Man 2 Man
Thousand Paper Cranes
Nabi’s knuckles were now white. She clenched the handle of the door and stared as Seunghyun marched towards her brother. Junhyung’s crossed arms fell to his sides as his fists curled into balls. His upper lip twitched.
“Seunghyun,” Nabi whispered to herself nervously. “What are you doing? Please don’t get hurt like this because of me,” She blinked and hit her head. “Yah! Stop it! You don’t care about him, not like that! He’s… he’s just my student, nothing more,” she finished, nodding firmly.
Seunghyun stopped, his head tilted downward, as he glared into Junhyung’s eyes threateningly. “Yah, you think I can’t take care of a girl??”
“No, you certainly can’t,” Junhyung replied firmly. He re-crossed his arms. “Not at all. I know who you are, Seunghyun. I know what you are. And Nabi…” He nodded towards Nabi in the car. She stared out, her face and palms pressed against the glass. Seunghyun looked back at her. Her eyes widened and she removed herself from the window quickly. “Yah,” Junghyun snapped. Seunghyun’s eyes fell from the car and traveled slowly across the pavement. His eyes once again met Junhyung’s. “Nabi… she is still young. She doesn’t fully understand how you treat women,” he said, taking a step closer. Seunghyun’s eye twitched. “And I will NOT let you consider her a trophy in your house,” Junhyung paused, looking up and down at the man before him. “You are a pimp,” he sneered. Seunghyun began to notice an annoying little wet droplet in his eye. He blinked it back as his eyebrows furrowed. He had never considered Nabi as anything like the other girls. Time slowed. His shoulder pulled backwards. His fist coiled behind his ear. The bruises on his heart and pride throbbed wildly. Nabi threw open the car door the second she saw Seunghyun raise his fist. “She deserves so much better than you,” Junhyun whispered slowly, his eyes locked in the same place.
How dare he, Seunghyun thought. His eyes stung with unfamiliar water droplets. Suddenly, a pair of small hands clasped his fist from behind, nanoseconds before it met Junhyung’s face. Nabi’s small, soft fingers barely covered his hand.
“Oppa…,” Nabi whispered quietly, her eyes wide with fear. She stared up at Seunghyun. His heart skipped a beat.
...oppa? he thought. She… she called me oppa? Seunghyun blinked. He breathed heavily, looking from Nabi to their hands. He blinked again. Her hands are… are holding mine…? Her hands numbed his skin. He stared into her big, brown eyes. Full of fear. Fear of himself. Her blue hair had fallen messily across her face. His head cocked slightly as their hands began to fall slowly, still clasped. His fingers relaxed in her hands. This girl… I really don’t deserve her. His eyes fell to the floor and his hand dropped from her fingers. He breathed, looking up at Junhyung. “You are right… I don’t deserve her,” he said quietly. Nabi stared up at him, confused. Seunghyun looked back down at Nabi. She blinked. “But I will fight myself to deserve her.”
--------------
“Good work,” Nabi praised the Beast boys, clapping her hands. “Now, finish copying the vocabulary into your notebooks.” Everyone nodded and their pens began to work slowly across their paper. Junhyung sat next to his sister on the couch in Beast’s classroom-converted-lounge. He let his left arm slide around her waist as he worked at his paper. She sighed, thinking about earlier.
“Dongsaeng, are you okay?” Junhyung asked, looking up from his work. Nabi stared distantly at her shoes. Junhyung wrapped his other arm around her waist, pulling her a little closer. He squeezed her shoulder. “Are you thinking about Seunghyun?”
Seunghyun? Nabi looked up at her brother. “I… I can’t help it. I’m trying to figure out what his words meant,” she pondered, knitting her eyebrows. “Who was he talking about that he will fight for?” Nabi rubbed her nose, sniffing sadly. “Did he meet a girl?”
Junghyun smiled. He certainly didn’t want his sister to end up in Seunghyun’s arms. Maybe she wouldn’t like him if she thought Seunghyun had someone else. Can I lie to my sister? he sighed to himself and took his sisters hand, squeezing it. It is for her well-being… “Yes… he met a girl,” he said quietly. It wasn’t necessarily a lie anyway… except that girl was Nabi.
Nabi’s eyes began to water. She wiped the annoying bits of moisture on her sleeve. Of course… I’m not good enough for him anyways. Saying nothing, her shoulders slumped as she absent mindedly stared off at her best friend, Tokki. She was sitting in her boyfriend’s lap, helping him pronounce vocabulary words. Yoseob laughed generously as he tried to copy her words. Nabi smiled at the couple. Tokki was underage, which made the two technically illegal. Everyone, however, loved Tokki and her ADHD so her age was never spoken of. Yoseob pulled at his girlfriends cheeks giggling at her aegyo. She slapped his head playfully and commanded that he do his work.
