Chapter Ten: Moving Forward

“What the hell?” Three words escape the girl’s lips and Junmyeon knows that he’s done for.

“I’m sorry,” he slowly swivels his head towards the person sitting on the seat paralleled to his after apologizing sincerely. He does feel extremely apologetic that he executed this plan without having an alliance with someone who isn’t involved involved but is still involved. And apparently, that ‘someone’ fitting the title is Jung Soojung, the girl who was originally with Mi Ja lining up for the Ferris wheel but instead got pulled into the next cart with and by Junmyeon after he pushed Taehyung on the same cab Mi Ja was in.

“Who are you?” Soojung yells, completely exacerbating the awkward situation they are buried deep within.

Before responding to the short-tempered girl, Junmyeon tilts his head to peek over at the cab before them. Taehyung’s and Mi Ja’s. They look stunned, next afraid, and lastly they look like they’re searching for appropriate words for the lopsided twist of events. Junmyeon keeps his mental fingers crossed as he replies to Soojung with a seemingly uninterested reply.

“I am Taehyung’s guardian,” he hesitates for a bit but then says with confidence, “Junmyeon.”

“Uh, okay.” Soojung’s unsure if the man in front of her is telling the truth even though he doesn’t seem like he’s lying. She chooses to think that this guy, who suddenly grabbed her by the wrist and into this odd kind of situation, isn’t really being honest right now. She throws away her instincts telling her he’s not and doubts him even more. But then the name rings inside her head like a bomb. Taehyung, she finally remembers the name of the boy who broke that girl’s heart on the very night of her birthday. She accuses as she points at him with her index finger, “You’re the guy who brought that woman back to her room the night your little Taehyung made that woman cry, right? You’re also that guy who—”

“Why am I always referred to as that guy,” Junmyeon says, without any emotions altering with his words, “If you don’t want to call me Junmyeon, then call me Rico.”

“Junmyeon… Rico…” Soojung repeatedly recites the two names to herself, searching for the missing link between the two. After a short while she suddenly comes up with a conclusion, “This annoys me, I don’t even see the resemblance between the name you are called and the name you want to be called.”

“You, too, Soojung,” Junmyeon smirks, making Soojung shiver as her name rings out his lips. Maybe he’s heard of her name from Mi Ja or from Taehyung; but a part of the way he pronounced her name can’t help but to send chills all over Soojung’s body. He then continues monotonously as usual, “I can never see the resemblance between the real ‘you’ and the ‘you’ you want them to see. You aren’t really as coldhearted as you are now, no?”

“Mm,” she laughs dryly, “You talk big for a ing a stranger, don’t you? Why don’t you go up on your thumb while guarding that bastard Taehyung now? Oh wait, I forgot—you actually forced him on her when she’s still currently being devastated over the fact that Taehyung doesn’t seem to value her as much as he does his whor—”

“Now, your words are completely getting out of hand, aren’t they?” Junmyeon’s hand has already clamped on before she could even spit out nasty words. She lives up to her name, Junmyeon thinks. Cold as ice, straight to the point and a bit terrifying… Their faces are suddenly so close due to the out-of-the-blue covering of action. Junmyeon chuckles at her and says, “Now, look at you. You’re terribly vulnerable.”

She pulls away from her hand, shivering, and says, “Why are you doing this?”

“Because I can,” Junmyeon says, deadpan. He knows where this conversation is going to lead to. He’s not academically shrewd but he owns a sharp brain to be able to deduce what the other person is going to say. And he knows that Soojung hates him to death now, and she’s slightly afraid of him.

But then Soojung laughs and says, “I’m asking… why you are doing this?” She says, and the moment she says that, Junmyeon knows she’s no ordinary girl. Her eyes shift from Junmyeon’s towards the window showing the cart where Taehyung and Mi Ja are currently in. She knows. Soojung knows that Junmyeon harbors more ill-intended motives—or maybe, just selfish ones—as to why he’s doing this.

“Isn’t it obvious?” Junmyeon asks, returning back to his seat but his eyes still can’t seem to return back into hers.

Soojung asks, “What is?”

“I did this because I want Mi Ja to notice that…” Junmyeon’s voice trails off when he suddenly realizes something, “It’s no use telling you this. After one more lap, the Ferris wheel’s going to stop. Once we get off…” He finally finds the courage to meet her eyes directly and coldly commands, “We never had this conversation.”

“Fine with me,” Soojung shrugs with a smirk plastered on her lips, “But if we’re going to be strangers once again, then why don’t we make the best out of this once in a lifetime chance before forgetting about our sudden tryst?”

A bit surprised of Soojung’s proposal, Junmyeon stays quiet for few seconds before smiling tightly, “And how do you want it to go?”

