Chapter 14

I continued to stare at the picture. This picture, it wasn’t a picture of a random girl, but a picture of me.

The ahjumma began to speak again, “That’s a really pretty picture of you.”

I looked up with a blank stare and saw her smiling face. “Oh.. dae, kamsa hamnida.” I grabbed my bag of clothes and walked out of the laundromat expressionless. During the car ride, the only thing I could think was, “Why does he have my picture?”

When I walked back into the dorm, everyone was gone except for Hyomin. She sat there on the couch watching reruns of ‘Invincible Youth’. Every few seconds she would complain, “Wah! Why was I edited out here... I thought I was funny.” Finally when I spoke up, she looked up and saw me.

“Jiyeon! Welcome back... did something go wrong? You’re pale.” She grabbed my arm and led me to the couch.

“Hyominnie... I need help.” I placed the picture on her leg.

“I don’t understand. What’s wrong with your picture?” She asked me while looking at the picture.

“It’s not the picture. The ahjumma found it inside of Junhyung’s pants.”

“Isn’t that positive then, if he keeps a picture of you in his pockets? Can’t that mean he likes you?”

I froze once she said it could mean he likes me. That popped into my head many times, but I always denied it. It couldn’t be true. He was with someone else. “But he kissed you Jiyeon!” I complained back. For some reason, I wanted to believe he likes me, but then I also wanted to deny it.

“Jiyeon, are you ok?” She broke my train of thoughts.

“Unnie... please help me.” I asked her again. I began to explain the whole story behind my history with Junhyung.

“BWOH?! You dated him before? Wow... then he left you? Now, he kissed someone else and you? How is that possible?” She began to contemplate.

“Unnie.. there’s more.”

She looked up at me and saw my troubled face. “What more can there be?” She asked me in confusion.

“I think...” I stopped and stared at the ground.

“You think what?” She asked me bending down into my view.

“I think I may like him.” I stared at the ground expressionless.

Hyomin was silent after hearing that. For 10 minutes, or at least it felt like that, there was a silence in the dorm.

Hyomin got up from her seat and stood in front of me. I looked up and saw her with her ambitious face and her hands forming a fist on her waist.

“Jiyeon! You will now attend ‘Hyomin’s Troubled Lovers Class’!” She said in a loud, clear voice.

“What? Troubled l-l-lovers?” I stared at her with confused eyes.

“Dae! Troubled lovers. I will teach you everything you need to know. You first class will start today.” She stepped in front of me and grabbed my arm. She pulled me into our room and locked the door.

“So, I hope this class will teach you all you need to know, because... I don’t know much.” She began to rub her head.

I laughed. “You don’t know much about the subject, yet you’re going to teach me?” I began to laugh again.

“That’s right!” She began to teach me.

The night felt long, yet it was interesting. In fact, I did learn a lot from her, although I thought that I wouldn’t. Around 1 AM, her class ended.

“Do you understand it now?” She asked me as if I was studying for school.

“Dae... kamsa hamnida Hyomin. Jeongmal kamsa hamnida.” I smiled at her.

“A smile?” She laughed and pulled me into a hug. “That’s what your unnie is here for.” I heard her laugh.

The next two days pasted by quickly. Before I even knew it, it was Thursday.

“Today’s M! Countdown everyone!” I heard Eunjung yell at everyone.

All the T-ara members quickly changed and washed their face except for me. I stood there, watching everyone. I felt as if I was frozen, as if I couldn’t move from my current location.

“Ottoke? Ottoke?” I thought to myself. Today was the day I was going to see him again. I was going to return his clothes along with the picture. “Ottoke?”