Happiness
Sky, Where the Dragon Belongs to
He stared at the picture on the wall for a long time, a little too long but he couldn’t help himself. There, on her bedroom wall, hung a picture. On it was shape of a word he didn’t know the meaning of back then, until she told him later on.
Although he was the one who bought her that thing.
So she kept it all this time?
He used to travel a lot, and he couldn’t explain why but he always came back with something for her, whether it be some silly accessories, bags, or just simply a souvenir, he never missed a chance to buy her something; no, scratch that, she never failed to force him to buy her a souvenir.
This picture was the first souvenir he bought her.
“Ji?” her voice brought him back to reality. She was holding a broom. Her hair was tied up in a lovely, messy bun. How could something so messy looked so exquisite? He couldn’t tell. She sure knew how to do the makeup now.
“You keep it,” he voiced out, eyeing the picture.
She smiled brightly, “Of course I did! You know I have this special thing about paintings and Japan,” she reasoned, her eyes shined so brightly as she stared at the object.
“You remember how you fooled me when I asked you what this word means, right?” She continued, now holding the ornament in her hand.
He let out a little chuckle, “You said it was my name you specially ordered from the artist” she laughed.
“And you believed it!” He exclaimed happily, remembering the good old day he spent with her; how long ago was it?
“Of course I didn’t! I was just acting, if I did believe you, I wouldn’t know what this means. Luckily, I asked my Japanese friend about it,” she stated again. “And thankfully, this has a good meaning, happiness,” she giggled to herself.
He gazed at the drawer and there he found them, an orange backpack, an egg which can grow into a plant if you hatch it and a Rillakuma shaped mini fan.
“It doesn’t work anymore,” she said, again waking him up from his reverie, she just brought back too many memories for him and he found himself lost in it, “the fan,” she explained.
“And why do you keep it?”
“For the memories?” she reasoned, she always was a girl who believed in dreams and fairytale. Moreover, the mini fan was Rilalkuma shaped; he should’ve known it from the very beginning. “I just don’t want to lose any of them, you know how forgetful I am; and I can’t just let myself forget you,” she explained,
“You were a special friend after all.”
—
“Happy birthday, Jingyo Oppa!” She said loudly, happily clapping her hands. This year she gave him no more surprises. She said it bluntly from the start instead that this day they would be celebrating his birthday. It was eight days after his twentieth birthday and she had given him some little cards, the first one had “HEY YOU, SMILE!” on it, and “Do drink more water” written on the second card, he couldn’t remember what was written on the rest of the cards.
They were now sitting in a gazebo, some –twenty, to be exact, little chocolate balls were placed on the plate before him. She was busying herself lighting up the little candles placed between the chocolate balls, “I made them all!” She informed him proudly, still having a hard time lighting up the candles; she was never in a good relationship with fire, let alone lighters.
“Let me light them up,” he finally said, “I’ll be twenty-four by the time you’re done lighting it up,” he continued, which earned a pout from her, but she gave in anyways.
“Make a wish first!” She whispered enthusiastically when all of the candles were lit, as if it was one huge confidential matter. He couldn’t help but roll his eyes, it was him who gave her amusement instead of the other way around, was it his or her birthday?
He closed his eyes and made a wish nevertheless, a wish he couldn’t really remember now. It was never important for him.
—
They were bathing themselves in an enjoyable silence. He was busy stuffing the delicious chocolate balls into his mouth. It didn’t seem like he would stop anytime soon, or even wanted to.
“Ji, I have some questions for you,” she said, breaking the silence, her voice small-almost unlike her.
“Uh-huh,” He nodded his head, his mouth was full of chocolate balls.
“Does it taste good?” She questioned, was it her first question? He nodded again to answer her; he never thought she was a good cook.
She was silent for a moment, like she was thinking hard, until finally she spoke up again, “If you love someone, what will you do?”
“Huh?” He stared at her with a questioning look plastered on his face, “I’ll chase after her, of course.”
“That’s what you did to Dara?” She questioned again, and he replied with a small nod.
“Okay…” She answered.
“Are you in love with someone Chaerin?” He asked, for the longest time he knew she was always single, never once he did think about her falling for someone after that Japanese guy.
“Well… I have always been in love with this one person… I just never know what to do,”
He thought for a while, “Is it still that Japanese guy?” He questioned her again, Chaerin shook her head, “That is so last year, you know,” she answered lightly, as if it was nothing big for her; although her face told the opposite.
“Are guys always so oblivious?” She asked again.
“To what?”
“To the girls’ feeling, do they always need to be told that the girl likes them? Can’t they just figure it out themselves? Like getting the clues and hints and all? Can’t they read between the lines, really?” She questioned, and before Jiyong got the chance to answer, she continued, “I know sometimes they’re clueless but must it be all the time?”
She was like talking to herself, complaining that was.
“Well… they’re just that stupid sometimes, but hey! Girls are not making it easy either! It’s so hard to know if they really like us or not, they keep giving us ambiguous hints and talking in codes!” He defended.
“I like you, Jingyo oppa, I’ve said it out loud, now that you know it, what do you think I should do?”
—
“I still think that one is the most special,” she said out of the blue, pointing to the picture on the wall.
“And why is that?”
“Because even if you didn’t intend to do it, not knowing the meaning either, you gave it to me anyways, from the very beginning, the happiness.”
---
Author's little space
This one, it kinda seems like there's still something left out, right? Like it's actually not finished yet but it's finished at the same time... Yeah, right.. how do you think Jiyong reacted to her confession? Should I just leave it up to you? Like they're still friends after all the years, or maybe now they're a couple? Or maybe... ahh.. so many possibilities... :)
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