“Hyung?”

Silent.

“Hyung?”

Another silent moment.

“Ya Hyung! Yoon Jae noona on the phone!”

Hearing the name, he sprang to a sitting position and searched for his phone. Then he realized the phone was actually by his side and never once, he heard it ringing. He glared at Kyu Jong who was smiling from ear to ear looking at him.

“I wanted to know whether you want some ramyun for dinner?”

Still glaring at him for pulling a prank on him, he answered, “One with egg.”

He picked up the manhwa he was supposedly reading and laid back on the floor again. His mind wandered off just as before. He cannot believe his roommate managed to trick him like that.

‘Come to think of it, Yoon Jae does not have my number and vice versa. So why did I got excited when Kyu Jong does that? And why did he mention her name? He noticed already? That boy is really observant.’

He flipped through the pages of the manhwa he was reading. But what came to his eyes are not the pictures on the manhwa rather, it was the scene from the past 2 days, in front of the café where they had auditioned.

He was really happy at the announcement of landing a gig at Café Bbang and when their eyes came into contact, he was really ecstatic to share the good news with her though he knew she would have guessed they got through the audition because of the loud exclamation by Hyung Jun. Though it was just a brief moment, he felt the pull towards her. It has been so long for him to feel that same pull again.

He saw her leave the café when they are still discussing with the owner regarding the songs that they would be playing next Saturday. They were given two songs to perform and the owner wanted to know what the songs going to be so that they would be able to print the flyers together with some summary about their group. They discussed for a while before leaving the café to join Jung Min’s sister and her friend.

As they step outside of the café that he saw it. The scene. The hugging scene between Yoon Jae and a man, in plain sight, in the middle of the day. His legs felt like it was nailed to the ground. He was shocked, surprised and hurt when he saw it. It felt like someone had taken a sharp fork and poked at his heart several times. He knew he had started to care for her and possibly liking her as well, but he didn’t expect the feeling would be this fast to get squashed at and ran over.

As he was thinking about it, he held on his chest and sighed deeply. Kyu Jong caught his sighing as he was approaching him with two bowl of ramyun. Seeing his roommate, he pulled himself up to a sitting position and opened the foldable table that was just within his reach and set them up in the middle of the small living room. The two bowls sat opposite of one another on the table.

“Hyung, the drinks.”

“Arasso,” he said as he got up and walked towards the small refrigerator to get two cans of beer.

Sitting at the same position as their dinner, they both dived into it hungrily.

“So, what’s your move?”

“Huh? I’ll just mix everything up before I eat.”

“Hyung, not the noodle. I’m talking about noona.”

“You knew?” he asked, looking up at Kyu Jong.

Kyu Jong nodded. “During the car ride.”

“I see.”

“So?”

“There’s never anything to begin with,” he answered matter-of-factly in between his slurps.

“You’re giving up? You heard what Jung Min said right? He’s their old neighbor. Just a neighbor.”

“Giving up means you have been defeated, don’t care and you stop at everything. What I am right now is being in hiatus state. I observe and I plan. I’ll act when it’s time. Now, eat before I ‘bear’ them too.”

“Bear? Gom? Wae?”

“You don’t see discovery channel? When hunting for fish, bear with just one strike can get the fish, like this,” he explained and startled Kyu Jong when he dived into his bowl and fished out noodles shoving it straight into his mouth.

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Kim Hyun Joong took a glance at his wristwatch. ‘2 more hours…’

Today they are going to start their rehearsal for their fist gig performance. They have rested for 2 days now and it’s time to get back into business. There is one more song they haven’t practiced just yet. During the previous discussion with the café owner, they have decided to perform Find and another song written by Kyu Jong and music by Yong Saeng. A slow rock song titled Thank You. They want to show the public their ability of the group as a performer and composing skills. Therefore they have decided not to play any song by other established and well known group.

He looked around the restaurant, waiting for bills that he had to prepare when the supervisor approached him.

“Hyun Joong, I need you to wait today. I can be the cashier. We are short of waiters. Chang Sun couldn’t make it. He called just now saying that his mother is sick and he had to take her to the hospital.”

He nodded. He hated being the waiter but that was asked of him, he will try his best to do the task given. He went over the reception area to pick up the small order pad and pen when he noticed the two new customers that just entered the restaurant. His chest hurt but he tried to act unaffected and approached the customers.

“Welcome to the Outback Steakhouse. Table for two?”

