Chapter 3. See Me?

“I was about half in love with her by the time we sat down. That’s the thing about girls. Every time they do something pretty… you fall in love with them, and then you never know where the hell you are.”

~J.D. Salinger

It was a windy day. Joohyun clutched her coat closer to her body and scolded herself for not tying her hair that it flew all over the place whenever the wind would blow behind her. That night, she got a call from Sooyoung inviting her to join her with her friends to watch a movie. Since it was a Saturday and she was done with her reports and reading assignments, she said yes quite excitedly. She really wanted to have new friends.

She hurried her way through the throng of people and stopped by the parking lot just beside the mall when her phone started ringing. She fumbled through her bag and answered the call from Sooyoung who told her that they were outside the cinema waiting for her. When the call ended, she stopped beside a silver SUV with dark tinted windows and started fixing her hair. She should at least look presentable to her would-be friends.

To her surprise, the window suddenly rolled down and it was too late for her to move on instead she bowed an apology to the driver. Only when she looked at him that she realized her awful fate.

 “There’s nothing much you can do about your face, you’re naturally ugly.”

Joohyun glowered while Shinwoo continued to grin. After one big puff of breath, she just flipped her hair back and walked away. “Just my luck, of all the people!” she gasped to herself and counted to ten. She decided not to let him ruin her day again.

She found them at the café just a few shops away from the ticket booth. Sooyoung happily waved at her and Yoona moved to the next chair so Joohyun could sit beside her then started introducing their other friends.

“This is Hara,” Yoona motioned for the petit girl with a long hair and big pair of eyes, “and her boyfriend  Junhyung. That’s Seulong,” she pointed at a tall guy beside Hara’s boyfriend, “and Jungshin,” the last guy at the other end of the circle. “This is Joohyun, she will be part of the gang from now on.”

“Hello, it’s nice to meet you all,” she stood and bowed gently as the others answered with hi’s and hello’s. She noticed that the ‘gang’ seemed to be composed mostly of tall people and she just happy to note that knowing she fit in. “Please take care of me. And uhm, I’m sorry for coming late.”

“Oh no, you’re not,” Sooyoung rolled her eyes and turned to Seulong, “Where is that punk?!”

Apparently, the Gang of Talls was not complete yet.

“Ya, where are you? It’s starting, man! We’ll go without you— okay,” Seulong tucked his phone back to his jacket’s pocket, “they’re on they’re way.”

“He brought company?” Sooyoung asked quite annoyed.

“Yeah, the geeky guy he introduced the last time.”

“Ohhhh cool!” Yoona couldn’t hide her smile as Hara elbowed her with a playful ‘eyyyyy’ so she smiled tucking some of her hair by her ear, “I mean, the more the merrier, right?”

Hara laughed, “Oh don’t be so shy! You just wanna hang out with that guy!”

“Ya, I don’t!” she countered but her cheeks were obviously turning pink.

“Here they are,” Sooyoung announced and waved her finger at the new comers, “Ya, ya! You were super duper late!”

“I’m sorry, we—“ Shinwoo stopped midsentence when he noticed a particularly familiar face among the supposed-to-be-just-them familiar faces and blurted out, “What is she doing here?!”

Joohyun, stunned herself with the sudden appearance of a nemesis, could only blink as Sooyoung scolded Shinwoo, “Ya, don’t be rude! She’s my friend and I invited her!” then turned to Joohyun with a wink, “Don’t mind him, he has this automatic jerk mode activation system in his body.”

“So it figures,” Joohyun finally said coldly passing a quick glare at Shinwoo’s direction who was now chuckling sarcastically.

After the movie, the gang hung out in a fast food restaurant. They were just telling some random stories of their exploits since middle school. They have been friends for a long time and even though some studies in different school and campuses, they would still hang out most of the time. There were laughter going on around the table as they shared French fries and bulgogi burgers. Joohyun was mostly quiet along with Jonghyun; firstly, because they hardly know most people there and they don’t really have anything to say.

However, she felt a bit amazed of the fact that Shinwoo didn’t really join the conversation but would just give a quick remark or answer questions thrown at him. Probably it was his personality, that he was like that around his friend, or maybe because he didn’t really like her presence. She sighed as she unconsciously nibbled on a piece of fries. It wasn’t really her fault that she was there, maybe next time she would ask Sooyoung first if he would be there before joining them. She wouldn’t want to create awkwardness to the group.

