Character:

Kim Gaeun

You are finally on your last year in University and it’s been a tradition for graduating students to come and join the annual Retreat that will be held in a famous mountain-city attraction overseas. It is a week trip in Philippine’s summer capital, Baguio City. Although the trip is going to be abroad, you've heard that your batch will not be staying in a hotel… instead, you’re going to spend the week-trip in an infamous Teacher’s camp, which is a home for local horror stories in that place. It’s not a bad thing though, you are actually excited for this even though you are one big coward when it comes to ghost but something inside you tells that this might give some spice in your boring life. Yes… your so-called “monotonous life”.

Prior to the said trip, you had already completed your internship in a local company and everything is running well except for the fact that you are still undecided about your future. Are you going to pursue a job? Start a business? Study again? Follow what your family tells you to do so? You kept on pondering about this as you busily pack your things for tomorrow’s departure. Confused on where to put this and that… your phone suddenly beeped.

*new message*

You lazily reached for your phone and read the message. It’s from Jang Doyoon, one of your close friends, and he’s asking about what time will you be arriving at the school. After sending a reply, you went back on packing your things.

“I hope something good will happen to me this time…”

Mr. Who has an Allergy

Today is the second day of the retreat. You were overly excited for this even though you were quite disappointed because you’ve still heard and saw nothing about the infamous ghosts. Today, the schedules are to be followed but since it is a once in a lifetime trip, you've decided to walk around with your friends to take some commemorative photos. You felt alive, you even felt nostalgic… seeing the place, you’ve felt that you’ve seen it somewhere before, not in google images but maybe in your dreams… (note: You have this weird but amazing experiences with your dreams. Most of the time your dreams turn real sometime in the future, that’s why you are calling yourself a time traveller)

“The place is so beautiful. I want to go back here someday” you told your friend Hyerin.

“Why would you even take the hustle of going here when we have a lot of this back in Korea?” she confusedly asked.

“Well, that’s the point” you answered back. “It’s far from Korea yet you still feel at home. It’s just that… I feel my worries gone… I love the feeling…”

“Whatever, you hopeless romantic” she teased. “Anyways, it’s your birthday tomorrow.”

“Oh right, thanks for reminding me” you smiled. It’s your first time celebrating it away from your family but you were glad that you can spend it with your friends. “Shall we keep on going? It’s already 2 pm… afternoon session’s about to start.”

“Let’s go then.”

But you were the one of the few who arrived early at the hall so you checked again your watch and schedule but you were just right on time, so you and your friends decided to take the front-most seat. While waiting you were watching your school band practice for the next session and you were excited as they are practicing some familiar songs that you’ve used to sang back when you were still in elementary and high-school.

But then something else caught your eyes…

Nope… not a ghost…

But the guitar of your school band’s bassist.

“I love that color” you pointed out to your seatmate.

“Me too” she replied. “It looks cool.”

“True!!!”

And since then you’ve not taken away your eyes from the guitar but then is it just the guitar? Or the guitarist as well? You were really not into your school band, Nu’est. You’ve seen them perform during the competitions and meets but this is actually the first time you’re watching them from the front row. The members are all from the graduating class as well. Kim JR in the electric guitar, Kwak Aaron in the drums, Choi Minki in the keyboard, Kang Baekho in the mic and Hwang Minhyun on the bass, but you were a good old girl that you didn’t even know the name of the band members so you just kept it at that, well, not until someone had really caught your eyes.

+Your POV+

Everyone else thinks that this retreat is boring but I’m different, I don’t know but I can feel that something’s about to happen. I can’t exactly tell what but yes… I can feel it.

After the afternoon session, we are divided into small groups for the group sharing. It’s been years since I’ve been into one and maybe this may be the time to take off some weights from my shoulder. I’ve shared about how clueless I was about my plans for the future, I’m not sure. All this time, I’ve been following what my parents told me to do so… it’s for my own good after all… but it’s not what I want. It’s not what my passion calls me in… am I on the right path?

The group sharing went a little dramatic but then after it is one of the most awaited time of the day… dinner~ everyone went to the dining hall and there we found ourselves dining in with some Art Major students.

“I’m Agumon!!! I’m from the Zoo!!!” one crazy dude exclaimed as he stomped his way towards the table next to ours. The group of men started laughing out loud and I can’t help myself but to laugh as well.

“Crazy JR” my seatmate commented. It seems that they are from the same class.

