Blue - English

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Joon Ah's POV

“Hhhhhff hffuu…”

As we stepped out of the building, I breathe in the fresh and crispy air of Seoul and let out a satisfying smile. ‘I’ll miss this kind of weather…’ I positioned my head and my eyes fell upon my sister who had mimicked me, closing her eyes contently and slowly I can make out a smile finally etched on her face. ‘She’ll miss this even more than me…’ Unconsciously, I, too, had another smile creeping up my face, just enjoying my sister’s figure happily inhaling the foreign, yet familiar air dancing around us as if it were her last breath that she is desperate enough to get more of to live longer… much longer. But gradually, a tear almost made its way out of my eyes, but before it has a chance of escaping, I shook off the gloomy atmosphere and took one last deep, assuring breath.

“Kajja! We should start exploring before the sun sets,” I made my way to my sister and nudge her back to reality.

“Dude. The city isn’t going anywhere. We still have time tomorrow, heck, we’re gonna be here for about three months,” replied unnie as she fluttered her eyes open, “And anyways, I was just taking my time enjoying…. this.”

“I know…” I pessimistically stated, truly knowing what she meant.

“Okay, Dora. We’ll get going now,” said Joonhae unnie innocently.

“Can you please stop with the lame joke? It’s stupid and irritating,” I replied, annoyed by her jest.

“I didn’t know you hated it. It didn’t seem like a problem when we were in the elevator,” she replied. But before she could continue, I gave her a look. “Okay, fine!”

We made our way down the sidewalk and begin inspecting every store that seems to fascinate us. There were many; from food stores to book stores. I took a glimpse of unnie’s expression and oh, how much I didn’t regret seeing that face.

“You look like little kid who has never seen a candy before,” I said.

“Right back at ya,” she replied short, “But I have to say that these people around us have been staring at us like we’re aliens,” she added and made a face.

“No ,” I sarcastically said, “We look tanner them and much taller than the average women’s height in this city, what do you expect?” I replied, stating the truth.

“Nothing really. I just thought they would get used to forei-” she abruptly stopped and I followed my sister’s gaze to see it landed on a café. Not just any café. It was a two-story building and has a white color exterior with a splash of beige and a chocolate brown shade, and on the inside, there are tables painted as orange and brown as the crispy autumn leaves; and chair booths as black as the midnight sky, attached along the wooden covered walls.

From the corner of my eyes, I saw Joonhae unnie trailed off to the entrance leaving me behind.

“Sure, I’ll join you,” I bitterly said to myself, clearly wasn’t pleased being left behind.

“I thought you’d never come in,” said unnie as her gaze fell upon my figure entering the café. The smell of coffee brewing lingers in the calming, open air. 

“Well, I was taking my time recovering from a shock because someone had decided to leave me behind,” I replied, emphasizing the word ‘someone.’

“Well, I didn’t know you want to be guided through the entrance and-”

“Oh shut it,” I blatantly cut off her sentence, “Let’s just order and then we’ll get going.” We briskly walked to the cashier and picked up a menu to scan through.

“Hi, I'd like to get two frappalattes," I said to the person behind the long, wooden front booth with the cash register placed on top.

“Oooh! And make it large,” Joonhae unnie added.

“That’ll be 42,000 won,” the cashier chirpily replied. I handed over the money as I wait for the change to be given back. Joonhae unnie and I scooted over more to the right so other people can place their order. While we wait, we made a little conversation to ourselves.

“This café could be our hangout place,” unnie suggested while scanning her surroundings. 

“I know, right? This place is soothing and comforting,” I added, agreeing to the proposal. 

“Two large frappalattes!” We spun our heads around and we saw our drinks on the counter.

“Gamsahabnida!” I said beamingly to the worker as I snatched our orders off from the counter.

Happily, we stride along the pavements slowly, taking in the atmosphere, the relaxing moment while sipping into our refreshments.

“You know, I wish we could just stay like this…forever,” she quietly uttered, just enough for only me to hear it. ‘Soon… unnie, soon. I’ll make it happen,’ I hopefully thought to myself.

“Hey there’s a music store! Let’s go there. I want to see if they still sell EXO’s newest album!” unnie chirped, dragging me along.

“Great! I’ll search for SHINee’s album. I’ve been wanting to get their latest comeback,” the last words rolling out of my tongue as we finally arrived at our destination. Hesitantly, we looked at the entrance and out of the sudden; I was being dragged along. Again. 

"Umm... Jeogiyo! Where are the latest albums?" unnie asked the lady at the cashier.

"Just by the right corner over there," the lady answered and pointed at the direction.

