignoring your words. Jongin seemed happy―hell, he was a bright man who never had a sad expression on his face―but you knew the real him, the real Kim Jongin. Jongin once had a wonderful family; a loving parents and a caring older brother. But when he turned seventeen, his father was involved in a fatal accident which caused both of his feet to be paralyzed. His mother started to change―complaining that her husband became a burden to her and the children. At first, Jongin thought it was just a shock for her but as time went by, he knew that his mother had really changed. She went clubbing almost every night, abandoning her husband and their children and at the end, asking for divorce saying that the marriage would never be any better.

But Jongin could live with that.

Jongin could live with only his father and his hyung by his side. Of course he was extremely sad when his parents separated, but at least they loved him the same. He could live even if he needed to sleep at her mother's house for a week then in his father's mansion for another week. But he couldn't, when his father decided to marry his nurse who was actually his first love back when he was in high school, a year later.

 He couldn’t believe that his parents' love for each other had already come to its end.

For a freaking year, he had been praying and waiting for his parents to get back together.

Yet, nobody was on his side.

Even his hyung blessed the marriage and supported his father.

Thus, he decided to study abroad to heal himself.

And it took him merely ten years to come back to Seoul―3 years earlier than you staying in Japan.

You let out a small smile faintly. At least he did prank his maids (who was still working in his father's mansion), which was soo Jongin.

"Jongin, I don't like this," you said softly, being careful for the words you were going to say to the unstable Jongin. "Your parents, they’ve been waiting for your comeback. Now what you can―you should do is appreciated them back."

Jongin tried to ignore you again, but he let out a sigh of defeat when your stern eyes were glued on him. “It’s just… weird to see her in my house, to see her come and bid me goodnights, to see her in the kitchen to prepare meals for me―i-it is a weird feeling. ”

You smiled softly, nodding at his confession. “She's your mom. Those are what a mom does."

“Stepmom,” Jongin cut in, voice half hissing.

You glared at him. “Which is still a mom.”

Jongin pouted at your remark. His luscious (and kissable) lips looked more attracting when he did that. It would not help your heart if you had your heart with you, not with that someone. “You are a real fierce woman, you know? You should be a gangster―a brutal one,” he commented before slurping up his noodles.

Your smile faded right away.

“A brutal gangster,” another voice whispered.

You blinked and made an attempt to change the topic. "So how about the premiere this weekend? Is everything already settled?"

Jongin