“Tell it to me, straight from the heart, that you are selflessly in love with Mi Ja,”

Junmyeon knew from the start that Soojung would eventually find out. He thought he was the best in hiding his feeling, but in the end, someone will always notice. How come Soojung always end up being someone in every of Junmyeon’s plans? It’s unnerving that she’s always there to ruin Junmyeon’s problem-free life. Even if he’s already foreshadowed that someone would know about this supposedly secret of his, Junmyeon still gets taken aback and ends up being speechless.

“What? Don’t tell me you’re going to beg for me not to tell anybody about this?”

“I won’t say I don’t care, but…” Junmyeon doesn’t look away from Soojung, making her aware of his utmost seriousness and unfeigned expression of feelings. He continues talking, “If you’re going to tell Mi Ja, then I hope it’s out of concern…because if you tell her just because you loathe me, then you are more of a terrible person than I am. Go tell her, I don’t really mind. But it’s a lifelong friendship you’re about to ruin here.”

Soojung’s heart shutters as the words resonate in her mind. Why didn’t Mi Ja fall for Junmyeon, instead? She feels guilt piling up inside her as she realizes that Junmyeon still doesn’t remove his gaze from hers, and it’s starting to give turmoil in her stomach. She says somewhat a mumble, “Ah, so we have a secret now. That’s cool, I’m fine with it.”

“Also,” Junmyeon adds up while pulling out a marker from his bag. He turns around and faces the side of the door. He bends over and starts scribbling something on the corner of the glass, “Bae Sue Ji is a friend of mine. She’s an honest lady…” This line alone sends chills to Soojung, let alone the next one, “I hope you and Myungsoo won’t hurt her.”

With this, Soojung stays frozen on her spot until the door of the cart opens and she sees Junmyeon’s figure quickly slide out of it.

The skies are starting to get dimmed down by the night and as expected, Junmyeon’s enthusiasm still hasn’t died down with the day yet. Taehyung lost count of the rides they’ve lined up for since this morning. Eventually, when they reunited a little bit earlier, the younger lad didn’t even seem to mind the sudden advances Junmyeon pushed him through.

Starting from the moment Taehyung tapped Junmyeon’s head to grab his attention until now, there wasn’t any word regarding what had happened to him and Mi Ja. This is supposed to take off loads of worries on Junmyeon’s shoulders but somehow, it just makes him more bewildered. Did it actually go well or is it the other way around? He couldn’t even ponder about this subject for a longer period of time as he constantly gets interrupted by the sounds of excited screams and as well as terrified ones.

“Next, that one!” He’d point out whenever a ride catches his attention, and albeit Junmyeon is being annoying and slightly embarrassing, Taehyung can’t seem to deny him with the gift he had just received from him. The gift of being pushed into the cab of the Ferris wheel and being drenched with two cups of 12oz blue lemonade. Without these, then the guilt inside him would just eat him up and kill his sanity. Taehyung doesn’t even know how to thank Junmyeon for this slightly selfish yet truly Junmyeon-ish act.

Once they settled for supposedly the last ride because Taehyung notices the expression on Junmyeon’s face change as he reads the time from his watch, Junmyeon sees this as a chance to let his curiosity out of the cage. Positioning himself on the seat inside the teacup and across Taehyung, Junmyeon asks, “So… Do I owe you an apology?”

“Oh. So you finally decided to talk about what you’ve done, you bastard,” utters Taehyung.

Junmyeon says, holding up his right hand because his other hand serves as his support to avoid falling of the cup as the cup starts swirling, “Alright. I get it. I’m sorry.”

“No.” Taehyung replies.

“What do you mean no?” Junmyeon gulps. Although he’s trying to keep his cool, it seems that his voice gives away the anxiety piling up inside of him. But his worries shatter as he sees the puerile smile form on Taehyung’s lips.

“No, you don’t owe me an apology.” Taehyung grins, “I mean, it’s not you who owe me something. It’s me. That’s why…I won’t repeat this no matter what circumstances there’ll be so you better listen well…”

Junmyeon nods, motioning him to continue.

“Thank—!”

“Not like I’m doing this for you,” Junmyeon cuts him off with a tight smirk on his lips, “You’re welcome, anyways.”

“Who are you doing this for, then?” Taehyung questions, even though the answer’s already really obvious, he still can’t see it for himself. Junmyeon looks at him in terror and disbelief until he remembers that Taehyung really is a huge lump of stupidity. The older lad only gives Taehyung an airy smile though, and until the time they arrive at the hotel, Junmyeon still doesn’t give the answer to his question. Oh, but Taehyung isn’t completely stupid, though.

He has a hunch of the truth, but he’s still hesitating if his instincts aren’t betraying him.

Hopefu