-Project Friendship: Sunggyu-

Level 9

            With promotions now over there was not much for Sunggyu to do with his days, concert and tour preparations had been slowly underway the last few weeks and it was would still be some time before they got busy again. He has seen Yeri once after that night, it’s not a lot considering it has been close to a week already and Sunggyu has had very day free and he was even worried that she was avoiding him but apparently she had taken up another part-time job now that she was free from exams again. It could not be helped if she was busy so he spent much of his time sitting around the dorm and, like today, wandering around the city during the day when it was the least crowded (well perhaps except for the many kids still on their summer break).

            Sunggyu went out around lunchtime, he hadn’t really had a place in mind when he headed out but he ended up downtown after taking the train rather aimlessly (or so he thought). He found himself walking down the streets of Myeongdong, he had a sudden thought that Yeri previously mentioned she began working in one of these cosmetics stores; he remembered it exactly because he had thought her new part time was a little far compared to where she was before and while he was on the train earlier he wondered why the shopping district had to be so far away.

            His lips pushed into a fine line when he realised he subconsciously went to where she would be, well it was quite normal to miss her since she was practically his only friend in Seoul but yet there has been an unshakable uneasiness since the incident last week. He had tried to figure out why he did what he did and every time he thought back to it all he saw was her flushed shy face after their awkward little dance… thing, and then he was back to wanting to forget the entire thing even happened and just ignore the gross throbbing in his chest.

            At least she was none the wiser of his distress.

            Sunggyu paused outside another obscenely bright store and peeked inside through the window, he has stopped by around four now and there still was not a sign of her, he quietly cursed the busy district for having so many stores that sold the same trivial things as he moved on to the next store lined up on the street.

            While he walked away from the store he did not notice a pair of girls recognise him and soon there was a growing crowd of girls trailing after him from afar, Sunggyu had not realised this until he saw passersby staring at him and it was when he turned around did he see the small group of young fans. There weren’t very many, only five, and he was sure he could send them their way after talking to them or maybe sign some things but whatever it was he had to do he needed to do it quickly before he drew more attention to himself.

            The girls all gasped and greeted him politely when he walked over to speak with them, like he thought they were just schoolgirls on their break, and he spoke to them calmly as they told him how much they loved their comeback but mostly of their excitement for the upcoming concerts. Sunggyu responded to them graciously but appropriately, after signing some of their items he told them to take care and go home early before he left them hoping they were satisfied enough not to follow him for the remainder of the day. Fortunately they did not seem to follow him and so he continued browsing the stores hoping to bump into Yeri, what he failed to anticipate was even though the fans were courteous enough not to follow him they could not resist uploading their rare fan-account onto SNS and so almost half of his fans now knew where he was.

-

            There was a sudden surge of people about halfway through the day and Yeri was running back and forth the store trying to cater to customers, she only just picked up this job a few days ago but her manager was less than empathetic making her work hard for her wages. On her way out of the stockroom she passed by a girl on her phone next to the cash register, she seemed to be talking to her friend and she immediately picked up on Sunggyu’s name from their conversation; Yeri wondered if she was a fan and if there was a reason why she kept saying ‘No, I haven’t seen Sunggyu-oppa yet’. Perhaps it was another Sunggyu… it wasn’t a strange enough name for it to be unheard of anywhere else but then again what were the chances all these girls and this Sunggyu-oppa’s presence in Myeongdong was all just a coincidence.

            Yeri carried on with her work, she did not have the time to contact Sunggyu and there was still a lot for her to do before she could have a breather; if it really was Sunggyu then she hoped he would go away and take all his fans with him. She held back a grumble as she pushed past the crowd with her box of eyeliners to restock at the front shelves near the windows and she eventually made it there in one piece without spilling anything, the second she placed the box down there was an uproar of squeals behind her and she looked up to find herself looking right at Sunggyu’s face through the glass window. He looked just as shocked as she was and they stared at each other beadily, Sunggyu was taking in her grumpy expression mixed with mild surprise and she swore he looked like he was going to do something but instead he spun on his heel, tucked his hands in his pockets and walked the other way. The girls in the store all rushed for the exit simultaneously once Sunggyu left and Yeri stared after them in shock, of course it was a usual thing and she has witnessed it before but again she was still astounded by how famous he was.

            Whatever the case she could finally breathe again and the staff were finally given a small break now that their store was mostly empty again, Yeri headed into the back room where she had some water and checked her phone; just as she expected there was a new message from Sunggyu and she scoffed when she saw what he wrote.

[Why are you working in Shinee’s store?]

            She decided to ignore it but that only got her more messages when he saw that his first one went seen but not replied to, with the bombardment of new messages she had no choice but to write a reply to make it stop.

