Mountains of crumpled paper piled up in his overflowing trash can. The contrast between the pure white paper and the soot black metal body of the trash can was laughable (to a person not in his right mind). So Yonghwa did exactly that. He laughed to his heart's content at the stupid trash can (because that's not insane at all). He laughed at how he can never write the perfect sorrowful lyrics or compose the most heartwrenching melody. He kicked the poor bin over in a moment of rage and frustration, spilling its contents - also ignoring the pain - and ran his hands through the oily crow's nest that is his hair. He would have the decency to shower usually but the stress that was burdening him short-circuited his mind. Slightly disgusted by the slippery substance in his hair, he removed his hands to grasp the dull number two pencil laying on the mahogany desk, probably the most expensive thing he purchased. He always believed that an artist of any kind should have suitable work environment, which for him was his desk, for him to produce the best work. Yonghwa stared at the blank sheet of lined paper on the desk as if it would give him some inspiration for whatever lyrics that he could come up with, which for now was nothing. The pencil shook vigorously in his hand, the blunt tip touching the paper but not forming any words. He let out a loud sigh and slammed it back on the desk exasperatedly.

"Maybe, maybe I'll get something if I play my guitar." He muttered as some sort of comfort to himself and swiped the handle of his guitar that he loved so much. The beloved instrument was probably his second most expensive thing he owned. He breathed out in contentment, feeling the calm take over him almost immediately. Playing a random melody that he thought of at the top of his head, he hummed along to it and looked around his scattered apartment, searching for anything that would give him inspiration.

"Bills and papers I could do without," Yonghwa began sputtering random lyrics when he saw the bills that he needed to pay in the trash from the trash bin (that he knocked over).

A monthly rent I have yet to pay

The universe keeps moving around me

But I seem to stay in one place

In this hectic world I find no inspiration

No love to write about

No friendship to write about

Nothing to make them cry

My stream of ideas keeps running dry.

(A/N: These lyrics are really random by the way, not from a song or anything.)

The pleasant tune turned discordant when he jolted in surprise at the abrupt banging on his door. "..." He cursed noncharacteristically. He scrambled from the bed he was sitting on and tried to do the impossible by cleaning the disarray that was his apartment itself in 5 seconds. Before he could even pick up - scratch that - before he could even touch the dirty jeans that he wore yesterday on the floor, the door slammed open to reveal a woman that looked to be around her late 20's with a key dangling from a finger. He resisted the urge to bang his head against the desk (partly because of the fear of damaging it) and forced a smile on his face.

"Mrs. Lee..." He laughed nervously and fiddled with his fingers. He had developed that habit only when he first met her; she just had that presence that makes you shy away. 

"Yonghwa darling," She spoke in a soft tone with a smile that seemed too fake to convince anyone. He braced himself for the nagging that came next. "Have you come into some money so that you could pay my rent, dear?" The honey sweet voice was still there - surprisingly. He had to give her credit for keeping her anger in for this long. She stepped inside his pig sty, confidence radiating from her long strides. For a woman in her early 50's, Mrs. Lee was definitely one to defy time and its process; she looked no older than 30, her clear skin glowing healthily and her beauty not one to joke about. 

"Umm...I was...I was...just counting up the money from my latest gig to pay you Mrs. Lee. You c-came just on time!" He cleared his throat noisily to get rid of the evident fear in his voice. Fortunately, Yonghwa wasn't lying this time. He wracked his brain for the location of a certain white envelope that could save him from potential death.

"I'm waiting." Mrs. Lee tapped her foot impatiently with a beautiful, sinister smirk on his ruby red lips.

"I-It's here somewhere." He spoke quickly and rummaged through the drawers of his bed, searched under his pillow and bed cover, and bulldozed through his messy room just in case it was hidden under a yet-to-be-washed underwear or beside a half-eaten jelly donut, not be specific or anything. The lady rolled her eyes, mentally noting to call a housekeeper for her son's best friend every week. On second thought, she changed it to every three days after surveying the mess once again. Her eyes landed on a white trash pile of crumpled papers and without knowing, a sympathetic smile slipped on her face. 'He must be running out of ideas again,' she thought and chuckled quietly. Once again, she noted to herself to take Yonghwa sightseeing to break him from his writer's block.

