The One with Karaoke, Phone Calls, and Laser Tag

Yeri believed it is never to late to learn about yourself; which she didn’t like as much when they entered the karaoke bar on the sixth floor of a small building and saw the front counter girl attempt to flirt with Minseok as he was choosing a room on the board behind her. Yeri’s eye twitched and she used the hand that Minseok was holding to scratch her cheek, showing the girl that they were together—but not together.

The girl wouldn’t say she was the jealous type. She just found it rude for a one-sided flirtation to be happening in front of her; or so she told herself.

Minseok choose a corner room and smiled politely at the girl, who at this point was holding her clasped hands in front of her to emphasize her assets before pulling on Yeri’s hand, tugging her closer, and asking if she wanted to sing for an hour or two. A giggling group passing by as the left one of the rooms. Yeri kept telling Minseok to choose, a small banter between the two before he lost and chose the two-hour program.

As he paid, Yeri couldn’t stop staring at the counter girl’s assets, a tiny bit insecure and a tiny bit jealous. She remembered when her brother ungraciously pointed out how flat chested she was when they were watching a new music video, comparing her to the female artist Heechul absolutely adored. She argued that she was still growing—which he mockingly laughed at her offense—but she didn’t even know then if she was. Even now, as she picked at her scarf to hide her own chest, she couldn’t tell.

As the girl was telling them where their room down the long hallways was, there was a woman who called out Minseok’s name, who looked over his shoulder and stood there, examining the woman with a tense jaw. Yeri didn’t miss how his eyes sharpened with a glare.

“Seolhyun,” he said.

“Minseok,” she smiled before eyeing the girl connected to his hand, before looking back at the man. “You seem well.”

“You as well.”

“I’m out with some co-workers… Jimin is on a business trip overseas...”

“I didn’t ask.”

“Oh…” she sighed, looking tired before trying to put on a smile. “Well… I hope you and your girlfriend have a nice time. Try the coffee, it’s rather good. Not as great as your café, but since you sort of banned us… we had to make do.”

Yeri saw his jaw relax a bit, and she could he was biting back a smile as he looked down at his shoes. She looked back at the woman, who wore a white blouse with the top buttons loose with a red pencil skirt, and her hair was down, yet showing off these interesting pair of red earrings. She was slightly taller than both of them. She too had bigger assets than Yeri.

“Well, I better get back to my coworkers or they’ll leave without me. Be sure to have an umbrella later, it might rain,” Seolhyun warned as she smiled and left out the door, leaving Miseok to stare at his shoes. Yeri looked at the door and then back at him, knowing something was off. She asked the counter girl what their room number was again before gently tugging on his hand to follow her, looking around for the numbers.

The hallways were lit red, bathing everything in this shade that made anyone’s eyes hut if they stared at a spot too long. It reminded the girl of how certain bar and club scenes were made in movies; portraying bad ideas, regretful fun, depressed thoughts or even free romances. It was her least favorite color, and when she glanced back at Minseok, who looked lost in his thoughts, she wanted to despise the color for making him look like he was ready to be persuaded into making himself miserable.

She opened the padded door, and inside was the opposite of the hallway: blue and purple that didn’t bath a person, rather the colors rather melded into each other than be attached to someone. There was a small padded booth with a small coffee table, a TV on the wall with microphones laying on the table on top of a giant book. She pulled the man into the room and sat him down without much words.

She sat down next to him and decided to leave him alone to his thoughts. She didn’t like the sudden change of behavior, but she didn’t feel like she should ask questions. Yeri was an open person towards Minseok, giving him warnings before she delved into details whenever he asked what was wrong. She knew she probably knew less about him than he did about her; which rubbed her a weird way.

She was suddenly thinking how maybe whatever she and him were doing was just a bit off. When she started to name off to herself what she knew about the man, she began to realize that she knew very little. Sure, they were soulmates, but what did it matter if he thought the whole notion was terrible? She knew he was insanely attracted to her, and she was insanely attracted to him, but was it because she was invested in the idea of him being a constant force of soulmate or was it because she was young and naïve; attracted to the attention and mistaking the affection for something more?

