Chapter Twenty Nine -   Flawless 

Apparently avoiding Kim Jieun was harder than I thought. It was wednesday, right after classes, when I spotted her waiting outside the school premises. I ran up to her and before I called her name, she spotted me and smiled.

"Hello," 

"Uhm, hi," I said looking back at Sungyeol and Myungsoo who was waiting behind at the parking lot, "Are you looking for me?" 

Jieun chuckled and shook her head, "No, not really. I'm here to meet Sunggyu's former homeroom teacher," 

"Oh," was all I could say.

I totally get it that she wanted to take care of her little bro and stuff, but couldn't she just stop bugging the world and let this slide? I mean, Sunggyu moved out at the first place because Jieun had a family, although she seemed too young to have one. 

"Can you... Tell me where can I meet him?" 

"You can just go to the teacher's office at the third floor," I said. 

She nodded, "Okay, thanks Nara," 

"Sure," 

I walked towards Myungsoo and Sungyeol who were waiting for me inside Of the latter's car. I took the back seat and they asked me what happened.

"Oh, just the usual, Kim Jieun wants to meet Sunggyu's homeroom teacher," 

We were planning to go to Hoya's for a movie night since it had been a long time since we watched something together as a group, you know. So Sungyeol drove us there with his new black car that his parents had bought for him as a present for his high marks.

"Hey, how's Yuri?" Myungsoo asked, and to be honest, I wasn't in any mood to talk about Yuri. 

"Oh, we're good," Sungyeol averted his gaze to the rear mirror, and back to the road, "At least I have a faster progress than you and Nara," 

"Hello? I'm here okay?" I said. 

"I know," Sungyeol retorted.

I rolled my eyes and crossed my arms. He was right, but hey, I liked it that Myungsoo was taking it slow with me. 

Myungsoo cleared his throat, "So, back to Yuri-" 

"Okay, let's not talk about her," I cut and then regretted, "Sorry Myung, I didn't mean to like... Cut you off or something, I'm just-"

"No, it's okay," Myungsoo turned his head and smiled so charmingly at me. 

"Are you still pissed because of that Yuri thing?" Sungyeol asked and Myungsoo glared at him. I mean, come on, Sungyeol was one of my closest friend before Myungsoo, and he should have known if I was pissed or not. 

"Hey, what are we watching later?" I asked, staring out of the window. 

"Okay fine, I'm sorry Nara-"

"Hoya said he wants to watch the new movie, what's that called again?"

"Look, the both of you should start appreciating my presence here, it's my car-"

"Gifted hands?" 

"No, not that one," 

"Avengers?"

"Really, Nara? Avengers?" Myungsoo laughed. 

"We're watching some horror movie okay?" Sungyeol said. 

"Oh," was what me and Myungsoo said at the same time before the ride went quiet again. Sungyeol's quite scary when he was pissed off and me and Myungsoo knew that. 

Arriving at Hoya's utterly huge mansion, I couldn't help but remember my judgement towards Jowoon and felt quite bitter about it. The three of us waited outside the door until Raina welcomed us in. Jowoon was nowhere to be seen in this enormous house, which looked even more huge when I was inside. Everyone was already seating in Hoya's home theathre when we arrived there. Dongwoo was present, but Ailee wasn't. I wished Sungjong could join us, but he said he needed to help his parents at the restaurant. 

Me and Myungsoo took a seat next to each other which I suspected had been planned by the others since all the seats were occupied except the two at the back, and one more in front. Sungyeol sat at the front seat reluctantly, and the movie started. 
To sum everything up, the first half of the movie was awesome (especially that Myungsoo was sitting right beside me). Then, just so randomly, he leaned towards me, and I thought that this was the kind of scene where the guy kissed the girl. I wasn't expecting it to be on my lips, on my cheeks was enough. But then, I looked at the screen in front of me and realized that it wasn't really cool to be kissed on the scene where the ghost was appearing everywhere. 

"Nara," he whispered, his hot breathe gushing to my ears, sending slight shivers down my spine. 

I turned to him, and realized that our face was close, "Yeah?" 

"I uh..." He bit his lips.

I raised my eye brow. 

"I wanna go to the toilet, is it weird if I go now?" 

I face palmed myself, literally. I didn't know if I should laugh or cry. 

"Hey, seriously, my pee is like in the verge of my... Thing," he whispered. 

