You & Me.
Memories: After. {On Hiatus}Let's rewind to the moment Hyunggu left and Chaeyeon stayed at the airport.
She stayed for a while, unable to move. Unable to do anything but stare at Hyunggu's back as he walked away. It was her heart that stopped her from moving. Her heart was beating like crazy with just the thought of what Hyunggu meant. With just the promise of their future conversation.
And it was that exact moment when Chaeyeon finally, after so many years, she had understood and accepted her real feelings for Hyunggu. It was when she understood so many things she didn't before, and at the same time, she knew. All along.
Chaeyeon had always known it was more than friendship what she felt for Hyunggu. And now it looked he was feeling the same. It looked he was now ready to talk about it. And she couldn't wait to hear him say it.
For the rest of the day she was so happy that the smile on her face couldn't disappear no matter how tired she felt. She had worked so hard that she knew she needed a break and she was thinking about it when she received a video call from Eunwoo.
- Hello, stranger. - she greeted her and Eunwoo pursed her lips.
- Hello back to you. You do know that it wouldn't kill you to take some time off to call me every once in a while, not just wait for me to call you. -
- I'm not the one who flew away. -
- Yeah, about that. Would you like to join me and fly to the other side of the pacific?. - Eunwoo suggested.
- What? -
- I'll help my mentor with a photoshoot in Los Angeles but I'll have time to go sight-seeing and you know it's hard for me to go to visit all of you. So I was thinking that you could come... with Yeeun. And we'll make it a girls trip. -
When Eunwoo mentioned Yeeun, Chaeyeon sighed regretfully. Jungkook hadn't been the only one suffering after their break-up. Yeeun was a mess too. But Jungkook had all of his friends beside him. Yeeun only had Chaeyeon, Hyunggu, and Eunwoo living in a different country.
- Don't try to tell me you don't have time. I spoke with Dr. Lee this morning and she said you've mentioned you need vacations. So it's perfect. - Eunwoo added as if she needed to say more.
- Are you kidding? I love the idea. When would we be going? -
- We'll have to leave on Sunday. -
Chaeyeon dropped her excitement when she heard that. Hyunggu wouldn't be back until Monday so that meant she wouldn't be able to see him and talk to him. Eunwoo noticed the change in her.
- What's wrong? -
- Nothing. I don't think I can leave on Sunday. How about I join you later? -
- Sure. Do you have to leave some things ready at work? -
- Yes. Something like that. - Chaeyeon responded.
Hours later, she decided to call Hyunggu after she had calculated they've landed already. She counted in her head the seconds it took him to answer the phone. Longer than he ever did.
- Hey, what's up? -
Chaeyeon was silent for a moment. She was extremely nervous and she didn't even think she'd be like that. And just for the mere possibility of him confessing to her.
- Hi, Kino. I just wanted to see if you landed safely. I'm glad you did. So, listen. I just got invited by Eunwoo to go on a trip to Los Angeles on Sunday but since you said you had something important to tell me and to wait for you, I... -
- Yeah, about that. - Hyunggu interrupted her. - I just wanted to tell you that my Dad wants you to tutor a little cousin of mine. -
What was that sound? Did she just hear her heart breaking?
- Oh. Is that it? -
- Yes. That's it. -
"I'm so stupid."
- Sure. I'll do it. - she replied instead. - Well, I guess that means I'll go and I'll see you in two weeks. -
- Great. Have fun. -
"Didn't you hear? I'm going for two weeks. Is that all you're going to say?"
- You too. -
The phonecall ended and Chaeyeon sat on her bed looking blankly ahead. For half a day, she had believed -or made herself believe- something that was all in her head. She believed for a half a day that Hyunggu felt the same about her. That through all the years her feelings for him have surfaced, changed, evolved... the same had happened to him.
No. That was wrong. He did feel something for her once. He told her. But it changed. Because feelings change in a heartbeat.
Therefore Sunday morning Chaeyeon and Yeeun took a flight to Los Angeles. Hours later they met with Eunwoo at the airport and the three hugged each other happily. It had been months since the last time Chaeyeon saw Eunwoo and nothing than seeing a dear friend for your heartbreak to be cured.
And that's what Chaeyeon did during the trip. She forgot her hurt feelings and focused on having a good time with her friends. Occasionally, Hyunggu would send her messages but she kept herself so busy that she barely had the time to answer.
The girls visited everything they could think about. They visited Disneyland, of course. They took a picture with the Hollywood sign behind their back. They visited museums and the walk of fame, as well as many other touristic attractions.
Chaeyeon enjoyed her trip and on the last night, the girls decided to have a sleepover to talk about everything in their lives. Chaeyeon talked about her struggles of not finding what she was passionate about. Yeeun mentioned she was scared her mother would get sick again. And Eunwoo said how much she missed her home country.
Then, looking for lotion in Eunwoo's suitcase, Yeeun found something.
- Eunwoo, is this an album of our high school years? -
- Yeah. I bring portfolios of my work everywhere I go and I bring that album because it's like the first portfolio I had. - she said.
- What do you mean by an album of our high school years? - Chaeyeon asked confused and Yeeun gave her the album where she found pictures of Yeeun and Seokmin back when they were in high school.
- Oh, this is so cute. I've never seen it. - Chaeyeon added as she flipped the pages. Yeeun sat by her right side and Eunwoo to her left to see the pictures together.
Chaeyeon was smiling the whole time looking at photos of their younger selves. There were pictures of Coach Jeon and Principal Yoon. Then there were pictures of Jaehyun. Like A LOT.
- Wow. You took so many pictures of Jaehyun. These two pages are of him alone. - Chaeyeon said.
- Two pages are not enough. I bet she has entire albums of him. - Yeeun replied and the two turned to Eunwoo, who just pouted.
- Well, I may have two-three. But they're all great pictures, I was not going to throw them away. - Eunwoo defended herself as she took a sip of her glass of wine.
Yeeun and Chaeyeon burst out laughing but the pictures of the next page froze Yeeun's smile in her face. The pictures of Jungkook and her. Chaeyeon quickly flipped over.
- I'm sorry. - she said but Yeeun shook her head.
- It's okay. I still... I mean, I haven't been able to throw away any of the pictures I have, so... it's fine. -
To ease the tension, Eunwoo then showed them the pictures she took when they went to the haunted mountain. Particularly, she showed Chaeyeon a picture she took of her and Hyunggu. It was of the first night after Eunwoo had confessed she was moving away.
- This is one of my favorite pictures. There was something about the aura around you that night. You looked so mesmerized with each other, it was impossible for me to not shoot you with my camera. - Eunwoo explained.
- Mesmerized? But we're not looking at each other. - Chaeyeon answered back with a frown as the two were looking down in the photo, though they were smiling.
- Look at the two pictures next to it. - Eunwoo told her and so Chaeyeon did.
In one of them, Chaeyeon was looking at Hyunggu while he was looking somewhere else. Her eyes were bright. Because of him. In the next, Hyunggu was the one staring at her with loving eyes and she was looking away. She understood it then.
- Do you want to hear something funny? At that time, both of us had a crush on each other. - Chaeyeon sighed. It felt nice to say it aloud.
- Had? - Yeeun asked and drank wine before she spoke again. - Are you sure it is in the past tense? Because what Eunwoo captured in a frame that night, it's what all of us have seen for all of these years. -
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