She let out a quiet large sigh as she pulled the large book towards her, opening it to a page in the middle to see what songs there were. I really hate the color red, she thought, it’s too aggressive in making me think realistically.

He leaned his head on her shoulder and let out a deep sigh after ten or so minutes, still not saying a word. Yeri flipped a few pages before she patted his knee. “Okay, I think our little outing needs to be put on hold. Right now, it’s Operation: Cheer Minseok Up.”

She felt him breath out an amused sigh before sitting up and shaking his head, “Thanks, but I’m here to show you how karaoke works.”

“And I’m here to make sure you’re functional to do that,” she nodded, before setting the book down on the table. “So, what do you feel like doing right now? Do you want to go back to your apartment and be left alone, or do you want to get some coffee and talk?”

He shook his head again, rubbing his eyes. He leaned forward to have his elbows on his knees, and it seemed like the blue room emphasized his mood. “No, let’s sing. You wanted to sing, so sing.”

Just like him, she didn’t move. She was staring at his figure, unsure of what she was feeling, but she knew she didn’t like seeing him this way. She just wanted to enjoy the man’s company and attention out of the warm walls of his apartment, but this blue room seemed to be taking that away from her.

It was several minutes again before she let out another sigh and matched his position. He turned his head to the side to look at her, a cross expression on his face met her thoughtful and concerned one. “I want to take care of you, Minseok, but I don’t know how. So… what are you thinking about? How can I help?”

His expression melted away after a few minutes of staring into her eyes, chuckling to himself. “I honestly don’t think it’s a good idea to help me in the way I’m thinking… but I’m upset because that woman is my ex’s soulmate, which irritates me because I loved Jimin, and wanted to be with her. She told me she was going to leave me as soon as her soulmate showed up, which I never wanted to happen. I guess seeing her today just brought up bad feelings because she wasn’t at fault. I was; Jimin told me the relationship was a bad idea, but I pushed her to it. She even freaking warned me, and I’m mad that I can only blame myself.”

“So, do you still love Jimin?”

“Well…” he slowed, unsure of how to answer that.

“Do you love yourself?”

“Most days…”

“Then why are you beating yourself up over it? Sure, it honestly is your fault, but you should be happy that you spent all that time with the woman, right? Not mad because someone else has her, but happy that you had your moment; a piece of her heart. She cared enough for you to warn you, right? And you cared enough to try, right? So why not be happy that she’s happy, even if she’s in someone else’s arms? Aren’t you going to end up in someone else’s arms too? Imagine how they would feel if they saw you losing yourself in the past.”

For Minseok, the blue and purple room felt cold, but calm. He noticed that the room seemed to make her dark eyes seem lighter, and he thought she looked like a fairy tale the way her blonde hair turned pastel in the glow. He reached out his hand to hold hers, needing her touch to comfort him. Their fingers overlapped each other, and he thought of how warm her skin was compared to the room. Her nails had the blue lights bouncing off them and he wondered what her skin would look like under the blue glow. Her lips, still that soft shade of pink he seemed to have memorized, was still as she stared back at him, wondering what he’ll do next.

He swallowed nervously, but he felt calmer than he did a few minutes ago. He couldn’t deny the girl’s words; he was beating himself up over something he wanted to happen despite the eventual outcome. He knew a break up hurts at any time, and the thought would bring sweet melancholy whenever something reminded him of his past love, but he couldn’t deny how utter foolish and wasteful it was to still be upset over a romance that was a ticking time bomb.

He found it amusing that the girl made him feel like a child who wanted to keep a toy he didn’t even play with. A small smirk appeared on his lips as he wondered if he would have still been angry if she wasn’t there, which brought him to the conclusion that he should unban his ex-girlfriend and her soulmate from Drip Drop. He had done so out of anger and spite, but now he was thinking that no one should be banned from a good cup of coffee.

He leaned his head back on Yeri’s shoulder, a calmer sigh escaped. His coffee scent mixed with her paint perfume, which seemed to help him relax because he knew it was so Yeri. “Thank you.”

“You’r