Push and Pull

Junghyun is coming back to the town this weekend. After days Hareum has been waiting for his text or his call, he finally texts her that he’s here in Seoul. But Hareum reads it and ignores him. She’s still hesitant in talking to him. Junghyun looks at his phone and it shows that Hareum already read his chat, but there’s no answer and Junghyun has to receive the fact that Hareum is still like that. He doesn’t tell Haneul that he’s here. This homecoming, Junghyun wants to take care of his problem with Hareum.

Meanwhile, Haneul is looking so bright these days. He always smiles and at the rarest moment, he takes care of Hareum sweetly. Like, Haneul never scoops her big spoon of rice and suddenly this morning, he does it. He says, “Hareum-a, give your plate,” and Hareum raises her eyebrows, she’s being hesitant but she passes her plate anyway. She’s looking at him strangely and watching him filling her plate with rice. “Here,” he gives it back and she scoffs, doesn’t believe what he just did.

“What happened with you?” Hareum says and shakes her head in disbelief. Chaera looks at this and laughs without a sound and the boys are expressionless, it’s like they’re seeing a usual scene. “It must be about girls, huh?” Hareum casually guesses while she’s eating and Haneul doesn’t answer her.

Haneul will meet Yeonsoo again today. She asked him for a help in arranging and composing a song. Why Haneul? Because he’s known to have some musical skill. Yeonsoo knew this from Junghyun who told her on the first day they met. Yeonsoo said that, “I’m curious if you really can play guitar or not,” challenging him. Well, since she’s known him, she hasn’t seen him playing guitar or all of that. And Haneul will bring his guitar with him.

Dowoon will practice drums again, now with the addition of Sungwoo. Finally, those two joined the band club as a drummer. Dowoon told Sungwoo about his practice and Sungwoo delightfully wanted to join him, not just accompanying him. Minhyun will be seeing the choir club audition next Monday. Chaera will join the basketball team’s practice on Monday and Hareum will join the first debate team activity on Monday as well. It’s all started in Monday for Chaera, Hareum and Minhyuk.

Their breakfast is done. Sungwoo says to Chaera whom sits across him, “The plate, Chaera-ya,” asking for the plate. Chaera just gives him without looking at him in the eyes or says thanks at him since she never asks him to put her dishes away. And again this time, Chaera is still ignoring him, pretending that Sungwoo is not there.

“Hareum-a, are we going to the supermarket or not?” Chaera asks.

“We are, but I’m brushing my teeth first,” Hareum says and Chaera nods. Chaera goes back to her room and Hareum goes to the bathroom right away.

“You guys are going to the studio today?” Minhyun asks the boys whom are washing the dishes. Minhyun just stands beside Dowoon whom is polishing the cutleries. Sungwoo is washing the dishes. Mr. and Mrs. Kang are going to have a little vacation again.

“Just come,” Dowoon invites him to come, rather than him being home alone.

“Alright,” Minhyun answers. Haneul is preparing himself for the day. He showers and then he calls Minhyun right away. “Minhyun-a! Please come here for a sec,” he says as he shows his head a bit from the space of his door.

“Okay, hyung,” Minhyun cancels his way to his room and goes to Haneul’s room right away. The family lives on the first floor while the boarders are all on the second floor. “What’s up, hyung?” Minhyun asks and Haneul brings him in. Haneul shows clothes on his bed.

“Help me, Minhyun-a. I need to wear good today,” he says. Haneul has been asking Minhyun’s help since last weekend and Minhyun knew why. Minhyun is thinking as he sees the combination of tops and bottoms there. He looks back and forth to Haneul and his clothes. No, last week’s clothes are not allowed. He reminds himself.

The boys are done and going back to their rooms, then Chaera goes out neatly clothed. “Where are you going, Chaera-ya?” Dowoon asks and Sungwoo just looks at him. Chaera slightly glances at him, but she doesn’t care so she’s just looking to Dowoon.

“Supermarket with Hareum,” she simply answers.

“Just going there?” Sungwoo asks like investigating and Chaera just rolls her eyes and doesn’t answer him as usual. Dowoon looks at Sungwoo in disbelief. She goes downstairs and Sungwoo stares at her again. Dowoon scoffs at him in disbelief. “What?” he responds as he realizes Dowoon’s reaction.

“Why did you investigate her? She hates you, remember?” Dowoon states the fact which makes Sungwoo just doesn’t care and shrugs.

“So what if she hates me? It’s not like I hate her, though.”

The girls are ready to go out. Hareum and Chaera excuse themselves to the parents and Haneul says goodbye and take care to them. “What happened with him?” Hareum is disgusted and Chaera laughs seeing her reaction.

“You hate it he’s being like that?” she asks while they’re putting on their shoes.

“It’s not like I hate him, it’s just he’s being weird.”

“I thought brother and sister are sweet and all that,” Chaera says as she finds this interesting. She just has a younger sister and they do argue. She wants a brother and imagines if her brother likes to take care of her and such. But seeing the reality in front of her, she finds it strange and funny at the same time.

“We hit each other,” Hareum coolly says and Chaera nods in awe. So, brother and sister do hit each other as well.

