Chapter 17: The Thing that Flutters

N/A: Some of you seemed freaked out because of the title of the last chapter, but one reader got it right. I just meant that old feelings and new feelings had awakened inside of Yonghwa and Seohyun. There’s a lot more to go guys haha! Also, don’t forget, the phones have turned into diamonds twice now, once when Yongseo and Yunji were dancing together and now when Yongseo fell asleep cuddling.

The next day, Yonghwa couldn’t hide his smile. Everyone must’ve noticed it because his parents kept staring at him curiously and his brother and sister-in-law kept glancing at him and then at each other. He had no idea if Seohyun was smiling too because he could barely look at her. That morning, he had woken up with Seohyun in his arms. He had even nuzzled into her back when he felt the sun’s rays through the blinds and smelled breakfast downstairs.

That morning, Seohyun woke sweetly, had looked into his eyes, and gave him a long grin. He wanted to stay in bed with her all day and would’ve if he could pull it off, but he didn’t want to be rude to his parents. They were leaving tomorrow. Yunji knocked on the bedroom door that morning, and when she was welcomed inside, she playfully leaped into the bed with her parents. They took turns kissing her cheeks and giving her sweet hugs until the smell of breakfast couldn’t be resisted any longer.

Over breakfast, Yonghwa received another call from Jinsuk. His in-laws had agreed to keep his kids for another day to give him and Yejie some time to themselves, and the man apparently thought it was the perfect time to plan a basketball game with the other guys.

When he had asked Seohyun if she wanted to go, she agreed, no hesitation. He didn’t realize that Seohyun had said yes so quickly because she wanted to savor the twenty minutes of alone time she would have with him during the ride over to the meeting place in comparision to spending the day with the family.

After breakfast and Seohyun helping her mother-in-law clean up, the two of them left together to head to Yonghwa’s old school. They held hands on the way, but it was still hard for Yonghwa to meet Seohyun’s eye. He hadn’t realized that he had been her hand with his thumb.

“Oppa,” said Seohyun. “I know this is our last day in Busan, but I’m really happy we came here for a vacation.”

Yonghwa couldn’t avoid it any longer. He looked over at her, her kind brown eyes blinking at him sweetly. She was wearing the same silly grin he was sure was plastered all over his face too.

“I’m happy you had a good time so far.”

When they reached the school, Jinsuk and the others were all in sportsware, looking slightly annoyed. Yonghwa parked and joined them, asking what was wrong. Yejie and Seohyun immediately sought each other out.

“What’s holding us up?” asked Yonghwa.

“Some kids are on the court already. Ah, how annoying,” said Oochuk.

“Why do we care? Come on!” Yonghwa laughed. “I drove over here to play.”    

“So I can be laughed at and called ‘Ahjusshi’?” Dongyoung replied sourly.

“You are an ‘ahjusshi’!” Yejie told him. “Go in there and demand the court, or I can go home and do something I actually want to do.”

“Nae, you dragged us wives out here to watch you play and now you give up?” Seohyun chimed in playfully.

She and Yonghwa made eye contact and grinned at each other. Seohyun could almost feel her heart floating away up into the sky. Yonghwa had the strong urge to grab her hand, lead her back to the car, and spend the next few hours staring into her eyes.

“Fine, I’ll handle this,” said Jinsuk confidently. He stood up straight and led the way onto the courts.

The men hadn’t quite given an accurate description of what was going on at the basketball court. There were “some kids” on the court, with a lot of other kids watching. The teen boys playing basketball looked impressive. They were quick on their feet, intimidating, and incredibly handsome. Whenever they made a basket, a gang of school girls cheered from the school bleachers loudly. The boys in the stands clapped and shouted compliments. 

“Ah, jinja!” whined Yejie. “I spent all of high school avoiding these type of girls. At this age I have to sit next to them?”

“It’ll be fun, Unnie,” Seohyun encouraged her while laughing, dragging her to the bleachers to sit.

Jinsuk interrupted the game. “Ok, Ok,” he waved his hands around, causing the boys to stop mid game. “pretty impressive, but we’d like the court now.”

The teen boys turned to Jinsuk and stared at him like a bunch of thugs. They didn’t bow with politeness or make their way off the court. Instead, they seemed to be challenging Jinsuk to do so.

“Where are your manners?” asked Jinsuk. “Do I have to ask you kids twice?”

“Ahjusshi,” said one of the boys, the one holding the ball on his hip, “you look lost. See, this is my school and my court. No one tells me when to leave.”

“Omo,” Yejie whispered to Seohyun with a slight look of thrill as she watched the scene. “This is going to be funny.”

“Do you think the police would agree that this is your court?” challenged Jinsuk.

“Wouldn’t the police feel you’ve wasted their time calling about a bunch of kids playing basketball?” Now the boy started to bounce the ball at his side.

Yonghwa stepped forward to aid Jinsuk, who probably had expected to be called ‘ahjusshi’ but not be challenged and embarrassed in front of everyone. When he stepped forward, some kids on the court noticed him. One of them shouted out “CNBlue hyung! Yonghwa hyung!”

“Nae, nae,” smiled Yonghwa diplomatically. “No hard feelings, kids. I’m visiting my friends, and we really want to play. Give us the court for awhile, then we’ll leave you to your youth.”

Just when it looked like the Doomaekpaem had won, the thuggish boy stepped closer. “CNBlue hyung, eh? I don’t listen to CNBlue, but I know you used to play basketball. Maybe that’s worth my time.”

