좋은 선배예요! (My Favorite Sunbae!)
The Last Song
=15 years later=
Soeun stared at her iPhone and counted. 1.. 2... 7. A week more till she gets back to her home country. A week till she gets to meet Minyoung Eonni, and stay with her. A week till she leaves San Francisco.. Junjin and Sora.. Sunbae.. Right! Sunbae! Soeun checked her watch and let out a sigh of relief. It was still 12:10. She promised that she would meet him after his meeting ends. Soeun twirled her pink pen and scribbled on her organizer the remaining stuff to pack for next week. The day ways very windy, and she tightened her cardigan, plugging her earphones in. Brown Eyed Soul's Nothing Better came on.
It always appeared before me
Your face, I remember
My heart that stopped short
As you spitefully took my disfunctional heart
And with your bright smile
That's how you easily opened my heart
Your face, I remember
My heart that stopped short
As you spitefully took my disfunctional heart
And with your bright smile
That's how you easily opened my heart
Soeun sung along under her breath. "Nothing better.. nothing better than you.."
A manly voice from behind her startled Soeun. "Nothing better.. than who? Me?"
"Oh! Sunbae! You surprised me there You're done with your meeting! So soon!"
"Thought so. Yeah I am.." he winked.
"And..." Soeun glanced at the object he was carrying.. "You brought it! YES!!!"
Beom smiled his signature dimpled smile. "Course I did. What's a guitar practice without guitar, right?" he chuckled at his lame joke.
"Are we doing it here? As in.. are we practicing here?" she asked. Wouldn't it be weird if people saw? People would think of them as some couple. Soeun smiled to herself.
"Let me tie my hair first." Soeun twisted her long, silky locks into an elegant bun.
"What should we start with?" Beom asked.
"Um.. we did the chords the other day, right? I want to try..."
"What? Nothing Better?" Beom joked.
Soeun's eyes twinkled. "Shall we?"
Beom started strumming. "Only if you sing."
"NEH?! SUNBAE!" Soeun's eyes widened in shock.
"Nah I'm just kidding. Soeun-ah..."
"Mmhmm?"
"Why don't we skip today's lesson and just go out? Have some fun.. an ice cream or two?"
"In this weather?"
Beom nodded. "I'm not going to take no for an answer."
Soeun rolled her eyes. "Yah Kim Sang Bum, what are you thinking?" she said in Banmal, giving him a light smack on the shoulder.
"Using Banmal, are you now?" He rubbed the part where Soeun smacked him. "Yah! That hurt! And not anything. Just a little sunbae-hoobae outing. You like?"
Soeun put her pen on her lip, as if to consider his request. "Sure!" An ice cream sounded nice anyway. She was complaining to Sora on how much she craved dark chocolate gelato yesterday. "If.." Soeun paused.
Beom stared at her as if to say, 'what?'
"If.. it's on you!!" She stuck her tongue out.
"Aigoo. It's not like you're not used to me spending you money. Heh. Oh. And to make it fair, I have a request, too."
"You're too much, sunbae."
Beom went closer to her ear. Soeun shuddered. "Don't call me sunbae."
"Then what?! Aish!" she retreated a little.
"Oppa."
"No way!"
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Junho rolled his eyes at the couple who was making their way down the hill, near to where he was sitting. Notebooks, song sheets, everything was strewn everywhere. A familiar language reached his ears. He continued observing the couple and studied their features. Koreans! The guy was serenading the girl with Brown Eyed Soul's Nothing Better using his acoustic guitar. Him below, and her at the higher part of the hill. Junho snorted and patted his baby, his Gibson. What a cheesy crud. I obviously could do better than that. He bragged to himself and continued back to his work.. but his ears prickled to every single thing they were saying. He understood the language very well, after all. But didn't seem to bother saying hello to them. It was his second day in San Francisco, anyway. It's not like he didn't have enough Korean friends in Seoul already. Who doesn't know Lee Junho? The couple continued making their way down, and he soon had a clearer vision of them. He wanted to get back to his work again, but his eyes, otherwise. They stood fixed on the girl with the lose chignon hairstyle.
"Sunbae!" he heard her calling as she went down towards the guy. Sunbae? Junho thought. What kind of girl calls her boyfriend SUNBAE?! Not realising, Junho continued to stare at her behind his Ray-Bans. After a couple of minutes, the girl turned around, making direct eye-contact with Junho. He felt his heart pound. Dugeun dugeun. Junho did not turn away. The girl then walked down with the guy, laughing. He did not remove his gaze. After they were out of sight, Junho turned back to his sheets and facepalmed himself. Damn, what was that back there?! He huffed to himselves as he perfected the finishing touches to his lyrics. "Stupid distraction. Geez."
--------
The rich, bittersweet taste of dark chocolate still lingered around Soeun's mouth.
"Thank you sunbae! That was like.. one of the best gelatos I've ever had!" Soeun stretched her arms wide. "Aaaaaaaaaaah~ the weather is getting lovelier by the minute!" she skipped around. "Thanks for the 'serenade', too. She joked.
"No big." Beom smiled. "It's not like we're like this everyday," he added quietly.
"Excuse me?" she was too excited by the lovely weather to notice his words.
"Nothing."
"The serenade was too funny to be honest!" Said Soeun, breaking the 5-second-awkwardness. "Too cheesy!"
"I did that with all my heart and you're saying it's cheesy?!"
"Yes! Too much for my liking.."
"I thought girls liked those kind of things."
"What?"
"The red rose, prince charming, serenading kinda thing."
Soeun felt goosebumps running down her spine. "Not me nu-uh. People even stared oh my god! I was too embarassed!" She hit Beom's arm again. "The guy with the Ray-Bans must've thought we're a couple or something!" Soeun put her hands on . "He had that weird look on his face, sunbae!"
"Why not? Aren't we?" Beom joked. He knew Soeun doesn't like those sort of things.
Soeun bared her teeth, making her look like a horse. Both of them cracked into fits of laughter. Beom was the only guy Soeun hangs out with, and even with his cheesy jokes, she knew that they were just jokes. Beom replied with a seal impersonation, clapping in mid-air.
Soeun laughed again. "Sunbae!!! You look so ugly!!!"
"As if your face wasn't!" They laughed again. "Yah.." Beom's face became slightly serious.
"Mm?"
"I'm gonna miss you, Soeun-ah."
Soeun made a face. "Jiiiiiiiiiiiiin.. ja? Seriously, sunbae?" she sneered.
"I'm serious."
He must've been, Soeun thought. "Awww... that's too bad. Cause I won't miss you!" She ran, sticking her tongue out.
"Yah! If you do that again.. I'll pull it out!" He yelled.
"Na na na na na!" she teased.
"Aigoo.." he got up and chased after her. Choding. Beom caught her arm, and Soeun had nowhere to go.
"Let go," she said playfully.
Beom ruffled her hair.
"Yah!!!!!" Soeun yelled. "It's all messed up now!"
Beom ignored her. "I'm REALLY gonna miss you, Soeun-ah. Remember this."
Soeun wrinkled her nose. "Whatever you say, sunbae.."
A tall, well-built guy rolled his eyes watching the two. Not these two lovebirds again, Junho thought, strumming his guitar. I hope I don't bump into these the two every day when I'm here.
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