"Gamsahabnida!" we both exclaimed and headed towards the new albums shelf. We sauntered our way through aisles and stacks of albums from different singers, and pass through many, many displayed posters of famous K-Pop artists.

“Where did she say it w -”

“Kyaaahhh!” I was cut off by a screaming hoard of girls surrounding one section of the room. “Omo! Kris oppa is so HOT!” “Kai oppa is getting ier every comeback. No, everyday! Kyaaaah!”

“Never mind,” I said, as the flock of girls’ presence and constant screaming indicated our destination. “Let’s hurry up before those entire crazed fans buy all the copies,” unnie informed as she hurriedly rushing over and left me behind again. But I don’t mind because I understand that she wanted the album so much; it’ll be the first album we ever buy. Yeah. The first.

I finally made my way over to the latest album section and scanned through for SHINee’s album. ‘Where is it? No. No. Not this one. Oh! Here it is!’ I grasped the album and skimmed through the titles and their concept. ‘Hhhmmm…. Not bad. Well, I’ll find out more when I listen to it.’ As I thought to myself, I didn’t see unnie had approached me with a really wide grin decorated on her face.

“So did you get what you want? ‘Cuz I did!” she finally said after a while. “Yeah, me too,” I replied, “But I’m gonna go over to the K-Indies section first then we’ll leave.”

“Okay! I’m gonna go see posters,” Joonhae unnie responded.

After a while, I finally had finished looking over songs. I pulled unnie to the cash register and we paid for our albums. “Where should we go next? I’m kind of hungry,” I said while patting my tummy.

“We’ll eat then. Should we go to the nearest food stall?” Unnie suggested. “Jeogiyo, do you know where the nearest food stall around here?” I asked the cashier.

“Ah neh! Are you girls new to this place?” asked the cashier. “Neh. It’s our first time in Korea, you know, summer vacation,” unnie answered. The lady chuckled. “Well, I know the best food stall around here. I go there almost every day after my shift,” she informed, “When you step out of this store, take left, then just go straight and take another left. When you turn, you will start seeing different food stalls, but the one I usually go to is the fifth food stall on the right side of the street.”

“Jeongmal gamsahabnida!” I said gratefully as we marched out of the store.

“Neh. Please come again!”

We carefully walked towards the food stall by following the lady's instruction. Slowly, we scan through our surroundings so we could remember the location. "Oh! I See the food stalls!" Unnie shouted. 

"She said the fifth food stall on the right, right?" I asked

"Yeah, so it must be this one."

I saw her finger pointed at a small yet cozy food stall surrounded by small tables occupied by few people enjoying their snack. "Let's go!" I said. We approached an empty table and positioned ourselves comfortably.

"We should get mom and dad something, too," said Joonhae unnie. 

"Call mom," I responded. As she fished out her phone out her bag, I gazed my surrounding and my eyes fell upon a small building decorated with black polka dots. 'No way! The place is right there! Oh my god we should totally go there afterwards.'

"Okay. Bye," unnie just ended her conversation with eomma.  "So what do they want?" I asked.

"Jajangmyeon," she answered. "Jeogiyo, ahjumma! Can we get two ddukbokki and two jajangmyeon? And we'd like to have the jajangmyeon packed," Unnie added.

"Sure thing!" The ahjumma replied while jotting down our orders. As we wait, I told unnie our plan for the rest of the day. "After this, we should go to the bubble tea shop," I suggested while pointing at the building across the street. 

"Ooh bubble tea!" unnie chimed. "Can we get home after getting bubble tea? I don't want to tire myself out and I still need to drink my medicine," she added.

I managed to nod before setting my eyes on the tray full of food being delivered over to our table. We said our prayers and start digging into our food. I saw Joonhae unnie's eyes widen and she begin to stuff full with ddukbokki in a fast pace, and she almost chocked. I wanted to laugh at her face so badly because her expression was too funny, but end it up as a silent chuckle. 

"Eat slowly. The food isn't going anywhere," I advised.  "Hugh hifs shro poofo" Unnie uttered.

"What?"

"But it so good," she said clearly after swallowing. "Are you done yet?" She asked after five minutes later.

"Almost," I responded while chewing, "Okay, done." I finally said dropping my fork on the plate. "Let's go pay."

We gathered all our belongings and made our way to the ahjumma behind the counter and pay for our order.

Afterwards, we crossed the street and proudly we marched through the entrance of the polka-dotted building, Black Pearl. There was a line already formed and we joined in. While we waited, we took our time to choose which flavor to drink.

"Yes? What would you like to order?" Asked the cashier. 