Yonghwa grew tired of the young thug. He was talking too much and showing too much disrespect. Plus, Seohyun was watching. There was no way he was walking off this court with his tail between his legs. “Fine. I challenge you and 4 of your best players against me and my friends to a match. First team to get 50 points wins.”

“Wins what? The court?”

“Annio, the team who wins gets respect,” said Yonghwa. “Your pride demands it so much that you’re rude to your seniors.”

The boy smiled. “First team to reach 50 points wins. Deal, CNBlue ahjusshi.”

And so it began. The crowd became more excited, and the teams began to strategize how they would win the game.   

A girl from the stands jumped up and shouted “Soobin Oppa fighting!” The thuggish boy immediately looked into the stands and waved at her smugly. The girl was tall, thin, and gorgeous and was pleased to get such a reaction from her boyfriend.

Seohyun stood up while she had the courage and shouted “Yeobo-ah!” When Yonghwa look up at her, Seohyun did her arrow dance from Hoot and yelled happily “Fighting!”

Yonghwa couldn’t contain his bursting cheek smile. Now all eyes turned to Seohyun.

“Omo! It’s Seohyun!” people began. “Wow, she’s so pretty! I can’t believe it’s So Nyuh Shi Dae!”

Seohyun sat down gracefully and crossed her legs importantly. Now all Yonghwa needed to do was win. Yejie was laughing at her. 

The boys lined up, waiting for the teen boys to take their positions as well.

“She’s so pretty,” Yonghwa was saying, not paying attention to Jinsuk, who was standing next time him swearing with anxiety.

“Who? Your wife?”

“Nae. How did I end up with her? Everytime I look at her, I just… I want to kiss her.”

Jinsuk laughed, nudging Yonghwa. “Why are you talking as if you’ve fallen back in love? It’s been years.”

“Years? Try weeks,” he replied, knowing that Jinsuk wouldn’t venture to understand what he meant.

Now, both of them looked up into the stands where their wives sat. Yejie simply waved at him and smiled. “That’s how I felt looking at Yejie all those years.”  

“Even when she was chubby with glasses?” Yonghwa joked.

“Yah!” Jinsuk laughed.

Then, the other team was ready, and the game started.

…………………………..

Things were not looking good for the Doomaekpaem. They were losing so far, 20 to 7, and while there were running out of energy, the teen boys seemed to have more bounce in their step.

The young girls on the bleachers where cheering loudly and shouting chants in support of their team. Seohyun and Yejie sat there like ahjummahs, worried that their husbands would get injured at some point.

Although things were looking grim, Seohyun felt the most normal than she had ever. She had never gotten to experience things like this in her childhood or teen years. She had been too busy training and touring. Simple things like cheering for a boyfriend during a basketball game on a Saturday just didn’t happen. This made her feel even closer to Yonghwa. He was losing the game, but he was trying his hardest in front of her.

There was a time-out called by Oochuk, probably for them to catch their breaths.

“Oppa!” shouted the pretty teen girl again. This time when the Subin kid looked, the girl waved him over. They seemed to whisper something intimate for a moment, and he tucked the girl’s hair behind her ear flirtily. 

“She’s really showing off, isn’t she?” said Yejie snidely while staring at the young couple. “What do they have to whisper about?”

Seohyun thought about what she would have liked to do so many years ago if she had been put in this sitatution. She knew then both what she wanted to do and what she had to do. Yonghwa had to win this game and get his respect.

“Opp—Yeobo!” Seohyun shouted and waved Yonghwa over.

He came over, breathing heavily and leaned up to her on the benches. “Nae?”

Seohyun took a deep breath and leaned toward him. He froze in place, and felt the softness of her lips touch to his cheek. Seohyun had taken charge and was kissing him on the cheek in front of everyone. She pulled away and looked him straight in the eye. It took all of his might not to pull her back and kiss her passionately. “Yeobo, in case you didn’t hear me before, fighting!”

He smiled widely at her and ran back onto the court. Next to her, Yejie was staring at her amusingly.

“What was that? Are we in grade school?” the girl laughed.

“Unnie,” Seohyun smiled, “sometimes a kiss is all it takes to get the heart fluttering.”

“The only thing that flutters in Jinsuk is his drive when we have the house to ourselves.”

Seohyun laughed at her unnie and sat back. She wondered how things would go now.    

When the time-out was over, and everyone got back into places to start a new play, Yonghwa made a display of pointing at Seohyun in the stands as if to say This is for you.

Then he became a blur. He weaved in and out of teenage players, passed the ball and received it with quickness and sharpness, and began to make basket after basket.

Seohyun and Yejie took on the young girls sitting next to them and began drowning out their aegyo chants with their own for the Doomaekpaem. Even Yejie was enjoying it. Subin the thug soon couldn’t get passed the ahjusshis. The points in between the winner and loser grew smaller and smaller until they were tied. 

The game ended in a gasp as Yonghwa made a 3 point shot that caused them to win. There was a short silence, then half of the bleachers burst into cheers. The pretty girl pouted and Subin the thug swore loudly.  

Seohyun and Yejie rushed the court, screaming like crazy teenage girls. When Seohyun reached Yonghwa amongst his friends, he hoisted her up into the air and spun her around. She threw her head back and laughed. As he brought her down, they came face to face, and as things happen naturally, they fell into their first real kiss. In front of everyone.

The world stopped.

But their phones, which had morphed into purple diamonds yet again, spun as if they orbited the brightest sun in the galaxy.