Chapter Two: The Broom Closet

A/N: Hello thar! This is the second installment of Late Nights and the Following Mornings. For those who might be interested: I have a contest out! There are four spots left, so you can still join in on the fun. :) Anyhoo, what is Kyuhyun going to do with Minhee tonight? Wanna find out? Read away!! :)

<3 Kestrelsong

P.S. Reviews= LOVE

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~{Week Two}~

8:03

This was stupid. It was probably the most idiotic thing she had ever done in her entire life.

Yet, here she was, staring up at the same neon blue sign with the heat weighing down on her, still debating on whether or not she should actually go inside. The most ridiculous part was she had been going back and forth in her head ALL WEEK. However after a few days, she realized that the evil little voice in the back of her mind was never going to rest until it had either:

A)    Won.

B)    Driven her insane.

C)    Achieved some terrible combination of the two. 

Needless to say, she had a very large and very annoying headache and the heat really wasn’t helping. Minhee stood outside the window another two or three minutes before her pounding temples caused her to cave and head inside, if only to find a respite from that stupid humidity.

But when Minhee entered and she was hit by that cold air and the scent of paper and ink, everything just seemed to fall away. Suddenly, Minhee was in another world; her own private Narnia. The A/C certainly made it feel like she was stuck in an endless winter.

She spied Kyuhyun tucked away behind the cash register with a large pad of paper and several pens and pencils that were strewn haphazardly all over the counter and floor. He was so absorbed in whatever nonsense he was up to that he failed to hear her entrance. He also didn’t hear her calling his name. Which she had been doing for the past four minutes.

Minhee was now standing awkwardly in front of the unsuspecting Kyuhyun, wondering if she should wait until he was done or just interrupt him so that she could get this night over with. Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending how you looked at it), her mind was made up for her by a sweet-looking chubby guy wearing hip-nerdy glasses.

“Yah, Kyuhyun-ah. You have a visitor. It’s a pretty girl too!” The chubby guy smiled and walked up to the pair at the checkout and introduced himself as Shin Dong-hee, preferably known as Shindong. Kyuhyun looked up and down again without saying anything, then did a double take as he recognized who was in front of him.

His face turned a dark red and he stood up abruptly, knocking even more things to the floor in his haste. Kyuhyun scratched the back of his neck nervously and laughed, “Hey, how long have you been there?”

Minhee forced herself to ignore how cute he looked doing that and sighed in faux annoyance while saying in a flat tone, “It doesn’t matter. I’m assuming you want to show me something since you requested that I come back. So are we doing this or not?” She scowled and began tapping her foot for extra emphasis.

Kyuhyun laughed again and began to clean up the mess on and around the desk as he said under his breath, “Glad to see you haven’t changed.” Minhee was about to shoot him a glare and a caustic remark, but before she had even opened , he had grabbed her by the hand and began leading her out, pausing briefly to shout over his shoulder, “Thanks for taking my shift, Shindong-ah! I’ll see you tomorrow, okay?” And then they were off.

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            9:12

            This wasn’t really what she was expecting.

            When Minhee heard the name, The Broom Closet, she wasn’t expecting it to be an actual broom closet. It was a rather spacious one, as far as broom closets went, she supposed. But really? The entire shop consisted of two coffeemakers, a microwave oven- mini fridge combo, a few shelves, and a hot plate to keep the baked goods warm and ready to go (all of which were battery powered).

            No wonder the place was a local secret; how exactly would one put a closet on a map? Especially one with wheels, which the closet also had.

            After Kyuhyun dragged her out of ELF Books and through several dark alleyways, which Minhee did not like, she demanded to know exactly what he thought he was doing. Kyuhyun had only smiled and said he wanted it to be a surprise. She was rather dissatisfied with his answer (a non-answer), but had no choice but to follow him or become hopelessly lost. In retaliation, Minhee made up her mind not be surprised, no matter where he took her. Teach him to avoid a question from her.

            But when they had finally caught up the closet-on-wheels, she was. And she knew it showed, judging from the smug look he kept shooting her. The little oddity was run by an old couple who Kyuhyun had introduced to her as his grandparents. And much to her annoyance, she had been introduced as “Miss Mystery.” They were going to have to have a talk about that.

