The Hug

Behind the Thick-Framed Glasses

 

✻ chapter sixteen:
the hug
eun mi's pov
 
 
"L.Joe! Watch out!" I screamed. I could hear the sound of tires screeching and glass breaking.
 
I fell to the ground on my knees, dropping my bag and my hands clutching my head. I shut my eyes as memories started to flood my mind. The tears in Seohyun's eyes as she looked at me for the last time. The high-pitched scream I had heard when she saw the car coming towards her. The brake that was used at the last moment. The sound of a lifeless body falling to the ground.
 
"No." This couldn't be possible. L.Joe couldn't be...
 
My eyes were shut and I was panting heavily, not believing it. Suddenly, I felt a hand on my shoulder. Slowly looked up and saw L.Joe's eyes looking back at me. Concern swam in his warm brown eyes. "Eun Mi, are you alright?"
 
He was still alive. 
 
"Ah..."
 
He was alive.
 
"Are you alright? Say something..."
 
My whole body trembled as he kneeled down to my level. I lowered my shaking hands down to my lap and stared at him.
 
He was really alive. He must have gotten back to the sidewalk just in time as the van drove past. The screeching tires and cracking glass was just an illusion. It was just bad memory that was triggered in the back of my mind.
 
"Eun Mi, what's wrong?" He asked me again. His eyes darted between my wide-open eyes and my trembling hands.
 
Why was I like this? I tried to control my fast breathing. Say something, Eun Mi. Tell him you're just fine. I stuttered instead. "I...you...but..."
 
I noticed his hands held my wrist, trying to stop my trembling. I could feel hot tears sliding down my cheek, even though I was making no effort to cry. 
 
L.Joe helped me get up to my feet, trying not to fall over again. "Let's go inside and get you a glass of water, okay?"
 
He picked up the fallen bags and guided me across to the Sushi Bar. I was still shaking but he steadied me by holding on to my shoulders. I felt safe.
 
I stopped walking when we got to the other side. He looked back at me. I was still in shock. I couldn't believe I thought something impossible would happen. "Eun Mi..."
 
"I thought I'd lost you!" I cried, letting the tears come out this time. I gripped his arms. "I thought I'd lost you, like I lost Seohyun!"
 
"But I'm not gone." He hugged me to his chest as I sobbed and my hair. "I'm fine. I'm right here. I'm not going anywhere."
 
I let him comfort me. It has been too long since someone had told me they were there, right where I needed them.
 
I stood there, in his arms, as he hugged me in comfort, not caring that the whole world could see us. 
 
My tears stopped flowing on its own after a while and he took off my glasses to dry my eyes. "Are you ready to go in now? The others are probably waiting for us."
 
I hoped my eyes weren't red and puffy. "Y-yeah."
 
He handed me my bag and put my glasses back on. Then he planted a soft kiss on my forehead. "Everything is alright, Eun Mi. Don't worry."
 
"Okay." I thought I saw someone watching us from the window of the shop, but it disappeared. I must be hallucinating. 
 
He held my hand as we went in. But the moment he saw the others sitting at a table waving to us, he dropped it. I wish he hadn't, that he held it just a little bit longer. 
 
He sat down next to Changjo and I slowly sat next to Sooyung. "What took you guys so long?"
 
"We were just walking really slow." L.Joe replied for me. He gave me a small smile. 
 
"Sorry guys." I smiled back and pulled out my mission card. I tried to get my mind off of what just happened. "Why did we have to do this, anyways?"
 
"Just for fun." Changjo said. "Let's go around revealing what our special mission was."
 
Out of nowhere, Eunjung took out a large rainbow-colored origami crane. "My card said to make an origami crane with my partner."
 
Hyoyeon's crane was small and looked messed up. It had a face drawn on it. Chan Doo laughed and pointed at what was supposed to be it's head. "You drew a face on the tail?"
 
"I know, I failed." Hyoyeon laughed with him. And took out a piece of paper. "And mine was to get a job for thirty minutes, no pay. I got the boss' signature who was nice enough to grant such a ridiculous request."
 
