Glancing up from the magazine I was idly flipping through, I smiled at the girl who approached me, before placing it down and then getting to my feet. She groaned lightly and reached for her bag on the sofa beside me. Peering at the shorter girl, I frowned lightly. “Aren’t these appointments meant to help you? It looks like you’re in more pain than before you went in.”

“I’m fine,” she managed to say weakly and went over to the counter of the chiropractic office, smiling happily at the clerk there. I waited patiently for her return, knowing all too well my best friend was acting. Being someone who spent most of my time in the limelight, I knew how easy it could become like a second skin, and Soohee had always been the type of girl to never let the world see her weaknesses.

Once she was done making her follow up appointment, Soohee turned to face me, her eyes appearing darker and colder than usual. I sighed and walked over to her side, hovering my hand behind her injured back, as we headed outside and down to her car. As soon as the doors to the vehicle were shut Soohee let out a heavy breath.

“How bad?”

She groaned. “I was almost in tears. I know my back isn’t the best, but since reinjuring it this week, I thought my appointment would alleviate the pain I’m in.” She smacked the steering wheel lightly and then sighed. “And it’s your one day off and you’re spending it with me, complaining.”

“I don’t mind, it makes me feel at home,” I assured her with a smirk and she merely rolled her eyes. I then turned to her sincerely, putting my hand over her lower arm. “Are you sure you’re okay to drive?”

“Didn’t I just do that to get us here? Wah, don’t trust me eh? I’m fine.”

I shook my head and hands at the same time. “I meant, do you want me to?”

“You don’t even have your full license yet.”

“But you do, and so you can be my licensed driver.” I gave her a look and she seemed to contemplate my offer. Slowly her head bobbed up and down.

“We should have decided this before we got back in the car,” she mentioned and got out, the pair of us swapping sides. Once settled in the driver’s seat, I placed the seatbelt around me and the car. Putting it into reverse, I went to take my foot off the brake. “Woah Woohyun, wait!”

“What?”

She pointed at me. “You forgot to adjust your mirrors so you can see correctly. You won’t be the same vision as I am. Aish, how long has it been since you last drove?”

I didn’t reply, but quickly adjusted the mirrors, trying to not let a sheepish expression cross my face as I concentrated on reversing out of the parking lot. On the entrance to the road, I braked a little hard and shot Soohee an apologetic smile.

“Maybe this is a bad-”

“No, I can drive you home. You’re injured. I can do this.” I started wondering who I was trying to convince more. Taking a deep breath, I watched the traffic before merging into it. Checking my speed, and then feeling confident that my start out was simply due to being rusty, I smiled broadly at my friend. “See, I’ve got this.”

“Don’t get too cocky Woo.” I glanced at the girl and rolled my eyes at her. “Eyes on the road!”

Darting them back, I slammed my foot on the brake, making sure I didn’t hit the car in front. Colour invaded my skin as I listened to Soohee inhale a deep breath. I knew she was holding back her cry of pain, mainly because she was annoyed. I was suddenly hyper-alert, the incident giving me a fright. It took me a moment to compose myself enough to drive on when the car in front moved off, and silence enveloped us. I was concentrating so hard on what was in front, that I forgot to look to the sides and had to swerve sharply away from a cyclist.

“This was a bad idea. Next time you try to use your charms on me Nam Woohyun, I’m going to refuse and say no.” Soohee opened her clamped eyes and I vaguely saw a smile spread across her lips soon after.

“What?”

“Look at you concentrating so hard.”

I refrained from rolling my eyes at her remark and simply gripped the steering wheel tighter. This only made her giggle. “Just before you were scolding me for my carelessness, now you’re laughing cos I’m trying to make sure I don’t stuff up again? Way to make a guy feel confident, Soo.”

“That’s why I’m laughing. Infinite’s greasy, confident performer is currently a shaking mess in my car.”

“Not funny.” I narrowed my eyes and slowed down a little too abruptly for the next set of lights. Once stopped, I finally glanced at the brunette. “And I am not shaking. Stop distracting me; this is the last time I do a nice gesture like this.”

“This is the last time I’m letting you drive my car until you have your full license.”

“Its people like you who kill another’s confidence when they’re trying something new,” I pointed out strongly, turning onto the street Soohee lived on. I was starting to feel relieved that she didn’t live too far from the chiropractor’s clinic.

“Aw, I’m sorry Woohyun.” She was laughing too much to truly mean it, and I smiled to myself when she started groaning in pain. “Not funny!”

