Snake Charm

           “Dinner’s ready!” ChoMin signaled happily as she and JaeJoong placed the last items on the meal. All the plates and glasses were arranged in front of every seat. The main course sat in the middle surrounded by the customary side dishes that she bought from the store.

            “Wow! This looks super good!” ChangMin commented while he sat down, practically drooling as he eyed each plate to choose what to eat first.

            “And it taste good too!” ChoMin smiled, passing the steaming bowl of rice around.

            “It better be, since I did most of the cooking,” JaeJoong commented while using his chopsticks to serve himself some of the jabche.

            “Oh?” ChangMin glanced from JaeJoong’s smiling face to ChoMin’s happy one. “Hyung let you cook with him?

            “Neh,” ChoMin smiled silently while taking a bite of her food.

            “Wow, if JaeJoong-ah let you cooked with him, then he must really like you,” ChangMin replied with his mouth full of rice and kimchi. It seemed that no one except ChoMin heard the youngest member’s remark since everyone else was in their own conversation.

ChoMin blushed red at ChangMin’s words. She kept her chopsticks in , staring intently across the table at JaeJoong. He smiled and talked animatedly with JunSu while enjoying the meal he and ChoMin both made. Did cooking together really mean that JaeJoong liked her? Her eyes lingered on the blonde haired youth, taking his beauty in. Her chocolate eyes traced the shape of his delicate porcelain face, first stopping at his plump and kissable lips that curved up in his trademark smile. She continued up to his sharp nose and finally to his soulful brown eyes. They were like pools of sweet thick honey; his charming smile reached all the way to his brilliant eyes. His whole being was too good to be true – a gift from God above to the female population. ‘There is no way a man like this could exist,’ ChoMin thought, yet there he was sitting across from her.

            “I’m going to tell him tonight…” ChoMin mumbled so soft that no one who was not paying attention could hear. She lowered her gaze to her own food, thinking about what to say when she finally reveals her feelings to the main vocals of Dong Bang Shin Ki.

YooChun frowned at ChoMin’s words. Only through careful observation was he able to catch her whisper. His eyes left his plate to travel to the blonde haired man at his right and then next to the adorable noisy one that sat next to him. ‘Poor Su…’ YooChun thought painfully, ‘He’s gonna be crushed if JaeJoongie does return her feelings.’ How could ChoMin do that? How can she lead JunSu on if she really liked JaeJoong? It didn’t make sense! From what he witnessed, ChoMin and JunSu could have been a couple from the way they acted. ‘No, it can’t be,’ he thought, recalling the instances JunSu and ChoMin interacted. JunSu would be the one to come-on to ChoMin, and of course being ChoMin, she’d only react. ‘And her reactions are no different when I .’

YooChun would have liked to place the blame on ChoMin if JunSu were to be heartbroken, after all no body hurts his Su like that, but he couldn’t bring himself to do it. If JunSu’s heart broke, it would be due to his own fault, not ChoMin’s. But he couldn’t stop the small feeling deep within him that if his new bestie ever hurt his JunSu, he’d hold a small grudge towards her. ‘This is too confusing.’

            “Eh? YooChun-ah? Where are you going?” ChoMin asked, her eyes looking up at him innocently when she noticed YooChun push his chair back, ready to stand up.

YooChun smiled sadly at her, but his eyes focused on the wall behind her. “I’m heading to bed already, I’m kindda tired,” he told her without looking in her eyes, for if he did she’d know that tears slowly built up and were about to fall.

“Oh, okay,” ChoMin said, trying not to pry, “If you’re hungry later, the food will be in the fridge if you want it.”

YooChun nodded and excused himself from the table with a fake smile. The other members stared after him as he left, each knowing him so well that they knew to back off and give him space.

JaeJoong took a deep swig of the cigarette then let out the puff of smoke. He leaned over the side of the balcony, thankful that a sea of trees blocked his view from the sasaeng fans^(*) that no doubt lingered outside the gates. As an idol, he loved all his fans, no matter what shape or form, but sometimes, it annoyed him to hell that he and his friends were always under constant survailance.

He took another swig and exhaled as he glanced back at the forgotten work that piled up in his work room.

The balcony was the only reason why he preferred the smallest room out of the two work rooms. Sure, he had to share a cramp work space with YunHo and YooChun, but at least he had his balcony. It wasn’t even that large, it could only hold 3 people and that’s if they all squished together. With the potted plant, only one person could fit comfortably in the balcony. It didn’t even have a proper door to slid open; to get on the veranda he had to open the window and crawl out.

            “Are you smoking?” ChoMin asked behind him through the glass window of the terrace, her face pressed up against the glass. JaeJoong jumped in fright when heard the ominous voice of ChoMin. He quickly threw the of the cigarette over the rail as ChoMin slide the window up and leaned against the windowsill. “It’s going to kill your voice and you will develop a 67% chance of developing lung cancer,” ChoMin stated in a matter-of-fact voice.