The rest of the dance members told us their missions: Changbum had to have his partner put girly make-up on him and take a picture with some elderly people that were passing by. "They were so freaked out at me!"
 
Sooyoung had to sit on Changbum's shoulders and scream she was a free woman in the middle of the street. "Do you know how many people laughed at me?"
 
"I had to take a video of me doing the SHINee Sherlock Walk for five minutes!" Changjo laughed, showing us the clip of him crossing his arms and kicking his legs high up in the air (A/N: It's the part during the chorus 'I'm so curious, yeah'). 
 
Chan Doo had to take a picture with a random animal that he saw on the streets. "The first animal I saw was a white dog with a blue tail. And its owners looked really weird. They said they were Canadians and were really famous, but I've never heard of them."
 
L.Joe showed everyone the picture of him with the two foreign girls. I swat his arm and blushed when he said, "Someone was jealous."
 
When it was my turn, I dumped my bag onto the table. The items I bought fell out and I gave each of them to the each pair. For Eunjung and Hyoyeon, I got a pair of panda rings. For Changbum and Sooyoung, I got a pair of couple wristbands. And for Chan Doo and Changjo, I got them a pair of animal ears. Bunny ears for Chan Doo and cat ears for Changjo. I giggled as I snapped a picture of them. This was totally going to go on the school home page. 
 
"So, we all passed our missions. But..." Changjo pointed at me. "Park Eun Mi, Mission Failed!"
 
"Huh? Why?"
 
"You didn't get anything for you and your partner." He pointed out. "Punishment time!"
 
My mouth was wide open. I could not believe I forgot about that. "Mwuh?! You didn't say anything about punishments!"
 
Changjo grinned. "You and L.Joe have to eat your sushi with no hands within three minutes."
 
I wasn't hungry and didn't feel like eating at all. But I didn't want to disappoint them. "Alright. Let's get this over with."
 
Eunjung set our plates in front of us. "Chunbi.... Shi....Jak!"
 
I held my hair back with my left hand and tried to bite the sushi with my teeth but it kept falling apart. I looked over at L.Joe, who was facing the ceiling with one in his mouth. I could hear the others trying not to laugh, which made me giggle.
 
"Time's up!" Chan Doo said. "Who ate more?"
 
L.Joe's plate was reduced by one-fifth and mine was the same as it was three minutes. "Eun Mi loses!"
 
"He gets to flick your forehead." Changbum said. L.Joe leaned across the table and playfully gave my forehead a giant flick. 
 
"Ah!" I rubbed my forehead and stuck out my tongue. "That hurt."
 
"Sorry..." He apologized.
 
"I was kidding." I said and turned to the others. I felt like I had recovered from my little flashback earlier. "What are we going to do now?"
 
"Let's go around the shopping venue together as a group before going back home." Chan Doo said. 
 
 
-- ♥ --

 

We had gone around the shopping venue and had so much fun. I haven't smiled and laughed this much, ever.

We passed by the same shop where I had bought the couple stuff earlier. Sooyoung quickly ran in and ran out with two animal hats in her hands. "L.Joe, Eun Mi, put these on!"

Before I could object, she put the gray dog hat on my head and plopped the pink cat one on L.Joe. "Ya, Sooyoung!"

Eunjung took a picture of us with my camera. "Kekeke, you guys look like little kids."

I let her off the hook this time and our group went into a shop that sold musical intruments. Changjo immediately went over to the drums section and started to rock out (A/N: I did some research and found out he knew how to play drums). He looked so into it. I clapped the loudest when he was done.

I spotted the violin section in the back and dragged L.Joe with me. "You said you knew how to play violin, right?"

He nodded. "Yeah?"

"Play for me." I pleaded. "Please?" 

"Arasseo." He picked up the violin that was put out for customers and he positioned it on his neck. 

The first few notes he played were full and pretty. Then he gradually got faster and started to play like a professional. I was amazed at what L.Joe could do. He looked so peaceful and happy with the violin.

He finished playing and the whole group burst out into applause. "You're amazing!"

L.Joe blushed and set the violin down. "It's been a while since I've played, so that wasn't my best..."

"That wasn't your best? Wow, your best must be mind-blowing." Eunjung said. 