In the pile of papers was a perfectly untouched envelope, a certain white envelope that a certain someone was looking for. Mrs. Lee picked it up with slight interest, a little surprised to find it heavier than the usual weight of a paperweight. She opened the unsealed flap and almost laughed out at the crisp, clean bills in there. A motherly smile took over her face when she saw the amount that he made from a recent gig had, much more than usual. While Yonghwa was still (unintentionally) cleaning his room to look for the very item that's already in the rightful owner's hand, she quickly yanked out a handful of bills, about 10 or so, and stashed it in an opened desk drawer, stealthily hiding it under a stack of lined paper. Content with her work, she closed the envelope flap and cleared loudly.

"Yonghwa-yah, is this what you were looking for?" She put on a stern tone and waved the envelope in the air.

"Y...Yes, where...where did you find it?" He panted in exhaustion, merely walking in his apartment was too much (due to the various obstacles on the ground, laundry to name one). A newfound sheen of swear glistened on his forehead.

"I found it laying with its crumpled friends over here." She pointed to the sprawled out trash beside the bin.

"Oh thank god you found it." He mentally slapped himself for being such an idiot.

"I already counted it, so save your breath and quit your huffing and puffing." She answered his unspoken question. "You did well. There was just enough money." She lied expertly. "I'll be going no dear. And if you ever forget another month's rent, I'll have a lovely sharpened knife from home specially brought for you." Yonghwa mouthed along to her threat, too used to it now. Although...that doesn't make it any less scary.

"Yes, Mrs. Lee. I promise I'll have my rent on time next time. I'll work harder than ever to get you your rent money. I know the consequences and will fulfill my duty." He came closer and recited without even thinking about it like a well-rehearsed drama line. This time it was her turn to mouth his 'lines.' She had personally typed up a paper for him to say for every time he forgot his monthly rent or couldn't pay it.

"Good boy," She briefly patted his head, "Well, I have to go now. The shop's waiting for me. Ta-ta~" She waved and seemingly skipped out the door.

When she was gone, Yonghwa basically face palmed himself. "I can never handle her energy..." He muttered while shaking his head.

 

 

 

 

(Umma is Mom by the way.)

"Umma, did you chew him out again?" An exasperated voicenagged from Mrs. Lee's phone.

"No dear. Why would I ever do that?" She answered haughtily, chuckling at her son's too truassumption. "Ok, maybe I did."

"I thought so..." Jonghyun rolled his eyes at his mother. "How's Yongwa? I always feel bad when I can't visit him these days..."

"He's doing perfectly fine dear. Maybe a little untidy," 

"As always," They chorused together.

"But he's as healthily as a horse. Well, lacking a little energy actually," 

"As always," They harmonized again.

"But he's fine. He seems to be making more these days." She nodded satisfiedly even though she knew her son can't see her.

"And you gave him back half of his rent money again?" Jonghyun questioned with a raised eyebrow.

"As always." She chirped. "But you know, this time, that idiot friend of yours was so dense, he accidentally threw away the money envelope in the trash. Lucky I found it." She sighed.

"He's always like that Umma. Don't you remember the time when we were baking a cake for the teacher that was retiring and Yonghwa was supposed to turn off the oven in 45 minutes? He forgot about it and suddenly remembered it an hour later. When he came back to check on it, the cake was already taken out of the oven in perfect condition, thanks to you Umma." Jonghyun smiled at the memories.

"How could I forget...It could have been disastrous." She laughed lightheartedly. "Eve though I might regret it, I think you should invite him over to our house again some time."

"Umma, you know he's only focused on his work these days. He wants to make the perfect sad song and make people cry. So until he can make at least one person cry, he's not going anywhere." 

"I know, I know. Oh he's such a talented musician. How could people not cry at his beautiful music? At this rate, I might even hire some people to cry at his gigs." She sighed again.

"He's not going to like that." Jonghyun scolded.

"Not if he doesn't find out." She argued.

