Eleven
Ironic Bind“Soojung-ah. Thank you again for the post-work dinner invite. I’m sorry I had to go. I hope we could be in the same class next semester. Enjoy your summer break!”
That was the text that Hyun Ae sent to Soojung. She remembered how Soojung pouted when Hyun Ae said she had to go; even she herself felt guilty. But she did not feel like being around someone else, especially after the encounter with Park Aeri.
Hyun Ae could feel her stomach rumbling with hunger. The clock on her phone showed that it was 7 PM. The last time she had a proper meal was at 11 AM when committee members took shifts to have a meal break. She felt hungry, but she did not have the appetite to have anything. But remembering that she had a weak stomach and it would be problematic if she skipped meals, she reluctantly made way to a convenience store that she always frequented. The store was around the corner of her apartment block, only a couple of blocks away.
As she entered the store, a male cashier stood up promptly and greeted ‘hello’ to her. Hyun Ae returned the polite bow. The cashier was a young man in his mid-20s. As soon as the greeting was returned, the cashier sat down and looked at his phone screen. Being a regular at the store, Hyun Ae noticed his habit—greeting newly entered customers with ‘hello’, sitting down almost immediately, and then glued his eyes on his phone screen. If Hyun Ae recalled it correctly, the young man was the son of the convenience store’s owner. Hyun Ae had met the owner once, she was a woman in her late 50s, looking energetic and was always warm to customers. But she was strict with her own son.
“You should not sit down immediately after a customer enters!” the owner hissed at her son, “Wait until they’re done paying!”
Yet even after the hissing, the young man still continued with his habit. As if his mum’s words only flew through his ears.
The cashier had a pair of small eyes and a strong jawline. He was tall and had a toned body. In fact, he bore a striking resemblance to Kim Jong Kook, a well-known Korean TV personality who appears on a nationwide weekend show, Running Man. Except that the cashier had a leaner body figure. For that reason, Hyun Ae always mentally dubbed the cashier as the young-Kim Jong Kook.
She soon realized that there were no other customers in the store, and partly felt grateful for it. Hyun Ae headed to the aisle displaying ready-to-eat meals. There were fresh dosirak—packed lunchboxes that contained a plot of rice, a main meat, a few side dishes such as kimchi, and sliced egg rolls. Normally, Hyun Ae would go for a ready-made dosirak but she did not feel like having a heavy meal at that moment. Having a bowl of rice was a must to compensate for her weak stomach, so she immediately took a pack of instant rice. She wandered around to search for a dish to accompany the rice, and soon enough, she found herself deciding between having boiled eggs or smoked eggs.
As she was deep in contemplation, the door of the convenience door was pushed, prompting a brief, small ring from the bell attached to the door.
“Hyung!”
Distracted, Hyun Ae glanced at the entrance. Her sight to the entrance was blocked by a rack of snacks, so she resorted to seeing the cashier’s reaction. Since the person who just entered the store said the word ‘hyung’, so the person must be a male. The store had no other customers, so Hyun Ae was guessing that the person was addressing the cashier.
Unlike the chirpy greeting by the male customer, the young-Kim Jong Kook glanced lazily at the entrance. Before his eyes stayed glued to his phone screen. The voice of the customer did not seem to bother him either; it was as if it was a norm for him. There was also one thing that Hyun Ae noticed: the cashier remained seated and looked almost unbothered.
“I texted you, why didn’t you reply?” the customer asked.
The young-Kim Jong Kook grunted. Regardless, he got up and produced a plastic bag that contained a few items. The male customer checked the items and clapped his hands to show his satisfaction at how the items were prepared accordingly. The customer took out a few skewered fishcakes from the plastic bag and popped them into a microwave to heat them up. “I forgot to tell you that Lion is coming as well, so I need some dog treats,” he said as he headed immediately to a rack that displayed the said snacks.
In the meantime, Hyun Ae already decided to have boiled eggs for dinner. As she stepped to the counter with a pack of instant rice and a packet of two boiled eggs in her hands, coincidentally, the male customer came out from the adjacent aisle and headed to the cashier too. It made Hyun Ae look at the customer, wondering who would pay their items first. But looking at the customer’s face made her stop in her tracks, because she recognized the other person. She also saw how the male stopped as well and a streak of recognition flickered across his face.
