Chapter Nine

“You don’t look well,” Jongdae stated. “You weren’t listening when I was talking about the project.”

Her cheeks turned red. That statement wasn’t really something that she appreciated. “I’m so sorry,” she quickly apologized while sneaking glances at the paper on Jongdae’s hand. Maybe she could note some stuffs and cover up her previous mistake – having somebody being upset towards her was always on her most-feared list. Chanyeol was enough – and his girlfriend was enough, too. Youngji didn’t need to deal with another self-pressuring process.  

She looked around the class, and then she caught Sehun staring at her. She immediately averted her gaze. Maybe she needed to add Sehun on the list.

“Is something bothering you? Do you feel depressed or anything?” he inquired. He seemed really worried, and there was something else that she couldn’t really put her finger on. “Have you been well on managing your life?”

Youngji narrowed her eyes at him before she quickly blinked them innocently, pretending as if she hadn’t just scrutinized him. “I’m pretty sure that the only problem in my life is only the typical teenage issue, so there’s really nothing much to deal with to even begin feeling depressed,” she answered. “It’s so admirable of you to have concerns about me,” she said truthfully, and his expression darkened. “I’m so sorry if that made you feel uncomfortable,” she hastily continued.

The expression on his face was bothering her. She made him feel uncomfortable and he was probably going to dislike her – oh God, she pleaded mentally. That expression made her heart ache in bitterness and uneasiness, too.  

Jongdae attempted on dismissing the sudden tension by chuckling playfully, but he couldn’t, so he settled with the most convincing smile he could give. “Don’t say things like that, because it sounds like we’re an item or something,” he said playfully. “People are probably gonna overheard that and start spreading things,” he said.

Chanyeol. Right.

It was really ridiculous at how she felt like she wanted to pull Jongdae’s hair and slam his face on the table.

She didn’t answer and pretend to be searching something in her bag instead. Her face was hidden from Jongdae’s view – which was perfect because she didn’t know how to explain why she suddenly looked so sour. She kept rummaging the things inside her bag, searching for an object that didn’t even exist at the first place. She felt Jongdae staring at her, so she continued her made-up searching journey that seemed to have a long on-air duration that it took her almost ten minutes before she sat normally and stared back at Jongdae.

Jongdae saw some crumpled papers and messed up book arrangement, but he opted to dismiss that.

“Baekhyun said that it’s hard to work on the costumes when he doesn’t have a particular image on his mind,” he began speaking. Youngji’s eyes were hard on him, and he got a feeling that it wasn’t a good sign.

“What do you mean?” she asked. “Isn’t this project is based on that comic book – Unripe Apple – and there’s already the graphic presented there.”

“You really weren’t listening.”

She bit her lips, feeling worried. The worries were chased out by Jongdae’s grin, though. Even though the image of him grinning on her mind was precise enough, the real image took the ‘something strange’ in her to a whole new different level. “Sorry –“

“Oh damn. Stop saying ‘sorry’ already,” he said while containing his laughter. “Do you worry that much about my opinion?”

She was taken aback by the question. She muttered something incoherent after that and said that she was singing something when Jongdae asked.

There was it – the familiarity that Jongdae had always felt. It was something that made him fell in love with Chanyeol.

“Okay,” he spoke after a short time of awkwardness appreciation moment. “Actually, the concept is based on Unripe Apple, but the visual and the props are not taken from that comic. The visual and props are based on creepy and scary stuffs like ghosts, gory things –“

“Excuse me?”

“Which part?”

“The visual and props topic.”

“The keywords are creepy, scary, gory, and ghostly,” he answered. “Do you have any objection?”

If she said yes, Jongdae would feel really down. She remembered that enthusiasm in Jongdae’s voice when he talked about the project. Baaekhyun also said that Jongdae disliked being sabotaged. She gulped down her original answer. “No.”  

But isn’t this is only an upgraded version of bravery test and haunted house?

“So let’s get back to the matter,” he told her before he scanned the paper on his hands. “We need to do researches for the visual and make our planning as detailed as possible,” he said while rubbing his chin before he averted his gaze at her, having that playful grin on his face. “I don’t say this often but let’s go to the library.”

“You don’t have the internet?”

Jongdae sighed. “More like the internet is not as useful as people though it is; I searched for it, but there wasn’t anything detailed and I’m afraid that the information is not legit. I read one article saying that Draculas originated from the North Pole – like isn’t that’s like stupid? And it said that Draculas don’t actually have fangs; they just bit too hard to leave the fang-like marks.”

“They don’t sound reliable,” Youngji commented.

“Exactly.”  

They walked together towards the public library, strolling and relaxing like they had all the time in the world – which was false, because they only had about over a month to complete the project. The walk wasn’t really relaxed, though, because Youngji felt like the flexibility of her mind was being stretched to the maximum level. She kept glancing at Jongdae, wondering why she always so easily let her guards down around him and just followed whatever route he took.

