MC JOOJOO
010-8059-XXXX

Yongguk almost laughed at the childish name she saved her number as.

“I’ll give you a call, alright? So you can save my number too.”

“Hello?”

“Ah, Minjoo. It’s Yongguk. We’re already done. Where do we find you?”

“This is… uhh… aisle 7? I’m near the cabbages.”

“What was that for?” Yongguk nudged Himchan’s side. Himchan just dragged him in front of the vending machine. He didn’t even buy anything. He didn’t even take out any coins.

Himchan snatched Yongguk’s phone, “Now you have Minjoo’s number!” He made an overly happy face.

Yongguk just looked at his friend, face scrunched up, mouth slightly open. What’s going on?

“Now you’re in the same playing field as Ponytail Boy,” Himchan proudly stated.

?!

Clueless, “Huh? What playing field?”

“I know you Yongguk. You were in love that moment our Minjoo didn’t run across the pedestrian lane and even more when she put her hand up, crossing the road like a kindergartener.”

Himchan and Yongguk had been friends for so long that they knew each other like the back of their hands. Yongguk knew the sizes Himchan wore, all the skincare brands Himchan frequented, and the number of mirrors he owned. Himchan knew the number of caps that sat in Yongguk’s wardrobe, his political views, his favorite brand of ramyun, and the words to the songs that he composed. Somewhere in there, they also had an idea of each other’s preference in women.

And this time, there was something on Himchan’s radar.

“Well…..” Yongguk couldn’t deny that those traits were particularly attractive to him, but… “Man, I don’t know.”

“You don’t know yet.” Himchan corrected.

Yongguk just sighed. It was better to let Himchan play his games than try to stop him. That boy was a bit too stubborn, a bit too bored, and had a bit too much free time on his hands.

Himchan smiled victoriously.

“Hey,” Himchan tapped Minjoo on the shoulder. She was looking at some tomatoes that were beside the cabbages.

“Here, I’ll let you pay for this,” she a ball of cabbage to Himchan’s chest. Her other hand cradled a pack of fresh eggs. “You guys want anything to drink?” She looked up to her two tall friends.

Yongguk just shrugged, the universal gesture for “anything will do.” Himchan claimed that they should just check out the drinks first and see if there’s anything they particularly liked.

In the end, a liter bottle of grape soda, a pack of eggs, and a cabbage were checked out from the counter.

Minjoo’s door opened and laughter echoed within the four walls of her flat.

“Say that again, say that again,” she slapped Yongguk lightly on the arm.

He cleared his through, and let out the lowest voice he could manage, “Chyeah.”

They burst in a fit of high pitched giggled and deep chuckles.

“Let me tell ya something chy’all ready know!” Himchan did an impression of Yongguk’s voice as he laid the bags of groceries on Minjoo’s counter.

“Oh my god, we can be this underground hip hop group,” Minjoo said in between laughs, “You can be Yonggangsta,” she pointed to Yongguk, “and you HimCHYEAH,” she pointed to the other boy.

They laughed at the ridiculousness of their aliases.

“How about you?” Yongguk asked Minjoo.

She pouted and racked her brains for something. Minjoo turned to Himchan for help.

“Aha, I got it!” Himchan snapped his fingers, “You’ll be MC Joo Joo!”

“Puhahaha, that is the absolute worst stage name! C’mere Himchyeah!” Minjoo took the pot and began to chase the boy around her house.

Incoming call from 010-2769-XXXX

“Got it!” Minjoo showed the screen of her phone to Yongguk. He smiled.

YongGANGSTA
010-2769-XXXX

“You know, I feel kind of bad, thinking about all the instant noodles we’ve had in high school,” Minjoo said while still going down aisle 1 with Yongguk.

“Oh?” He responded. Meaning? Were they such bad company, he and Himchan? They spilled some soup once, but they helped wipe her floor after that. There was also one time they played a prank on their precious Joo and bought the spiciest ramyun there was. She trusted them enough to try a mouthful, even though the bright orange soup and the strong chili smell said otherwise about the taste. But that wasn’t much of a big deal. She cooled down with the ice cream they got her.

