Seven
Ironic BindIt was Saturday. The clock on her kitchen’s wall read that it was 8 in the morning.
Despite it being a weekend, Hyun Ae got up early to do her weekly house chores. While preparing for her breakfast that morning, she pulled a laundry basket into the kitchen and loaded the clothes that she had worn over the week into her washing machine. By the time she was done with breakfast and washing dishes, the laundry was also done. She made use of the highly humid weather of the summer to dry her clothes, so she placed a clothing rack on her balcony to hang her clothes. Then she proceeded to clean her stove-top. She still used it regularly to prepare her daily breakfast, and also for dinners whenever she did not go out with Ricky. After cleaning the stove-top, she took a vacuum cleaner and cleaned the floor of her apartment – bedroom, kitchen-living room, utility room, and the corridor leading to the front door of her apartment unit.
All of it was done with joyful hums. Because she was eagerly looking forward to that day.
Her mind wandered to a text that she received early morning. It was after a video call from Hyun Woo and Appa.
“Hyun,” the text read.
Only one person in Hyun Ae’s life addressed her by the name. The text was also accompanied by a different ringtone from the one Hyun Ae had set for Ricky, but it had prompted her to check her phone nonetheless – excited, even.
“Let’s meet up for a meal? Lunch or dinner, your choice.”
They were texts from Min, Hyun Ae’s best friend. They first met each other during a volunteer project in high school. Since then, they had been keeping in touch with each other, despite coming from different schools.
Hyun Ae rubbed her chin, thinking about Min’s offer. Actually, Hyun Ae had invited Ricky for a movie date that day, but in the afternoon. It was a movie that she had been anticipating the most, for it was adapted from her all-time favourite novel. She wanted to share her favourites with her favourite person, too.
Hyun Ae smiled at the thought.
“I’m watching a movie with Ricky Oppa later in the afternoon. So, dinner is out of choice. Let’s have lunch together then!”
“Tsk, I was hoping for you to choose dinner for me. It’s been so long since we had fun on weekends, you know?”
Hyun Ae simply chuckled at her best friend’s response.
At 11:30 in the morning, Hyun Ae headed into the bathroom. Her body was drenched in sweat after the house chores, adding to the fact that it was also summer as well.
After pampering herself with a long routine of shampooing and bathing, she stepped out of the shower. Her body was covered with a towel. To help her wet hair to dry faster, she also wrapped her hair into a towel, sporting a turban hairstyle. She headed straight into her bedroom to do a simple skincare routine and makeup. While doing so, she was deciding on which outfit to wear, and finally chose it as she stepped towards her wardrobe. A short-sleeved plain shirt with a dark green-coloured wording ‘Be Happy’ on the chest part, and a piece of three-quarter checkered skirt that covered up to her shins. She matched the simple outfit with the mint-green cardigan that she bought three days prior.
‘I can’t wait for Ricky Oppa to see this, hehe. And Min, too!’
An hour later, Hyun Ae was all dressed up. She took a final look via her full-body mirror before she showed a satisfied smile.
She was about to make way to her apartment’s main door before she exclaimed an ‘oh’. She spun on her heels, formed steps towards her kitchen-living room, and went straight to the balcony. She pulled the clothing racks of her clothes from the balcony, and safely placed the racks in her living room. Her hands quickly touched most of the clothes and she felt satisfied that almost all of them were already dry. She happily grinned at the outcome – doing the laundry early in the morning and making use of the hot weather to dry the clothes really helped. She had decided to fold the clothes after she got back from the movie date with Ricky, so she left the racks near the window so that the clothes could still get more warmth even being left indoors.
‘It’s a long day today. But a day that I like!’ Hyun Ae hummed joyfully as she stood at the corridor in front of her apartment door, making sure that it was already locked before she left.
*****
In a fried chicken shop that was quickly crowded by customers, Hyun Ae was sitting at a corner of the shop with another girl. The other girl wore an oversized, short-sleeved shirt that was off-shoulder on her left. To pair the top, she donned a pair of short denim pants. Her nails were covered with red, fake nails. She had straight, chin-lengthed hair, and it was parted so that the right side of her hair had more volume. It was also obvious that she took a lot of time for her makeup and appearance.
At a glance, the girl looked glamourous in comparison to Hyun Ae. She was a university student who took a Fashion course, after all.
Despite the differences in their appearance, the two girls happily chattered away, as it had been a long time since they met each other. The fried chicken shop was Hyun Ae’s choice because she had been eyeing to have a meal at the shop. A set of meals was already laid down in front of them; it was the combination of ‘half-half’ chickens, onion chickens, and chicken gizzards.
“These are a lot. Are you starving, Hyun?” Min teased.
