A Secret of His Own
Among Yellow Roses [EDITING]
THE FIRST PETAL
A Secret of His Own
DECEMBER 2009
“Here,” Minhyuk said, ing a photo toward a girl as they walked down the hallway of their school. The girl immediately let out a squeal of excitement and snatched the photo from his fingers.
“Minho oppa cooking~,” Aerin said dreamily. “Why are you so perfect, oppa?” The girl stared at the picture with such tender adoration that she nearly walked right past the other’s classroom. The girl could almost feel her friend’s eyes roll upward at her reaction as he held his arm out in front of her to stop her.
“I hope that someday you realize how much of a stalker you are,” Minhyuk said, exasperated. Aerin turned her head toward him and shot him a fierce glare.
“You’d never understand my love for Minho oppa. You’ve never loved anyone but yourself,” she said snippily.
“Better I love myself than be obsessed over someone who’s never going to love me back,” he replied, extending his hand expectantly. Aerin scowled at him as she handed one of the lunch boxes she’d been carrying over to him. “Thank you,” the young man said in a singsong voice as a small smile danced across his lips. He entered his classroom while the girl walked farther down the hall. The girl didn’t get too far before she could hear Minhyuk behind her, yelling at her for putting his most hated food—cucumbers—in the lunch she made for him.
The two had an arrangement: Aerin made him lunch and Minhyuk would give insider information on his cousin as well as provide pictures for her—whenever he was able to sneakily snap one without it being too suspicious that is. However, anytime Minhyuk had a picture for her he always made some sort of comment about her being obsessed or a stalker. So, when Minhyuk texted her the night before, saying that he had a new picture for her, and she had to make his lunch extra special Aerin knew the other would have some sort of snarky comment. Nevertheless, she followed his demand and definitely made it “special”.
She continued walking away, a bit more of a bounce in her step, with a wide smile on her face as she took a mental tally that she’d won that one. Sure, Minhyuk may have had the last word, but she’d still had the last laugh. After twelve years growing up together she knew exactly what to expect from Minhyuk, especially when it came to feeding her crush on his cousin.
It had already been eight years since Aerin realized how she felt about her neighbor, Minho. She’d lived in the same neighborhood her entire life and Minho’s family had lived across the street for nearly as long. Some of her earliest memories were of the older boy pushing her on the swings, giving her piggyback rides, letting her take bites from his ice cream on hot summer days, and so many more sweet moments. It was just the two of them back then.
Minhyuk’s family moved in with Minho’s shortly after Aerin’s sixth birthday. Minhyuk was almost four years old when Aerin met him and Aerin could remember thinking that he was going to be the cutest, sweetest little brother she could ever want. How wrong she now knew she’d been. She’d wanted a sweet angel who she could cherish, love, and protect from the evil in the world. Instead she was given a mischievous little devil who constantly made jabs about her love life—or lack thereof—and the one-sided crush she’d had on his cousin since she’d hit puberty.
To put it simply, Minhyuk constantly poked fun at Aerin which in turn caused Aerin to retaliate in whatever way she could—which caused them to bicker. A lot. But, despite how much they seemed like they didn’t get along, most of the time they were actually as close as siblings—at least Aerin thought so. They walked to and from school almost every day and sometimes had lunch together. So, when she went to Minhyuk’s classroom that afternoon, only to discover that he’d already left, she was a little ticked off that he hadn’t let her know that he was going to be leaving on his own. Leaving school that day, she mentally cursed Minhyuk and even sent him a text, practically yelling at him for leaving without telling her. His reply was to simply send her a ‘see what I do next time you put cucumbers in my lunch…’
She scowled at her phone and shoved it into her pocket as she waited for the bus heading toward the nearest department store, having promised to meet her sister-in-law. Aerin had planned on buying him something to make up for partially ruining his lunch with his most hated food, but since he decided to be a petty prick she decided he didn’t deserve anything special. It was unlikely Minhyuk had forgotten that her sister-in-law wanted to go shopping that day, since she’d reminded him earlier that morning when they met in the hallway before school started.