“Hyun Ae-shi!” he delightfully called.
Hyun Ae returned the warm greeting by smiling and bowing politely, “Annyeonghaseyo, Daniel-shi. I didn’t expect to meet you here.”
It was Ahn Daniel, the participant who claimed to be Ricky’s friend. Hyun Ae could see that Daniel already changed his outfit from the sponsored shirt to a casual T-shirt. He also had a jacket wrapped around his slim waist.
“Me too! This is such a pleasant coincidence,” Daniel replied, as he put a pack of dog treats onto the counter. Then, he signaled at the cashier to count the items.
As if habitually, Hyun Ae looked at how the male cashier keyed in the number of items and their corresponding prices. Before the net amount appeared on the screen, he already blurted out the total figure to be paid by Daniel. Hyun Ae secretly found it amazing; she noticed that the net amount on the screen and the figure mentioned by the cashier matched all the time. Despite the cashier’s lazy appearance, he turned out to be excellent at memorizing each item’s price and mentally adding them all up. She believed that the cashier—who turned out to be Daniel’s close acquaintance—did not need a cash registry thanks to his memorization and mental arithmetic skills. The registry simply served as a tool for transaction recording purposes.
When it was Hyun Ae’s turn to pay, the cashier said, “It’s okay, Miss. Daniel has paid for your items.”
Hyun Ae was about the hand in the cash to repay Daniel, but the male adamantly refused. “Please take it. I’m older than you anyway, so it’s normal that I’m paying. Do you always come here, Hyun Ae-shi?”
“Yes. My house is only a few blocks away.”
“Really? How come I just knew that?” Daniel frowned, before diverting his eyes to the cashier. “Hyung, why didn’t you tell us that she frequents your store?” He sounded in disbelief.
But the said hyung only responded to him with a blank stare. After a good minute of silence, he started sending a few eye signals along the questions of ‘why should I?’ and ‘who is she?’
“Oh no,” Daniel facepalmed. “Hyung, do you not recognize her? She’s Changhyun’s girlfriend!”
A streak of recognition came across his face, and then he slightly bowed to Hyun Ae. “Nice to meet you.” His small eyes caught Daniel’s glare. He tried to shrug if off by quietly retorting, “Well, he never told,” referring to how Ricky did not tell him about Hyun Ae.
“You must have missed his texts again. He shared a picture to our group chat.”
Daniel’s older acquaintance hummed—more like groaned, finally admitting that he was guilty about it.
Hyun Ae could tell that Daniel wanted to continue ‘lecturing’ the cashier, but he held it up by letting out a discontented sigh. Perhaps he did not want to further embarrass his older companion in front of another person.
“Anyway, Hyun Ae-shi. He’s Minsoo Hyung, also Changhyun’s friend,” Daniel introduced. Then, he took out skewered fishcakes from the store’s microwave when he said, “I just knew that you always come here. Be careful, Hyun Ae-shi. The cashier can be a bit lazy sometimes, so you have to put up with him.”
Seeing a suppressed smile at the end of Daniel’s full lips, Hyun Ae could tell that it was a joke to loosen up the brief tension. Despite the teasing by his younger acquaintance, however, Minsoo remained undisturbed. He did not chuckle nor did he get mad. It looked as if he was used to such teases.
“Hyun Ae-shi, where are you going after this?”
“I’m going home.”
Daniel thought for a while and then asked carefully, “Do you…happen to have some time?”
Hyun Ae blinked at the question, finding herself echoing it in her mind. Somehow, at that moment, she had an immediate urge to say ‘yes’. She felt like if she said ‘no’, she would miss out on some things. Some important things. ‘Daniel looks like a good guy and doesn’t harm anyone,’ she whispered to herself.
Hence, for such reasons, Hyun Ae firmly nodded, despite not yet knowing what Daniel was offering.
Daniel’s eyes lit up and, despite having his arms laden with a heavy plastic bag, clapped his hands gleefully at Hyun Ae’s response. “Let’s go, then!” He gestured Hyun Ae to exit the store with him. Then, he shouted at Minsoo, “Come over if you have time, Hyung!”