“You’re right, and now we’re even.” Manoeuvring the vehicle into the apartment car park, I attempted to park as straight as I could, before turning it off. Without waiting for the girl to say anything, I hopped out and went to the back of the small car, smiling at finding it between the lines.

“A little help Woo,” Soohee called from her side and I went around, opening the door and then holding out my hand for her to take. She heaved herself up, groaning as she became upright again. “Never again.”

“Stop grumbling, at least I parked okay,” I pointed out, helping my best friend over to the elevator entrance. She shot me a look and tried not to smile too much.

“You sound like me when I was learning.”

I grinned. “Except I remember how dreadful you were.”

“At least I didn’t try and injure someone further,” she reminded and I rolled my eyes, stepping into the elevator with the older girl. We rode it to the fourth floor in silence, Soohee’s hand protectively resting on the curve of her back. I wondered just how much pain she was in.

Once we were in the girl’s small but comfortable apartment, I led the way over to the sofa and motioned for her to sit down. She shook her head.

“I’m going to put some ice on it. The chiropractor said for the inflammation to put ice on it today and then start with heat treatments tomorrow.”

“You’d think they’d do a good enough job so you wouldn’t feel as much pain.” I followed Soohee into the kitchenette and opened her freezer door. “You don’t have any ready made ice.”

She groaned again and shifted in beside me, peering in to confirm what I said. “Frozen peas then.”

“Why do you even have these if you won’t touch them?” I wondered, pulling the unopened bag out. Soohee smiled and grabbed a small towel to wrap the frozen goods in.

“For times like this, clearly.” Taking the package out to her minimal floor space, she dumped it on the ground and looked around herself. “Help me down, will you?”

“Why are you going to lie on the floor?”

Pulling a hand up to her forehead, she shook it lightly. “How else am I going to keep it there apart from lying on it?”

“How about using these?” I held up both my hands and shook them before pointing to the sofa. “Sit.”

“I really ought to take advantage of you being here today,” she decided with a giggle. “Not often do I have a slave to help me out like this.”

I sat down with a thump behind her and winced as she in another breath. “Sorry. But a slave? That’s taking it a bit far, Soo.”

“Isn’t that what you say to your fans?” She glanced over her shoulder and arched her back a little against the cold pack. I held it gently against the affected area. “I remember reading a fan account with you saying to a girl you’ll be her slave for a day if she accepted your heart. What even?!”

“The fans like that side to me.” Shifting the pack to another spot, I leant in closer. “Besides, that girl asked me to be her love slave. Who am I to deny their wishes? Whatever makes the fans happy.”

“Ugh.”

I rested my head on the back of the sofa and smiled. “Why, am I only meant to be your slave, Soo?”

“What are you talking about?”

“Remember the year before I got into Woolim, I gave you a birthday present of request cards to use. The first one you used was for me to be your slave for a week.”

“We were kids back then, what sensible girl wouldn’t take advantage of that?”

I smiled at the memory. “Everyone was really jealous of us.”

“So many idiots thought we were dating. Like I could be like that with you.”

I didn’t respond. Pressing the peas onto another area of her back, I tried to step out of my thoughts. It didn’t happen and I sighed lightly, knowing the true meaning of giving up a rare free day of sitting at home to spend it with the girl. It was a topic that I hadn’t approached with my childhood friend, knowing that she was adamant we were simply friends.

“Woohyun, can you move it? It’s getting uncomfortable.” I blinked out of my thoughts and nodded once, letting it drop down between us. Soohee wriggled awkwardly. “Aish, it soaked through. I’m such an idiot for not removing some of my clothes first. I’ll be back, and then we can get on with watching the movies you brought with you.”

I nodded again and went over to my bag as the girl departed out of the room after returning the peas to the kitchen. Grabbing the DVD cases, I then crossed over the room again to the television, noticing that her DVD player was no longer on the shelf. “Hey Soo, where’s the player?”

“Oh, it broke. Hold on.” I waited for the girl to appear, and instantly shifted my eyes to look over her head as she approached me in just a singlet and sweat pants. Unintentionally she had changed into my favourite kind of clothes and I cursed at my decision to visit her that day. Of course Soohee was oblivious and moved to her laptop on the kitchen bench. “I have to hook the cord to the telly into this.”

Shifting the device to the coffee table, Soohee bent down and groaned for the umpteenth time. I gently guided her towards the sofa again. “Let me do it. You rest before I end up having to take you to a clinic for your issues.”

