I Missed You, Oppa
Family? You & Me
Another clear sky day of empty loneliness and miserable money-making.
And like I said : I can't get sick of it.
I propped open my laptop and watched some broadway musical recordings-
I loved singing.....
And so does he.
I closed my eyes, trying to alleviate the traumatic stress from my already aching head.
Business is business.
I'm in charge of family matters, and I have to take responsibility of this crazy family mess from the beginning to end, whether I liked it or not.
I reached down my bed and rubbed Babo between his lazy ears, and it twitched under my fingers in approval.
Nobody seemed to care whether or not I brought home a cat from nowhere.
I wanted to keep Babo, for he's a precious piece of the past that kept me sane.
Kept me believing that one day, someone out there will see me through the thick veil of the society's preconceptions.
Something more than a rich plastic doll- or so what people have taken into calling me.
I glanced at the clock and stood up, mumbling and grumbling on my way to the closet.
Babo lazily followed me, and I closed the door before the sneaky cat could slide inside my closet-
He reminds me of Daehyun in a lot of ways.
The silent, sneaky, dangerous guy.
The one I'll have to spend a day with, signing papers and filling out legal forms.
It's true what he said-
Just to clear a name off a paper.
-------------------------
I hate this.
Gulping down spit, spreading out the folds on my skirt, the ticking of the clock-
Everything.
"Have you ever been in the business system of the Jung family?" Lawyer Lee asked.
I rolled my eyes-
How many times does "I have no connections to the Jung family" need to repeat for the actual meaning to be understood?
For heaven's sakes it's clear as day:
NO. CONNECTIONS.
None.
So why are they asking if he has a relationship with my family members?
Like, do they not understand the simple sentence?
Daehyun just kept his cool and nonchalantly spoke, "No".
I nervously glanced at him from time to time, seeing how calm he was.
It's like our personalities have been flip-flopped-
The first day, I was the calm and focused one and now I'm confused and hectic.
Lawyer Lee scribbled some fancy pen ink words on the paperworks, leaving the two awkward people to just sit there blankly.
Just a few more weeks and my family tree heritage is clear....
Just a few more weeks.
After some ridiculously useless conversing, Lawyer Lee finally said something shocking.
"It says that you're scheduled to leave for Detroit tomorrow, Mr.Jung. There has to be a signed proof that Miss Jung was with you as the whole process was going through. Is this okay with the two of you?"
I was on the edge of my seat, collecting myself and resisting from running away as fast as possible-
What? Detroit? Why?
Despite my confused state, I found myself nodding.
"If there are no questions, I will attend to my next client now." The lawyer left soundlessly, and I was still dazed at the sudden news flash.
Wait.
It's not my business what he does
WAKE UP MINHEE ahhhhh!!
"How is Babo?"
Daehyun asked, catching me off guard and making my muscles tense up everywhere.
Feeling myself die of emotions a little bit on the inside, I managed to somewhat calmly reply,
"I took him in. He's living with me."
I slung my crossbody purse over myself as Daehyun stood up.
He silently laughed, nodding as I bit my lip a bit.
"He eats a lot." He spoke, looking to the side casually.
"I know." I spoke.
*You do too* I thought.
The first time I brought Mrs.Yoo's cheesecakes for lunch 10 years ago to school, he fell absolutely in love with it.
He said it was the best-
And I still remeber how he looked into my thumping heart and smiled at me with a mouthful of cheesecake while saying that.
When he announced to the fangirls that cheesecakes were his favorite food, I didn't remeber it back then when B.A.P debuted and blogs posted numerous profile informations.
But now I do- crystal clear.
My heartbeats hurt to beat, but as I swung open the door, I turned around and smiled sadly.
"Don't worry. I won't feed him cheesecakes."
I mumbled, knowing he'd catch every single word.
I was nearing the exit, head swirling with unnecessary thoughts as a glint caught my eye throught the glass doors of the exit.
A camera.
I can catch those fearful objects anywhere.
My breath shortenend, and I looked for an another way out-
Another camera.
Are they here for some kind of a press conference?
Scared and confused, I held my breath and rolled my back flat on the wall, staying in the cameras' blind zone.