Nabi looked back at her feet. The same blue converse she had worn to Seunghyun’s apartment the night before. She smiled fondly as her fingers wound about the excess fabric in her jeans. Seunghyun’s jeans. The Beast members had been thoughtful enough not to mention her attire, although Nabi still reddened thinking about it. The jean material had softened from being worn so often. She the fabric delicately. I can’t do this to myself, she thought. He likes someone else…
Junhyung stood suddenly and strolled over to mock Doojoon, who had torn his paper in the process of erasing furiously. Nabi pulled her feet up and tucked them in her legs as she leaned back, now cross-legged. Her eyes met someone else’s. Lee Kikwang. They had met a few times, and occasionally Kikwang would text her or vise versa.
Kikwang looked up. He smiled. “Seonsang-nim! (teacher)” He smiled cutely. Kikwang made a blowfish face as he stood and plopped himself next to Nabi. Nabi laughed, her eyes smiling. Kikwang’s face softened. “It is so good to see you again…,” he said, smiling softly. “It’s… It’s been so long.” Nabi nodded quietly. It had been almost a year since she had last seen him. He laughed suddenly. “Do you remember the piggy back ride?” Nabi began to grin, recalling the time. Kikwang’s face lit up. “We were all playing at the park and I gave you a piggy back ride! Yoseob and Tokki were doing the same and we ended up running into each other,” his face fell suddenly. “Only you fell off… and sprained your ankle.”
Nabi smiled. “It wasn’t so bad, don’t worry about it. I had fun!” she laughed, pushing Kikwang’s arm gently. “The guy in the ambulance gave me a teddy bear so it’s okay.”
Kikwang erupted into a series of giggles and hiccups. “So teddy bears,” he giggled again. “… make everything better?”
Nabi nodded quickly. “Just like medicine! Except not as nasty.”
Kikwang smiled at her. Suddenly, his arms spread around her shoulders as he pulled her into his chest, hugging her tightly. Nabi’s eyes widened. Her body tensed. She wasn’t used to other boys touching her… only her brother had ever hugged her. Even with hugging girls, it was still not something she felt completely comfortable with doing.
“Nabi…” Kikwang whispered. She could hear his smile in his words. “I missed you so much…” His words were so full of kindness. Nothing deep or terrifying in his voice. Simply sweetness. Her body relaxed a bit.
“I.. I missed you too,” she whispered back. Kikwang could barely hear her words. They were so quiet a passerby might have mistaken them for a breeze or a breath. But he heard it.
“Yah, Lee Kikwang!” the leader’s voice sounded. “What are you doing with our seonsang-nim? Respect your teacher.” Doojoon laughed. “Or maybe SHE should give respect to her oppa.” Everyone laughed as Kikwang pulled away, reddened. He smiled at her shyly as he left the couch and found his former seat. Nabi buried her face in her lap and pulled her knees closer.
"PICK UP YOUR PHONE, NABI!!!! AISH YOU NEVER ANSWER IT TAKES YOU FOREVER TO GET TO THE PHONE PICK IT UP RIGHT NOW SOMEONE'S CALLING YOU!! WHAT ARE YOU SLEEPING, WAKE UP!!!"
Nabi jumped. Yoseob screamed and fell out of his chair. Doojoon yelled and threw his papers into the air. Dongwoon’s water bottle fell from his hand and leaked havoc all over his pants. A middle school girl outside the window ran away crying. In North Korea, someone’s batteries died from a heart attack.
“Yah, it’s just my cell phone!” Nabi, laughed, reaching into her pocket. Her hand grasped air. The pockets were bigger than she had expected. She reached farther and pulled out her vibrating phone. Her phone flashed EunMi.
Tokki laughed, trying to pull Yoseob off the floor and failing miserably. He ended up pulling her on top of himself and wrapping her in a bear hug.
“Something wrong?” Nabi asked, now outside the room. Junhyung had followed her out.
EunMi’s voice was shaking. “I-I uh… Jay called me??” she squeaked.
Nabi laughed. “And the problem is….? He probably thinks you’re cute!”
Junhyung sighed, realizing he wouldn’t be needed. He didn’t want to hear any girly conversations. Shaking his head, he walked back into the room. The other members were frantically trying to wipe off Dongwoon’s pants with various towels. Yoseob was pointing a blow dryer at Dongwoon’s crotch and yelling like a mad man.