"I'll tell him if you do it Umma." He warned. "As much as I want us to hang out again, I wish for his success more, so I support him in whatever he does. And I know you do too, so don't bother saying otherwise Umma." 

"Yes I know. It's such a shame his future fell after he dropped out of college to do music though. His parents abandoned him and even took him off of their family registry. Even though I support, I do, I wished he could have applied for a music school because he has such talent..." 

"I do too. I do too."

________________________________________

 

It was his fifth gig. Yonghwa was attempting at another "cry-out" (it was what he called his outings at cafes, street festivals, and such to make people cry) in a Hongdae cafe. Although he didn't have as much confidence as his first cry-out, he was feeling a little more hopeful than usual because the cafe was immensely popular. in a deep breath, he pushed the glass door of the cafe open and walked in with a bright smile. Maybe it was because the cafe had a bell to indicate whenever a customer came in or because he had a guitar in one hand, something that's significantly different than others, all the eyes were on him the moment he stepped foot inside. More than a handful of girls murmured amongst themselves and complimented his looks to each other. Quite a few actually had the audacity to approach him and whispered some lines that sounded too practiced to his ears. He politely moved away from wondering hands and spoke to the cafe's owner, earning the properly dressed woman a whole bunch of glares and envious looks from scantily clad women. She nodded and gestured him to the small stage. He glanced around the room, his confidence rising at the number of eyes focused on him. There was a big crowd today, which means, as he did the "calculations" in his head, there was a higher chance of him finding success. He was today's one-day act, something that this Hongdae cafe did often, so there was bound to be some song that would give the result he wanted.

(A/N: I don't know if a 'one-day act' is real or not, but if it is, my definition of it might be different. Yonghwa is the cafe's one-day act, so he's the only performer for the whole 'day,' which translates to about 3 hours or so.)

Yonghwa sat in the chair centered on the stage and spoke into the standing microphone to get the people's attention, if there were any others that weren't already mesmerized by him. "Good evening. I'm Jung Yonghwa, and I'll be performing for you today." He flashed a courteous smile, which undoubtedly made some girls faint. He began playing a self-composed song on his guitar.

As he sings softly in the cafe (after a tiring 3 and a half hour), following along with the rhythm of his audience's clapping, he mentally curses at the smiles that he sees. His eyes desperately scans the crowd to find just one, at least one, person who was emotionally overwhelmed by his music. Disappointed at yet another failure, the strumming on his guitar comes to a remorseful stop, timing perfectly with the ending of his song. He stands up and bows politely with an equally respectful smile. He leaves the stage with a guitar in one hand and the other a clenched fist. He briefly passes by a deserted corner of a cafe as he exits when he hears the quiet and gentle sniffling of a woman. Yonghwa rapidly blinks in excitement, the thought of the reason for her crying might be him makes him giddy with happiness. He slowly shifts his view over to the woman, her long locks of hair covering her face, and opens his mouth uselessly. The words that are dying to spew from his mouth failed to process in his brain, so he his lips nervously. He thanks himself for functioning correctly when he hears himself speak.

"Excuse me, miss?" Though quite short a sentence, he was grateful to himself nevertheless. The woman gently brushed the hair from her face as she turned around to face him. Honestly, he was surprised he could even form coherent words after that one breath-taking moment.

"Yes?" She spoke demurely. He didn't notice it, but a flash of recognition lighted up in her eyes. He was already lost in the beauty of her relentlessly falling tears and her herself. "Excuse me for asking, but are you the one who just performed?"

"Yes. Yes I am." He blinks confusedly.

"It's a pleasure to meet you! I'm a big fan of your music." She wiped away her tears and extended out a hand. However, he was too fixed on her face to notice anything else. Apparently, she noticed it and retracted her hand. "Is there something on my face Yonghwa-ssi?" She asked firmly without any hesitation.

"H-Huh? No, of course not." He snapped out of his daze (fortunately) and waved his hand in protest frantically. Unknowingly, he started fiddling with his fingers. For the first time in a long time, Yonghwa was flustered (Mrs. Lee not included). "Nice to meet you Miss..."

"Seohyun. That's my stage name. My real name's Seo Joohyun." She stretched out her hand again and this time, he did shake it.