It had been one of the very few days they didn’t go to school together because Aerin had an early meeting with an underclassman she was tutoring. Such days didn’t happen often, but when they did Aerin always made it a point to see her closest childhood friend before school actually started—namely because she had to give him his lunch; which she did not want to carry around with her until lunchtime. Even that morning was no different. She’d waited for him at the entrance and walked with him to class. They didn’t have lunch together that day because Aerin had a lunch meeting with her study group, so Aerin didn’t have the chance to apologize to Minhyuk—not that she really felt like she’d done anything warranting an apology—and offer to buy him something special. But, after his childish behavior of leaving without her, she definitely wasn’t going to feel the slightest bit guilty or repentant for getting a little bit of revenge on her friend.
It didn’t take her long to find her sister-in-law once she’d arrived at the department store. If there was one thing Aerin could say about Jung Yoorim, it was that she was very predictable, mostly because she was very materialistic and liked posturing. So, when the young woman entered the jewelry store, she had to resist the urge to groan when she saw the older woman leaning over one of the many glass cases—admiring the glittering diamond rings inside. To say the least, Aerin didn’t like her sister-in-law much. Aerin’s elder brother, Ian, worked very hard to make a living and Yoorim had a bad habit of spending money on extravagant items; either for herself or for her friends. Yoorim was all about appearances and she liked to pretend she and Ian were better off than they actually were. What Aerin found most perplexing about Yoorim was that she didn’t even come from a wealthy family background. Aerin really couldn’t understand her sister-in-law’s reckless spending habits or her need to give others the impression that she had money sprouting out of her ears.
She cleared as she approached. “Unnie, let’s go. I have to study tonight, so I need to go home soon,” she said, making an excuse to draw the woman away from the jewelry case.
“Oh, ahgassi,” Yoorim said, meeting the younger woman’s gaze. “Do you think Eomeonim would like something in here?” she asked. Aerin walked around the case to stand at the older woman’s side and pretended to look at the rings in the case. After a couple of moments she shook her head.
“I don’t think so. Mom doesn’t really wear jewelry that much. She’d rather you get her something she could use every day,” she explained.
Yoorim pursed her lips and looked longingly at the jewels. Aerin could practically read the woman’s mind. She’d wanted to use Aerin’s mother as an excuse to buy an expensive ring for herself—which she’d done previously. The year after Ian married Yoorim she’d purchased a very expensive emerald necklace along with a delicate golden band with a flowery pattern engraved on it. Yoorim had made it seem as though the emerald necklace was for her mother-in-law and the golden band was for herself. However, she’d kept the emerald for herself and gave the much cheaper ring to her husband’s mother. Aerin had been so angry at her sister-in-law that she didn’t speak to her for months afterward.
She managed to pull Yoorim out of the store and toward a clothing store that Aerin knew wasn’t overly expensive. They managed to find items for both of Aerin’s parents as well as Ian after nearly two hours of browsing and going into various stores. Aerin even managed to find Christmas presents of her own for her parents, Minho, and even Minhyuk. They stopped at a small boba stand, Yoorim’s treat for the help, and as Aerin waited for her boba she caught sight of a very familiar head of dark brown hair.
Narrowing her eyes, she stared hard at the person in question, trying to figure out if she was mistaken or if Minhyuk really was sitting at a table inside of a nearby Japanese restaurant. When the person turned their head slightly in her direction Aerin knew immediately that she hadn’t been mistaken. Minhyuk was sitting at a table with a group of people she didn’t recognize. Some she recognized to be wearing Minhyuk’s middle school uniform and a few others she knew were wearing uniforms from other high schools. The only conclusion she could come to was that they were having some sort of gathering from Minhyuk’s middle school.
She frowned and had half a mind to march into the restaurant and cause some sort of havoc as revenge for the other ditching her earlier, but stopped when she caught sight of the expression on the other’s face. A bright smile pulled at the corners of his lips, exposing his large teeth—which Aerin always thought gave him a very childlike smile. However, the smile wasn’t what was holding her back; it was the gentle look of affection shimmering in his dark irises.
