Chapter 5 - Little by Little, Slowly Stepping Towards You

Shin Hye liked riding bikes.

Riding a bike with Yong Hwa in the middle of the night was even better.

Unlike her character, Kyu Won, Shin Hye was not shy about holding onto Yong Hwa as he took her across the bumpy landscape of the art campus set.  The uneven grassy fields made the retro-bike shudder and shake as he pedalled, and it would have been crazy of her not to hold on.

The pair enjoyed the feeling of the wind in their hair as he sent them flying down one steep hill after another.  The starry sky was the only witness to their laughs and cries.

“Director Pyo told me that when he was kid, he didn’t have brakes on his bicycle,” said Yong Hwa.

“Whaaaa.  That would be scary,” said Shin Hye.  “I’m glad this one does.”

“Yes, but I may not use them,” he teased, taking his legs off the pedals and letting them accelerate down a hill.  Shin Hye squealed and laughed until they reached flat ground.

“Don’t do that again!” she threatened amidst chortles, loosening her hold around his waist.  “Or, I’m telling the director that you’re messing with the show’s props.”

“Ya-ha!  This bike is mine when Lee Shin isn’t using it.  Didn’t he tell you?”

Shin Hye chuckled.  “Okay-okay.”

Yong Hwa pulled the bike onto the main path to the building and hit the brakes just as they approached the steps.

Heaving a sigh of relief, Shin Hye put her feet back on solid ground.

Yong Hwa kicked the bike stand into place, and then shifted around on the seat so that they were sitting shoulder to shoulder.

“That feeling you had on those hills.  That is what I believe this show should be like.”

Shin Hye looked at him, and realised that they were sitting too close.  She could see every one of his lashes from this distance.

Flushing at the thought of touching those lashes, Shin Hye turned to stare at her feet.  “It felt like I was on a rollercoaster.”

Yong Hwa didn’t answer her.  He was too busy thinking of a way to kiss her without her getting upset afterwards.

“So there’s nothing you’d want to change about the script?” she prompted.

He tried to focus on the task at hand.  “Well...”

The atmosphere is fraught with tension as students Lee Shin and Ki-Young have a stare-off at the local seniors’ community centre.

One boy is fighting to get Kyu Won’s affection back; the other is fighting to understand his uality.

Ki-Young wants to believe that he just likes girls, and he’s here to prove it.

After traditional music group, The Windflowers, finish their performance for the elderly, they all sit down to share cups of makgeolli together.

After convincing Kyu Won and Ki-Young to have a drink, the elders pressure Lee Shin to do the same.

“No, it’s okay, I don’t drink alcohol,” he says with a polite smile.

“Not even one cup?” teases one of the elders.

“No,” he says shortly.  The smile becomes forced.

“You can drink it,” reassures the elder.  “Once you do, you’ll get used to having alcohol.  Here.”  He pushes over a bowl of the fragrant drink.  “Have a drink.”

Sensing Lee Shin’s reluctance, Kyu Won raises her hand to call Black Rose.

Ki-young beats her to it.

“Black Knight!” he calls, giving Lee Shin a challenging look.  “Not all people can hold their drink.”

Lee Shin gives him a mean look as Ki-Young drinks the cup.

“Ah!”  The elders clap.  “He drinks well!”

“Here have some more,” says a woman.

Lee Shin narrows his eyes at the unspoken challenge.  “Actually, I think I will have a cup.”

“Ah!”  The elders clap again, while Kyu Won gives him a worried look.

“Yah.  You don’t have to drink if you don’t want to,” she hints.

“I changed my mind,” he says between clenched teeth.

Kyu Won watches helplessly as the two boys drink one cup after another.

Lee Shin is sitting on the stairs outside of the seniors’ community centre.  He feels dizzy, and he sees his father every time his closes his eyes.

He’d promised himself that he wouldn’t drink...ever.

Now he feels so ashamed.

“Yah.  Lee Shin, are you okay?” asks a pretty girl with wavy hair.

It’s Kyu Won.  The girl he likes to tease.

“I shouldn’t have done it,” he says sadly, leaning his head in his hand.

He hears footsteps and then the sound of someone sitting beside him.

“Lee Shin.”  Someone pokes his shoulder.  “Are you sleeping?”

He sits up and looks at Kyu Won through blurry eyes.  “It’s your fault I did it.”

She looks baffled.  “Yah.  Are you blaming this on me?”

On instinct, he reaches up to cradle her face with his hands.  Her skin is so smooth under his thumbs.

“You are stupid,” he says.  Stupid Kyu Won.  Doesn’t she know that he likes her?

He looks down at her full lips, and decides that he wants to kiss them.

Her lips are soft and sweet.  He lingers to inhale her perfume.

When he leans back, she looks shocked.

Is his kissing that bad?

He shakes his head.

Impossible.

“Ki-Young can’t have you.”  He says, touching her soft cheeks.  “I need you to comfort me.  Abeoji keeps appearing in front of me.”

He covers his face as the grief of losing his father overwhelms him.  “I’m so ashamed.”

After a while, he feels an arm wrapping around his shoulders.

He’s so grateful that she understands.

Meanwhile, Ki-Young is making a drunken phone call to Joon Hee.

“Ki-Young Hyung!  Is that really you?” says the drummer happily.  “Where are you?  Do you want to go and get something to eat after practice today?  I’m sooooo hungry.”

“I don’t like you,” says Ki-Young.  “I don’t like you.  It’s just a mistake that we like each other, understand?”

“Huh?” is the reply.  “Hyung.  What are you talking about?”

“Go out and eat with Hee Joo.”  He bites out.  “I-I don’t want to hang out with you anymore.”

“...oh,” says a small voice.

Ki-Young hangs up and wipes at his eyes.

It was all a lie.

He now knows for sure that he likes Joon Hee.