Thinking about ramyun, it was how they met, wasn’t it? Well, technically it was because of that rubber duck card, but more or less they bonded over easy-to-prepare noodles that swam in hot water and monosodium glutamate.

“I mean it’s so unhealthy. I’ve gained so much weight from that,” Minjoo laughed.

Yongguk smirked, “Well, at least you enjoyed them right?”

“Yes, I did. I enjoyed them very much. No regrets there!”

Both chuckled at their similarly odd fixation with ramyun.

“Remember that time we went for ramyun outside? When we celebrated out first ‘A’?” Minjoo asked while keeping her phone in her pocket.

Yongguk nodded, “Yeah, I do.” How could I forget?

Minjoo let out a soft chuckle and turned to the man, “It was sooo awkward, I can’t believe it actually happened, you know!” She slapped her palm on her forehead and closed her eyes and continued chuckling.

“Oh come on, it wasn’t that bad,” Yongguk pat her shoulder.

“Yes it was!” Minjoo burst out saying, “We ran out of things to say and… hahaha… at least it’s a really funny memory!”

Cring. Cring. Cringing.

The wind chime on the door sounded, alerting the staff about the new customers.

“Table for?” The waitress asked.

“Two, please!” Minjoo happily said as she held up two of her fingers as Yongguk pulled the door close.

They were lead to two seats and a small table at the side of the small restaurant. It was a popular ramyun place among students because it was located near the school compounds and the prices were pretty good. The waitress handed the pair two menus and they both thanked her.

“What are you having?” Minjoo immediately asked.

“Hmm…” Yongguk looked at the choices for a while, “Maybe just the house ramyun special?”

Minjoo looked for the picture that accompanied the dish, and frowned, “Man that looks spicy…”

“Haha,” Yongguk laughed, “Well it’s not for you then. I’m sure you can ask the waitress for one that isn’t spicy.”

“Oh, that sounds good,” Minjoo nodded.

Yongguk proceeded to put up his right hand to call the attention of the waitress. He ordered to house specials, but the other one was not spicy.

“Drinks?” The lady asked.

Yongguk looked at Minjoo, “Whatever you’re having,” she said, so he ordered two cold teas. As soon as he finished ordering, the waitress ripped out the top sheet of her pad, her heel, and was set to pass it to the people in the kitchen. She totally missed Yongguk who held out the two menus, “Here… Uhh, Miss? You can keep… these…” He spoke a bit too late, and the waitress was already gone. “Heh,” he said nervously.

Minjoo just gave an amused smile.

Yongguk looked at Minjoo.

Minjoo looked at Yongguk.

Yongguk raised his eyebrows, yes?

Minjoo smiled and shook her head, no, it’s nothing.

But they still looked at each other, or what was around them. Red walls, fluorescent lighting, off-white floors…

Yongguk began tapping his fingers to a spontaneous rhythm on the table, and Minjoo was unknowingly bobbing her head to it.

“Have ya ever thought of styling your hair?” Minjoo asked out of the blue. Apparently, she had been observing his features while he was looking around.

Yongguk pat his fringe and let his fingers run through his hair. It was black, mostly. He had spontaneously had a dye job done (because Himchan pestered him that they do it together last summer) but it’s now an uneven mop of black and brown.

“Maybe you can shave your sides,” Minjoo said as she placed both hands on either side of her head, “and leave this part, “she pat her bangs a few times.

Yongguk looked at her weirdly. Where do these ideas come from?

“Hahaha,” Minjoo chuckled, “You don’t have to do it if you don’t want to. I just thought it might suit you.”

“Maybe next time?” Yongguk said. He wasn’t very adventurous about these type of things.

Silence.

“How about you? Ever thought of changing your hairstyle?” He asked back.

“It took me so long to grow my hair,” Minjoo said, “I feel bad about cutting it,” she puffed her cheeks and pouted. “I’m kinda bored by it already.”