I can't let the cameras catch me.
I won't let them ruin me or Daehyun.
Ever.
_______ Daehyun's POV________
I sighed and trudged down the halls, thinking about today's schedules.
Tomorrow will be my last time here with her, since I have more promotions to participate in.
B.A.P will be flying to Detroit to film our new music video for 'Badman'.
Zelo and Jongup were really excited to be filming so much in the States, but of course Youngjae ruined thier moment by muttering something snide about Detroit being bankrupt.
Thinking about the future plans, I headed to the main exit when the unnaturally heavy breathing caught my ears.
What the hel-
I looked up to see Minhee, head hanging down and breathing heavy.
"Minhee...?" I asked, cautiously walking up to her.
I thought she left me like usual.
Then suddenly, she grabbed my collars and slammed me on the wall beside her.
What is happening-?
She put a finger on her lips, shushing me, and glanced nervously at the crowd of camera-armed paparazzis outside the building.
My eyes widened, and I sighed at the situation.
Cameras can be the scariest yet the most thankful things to a celebirity life.
I have to get to the company soon in order to catch my plane ticket from Manager Kang hyung.
.
I looked at the frightened Minhee and made up my mind.
"Follow me." I whispered, softly tugging on Minhee's still small shoulders.
________ Minhee's POV ______
I followed immediately, wanting nothing more than to go home and curl up in a miserable ball-
Where nobody can see me.
Where nobody can judge me.
Where nobody can catch me.
But when Daehyun nudged my shoulders, I felt the same electricity that I felt as a little 2nd year elementary schooler in love with her 5th year sunbae, and it crackled down into shame and regret as the consequences of reality hit me after the sad daydream of my innocence.
Daehyun slid in silently through halls I haven't seen before and led me through a back door.
I sighed in relief as a clearing of a camera-free zone came into my view, Daehyun pushing open the opaque doors.
He gestured to the swarm of paparazzis lined outside the main enterance, which seemed like another building away.
I glanced back and forth, wondering how I'll get home.
As if on cue, he motioned to a car.
His car.
Apparently.
Without a peep, I slid into his smooth passenger seat and awkwardly squirmed around, feeling somewhat off.
Daehyun closed the door and opened up a compartment, pulling out masks and hoods.
Without any explanation, he draped a mask on my face, brushing his warm hands against my cold lips in the process.
I bit my lip nervously as my heartbeats skyrocketed-
Gosh it's been freaking 10 years.
When will I be able to breathe normally around Jung Daehyun?
He tugged on his shirt, covering his brown tinted hair perfectly.
The car soundlessly whirred to life and backed out of the parking lot, leaving the paparazzis as our only obstacle.
"Lower your head." Daehyun spoke without looking at me.
To add some extra persuasion that I am not who I actually am, I pretended to sleep with my head hanging down.
Nobody can recognize me like this unless they were Godly ninjas.
Thankfully, the random swarm of cameramen didn't pay any attention to us, and I started to question the obvious :
Why are they here?
Did they figure out about my document problem?
I nibbled on my lower lip and stole glances at the calm and collected Daehyun.
God why does he look perfect at the most inconvenient times?!
And then I fell upon the more obvious question:
Where is he driving to?
I took a shaky breath and found the courage to speak.
"W...where are we going?" I squeaked.
"TS. I have to get my plane ticket." He replied, still not looking at me.
I was confused.
Why-?
"You can let me off here. I'll call ahjusshi and tell him to pick me up." I looked out the window, trying to catch some kind of a familiar recognition.
"You can't get home from here. It's the highway." He sighed, finally giving a firm look towards me.
I reluctantly shriveled back down into my seat, feeling edgy.
"Do you think they know about the family situation?" I asked, looking out at the passing cars.
"I don't know. What if they do?" He replied, sounding a bit annoyed.
"The media's going to blow it up big. Fans will start misunderstanding and there will be useless confusion all over Naver (Korean Google)" I flailed my hands in emphasis, not even thinking about the worst situations of this little law problem we were having.
"The media's been blowing stuff up forever- Are you that ashamed that I might be related to you?" He bursted, slightly scoffing ridiculously.
I pressed my lips together-
That's exactly opposite of why I'm so scared of the law.