Aerin had never seen Minhyuk look at anyone the way he was looking the girl sitting next to him. And when he lifted a hand to smooth down a stray lock of the girl’s hair there was no doubt in Aerin’s mind that Minhyuk liked her—whoever she was. She stared at her friend with a raised eyebrow and a slight, contemplative, frown on her face.
‘All this time he’s been making fun of me for my one-sided love and yet he’s exactly the same,’ she thought, narrowing her eyes into a glare. ‘Just you wait, Lee Minhyuk,’ she thought bitterly, taking her taro boba with coffee jellies from the man behind the counter. She followed her sister-in-law toward the exit, throwing one last look in the direction of the restaurant Minhyuk was in.
The next day Aerin waited for Minhyuk outside of the gate to his home, like she usually did, and let out a little huff when he finally came out. When he was within grabbing distance she had to jump a little to get her arm around his neck enough to pull him down and hold his head under her arm.
“Yah, how dare you ditch me yesterday,” she said, mussing up his hair. Minhyuk tried to pull his head free, but she held him tightly. “I’m not letting you go until you apologize for being a petty little baby,” she said with a small smirk.
“Petty baby?” he asked, turning his head enough to glare at her from the corner of his eye.
“Yeah, petty little baby,” Aerin clarified. “It was only a couple of cucumbers. Over just that you made me deal with unnie by myself,” she said. “So, apologize.”
However, instead of an apology, Minhyuk hooked one arm behind her knees and the other around her waist and lifted the older—causing her to let out a short scream of surprise.
“Yah, yah, yah,” she said, her arm loosening around his neck as he started jogging down the street with Aerin still held in his arms. He didn’t let her down until she told him he didn’t have to apologize.
With labored breaths he set her back on her feet, but was immediately smacked on the arm when he did so. Aerin glared at him and turned with her nose in the air as she stormed away, heading in the direction of the bus stop. Rubbing his arm with a small smile, Minhyuk followed after her. It only took a few long strides for him to catch up and, when he did, he draped his arm over the shorter’s shoulders.
“Who’s being the petty little baby now?” he asked teasingly. She pursed her lips and took in a deep breath through her nose as she turned to him.
“I guess you don’t want your lunch for today,” she said with a tight lipped smile. “I even put in some beef to make up for yesterday, but if you don’t want it then I’ll just eat it myself,” the oldest said, smacking his arm from her shoulders.
Minhyuk gaped at her for a moment before sidling up to her with a cheesy smile. “Noona,” he called to her in a singsong voice. “I’m sorry,” he said. “Forgive me?” he asked, cocking his head and trying to act cute.
Aerin turned her head away and crossed her arms. “We’ll see,” she answered simply.
“Noona,” Minhyuk said whiningly, wrapping both of his arms around her shoulders from behind and forcing her to stop in her trek to the bus stop. A smile of satisfaction turned up the corners of her lips, though she tried not to look too pleased by Minhyuk’s groveling.
She cleared and clicked her tongue. “Well... I guess I could forgive you for ditching me…” Aerin murmured. “But,” she said suddenly, and with a slight pause, before continuing, “only if you let me play on your phone during lunch.”
“My phone? Why?” he asked, stepping away from her so that they could continue on their journey to school.
“You have that new game that came out, right? I wanna play it,” she said.
“Why don’t you just use your own phone?” he asked.
“Because I’m out of space on my phone, so I can’t download the app,” Aerin explained.
The game was just an excuse. In truth she wanted access to Minhyuk’s phone so that she could do some digging on the girl he had a crush on. This was too good of an opportunity to pass up; find out who the girl is and expose him so that he’ll finally shut up about her own unrequited love. It was perfect.
Minhyuk conceded without needing much convincing, knowing that Aerin’s phone had very little space on it to begin with. So, when lunch rolled around, Aerin passed him his lunch as he handed her his phone. They sat in the music room, which was their usual spot to meet and eat lunch. They each ate their lunch and sat in relative silence, Minhyuk reading a manhwa while Aerin was presumably playing a game on his phone. In reality, while Minhyuk read, Aerin was navigating her way through the younger’s phone to his photo gallery. When she opened the ‘camera’ folder the first image was a group photo, which she easily identified as having been taken the previous evening. The next photos were exactly what she’d been hoping they would be; pictures of a girl—the girl that Minhyuk was sitting next to in the group photo.
