Again and Again

That day, Chaera and Sungwoo went home without a word. They didn’t spend their times eating together. Chaera said sorry for breaking his plan because the thought had been disturbing her and Sungwoo understood. They took a bus, without a word. Sungwoo didn’t answer Chaera’s question because he said that he couldn’t say it then, there were things he wanted to deal with first and Chaera didn’t force him to answer.

Yeonsoo got out from Haneul’s embrace after her cry and she went calmer, but she walked soullessly inside the house leaving him without a word.

“Let’s try to be natural as good as we can,” Chaera said last night but she wasn’t sure if she could do it. Sungwoo weakly nodded and they went inside the house without a word. Dowoon greeted them when they came across him upstairs, but he sensed a heavy atmosphere between them. It seemed like it was serious this time.

Because of what happened, Chaera leaves early again. So, Sungwoo knows. The reason she leaves early is to avoid him because the thought has been disturbing her, he thinks. He wants to know why she gets disturbed by it even though maybe she doesn’t feel the same way as he does.

“What project does she have that takes so much time?” Hareum complains.

“You should’ve said it straight to her face, Hareum-a, rather than hiding it,” Haneul says the same thing to her sister as Yeonsoo did to him. They’re still eating. Then Haneul leaves.

The friends leave the house together and Sungwoo tries to be as lively as ever. He even makes a joke but Dowoon sees him in pity and just smiles in pity listening to Sungwoo’s jokes. The other two don’t realize it and that’s good, because it’s better if Sungwoo tells them by himself rather than Dowoon talks about it. There must be something happening between Chaera and Sungwoo, Dowoon is sure.

…

Haneul picks Yeonsoo up from her practice. She had a practice for her next theatre performance. Haneul waits her outside the building and she shows up in the next 10 minutes. She searches for him and finds him standing, leaning against the wall. She smiles, “Oh, there you are!” and they walk together.

They’ve been quiet since that day, but they always try to talk. It’s still a bit awkward and Yeonsoo even gets a thinking to stop all of this, but she’s not sure on how to say it.

Haneul is confused on what to talk about. If it’s about the performance, he doesn’t want to hear a spoiler. He plans to surprise her with his presence on the performance day, watching her play. He plans an event and he told the main picture already to Dowoon, Minhyun and Sungwoo as he asked for their help. Well, he was kind of forcing them. It’s another way to make their relationship better, even though he knew that a surprise event is nothing much compares to a communication.

He learns that being in relationship with Yeonsoo, he just has to tell the truth unlike what he’s experienced with his exes. Start telling the truth from the small thing and it matters for her more, as she said it before. Haneul was deeply thinking about that and it was difficult for him to understand why she wanted to know the real truth even though it would hurt her. Most girls just like to hear what they want to hear, but Yeonsoo is different. It still gets him thinking until now.

“Want to drink something refreshing?” Haneul offers and Yeonsoo just smiles and nods excitingly, but it seems unnatural. He gets flustered and just nods. “Okay! Let’s go!” he says and leads the way. Yeonsoo looks at his hand but he didn’t hold her hand right away, it’s kind of a bit disappointing but she tries not to let it affect her too much.

Haneul brings her to buy a bubble milk tea. He never tries this kind of drink and she has tried it, once with her friends. “Milk tea?” she raises her eyebrows and smirks. She stares at him and says, “Do you like it?”

“Well, I want to try it,” he says and she just chuckles. He chuckles happily seeing her smiling. Just to see her smile these days are enough to make him happy after that deep conversation they had. “Tell me, which one is delicious,” they stand in the front of the food truck, reading the menu thoroughly.

“Since you like green tea, try green tea with any topping you like,” Yeonsoo recommends him and points him the menu shown up there.

“Any topping?” he asks as he reads the topping list and Yeonsoo nods. “Well, pudding then,” he says. It’s their turn and Yeonsoo orders for them. She gets herself a cocoa milk tea with bubble and Haneul gets himself a milk green tea with pudding. Haneul wants to pay but Yeonsoo says, “No, let me. Save it for later, if you want to pay me.” She pays it beforehand to make it efficient. Haneul is speechless from the way she refused him. She said it firm and didn’t look at him.

They wait around the food truck and they go silent once more. There’s a bench and Yeonsoo sits there. She swings her feet and Haneul chooses to stand.

Yeonsoo looks at him and says, “You don’t want to sit?” she asks just like usual. There’s nothing firm or sharp from her question and he just nods without a word. She nods. They spend the next five minutes like that until their number is called. They take their drinks and walk home. “Hmm,” she’s satisfied with the taste.

Haneul takes a sip. “This is great,” he gives his honest opinion and Yeonsoo chuckles proudly of herself, successfully introducing this drink to him. “I think we should do our next plan to have a food trip,” he says and she just chuckles. Will we have a food trip? She’s pessimistic about it, judging by how long their relationship will stand.

“What do you want to eat the most? Where do you want to go?” Yeonsoo asks with her cute smile and he gets fluttered by that, forgetting the fact that she drew a line back then.