She took a sip from her plastic cup of soda then lifted her head turning a little to her left. The third person in front of her was staring lazily at her. Instead of looking away, she held on to his gaze. He had this serious face, the kind she hadn’t seen yet. Her heart beat faster when she realized that it wasn’t at all true—the look on his face. Far too different from the usual jerk face he would wear whenever he was out to fool around but itwas the same expression he wore while singing at the hotel’s bar.

Joohyun looked away but at the corner of her eyes, she noticed that Shinwoo dropped his gaze too.

~~~

Shinwoo ended up driving Jonghyun, Jungshin, Yoona and Seulong since their residences are along his way. The rest was in Sooyoung’s car.  He was actually waiting for Sooyoung to assign Ms. GA to his car but was just a teeny bit disappointed when the latter insisted on going with her older friend. It would have been awesome to know where she lives. Not that it mattered to him but a good classmate and a project partner must know where she lives, just in case he needs to pick her up or something. The thought made him remember how taken he was while watching her eat French fries; it was his first time seeing a girl look helplessly y while munching on her French fries. Anyway, eating fries is a glorious experience, and she acted to it really well. He watched as her lazy fingers unconsciously picked one, slowly brought one on her lips, biting a little, chewing a little, then biting again until nothing was left but a tiny one which she dipped in . The way she would nod or smile or how formed an ‘ah’ or ‘oh’ while the conversations were happening around her was also as fascinating as her eating French fries and sipping her Coke.

Shinwoo realized that she’s a delightful sight to behold.

 It was past 10 when he arrived home and was welcomed by his mother dragging him inside the house by his ear and the lecture started.

“WHY DID YOU USE YOUR FATHER’S CAR WITHOUT ASKING FOR PERMISSION? DID YOU KNOW THAT YOUR FATHER NEED HIS CAR MORE THAN YOU NEED IT? JUNG SHINWOO, WHY DO YOU ALWAYS HAVE TO DO THIS? I DON’T KNOW HOW TO STRAIGHTEN YOU ANYMORE!................”

“AWWW AWWW AWWW! UMMA, CAN YOU LET GO FIRST? YOU’RE RIPPING OFF MY EAR!”

“AND I WILL RIP YOUR OTHER EAR BECAUSE YOU ARE SUCH A PROBLEM CHILD!”

“OMEONI, I’M REALLY REALLY SORRY, BUT PLEASE PLEASE, LET MY EAR GO, FOR PETE’S SAKE!” Shinwoo finally let out a loud sigh when his mother pushed him in the house but she continued nagging him about taking his father’s car. From there, the lecture went on to about two months ago where he set off the fire alarm in the apartment because he burnt the egg that he was frying. After that, it went to  something he did  a week before that when he went home at past 2AM, drank and half-dragging his body. Shinwoo couldn’t help but admire his mother’s mental ability to remember every detail of his past mistakes, stringing and connecting them to his recent one. He wasn’t really upset with the entire sermon happening because he was used to that, even his siblings are used to that. Im Yejin may have looked subtle on the outside but she surely knew how to transform into a lioness just to make sure her children would be appropriately disciplined.

“LOOK AT YOUR SISTERS AND YOUR BROTHER! HOW CAN YOU BE A GOOD BROTHER TO THEM IF—“

“Sheez, I just wish she’s remote-controlled or something,” Hyoyeon muttered as she passed by the living room.

“YA! I HEARD THAT YOU—“

“UMMA, WHERE’S MY BLUE DRESS?!”

Sunny called out from her room. Shinwoo was delighted by the little distractions and hoped she would end it for him.

“USE YOUR EYES TO LOOK NOT YOUR MOUTH!”

“I’M USING MY EYES!”

“YOU ARE NOT!”

He just found the good timing to slip quietly into his room so he slowly tiptoed while his mom wasn’t looking but she caught the tail of his shirt and drag him back to the sofa.

“Yah! Shinwoo! I’m not done talking to you!”

“Mom, I’m sorry, okay? I didn’t think Appa would use the car because he usually takes the Company bus,” he groaned but helplessly fell on the chair.

“But why didn’t you ask first?” his mother probed but with a calmer tone.

“Bec—“

“UMMA, I REALLY CAN’T FIND IT! I USED EVERY SENSE ORGAN IN MY BODY ALREADY!!!”

“ YA, WHY—“ her crossed face transformed back to her not-angry-mode and walked past Shinwoo, “Wait, I think it’s in the laundry basket.”

“What? I’m gonna need that tomorrow!” Sunny finally stomped out of her room with her lips protruding in a frown.

“Then you wash it yourself! You’re not a princess, Sunkyu so stop acting like one!”

Sunny rolled her eyes as Shinwoo chuckled behind, “Umma, first of all, it’s Sunny. And Oppa, stop grinning like a fool there!”

“Yeah, whatever,” Yejin couldn’t hide her amusement anymore then turned to her son, “Shinwoo, go wait for your father by the bus stop.”

“But, umma, I have homework.”

“Huh? Since when did you start caring about homework? Go wait for your father.”

“But Mother!”

“Jung Shinwoo!”

“Arasso!” he grumbled as he stood slamming the throw pillow in the sofa. Just then he noticed a jet black hair sneaking through the room heading towards his bedroom. “YA! YOU LITTLE SNAKE! DON’T YOU DARE GO INSIDE MY ROOM!” he yelled as Kyuhyun finally stopped crawling then stood glaring at his older brother.

“Umma! Hyung just called me a snake!” the little boy yelled.

“Jung Shinwoo, you are picking up your father or I’m going to get your guitar and smash it on your head!”

“ALRIGHT! ALRIGHT! I’M GOING!!!” Shinwoo shouted back but gesturing at his brother that he would be back for revenge but the younger kid just stuck out his tongue at him and flew back to his own bedroom.

“CAN I PLEASE PLEASE GET SOME PEACE HERE? LIKE SERIOUSLY?!” Hyoyeon finally declared that made Shinwoo rush out, afraid of his eldest sister’s wrath.