With a wicked smile on her face she let out a hum and glanced over at her companion. “What’s this? Minhyuk-ah, do you have a girlfriend?” she asked, a Cheshire-like grin on her face. He turned to look at her as she turned the screen to show him one of the pictures of the girl. He immediately lunged for his phone, but Aerin jerked it back and shoved it down the front of her white, button-down shirt and into her bra. “Oh-ho~ what’s this reaction?” she asked, blinking innocently at him as she did up the first two buttons on her shirt, a devious grin still on her face. “Does this mean she’s not your girlfriend?”
“Noona, give me my phone back,” he demanded, but she ignored him.
“Are you a ‘stalker’ too?” she asked rhetorically, throwing the word he often used to describe her crush on his cousin right back in his face.
“Give it back,” he demanded again. Aerin, however, just gave him a level look.
“You want your phone back, then spill,” she countered. She could tell he was hesitating as he opened his mouth and then snapped it shut. “If you want your phone back then tell me,” she said again. “Or I can just go through your contacts later. Up to you,” she said with a shrug.
The younger let out a heavy sigh and closed his eyes as he hung his head. “What do you want to know?”
The elder of the two smirked, looking thoroughly proud of herself as she straightened the collar of her uniform shirt. “First, who is she?” she asked.
“Am underclassman from my middle school,” he replied.
“Second, you like her right?” Instead of giving her a verbal answer he sighed and leaned back against the wall. After a moment he nodded. Pursing her lips, she took a moment to think of another question. “So… if she’s your underclassman… then you’ve liked her since you were in middle school?” She asked the question slowly, forming it as she spoke. However, once the question was out, she looked at him expectantly. Again he nodded and Aerin’s jaw dropped. “So you’ve liked her for more than a year and a half and yet you’ve still been making fun of me for liking Minho oppa?” she asked, slightly taken aback.
His lips pressed into a thin line and he made a move to get up, but Aerin stopped him with a firm hand on his shoulder.
“Well, Minhyuk-ah?” she asked, anger beginning to boil inside of her veins as she stared at the back of his head.
“Noona….” he said with a small smile, turning to look at her as he rubbed his hands together, immediately in repentant mode as he attempted to beg for forgiveness. Aerin, however, would not give it to him. She jumped on him, wrapping her arms around his neck in a chokehold while locking her ankles around his waist. He gasped for precious air and clawed at the air dramatically, like she was literally choking the life out of him, as he said in a strangled voice, “Noona! Noona, I’m sorry.”
Aerin only released him when the door to the music room opened and another student entered. The student, Son Hyunwoo, stared at the spectacle before him—Aerin holding Minhyuk in a chokehold as they lay on their sides on the floor. The younger tapped the elder’s arm, trying to tell her to let go, but she stubbornly refused until she caught sight of the tall man standing in the doorway.
“Ah, Hyunwoo,” she said, releasing Minhyuk—who gasped for air like he’d just been on the brink of death. Standing, she smoothed out her skirt and blazer before giving Hyunwoo a charming smile. “What are you doing here?” she asked.
“Uh… I had a question about something on my homework, but you weren’t in your class…” he said, rather slowly like he was almost afraid she would suddenly become a rabid beast and pounce on him as well. He even took a slight step back, ready to bolt if he needed to.
“Oh, you had a question? Well I’m happy to help you figure out the answer, let’s go,” she said, moving to leave the room with the tall student.
“Noona!” Minhyuk suddenly cried. She stopped and glanced over her shoulder at him, a menacing glare on her face. “C-cellphone…” he said hesitantly, rubbing his neck.
The young woman undid the top two buttons on her blouse and retrieved the other’s mobile device from her bra. She tossed it to him and said in a low growl, “This isn’t over.” She then redid the buttons and sauntered out of the room, Hyunwoo on her heels.
