…Is Cheerful

V appeared out of nowhere in the room. He stopped with eyes so big that it could fall out of from its place. A groaning sound could be heard aloud. Then the sound of a door slammed. V watched Hyemi who was furious suddenly stopped to notice him.

“Oh, hi V,” she said cheerfully and then her smiling eyes turned into a quick glare, “Where have you been?!”

Hyemi’s hands were on her hips and there were wrinkles on her forehead. She looked like that angry wife when her husband went away for a day.

“You’re the one who left me,” he told.

“B-but even so…,” Hyemi made a dejected look on her face. “Where were you when we need you?”

Her fuming flame behind her back slowly changed into a blue one as her brows raises in disappointment of V’s answer.  

V was flabbergasted and was more when Hyemi continued, “Now that Azra’s gone, and if you are also gone, there’s nobody else I can talk to.”

Hyemi was of course down about Azra’s not being there. But if it’s for Himchan, she would do anything just to make him smile again. V noticed that Azra wasn’t there and began to wonder why.

Then Hyemi turned to glare at Jungkook’s door shouting, “And I don’t think this guy is the type to listen!”

“Thanks to you, I won’t be able to sleep the day off this summer!” Jungkook shouted back from the other side of the door. But that didn’t stop Hyemi from fighting back.

“Teenagers should be outdoors during the summer. It’s normal!”

“I’m born to be different from others, okay?!”

Hyemi grunted angrily, “He’s angry just because I left him to find Azra. What a baby!”

V wasn’t really that shocked to know Jungkook being livid just because of that – they have been living together for almost a week and he knows Jungkook as much as Hyemi knows him. But then he went back to ask Hyemi where the furry cat is. Hyemi didn’t look like she was satisfied as she told him what happened. She cares about Azra like any pet owner does to their pet. V also felt disappointed with her story. Although, Azra was annoying, Azra was a part of them.

V could feel it - that feeling of loneliness - as he palmed his chest upon the clenching of his heart. V then had his one hand raised to indicate Jungkook’s door. He was asking whether Jungkook knew about it or not. Hyemi nodded saying she had told Jungkook about it.

Then she walked towards the kitchen. She was feeling bad for leaving Jungkook that day, so she decided to cook dinner for him. Usually Jungkook eat some fast noodles just by boiling them and add the prepared packet of ingredients to add some taste to it. Well this time, he won’t. Hyemi will prepare some of her mother’s old recipes. She beamed as she wears the cute-patterned apron trying to cheer the mood up.

V put on a decent smile as he went back to his usual seat at the living room and watched television for his favorite show.

SNIFF. SNIFF. Jungkook could smell something delicious behind his door. He sat on his bed and sniffed again. He shook, thinking it was a dream. “It can’t be mom!” he said. “And there’s no way that idiot witch can cook!”

Hearing his words aloud, Hyemi from the other side of the door shouted, “Of course I can!”

“Why do you think I can’t?!”

“That cake before didn’t look like a cake to me.”

“Th-that’s because I’m more to cooking than baking!”

“Is there a difference?”

“There is!! And it’s not about the shape, it’s about the taste!”

Hyemi won Jungkook’s silence. He admitted defeat for the master chef. Hyemi smiled victoriously for her winning and then called out, “Now, come out! Dinner’s ready.”

Jungkook rejected her offer. He wanted to take that opportunity to mess around with her and this made Hyemi’s face red with anger. Her tone rose as she shouted.

“Why?!”

“I’m not hungry!”

Hyemi grunted angrily. She had done cooking for a good cause and now he rejects to eat them?! How cold. Hyemi puffed to Jungkook’s words and had her fist clenching with anger. She had such a bad day and Jungkook is a part of it.  

“Tsk! You’re so selfish! I cooked it especially for you, to thank you, and now you don’t want to… Garr!!” she grumbled. “Oh well, anyway, if you won’t eat them then fine! Don’t eat!”

After she finished, the apartment was quiet. After a while of silent, Jungkook realized that Hyemi was gone. He opened the door slowly and eyed the surroundings. Hyemi wasn’t there – V too. He took notice of the delicious-looking meal on the dining table. As he observed them closer, he could smell the mouth-watering scent of the curry.

“She can cook.”

Jungkook frowned as he planted his hands on the chair.

“What are those two up to together?”

He had a bad feeling of the absence of the two other beings. He had never liked the fact that V was by Hyemi’s side. He’s not jealous – he thought as he murmurs to himself. He looked back at the food on the table. It was much – not many nor less. It was picture-perfect. Of course, Hyemi, before she died, had been practicing her cooking skills to be preparing herself for her wed life. And it hurts her when she realized that she didn’t get the chance to cook as a wife.

Every girl must have at least once in their lifetime dream to have a very perfect wedding life. Including Hyemi. But did she manage to reach that dream? No, she didn’t. And it destroys her just by thinking about it.

The sound of a pebble as it flies and lands and jumps again on the water surface was lurid. The man in black stood behind Hyemi, viewing her sitting on the grass of the park, tossing pebbles at the lake beating her. Her way of tossing was rough as she shows her wrath. The summer wind breeze its way through the airborne. Unlike the day, the night was icy and though Hyemi couldn’t feel it, she knew.

She looked at V behind her who was still having that innocent look p