PART II:

               The doorbell rang throughout the apartment as I was staring idly at something that I didn’t realize was there before. Something that was his, not mine. Blinking, I snapped out of the daze I had fallen into and looked at the monitor. From the distance, I could see Hyukjae’s face displayed on the screen. Was it that time already? Quickly, I patted at my hair and glanced around to make sure the place was presentable. Upon deciding that everything was fine, I strolled over to the door and pulled it open.

                “Ah, hello,” he greeted with an awkward smile.

                “Hello,” I replied and stepped aside to let him in. A couple of days ago, he randomly contacted me to ask if I was free. Without thinking, I told him that I would be free for a while—since I had no job at the moment. Because of this, we made plans to hang out at my place to watch a marathon of movies we had loved as children. He also decided that we should have our favorite past-time foods. It was something to remind us of the old days, something that was probably the only thing we had in common now.

                “These are for you,” he added right as I was about to turn. With that, he pulled a bouquet of roses out from behind his back. Flattered, I accepted them and moved to the kitchen to find a vase. But I didn’t have one. Not when the last one had been broken in one of the many fights with him.

                “Ah, what should I do? I don’t have anything to put them in.”

                “You don’t?” With the incredulous look on his face, a slight bit of guilt formed in the base of my gut. It was as if I felt guilty for smashing the last one in the past. But I didn’t understand why. All I could do was set them aside. “I’ll go buy you one!”

                “No!” I abruptly interjected as he started to turn. “I mean, it would be a waste of time. I can figure something out. Let’s just stay here for now.”

                “Well, when you get one, I’ll bring you roses each time so that you have a use for the vase!”

                “Oh, you don’t have to do that. Just these are fine,” I insisted. I really didn’t want to have that many flowers. Although I loved them, flowers had a tendency to aggravate my allergies. Also, roses were supposed to be romantic. I didn’t think I would feel that way toward my childhood friend of all people. “Do you want anything?”

                “No, but where can I put these?” He lifted the handful of bags he was holding in his hand. Realizing they were most likely the snacks we talked about while planning this, I glanced over at the bags I had thrown onto the counter. Biting my lip, I tried to think of what to do.

                “I’ll take them.” As I set them beside the roses, I then turned to the television. But he was already there, surveying the piece of technology. “Oh, you don’t have to do that. I’ll start the movie and you can sit down if you would like.”

                “It’s alright, I got this. I’m good with technology!” But…I had it set up already…

                “Okay, I’ll prepare the snacks then,” I quietly offered and went back to the bags of food. Secretly, I took my own snacks and stashed them away before even starting to prepare the food that my friend was kind enough to bring. Time stretched on until I was finally bringing the food over only to see my TV showing a bright green screen. Accompanying such a screen I had never seen before was a look of extreme guilt on Hyukjae’s face.

                “I…think I broke it…”

                Shocked, I set the plates down and hurried over. Sure enough, he had somehow unplugged the cord from the right place and put it somewhere else. Because he had tried to put it where it shouldn’t have gone, it got stuck and made the screen turn into such a color. Setting my jaw, I reached over and tried to tug on it. I instantly released it, however, when I felt a tiny prick.

               “After the screen turned this color, I tried to pull it back out. But it wouldn’t budge, so I accidentally ripped the cord. I’ll pay for another one, I promise! We can go out right now and—”

                “No, it’s okay. I’ll get one later. My mother has been bugging me about how old this one is, so it’s fine.”

                “I’m sorry.”

                “No, it’s fine, really,” I insisted while secretly trying my best to swallow the frustration that had been building up for a while now. Maybe I shouldn’t have allowed him to come to my house when it was actually our first time hanging out. I should have known.

                Despite the fact that I tried to hold back my emotions, the tears somehow fought their way out. The TV was old, yes, but it had memories attached to it. It was something that he had brought over in order to watch the shows he liked. It was something I never dared to think about or even bother using because of the memories it brought back. I had managed to refrain from remembering this entire time I had fiddled with it, but all those efforts had gone to waste. The sight of it being broken made the festering ache in my heart spread.

                “Ji Eun?”

                “Sorry, I-I need to get some fresh air,” I stuttered. With that, I shot up and dashed to the door. Slipping into shoes, I then disappeared from his sight as I ran outside. But I immediately stopped in my tracks as I saw the rain pouring. It was raining like the last time I had run away from someone.

~*~*~*~*~*~

                At work, we usually took turns hosting dinners at each other’s houses. This time around, I happened to be appointed for such a task. So, I talked my mother into preparing something for them since I was absolutely terrible at everything but frying my own samgyeopsal while out at a BBQ. It was the first time my family would meet my co-workers—and it would be the last.

                My family had no idea that the people I worked with were so…eccentric. The only one they would consider normal would be the stranger from the taxi—Changmin. But from the time everyone arrived, he was closed off and simply shoveled food into his mouth like it was an endless pit. And it was.

                Every so often, though, I would catch him staring my way. For the past few days, he tried really hard to get my attention. But I didn’t understand why. Not that long ago, he had frustrated me to the point where I dashed across the street before he could even make it to the crosswalk. Yet the cars buzzing past didn’t stop him. In fact, he daringly crossed while jumping out of the way of angry drivers. I was so shocked by his actions that I decided to wait and see what he had to say. And once he stopped before me, all he could say was that he would buy me food.