“But don’t you wear different …” Yongguk couldn’t find the word for scrunchies and just made a vague hand gesture that represented a bun on his head.

“Ah,” Minjoo beamed, “So you noticed! Yes it’s my attempt! But I think I’ll have to change my hairstyle soon…”

Goodbye to the thing that takes away boredom.

Silence.

…

Minjoo puffed and un-puffed her cheeks while Yongguk found the ceiling lights interesting.

“So…” Yongguk stared, and the girl turned to him with full attention, cheeks halfway puffed. “Uhh, what do you do after school? Like that day,” vague hand gesture, “we did the project…”

“Ah! I take art for an elective, because I’m no good with sports,” Minjoo said, “And my glasses always get knocked off my face…” she laughed embarrassingly.

“Oh? That sounds cool. You should show your work sometime,” he replied, “Actually I’m quite interested in art.”

“Oh really?” Minjoo asked in disbelief, “What type of art do ya dig?”

“Political art, mostly.”

“Oooohhhh,” she nodded, impressed. It’s not every day that highschool students appreciated artworks with a political message. Those things were strong yet subtle. A visually loud yet audibly silent protest that carries a gun loaded with an adamant voice. It was something less on the pretty, and less on the radar of kids. “I can see why you like rap,” she said, thinking back to the interest her partner showed on hiphop.

Yongguk merely grinned in reply, unsure of what to say.

“What do you do for your elective?” Minjoo threw the question back.

“Basketball,” Yongguk replied.

“Oh wow that’s really cool. You have to tell me if you have a game, kay? I’ll go cheer you on,” she held up two imaginary pom-poms.

“Sure, I’ll let you know.”

The waitress returned with two bowls of ramyun. Minjoo made sure that hers was the one that had no chili and kimchi in them.

Once chopsticks were broken, there was only slurping and not another word was spoken.

“But hey I see that ya took my advice!” Minjoo exclaimed as she pointed at Yongguk’s hair. It was indeed shorter than whatever he had in highschool, and the sides were shaved.

“??” Yongguk took some time to remember. Actually this hairstyle had been suggested by the hairdresser once, and it just stuck because he felt good with it. “Oh yeah, you did tell me to get this kind of hairstyle back then…”

“Do you regret it? You could have been this handsome in your graduation photo.”

“I’m handsome?” Yongguk smirked. He formed a ‘V’ with his thumb and his index finger and placed it on his chin, and tilted his face to the side to show his jawline.

Minjoo nodded, acknowledging that fact, “Yeah, actually you’ve always been handsome to me,” she said with a straight face. “Just that you had really bad hairstyles back then, hehehehe…” she stuck her tongue  out.

“Tch,” Yongguk slapped her lightly on the shoulder. Minjoo just laughed it off, though a bit too loudly in public.

“But honestly! You were a seriously attractive kid, you know?”

Yongguk just gave her the “are you kidding me” look.

“Yeah!” she insisted. “Okay, maybe you weren’t Himchan’s level of good looks. Sheesh that kid looked like Greek gods carved from marble,” okay so maybe his friend was the benchmark for good looks back then (and even now), “but your personality’s five hundred times more attractive than his.”

But Himchan was an annoying bugger. He was loud with his mouth, expressive with his feelings, bad with his temper, picky with his clothes, and even pickier with his women.

Yongguk was not sure if that was a compliment.

“How about me, what were your impressions of me back in the day?” Minjoo asked.

Her questions were always so… random.

“I’m not sure,” Yongguk said and he saw his old friend’s eyebrows furrow just a bit, “I mean I always sat behind you. I can say that the back of your head is really attractive.”

It was Yongguk’s turn to get hit.

One of the ramyun packets were taken from the cart as they were about to make a turn to the next aisle.

“Wow these have gotten more expensive… Inflation is real,” Minjoo whispered.

Of course inflation is real. Economics is not a fictional fairytale. In fact, it’s the very boring yet inconvenient reality.

“Did they use to be cheaper?” Yongguk asked.