“I’m going to eat a lot!!!” that JR dude announced. “I’m a binge eater!”

“Stop the craziness, JR” another one from their group ordered. “Don’t even start talking about Tokyo Ghoul here.”

The food wasn’t that great compared to our dinner last night but I’m not the type who doesn’t finish my meal so I tried my best to eat what I had placed on my plate. While eating…

“Minah~” a familiar voice silently called the attention of my seatmate (Ugh, but I looked right away as if it was me that he had called, I was so embarrassed so I quickly turned back to my food again but I was still eavesdropping). “Do you know what the name of the medicine for allergy is?”

“I don’t.”

I know what the medicine is… and I think I’ve brought some with me… oh my conscience…

“Uhm… does he have allergy?” I silently asked my seatmate.

“I guess so… he’s allergic with our meal tonight, I guess…”

“Oh, I think I know name of the medicine he was asking for” I nervously continued. Darn, why am I getting nervous? I’m just helping… my conscience is weird.

“Oh? What is it?”

I told her the name of the medicine so she had poked that guy who had asked him and tried to tell him the name of the medicine but they can’t quite understand (I’m looking at them so I know). I tried to tell it clearly to them but my heart started beating faster as I had an eye contact with him.

“I… I think I have one in my bag” I started to fidget with the things in my bag to look for it and while I’m on it, I’m trying to have a conversation with my seatmate but it went crazy that I have even told her that I have an allergy with cold and such, which made her surprised and me, flustered in embarrassment. Oh, what’s happening with me? After a quick brawl with my bag, I finally got one of my allergy medicines and handed it to them. “Here.”

“Waa, thank you!!!!” the guy exclaimed. “Noona, thanks!” he thanked me. “Really! Thank you very much” he thanked again as if his life depends on it.

“You’re older than her, idiot” Seungcheol, as I can remember, commented on him.

“I hope it works” I told my seatmate.

“If not… don’t worry… if it didn’t work then we’ll just lose a bassist…” she commented.

A bassist? Wait… he’s in our school band? . I hope I won’t get screwed.

“Noona.”

“Noona” his voice became louder. I turned at him then he smiled. “Thanks again for this” he said as he waved the medicine. “I can finally eat my dinner.”

And with that I finally felt easy, my conscience letting me go but I’m still worried if I gave him the right medicine… after dinner, we went for a little walk and went back to the hall only to find out that we’re the first ones again so we just took our time talking and watching Nu’est practice for the night session.

“I think the medicine worked” I told myself.

*dub dub*

What the ef am I feeling?

+Author’s POV+

Your heart started beating faster when you saw the bassist, that you had helped earlier, went onstage. You don’t know why but you can’t even take your eyes off him. You can’t help noticing the smallest details you can see on him and you can’t understand why you are suddenly attracted to him.

“Oh, I think I know why he looks good with him” you suddenly blurted.

“Why?” your seatmate asked.

“Because the color of his shirt matches well with the guitar’s color” you continued.

“Oh, I see.”

“Uhm… I think he looks better with the glasses on, don’t you think?”

Your seatmate nodded, “Yes, indeed. He looks like a cool nerd playing the bass.”

“Yeah, right! He looks like the cool and chic nerd while the other one looks like the crazy nerd haha.”

And the praise continued to flow from there, you’re happy that your seatmate doesn’t think weird of the sudden topic. After that, you’ve exchanged some quick glance at him because you were still wondering if the medicine did well or not but rest assured that it worked because he had played that night.

You never really get to talk with him because he also belongs to another group, you’ve also missed your chance to talk to him because of the awkwardness you are feeling. You’ve wondered why you are feeling weird whenever you think of him. You can’t get him out of your mind and so you just decided to face your phone and go search for them in facebook. You’ve silently typed their band name, N-U-E-S-T. It’s a bit difficult to find their official page and when you finally found it, you felt your heart skipped a beat when you saw the cover photo. There he is smiling happily at you (keep on dreaming, girl). You quickly searched for the name of the members... the problem is… the page also included the name of the past members so you had a hard time searching on it.

Lee Jihoon, Jeon Wonwoo, Boo Seungkwan, Choi Minki, Kim Jonghyun, Kwak Youngmin, Kang Dongho, Hwang Minhyun…

+Your POV+

“Which one is it?” I asked myself. I am now sitting under the shade of the sky near the place where a weird and creepy statue of a teacher and students is on view(it’s really creepy when it’s dark). “Probably not Dongho, he’s the drummer… Is it Minhyun?” I asked myself as I clicked the link to his profile.