“Yah, how dare you ditch me yesterday,” she said, mussing up his hair. Minhyuk tried to pull his head free, but she held him tightly. “I’m not letting you go until you apologize for being a petty little baby,” she said with a small smirk.
“Petty baby?” he asked, turning his head enough to glare at her from the corner of his eye.
“Yeah, petty little baby,” Aerin clarified. “It was only a couple of cucumbers. Over just that you made me deal with unnie by myself,” she said. “So, apologize.”
However, instead of an apology, Minhyuk hooked one arm behind her knees and the other around her waist and lifted the older—causing her to let out a short scream of surprise.
“Yah, yah, yah,” she said, her arm loosening around his neck as he started jogging down the street with Aerin still held in his arms. He didn’t let her down until she told him he didn’t have to apologize.
With labored breaths he set her back on her feet, but was immediately smacked on the arm when he did so. Aerin glared at him and turned with her nose in the air as she stormed away, heading in the direction of the bus stop. Rubbing his arm with a small smile, Minhyuk followed after her. It only took a few long strides for him to catch up and, when he did, he draped his arm over the shorter’s shoulders.
“Who’s being the petty little baby now?” he asked teasingly. She pursed her lips and took in a deep breath through her nose as she turned to him.
“I guess you don’t want your lunch for today,” she said with a tight lipped smile. “I even put in some beef to make up for yesterday, but if you don’t want it then I’ll just eat it myself,” the oldest said, smacking his arm from her shoulders.
Minhyuk gaped at her for a moment before sidling up to her with a cheesy smile. “Noona,” he called to her in a singsong voice. “I’m sorry,” he said. “Forgive me?” he asked, cocking his head and trying to act cute.
Aerin turned her head away and crossed her arms. “We’ll see,” she answered simply.
“Noona,” Minhyuk said whiningly, wrapping both of his arms around her shoulders from behind and forcing her to stop in her trek to the bus stop. A smile of satisfaction turned up the corners of her lips, though she tried not to look too pleased by Minhyuk’s groveling.
She cleared and clicked her tongue. “Well... I guess I could forgive you for ditching me…” Aerin murmured. “But,” she said suddenly, and with a slight pause, before continuing, “only if you let me play on your phone during lunch.”
“My phone? Why?” he asked, stepping away from her so that they could continue on their journey to school.
“You have that new game that came out, right? I wanna play it,” she said.
“Why don’t you just use your own phone?” he asked.
“Because I’m out of space on my phone, so I can’t download the app,” Aerin explained.
The game was just an excuse. In truth she wanted access to Minhyuk’s phone so that she could do some digging on the girl he had a crush on. This was too good of an opportunity to pass up; find out who the girl is and expose him so that he’ll finally shut up about her own unrequited love. It was perfect.
Minhyuk conceded without needing much convincing, knowing that Aerin’s phone had very little space on it to begin with. So, when lunch rolled around, Aerin passed him his lunch as he handed her his phone. They sat in the music room, which was their usual spot to meet and eat lunch. They each ate their lunch and sat in relative silence, Minhyuk reading a manhwa while Aerin was presumably playing a game on his phone. In reality, while Minhyuk read, Aerin was navigating her way through the younger’s phone to his photo gallery. When she opened the ‘camera’ folder the first image was a group photo, which she easily identified as having been taken the previous evening. The next photos were exactly what she’d been hoping they would be; pictures of a girl—the girl that Minhyuk was sitting next to in the group photo.
With a wicked smile on her face she let out a hum and glanced over at her companion. “What’s this? Minhyuk-ah, do you have a girlfriend?” she asked, a Cheshire-like grin on her face. He turned to look at her as she turned the screen to show him one of the pictures of the girl. He immediately lunged for his phone, but Aerin jerked it back and shoved it down the front of her white, button-down shirt and into her bra. “Oh-ho~ what’s this reaction?” she asked, blinking innocently at him as she did up the first two buttons on her shirt, a devious grin still on her face. “Does this mean she’s not your girlfriend?”
“Noona, give me my phone back,” he demanded, but she ignored him.