Minjoo gave him a weird look, “Don’t ya buy these all the time?” she waved the ramyun packet, making a shh-shh sound with the broken noodles and individually packed seasoning.

“Well I do, but it’s not like I pay too much attention to it. Even if it becomes twice as expensive I’ll still buy it anyways,” Yongguk shrugged. It was how he loved.

“How do you even remember? You don’t eat this brand,” He stated.

Minjoo carelessly threw back the ramyun into the cart, making louder shh-shh and crk-crrrrk sounds that could possibly break Yongguk’s heart. (If it wasn’t broken already) “Oh you bet I remember.”

It was another day of boring school life. Not assuming anything special, Yongguk walked into class as per normal.

Some students were lounging, some were cramming homework due (like Himchan), others were chatting or sleeping with their heads on the table.

First thing’s first, he had to take his things from the locker.

Click click. He punched in the combination.

Clack. The lock opened.

The moment the locker door opened, a few things immediately spilled out on to the floor, making a lot of plastic-y noise. Red plastic wrapper. Familiar noise. It could only be one thing.

Ramyun.

It was stuffed in every corner in his locker. He had to dig through a few to reach his books.

The noise of the plastic on the floor made enough noise to catch the attention of some of the students in the room. Heads turned and craned. Some laughed and cheered, others were just confused.

Yongguk brought the things he needed to his table, putting it under his desk.

Under his desk?

Tsk-Tsck-Tsssh.

There was that plasticky sound again, and somehow the books refused to go into the cubby hole.

Again, the whole place was stuffed with ramyun packets.

Nong Shim Shin Ramyun.

Whoever instigated this knew him well. Very well indeed.

He emptied his desk to make room for his books, and stuffed whatever ramyun inside his locker and his bag.

What was this about? Was it some kind of prank? It was a bit too early to be April Fool’s.

The bell rang and students poured into the room, and the teacher followed soon after. Some students made it right on time, just one footstep earlier than the teacher. That “some” was inclusive of Kim Himchan and Kim Minjoo, or what the class dubbed as the “Kim Twins.” They were always seen together, and they were similar. Both had impeccable complexion and very fair skin. Never in the history of highschool had they had a single hair out of place, and both had dyed brown hair, though Minjoo’s was an ashy beige brown while the other Kim had a chocolate shade. Both always had fashion magazines under their desks and they were particularly noted for being dressed well out of their uniforms. Or rather, pulling of whatever ridiculous thing they decided to put on well.

 Right before the teacher greeted the class good morning, Himchan slammed a small sticky note on Yongguk’s table.

“Happy Birthday,” it read in English, with two cartoon faces below. One was a girl with a bun on her head, and the other a small-eyed boy.

There was an arrow that pointed at the edge of the note. He flipped it over.

“There’s more.”

Whatever the teacher was saying in homeroom didn’t reach Yongguk’s ears. He was too busy grinning, anticipating whatever these two have in store for him.

He later discovered that the two somehow (with Himchan’s popularity and connections, nothing was impossible) managed to stuff his basketball locker with ramyun as well. There was also a small red pot that had “Happy Birthday Yongguk, please eat all of these well! Spicy from the burning love of HimCHYEAH and MC JJ” in black nail polish.

Sigh of defeat. How was he supposed to bring all of these home?

It took the poor (or rather, fortunate) boy a total of three days to carry all the ramyun back with whatever space he had left in his school bag. He left some in his lockers, to bring to Minjoo’s in case candid dinners were held among the three of them, and one packet was used to trick Minjoo into eating spicy ramyun that one time.

Hello! I was particularly inspired so here's another chapter! And the final installment of "AISLE 1"!! Any guesses what's AISLE 2 all about? Hmmm...

I hope it doesn't sound too rushed. (and again i was too excited to upload so eheh i didn't proofread mianheyo~ I hope it's all up to expectations!! Though I feel bad because nothing big is happening yet... Soon soon!

Working on relationships and building them aish that's quite difficult.

Please comment because they make me happy and they fuel my brain and my typing. Thank You!