            And now, all four of them were sitting on a nearby curb, sipping iced tea and waiting for Kyuhyun to explain why he had brought her here. The crickets were going a mile a minute and the moon was slowly making its way up the sky, barely brushing the tops of the nearby buildings. Cars drifted their way past the sidewalk, the people inside clearly in no hurry to get where they were going. Minhee thought about the game she had used to play as a child with an overactive imagination and a love of telling stories. She would choose a passerby and make up a story about them, using the craziest things she could think of. It had been her favorite game. Ah, how she would have loved to have been a writer. But now, that child was gone.

            Minhee’s reverie was cut short by Kyuhyun’s voice cutting through the ever growing darkness. He kept his tone respectful and inquired, “Halmoni, would you mind telling Miss Mystery about how you and Halabuji met?”

            The old woman smiled softly, her deeply wrinkled face lighting up like a teenager’s and grasped her husband’s hand tightly before starting to talk in a voice as dry and wispy as autumn leaves.

“Long ago, when tigers smoked pipes and dragons still whispered wise words to the scholars and kings, there was a young girl from a poor village who was visiting the grand city of Seoul for the first time…”

            And the street lamps began to slowly flicker on, signifying the start of another long night.

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            11:01

            Sixty-two years. That’s how long they’d been married. Married at sixteen, no less, with seven children born within the next 10 years; all of which had grown up and left. They had started the Broom Closet as a retirement project and soon they had gathered quite a following. They made their rounds every night, selling fresh coffee and baked goods for cheap. It was their mission to make sure no one went to bed hungry.

Sixty-two years and still as much in love with each other as when they’d first met.

            It blew her mind.

            Minhee thought about what Halmoni Sohn (she insisted Minhee address her as such) had said after her story, her eyes twinkling with a mischievous light.

“Even the straw shoe has a mate. You’ll find your sandal yet, Minhee-ah.” she had said softly, like it was a secret of great importance. Her husband, a tiny man with a big laugh and an even bigger heart, had chuckled good-naturedly and nodded sagely at his wife’s words. The couple had then waved them off, still smiling and laughing quietly as the squealing sounds of the closet had faded into the distance.

Minhee had heard the proverb a few times before, but before now, she had never had someone who she actually thought could make it come true. But she wasn’t convinced yet. It would take much more than this to restore her faith.

She glanced over at Kyuhyun who was whistling softly into the soft shadows of the evening. The florescent lights from above highlighted his features and drew her eyes to the sharp lines of cheekbones, across the strong line of his jaw, and over to the curve of his lips. Minhee wondered what they felt like. She started to mentally kick herself for thinking such things, but then again, wasn’t this what she wanted when she came back? No, she told herself, she wanted to believe again, not fall in love! She quickly turned her thoughts to something less… soul-searching.

            Oh, Kyuhyun wasn’t related to them at all, as she’d found out after they’d made their own departure from the curb. They’d met when Kyuhyun was twelve, during a hard time in his life and had allowed him to help with the closet while listening patiently to his worries and complaints. Their story had been an inspiration and a reassurance that fairytales existed. (She could see why, but she was a much tougher skeptic.) It was a relationship that helped and healed all of them. Kyuhyun told her that their children didn’t call; his family had fallen apart after “that”.

He loved them and they returned his affection wholeheartedly.

They were the society’s forgotten, who found memories in each other.

They were their own makeshift, patchwork family.

            Her head hurt again. How could three strangers love each other more than her own flesh-and-blood family did? Minhee felt like she wanted to cry at the hopelessness of ever finding an answer to her question.

            To distract herself, Minhee cleared and thickly, “So, uhm, what exactly happened that your family fell apart? People keep hinting at it, but no one’s said anything outright, including you.” Kyuhyun stopped abruptly and stared at her. Minhee blushed and stuttered, “I-I’m so sorry, I don’t mean to pry or anything. You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to!” Dear lord, he was still staring. What was with him and the staring?!

            “Oh, sorry. I was just wondering else who talked about it. I bet it was Teuki. Guy’s got a talent for spilling people’s secrets in the most ‘discreet’ ways. So what did he tell you?” Thankfully, he didn’t look mad, just curious. But with men, you could never tell.