[Well it’s not like you have a shop I could work at.]

            That sent off a chain of frenzied messages and she began to wonder what was even the point of this conversation but her break was coming to an end anyway so she told him she had to head back to work shortly. He did not let her off so easily though and said that he would wait around until she was done, she warned him not to but she already knew that he was stubborn once he’s made up his mind.

            Rest of the afternoon went by quickly, a light drizzle engulfed the city just before sunset and by the time it was getting dark the rain began pouring heavily. Yeri stared out the window blankly watching a young couple without an umbrella rush through the street, she glanced around for a sign of Sunggyu but he was definitely the type to leave if something began to inconvenience him.

            Her manager kindly offered the staff members some umbrellas when they got off their shifts, Yeri thanked her and said goodbye to her co-workers before heading a different way from them; they all lived nearby, her being the only one that had to commute back to her apartment. She frowned slightly as she walked, just narrowly avoiding all the puddles as she carefully fished her phone out of her bag, she found more messages from Sunggyu and she sighed as she scrolled back to the first unread one.

            “Yeri-ah!”

            She jumped in slight shock, nearly dropping her phone to the wet ground when she heard a hushed voice from her left, Yeri snapped her attention over to search for the source of the voice and she nearly laughed when she spotted Sunggyu standing in the shadows of the column, mostly soaked apart from his face that he had hidden under his hood. She approached him cautiously to match his questionable behaviour and she actually broke into a fit of giggles when he began waving his hand excessively to get her to hurry, she tried to control her laughter and hid her face behind the umbrella but heeded his request and quickened her steps across the wet pavement.

            “What are you doing?” she asked when she reached him. “You’re completely wet.”

            Sunggyu gave her an ironic look while telling her he had obviously been waiting for her (as if it was her fault he ended up in this state), his face remained blank as he seemed to be waiting for her response and she held back the urge to roll her eyes.

            “Forgive me for sounding ungrateful but who even asked you to do that, don’t blame me for your own self-brought misfortune.”

            Sunggyu snorted at that and nodded back, trying to stay composed but his shaking shoulders gave his amusement away. “Right, fair enough.”

            “… So why did you stand around in the rain waiting for me?”

            “I was-.”

            “Bored?” she finished for him and she smiled when he stared back at her with slightly widened eyes before he nodded again. “I thought so… well for starters how about we get you out of those wet clothes-.”

            “What?!”

            “What will they do to me if their precious Kim Sunggyu-oppa got sick right before the world tour because of me,” she joked as she surveyed him over, not noticing how he twitched when she said ‘oppa’. “This will probably need some time… even in a dryer. You can afford something around here can’t you? Or maybe we can stop by your dorm…”

            “No it’s fine, I can dry this off with a hand dryer in a bathroom somewhere.”

            “Sunggyu… really…?” she gave him a skeptical look.

            “Yeah guys do that all the time…”

            “Sure… well I understand not wanting to spend money on clothes and if you’re really too embarrassed to show me your dorm then let’s at least stop by my place so we can dump your clothes in my dryer.”

            “Your place?”

            “Yeah?” she looked confused by his reaction, he did not blame her, he’s frequently been alone with her in her apartment so it should not have been anything new except that he was nervous this time; he wanted to spend time with her like they always did but at the same time he did not think being alone with her for too long was a good idea. “… Or there’s still your dorm. Stores should be just closing around now.”

            “… Yeah sure.”

-

            Yeri glanced back over her shoulder as she walked ahead out of the elevator, she noticed that Sunggyu has been acting rather strange today, it was not anything in particular but just his actions… or more specifically his lack of actions. His responses have been slow and he seemed to be avoiding her eye contact, she thought nothing of it at first but it was beginning to worry her now. She watched him stumble out of the elevator and turned away just as he looked up to see if she saw, just like that, the little things he did that made her wonder what was going on with him.

            The apartment was a little messy since she had not been expecting guests but she should be able to straighten it a bit up while he was using her bathroom, she directed him inside while she went to pick out a towel for him. As she was doing so she realised something.

            “Sunggyu?” she called out and he popped his head out of the bathroom, still dressed in his wet clothes but he had removed his jacket. “I don’t have any clothes that will fit you… so how do you want to do this?”

            “… Huh?” he repeated with another strange look on his face. “Do what?”

            “Well… are you going to use a towel while your clothes dry…?” she trailed on rather quietly, actually feeling a little embarrassed at the thought of him in just a towel. “Or maybe my bathrobe? It’s hanging inside behind the door.”

            “… Yeri, that’s not funny.”

            “I’m really not joking,” despite her serious tone she began to smile as she walked back over and handed him the fluffy bath towel. “I honestly don’t have anything else for you… unless you want to sit in the bathroom.”

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