“You make it sound like I’m not stable or something,” she accused and I couldn’t help but shoot her a smirk. “Bastard.”

“It’s asking for a password.” I glanced expectantly at my friend and she pulled her legs up onto the furniture.

“It’s the same as usual.”

“Namlim-ninety?” I asked and she nodded whilst casually inspecting her fingertips. “Really?”

“It’s the only one I can remember so well. Plus it’s like tradition, right? After all, everyone used to refer to us by our last names like that.”

I typed it in and tried to not read into anything further than necessary. Of course my brain didn’t want to comply and I was excited after all this time Soohee hadn’t changed much. Setting up the first movie, I sat down beside the girl, noticing she had put on a matching hoodie. I was thankful, since I didn’t like how I was admiring the one thing that had changed; her body shape. Even though it had only been a few months since I had last seen my best friend, she was still toning up from years of always being chunkier than her more recent slender frame. I couldn’t decide which I liked more, but I was unable to stop thinking about it as the beginning of the movie began.

“How long have you got here by the way?”

“Huh?” I blinked a couple of times and looked at Soohee. “Oh you mean to spend here? Until eight tonight, I have a radio show at ten. Why?”

“Do you plan on spending all day here?”

I nodded. “Unless you have other plans?”

“No, I cancelled everything in my schedule when you rung up. It’s ever so rare that the Grease King can come visit an old friend.” She nudged me and then winced. “I really need to stop doing that you know.”

“It seems really like you should be resting in bed.”

“But then you can’t watch movies with me,” she mentioned with a pout. I looked away. And she accused me of using my charms on people.

“So we can figure out other things to do.”

“Like?”

I shrugged. “If you rest up, I’ll order in food for lunch.”

“Anything I want?” she wondered, her face lighting up. “I’m going to forget about my diet for one day then!”

“Why are you even dieting? You’re not fat.”

Soohee pushed my upper arm. “I was before.”

“Not in my eyes you weren’t.” I folded my arms across my chest. “Who made you feel fat?”

“You did,” she admitted and I snapped my head back to face hers.

“What?!”

“Watching you work your off for your dreams, made me realise I was just frumpy and wasting my own time. So I decided to do something about it. That’s how I injured my back in the first place, I overdid it.”

“And recently?”

Soohee grinned. “Oh this idiot boy down the hall tried to tell me I wasn’t strong enough to lift something. So I proved him wrong.”

“And hurt yourself by doing so.” Jealousy flared within me at her animated expression and I turned back to the movie. “We’re not even watching this. Pay attention.”

“Fine.”

Silence barricaded us and with time it became uncomfortable. I could see that Soohee herself was becoming agitated, presumably with her injury. Eventually, I sighed heavily and poked her upper arm gently.

“What?” She didn’t look at me.

“If I was to be your slave for one day, what would you want to do?”

Soohee finally looked at me, regarding me quietly. “Like what would I want you to do?”

I nodded. “Anything.”

“Really?” She became thoughtful and then smiled. “I know!”

She slowly got to her feet and gestured for me to follow her into her bedroom. I expected her to ask me to clean it, but surprisingly it was rather neat. Instead she had removed her hoodie and I stopped in the doorway, stunned. “Wh-what are you doing?”

“I want a back massage,” she announced and I merely stared at her. “What, too afraid to? What kind of lousy slave are you?”

“No, I just, it’s not every day a girl takes her clothes off and demands me to touch her back,” I slowly replied, edging into Soohee’s room.

“I’m not just any girl though Woo, and my back is killing me. I’m all tense and I remember back in the day whenever I stressed out you would give me a massage.”

Another memory came to the surface and I smiled, nodding gently as I rubbed my hands together. “Don’t blame me if I hurt you more. I’m no chiropractor.”

“I just like it when it’s pressed on firmly but not hard if that makes sense.” The girl already was lying on her bed face down and I hesitated before crawling onto it and sitting at her side. I placed my hands on her, doing small circular motions over her lower back. She relaxed into the bedding happily and I focussed on my task, her steady breathing signalling that I was doing a good job. Unlike with her morning appointment, Soohee seemed incredibly content. After awhile I lifted my hands away, and glanced towards her head, wondering if she had fallen asleep.

“Don’t stop Woo,” she mumbled into her pillow and I smirked. “Feels so good.”

“Does it?”

“Mm.”

“I’m getting tired though,” I told her and she simply groaned.

“You said you’d be my slave for a day.”