The older male hummed as a response, before habitually sitting down and glued his eyes on his phone screen.
“Where are we going, Daniel-shi?”
“We’re heading to our usual hangout spot,” Daniel replied.
“‘Our’…?” Hyun Ae asked, letting her question trail off.
“‘Our’—my circle of friends of six. Minsoo Hyung, Chanhee Hyung. Byunghun Hyung, myself, Changhyun and Jonghyun.”
Hyun Ae’s eyes flickered nervously, “Will Ricky Oppa be there as well?”
Daniel stopped walking and looked at Hyun Ae. It made Hyun Ae halt in her tracks as well. For a moment, both of them exchanged eye contact and stayed silent. While Daniel with a train of thoughts in his mind, Hyun Ae, on the other hand, looked confused.
Eventually, Daniel let his thoughts out loud, “I see that you address him as ‘Ricky’.”
“Yes, he asked me to address him by that name,” Hyun Ae answered. She noticed that Daniel was still on his train of thoughts as to how she addressed her boyfriend with the name. “If I’m not mistaken, his friend came up with it—his circle of friends. Could it be you?”
“Oh no, not me,” said Daniel as he continued walking, prompting Hyun Ae to follow suit. “The idea of nicknames came from Byunghun Hyung. It was when we were in a singing club in high school. Wah, that brings memories.” Daniel slightly lifted his face to stare into the sky, possibly reminiscing the moments during his high school years.
Hyun Ae smiled at his antics. “What made him come up with them? The nicknames, I mean.”
“Oh, that hyung, pfft. He always envisioned that we were an idol group, so he came up with nicknames as if they were stage names.”
“What do you go by, Daniel-shi?
“Mine’s ‘Niel’. It’s really just a shorter name from my real name. Chanhee Hyung, who was with me during the cleaning campaign goes by the name ‘Chunji.’ Byunghun Hyung, ‘L.Joe’. Jonghyunnie, ‘Changjo’.”
Hyun Ae nodded in awe. She was impressed with Byunghun’s ability at coming up with names. As a non-artistic person, she found the names to be creative and amazing. They sounded appealing, too.
“Minsoo Hyung, the one at the convenience store was given the name CAP,” Daniel continued, and then snorted, “which was funny to be honest. Because that hyung was never fond of wearing caps, Hyun Ae-shi! It was only after the nicknames ‘distribution’, and people started calling us using the names, did he start wearing caps.” Hyun Ae laughed when Daniel made the ‘what was he thinking’ gesture. After Daniel pointed it out, she herself noticed that the cashier always wore a cap.
“Do your friends call you by the nicknames as well?”
“It was only in high school. For me, I favour people calling me by my real name. Minsoo Hyung likes it when people address him as CAP, but I like annoying him, so I still use his real name. Chanhee Hyung is a rare case. He insists that people should address him as ‘Chunji’; only his family and closest friends are allowed to use his real name. Maybe he finds it intimate that way.”
Hyun Ae nodded again, mentally taking notes. She could not imagine acquiring such information nonchalantly from Ricky. Even though it seemed like Daniel overshared, Hyun Ae appreciated it. She got to learn more things about her boyfriend from his friend’s perspectives.
“How about your family members? Do they know about the nicknames?”
“Of course! We even know each other’s families very well.” Then, Daniel leaned in to Hyun Ae and whispered, “Eomonim—Changhyunnie’s Omma—favours me over the rest, you know,” before he winked in pride.
Hyun Ae chuckled. He might be making it up, but if it was true, she could see the reason why. Daniel knew how to make others comfortable around him, and it was exactly what she was feeling during their conversation.
“Are six of you still together?” Hyun Ae asked, “Do you meet each other frequently?”
“Chanhee Hyung and I are living together because we go to the same college. Minsoo Hyung already graduated and is now helping around with his family’s business. He’s staying with his family. Byunghyun Hyung and Jonghyunnie, both of them are attending different institutions at Daegu. As for Changhyunnie, well, you know better,” Daniel grinned. “We’re still seeing each other regularly. Usually, monthly. It’s Byunghun Hyung who insists on the regular get-together sessions so that we don’t grow apart.”
Hyun Ae smiled a bit.
“But Changhyun always bailed out our monthly hang-outs.”