Hyun Ae laughed heartily at the comment. “These are highly recommended menus, okay?” She defended herself. “And you know I can’t have spicy food, so I’m not having the spicy sauce ones; you can have them all,” Hyun Ae said, referring to the yangnyeom chicken in the ‘half-half’ chicken dish. The other half was the original fried chicken.
They simply used their hands to savour the fried chickens and hummed appreciatively at the taste.
“So, how are you with...” Min paused while narrowing her right eye toward Hyun Ae. She tried to remember something by doing so. After realizing that it was a failed attempt, she resorted to the safest method, “...him?”
Hyun Ae scrunched her nose. The word ‘him’ was vague to her. Was it Hyun Woo, or Appa? Or maybe...
“Ricky Oppa?” Hyun Ae asked.
“Yeah, him.”
“We’re fine...” Hyun Ae trailed off, her fingers lightly tapping at the glass of soda in front of her.
She still felt shy talking about her romantic relationship with someone else. Even Hyun Woo and Appa had not known about Ricky. It was not because she was disregarding them, but she was searching for the perfect time to reveal her partner to her family. After all, her relationship was still at an early stage.
“But you’ve seen him, right?” Hyun Ae countered, “How is he? Do you approve of him?”
Apparently, Min went to the same university as Ricky, KT University, but she was enrolled way later, in April. Hyun Ae had asked Min of the possibilities of Min stumbling into her boyfriend on the campus. Min dismissed her by saying that their faculties were far apart, so it was hard to stumble upon each other. Hyun Ae shared Ricky’s picture nonetheless, with the hopes that Min would recognize him. After a few days, Min texted Hyun Ae back, saying that she had seen Ricky face-to-face at the university’s library, but Ricky did not seem to recognize her.
Instead of answering Hyun Ae's question, Min pointed out one thing about Ricky, “Hyun, who actually wears long-sleeved shirts in summer?”
Hyun Ae offered an awkward smile. She also noticed that Ricky always wore oversized and long-sleeved shirts. Dark ones, even. She thought it was the kind of outfits that he wore during spring only – which was the season when they first met – but apparently, he wore such tops during summer too.
“Well,” Hyun Ae croaked out a response, “Maybe he doesn’t feel comfortable with exposing his skin..? You do know I’m like that too; I don’t like exposing my legs.”
Min did not answer. Instead, she reached out for her glass of soda before sipping on it. While doing so, Min kept her eyes trained on her best friend.
Hyun Ae noticed it. It was Min’s usual cue for saying something important, so she waited.
“I don’t know, Hyun. I just...” Min paused, guiltily glancing at Hyun Ae, “I don’t feel comfortable when I see him. I can’t place the reason why...”
Hyun Ae’s heart fell at Min’s confession. Her facial expressions, too.
‘What does it mean?
She doesn’t like Ricky Oppa?’
Honestly, Hyun Ae did not like the feeling of her best friend disliking her romantic partner. If anything, she wanted her best friend and her partner to be on good terms with each other. She did not favour pushing away her friendship for another relationship. Min was like a sister to her; she could not bear the thought of being separated from her long-time friend.
‘But if Min doesn’t feel comfortable with him...’
Min saw Hyun Ae’s unfocused eyes. She let her best friend get immersed with her thoughts, so Min let the moment of silence settle between them. Contrary to the silence of their table, though, the fried chicken shop was getting crowded, with waiters regularly shouting customers’ orders at the back kitchen.
After what seemed like an eternity, Min spoke to break the silence, “Oh, and Hyun?”
The addressed lady looked up. Judging from Min’s voice tone, Hyun Ae could tell that her best friend’s next words would not be something entirely pleasant. She was afraid for it but braced herself for it anyway.
“You rock light blue,” Min uttered, “but not mint green.”
*****
During the movie date with Ricky that afternoon, Hyun Ae was thoroughly disturbed by what Min had said. Her best friend’s words could not stop echoing inside her head.
“I don’t feel comfortable when I see him.”
Hyun Ae knew that she was being superstitious, but if she compared Min and herself, Hyun Ae always believed Min’s guts because she was always accurate with her intuitions.
There was a time when they were teamed up during a volunteering activity in a countryside. Hyun Ae was about to head into the hiking track near the village, but Min hurriedly held her up. “Let’s go the other way,” Min said as she pointed at a larger group of their volunteering club, signaling that they should join the group.
After an hour, a news broke that four volunteering members were missing and could not be traced. It was told that the members were last detected when they went into the hiking track. A rescue team had to be called. Fortunately, the missing members were found four hours later. Hyun Ae still remembered that they were trembling with fear upon getting out of the woods. Two of them were female, and they were immediately embraced in tears by their friends.
Hyun Ae could not imagine if she were in their shoes. She was grateful that Min had stopped her from getting into the hiking track.