“I was hoping more along the lines of getting food and running errands around the house for you.” My hands hovered over her back and she finally shifted her head to look at me. She scrunched her face up.

“Tease.”

“What did you call me?” I asked, gaping at the girl. Without thinking about it, I leant towards her face, just as Soohee slipped around and onto her back. I had to prop myself above her, or else I would fall onto the girl.

“You’re blushing,” she stated and I tried to move away, but she held one of my wrists. “I meant it.”

“What?”

“That you’re a tease.”

I glanced away. “I was going to massage more; I was just playing with you.”

“I meant in general,” she continued, and I looked back at her. Soohee seemed suddenly shy. “I hate how you are with your fans.”

“What has that got to do with us?”

She poked my chest lightly. “Because when you’re with me, you’re either nagging or awkward. And I see what you’re like with the others and wonder where that arrogance goes. Even with your members you’re comfortable. Do I no longer make you feel at ease or something?”

“No.” Shifting so I was sitting beside her, I scratched the back of my neck. “How can I be comfortable around you like that?”

“Well, I’m supposedly a best friend.” Soohee was looking up at me, hurt evident within her eyes. “Isn’t that why you’re here?”

I shook my head. “Actually I’m here because when I was told I was having a day off, you were the first person to enter my mind to spend it with.”

“Why?”

“Don’t play dumb, if you are going to call me a tease, then surely you know.”

“Six years now, right?” I snapped my focus back to the smiling girl. “That’s a long time to harbour a crush on someone, Nam Woohyun.”

“Why haven’t you-”

“I lied before,” she intervened and I frowned. “I’ve been slimming down not because you made me feel fat, but because I wanted to be someone beautiful in your eyes.”

“How does that even work?” I was dumbfounded. “If you knew I liked you this much, why bother?”

“I wanted to match up as someone worthy of dating Woohyun, member of Korea’s boy group Infinite.” She tried to sit up but I didn’t allow her, gently pushing her shoulder back down.

I smiled at the girl and reached for one of her hands. “You wouldn’t get to date him; he’s not available to anyone but his fans. However his close friend with the same name is free. He’s a bit of a dork, and can be kind of uptight, but doesn’t care how much you weigh and would prefer you to stop breaking yourself when you’re already all he wants.”

“I finally understand the reactions now,” she blurted out and I waited for her to continue. “That was sickening.”

“Ah, it’s a trait we kind of share.”

Soohee grinned. “I have another task for you to do Nam Woohyun.”

“What is it?”

“Kiss me,” she instructed and closed her eyes. I merely sat there staring at her, until she peeked through a single eyelid, her face filling with colour. I laughed. “That was rude!”

“I wanted to see you do something I always seem to do around you.” Soohee frowned and I gently leant over her, making sure not to rest on her body. She gulped in air and my smile widened. “You blushed.”

“Well it took a lot of courage for me to-”

I cut her off then with my lips, six years of pent up emotions slowly exploding as I pressed my mouth against hers harder. She kissed me back with enough passion to make me realise that I had been so blinded by my own crush that her own interest in me had been foolishly mistaken. Had my lips not been imprinting themselves against hers, I would have laughed at how ridiculously cliché we both were.

Finally Soohee pulled back and caught her breath, her hand reaching up to cup the side of my face. I nuzzled into it and then wobbled on my arms from the intensity of our now exposed feelings. Thumping down beside the girl, we both groaned.

“Woo!”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to!” I lifted myself back up and brushed the hair out of her face. “Let me make it up to you.”

“How?”

“Well, we still need to eat. And afterwards I could massage you again?”

She laughed. “I thought your hands were tired?”

“They feel alright now.” I held them up and smiled.

“Suddenly I’m wondering if I preferred not being drenched in your grease,” she mumbled to herself and I shook my head. “Alright, deal. Since you’re my slave for the day, I’m going to make the best of it.”

“And after today, what happens?”

She thought for a moment and then held up her index finger. “I guess I’ll have to find the request cards I still had left.”

“You kept them?” She nodded. “Why?”

“There was one I always wanted to use.”

“Which was?” I tilted my head to the side, not remembering them all.

“It said, be mine. I think I might just have to cash that one in someday real soon.”

I grinned, and tried hard to keep my excitement in check. Clearing my throat, I attempted to be cool. “I have a busy schedule, but I know that’s the kind of card that can be fully redeemable.”

“As many times as I want to use it?”

Taking the girl in my arms gently, I hugged her to me and nodded again. “For as long as you like.”

 

The End.