~~~

She watched the people going in and out of the hospital as she hugged herself tight since the cold evening wind has been slithering through her thick coat. Joohyun wondered why her sister told her to wait at the parking lot instead of just sending her inside with her dinner. The box of chicken was still hot on her hands and the thought made her suddenly crave for a piece. After Sooyoung dropped her off the apartment building, Yuri called asking her to buy her dinner and deliver at the hospital. She stood outside for almost ten minutes and was starting to get impatient when she saw her sister running down the steps to get to her.

“Hey, I’m sorry… I got tied down after our rounds,” Yuri said catching her breath and smiled wide when her younger sister lifted the chicken box in front of her, “Ohhhhh I can almost taste it! Thanks!”

“Ya…” Joohyun pouted as Yuri smelled the package, “Why didn’t you just let me go to your office? I was freezing her!”

“Aigooo, I’m sorry, but you look pretty with your cheeks all pink there!” she quickly ran a palm on her sister’s cheek, then took her hand pulling her ahead, “Come on, I have a surprise for you.”

When Yuri said something like that, it was usually grand so she smiled upon hearing the word ‘surprise’. They walked straight into the covered parking lot and stopped in front of Yuri’s black Porsche.  She waited patiently as her sister fumbled inside her handbag then handed her a small red pouch. “What’s this?” Joohyun asked but started feeling through it. Her face lit up, astounded by the possibility and her heart raced when Yuri nodded gently and pointed behind her.

Joohyun gasped at the red Lexus sedan sitting beside her sister’s car and hurriedly opened the pouch to confirm her thought. It was the key to her new car.

“Mom, dad and I chipped in for this one,” Yuri said as she walked towards the car’s hood, “consider it as a coming-of-age gift since you are 100% adult now,” Yuri winked and smiled as she welcomed her baby sister in her arms for a big and tight hug.

“Unnie! Thank you, thank you so much!!!!” She has been wishing for a car, not particularly a  brand new one, but something that she could use since her sister is mostly busy to take her to places. Joohyun felt her eyes watering as her sister pushed her gently and laughed at her tears.

“Silly… why are you crying?!” Yuri wiped her sister’s tears, “You’re welcome, but I think you better call Umma and Appa now. When I messaged them that the car was delivered, they both asked how you like it.”