“Well I gave everyone all our numbers in case they needed help.” Nabi said into the phone. She leaned against the wall. “Now tell me again what he wanted?”
“He lost the homework you gave him!” EunMi said nervously. “He needs another copy….I don’t understand why he didn’t just call you!”
“Unnie. He called you because he wanted to talk to you most likely because he thinks you’re CUTE!” she giggled. EunMi was silent. “Besides, I can’t do anything about it right now. I’m in the middle of a session,” she said, a grin spreading on her face. “You’ll have to take it to him.”
“WHAT? WHAT IS THIS?!”
Nabi laughed, bouncing around the hallway. “Come by and pick it up then you can bring it to him!”
“BUT, DONGSAE-“
“Okay, great, see you soon!” Nabi giggled, hanging up. She bounced back into the room gleefully. Nabi grabbed the homework sheet from her bag and proceeded to run out the door.
“Dongsaeng!” Junhyung called. “We finished our vocabulary.”
Nabi turned quickly. “Okay uh…” she racked her brain for learning material. “Conjugate those verbs on the sheet into past tense. Be done before I get back!” Everyone groaned as she ran out the door.
Nabi rocked back and forth on the sidewalk a few minutes later. She held the papers tightly in her hands, waiting for EunMi. A blue butterfly danced past her face.
“Oh! Hello there,” Nabi whispered to the graceful creature. It landed softly on the pavement. Its wings opened and closed slowly, flaunting its bright colors. Nabi squatted next to it, clutching her falling pants. “Ah, you are a show-off! You remind me of Lee Joon when I tutored him. He was just like you, Nabi-nim (Mr. Butterfly)! Why can’t you be like Cheondoong? He was a much better student.” She rocked on her ankles.
“Are you a butterfly whisperer, dongsaeng?” a sweet voice asked.
Nabi looked up. “Kikwang! Ah, I’m sorry,” she said standing. She blushed.
“So you can speak to butterflies! Makes sense,” he pondered, running his fingers through his hair. The color reminded Nabi of blood oranges. She smiled, thinking about the fruit. “Since it is your name. What did he say?”
Nabi smiled and watched the butterfly as he flew away. “He is arrogant. Takes advantage of his looks. He knows he is beautiful and thinks that will get him anything. He even leads other butterflies on into thinking that he loves them, when he doesn’t,” she explained. “Nabi-nim told me that he wants to fight for a girl,” she whispered quietly. “But I know of another girl that loves him that he has forgotten about.”
Kikwang was silent. He stepped closer. “Junhyung… he… he told me about Seunghyun.”
Nabi’s eyes flashed as she turned to look at him. “Why?”
“I…” he gulped, his face reddening. “I asked if you had a boyfriend.”
“Seunghyun isn’t my boyfriend…,” Nabi said quietly, sitting on the curb.
Kikwang sat next to her. His arm was against hers. “Do you want him to be?”
Nabi scrunched her nose and blinked furiously, trying to push the moisture in her eyes away. She sighed after a while, relaxing her face. “He loves someone else.”
“That’s not what I asked.”
Nabi thought a minute. Yes. “No.” I need to get over him. “I don’t want him to be my boyfriend.”
Kikwang knew Junhyung had lied to his sister… Seunghyun did love her. Junhyung wants me to protect her… this is for Nabi. Kikwang smiled. His arms wrapped around her shoulders. He leaned his head closer, looking into her eyes gently. Nabi could feel his sweet breath on her neck. Then, quietly, the wind carried his whisper. “Then let me be.”
___________________
Now Playing on Kikwang's iPod
“Dongsaeng, are you okay?” Junhyung asked, looking up from his work. Nabi stared distantly at her shoes. Junhyung wrapped his other arm around her waist, pulling her a little closer. He squeezed her shoulder. “Are you thinking about Seunghyun?”
Seunghyun? Nabi looked up at her brother. “I… I can’t help it. I’m trying to figure out what his words meant,” she pondered, knitting her eyebrows. “Who was he talking about that he will fight for?” Nabi rubbed her nose, sniffing sadly. “Did he meet a girl?”
Junghyun smiled. He certainly didn’t want his sister to end up in Seunghyun’s arms. Maybe she wouldn’t like him if she thought Seunghyun had someone else. Can I lie to my sister? he sighed to himself and took his sisters hand, squeezing it. It is for her well-being… “Yes… he met a girl,” he said quietly. It wasn’t necessarily a lie anyway… except that girl was Nabi.