“Iceland,” Haneul says it confidently and Yeonsoo gasps. He looks at the surprised her and he rubs her head as he laughs. “Don’t get too surprised like that!” and she pouted when he messed her hair. He smirks looking at her and says, “Don’t you know that you’re cute?” he suddenly says.

Yeonsoo is flustered, fluttered and she almost gets choked. She coughs before the drink gets into her nasal passages. “Cheesy,” she reacts with a frown and he just laughs. But she smiles when he laughs. At the same time, she’s glad that he’s happy. Maybe I was thinking too hard to have that break-up thought. “Sorry, Haneul-a,” she suddenly says and Haneul looks at her, raises his eyebrows.

“Why?” Haneul stops and it makes her stop as well. She takes a sip and faces him properly. She just smiles weakly like she’s in guilt. “Why?” Haneul says once again. “If it’s about that thing, I’m the one who should be sorry. Not yours.”

Yeonsoo shakes her head with that smile. “No, this time I’m sorry for drawing a line to you,” she says and Haneul doesn’t expect her to bring this talk. She’s conscious of what she did and she intended to be like that to him. “I’m sorry too, for,” she ponders as she tries to speak what she’s thinking. “For thinking about breaking up with you,” her words fade out and she carefully looks at him.

He’s shocked, he’s surprised. Yeonsoo did think she wanted a break-up with him. That kind of thought breaks his heart into pieces. Yeonsoo knows he’s speechless. She’s waiting for him to respond, to react. One thing she notices from his small reaction is that he doesn’t want to break up with her. “Yeonsoo-ya,” he says seriously looking her in the eyes. “Do you know how long I have to wait for you?”

Thump! Her heart suddenly beats faster and she widens her eyes. She’s speechless and slowly shakes her head. It reminds her to the time when she always met him in the library, the time when she didn’t expect him to be there but he was there and she was happy about it. The time they spent by Haneul used to always make a first move to talk with her, and the time when they first met in her campus.

“I knew our deep conversation affected our relationship a lot, but I’m not that easy to let you go,” he looks at her seriously and she blankly looks at him and gulps as he says it close to her face. “We just need to make a new start,” he says with his deep and sweet voice. He smiles and pats her head, then he offers his hand. Yeonsoo looks at his hand and he says, “Let’s go,” and Yeonsoo doesn’t think twice to hold that hand.

…

Hareum meets Chaera at the campus’ library when Hareum is going there. Chaera is on the way back so Hareum calls her as she sees her. “Chaera-ya!” Chaera stops and looks at her. Hareum waves and walks fast to her. She’s glad that she’s meeting her right now because these days, they haven’t had a proper conversation.

“What’s up?” Chaera asks to her friend beside her. Chaera decides to just walk, but she doesn’t expect that Hareum will follow. She acts like she’s busy, but Hareum follows her. “I thought you wanted to go to the library,” she says.

Hareum just smirks and shakes her head. It’s one of Chaera’s ways to make people go from her. It looks like she has something serious. “No, I’m fine. I can go there later,” Hareum says assuring her and Chaera just nods. She carefully stares at her as to observe her. “Actually, I want to talk with you, Chaera-ya,” and Chaera stops. She raises her eyebrows at Hareum, wonders but Hareum just nods and gives her sign that she really wants to talk.

“Talk about what?” Chaera gets a thinking that Hareum wants to know why these days Chaera is running away, leaving for campus early, giving particular reasons she can’t be with them at lunch, at many more.

“Just talk,” Hareum says. She furrows her eyebrows, “Are you sending me off?”

“No, it’s not like that,” Chaera quickly denies Hareum’s question which is true.

“It’s just…?” Hareum raises her eyebrows. She says what Chaera wants to say on her mind. “I’m busy and all that?” Hareum takes a guess. “Are you really busy?”

Chaera sighs as she’s bombarded by these questions. She’s being investigated. “Okay, fine!” she gives up. “I’m avoiding you guys, fine?” she says it sarcastically. It makes Hareum annoyed but Hareum wants to hear more to Chaera’s side of story. She takes a step forward, turns to see Hareum and says, “You said that you wanted to talk.” And Hareum follows her.

They’re in the canteen. Chaera bought an instant coffee before they take their seats. Hareum is waiting for Chaera to talk as her friend is sipping her drink. Chaera looks around just to make sure there’s none other than Hareum here. Hareum notices and honestly says, “I didn’t tell them.”

“Thanks, Hareum-a,” Chaera gets calmer and Hareum just nods. “You know, it’s been hard to talk it with you guys,” Chaera gets honest with her and she pays attention to it well. “I feel like there’s no one in the house that I could talk to about this stuff, it’s like there’s none on my side.”

“What is it about?”

“About Sungwoo,” Chaera says. She sighs. “It seems like I think you guys are planning something between Sungwoo and me,” and Hareum feels guilty right away because Chaera’s right. Chaera said it without looking at Hareum. She talks it in a low voice but it hits the mark. “The King’s game, the punishment.” Then Chaera looks at Hareum. “You know what?” and Hareum shakes her head slowly. “I was awake when he did that punishment to me,” and Chaera lowers her head and sighs.

