Chapter 7 

Crush

That night, Jaemi decided to come outside for a breath of fresh air and also to forget that painful incident. What happened was totally unexpected and it was shameful for her side. It was the first time that something as shameful as that happened to her.

 She felt and looked like a star struck teenager who got her first kiss from her crush.

Jaemi was about to kick a small pebble on the ground when the horrendous idea struck her like lightning. She lost her balance which led to her kissing the ground. She silently hissed in pain and curses the pebble and the stupid idea. She wasn’t crushing on someone. Not with anyone, most especially Yunho.

Her breath hitched at the sound of the name. Jaemi immediately stood up and brushed her pajamas as if that could also brush off the feeling she has. But of course, it was unsuccessful.

“Jaemi Matagumpay, wake up!” She told herself and lightly shaking her head.

“Are you that bored that you’re talking to yourself now?” And out of nowhere Jung Yunho appeared, scaring the lights out of Jaemi. The latter literally jumped from her place and clutched her chest, catching her breath.

“Can you please warn me before speaking just like what you did? I almost had a heart attacked.” If Jaemi’s eyes had laser beams, Yunho was surely dead by now.

Yunho chuckled and his eyes narrowed into slits in amusement.  “And I thought my presence is strong enough for you to notice me.”

Damn right, it also made my heart jump.

“Just don’t do it again.”

“Alright.”           

And after minutes of sickening silence ad awkwardness…

“Ah... Y-Yunho...”

“Hmmm…?”

Jaemi fidgeted and her toes played with some rock on the ground while looking everywhere except Yunho. “A-about what happened…”

She wasn’t finished talking yet but Yunho decided to make a clown out of her and laughed like it was the normal thing to do in that situation. It caused the girl to blush like a tomato.

“Forget it.” Jaemi gave up and decided to walk inside the house when a warm hand stopped her. “You know if you’re just gonna laugh at me, I better go. I am suffering from so much humiliation right now. And for your information, I’m not usually like that, Maybe I’m just missing my fami-"

“Or maybe you can’t stand being with someone who is as handsome as me.” Yunho cut in and Jaemi swore she saw red, well, aside from the fact that her face was already red from her rapid heartbeat and embarrassment.

 “Jerk,” She hissed and pulled her wrist from Yunho’s grip.

“Okay, I’m sorry. I’m just teasing you. It’s okay, you don’t have to think about it anymore,” Yunho said in between his laugh but of course, Jaemi was far from being okay. Not in a million years she would forget about what happened. It will surely hunt her forever. And Yunho’s teases and warm hands weren’t helping at all. Wait, warm hands?

Jaemi looked down and froze when she realized that the guy’s hands were now on her shoulders, and the guy was lightly slumped to meet her eyes. How did he manage to get in that position without her noticing was a huge mystery. But one thing was for sure, Jaemi was enjoying the invasion of her personal space, but there was no way she was going to tell him that. She wanted to step back but something was stopping her. Yunho’s grip wasn’t even that strong, it was so gentle as a matter of fact, but she was frozen in place.

Jaemi blamed the cold weather. Yes.

She blamed the cold weather.

 Cold weather.

Jung Yunho was a hell of a god.

“I have to go inside now.” Jaemi tried to free herself but it seemed like Yunho was having fun teasing her. But for her it was pure torture.

“Why don’t you stay here and let’s talk for a while.” He motioned the bench under the tree but of course, Jaemi refused. She had enough torture for a day so she took a very deep breath and forced a smile and politely declined.

“You don’t have to be nice to me if you really don’t want to,” she started and Yunho was startled and looked at the little lady in disbelief.

“What-“

“I will sleep on the couch so you can have your room back. I will just wake up early so your parents and Jihye won’t notice anything.”

“And why is that?”

So my heart can calm down, damn it!

“Isn’t that what you want from the start?” She rolled her eyes. Yunho nodded and Jaemi sighed in relief. But it was only temporary. What Yunho said next almost made her jaw drop.

“I don’t want to. You can have my room as long as you want,” he said it like it was the most casual thing in the world. Yunho was suddenly gone bipolar and it was confusing.

“Bu-“

“No buts.  I will sleep in the couch and you can sleep in my bed.”

His bed. Oh dear heaven, help me.

“And besides, I won’t be here as often as I want to so that room will be empty most of the time.”

“Right, you’re an idol,” Jaemi calmed down a bit and looked at the guy who was now sitting beside her on that bench under the tree with admiration.