“Okay!” She excitedly brought out her phone and dialed her mom’s number first. She answered it on the first ring, “Umma…”

“Joohyunie… did you get your gift already?”

“De…” she couldn’t help but cry more but she tried to steady her voice, “Umma, thank you for the car.”

“Are you happy?”

“Yes! Very very very happy!”

“Good… good, drive safely, young lady, understand?”

“De! I will… you know I always will…”

“I know, but it wouldn’t hurt to give extra advice, would it?”

“Yes mom,” she smiled as she wiped her nose, “Umma, I’ll go and visit you one of these days, okay?”

“I would love that, maknae. Your Hye Sung Appa will be happy to see you again. And ask your sister to go with you.”

“Okay, but unnie is very busy lately.”

“Okay, then, just drive here whenever you can. Take care of your car and yourself most, alright?”

“Yes, umma… I have to hang up now, I will call Appa too…”

“Okay, send my regards to your Taiji Appa and your Jiah Umma and your little brothers.”

“Yes, mom!” she dialed her dad’s number as soon as her mother dropped the call. Yuri just watched with amusement as her sister talked to their parents. “Appa! Appa, I got the car! Thank you soooo much! It’s beautiful!”

“Oh, my most beautiful daughter! Uhm, Yuri Unnie isn’t listening, is she?”

Joohyun laughed as Yuri narrowed her eyes, “No, but I can put this on speaker, Appa.”

“Ya… ya… we don’t want Yuri Unnie to be upset, do we?”

She shook her head, “No, of course we don’t want that. She has been very very nice to me. Appa, thank you for the car!”

“I’m glad you like it. I was planning to buy you one before we left but your sister insisted that she wanted to chip in but she didn’t have enough money before. Then we decided to include your Umma for this little gift.”

“I’m so happy and thankful to you all, I’m so lucky, right? Too bad I can’t drive down there to visit you.”

“Then we will come and visit you and you’d have to pick us up from the airport,” she smiled hearing her dad’s soft chuckles, “Appa, I have to hang up now I need to test drive this baby, first.”

“Arasso! But be careful. Make sure you don’t get too anxious when you get on the road. Take care of your sister for me too, will you?”

“De… take care of yourself too and Eomoni and the boys, mom sent her regards too. I hope to see you soon, Appa,” she motioned to Yuri asking her if she wanted to talk to him but the latter shook her head so she continued, “Please hang up now, thanks again Appa and we love you!”

“Okay… I love you too and Yuri…”

Joohyun kept her phone back and folded her arms around her sister again, “Ironically, I have the best family.”

“Same goes here,” Yuri rolled her eyes and draped her arm on her sister’s shoulder, “So I think you had enough driving advice and you know the basics thus there’s no need for me to add more but enjoy your car, dear sister…”

“I will!” she skipped towards the driver’s side and unlocked the door motioning for her sister to get in with her, “Unnie, let’s go for a joy ride!”

