[Chapter 10] My Sunshine

 

 

 

You are my sunshine, my only sunshine

 

You make me happy when skies are gray

 

--

 

 

 

“Are you sure you want to do this?” Junsu hesitated; in front of him—on the bed was Chaerin with so little clothes covering her body. Her belly exposed, so did her legs, her face was still a bit pale from the fever she had. She positioned herself as comfortable as possible and answered him with a nod.

 

 

 

“You know, do it fast. I have to do it quickly so I can go home as soon as possible. Jiyong must be worried,” she replied.

 

 

 

Junsu nodded understand, “you should give him a call, you know.”

 

 

 

“It ran out of battery,”

 

 

 

“Use mine?”

 

 

 

“And what? Let him send nuclear bomb to your apartment?” She snorted, “Him and his jealousy problem, never ending, I guess…” She chuckled.

 

 

 

“Same goes to my Changminnie, but that’s what makes them adorable, don’t you think so?” He joined her with a smile on his face, “Alright, let’s do this,” he prepared himself.

 

 

 

---

 

 

 

Dara sulked, Jiyong sure need to sleep. Chaerin’s been away for a day and Jiyong looks like he had just gone back from Vietnam War. Messy hair, probably smelly sweaty body, panda eyes, glum look. He looked like a lost child, a messy one at that. He did not look like Jiyong she used to see the last three weeks. But she understood clearly the reason.

 

 

 

“Let’s grab some food, and take a bath, and maybe a little nap—“ no, of course Dara didn’t get to finish her word because the sulking Jiyong already cut her in with his glare, cold enough that he might froze a bonfire.

 

 

 

“Okay, okay… no nap, but we surely needs to eat,” Dara moved, placing the food from the refrigerator to the table. Lucky they had enough left over from the night before.  “Have you tried calling her, though?” She questioned.

 

 

 

“I did, it's off,” Jiyong answered almost desperately. He very much wanted to sulk the day off and not going out, but no, he had to go looking for her. Dara had called the restaurant telling them that he couldn’t go today.

 

 

 

“I’m sure she’s okay, you know she’s smart and yeah… nothing wrong can happen to her, right?” Dara asked, her original intention was to calm him down, but it seemed like she herself was worried as hell.

 

 

 

Jiyong stared at her, Dara had become more like a sister Chaerin never had each day. They worried about each other, thought of each other, taking care of each other. They both are just so cute, to think that she originally wanted to snatch him from his girlfriend was so absurd.

 

 

 

“Don’t worry, she’ll be alright,” Jiyong said assuring her, a comforting smile was on his face. He hoped it would at lease ease her worry a bit. “You should prepare yourself, I’ll take you to work,” he continued.

 

 

 

---

 

 

 

“What the hell is this?” Changmin stood angrily. His face was almost red of anger.

 

 

 

Chaerin quickly covered her body with the blanket around. “This is not like what you think it is, Changmin,” She tried to explain.

 

 

 

“And what do you think I think it is, hmm? Girl from nowhere?” Changmin walked closer. “You know pretty well that you appear in a guy’s apartment, sleeping on his bed, with so little clothes on, right?” He snickered.

 

 

 

Chaerin shivered, both from the coldness of his voice and the temperature, plus her lack of clothing. How could she fell asleep? It must be that Junsu’s bed was too comfortable and warm.

 

 

 

“What is it? A cat bites your tongue?” Changmin pulled himself closer, now at the edge of the bed. “You see, I’m a bi, too… and you’re quite a beauty…” he whispered, crawling closer to her. She stepped back until her back met the bedpost.

 

 

 

“No, really… I didn’t do anything with Junsu, I was ju-“

 

 

 

Her words went unfinished as he forcefully kissed her. There was no warmth in the kiss, nor lust. It was only to show her who dominated, and of course he won.”

 

 

 

There were tears on the corner of her eyes, “no, please don’t Changmin, I swear I didn’t do anything with Junsu…” She tried to explain once again.

 

 

 

“But now you do something with me,” Changmin said matter-of-factly, his voice low and husky.

 

 

 

Her body shook from fear. She closed her eyes, trying to stop the tears from falling. She wasn’t used being this vulnerable, but the state she was in made her one. Her body was sore and tired, it was hard to move a muscle. Not that she could do that now when he trapped her perfectly under him, claiming her lips with no warm feeling at all.

 

 

 

Neither of them noticed the sound of the door opened, “Changmin what the hell!!!”

 

 

 

---

 

 

 

Today five years ago, Kwon Jiyong wasn’t the Kwon Jiyong he is now. He was one who walked with head hung low as if there was dark cloud above him. He sulked a lot because the world was nothing near perfection he wanted it to be. There were too many messy things around him, and he hated that. Yes, he was that kind of hardcore neat freak.

 

 

 

He hated the mess his colleague made when they were doing homework, he hated the mess people made he read the newspaper or watch the news on TV. He hated how people loves to war so much, making mess everywhere, he hated when the garbage man didn’t come on time, he was one heck of a hater.