JaeJoong leaned against the railing once more and replied back callously, “Well go on. Tell your little netizen friends that YoungWoong JaeJoong was caught smoking.”

            “I wasn’t going to do that,” ChoMin countered harshly. Though she already knew that JaeJoong was a smoker, she thought that he had quit the habit once he debuted.

            “Miene,” JaeJoong mumbled when he realized how harsh he must have sounded, a soft wind blew by, making his blond bangs sway.

            “I thought you quit,” ChoMin said, tucking a loose thread of hair behind her ear blown out of place because of the light breeze.

            “I did,” JaeJoong stated simply, looking out at the bristling trees sway in the wind. “Despite what you may assume, this is my first smoke in about a month.”

            “Oh,” ChoMin simply replied as she gazed at the back of her beloved idol. There was an awkward moment between them. JaeJoong waited for the girl to continue – to tell him that what he was doing was reckless, stupid, blah blah blah. But it seemed that she wasn’t going to speak anymore.

            “Is that all you can say?” JaeJoong asked curiously, turning around to face ChoMin. ChoMin had her head resting in her arms as she stared off into the sky, paying no mind to the idol in front of her.

          “What you do is up to you,” she said, admiring the moon above, “Who am I to tell you how to live your life?”

JaeJoong was shocked. This was the first time someone actually told him that. If it had been any other member, especially the maknae or YunHo, he would have had an earful by now. Everyone around him always told him ‘don’t do this or else this will happen’, but this girl starring lazily at the moon didn’t. Didn’t she care that he might be permanently damaging his lungs?

            “Wait, you don’t care if I smoke or not?” JaeJoong asked in bewilderment.

ChoMin shook her head no, shifting her gaze from the bright moon to the idol staring skeptically at her.

            “What kind of fan are you?” JaeJoong demanded. “You don’t care that I could lose my voice if I continue? Or God forbid, I die of lung cancer?”

            “Muh?!” ChoMin shot straight up, almost bumping into the glass window above her; confusion clearly written all over her face.

JaeJoong pointed an accusing finger at her as he continued, “So you couldn’t care less if I keel over?!”

            “Aish!” ChoMin swore, rubbing the neck, “Fine, then don’t smoke!”

            “Yah, are you telling me what to do?”

            “Muh? Well what the heck do you want me to say?!”

            JaeJoong took a step forward, getting nearer to the window and the girl he was currently trying to annoy. “Well, what about – ” JaeJoong started but continued in an imitation of a girl’s voice, “saying this, ‘Oppa! Ani! You’ll kill yourself! I care about your y voice!’ or ‘Don’t do it Oppa! Save yourself! Don’t fall for the temptation!!!’ Can’t you be like that?”

ChoMin rolled her eyes at man before her, getting increasingly tired at JaeJoong’s attempt to . “Gimmie that!” ChoMin swiped the almost full pack of smokes and chucked it as far away as she could. Once done, she dusted her hands like it was dirty and glared daggers at the pop sensation before her. If eyes could kill, JaeJoong would have dropped dead over the balcony. “There.”

JaeJoong’s mouth opened in shock at what the fuming girl did to his cigarettes as well as her intense glare. ‘Well at least she cares,’ he thought smugly. He let out a chuckle, shocked that the normally quiet and reserved ChoMin actually had some spunk and attitude. After all his attempts to get her riled up, he finally succeeded. His chuckle turned into laughter, and pretty soon he was trying to cover his mouth to stop from laughing.

Upon seeing her oppa laugh, ChoMin couldn’t help the tugging smile at her lips. And soon enough, she began laughing along side him. ‘I’m laughing with JaeJoong! This is so great!’ her inner fangirl shrieked. ‘He looks so cute laughing! I’m definitely telling him tonight!’

            “You really are something Jung ChoMin, you know that?” JaeJoong finally managed to say after a while, drawing her in with his strong arm around her shoulder as he sat down on the windowsill.

ChoMin bit her lip shyly, thankful that it was too dark to see her cheek turn bright red at his compliment and his touch. She was so close to him that she could smell the husky sent of his cologne. She took a deep breath, inhaling his intoxicating scent. ‘This is it! I’m going to tell him,’ ChoMin thought blushingly, beads of sweat forming at her temple. ‘This is such a perfect moment. If I don’t tell him now, I’ll never be able to.’

            “Jae-JaeJoong-sshi?” ChoMin asked in a soft whisper, her reds getting redder and redder, “Can I tell you something?”

            “Hmmm?” JaeJoong replied, his eye focusing on the stars shining brightly in the night sky. He had a content smile gracing his lips, like being with ChoMin made him at peace.