 Jaemi was sitting with an idol. Just wow.

“How does it feel?” She asked out of nowhere, hoping that the subject will be changed and it did because Yunho bought her manoeuvre.

“Huh?”

“How does it feel like when you’re performing in front of millions of people? Is it nerve wracking? Can you still remember the face of your fans? Is it that hard to practice? Are still getting enough rest? Are the perks good? Are they taking care of you properly? Do you still manage to sleep at least 8 hours a night?” She said in one go and Yunho laughed at her face once again.

“What’s so funny?” Jaemi asked innocently.

“Well that’s a lot of questions. You sounded like a fan at first then you started to sound like my girlfriend in the end.”

Cue: red face

Jaemi cursed Yunho silently. How did he managed to divert the conversation into something stupid like what he said, she was totally clueless, but it was a good feeling that those words came out from Yunho’s  mouth.

Jaemi resorted to defend herself.

“I am just curious. You don’t have to answer any of my questions if you don’t want to.” She looked away. Yunho laughed at her once again. “And I don’t sound like a girlfriend.”

“You are so cute,” he said, fighting the urge to pinch her cheeks.

“Shut up,” she snorted.

“It feels great and nerve wracking at the same time. If I could, I would definitely memorize the faces and names of each of our fans, but it’s quite impossible. Practice is hard ad exhausting. We practice, rest then practice again until we can be able to perform our song even when we’re sleeping. The perks are definitely good. Yes, they are taking care of us and no, 8 hours of sleep is a luxury especially if we’re on a tour. How’s that?”

Jaemi was left speechless.

“Hey,” he gently tapped her shoulder. “Aren’t you going to comment? You wanted to know right? I’m in for an interview right now. The view is so good and there’s no camera around. I can totally be honest about everything.”

“But you have to be away from your family in order to have everything that you said. You said it’s exhausting, why did you choose it then?” Yunho sighed and slid his back at the backrest of the bench and rested his neck back and stared at the night sky while thinking of something he only knew what.

“Tell me Jaemi, why did you choose to study here when your country is offering the same program? Why did you choose to leave your family?”

Jaemi pondered for a moment and got what Yunho was trying to say.

“I want to give my family the best in the world. My former university there offers the same program but not the opportunity they offer here.”

“Right. We have the same reason.”

Jaemi nodded in understanding. Yunho chose to be apart from his family to provide for them. Being famous was just part of it. But of course, that was just the icing on the cake. Jaemi had to learn more.

“I love what I’m doing and I will do anything for the one I love.”

That night, Jaemi realized two things. One, that the conversation she had with Yunho had made her forget about the embarrassment she had. And two, she was totally crushing on the guy and that made her lose her sleep.

Jaemi was crushing on Jung Yunho.

Goodness.

The moment she thought of that, Jaemi stood abruptly and said, “I will go inside.” Her knees were starting to freeze again and repeating was happened at the restaurant earlier that day was a huge no, no.

Yunho tilted his head sideward. “What’s wrong? I thought you wanted to talk. It’s still early.” His clock said that it was indeed early.

“I…I have unfinished assignments to do.” That did it. Nice escape.

“Oh… okay.”

Jaemi turned her back on Yunho but after a few steps, she looked at him again and fidgeted.

“You have something to tell me?” Yunho asked when Jaemi remained silent.

“Y-yes… Please don’t tell anyone about what happened at the restaurant. Please let it remain as a secret between the two of us.”

Yunho looked at her amusedly and chuckled. He said nothing about Jaemi’s plea.

“Y-Yunho?”

“Okay.”

Jaemi’s eyes lit up and without warning, she just threw herself into Yunho’s arms. Luckily, the guy was strong enough to support the impact.

“Thank you.” She said and buried her face into Yunho’s chest.

“Wow… I won’t mind keeping all your secrets if you’ll hug me like this every time.”

And that did it. Jaemi’s eyes widened like she just seen as ghost, a very handsome ghost at that. She quickly pulled away and watched in horror as Yunho looked at her and smiled like an idiot.

She hugged Jung Yunho for the second time that day.

She wanted the ground to swallow her alive.

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I am really sorry for the unannounced hiatus. I've been very busy with school. But I will update regularly now since it's our summer vacation and I have nothing else to do. ^.^ please try to read the last sequel of this series... Years After. 

aejae22

By Chance