I held my laughter. He could be really really weird at times. But honestly, I was kinda holding my pee too.

"Then go pee, why are you asking me this?" I said, still whispering. 

"Because it's like in a theatre and it's kinda disrespectful to go to the toilet while the movie is still going?" He said uncertainly.

"Just go," I told him. 

He stood up and then looked at me, "Can you accompany me?" 

I frowned, "Why?" 

He shrugged. 

"I want to continue watching," I pointed to the screen. 

Don't get me wrong, accompanying Myungsoo to the toilet may be a good idea, but come on, I didn't want to miss the . 

He bit his lips, or he seemed to do so, since it was dark, and the only light was radiating from the screen. 

"Okay, fine," I sighed. 

We went out of the theatre and searched for the restroom in Hoya's enormous house. We found it about ten minutes later after exploring here and there. I let Myungsoo use it first since it seemed that he really needed it. 
Apparently, Hoya had a colossal swimming pool behind, with an outdoor dinner table. Next to it was a fitness centre, which kinda explains why Hoya had a very well-build body. Then, just so suddenly, someone poked my waist, which resulted in me gasping quite loudly. I turned to my right to see whom it was, and found out a familiar face. 

"Jowoon!" I exclaimed. 

He was grinning, and I wasn't sure if I could hug him since he was, you know, down syndrome. The bathroom door behind me opened and Myungsoo came out, startled. 

"This is Jowoon, Hoya's brother," I said. 

"Oh," Myungsoo frowned, examining Jowoon. 

"Don't look at him like that," 

He widened his eye, as though I was accusing him, and looked at me, "What?" 

I shook my head and chuckled, "I'm peeing first," 

I went into the toilet, and when I opened my pants, I spotted a tiny pool of red in my underwear. I gasped. Crap! This wasn't happening again. I took rolls and rolls and tissues and placed it neatly above my undies. Then, I remembered that Myungsoo was waiting for me outside. I cursed. 

"Hey, Myung," I called out. 

"Yeah?" 

"You can go back first, I might take some time," 

"Uhm.. It's okay, I'll wait for you," 

Okay, it wasn't like I didn't know Myungsoo was not a fan of horror movies, but couldn't he just leave me just for this time?

"I might take a while because... I'm, you know... Having some issues right here," I let out an awkward chuckle at the end of my sentence because it was... Awkward? 

If Sunggyu was the one in front instead of Myungsoo, I could just ask him to run to the nearest mini market and buy me a pack of sanitary napkin. 

"You're... Ehrm... Having some issues?"

I felt my face heat up. This wasn't good. 

"Do you want me to go buy that.. Uh... Stuff for you in the store?"

"What?" I swear, I wasn't saying that to . 

"You want me to go to the store and buy you the... Thing?" 

"Oh," I wanted him to do so, of course, but it would be embarassing!

"The shopkeeper might laugh at you," I said.

Silence. 

"It's okay," 

"Really?" 

"Yeah," 

"Okay, I'm going," 

"Okay," 

About fifteen dreadful minutes later, there was a knock on the bathroom door. 

"Yeah?" I answered. 

"Here, Nara," I heard Myungsoo's voice. 

I opened the door slightly and he gave a pack of sanitary napkin. After making sure that everything was alright, I walked out of the toilet. Jowoon was still there, staring at me and Myungsoo. 

"I... Uh... I'm sorry that you should go and buy me this," I started nervously, biting my lips. 

"Oh, that's no problem," he said, "Should we go back now?" 

"Sure thing," 

We walked to the theatre, and realized that the movie would finish in a while. So, we waited outside, with Jowoon who was tailing behind us that was. 

"Hyung!" Just so suddenly, Jowoon shouted. 

I was shocked, and so was Myungsoo. Jowoon then started clapping his hands, and I wondered why. 

"Woah..." Myungsoo stared at him, slightly freaking out, "What are we going to do Nara?" 

"I have no idea! Why are you asking me this?" 

"Okay, let's just stand up and go inside the theatre," 

"You're so mean," I said. 

"He's scaring me," he pouted. 

"He's just..." I sighed. 

Not long after that, Jowoon started running around the house. I got hold of him and tried to calm him down, but he wiggled out of my grip and started running again. I panicked.  
Thankfully, Hoya emerged out of the room with the others, and I assumed that the movie was done. 

"Why is he running around?" Myungsoo stood up immediately and pointed to Jowoon who was now running up and down the stairs. 