            “If I told you something…” ChoMin started, afraid of continuing. She sighed, trying to clear her mind and to summon up her fleeting courage. “ – if I told you something…you promise not to hate me?”

JaeJoong stared at girl in his arms strangely. Hate her? Of course he couldn’t hate ChoMin! Kim JaeJoong was incapable of hating anyone, especially a special fan like her.

            “I could never hate you, ChoMin-sshi,” JaeJoong admitted truthfully to the silent girl next to him. “Why would you ask something like that?”

ChoMin shook her head at his question and took a deep breath. ‘This is it!’ Here heart raced so fast that it felt that it was going to tear through her chest. Her mind was a jumbled mess. Should she say it? What if he doesn’t return? How will I know if I don’t try? ‘Aw, to hell with it!’

ChoMin stared into JaeJoong’s eyes, almost captivating him. ‘They’re so nervous,’ JaeJoong thought as he couldn’t pry his eyes away from her. She had such a pained expression that he was afraid to hear what she was going to say.

            “JaeJoong-sshi...I think…I think I might be in love with you…”

JaeJoong’s heart almost skipped a beat. Did he hear right? His eyes grew in shock at her words, yet never leaving their eye contact. ‘Did she just say that she loved me?’

            “ChoMin-sshi…” JaeJoong was speechless. Under no circumstances did he ever think ChoMin would confess to him. He removed his arm slowly off of ChoMin’s shoulder, letting it fall to his side weakly. His heart cried out for the girl, knowing that he was about to break her heart. His eyes closed in pain, dreading what he was going to say next.

ChoMin knew it was over. The pained expression on his face explained everything – his eyes said everything. They were full of pity. ‘He doesn’t feel the same way,’ she thought sadly. ‘I’m going to cry!’ Her heart was in pain, as if a sword was plunged into it, twisting and turning inside to make the wound hurt even more. It felt like someone reached their hand into her chest – into her heart, and squeezed it. She couldn’t breathe, she couldn’t think – the pain was too much! ‘I have to get out of here.’ ChoMin’s body shuttered as she willed the tears to stay back. She was already humiliated enough without her turning into a sobbing mess. She’d die if JaeJoong ever saw cry! ‘Anything but that!’ her mind screamed, ‘say something!’

            “You don’t know what you’re saying - ” He continued, but then was caught off by ChoMin.

            “I was just joking! Heh heh,” ChoMin laughed meekly, trying to save face, “I bet you’d love to hear something like that from a cute girl like me.”

JaeJoong smiled sadly and turned away. He stood up and went to the rail, afraid to look at the heart broken girl.

            “Then again,” ChoMin added, her voice cracking as the tears threatened to fall, “Why should it matter? You’ll never date a girl like me anyways.”

JaeJoong sighed as he leaned over the rail with his head downcast. He could not face her. He’d love to tell her that he returned her feelings, just so she’d smile. But he couldn’t lie…Not to her.

            “If I had to pick between music and love,” JaeJoong said in a low morose voice, “I’d pick music.”

He spun around when he heard the door to his work station wrenched open and the fleeting footsteps of the girl who loved him. He stared after her with one hand on the rail even though she was long gone. The soft naïve breeze ruffled his blond hair playfully, clueless to the gravity of the situation.

            “Why didn’t you tell her you felt the same way?” the voice of YooChun said into the night.

JaeJoong whipped around, searching for the source of the YooChun’s voice. His head twisted to the left when from the corner of his eye he saw white fabric blowing in the wind. YooChun sat on the next room’s windowsill, his left hand resting on his left knee as he stared at JaeJoong’s still form. He sat dangerously close to the edge, one accidental move to the left, and he would have fallen 11 stories to the cold ground. Micky YooChun heard everything.

The blonde sighed, both of his hands on the rail that faced YooChun. “I couldn’t tell her a lie…”

YooChun shifted from his position, careful to hold on to the edge of the window to keep his balance. “Are you so sure it’s a lie?” YooChun asked before stepping off the window and disappearing into the adjacent room.

JaeJoong was finally alone to think about what had taken place. As he stood there in the moonlight, he couldn’t help but think about YooChun’s words. Of course he didn’t feel anything for his YunHo’s cousin. There was no possible way. ‘If anything, she should be going out with JunSu from the way he gets if we mention her,’ he thought logically. Yet despite what he thought, he couldn’t help feel something within him churn as he went over the possibility of the two going out.

The next day passed by like a whirling tornado to ChoMin. Before she knew it, the sun went down on the Tuesday day and she was just in the process of washing the dinner dishes. She kept herself busy the whole day, trying to get her mind off of what took place the previous night. ChoMin was all smiles and happiness through out the day, fooling everyone and confusing the worried ChangMin. While she ran to her room in tears the night before, she had bumped into the youngest member. He looked at her with alarm as he held her by her shoulders and asked what was wrong. ChoMin had smiled despite her tear-stained face and red nose, and said it was nothing. Truth be told, she was very good in masking her real feelings. People say she was a bad liar when it came to her emotions, but that was only because she had wanted them to worry and ask. But something like this, where she was too embarrassed to let them worry and fawn over her, she was the best actress of all – her performance Oscar worthy.

