A/N: So here's the epilogue. Hope it'll make you happy :-)


Credits: Zom.B
Epilogue: Beginning of Something New

“ChaeRin, can you please help me make the cocktail punch?” Mrs. Kang asked from the kitchen.

“Sure thing, aunty,” I said as I walked to the kitchen counter and smiled warmly at her.

“Aunty? You should call her mom instead,” DaeSung teased and gave me a cheeky wink.

“Yah!!” I yelled, feeling the blood rushing to my cheeks. He chuckled upon seeing my flustered face.
 

Halmoni who had been watching us, chuckled to herself. “Aigoo, aigoo! Young kids nowadays. You even joke about important matters like marriage!” she said, shaking her head.

“Halmoni!!!” DaeSung protested frantically, “Whoever said anything about marriage?” He turned to look at me and made the crazy gesture.

I giggled. Yes, I found it funny.
 

Halmoni smiled her meaningful smile. “Weren’t you implying that when you ask her to call your mother ‘Mom’?” she teased. 

I could see DaeSung’s flustered face as he awkwardly cleared his throat. He then tried to change the subject by suddenly showing interest to the baby diapers advertisement that was playing on the television. “Hey, it’s Mami Poko!” he exclaimed excitedly, pointing towards the television screen.
“So, you’re thinking of babies now?” Halmoni teased yet again.
“Aish!!” DaeSung immediately got up to his feet, “I’m going to help them outside,” he declared.
 

Halmoni laughed gleefully and wiggled her eyebrows at me. I giggled, shaking my head. Halmoni had always enjoyed teasing DaeSung, especially when I’m around. I think she found her grandson’s flustered face hysterical.

You know Halmoni and her weird sense of humor.
 

Today, everyone is gathered at the Kang’s mansion for EunHyuk’s farewell party. His school is being reopened in two days so he had to go back to GwangJu the next day. He had gone out with ChaeKyoung for their last date together while we were preparing the surprise farewell party for him. ChaeKyoung knew about the party and was instructed by the party’s planner, YeJin to stall EunHyuk so to give us some time to prepare.
 

“God, ChaeRin!! What are you doing?!!! Faster, faster! We don’t want to make EunHyuk suspicious if ChaeKyoung stalls him for too long!! Just get the bloody cocktail ready!” she practically screamed in my face.
 

If she wasn’t my best friend for nearly 10 years, I would have shoved her face into the cocktail bowl. I had known how frantic and passionate she could be whenever she was given a task to complete and today was no exception. I had learned how to pretend not to hear her and remained my silence whenever she was having one of her panic attacks. YeJin was panicking because she wanted everything to run perfectly, just like what she had pictured it to be.
 

“Hey, YeJin!!” DaeSung’s head popped through the kitchen door that leads to the backyard.
“What?!!” YeJin yelled.
“Don’t bully ChaeRin. She’s my girlfriend, you know!” DaeSung yelled back and gave me a wink.

YeJin groaned loudly and I blushed. Mrs. Kang and Halmoni just smiled to themselves, like the scene was nothing new to them. 

“Aish, stop being so corny!!” YeJin yelled in annoyance. She took a box of tissue and threw it towards DaeSung.
DaeSung managed to close the door just in the nick of time and the box hit the back of the door before it fell to the ground.

 

We could hear DaeSung laughing mischievously from outside.

 

I felt my cheeks getting warm. I bet my face was like ripe tomatoes by then. “Don’t mind him, YeJin-ah. You should just continue what you were doing which is, err,” I paused to think, “I’m sorry but what exactly are you doing?” 

YeJin threw her fist up into the air. “I give up. You two are hopeless, you hear me? HOPELESS!” she exclaimed dramatically.

“Yes, we’re hopelessly in love,” DaeSung sang loudly from the backyard.

 

“UGHHHHH~!!” YeJin grunted and left the kitchen towards the living room. I think being with us made her panic attack even worst.

I smiled in spite of myself. I continued to make the cocktail punch, putting the crunched ice into the bowl before adding the orange juice, lemon juice and cranberry juice with some water. I stirred them together, absorbed in staring into the colorful drinks in the bowl.

 

“Aigoo, that boy,” Halmoni muttered, fanning herself as she came closer towards me to gossip, “Nowadays, everything is always ‘ChaeRin this, ChaeRin that’ with him. If we ask him whether an actress is pretty, he will always answer, ‘My girlfriend is prettier. You know, my girlfriend? Lee ChaeRin?’” Halmoni imitated DaeSung’s voice, “Aigoo, he keeps telling us about you, ChaeRin-ah.”

“That is so true, ChaeRin,” Mrs. Kang butted in, “I asked him to go to the grocery store and he was always reluctant to go but yesterday he answered, ‘Okay Umma, I’ll go to the store for you. I’ve a girlfriend now, you know? I need to be more responsible’. Aigoo, that boy,” Mrs. Kang tsk-ed twice and shook her head, smiling all the while.

 

I blushed yet again. 