Sooyoung went over to the polished grand piano in the display window. "I've always wanted to play the piano, but I never got to learn."

Another lightbulb lit up above my head. "L.Joe, you also told me you knew how to play piano!"

Chan Doo was surprised. "Piano, too? Play for us!"

He sat down on the piano bench because of eveyone's request and played a short song for us. His fingers elegantly pressed the keys of the piano, and I felt so mesmerized. How could people think the only thing he should do was rap?

This time, we weren't the only ones who clapped when he was done. There was a whole crowd that had gathered in the story and were lured by his beautiful playing. L.Joe had a big smile on his face as we left the shop.

We were on our way back to our 'house' when there was loud music playing at the end of the street. There was a dance-off happening, and of course we had to stop by.

Changjo and Chan Doo decided to crash the dance-off and performed another jaw-dropping routine of theirs. I was so proud I knew them and rooted for them. 

The sky was dark when we finally went home. Everyone was still laughing and joking around before washing up to get some sleep. We wished each other good night and headed to our rooms.

Even though I had my headphones on with my music playing, I couldn't fall asleep. So I decided to quietly go outside and think. The night sky was ink-black with twinkling stars scattered everwhere. A gentle gust of wind was blowing and I shivered in my thin pajamas.

Today was a really fun day and I was glad to experience something like this. I got to see different sides of people I never even imagine I would see. But the one thing that bugged me was the incident with L.Joe.

My memories of Seohyun's car crash was mixed up with the present, that's why I thought L.Joe had gotten hurt. But he was really alright. I was so relieved. 

I shivered a bit when I suddenly felt a piece of fabric fall around my shoulders.

"Eun Mi, what are you doing out here?"

I looked up. "Oh, Changjo. I couldn't sleep."

Changjo was in a red t-shirt and black sweatpants. He sat down next to me. "You'd think that after a really tiring day like that, we'd be out cold as soon as we hit the pillow."

"Yeah." I wrapped his jacket around me more tightly. It smelled of... well, Changjo. 

"Eun Mi, are you okay? I saw what happened with you and L.Joe earlier." 

"Huh? Oh, yeah... I was just shocked, that's all." So he was the one standing at the window. He saw me cry in L.Joe's arms. I suddenly felt really embarassed.

"If something's bothering you, just let me know, okay?" Changjo said. He leaned my head onto his shoulders. I blushed. 

"Okay." I shyly snuggled against his shoulder. "Thanks, Changjo."

He smiled and I smiled back. Little did I know, someone was watching us from behind. 

 

 

 

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✻ author's note the dorky me
Here's what the two famous Canadian people and their dog look like:
~Ljjang창조♪

 

 

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KarmaYangzom #1
Chapter 50: Author-nim, I just can't even right now... Why you do dis to me????
theexotica #2
Hey there, did you by any chance publish this story on wattpad. Because i saw a story with the same title, poster and chaps on wattpad.
http://www.wattpad.com/30435713-behind-the-thick-framed-glasses
hottestvip_
#3
Chapter 41: Daebakkkk~!
syubwi
#4
Chapter 44: OKAY. I FINISHED CHANGJO'S SPECIAL CHAPS. (Finally, I haven't able to continue this last time. ><)
Omg, this is the most weirdest thing I have ever read in my entire life. Fork. You made me laugh my out and choke on my food. What the hell, I'm so speechless. O.o
syubwi
#5
Chapter 41: AGSHKDLAJAHDKGLSL. Okay!!! I finished this one! ^_^
How adorbs. You were great, never regret reading this. C:
Tinkle_Star
#6
Aw, that was a very cute story c: I didn't even know who any of the characters in the story (Ljoe, Changjo, etc.)but even still, I liked it as a story.
AsianInvasion97
#7
Chapter 16: "The first animal I saw was a white dog with a blue tail. And its owners looked really weird. They said they were Canadians and were really famous, but I've never heard of them." SIMON AND MARTINA WITH SPUDGY AHHHH!!! HELLO MY FELLOW NASTY!!!!!!!!!!
ahn_sunghee26 #8
Chapter 41: Awesome storyy !! :)))