                At the time, I didn’t understand why he was acting so insane. I didn’t know until after the meal when my co-workers were hanging out in the family room. One of them was examining all of the valuable items used for display. Among those items was a trinket given to me by Hyukjae when we were quite young. It was the last thing I possessed that represented the friendship we once had. And that one co-worker picked it up and accidentally let it slip from his hands when another attacked him with a pillow.

                I felt like I had been shot in the heart the moment the earsplitting crash sounded. Dread filled me as I left my mother’s side in the kitchen to see the item smashed to pieces. In order to refrain from letting the tears that were building show, I spun right around and ran out of the house. I didn’t care about the rain that was pouring. I didn’t care about the fact that I was barefoot. I didn’t even care that I had left the door open behind me. Instead, I stopped and leaned against the outer wall of my house and let the tears fall down my cheeks. When the gate beside me opened, I was just about to cover up my tears when hands latched onto my shoulders and forced me to turn around. There, before me was none other than Changmin. Frustrated, I yanked myself away from him.

                “What are you doing here?”

                “I need to tell you something.”

                “Can’t you see that I don’t want to talk to anyone at the moment?”

                “You need to hear it, though.”

                “I don’t want to right now Changmin.” At that, I brushed past him.

                “I want you to hear it!” he called after me. Ignoring him, I continued to walk.

After a while, the silence forced me to stop. All I could hear was the sound of rain crashing down around me. A mixture of relief and disappointment filled me as I began to think that he left me alone. It took a second before I whipped around only to stumble back when I noticed him standing a few inches away from me. The look on his face was indescribable as we merely stared at one another.

Out of the blue, the man stepped forward and placed his hands on both sides of my face. The look in his eyes grew intense as he stared at me. Only a second passed until he closed the distance between us and crushed his lips against mine. Rain was pounding all around us yet all I could hear was the dramatic beat of my heart. A feeling that seemed like electricity shot up from my toes and resided in the base of my stomach. It churned in such a way I had never felt before. And when we finally broke for air, the light in his eyes was soft with a hint of something else.

                “What did you want to say?” I asked. My voice was barely above a whisper as the two of us tried our best to catch our breath.

                “Oh, that?” he sighed and fell back into silence. I tilted my head, waiting for him to say more. But no words came. He simply pressed his lips to mine once more, and continued to kiss me until our lips felt swollen. At the end, he stared at me, a small smile forming on his face. “I think I love you, Ji Eun-ah.”

~*~*~*~*~*~

                “Ji Eun?” my friend’s voice called out in worry. Turning, I saw Hyukjae cautiously standing a few feet away. It was as if he was afraid to get too close. Afraid to burst my bubble that had recently grown in size.

                As I stared at the man before me, I was torn. In the past, the one I hated to remember always pushed past the bubble, always ignored my need for space. If I wanted to be alone to cry, he would disregard that need and stay beside me until I accepted his presence. Before I knew it, I grew so used to it that I yearned for him—or someone—whenever my heart ached or tears fell. Yet here I was, he was nowhere to be seen, and there was a man who was wondering whether or not it would be alright to cross the line that was etched between us. Taking a deep breath, I tried to swallow the sorrow that was becoming too overwhelming. When it was under control, I wiped at my eyes.

                “Maybe I should go.”

                “No, don’t. Let’s do something else since we can’t watch the movies.” Smiling in return, he nodded and we went back to my apartment to get ready to leave. As he brought me to my door later that night, he stopped me as I moved to put in the code.

                “I’m sorry for breaking your TV. And I’m sorry that I didn’t know you didn’t have a vase for the roses. And I’m sorry for making you cry. I...I just wanted to make today perfect.”

                “Today was perfect. And you didn’t make me cry.” It was all I could do to in order to ease his feeling of guilt. But in return, I was the one who felt guilty.

                “Thanks. I just wanted it to go well so that I could tell you something at the end.”

                “You can still tell me.”

                “Well…” he started only to trail off. It took him a while before he even looked at me again. “Your mother told me that you still have someone else in your heart. Someone who has hurt you. And I know that those feelings for him might remain in your heart for a while. But I do hope that you would find a way to move on and possibly allow room in your heart for me.”

                As he spoke, my blood ran cold. My friend, my childhood friend had feelings for me? Sure, there were the little gestures—like the roses—that I noticed. And I knew that our parents were trying to set us up, but I had a feeling that I wouldn’t develop anything for him. He was my friend and I felt nothing for him.

                “I like you, Ji Eun, and hopefully someday you’ll accept my heart,” he stated and leaned forward. “I’ll call you tomorrow,” he added in a whisper and placed a gentle kiss on my cheek. Feeling like I would be sick, I absentmindedly reached up and touched where I had been kissed. The skin was cold, there was no tingling sensation, no electrifying shock that went straight to my heart. And there was no feeling even as he called me the moment he said he would.

A/N: This is actually listed on my Livejournal I just made as well. ^_^ I just want to promote it for a second...because I worked hard to make it look really cute lol Here!