“Sorry, Chaera-ya,” Hareum says in a low voice and Chaera just nods. What can Chaera do? Grumping at them because of what they did in the past? Her apology to Chaera is like she’s admitting her wrongdoings. “You must have a hard times facing Sungwoo because of that, right?” Hareum carefully asks and Chaera just weakly smiles. Hareum is surprised that Chaera knew about the kiss. She thought Chaera was sleeping, because Haneul told her so.

“I know that you guys want to make me a good friend with him, but… I’m fine already with that!” she says without increasing her tone and Hareum nods as she understands. “I avoid you guys because I just can’t think straight. I don’t know how to face this,” Chaera says.

“Sorry, Chaera-ya,” Hareum apologies once again and Chaera takes a sip of her drink. “How can we fix this?” Hareum wants to be responsible of what she and the others did. Chaera just looks at her and shakes her head. Chaera is hopeless. She doesn’t think and she never thinks that they could solve a problem that is now just between her and Sungwoo.

“No, Hareum-a. Thank you,” Chaera says and weakly smiles. “I understand part of your story. It’s now between me and Sungwoo,” she says.

“But, we were the one who made you like this!” Hareum insists but Chaera strongly refuses her to do something. “But, at least.”

“It’s okay, Hareum-a. Really,” Chaera assures her but Hareum doesn’t believe her easily in her state like that. “I’m just confused on how to face this, between me and him. I told you to be honest with your feelings but it seems like I can’t because I don’t know what I’m feeling toward him,” and Chaera stares blankly. Hareum is out of words. She didn’t think that Sungwoo will confess to Chaera that makes Chaera like this. There’s an inside story that Hareum doesn’t know which it’s just between those two only.

…

Sungwoo has been trying to talk with Chaera, but she always draws the line between them. When he calls her at campus, she ignores him whether he calls her from a far or near when he walks passing her with his friends. When he sees her at the library, he bravely goes inside and approaches her, helping her to take a book from the upper shelf or sitting in front of her but she always runs away.

But, it doesn’t stop him because he wants to solve this for good. If Chaera draws the line… he decides to take care of her secretly, from behind. It sounds creepy but he doesn’t mean it like that.

It comes the day on another basketball practice. Chaera is tying her basketball shoes before stretching herself. “Chaera-ya,” one of her teammates who is sitting beside her calls her. Chaera tightly ties it before she responds.

“Hm?” Chaera says and looks at her. “What?” she asks naturally.

“Where’s Sungwoo? I don’t see him today,” her friend says as she looks around the seats, Chaera looks around and she’s glad that he’s not here. Then, the other teammates join that person and murmur talking about Sungwoo. Chaera sighs and rolls her eyes.

She’s tired of talking about him, so she stands up and calls Seunghoon. “Oppa!” the object is dribbling and doing some shooting. Seunghoon glances at her and shoots a three-point. “Pass me the ball, please!” she says and Seunghoon passes her the ball. She decides to have a shoot around before stretching. Seunghoon watches whether her shooting position is right. “Oppa, just start the practice,” Chaera says ignoring his look.

Seunghoon starts the practice and they start with a warm-up. He looks around the seat and he doesn’t find that guy today. He looks at Chaera and thinks that maybe that guy has some things to do today so he can’t watch her.

But that’s not the truth. Sungwoo knows Chaera is having her practice, so he’s having a band practice with Dowoon. They’re having a jam session and an impromptu drumming battle. Sungwoo says, “Dowoon-a, can you do me a favor?” as Dowoon is hitting some drums.

Dowoon weakens his hit and looks at him with wondering, “What?” he says.

“I’ll buy a drink and please pass it to Chaera,” he says.

“Are you guys in fight?” Dowoon shots in the dark and when Sungwoo is about to hit the drums, he stops and looks at him. Dowoon stops playing and looks at him, still wants to know the answer. Sungwoo just shakes his head and continues to play the drums. Dowoon shrugs and continues playing. “Well, if you don’t want to tell me,” he doesn’t force Sungwoo to say. “Okay,” he says in a louder voice than his playing. “I’ll pass it to her,” and Sungwoo nods with hitting his drums hard as the ending play.

Sungwoo leaves the practice first and gives the drink to Dowoon. It’s just a bottle of water but Sungwoo insists him to give it and to not forget about it. Dowoon nods.

Before he’s really going home, he visits the gym for a while. It’s nerve-wracking for him just to go there and watching her play. He arrives there and takes a deep breath looking at the opened door. He walks forward and as his guess, around this time they’re playing their strategies. Sungwoo takes a peek and watches from the outside. He watches Chaera play and after she makes a shot and goes back to her area, he quickly turns around and leaves.

Seunghoon notices that there’s a person watching them from the outside. The movement was fast and he decides to not care about it. He continues the practice and thinks that maybe it’s that guy again to watch Chaera.

Dowoon picks Chaera up after practice. He’s outside and looks at the team has their briefing. He looks at the bottle on his hand and remembers on what Sungwoo said. Something happens between them and Dowoon is sure. He sits outside and he hears that the briefing is over, is dismissed.

Chaera packs her things, wears her sweater and she leaves right away after saying goodbye at them quickly. “Chaera-ya!” Hyejung says and runs over to her when she’s near the door.

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