As an example, Jongdae told her that they were not going to the school library because apparently Jongdae didn’t think that the school library was suitable. She was not comfortable with that, but Jongdae had ‘the power of the mighty mind’. (“They have more interesting stuffs at the public library,” Jongdae said.)

“Can we stop at that cafe? I want to get some coffee,” she said while staring longingly at the said cafe.

“The library provides coffee, too,” Jongdae replied while glancing at the same cafe.”You can get it there.”  

“But” – she contemplated heavily – “I really want to get coffee from that cafe.”

“You know what,” he said monotonously while staring at the cafe – and Youngji chanted oh God don’t be upset on her mind. “Let’s go get some coffee,” he finally said while grinning.

“Thank you.”

“I used to come here,” he spoke slowly, as if he didn’t mean to tell Youngji that. “I hope that the coffee’s still good.” 

Youngji was quiet, but she gave a nod to show Jongdae that she was listening. The cafe was small and there was some cute cat figures being placed at the front. She thought that it was probably something to emphasize the cafe’s theme. Apart from those two cat figures, there was nothing else that captured her eyes. Until Jongdae and her went inside, and she was freaked out to see a guy who looked like he was in middle school wearing a pair of cat ears.

“Baekhyun will like this,” Jongdae whispered at her. “Those fake cat ears are so huge,” he commented while scrutinizing the guy who was wearing them. The middle school kid, or based from the nametags – it’s Kyungsoo, Jongdae cursed.  

“Kyungsoo?” Youngji asked reluctantly, refraining the urge to narrow her eyes and eye the male from head to toe.

The middle school kid didn’t look very sure as he frowned. But then he smiled. “Surprise.”

“Why are you working here?” she asked again while giving a subtle glance at Kyungsoo’s... outstanding uniform. “I’m just curious,” she added.

“I need money to pay the apartment rent,” he replied while smiling. “Guess the cat is out of the bag now.”

“You’re not a cat, Kyungsoo,” Jongdae said. “You’re a puppy. A puppy with a snow-like fur and cat ears.”

“Thanks?”

“Scratch that,” Jongdae said, and the he grabbed the cat ears and pulled it from the top of Kyungsoo’s head. “You’re Kyungsoo and Kyungsoo doesn’t wear this kind of stuff.”

Kyungsoo giggled before he took the cat ears back from Jongdae. He was really tender and gentle that Youngji felt like she was such a disgrace for her family. All those ethic lessons and tutorials didn’t work quite well for her.

“Well, money won’t fall from the sky,” he replied while adjusting the cat ears so that they were placed neatly. “I just need to work with whatever that I can do.”

Jongdae stared at Kyungsoo, and then he looked away. “Did they do it again?”

Kyungsoo seemed to be taken aback by the question, but then he replied calmly, “Yeah.”

“Maybe you can consider coming back? I mean, you don’t need to do this anymore.”

Kyungsoo chuckled before he patted Jongdae’s arm. “You want me out that badly?”

“I just can’t handle looking at you with cat ears.”

“They’re cute, aren’t they?”

“No.”

During the animated conversation between Jongdae and Kyungsoo, Youngji felt so left out and she immediately directed her eyes at the counter, wondering if she would be able to get her favourite coffee – and then she saw the bright red words hovering in the air  saying that she won’t get any today. She sighed and then glanced at Jongdae who looked like he was truly enjoying the conversation with Kyungsoo. Jongdae suddenly pulled his head and his eyes met hers, and she tried to control the very sudden rapid beating sound of her heart while she gave him a nod. He looked at the counter, and then back at her.

“You’re not getting a coffee?”

“All of sudden, I don’t feel like I wanna drink coffee anymore,” she said. She thought that Jongdae was gonna be angry or upset, since she was the one who suggested to come here yet she refused to buy anything. It was very unreasonable, even from her perspective.

“See Kyungsoo? It must be the cat ears,” Jongdae said while wiggling the cat ears using his fingers.

“No! It’s not because of that!” she shrieked frantically. “Jongdae’s kidding. Right Jongdae? You’re kidding right?” she asked enthusiastically while feeling like her face was splashed with a pail of bright red liquid.  

“I really love seeing you getting all worked out,” he suddenly confessed.

“Like Chanyeol, right?” Kyungsoo added, and Jongdae was immediately the one who had a pail of bright red liquid splashed violently at him. Youngji judged him extremely hard – but she was doing that without any cooperation from the physical part, of course. “By the way, I heard about the project.”

Jongdae laughed while patting Kyungsoo’s head. “Of course; you’re the one who approved it.”

“Well, I heard that a new member is in,” Kyungsoo said, and then he looked at Youngji. “Youngji?”

“Yes?” she replied timidly. Kyungsoo’s eyes were enough to reflect the question he was about to ask.

“Are you gonna be fine?”

“Yeah. Sure. Of course. I will be fine. Definitely.”

Kyungsoo was quiet, but it was only a matter of seconds before he curled his lips into a smile. “I gotta go now; I need to get to the other customers.”  

