Four
Yong Hwa

The girl glares at me and my annoyance is burning inside. I didn’t impress her at all? Yeah sure, her stare was burning my skin when I was on stage. I didn’t imagine that, she doesn’t have to lie now. It was impossible not to notice, it pulled me towards her like gravity and it was extremely hard to concentrate on what I was doing. It was hard not to look at her back. It’s extremely hard now to keep a distance between us when it’s like every cell in my body wants to get in contact with her.

No!

I won’t give in to whatever this is. I won’t expose myself to whatever her game is. Distance is safety and if I have to be rude to keep her away from me, then be it.

She snorts before turning on her heels and walking away and I have to fight this urge to grab her wrist and stop her. Instead, I fold my arms and watch her putting more and more distance between us.

“Hyung, what’s wrong with you?” Jung Shin exclaims, his eyes wide open in shock and horror. He’s never seen me being this rude to anyone. To be honest, I’ve never acted like this with anyone else, but she’s different, she’s dangerous.

Of course, I can’t explain that to them.

“She was staring like a psycho,” I say and I get a slap on my head. “Oi!” I protest, glaring at Min Hyuk this time, but then I feel another glare from the other side and I notice the tall guy glaring daggers at me. He’s like twenty centimetres taller than me and for hat reason alone I hate him.

“Watch it, I won’t let you talk about Shin Hye yah like that,” he threatens me, his voice low and lethal and I stand straight, trying to reach him in height, but it’s futile.

“Oh, is she your girlfriend? Did I hurt your feelings? It’s not my fault she couldn’t stop staring,” I try to mock him instead and his nostrils flare.

“She’s my friend and if you insult her, I’ll make sure you’re sorry,” he says before turning around and going after the girl. I refuse to use her name.

I look at Chang Joo who’s also looking at me disapprovingly and I just turn away. I don’t care if they don’t understand or are judging me now, even if I tried to explain things to them they wouldn’t understand so I won’t bother.

“Shin Hye yah was just trying to be nice,” he says and I refuse to look at him. “You didn’t have to be an .”

And then I hear him leave and I’m standing there with only my band mates, but I can feel their judging stares on me and it’s frustrating me. I’m their friend, shouldn’t they take my side?

“Did your appa say something that put you in a bad mood?” Jong Hyun asks and I shake my head. He didn’t say anything, he’s just who he is and that’s enough to make me act the way I act. I don’t want to end up like him, deceived by a mere physical and irrational attraction to some random woman.

I’ve never felt this attracted to someone, and that’s scary. I’m precautions and I’ll make sure to kill that attraction I feel towards her, and if making her hate me is the way, then I’ll go for it.

“Then what happened? She didn’t do anything wrong for you to react like that. And saying that she looked like a psycho was too much. You need to apologise. She’s our boss’ daughter! You must treat her like a princess,” Jung Shin adds and I shake my head.

“She’s just another employee!” I protest. “I won’t apologise,” I add stubbornly and I see my three band mates rolling their eyes. “Why are you all taking her side?”

“Because you’re the one at fault here!” Min Hyuk exclaims, rising his voice and surprising us all. He’s not the one to get mad like this. What’s wrong with him?

“Okay, okay, that’s enough. Let’s calm down,” Jung Shin intervenes, placing his hand on Min Hyuk’s chest to keep him away. I hadn’t noticed him taking a threatening step towards me.

Min Hyuk snorts and turns away, walking towards the girl and her other two friends. He really leaves us there, he leaves me and I can only stare at him in shock.

“Is he really picking her side?” I mumble and my other remaining band mates groan.

“It’s not a competition, Yong,” Jong Hyun says patting my shoulder. “Whatever is happening to you, get your act together. You can’t just hate her for no reason at all. Whether she’s the boss’ daughter or just another employee, now we are co-workers and we must get along. So keep that in mind and when you cool off, come and apologise because you were rude, you can’t deny that,” he speaks sensibly and I look down. “I’m not saying you have to like her, but treat her politely, at least. You don’t even need to talk to her if you really hate her, but be professional. What you did was childish and goundless.”

I can’t meet his eyes because I’m aware of that, I know I did wrong but I can’t just go to her and apologise. What if she forgives me and smiles and I can’t fight this pull towards her? What if I’m blinding by this irrational feeling? I’ve never dealt with something like this, I’ve only heard tales that have scared me enough to be like I am today.

I mumble an okay and they both pat my back before they leave. I stay behind, alone, watching them all gathering at the bar. My eyes find her, laughing at something the tall boy says. I know I’ve seen him before, but I can’t remember this name. He’s always with Chang Joo, that’s all I know. Apparently, they are close friends with her.

Great. Just great.

I get distracted when I notice how lovely she looks when she laughs, the way her whole face lights up and her hair bounces around her. For a moment I forget to be cautious, my arms fall limp at my sides as I can only watch her, mesmerised, my heart racing in my chest.

I shake my head to come back to reality. I can’t allow myself moments like this, no matter how beautiful she looks, no matter if she’s exactly my type, no matter how charming she can be, I won’t be weak. I won’t lose against reckless impulses. I have control over my body, and my mind says to stay away from her.

But Jong Hyun is right: I have to be professional. Being rude is not the way, it might cost us our new job. But I can be cold, I can avoid her even if everyone else seems as captivated by her as I feel.

Maybe I’m not the problem, though. Everyone else seems as fascinated with her, all of them dragged to her as if she were a magnet. Maybe that’s the power she has over everyone else and I’m the only one fighting it. Maybe it’s nothing special between us only, but until I’m sure about that I’ll keep my distance.

I decide I need air so I step outside, the sky darker than before, the threat of rain more evident and I sigh heavily. Maybe I’ll stay here until it starts raining so I can cool off and stop feeling so anxious. I really need to get my act together because she’ll be around every time I work here and we signed a contract to play four nights every week and as waiters on weekends when it gets busier. We’ll have to work alongside and if that’s the case, then I need to be stronger than this.

It’s okay, I’ll be okay, I repeat in my head like a mantra but I have a really bad feeling in my guts. And when the rain starts pouring it only looks like a bad omen.

Did you like it? I hope so. For how long do you think Yong Hwa will fight it? kekeke

Bel, xx