He watched as the woman in front of him stared at him and nodded slowly.

“Hey…Aren’t you the leader of Jung Min’s band? You are working here? Yoon Jae ya…you know him, right?”

“Yes. He’s Kim Hyun Joong. He’s one of my students too.”

When she mentioned he was her student, he felt angered by the statement. It’s as if he’s only that to her and nothing more. Not even as a friend. He tried hard to maintain the expressionless look and ushered the customers to their table. He handed them the menu and left for awhile for them to choose. Behind the reception table he kept watch of the couple. His heart continued aching, with jealousy and hurt.

‘She knew I’m working at the same place as Hyung Jun so why must she come here and flaunt that ‘neighbor’ of hers? Be still my heart…’

He saw the man whose name he still can’t remember because after the introduction that evening, he quickly excused himself and went back home alone, calling up to him to take their order. He really couldn’t take it seeing her being all happy and giddy in front of him. ‘If only I could just walk out of here now,’ he thought.

“May I have your order?”

“Hyun Joong ah, hyung would like 2 soup-of-the day…what would the soup be for today?”

“It’s wild mushroom.”

“Jae ah, okay?”

When her name was mentioned, that was the time he glanced over to her. Yoon Jae gave a nod and he noticed that she seemed to avoid any eye contacts with him. That made his heart ache some more.

“Okay, then 2 soup, premium char grilled rib eye and for my date here…”

“Oppa…”

“What? Don’t worry. I’ll choose something with a small portion for you. Or you already have something you want?”

“Aniyo…choose for me. But small portion, please.”

“Well, Hyun Joong ah, what do you think will suit for your tutor here?”

He was startled when he was asked to choose for Yoon Jae. He thought the man was just fooling around with him but when he noticed he was waiting for his opinion, he looked over at Yoon Jae and again to his disappointment, she was looking at the menu and not at him.

He flipped through the menu in front of the man and answered, “How about these salads? It has the carbohydrates and protein from the chicken, and vitamins from the vegetables. It’s light but fulfilling as well. I would recommend the chicken tender salad.”

He glanced again towards Yoon Jae for her reaction and this time around he was satisfied when she looked at the menu in front of her of the same picture menu as the one he mentioned and then looked up to him, smiled and nodded, approving of his suggestion.

“Since Yoon Jae agreed to that, we’ll order that. Hyun Joong ah, you’re good. You really thought about the well being of the person ordering and fit to their needs as well.”

“How about the drinks?” he asked, looking at Yoon Jae.

Yoon Jae just looked at him without saying anything. They stared at one another and only broke free when Gong Ji Cheol ordered, “I’ll take the Rainforest Coffee. Yoon Jae ah…how about you? Let me guess, you’d want the Cream Berry Smoothies?”

He looked over at him. In his mind he was disagreeing to the order, ‘She drinks only hot water at night.’ And he was right when Yoon Jae shook her head and ordered for Victoria Tea instead.

“Will that be all?”

“Yes, thank you.”

He left their table with a last glance towards Yoon Jae and took the order to the kitchen. He continued serving another customer after that. Now and then he would steal glances towards their table. Towards Yoon Jae. Every time he did that he prayed he wouldn’t see them doing what couples do like holding hands or caressing each other. And he was glad that each time, he only saw them talking and laughing without any skin connections.

He came back to their table to serve their food and left. This time around, she was looking at him. She didn’t avoid his eye contact again and he could even see her sweet lips curved into a smile for him. His heart fluttered when he saw that. It was when they asked for their bill 45 minutes later that she finally uttered her words directed to him.

“Will you be going to Jung Min’s after this? He asked me to go there and listen to the second song.”

He nodded.

“When will your shift end?”

“Another hour.”

Silence. Since there was no reply, he took the cash and went back to the cashier. He returned back to their table with their balance when the man asked him, “Let’s go there together? I think I would like to hear to you guys too and give support to Jung Min and Hyung Jun.”

He didn’t know what to answer. If Yoon Jae was the asking, he wouldn’t hesitate to agree but it’s not. And he wouldn’t feel he could take it to see them together in the same car with him at the back.

“It’s okay. I’ll just meet you there. Thank you for coming to Outback Steakhouse and hope you have enjoyed your meal here,” he said as he bowed to them. He watched as they leave the restaurant together and for the third time today, his heart ache but only this time he felt like his heart being ripped out of his chest when he saw the man wrapped his arm around Yoon Jae.