“Are you a ‘stalker’ too?” she asked rhetorically, throwing the word he often used to describe her crush on his cousin right back in his face.
“Give it back,” he demanded again. Aerin, however, just gave him a level look.
“You want your phone back, then spill,” she countered. She could tell he was hesitating as he opened his mouth and then snapped it shut. “If you want your phone back then tell me,” she said again. “Or I can just go through your contacts later. Up to you,” she said with a shrug.
The younger let out a heavy sigh and closed his eyes as he hung his head. “What do you want to know?”
The elder of the two smirked, looking thoroughly proud of herself as she straightened the collar of her uniform shirt. “First, who is she?” she asked.
“Am underclassman from my middle school,” he replied.
“Second, you like her right?” Instead of giving her a verbal answer he sighed and leaned back against the wall. After a moment he nodded. Pursing her lips, she took a moment to think of another question. “So… if she’s your underclassman… then you’ve liked her since you were in middle school?” She asked the question slowly, forming it as she spoke. However, once the question was out, she looked at him expectantly. Again he nodded and Aerin’s jaw dropped. “So you’ve liked her for more than a year and a half and yet you’ve still been making fun of me for liking Minho oppa?” she asked, slightly taken aback.
His lips pressed into a thin line and he made a move to get up, but Aerin stopped him with a firm hand on his shoulder.
“Well, Minhyuk-ah?” she asked, anger beginning to boil inside of her veins as she stared at the back of his head.
“Noona….” he said with a small smile, turning to look at her as he rubbed his hands together, immediately in repentant mode as he attempted to beg for forgiveness. Aerin, however, would not give it to him. She jumped on him, wrapping her arms around his neck in a chokehold while locking her ankles around his waist. He gasped for precious air and clawed at the air dramatically, like she was literally choking the life out of him, as he said in a strangled voice, “Noona! Noona, I’m sorry.”
Aerin only released him when the door to the music room opened and another student entered. The student, Son Hyunwoo, stared at the spectacle before him—Aerin holding Minhyuk in a chokehold as they lay on their sides on the floor. The younger tapped the elder’s arm, trying to tell her to let go, but she stubbornly refused until she caught sight of the tall man standing in the doorway.
“Ah, Hyunwoo,” she said, releasing Minhyuk—who gasped for air like he’d just been on the brink of death. Standing, she smoothed out her skirt and blazer before giving Hyunwoo a charming smile. “What are you doing here?” she asked.
“Uh… I had a question about something on my homework, but you weren’t in your class…” he said, rather slowly like he was almost afraid she would suddenly become a rabid beast and pounce on him as well. He even took a slight step back, ready to bolt if he needed to.
“Oh, you had a question? Well I’m happy to help you figure out the answer, let’s go,” she said, moving to leave the room with the tall student.
“Noona!” Minhyuk suddenly cried. She stopped and glanced over her shoulder at him, a menacing glare on her face. “C-cellphone…” he said hesitantly, rubbing his neck.
The young woman undid the top two buttons on her blouse and retrieved the other’s mobile device from her bra. She tossed it to him and said in a low growl, “This isn’t over.” She then redid the buttons and sauntered out of the room, Hyunwoo on her heels.
AUTHOR'S WORDS
So here is the first chapter~ I kind of feel like it lacks, though that could just be because I was in a very 'blah' sort of mood when I was writing it. My dog passed away the day I started writing the first chapter, so I haven't really had the want to write--but I'm going to try to stick to a consistent writing schedule, so I wrote even though I didn't really feel like it. Hopefully this chapter isn't too bad though. Anyway, if you would like to get sneak peeks of chapters or early access to chapters once they are completed, then please think about becoming a supporter through AFF's crowdfunding feature! You can find the link at the top of this chapter (it's the green button that says 'Join BloodyRavens's Crowdfund').
Anyway, thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy the rest of the story ^^.
Anyway, thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy the rest of the story ^^.
Mood : Sleepy ▪ Eargasm : Nam Woohyun (ft. Junoflo) - Hold On Me ▪ Eyecandy : Minhyuk
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