            Minhee decided it was better to be honest than try to cover for Leeteuk, who would probably admit to doing it anyways. So, she nodded her head once and spoke softly, “Honestly, he didn’t say anything really. You should thank him though, I only came back because he talked to me about you.”

            Kyuhyun pouted and said sadly, “That’s not a nice thing to say… So you only came back because of Leeteuk? Then why spend time with me?”

            Minhee shot him a look and said, “Well, you said you would have me believing in fairytales by the end of summer, so I came back to prove you wrong.” Kyuhyun laughed at this and turned to look at her with a crooked grin. He rubbed his hands together and said with a hint of hubris, “Oh, we’ll see. I’ve got everything all planned out. You don’t stand a chance, Miss Mystery.”

            Minhee’s eye twitched at the name, which reminded of her earlier decision to have a talk about that nickname. She huffed angrily and snapped, “Would you stop calling me that? I didn’t appreciate that little stunt from earlier, either. Could you find something less… childish to call me?”

            Kyuhyun’s face was completely straight as he replied, “Fine, then. Madame Mystery it is!” Then he cracked up at his apparent cleverness. Minhee, not amused in the slightest, simply glared and tightened her lips into a thin line, hoping that the intensity of her stare would burn a hole straight through that thick skull of his. He looked her again and said, “Well, if you’re not happy with it, tell me your real name. We’ll probably be hanging out a lot this summer if I’m going to get someone like you to believe, so you might as well tell me now. Otherwise I’ll have no other choice than to call you Madame Mystery.” The second time he asked was just as tough as the first.

            Should she? Minhee bit her lip and stared ahead, not trusting to look at him with out bursting into tears. God, he was just asking for her name! Why was she so emotional?

            Her name… if he knew it, then he would be able to put a name to the face. She would become somebody in his life. Minhee hated her fear of commitment. She thought back to her mother. How upset she’d been when her father had left, without so much as a goodbye. Her mother’s words rose to the front of her mind, scathing and bitter.

           “Your name is important, Minhee. If somebody has your name, they have the power to worm their way into your heart and tear it apart from the inside out. Guard your name jealously, Minhee and never make the same mistake I did when I fell for your father.”

           Suddenly, Minhee was so angry. Angry at her mother for keeping her from meeting people and living her life. Angry at her father for making her wary of men and afraid to love. And angry at herself for allowing them to scare her into solitude and bitterness. She knew that they were both hurt, but they didn’t have to cripple her as well!

           She blurted out, “Choi Minhee. I’m Choi Minhee. Happy?” Her voice grew steadily louder as she ranted on, “So just stop with the stupid nickname okay?!” Minhee was breathing heavily by the time she was done shouting and, once again, the homeless people were inching slowly away from where she stood, chest heaving with her fists clenched.

           “I didn’t know you hated the nickname that much. Now, was telling me your name really that hard?”

           He had no idea.

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            2:43

            Minhee was back at home, staring down the blinking red numbers on her alarm clock wishing that she could fall asleep. Physically, she was exhausted from the stress of the evening and from walking all over the outskirts of Seoul with Kyuhyun. Mentally, however, she was wide awake and hyper as a squirrel on coffee.

            She just couldn’t get over Halmoni Sohn’s story. It made feel hopeful and excited that she might have someone like that out there. Someone who just fit.

            But when she tried to think of what he looked like, Kyuhyun’s face kept appearing and reappearing in her mind’s eye. Maybe, that’s what Halmoni meant by that proverb. Minhee remembered the knowing look that had passed between her and her husband when she had told Minhee that she’d “find her sandal.” Was she trying to say that she’d found it in Kyuhyun?

            No, certainly not. Her, Choi Minhee, soul mates with that grown up boy? Preposterous.

            Lunacy.

            ….

            …

            ..

            .

            She and Kyuhyun were scheduled to meet again next week. Same night and everything.

            Minhee couldn’t wait to find out what he had planned, not that she’d ever tell him that. No need to swell his ego.

            And in the midst dreaming of what next week would bring, Minhee fell asleep.

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            A/N: And that concludes the second installment of Late Nights and the Following Mornings. Comment below on what you thought of it. I don’t like silent readers! You can also comment any questions you might have about the story and I will do my best to answer them without ruining any later plot twists. XD

            <3 Kestrelsong