Nabi’s eyes began to water. She wiped the annoying bits of moisture on her sleeve. Of course… I’m not good enough for him anyways. Saying nothing, her shoulders slumped as she absent mindedly stared off at her best friend, Tokki. She was sitting in her boyfriend’s lap, helping him pronounce vocabulary words. Yoseob laughed generously as he tried to copy her words. Nabi smiled at the couple. Tokki was underage, which made the two technically illegal. Everyone, however, loved Tokki and her ADHD so her age was never spoken of. Yoseob pulled at his girlfriends cheeks giggling at her aegyo. She slapped his head playfully and commanded that he do his work.
Nabi looked back at her feet. The same blue converse she had worn to Seunghyun’s apartment the night before. She smiled fondly as her fingers wound about the excess fabric in her jeans. Seunghyun’s jeans. The Beast members had been thoughtful enough not to mention her attire, although Nabi still reddened thinking about it. The jean material had softened from being worn so often. She the fabric delicately. I can’t do this to myself, she thought. He likes someone else…
Junhyung stood suddenly and strolled over to mock Doojoon, who had torn his paper in the process of erasing furiously. Nabi pulled her feet up and tucked them in her legs as she leaned back, now cross-legged. Her eyes met someone else’s. Lee Kikwang. They had met a few times, and occasionally Kikwang would text her or vise versa.
Kikwang looked up. He smiled. “Seonsang-nim! (teacher)” He smiled cutely. Kikwang made a blowfish face as he stood and plopped himself next to Nabi. Nabi laughed, her eyes smiling. Kikwang’s face softened. “It is so good to see you again…,” he said, smiling softly. “It’s… It’s been so long.” Nabi nodded quietly. It had been almost a year since she had last seen him. He laughed suddenly. “Do you remember the piggy back ride?” Nabi began to grin, recalling the time. Kikwang’s face lit up. “We were all playing at the park and I gave you a piggy back ride! Yoseob and Tokki were doing the same and we ended up running into each other,” his face fell suddenly. “Only you fell off… and sprained your ankle.”
Nabi smiled. “It wasn’t so bad, don’t worry about it. I had fun!” she laughed, pushing Kikwang’s arm gently. “The guy in the ambulance gave me a teddy bear so it’s okay.”
Kikwang erupted into a series of giggles and hiccups. “So teddy bears,” he giggled again. “… make everything better?”
Nabi nodded quickly. “Just like medicine! Except not as nasty.”
Kikwang smiled at her. Suddenly, his arms spread around her shoulders as he pulled her into his chest, hugging her tightly. Nabi’s eyes widened. Her body tensed. She wasn’t used to other boys touching her… only her brother had ever hugged her. Even with hugging girls, it was still not something she felt completely comfortable with doing.
“Nabi…” Kikwang whispered. She could hear his smile in his words. “I missed you so much…” His words were so full of kindness. Nothing deep or terrifying in his voice. Simply sweetness. Her body relaxed a bit.
“I.. I missed you too,” she whispered back. Kikwang could barely hear her words. They were so quiet a passerby might have mistaken them for a breeze or a breath. But he heard it.
“Yah, Lee Kikwang!” the leader’s voice sounded. “What are you doing with our seonsang-nim? Respect your teacher.” Doojoon laughed. “Or maybe SHE should give respect to her oppa.” Everyone laughed as Kikwang pulled away, reddened. He smiled at her shyly as he left the couch and found his former seat. Nabi buried her face in her lap and pulled her knees closer.
"PICK UP YOUR PHONE, NABI!!!! AISH YOU NEVER ANSWER IT TAKES YOU FOREVER TO GET TO THE PHONE PICK IT UP RIGHT NOW SOMEONE'S CALLING YOU!! WHAT ARE YOU SLEEPING, WAKE UP!!!"
Nabi jumped. Yoseob screamed and fell out of his chair. Doojoon yelled and threw his papers into the air. Dongwoon’s water bottle fell from his hand and leaked havoc all over his pants. A middle school girl outside the window ran away crying. In North Korea, someone’s batteries died from a heart attack.
“Yah, it’s just my cell phone!” Nabi, laughed, reaching into her pocket. Her hand grasped air. The pockets were bigger than she had expected. She reached farther and pulled out her vibrating phone. Her phone flashed EunMi.
Tokki laughed, trying to pull Yoseob off the floor and failing miserably. He ended up pulling her on top of himself and wrapping her in a bear hug.
“Something wrong?” Nabi asked, now outside the room. Junhyung had followed her out.