"Stage name?"

"I'm also a performer like you." She pointed to her guitar propped on a chair that he never noticed.

"Really..." He murmured more to himself than anybody. He momentarily pondered about making a stage name for himself. "I haven't seen you around before."

"I only perform in this cafe on Wednesdays, and I also don't do one-day acts in places like these." She said thoughtfully. "Most of my time is spent on open areas." She smiled at the thought, and he noticed that her eyes curved upwards and her aegyo sal was accentuated adorably whenever she did that. 

(A/N: Aegyo sal is under eye fat. It may sound all weird and disgusting in description, but a lot of Koreans have it. It's cute visually. ^^)

"I would ask if you can play a bit for me, but...." He indicated the crowd watching with a sideward motion of his head. "Would you mind it if I ask you for some coffee?"

"That depends. Are you asking?" She replied smartly with a smirk.

"Yes, I am." He chuckled lowly. Dare he say, he was getting slightly intimidated by her personality, but somehow, he felt attracted to this strange, bold woman. "Shall we go out........side?" He cleared his throat awkwardly at his word mishap.

"Heh. Yes, I would love to. But instead of coffee, may I suggest something else?"

________________________________________

 

"So you like sweet potatoes?" Yonghwa questioned Seohyun after a comfortable silence of walking. She led him to a sweet potato stand that she said she went to often after they went outside. Honestly, he couldn't believe anyone would like sweet potato.

"You like coffee?" She pointed at the coffee cup in his hand (she had agreed to go to a coffee shop after a long persuasion from him) and bit down on her steamed sweet potato with a delighted squeal. He considered laughing at her cute action but thought against it. She was similar to Mrs. Lee personality-wise and although he doubted she kept a sharp kitchen knife handy, he couldn't always be sure so best not to provoke her.

"Touche." He shrugged nonchalantly. "It's just...I'm not exactly fond sweet potatoes."

"Nonsense. Steamed sweet potato is the best in this cold weather." She took a piece off and waved it in front of his mouth. "You have to try it first to hate it."

"Who said I never tried---" His protest was stopped by the warm, soft food in his mouth. He sighed in bliss quietly. He was feeling a bit cold.

"I heard that." She giggled and happily munched on her sweet potato. "Since you bought me two, I'll give you this one." She handed him the one she wasn't eating. Yonghwa had to admit he felt a little disappointed; he didn't exactly mind her feeding him.

________________________________________

 

"Since we're finished eating, could I hear you play now?" Yonghwa swung his feet impatiently as he sat down on the edge of a water fountain with Seohyun.

"Sure." She strummed a familiar melody.

"Is that....Gee by SNSD?" He widened his eyes in amazement.

"Glad you know the song." She smiled and began singing.

You're so so handsome
My eyes my eyes are blinded
I can't breathe because I'm trembling

Gee gee gee gee baby baby baby
Gee gee gee gee baby baby baby

Oh I feel so embarrassed
I can't look at you
I feel shy because I've fallen in love

Gee gee gee gee baby baby baby
Gee gee gee gee baby baby baby

What should I do?
(What should I do)
About my trembling heart
(My trembling heart)

(Thump thump thump thump)
My heart kept thumping
So I couldn't fall asleep at night

I guess I guess I'm a fool
A fool that knows you, only you
Yes, as I look at you

Her bright eyes were looking at him while she sang, making him feel like the song was dedicated to him. He heard his heart thump thunderously through her gentle voice.

So bright so bright
My eyes are blinded no no no no no
So surprised surprised
I'm shocked oh oh oh oh oh
So tingly tingly my body is trembling
Gee gee gee gee gee
Oh glittering eyes (Oh yeah)
Oh sweet aroma (Oh yeah yeah yeah)

Barely after the first chorus, the two had already gathered an audience, increasing even more when Yonghwa joined her. When they finished the song, a deafening round of applause startled both of them. They looked at each other slowly, exchanging bewildered looks at first, but soon burst out laughing.

"I guess we make quite the combo." She managed to say after fits of giggles.