The whole day, she was nothing but smiles and laughter, completely baffling JaeJoong and even her dearest cousin who knew her so well. Having cried all night assisted in her charade, since she had no more tears left to shed. It was a good thing that no one was around while she washed the dishes, for it was the only time that day that she stripped off her mask. While her hands gently rubbed the scum from the plates, her eyebrows furrowed in self-pity and her pink lips formed an unattractive frown.

The soft rhythm of incoming footsteps alerted her of someone nearing. Instantly, the happy mask was put in place and ChoMin hummed a happy tune to complement her happy charade.

It was JunSu who neared the kitchen in search for the only female roommate. ChoMin turned to him, flashing her fake smile. Yet, once seeing his vibrant smile and his adorably cute attitude, ChoMin’s smile became genuine. JunSu came wordlessly next to ChoMin, picking up a clean cloth in a drawer. He took the clean yet wet plate from the raven haired girl’s hand and began drying it for her. ChoMin genuinely smiled at JunSu’s kind gesture. Leave it to Kim JunSu to brighten up her dark mood. ‘Maybe I confessed to the wrong guy?’

            “ChoMin-ah can I ask you something?” JunSu asked as ChoMin handed him another clean plate to dry.

            “Aside from what you just asked now?” ChoMin replied truly cheerful for the first time that day.

JunSu chuckled at ChoMin’s quick-wit, “You’re not busy this Sunday, right?”

ChoMin paused in thought for a while. She had planned to spend her day off maybe hanging out with JeeWoon, but she couldn’t help the feeling that JunSu was about to ask her out on a date. ChoMin’s inner fangirl, who had died when JaeJoong rejected her, resurrected and jumped up and down at the thought. ‘OMG! Xiah JunSu is going to ask you out! Lucky! Go for it! Go for it! You don’t need that snotty JaeJoong, go for JunSu!’ it yelled to her.

            “Ani,” ChoMin smiled knowingly, a small hint of red tinting her cheeks. “My schedule is free.” Her hands didn’t continue washing the dishes, and she noticed JunSu’s wasn’t drying them either. They stood shyly facing each other, a hint of awkwardness in the air.

            “Well, how about I change that for you? Would you like to spend your Sunday with me?” JunSu asked, a seductive smile melting ChoMin into putty.

ChoMin blushed super red at his proposal. ‘Yes! Yes! YEEEEESSS!!!’ ChoMin screamed inside as she mentally did cartwheels and flips. ‘JaeJoong who?’ her inner fangirl taunted. ‘It’s all JunSu baby!’

            “I-I’d really like that,” ChoMin stuttered, pulling a strand of loose hair back behind her ear. Her action causing some soap suds to get on her cheeks, which she was about to wipe away in embarrassment.

            “Aniyo, let me get that,” JunSu said, as he used his right hand to cup her face and used his thumb to wipe away the soap suds. He smiled happily when ChoMin blushed a deep red at his action. Taking it one step further, he leaned in and kissed the spot where his thumb brushed upon. His lips lingered a few seconds more before pulling away. JunSu reveled in the shock expression his love interest portrayed. He smiled lovingly at her while his right hand moved from her cheek to her hand, giving it a light squeeze.

Letting go of her hand, he turned around and left the kitchen with high spirits, leaving a very red ChoMin behind. ChoMin gently touched the place JunSu’s lips were a second ago, the spot still tingling with his warmth. She stood there, rooted to her spot as her mind processed what just happened.  Her eyes slowly grew big like saucers, and she could feel something erupt from within her stomach traveling all the way up to .

            “O! M! F! G!!! I – HE! KISS!!! OH MY FREAKING GOD!!!” ChoMin squealed happily as she jumped up and down. “YAY FOR LOVE!!!”

Outside, neighborhood dogs began barking and a few cars screeched at the earsplitting sound.

Notes:

Sasaeng fans – fans that stalk celebrities’ houses, some even pitch a tent outside their idol’s apartment for 24 hr surveillance. They stay out through rain, snow, or shine.

HeeHee, I’m so evil! Poor ChoMin! She likes 1…3…4 guys at the SAME TIME!!! >w< Well, doesn’t that happen in real life? I mean, I know more than a handful of girls that told me they are crushing on more than 2 guys at once. Me included! So who is she going to like? Mysterious JaeJoong? Her bestie, YooChun? Sweet JunSu? Or the aloof NakMin?

Until next time!

~Asian_Innocence