30 - Sulk

It’s been almost twelve hours and Seung Hyun was still locked up in the recording studio. Piles of scratch papers were all over the table and scattered on the floor. He was trying to write lyrics for a new song he’s working on but somehow he can’t get his head around to focus on it. His eyebrows were furrowed, not in concentration but in deep frustration. His eyes were murderous and his grip on the pen looked like it’s almost about to break.

The premiere night of their movie was very successful yesterday night. He should be very happy and yet he looked like he was in a middle of a war zone about to fight a battle. Last night was a success and the critics raved about the movie. However, all he could remember from last night was Woobin introducing Lee Jongsuk to Kiko. The image of Jongsuk’s eyes lingering on Kiko’s smiling face, his hand holder hers longer than he is comfortable with, and Jongsuk asking Kiko on a date the following day…today…

Jongsuk was taking out Kiko on a date today.

Seung Hyun crumpled the paper he was writing on and threw it on the floor, grunting in frustration.

“Someone’s got their in a twist today.” Chaerin walked in the recording studio and sat on the couch. She lifted her feet on to the table and started popping her bubble gum.

“Shut up Chaerin. Get outta here.” Seung Hyun scowled earning a hard laugh from her.  Seung Hyun threw a crumpled paper at her.

“ off.” He mumbled. Chaerin shook her head and crossed her arms over her chest.

“My god. Look at you. You look so pathetic.” Chaerin goaded. “You’re such a wuss.” Seung Hyun glared at her but after a few seconds of a good staring match, he relented and slumped his shoulders. He understood what Chaerin was getting at.

“Why don’t you just tell her that you’re in love with her instead of dying in jealousy wondering what they’re up to now?” Chaerin asked like it was the simplest thing to do in the world.

“You don’t know anything.” Seung Hyun muttered.

“Then enlighten me.” Chaerin challenged. “Explain to me why it’s so hard to just man up and tell her how you feel?”

“It’s not that easy.” Seung Hyun finally put down his pen, giving up on writing his lyrics for the day. He stood up and sat beside Chaerin on the couch.

“She’s so beautiful you know…back in college she’s this dream girl and I didn’t even know why she loved me then but she did. I couldn’t understand why she did. I’m this fat kid in school with dread locks but she chose to love me. She was the sweetest girl I know but I was still in love with Dara so I couldn’t just accept her feelings. And now, although our circumstances might have changed…I may no longer be the fat kid with dread locks but whenever I look at her, whenever I’m with her…I feel like I am still that fat kid with dread locks armed with the lowest self esteem. I feel like I don’t deserve someone as sweet and as beautiful as her. It’s a heinous crime to make her cry or break her heart…and yes I’m a wuss…because I don’t want to be the one to make her cry or break her heart again.” Chaerin fell silent. She studied Seung Hyun’s serious face.

“Wow. You’re really in love with her.” She concluded. She looked up and sighed heavily. “You sell yourself short Seung Hyun. But you already know that.” Seung Hyun chuckled and nodded.

“Listen, I’m only going to say this once and don’t you dare gloat too much…” Chaerin cleared and looked at him seriously. “You may be an to me but you’re a great man. You’re humble, you’re determined, you are passionate in whatever you do, you’re sensitive towards the feelings of others and you’re a person with integrity. Those are just a few things that everyone sees in you. And believe it or not, I’ve seen you when you were still fat when you met up with our boss and honestly speaking, you were not bad looking. You were charming and how much more do you think you look like now that you’re this tall guy, handsome face, nice body and all that quirky personality? You have girls and ladies falling at your feet, worshipping the ground you walk on but you never let it get in to your head. You’re still the same grounded person I knew back then. You have all the qualities any girl would die for.”

“Don’t think you’re not worthy of any girl because any girl would be so lucky to have you…” Seung Hyun slowly smiled and then he raised his eyebrow at her.

“You think so?” Seung Hyun smirked at her. Chaerin shook laughed him off and slapped his arm.

“Dang Chaerin, you’re so violent.” He scooted away from her, grunting in pain. She stood up, got her bag and started towards the door. She looked over her shoulder and shot a glare at him.

“Don’t you ever gloat about what I just said about you. Everybody knows you’re in love with that girl. It’s time you man up and tell her about it.” She said with finality and then left him.

*****

Dara was at a coffee shop. She needed a new environment for the day so she could write the final chapters of her drama. Jiyong headed for the recording studio that day to work on some music.

She was just on the fifth page of her script when she caught three girls shooting dagger eyes at her from her peripheral vision. She carefully sipped her latte and looked at the girls. They look awfully familiar. She’s seen them several times before whenever she’s with Jiyong. She wondered why they were now stalking her even when she’s all alone. She stood up and walked towards them. She looked at each of the girls faces seriously and a few tensioned seconds later, she broke into a polite smile.

“Hi. You girls have been staring at me for quite some time. May I help you?” She asked.

“Hmp. This frump thinks she’s all that. She’s not good enough for Jiyong oppa.” One of the girls mumbled. Dara looked at the girl.

“You girls are still in high school aren’t you? Seniors? Have you all prepared for your CSATs or are you not planning on going to college at all?” She asked calmly. The girls fell quiet.

Dara sighed and sat on the empty chair across the girls.

“Look, I know you love Jiyong and that you support him as much as you can…but there’s one thing that I can tell you…it will be pretty useless to sulk and hate me because none of it will change the fact that Jiyong loves me and I love him. Jiyong has his own life and he doesn’t owe it to anyone to keep our relationship a secret just because he’s a celebrity. But us dating publicly doesn’t give anyone a right to dictate and maliciously criticize our lives either.”

“You can hate me all you want but I’m here to stay. I love him.” Dara stood up, smiled at them and then walked towards her seat leaving the girls with open mouths and shocked faces.

“Wow. That was really badass.” A girl exclaimed. Dara looked at her left side and she saw a girl looking at her in amazement. “Oh. I’m sorry.” The girl’s face flushed immensely and tried to hide her face with her book, earning a smile from Dara.

Dara couldn’t help but observe