"Can we have two chocolate bubble tea, please," I rerequested. "That'll be ₩11, 000, " the man behind the counter said. While we're waiting for the drink, we went over an empty table and sat down, having a random conversation. 

"Joona-ah, did you know that SM Entertainment is around here? Like three blocks down to the left from our apartment," Joonhae unnie informed. "Jinjja?! I really want to go there, but I don't want to look like some sasaeng fans," I plopped down, sighing. 

"I know right?! Maybe we could at least take a peek," unnie suggested, "Oooh the drinks are here!" Unnie left the table and approached the counter to take our drinks, then we left the shop.

"Hey there," three guys made their way to us. "Wanna hang with us?" one of the guys asked. 

"Excuse me, I don't understand what you're saying," I said innocently. The moment I uttered those words in English, they became confused.

"Uhhh... you... uhh.. lost? Me andeu my prendeu can heleup you," he finally said, trying communicate with us. I heard Joonhae unnie giggling behind me, I can tell that she's trying so hard not to crack up in the middle of the street; while I on the other hand just smiled, trying to suppressed my laughter. 

"No thank you, we're fine," unnie finally stopped laughing and maintained her posture. 

"Hyung, maybe we should grab and take them to the nearest club and drug these two girls," one guy whispered but loud enough for us to hear. "Yeah, I haven't had a time with pretty girls who are foreigners before. It should be fun," another guy added, "they're too pretty to be ignored."

"YA! You wanna die?!" unnie suddenly shouted and they flinched at her sudden outburst.

"You think we didn't understand what yiu were saying?!" I added. "This is why you shouldn't believe strangers so easily. I can call the police right now or yell for help." They looked surprised and scared at the same time.

"But thank you for the compliment, though. It was worth it," unnie cheerfully said letting go of what they were about to do to us. We both turned around and walked away leaving the guys in a shocking state. 

Joon Hae Unnie's POV

I ended the conversation and walked out dragging Joona with me back to the apartment. I just realized that the apartment was so close form the bubble tea shop. All we did today was went around the block; but it felt like we went everywhere. As we arrived on the first step of the building, I felt so relieved. I was actually terrified when those guys had flirted with us. Both me and Joona hates guys who flirts and who tries to act all cool like their the best thing in the world. 

Joona handed the jajangmyeon to our parents while I leave first and went to my room. I plopped myself on my bed and let out a long, dry sigh. I massaged my temple and lazily took out my medicine from the drawer. I stared at it for a long time not wanting to drink it. It's good for my health, but... it just has a terrible after effect. I heavily sighed and turned the container opened. I took two pills and grabbed a water then swallowed it. I begin to lay on my bed staring at the ceiling thinking about the things that had happened when everything starts to fall apart.

Flashback

"Dude, what's wrong?"

I ignored her and just covered myself under my blanket. I silently cried and just can't believe what had happened at the hospital. I could hear my sister calling me many times but I wouldn't answer.

"Dude... Dude... Dude... Dude... Dude... DUDE!!! What the ?!" she shouted, "Answer me! At least say a word or something." The moment she finally finished her sentence, I threw the blanket away revealing my tears stained face. 

"I-I have cancer! I have a ing brain cancer!" I yelled at her and sobbed. "You what? But that's impossible. You've been fine so far and now you have brain cancer?" Joona questioned. 

"That's what I said to the doctor. I don't know how much time I have left; there's a therapy but there's a big chance that I might not make it," I explained, "I don't know what to do anymore."

"I do," she answered and I stared at her. "Dude, there's a good thing and a bad thing to cancers. Sure you might not live longer, but the thing is at least you know how much time you have left in this world. Isn't it better to know when you're going to die instead of just dying unexpectedly any minute now? I mean, people who had learnt the time of their deaths can actually die without having regrets," she explained.

"And your point is?" I asked not caring a thing she said.

"Make a bucket list. Yes. A bucket list filled with the things you want to do before you die. So when the time comes, you'll leave with no regrets except for the fact that you will leave everyone who loves you behind," she responded.

"That's easy to say. I can make a bucket list, but what good will it do if it's not going to be granted?" I retorted. 

"You don't have to worry about that. You have me," Joona replied, "So, what will be your first wish?"

"Korea."

End of Flashback

I hadn't realized that tears streamed down my face. I closed my eyes and fell asleep.... 

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I am so sorry for not updating lately. I'm just lazing around and prorastinating much on the internet. But thank you for waiting. I hope you enjoy and will still be reading my fanfic in the future. Hopefully, next chapter won't be disappointing. The third chapter is where the adventure truly begins.

-TaeYyi

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