Another time was when they had a best friend outing during high school. Hyun Ae had suggested that they should go to a newly-opened shopping mall in their town. Min had given it a thought but she did not feel good about the option. She suggested that they should go to their usual shopping mall. Hyun Ae remembered that she pouted at Min’s suggestion, but leaned in anyway.
When she got home to her grandparents’ house in the evening, Grandma had rushed to get her. “Did you go to the new shopping mall?” she worriedly asked.
Hyun Ae realized that Grandma’s cheeks were wet with tears. Her eyes were puffy with them, too. When Hyun Ae answered ‘no’ to her question, Grandma released a huge sigh of relief. Grandpa had to help Grandma to get to the couch in the living room. Getting curious, Hyun Ae set herself down beside her grandparents. As she rubbed Grandma’s back to calm her down, Hyun Ae asked them about what was happening.
“Why does Halmeoni look so worried?”
“We were told that the mall was on fire,” Grandpa replied, “We didn’t know how to contact you. Your halmeoni was so worried since you said that you were going there before you left the house.”
“You rock light blue, Hyun, but not mint-green.”
Another remark by Min entered her mind. Hyun Ae knew that it was a nicer way to say, “You look hideous in that colour, Hyun.”
Hyun Ae had intended to show the mint-green cardigan off to Ricky. However, after her lunch with Min, Hyun Ae entered a public toilet, removed the mint-green cardigan, and put it inside a recycled bag that she always put inside her totebag. She tweaked the remaining outifit – the short-sleeved shirt and checkered skirt – so that her appearance did not look like it was missing an item.
All of it was done before she met Ricky for the movie date.
Hyun Ae was snapped out of her trance when the cinema erupted with laughter. Apparently, it was a comedic scene that had caused it. Hyun Ae looked to her right, at her partner. Even though Ricky covered his mouth with his hand, Hyun Ae could tell that he was laughing heartily at the scene.
For that, she felt relieved.
Truthfully, she barely paid attention to the movie. It was an adaptation of a novel that she really loved, but she could not bring herself to stay focused. She kept getting dragged into debates of her internal monologues.
'What was Min trying to say? That I shouldn't be with Ricky Oppa? Did I miss anything out in this relationship? Were there red flags?'
'Even worse, is he...a criminal?'
She tried to shake the monologues off by putting popcorns into , but she was constantly distracted, that her hand stayed hovering over the top of her popcorn tub.
Hyun Ae’s train of thoughts was halted again when Ricky tapped her arm.
“Let’s go? Or you want the credits to finish rolling?” he asked.
Hyun Ae hurriedly scanned at her surrounding. The huge screen in the theatre was already showing the closing credits. Other moviegoers were crowding the exit doors; some stayed seated as they preferred moving around in less crowded areas. Some cinema staff members, on the other hand, were checking if the theatre was ready for use for the next slot.
The movie had ended, apparently, but Hyun Ae did not realize it.
“Ah, let’s go then,” Hyun Ae suggested as she got up from her seat. She briefly took note that her popcorn tub was still relatively full. She decided to bring it home.
“Did you enjoy it?” Hyun Ae asked.
With a gleeful expression, Ricky nodded. “It was awesome!”
Hyun Ae smiled. Ricky had mentioned that his week had been filled with continuous practical and tutor sessions for vocals. She was aware that inviting Ricky to see the movie together on the weekend would mean that she might have to disturb Ricky’s rest day. That was why she assured Ricky to not take up the invitation if he wanted to rest – she was merely inviting so that he did not feel left out. Hyun Ae was surprised that Ricky took up the offer, but even so, she felt delighted that Ricky found the movie amazing.
As they made their way out of the movie theatre, they casually discussed some highlights of the movie. When Ricky picked his favourite scenes, Hyun Ae mentally urged her mind to recall the happenings in the movie’s counterpart – the novel that she had read. She obviously could not pinpoint what happened in the movie because she did not watch it despite being in the audience, but she hoped that she could vibe with Ricky’s joy by recalling the scenes in the novel.
Ricky looked genuinely enjoying the outing.
Hyun Ae, on the other hand, was not on the same page.
Ricky asked if she wanted to roam around the mall before heading home. Hyun Ae shook her head and answered that she had assignments to do, hence she wanted to be home early.
Truthfully, she just wanted to reach her home. The mess in her mind demanded her to be alone.
As they were heading to Ricky’s car that was parked in the basement, Ricky received a text from his mum. While waiting for the car engine to get warmed up, he focused on typing on his phone, possibly exchanging some texts with his mum.
“I need to buy some flour for my mum. You don't mind if we drop by a convenience store first before I send you home?” Ricky asked.
Hyun Ae nodded.
'It won't be long, will it? It's just a short trip to a convenience store anyway,' Hyun Ae coaxed her conflicted mind.
[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.
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