EunMi’s voice was shaking. “I-I uh… Jay called me??” she squeaked.
Nabi laughed. “And the problem is….? He probably thinks you’re cute!”
Junhyung sighed, realizing he wouldn’t be needed. He didn’t want to hear any girly conversations. Shaking his head, he walked back into the room. The other members were frantically trying to wipe off Dongwoon’s pants with various towels. Yoseob was pointing a blow dryer at Dongwoon’s crotch and yelling like a mad man.
“Well I gave everyone all our numbers in case they needed help.” Nabi said into the phone. She leaned against the wall. “Now tell me again what he wanted?”
“He lost the homework you gave him!” EunMi said nervously. “He needs another copy….I don’t understand why he didn’t just call you!”
“Unnie. He called you because he wanted to talk to you most likely because he thinks you’re CUTE!” she giggled. EunMi was silent. “Besides, I can’t do anything about it right now. I’m in the middle of a session,” she said, a grin spreading on her face. “You’ll have to take it to him.”
“WHAT? WHAT IS THIS?!”
Nabi laughed, bouncing around the hallway. “Come by and pick it up then you can bring it to him!”
“BUT, DONGSAE-“
“Okay, great, see you soon!” Nabi giggled, hanging up. She bounced back into the room gleefully. Nabi grabbed the homework sheet from her bag and proceeded to run out the door.
“Dongsaeng!” Junhyung called. “We finished our vocabulary.”
Nabi turned quickly. “Okay uh…” she racked her brain for learning material. “Conjugate those verbs on the sheet into past tense. Be done before I get back!” Everyone groaned as she ran out the door.
Nabi rocked back and forth on the sidewalk a few minutes later. She held the papers tightly in her hands, waiting for EunMi. A blue butterfly danced past her face.
“Oh! Hello there,” Nabi whispered to the graceful creature. It landed softly on the pavement. Its wings opened and closed slowly, flaunting its bright colors. Nabi squatted next to it, clutching her falling pants. “Ah, you are a show-off! You remind me of Lee Joon when I tutored him. He was just like you, Nabi-nim (Mr. Butterfly)! Why can’t you be like Cheondoong? He was a much better student.” She rocked on her ankles.
“Are you a butterfly whisperer, dongsaeng?” a sweet voice asked.
Nabi looked up. “Kikwang! Ah, I’m sorry,” she said standing. She blushed.
“So you can speak to butterflies! Makes sense,” he pondered, running his fingers through his hair. The color reminded Nabi of blood oranges. She smiled, thinking about the fruit. “Since it is your name. What did he say?”
Nabi smiled and watched the butterfly as he flew away. “He is arrogant. Takes advantage of his looks. He knows he is beautiful and thinks that will get him anything. He even leads other butterflies on into thinking that he loves them, when he doesn’t,” she explained. “Nabi-nim told me that he wants to fight for a girl,” she whispered quietly. “But I know of another girl that loves him that he has forgotten about.”
Kikwang was silent. He stepped closer. “Junhyung… he… he told me about Seunghyun.”
Nabi’s eyes flashed as she turned to look at him. “Why?”
“I…” he gulped, his face reddening. “I asked if you had a boyfriend.”
“Seunghyun isn’t my boyfriend…,” Nabi said quietly, sitting on the curb.
Kikwang sat next to her. His arm was against hers. “Do you want him to be?”
Nabi scrunched her nose and blinked furiously, trying to push the moisture in her eyes away. She sighed after a while, relaxing her face. “He loves someone else.”
“That’s not what I asked.”
Nabi thought a minute. Yes. “No.” I need to get over him. “I don’t want him to be my boyfriend.”
Kikwang knew Junhyung had lied to his sister… Seunghyun did love her. Junhyung wants me to protect her… this is for Nabi. Kikwang smiled. His arms wrapped around her shoulders. He leaned his head closer, looking into her eyes gently. Nabi could feel his sweet breath on her neck. Then, quietly, the wind carried his whisper. “Then let me be.”
___________________
Now Playing on Kikwang's iPod
"Man 2 Man" by ZE:A
___________________
AUTHOR'S NOTE
bwahahaha lol a bit of randomness/silliness in this one xD
ooo so what will happen next? will Nabi say yes? will jay get his homework? will the north korean replace their batteries? x) ㅋㅋㅋ
___________________
AUTHOR'S NOTE
bwahahaha lol a bit of randomness/silliness in this one xD
ooo so what will happen next? will Nabi say yes? will jay get his homework? will the north korean replace their batteries? x) ㅋㅋㅋ
Comments