They’re almost halfway to the supermarket, immersed in their conversation but suddenly Hareum stops and Chaera stops talking when she sees her friend is looking at something blankly. “Hareum-a,” she calls her but Hareum is not responding, so Chaera looks to where Hareum is looking at and finds an older guy who’s looking at Hareum like Hareum does right now. “Oh,” Chaera responds. So, that’s Junghyun. She slightly nods her head to him as she pretends like she doesn’t know about him, even though she saw him once when he was visiting the house.

“Hareum-a,” he says and Hareum takes a step back as she’s flustered, Chaera is just watching both of them. She doesn’t know what to do in this situation since it’s not her problem. She knows she shouldn’t get involved so she just stays silent. Junghyun carefully walks to them and he stops, making a distance between him and Hareum. A proper distance, Chaera thinks. Junghyun slightly looks at Chaera and greets her with a nod and he looks at Hareum again. “Where are you going?”

“Supermarket,” Hareum shortly answers without looking at him. Chaera can see that Hareum is avoiding him by looking to the other way. “Well, see you later, oppa,” she says bravely looking at him and Chaera is hiding her surprised expression. “Let’s go, Chaera-ya,” Hareum says looking at Chaera.

“Oh, yes,” Chaera says, a bit stuttering. Chaera nods once again to him and the girls are going away. Junghyun looks at Hareum, standing there so long just to make sure if she’s looking back at him or not. But she’s not. He shortly sighs.

“I didn’t think he will come today,” Hareum says in a low voice so that he can’t hear. Chaera looks to Hareum’s eyes which are wavering, she’s so nervous and it seems like it’s her panic state.

Suddenly, Chaera gets curious. “Hareum-a,” and her friend responds. “Have you told about this with Haneul oppa?”

“Not a chance. He might get furious.”

 Yeonsoo walked so excitingly with the thought of coming back to her campus. It’s been a while since she hasn’t visited there again and coming back once in a while is a good thing to do. Yeonsoo told Haneul that she had borrowed a music studio in the Faculty of Music building. She said that Haneul wouldn’t regret it and she was right. As soon as Haneul went inside, he was impressed with the atmosphere around the music studio. There was a wall filled with big windows and the view was a backyard, a green and beautiful backyard. It made the space a bit secluded when the fact it was like in a building. He didn’t expect that the campus has something like this. He bets this is the place that the music students love and it’s hard to borrow this place. He didn’t know how Yeonsoo got herself this, but it’s great. He can spend times in here doing songs.

And then, she got serious in her works. She really wanted him to help her even though he was wondering why she wanted that. In his knowledge, he knew that Yeonsoo has musician friends but why him out of all of them? They could help her better than him, he thought. But he won’t miss this chance to spend time with her. That’s a bonus.

Until they’re running out of ideas and Haneul sits so relax on the sofa with the guitar on his hands. He just strums any chords he wants and Yeonsoo hums along to the composition she created with the help of Haneul. Then, Haneul has this crazy thought that can make her shocked.

“Yeonsoo-ya,” Haneul calls her name while his hands are still on the guitar.

“Hm?” she responds without looking at him, she’s still focusing on the music sheet.

He’s staring at her for a while and without his knowledge, he smiles. That sweet smile the girls want to see. Since this morning, his curiosity waits for an answer and this time he decides to ask and demands for the proper and logical answer. “Yeonsoo-ya,” he says her name again and this time she looks at him without expecting and anticipating what he’s going to say. “Why did you ask for my help? I bet you have friends out there who can help you,” he says it gently to not making a fight.

“What? Did you regret it helping me right now?” she says and Haneul just smirks and shakes his head. She tries to read his expression and then she remembers that this is not the first time Haneul has asked things like this. He asked it before and he was pretty blunt with his feelings to her. She looks to her music sheet. “You better help me with this,” she tries to change the topic.

“Answer me first,” Haneul says and Yeonsoo looks at him again. Right now, she’s flustered but Haneul can’t see that. The way she looks at him is natural, there’s no sense of panic or whatsoever there. But, Yeonsoo reminds silent. “Well, sorry if I’m too demanding,” and she’s focusing on her work again. “I know the reason why,” he smirks and Yeonsoo becomes so nervous without looking at him. “You like me, don’t you?” he confidently guesses.

She’s flustered and looks at him, “Are you crazy?” then she becomes panic like she’s being caught. Oh my! Why did I react! She thinks herself stupid. She shouldn’t react but it was instinctive, like she tried to protect her secret. Haneul chuckles to see her surprised expression and Yeonsoo clicks her tongue. Her head turns opposite direction and she quickly drinks to decrease her nervousness.

“So, it’s right?” Haneul grins, but inside he’s nervous as he didn’t expect that Yeonsoo would react like that. So, you like me, huh? He thinks of the day she asked him to eat out together, this time, and times before where she always asks him to accompany her. At the same time, he’s happy.

He puts his guitar away and walks to her. She’s sitting down while her hand is playing with pencil. He looks to her whom lowers her head. It’s like there are so many thoughts in her mind. It’s all or nothing. He makes up his mind. He’s going to pull her. He taps her shoulder and she’s surprised which makes him flinched as well. She carefully turns to him whom is standing in front of her and she raises her head. What is he doing? She wants to send him off but she can’t. She’s too nervous.

What’s surprising her more is tha