Hyun Ae grinned awkwardly. ‘I didn’t know about that… But since when did Ricky Oppa keep bailing out their hang-outs? Is it since we’re together?' A thought came across her mind, ‘Is that the reason why Chanhee-shi doesn’t like me? Because they see that I’m causing Ricky Oppa not to come?’
“Hyun Ae-shi, I didn’t mean to lash out at you. Of course it’s not your fault,” Daniel assured after sensing Hyun Ae’s quiet response. “When he rarely comes, I become worried. Is he okay or not? How about his university classes, is he coping well? Does he need help with the modules? You know, those kinds of things.”
Hyun Ae nodded, silently agreeing that those were common concerns to have towards younger companions. Personally, she never had to worry about all those, since she only had Min as a best friend. She never had younger or older companions like Ricky’s group of friends.
“Actually,” Daniel said, trying to divert to another topic, “I’m glad that I could recognize you at the cleaning campaign earlier.”
“I was surprised too. Did Ricky Oppa really share my picture to your group chat?”
“Of course, he was telling us that he got into a relationship with you. It was a proper picture, by the way, no worries.”
Hyun Ae smiled shyly, appreciating the fact that Ricky shared the news with his group of friends. She felt acknowledged.
Daniel asked about Hyun Ae’s university life. She replied that she was coping well, and soon she would be having her semester break. Hyun Ae gathered that Daniel and Chanhee were enrolled in Vocal courses—Chanhee being in his final year. With regards to their age, Minsoo was the eldest of the group, Chanhee and Byunghun only a year younger than the eldest, followed by Daniel, and then Ricky and Jonghyun being the youngest. Since Hyun Ae was the same age as Ricky, that also made Jonghyun the same age as her. Hyun Ae took a mental note that the rest of the group was older than her.
Hyun Ae and Daniel were so engrossed in their conversation that the former almost did not notice that they were nearing a riverbank. The city’s riverbank was spacious and the local authority made it an initiative to make it an attractive spot. A few seats and tables were provided for picnic and leisure purposes. There were also alternatives to lay out mats for people to enjoy the scenery. Hyun Ae could see some people walking their pets by the riverbank.
Daniel led Hyun Ae walking past groups of people. “We frequented this place before it became popular. So you can say we have our own spot.” He winked as he took Hyun Ae to a hidden part of the attraction place. It was a spot that could still be seen by the public, just that it was shadowed by two huge trees.
As the ‘hidden’ spot was unveiled, Hyun Ae saw that a simple set of camping equipment was put up and ready to use: two foldable chairs, a portable camping table, and a laid-out mat. There was a lone male figure sitting on the mat, playing some tricks with a puppy in front of him. Fond peals of laughter could be heard from the male when the puppy succeeded the trick games. The pet's body was rewarded with equally fond massages.
When she noticed the male’s jet-black hair, Hyun Ae could immediately recall the person’s face. The person, who possessed doe-like eyes and a small face. He also seemed to have the habit of leaving his mouth open when he laughed.
“Chanhee Hyung, look who I’ve brought!”
The said male turned to Daniel and her.
If Daniel’s tone was welcoming, Chanhee’s response was otherwise. Just like Hyun Ae had seen it before, Chanhee’s smiley face faded away as soon as his eyes landed on her. She could also see his eyes shifting rather coldly between her and Daniel. To Daniel, the doe-like eyes demanded an explanation. As to Hyun Ae, the eyes preferred to not believe what they were seeing.
It was at that exact moment did Hyun Ae feel regret for accepting Daniel’s offer. ‘Oh no…’ she gulped.
[A / N]:
I enjoyed writing this chapter, and I hope I could have the same joy writing the following ones. We're nearing the of the fic, and I hope I won't disappear for a few months again *hides*.
Kindly look forward to the next chapters. Comments are more than welcome!
17 July 2022, 01:00 GMT+8
[29.10.2021]
I just finished looking at the previous chapters and made a few additions and changes. I'm having a brief hiatus soon, but I'll try my best to post at least a chapter before November ends.
I just finished looking at the previous chapters and made a few additions and changes. I'm having a brief hiatus soon, but I'll try my best to post at least a chapter before November ends.
Comments