It's funny really.
"Am I that bothersome to you? We've seperated enough so many times that you can't even stand having our names written together?!" He kept shouting, his voice trembling.
My fists weakly clenched and my heart plummeted down next to my feet.
Seperated so many times.....
The times when I'd open the wooden doors of the abandoned classroom just to find my wide grin fall down as the empty classroom replied back to my thumping heart with its cold sunlit windows.
The times where I'd turn around to face Daehyun who was right next to me just a second ago and be greeted with an empty space next to me.
The times we were seperated for unknown reasons.
The reasons I should have known, but knew too late.
It was all because of me.
Stupid, retarded me.
My hands gripped firmly on to the car seat, and before I could think of anything calm and collected, the fear and rage blurted out my throat.
"I CAN'T BOTHER YOU ANYMORE OPPA!!"
Silence.
Realization.
My eyes widened and I couldn't take it back.
I whipped my head around, swiping away the slipped tear with one quick move.
The car halted to a stop by a nearby clearing, and Daehyun's eyes burned a hole through my whole body.
I took the chance and got out of the car, bursting with scared actions before thoughts.
I tried to walk away into the road-
Just somewhere away-
When I ran into a barrier of chest.
Two hands gripped my shoulders tightly, and I was smooshed into the warm embrace.
"Bother me."
Daehyun spoke breathlessly, his voice choking in a sob.
I looked up in shock, never having witnessed the vocal of B.A.P sobbing.
"I...I.. Keep wanting things to be how it was... I tell myself we've parted and we can't go back but you keep coming back to me- the Jung Minhee that I thought was gone."
He sighed, gasping for air with me frozen in his body.
My voice wouldn't work and my heart throbbed painfully.
The old butterflies started to flitter the gathered dust off its wings and flapped shamelessly in the pit of my stomach - as if a dead motor was cluncking up into life, roaring louder than before.
"Minhee-yah... Minhee-ssi... Please say something."
He buried his head on to my shoulder and panted hard, as if his heart was about to shatter and burst.
Hate. Anger.
Foreign. Strange.
Scared. Confused.
The feelings that I should have felt were slipping past the time distance, linking us back to who we were as one.
As two kids in an abandoned classroom, as two teenagers thinking of each others' faces, and as two adults meeting back after a trip through a detour route.
As two people who missed each other silently.
"D..Daehyun op..pa.." I whispered, feeling the warm words spread in my bittersweet mouth.
He stayed paralyzed for a minute, then suddenly gripped me tight.
"Minhee-yah..."
He sighed in relief, happiness, and a bundle of adrenaline all mixed into one.
The familiar name he called me was like a key to a lock, opening up all the hidden and unnoticed feelings to gush out.
The walls we built between ourselves-
The wall that reminded us that he's a singer and I'm a heiress whom could not cross the soical barrier to meet her old friend.
The time span of 10 years did thicken the wall, blinding us with the society's misconceptions, but the emotions that built up in those 10 years were enough to let it when we met again, creating a filled gap bound strongly again.
"I missed you." I finally spoke, hiding my smile like I always did.
But Daehyun could always see through me like a transparent glass, and his beautiful smile surfaced his perfect lips.
I shyly looked down at the asphalt, playing with the hem of my disguise hoodie.
"I guess the Babo (the idiot) was doing fine." I muttered, catching his grin.
"I am now reunited with my Minnie mouse. How can I not be?" He smiled, using the rare nickname he once gave me.
~
"Minhee.. Why are you so tiny? It's been half a year and you still haven't grown." Daehyun oppa mocked, measuring the top of my head which lined up to his chest.
I pouted and crossed my arms.
"I'll grow. It's not like I'll stay tiny forever." I scoffed, annoyed that Daehyun oppa's been comparing my height to others.
"You're so mini, Minhee. Like a mouse. A mini mouse. A MINNIE mouse." He emphasized the words, laughing cruelly.
~
"I missed you too Minhee."
Daehyun softly whispered, and I felt so safe.
Away from cold expectations of greedy people-
Away from the harsh posionous reality,
Away from the world-
Just me and the one person I cared about for so long despite the heartbreaks and barriers.
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