Whoa… he’s way out of my league. He clearly knows what he wants.

“Minhyun…”

“Me?” someone suddenly spoke behind me.

I almost jumped in surprise (and probably fear) but what made me worried is that… I am now facing the man behind all of the weird feelings I’m feeling today.

“Why are you asking my name?” he asked, smiling.

I felt stunned, he looks so gorgeous up close even though he sometimes looks sleepless on the photos… and his voice felt like it could melt my heart any moment he speaks again. “U-uhm… I- I was just searching for the school band…” I embarrassedly said.

“Oh? Why? Are you interested in joining?” he asked. “Is the seat reserved for one of your friends?” he asked again while eyeing the empty space beside me.

I looked beside me then at him, I inched a bit further away to give more space, “No, go on… my friends are resting at our room.” And when he sat down beside me, I swear the world must have dropped a nuclear bomb in my heart. What is this that I’m feeling? Why do I feel fluttery just by the thought of him? Why am I soooo weird tonight?!

“So… are you from our university as well?” he asked.

“Y-yeah, but you probably don’t see me around because I only go there every weekend” I replied.

“Ahhh… that’s why… I wasn’t able to see you around” he silently commented. “Oh, I’m Minhyun, by the way. Hwang Minhyun, Nu’est’s bassist” he introduced himself sticking out his hand for a handshake.

“I-I’m Kim Gaeun” I replied, reaching out for his hand which made my heart almost burst in the contact. I can feel my cheeks burn up with this foreign feeling.

He scratched the back of his neck while looking around, “Uhm… so Gaeun… I… I actually…”

“Actually…?”

“Ugh… this is embarrassing but… can we like… uhm… get to know each other?”

“Uhm, why?” I asked.

To be honest, I’m kinda dense when it comes to this… so I just introduced myself…

 “Hmm… okay, I guess it won’t hurt to tell you a little something about myself… I’m Kim Gaeun, I’m taking up CommArts and I’m ninetee—no, I’m turning twenty, three hours from now.”

His eyes widened while he smiled, “Really? I should apologize for calling you noona earlier. Looks like Seungcheol is right. I’m really sorry. Because of that, may I have the honor to be the first one to greet you on your special day?”

I looked at him and my heart continued on crazily, “I-it’s okay…”

“Happy birthday, Kim Gaeun” he smiled once again. “Oh… and since we’re in the graduating class… I’m not sure on how often we might cross our paths… so may I…”

“Minhyun!!!”

“Ugh nice timing, Aaron” he disappointedly sighed.

The man walking towards us halted when he saw me with Minhyun and he actioned like he was sorry and went back the other way, waving goodbye.

“So?”

“Ugh, sorry about that… I…” he scratched the back of his neck again. “May I get to know you, in like… I mean… I like… you…”

“E-eh?!”

“I-I don’t know. Since the first session I saw you from the stage… I just knew that it was you… my heart…” he placed his hand on the left side of his chest. “Since I first saw you in the front row… It never felt that nervous before… so it was kind of weird… it felt like it’s going to burst any moment. This feeling is new so… that’s why I was so happy when we got to talk for a bit earlier… I was nervous but at least… at least I already have a reason to talk with you… ”

“Weird…” I commented.

“Yeah, I know I was weird and it’s corny but—.”

“Cuz I felt the same way too…”

Yes, maybe I was not aware of it earlier but I knew that it was not just the guitar that had caught my eyes… it was him…

After two years…

“Gaeun-ssi!!!” his honey-like, sweet voice called my name.

I turned around and saw him running towards my direction. The two of us stayed in contact even after the graduation and finally after a year we decided to make it official and now, we’re happy that we have each other to lean on.

“Happy first anniversary” he smiled then he gave me a sweet kiss on my forehead.

“Happy anniversary, my love” I replied while leaning on his shoulder as our hands held each other and we walked together hand-in-hand.

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Yey, back to writing fluffy fics XD WEll, This one is based on a real trip I went into... and some real feelings I felt for a short span of time OTL but its gone now haha I'm happy it turned into an inspiration for this fic, at least I'll have some new updates... though I'm not sure if you'll like it... i'll still leave it here :D ppyong~