That would be the third time that I would hear people say things like that about DaeSung. Just two days ago, EunHyuk called me to complain that DaeSung had become even cornier than him. According to him, it was all my fault. “Everything is ChaeRin ChaeRin ChaeRin. It’s like your name is glued to his mouth. I’m telling you, if he says your name once more, I swear I’ll pinch his !” EunHyuk had complained over the phone. So it came as no surprise to me when DaeSung called me a few minutes later, complaining that EunHyuk had pinched his and apparently, it hurts like hell. “What did I even do to receive this? God, I’m going to kick his a.ss,” DaeSung had said. A few minutes later, EunHyuk called me to complain about DaeSung kicking his a.ss.

 

Yes, apparently boys will always be boys.

 

Then, yesterday, it was YeJin’s turn to complain about DaeSung. “ChaeRin-ah, as much as I am happy for you and Dae, him bragging to me and MinHo about how lucky he is to have you as his girlfriend for every 5 minutes really irritates the he.ll out of us. MinHo even wanted to shove his foot in Dae’s mouth if he didn’t stop doing that,” YeJin had complained.

 

Apparently, everyone around was irritated by the newly in love DaeSung and with people keep calling me to complain about him, I should be embarrassed right?

 

No.

 

To be honest with you, I wasn’t even the slightest bit embarrassed by his act of love. And to be really honest, I’m actually proud and happy that he’s boasting to others. It shows how much he loves me, isn’t it? Besides, I couldn’t erase the foolish grin that I had on my face each time that they called to complain.

 

I agree; people do become fools when in love.

 

“Ooh, you’ve made punch? Can I have some? I’m so thirsty,” MinHo who appeared out of nowhere said, “She asked me to set up the blinking lights like it is so easy to do so. Besides, EunHyuk’s not seven! He doesn’t need blinking lights. It’s not like this is his fifth birthday,” he grumbled. He didn't even need to tell me that the 'she' he was referring to was hig girlfriend.

I smiled and took out a paper cup and poured some punch inside it before handing it to MinHo who accepted it gratefully. “Tell me if tastes good,” I said as I watched him gulped down the punch.

 

“Delicious,” he grinned happily. He wiped the corner of his mouth and put the cup onto the counter. He was about to go back to the backyard when he turned to say, “Hey, ChaeRin, don’t tell YeJin what I said okay?”

 

I rolled my eyes. Even a genius is scared of his own girlfriend. “Don’t worry about it,” I assured him and he smiled before going to the backyard. I didn’t notice Halmoni staring at me until I looked towards her direction. She was looking at me with that weird smile of hers while she was arranging the snacks on a plate.

 

“Why are you looking at me like that, Halmoni? Is there something on my face?” I asked, brushing off my face.
Halmoni quickly came to stand beside me, nudging me by the elbow. “So, is it true that you used to like that MinHo boy?” she asked, causing me to choke on my saliva.
“W-who told you that?” I stammered. I had long forgotten about my 2 years crush on MinHo. God, it feels like years ago that I was in love with him.
“DaeSung did. He came back one day, saying that the girl that he likes is in love with a classmate. I remember he said the name was MinHo,” Halmoni said, giving me a look.

 

God, do I really have to go down the memory lane with her? 
I looked at her; she was still giving me a look.
I exhaled deeply. 

 

“Yes, I used to like him Halmoni but it’s all in the past,” I told her firmly, “I can’t be happier that now he’s with YeJin. He’s just not for me.”

 

It was the truth. Though I was really deeply in love with MinHo, the thought of him with anybody else but YeJin just wasn’t right. They belong together; even a blind man can see that.

 

Halmoni smiled widely. “I’m happy to know that but that’s not what I was going to ask you about,” she said.

 

“Eh? Then what did you want to know?”
“I just wanted to know if he knew that you liked him?”
“Hmm.. I think he hasn’t the faintest clue.”

 

MinHo certainly didn’t know, did he?
I wasn’t that obvious, was I?

 

“Oh, goodie!” Halmoni exclaimed happily, “Then forget that I ever ask you that.” She then began to busy herself with arranging the snacks on the big plate.
“But Halmoni, why do you ask me that?” I asked.
“I was just curious. He’s a genius and all, it can’t be that he didn’t notice,” she said nonchalantly.
“Halmoni!!” I protested defiantly, “I wasn’t obvious. I’m sure he didn’t know.”
“Whatever you say, ChaeRin-ah,” she said dismissively, “Come, help me bring these snacks to outside.”

 

Grumbling, I took a plate of cheese crackers and followed Halmoni from behind. Halmoni wasn’t serious was she? I’m pretty confident that MinHo didn’t have a clue regarding my crush. He was too busy sleeping back then to notice.

 

The backyard was already lit with colorful blinking lights and there was a banner saying ‘Goodbye EunHyuk/HyukJae’ hung on the wall. We put the plates of snacks on the table.

“Isn’t it beautiful, ChaeRin-ah?” YeJin asked as she gaped at the lights.
“Stunning,” I replied curtly. My mind was still occupied with what Halmoni had just said.

 

I looked at MinHo. He was wiping the sweat on his forehead with the back of his hand. DaeSung was standing beside him, blowing a balloon. I didn’t know why but I felt something weird lurking inside my heart.

 

Oh, this is not good. 
I need to get this whole thing over with. If not I wouldn’t be able to sleep tonight. 

 

“Yah, MinHo!” I called. He turned his head to look at me. “Come with me for a sec. There’s something I need to ask you.”

I swear I could see Halmoni’s eyebrows shot up and she chuckled to herself.
 

"What is it, ChaeRin?” YeJi