 

 

 

And because the world was too messy and he wanted it to be neat, he found himself stressed over small things, every single things. That explained the head that hung low. Until one day, that head, the very same head that hung low every day, was hit by a cell phone. When he looked up he saw some kind of madwoman with tears on her face, messy make up (which he hated so much), crying her heart out, making people around looked not only at her but also him (who happened to catch the cell phone).

 

 

 

She was some serious case of mess, and he just couldn’t take it anymore. He grabbed her hand, away from the people and whatever thoughts they had in their heads. She was still crying, not caring about the world, so he did what he thought he must do.

 

 

 

With his handkerchief he wiped away the mascara mixed tears from her face, he did it really carefully until she stopped crying, until there were no more tears left.

 

 

 

He cleaned up the mess.

 

 

 

---

 

 

 

She could hear the voices from behind the door, most probably Junsu trying to explain to Changmin about the truth. So she used the chance to grab her clothes and fixed herself, it’s time to go home. She’d been away from home for far too long.

 

 

 

More than 24 hours that was.

 

 

 

---

 

 

 

Days with Chaerin were weird, and absurd, but always enjoyable. He found himself amazed at how much fun he could have in a day with her. He started to understand the mistakes people made, the coffee too sweet wasn’t a problem anymore for him, and Chaerin was one hell of a messy thing, the funny thing was she always found an excuse and he found himself accepted the fact that she was what she was.

 

 

 

Just like that he realized that his day wouldn’t be the same again.

 

 

 

And now he walked with his chin up.

 

 

 

---

 

 

 

Chaerin left the couple with a forced smile. Changmin had this guilty look on his face, so Junsu had explained to him, she concluded. Junsu said his sorry for like million times because he wasn’t able to take her home, but of course she dismissed it quickly, she knew she had created enough mess.

 

 

 

“See you next week, alright?” She smiled and hugged him, hesitant whether or not she should hug Changmin for a goodbye.

 

 

 

“I’m sorry, okay?” Changmin said, pulling her to his embrace. “Stay healthy,” he messed her with her hair.

 

 

 

“Case closed?” She asked with a  smile, and he nodded.

 

 

 

“Case closed.”

 

 

 

---

 

 

 

He never asked her to be his girlfriend, she did ask him.

 

 

 

“Oh come on, you know you can’t survive without me you neat freak.” She said, apparently she wasn’t really asking him, more like she was forcing him.

 

 

 

“And I really could do your cooking skill to survive my day,” she added.

 

 

 

“What’s this? Are you asking me to be your personal chef?” He asked, acted like he was annoyed.

 

 

 

“I know you don’t mind,” she stuck her tongue to her.

 

 

 

Ah, she knew him all too well.

 

 

 

---

 

 

 

She had this uneasy feeling at the pit of her stomach. Maybe for the fact that she hadn’t eaten anything since last night, or that she was nervous of how Jiyong would react.

 

 

 

Clutching to her stomach she tried to walk faster. The bus stop was near, she could see it already, but the pain on her stomach started to slow her down, she could feel cold sweats started to form. Instead of the bus stop she decided to enter the phone booth, as fast as she could with her trembling hands she dialed the only number she could remember.

 

 

 

Her grip on the phone tightened, and like a prayer she chanted for the other line to pick up. Her head started to spin as she tried her best to stay standing. She felt nauseous, her stomach aching and it didn’t get any better no matter how hard she tried to press it. She slid down the phone booth wall, her sights started to get blurry and her eyelids were heavy.

 

 

 

As if the heaven heard her prayer, she heard his voice from the other line, “Hello, who’s this?” He sounded like he was in a hurry, and she tried her best to speak when even breathing was hard to do.

 

 

 

“J-Ji-“ was all she managed to say before the darkness engulfed her once again.

 

 

 

---

 

 

 

His heart felt like it leapt out of its place, he knew who it was, he knew all too well although the voice was too faint.

 

 

 

“Chaerin? Chaerin where are you? Yah! Chaerin answer me!!!”

 

 

 

There was nothing from the other line, he tried his best to keep calm, failed miserably. He screamed to his phone, calling out her name like a madman but she wasn’t answering.

 

 

 

“Chaerin please? Hello? Chae-“

 

 

 

“Miss? Oh my God miss are you okay?” He heard rustle from the other line, there was a guy, sounding panic.

 

 

 

“Hello! Hello! Yah! Answer me!!” He screamed, wishing the person could hear him. He felt like crying, his whole body shook with anxiety, he knew something wasn’t right.

 

 

 

“Oh my God, hello, do you know this girl?” There was finally a sound from the other line.

 

 

 

“I do, where are you?”

 

 

 

“Oh God, let’s meet at the Seoul Central Hospital, she’s unconscio—oh God she’s bleeding!”

 

 

 

As if seeing the sky fall upon him, Jiyong had never felt so afraid before.

 

 

 

---

 

..

 

Please don’t take my sunshine away

 

(You are my Sunshine – Copeland)

 

 

 

Comments, anyone? Please?