“Okay, kiddo, but only for an hour, okay?” Yuri got in and buckled her seatbelt.

~~~

Joohyun drove her car excitedly. The feeling of driving her own wheels was still very overwhelming that even the thought of it would still cause her to grin silly. It was no excuse to be happy either since it would be the first time for her driving it to the university. She chose a different route this time, timing her pace so she would know the fastest way. It was a residential area so traffic was lighter and she thought that it would be her best choice so far. Careful as she is, she was already getting ready to make a turn when she noticed the junction far ahead that she didn’t notice a biker appearing from the opposite lane. She slammed her breaks on to avoid collision and heaved a sigh of relief when she realized the accident they both evaded. The biker, who managed to held on to the hood of the car, finally balanced himself back to his bike but she still rolled down her window and waited for him to turn.

“I’m sorry! Are you okay?” Joohyun cried out and was ready to get out when he looked back at her, to her sheer disbelief.

“I’m fine. Pay attention next time.”

She watched Shinwoo biked away like nothing happened. Shaking her head, she couldn’t believe how that guy manages to appear everywhere she goes. The day passed by like a breeze, her first class for the afternoon wasn’t one she would be excited about, considering her seatmate. Despite her disgust, she rehearsed her apology speech and was thankful enough that he was late again for a chitchat. Shinwoo arrived, as always, halfway through the lesson. Not that Joohyun cared but his gig might affect his grades.

She shunned the thoughts aside when Professor Lee started handing out the papers with some instructions, “I already informed the community leaders of the places you’re assigned for your studies. Each pair is assigned to a village in Ganghwa-gun, Incheon. The village chiefs are going to assign a family for you to stay in and to conduct your research around the area. Please take note of the instructions of your three-day stay in the villages. The questions and topics should be approved first before you send them out so I suggest you start making them and I will check next meeting. Any questions?” Hyori looked around. Most of the students were busy checking the papers she gave and she was about to dismiss the class when one hand raised a little low, “Hmm… yes, Ms. Seo?”

Joohyun decided to remain on her seat as she felt Shinwoo snickering beside her, “Lee-sem, can we change partners? I know I asked—“

“Ms. Seo, I believe I made it clear last time that the assigned pairs cannot be changed anymore. Whatever disagreement you have with your partner will be your problem, not mine nor any of your classmates here. I suggest you start working out your differences this early,” she smiled despite the disappointment that Joohyun wore, “Mr. Jung?”

“Yes, ma’am?” Shinwoo smiled back at the professor.

“Can you promise me that you will work peacefully with your partner starting today?”

“I think so,” he chuckled some more when he heard her sigh, “yes, okay, I will try to work peacefully with her.”

“Okay, good,” Hyori nodded in satisfaction, “Ms. Seo, in the event that Mr. Jung acts inappropriately, you can inform me right away and I will do my best to settle things between the two of you. Is that agreeable for you?”

“Y-yes, ma’am” Joohyun nodded listlessly. She didn’t want to argue any further since it seemed that ProfessorLee was just trying to help for them to finally get along well.

The class was dismissed after a few minutes but she remained for a little while, writing on her diary what she needed to do for the subject. Joohyun was about to stand when the room was almost empty when she realized that Shinwoo was still sitting beside her. She turned and muttered, “What?”

“What?” Shinwoo answered back slightly amused by her dejected look.

She shut her eyes for a second then heaved a sigh before speaking, “look, I want to finish this project as soon as possible. I hope you really cooperate with me.”

“I will, don’t worry. My grade is at stake too.”

“Okay,” she nodded noticing him relaxing on his seat, “for now, please list down the questions we will ask the respondents then we will talk about them before the class on Thursday. What day and time would be good for you?”

“Are you anxious to see me again?” Shinwoo almost laughed when she narrowed her eyes so he waved his hand, “Aniya, I was just trying to lighten the mood. Sheez, you’re so serious!”

“And you are full of foolishness! Do you want me not to be serious too? I thought your grade is at stake too? And you p—“ before she could continue, his finger fell on her forehead that caught her off guard and she wasn’t able to push his hand away.

Shinwoo laughed and placed his hand back to his lap, “You know, you remind me of my mother…”

“If that’s a compliment, well, thank you,” Joohyun grimaced. She could still feel the tip of his finger on her forehead that she unconsciously ran a hand on it as if wiping away his fingerprint on her skin.

“Well, actually,” Shinwoo stood, wrote something on a sheet of paper and handed it to her, “that was a big blow insult.” He winked and moved before Joohyun could charge at him, “That’s my Skype ID, add me. Let’s talk tonight, around 10? I’m not really inspired whenever I see your face, worse, hear your voice…”

“Ha!” Joohyun scowled and watched him coolly walking away. “Grrr! Next time I’m surely going to slam my car over you and rip your bicycle apart!” She opened the folded paper and keyed it on her phone, just in case she loses it.

jung.yong.hwa.

She wondered why it was his Skype ID then shrugged, “oh well, who cares…”

PREVIEW

Chapter 4. Tell Me Your Name
 

“Hey, Jung!”

He turned to see Joohyun sprinting towards him. He chuckled to himself because of the way she called him, “Hey back at you, Seo.” Joohyun just stretched her lips as if holding back a smile so he continued, “What do you want? Backing out?”

“Huh? What’s that?” she raised a brow.

“That means you want to give up on the bet.”

“Oh!” she smiled and animatedly slapped her forehead but rolled her eyes then continued seriously, “But backing out and giving up are just two phrases that don’t exist in my dictionary.”