“Are Chanyeol and I that alike?” Youngji suddenly asked as the both of them strode out through the cafe’s door. She gripped the straps of her bags tightly while looking straight at her front, tracing the details of the path she was going to take with Jongdae. A car came by so fast, and Youngji managed to capture the flickering anger in Jongdae’s eyes.

Jongdae’s eyes followed where the car disappeared before he put them on Youngji’s face. “Yeah,” he answered curtly.

She glanced at him. “Really? What part?”

Jongdae paused and stared into her eyes. “Everything.”

Everything was really similar, that he was afraid that his mind was too messed up and it was slowly hypnotizing him to think that he was actually feeling something for Youngji.

She is not Chanyeol, Jongdae, was what he told himself. He kept repeating that until they reached the public library, and then he looked at her, and he realized that maybe a part of his mind had fallen for a glitch already.

“Youngji?”

“Yes?”

“Can you give me your number?”

The library was exactly like what Youngji remembered. It was huge and there was a vast parking lot in front of it. There was a beautiful garden as well – oh and how she felt emotional when she saw the bench where she used to sit with her friends. It was really nostalgic, and she definitely would cry right there right now if it wasn’t for the fact that Jongdae was already busy taking big steps towards the library’s entrance. She knew that he was enthusiastic about the project, but she had no idea that he was that eager to enter the library.

“It’s been so long since the last time I went here. Two years?” He narrowed his eyes to think. “Well, I guess two years is correct.”

She looked at his unusually dim expression from the corner of her eyes. “Same here,” she answered. “This place was like my second home.”

“I can’t say the same,” he said before he twisted the corner of his lips a bit. “I was always forced to go here.”

“Really?”

“Yeah,” he replied. “I miss being treated that way.”

“What happened?”

Jongdae suddenly stopped walking, and his hand which was about to push the door suddenly halted its movement. The time stopped. “She flew to somewhere far away.”   

Youngji went pale. “Jongdae – I’m so sorry for asking that,” she enunciated hastily.

“It’s fine,” he replied kindly, and the playful grin was back on his face. “It’s not like you know anything about it. Actually, it feels great to let it out.”

“I’m glad, then.”

“Your opinion changed quite fast.”

“Your emotion is the same,” she stated in order to defend herself.

“Nice comeback,” Jongdae said.

“Chanyeol said something last night – about his girlfriend,” Youngji spoke slowly. “He said that she’s upset – which is already acknowledged by me,” she said while controlling her breathing. She was upset, too, actually. Who loved getting eggs thrown at their head? Not Youngji, for sure. “Do you think that I need to confront her and clear things out?”

Jongdae shook his head. “Don’t do that,” he said while glancing at her. “It won’t solve anything. Worsen it, maybe.”

“Do you really think so?”

He nodded.

They were both very quiet after that, since they already entered the library and they were not that ignorant to be aware of the golden rule: be quiet in the library. They both passed the registration counter – it was to check the member card or something, Jongdae thought – when somebody grasped the sleeve of Youngji’s shirt and pulled her.

“Youngji!” the person hissed, obviously trying to suppress the mix of astonishment and excitement in his voice. “Is this really you? Kang Youngji?”

Youngji stared for a while at the man in front of her – she wouldn’t want to be called rude for forgetting about somebody who seemed to think that she was that meaningful for him. “Yixing?” she whispered her answer in reluctance.

He enveloped her into a hug while patting her back affectionately. He released her as he motioned his hand to call for someone. “Minseok!” he called the name, and a guy from another counter came. “This is seriously Youngji.”

She saw Minseok approaching them. So her coffee was still available. “I don’t know that you moved here,” she said while Minseok was hugging her.

“Yixing is the director of this library and he made a coffee counter there. I just thought that it would be nice to help a friend,” Minseok answered while looking at Yixing. “How are you? It’s been so long since you the last time you came here.”

“I’m fine, thank you. I studied at Canada and I came here for a short break,” she answered, and then she glanced at Jongdae who was listening diligently to the conversation. She pulled his arm closer to her, and if she had looked at his face, she would have seen the astonishment. “This is Jongdae, my friend.”

Yixing and Minseok greeted Jongdae before they averted their attention back at Youngji. “What happened to those two friends of yours? You guys used to come as a trio,” Yixing asked.

“Well – we, um, I.” She stopped for a moment to form a coherent answer. “Things happened, and we drifted apart.”

“That’s so bad,” Yixing said in menace. “Are you fine? You were so fond of them.”

“I am,” she answered hastily, and then she pressed her palm into Jongdae’s, gripped his hand and began to pull him away. “It’s nice meeting the both of you, but my friend and I need to complete a project. See you guys next time?”

Yixing and Minseok exchanged glances. “Sure,” the both of them said.

They exchanged glances again after Jongdae and Youngji left. From where they were standing, they saw the girl and the boy settling for a seat.

“Her boyfriend?” Minseok asked.

“Looks like it,” Yixing answered.