"You have to admit. We were pretty awesome." He grinned and gave her a high-five. As he stared into her eyes, he suddenly didn't want to let go of her hand. So he didn't.

"Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!" The crowd chanted, and a few wolf whistles could be heard.

Seeming to get a hold of himself, he let go immediately and averted his gaze from her inquiring ones. Red creeped up his neck and reached his ears. He could feel himself heating up, and it was probably going to get worse if he didn't say something. "It's getting late. I'll take you home." He offered.

"It's fine." With that one phrase, he felt as if he ruined it. He doesn't know what 'it' is, but he ruined it. Or so he thought...She stood up with her guitar and held out a hand. He stared at her hand confusedly, his thoughts wondering off to the time he held it (which was 10 seconds ago). "Phone please."

"Oh..." He managed to get out his phone without dropping it and placed it in her beckoning hand. He all but deliberately brushed his fingers against her palm. She typed something in it and handed it back to him. "I'll be waiting for your call." She gave him a coy smile and walked away.

The crowd had dispersed long ago along with the girl, but Yonghwa was still standing frozen with the cell phone in his hand. At a snail's pace, he flipped the lid of his phone open and scrolled through his contacts.

"Seohyun." He spoke aloud while searching for her name without realizing it. "No...Seo Joohyun." There was still no result. "It coudn't be...." He typed in 'Sweet Potato.'

Sweet Potato Lover

Others gave him weird looks when he started laughing loudly in the middle of the streets.

________________________________________

 

"What kind of gig takes this long?" Jonghyun complained all while shivering and rubbing his arms viciously. He was standing at the door of Yonghwa's apartment. In fact, he was standing there for two hours already.

"I thought you had a key." Yonghwa snickered at his friend and inserted the key in the lock, graciously ppening the door for the other.

"Correction: My mom has the key." He scowled unappreciatively at the mocking gesture but rushed inside anyways. "And answer my question!"

"I ran into some...some...person...." That was an understatement, and he knew it, but he didn't bother to correct it.

"A person that kept you outside for two hours?" Jonghyun scoffed.

"Ok...Actually, I found the first person that cried at my music." Yonghwa said, happiness oozing out of him.

"You what?! This guy, I'm so happy for you!" Jonghyun slapped the other's arm with a grin.

"Thanks...I think..." Yonghwa tried not to cringe at the growing pain.

"Tell me all about it!" The younger was practically bouncing with excitement. Then his expression turned dark, and he corrected himself. "On second thought, tell me all about it tomorrow. I need to go home now. I was just checking on you. Good to see you alive." He said all in one breath and dashed outside and homewards. When he was out of Yonghwa's sight and hearing, he pressed 'two' on his phone and thumbed the call button.

"Hello?" A woman's voice spoke.

"Umma! Did you do it?"

"Jonghyun? Where are you? And do what?"

"Did you do it?! Did you pay someone to cry for Yonghwa?"

"What? Did you really take my words seriously hon'? Of course I didn't! Why? Did something happened?"

"Then...it's real...."

"What's real? Did he find someone that cried at his music? Really?"

"I'll talk to you at home Umma. Bye!"

"Wait! Jonghyun-ah! Did he----"

 

 

From: Coffee Guy

To: Sweet Potato Lover

Goodnight Seo Joohyun.

P.S. I might consider my opinions about your sweet potatoes.

 

From: Sweet Potato Lover

To: Coffee Guy

Goodnight Jung Yonghwa.

P.S. That's too bad. My opinion of your coffee is still the same.

 

---

I'm terribly sorry about the long wait. I sort of made it up with a long update...? :D

How did you like the bit of fluff I got in there? ^^

Yes, the sweet potato scene was inspired by that in 'We Got Married.'

I miss YongSeo...TT_TT

The Jonghyun in here is CNBLUE's Jonghyun by the way. Just in case you didn't know.

Now...this isn't a tragic/sad short story for nothing...

Part 2 will be updated..sometime :P

For now, enjoy the fluffiness~

P.S. I just realized something when I read this over. Yonghwa did shower (yes, his hair and his body) when he did his gig, when he was with Seohyun. I thought it was a worthless point I should bring up :]