"Oh," Hoya was startled as well. 

"Did you guys gave him any sweets or something?" Raina asked. 

I shook my head, "No we didn't," 

Myungsoo widened his eyes and gasped, "I actually... Gave him some," he bit his lips.  

"W-when did you give him?" I asked. He was with me all the time and I didn't catch him stuffing Jowoon with candies. 

"So," he sighed, feeling the pressure from everyone's eye who was staring at him, "I went to the minimart there, and Jowoon was tailing behind me. So I took him to there too. When I was paying, he was pointing at the lollipops, and I thought it won't be a harm to give him a stick," Myungsoo said rather guiltily. 

Hoya had his face tensed up. I was feeling really guilty too. Like, if my period hadn't appeared so suddenly, and if 

"I'm sorry Hoya," 

The elder let out a heavy exhale and nodded, "Alright," he turned to Raina, "Can you help me?" 

The mentioned girl shrugged, "Sure," 

Raina went to the kitchen and opened the cabinet. She took out something that I couldn't figure out, while Hoya ran and caught Jowoon. With his muscled arms, the elder lifted his brother who was now shouting and crying. 

"Jowoon, stop crying, hyung won't hurt you!" Hoya patted his back. 

I leaned towards Myungsoo and bit my lips, "I'm sorry," I whispered. 

He looked at me with that gentle gaze of his and shook his head, "Not your fault," 

I still felt guilty though. 

"Can I do it to him now?" Raina asked, and I just realized that she was holding some sort of syringe. 

Sungyeol seemed as if his eyes would pop out any second then, "Woah... Why are you injecting him?" 

"It's insulin," Sora said, "Don't you know?" 

Of course Sungyeol didn't.  He at bio. 

"Go ahead," Hoya said, and with a strong, but careful stab, the syringe penetrated through Jowoon's arm, and within a few minutes he calmed down. 

Hoya placed his brother, who was now sleeping, above the burgundy couch on his living room. He wiped the sweat on his forehead with his palms and thanked Raina. 

"Jowoon gets really hyper when he eats too much of something, especially sweets," he explained, "So that's why he has to maintain a really strict diet," 

What Hoya just said only made me feel more guilty than I already was. Worse was, I felt guilty to not only one, by two person: Hoya and Myungsoo. 

"Hoya, is everything okay?" 

We all looked up to the void where a really, really, extremely enchanted woman stood behind the golden railing. 

"Yeah, uhm... Jowoon just got a little hyper," Hoya bit his lips, "But he's fine now,"

I kept on assuring myself that she was his mother, but I just couldn't. I mean, she looked so young and beautiful even she had no make up whatsoever on her face. She had a thick wavy black hair, and she was wearing a simple white night gown, which fell so perfect down her curved body. She resembled a greek goddess (okay, I'm kinda exaggerating, but you get my point). 

Her lips curved up, and I looked around only to realize that all of my friends were all also staring at her with eyes full of awe. Raina was the least attracted, maybe she knew Hoya's mom already. 

"Oh, seems like your friends are here," she then went down the stairs, her legs covered with the long dress she was wearing. Even while descending down the stairs, she was full of eloquence. 

"You should introduce me to them," she said gracefully.  

Hoya introduced us one by one and we bowed properly. She smiled again and said, "It's late, shouldn't we eat dinner together?" 

Of course, free dinner was something rare, but we all said that we needed to go home. Still, Mrs. Lee insisted that we should all stay for dinner, and so we did. 

They had this colossal backyard with flowers and trees so neatly arranged. We had a barbecue there, and it was nice, gazing up at the stars above. It kinda reminded me of Jeju. 

After dinner, we went back to our homes, and Myungsoo dropped me by at my apartment. I washed up and doodled on my notebook. Then just so randomly, while I was drawing some random stuff, Jowoon came inside my mind. My hand stopped drawing and my fingers twirled with the pencil. I scoffed to myself. 

Hoya had the definition of a perfect family. Huge mansion, a caring mom and dad, what more could he ask for? Then, Jowoon came. And I realized that perfection does not happen in reality. 

To be able to hold on
To be able to be strong
To be able to pass through the waves of fears 

To be light in the dark
To be a smile in a frown
To be colorful in black and white

To be yourself
To be grateful
To be content 

Is not even perfection 
After all, who defines what is perfect?