Laughters and Memories

“Hey Jongin, I need you to help me clean the house today and I’d like to remind you not to make any messes afterwards,” Mrs. Kim, Jongin’s mother, reminds as she spared a brief warning glance towards her son currently lounging on the couch with his headphones covering his ears and his eyes concentrating on nothing else but his radiant phone. The woman exhaled out a sigh, shaking her head profusely. She then poked Jongin’s cheeks softly and carefully grabbed the headphones on his ears with a pointed expression written all over her face. Jongin, however, looked clueless as to what he had done wrong for his mother to look at him like that. Usually, his mother would only give him that look of irritation when he had made her disappointed. He’s been quite an angel lately, or so he thought. 

“Mom! I was listening to my favorite song. Why would you take my headphones off?” Jongin complained, a whine escaping out of his lips. It was a rarity for him to whine and act childishly but sometimes, it just happens involuntarily and he just can’t help it. 

“I told you something very important and you weren’t even paying one bit of attention towards me.” Mrs. Kim responds with a roll of her eyes in annoyance. 

“Well, what did you tell me then?” Jongin frowns in confusion. To him, it wasn’t entirely his fault for not having heard his mother’s words because he was too engrossed in his music. It’s not like he was disregarding what his mother had uttered, perhaps, just a little bit. Few words were audible to his sense of his hearing but the chorus of the song was about to drop and he just couldn’t miss that. When his headphones are attached to his ears, it suddenly feels like he’s the only one that exists in the world and honestly, it’s a very overwhelming feeling. 

“Alright, I guess I have to explain everything to you again like always,” Mrs. Kim decides she could use a five-minute break from vacuuming the floor and so, she takes a seat on the comfortable couch right next to his son who’s attention was still glued to his mobile device. 

“Jongin, one of these days, I’m just going to have to confiscate your phone. You’re too dependent on it. I mean, you don’t even get out of the house that often and get fresh air or play sports with your friends.” 

Upon hearing both the words ‘confiscate’ and ‘phone,’ Jongin immediately averts his eyes away from his phone and directly towards her mother while letting out another whine, “No, no, no, mom! You can’t take away my phone. Plus, I’d been waiting for a time where I can play some sports with my friends again, but they’re either too busy or in their phones all the time so you can’t really blame me for that.” 

Mrs. Kim emits yet again other heavy sigh. Jongin seemed to never run out excuses for any circumstances he involves himself into. For example, there was one time in sixth grade when Jongin got in a small argument with one of his classmates that ended up as a physical fight and a trip to the principal’s office. However, Jongin elucidated that regarding the argument, he thought it was just going to be one of those typical transient quarrels and was unaware that it’ll progress into violence. His explanation though about the reason behind the fight was that the kid he was arguing with was making fun of one of his friends and his only intention was to defend his friend, nothing else. His clarification seemed to have been very believable and the principal appreciated his honesty, so he got out of that situation pretty quick. 

Jongin’s chocolate-brown orbs are back on his phone again. By now, Mrs. Kim thinks it’s too futile to even speak to her son because his life revolves so much on his phone. She firmly believes that teens nowadays stuck living in this generation are too immersed with all the innovative technologies constantly getting invented. Way back then in her days, nobody even had the slightest clue on what a computer as well as how to operate it. If people back then spotted a Touchscreen phone, they’d probably be really astonished because the idea of touching a screen and voila, it takes you to where you want to go, is such a mesmerizing concept. Typewriters were quite popular back in the days; everyone thought it was so cool. Now just look at how many amazing creations there have been constructed. 

Mrs. Kim figures she’s spent a sufficient amount of conversation time with Jongin already and resumes on her vacuuming task. As she glides the vacuum cleaner all around the living room floor, the moment the vacuum comes near Jongin’s shoes, the said male instantly lifts his legs up, eyes remaining on his phone. Considering that the sound of the vacuum cleaner was too obnoxious for his liking, he picks up his headphones lying next to him and slips the pair back on his ears. It was another one of his favorite songs that were playing. Now that he thinks about it, this might’ve been the playlist he organized just for all his favorite songs which evidently explains why all of his favorite songs seemed to be the only ones streaming. Oh, just how clueless could he be. 

After having done the vacuuming part of rendering the whole house immaculate, Mrs. Kim settles the vacuum cleaner in the corner and releases out a breath of satisfaction. She scans her eyes around her surroundings and beamed happily at how spotless it appeared to be. Well, her delight came to an abrupt halt when she checked under the couch and discovered countless candy wrappers, crumpled papers, broken pencils and erasers, and much more items that were supposed to be thrown to the garbage can a long, long time ago. She let out a groan before staring at the only person she knows is the type to do such thing: Jongin. 

Jongin usually doesn’t do well with words but for some odd reason, he’s getting this strange vibe that his mother’s eyes are darting right at him intently. He could already imagine her frustrated countenance, hands placed right on her waist. And with that thought, he slowly turns his head to sneak a glimpse at his mother and boy, was his imagination accurate. Except, his mother looked much more aggravated than he predicted. 

“Jongin, why, just why,” Mrs. Kim threw her hands up in the air, face painted with sheer disbelief. “Why is there such a humongous pile of trash under the sofa?”

“Uh yeah, about that,” Jongin scratches the back of his head, a sheepish smile on his face. Should I tell her it’s reserved for a school project or accuse one of my friends for neglecting their garbage in my house, the young boy mentally questions himself. He was well-aware that both excuses were clearly a lie but, sometimes you have to lie to escape out of predicaments because always telling the truth isn’t that exciting. “You know mom, that was actually Se—wait no, Chanyeol who did that because of how irresponsible he is and—” Before he could complete his statement, his mother interrupts him. 

“I don’t care who had done it and whatnot. What I want you to do is pick all of it up and dump them in the garbage can. There will be some special guests visiting here tomorrow,” Mrs. Kim demands. “We must at least make the house look inviting for them.” 

“Who’s visiting here tomorrow? I thought they were just going to stay here for a day or something. It’s not like it’s the President paying for a visit here because I can’t even imagine that happening.” Jongin chuckles at the ridiculous thought, turning his undivided attention back to his phone. 

He’s not thoroughly anticipating much about this whole ‘special guests’ and ‘visiting’ thing his mother is uncontrollably looking forward to. Most of the time, his mother gets too excited over the smallest and trivial things like how she spotted a beautiful dress with a discount or bought the shoes that she’d always wanted at the mall. Most of the things his mother is always expecting doesn’t even have anything to do with Jongin and frankly, that’s a huge relief for him. Hopefully, whatever this visit thing his mother is feeling so exhilarated about doesn’t affect him in any way like the others. 

“You remember the Do’s, right? Well, unfortunately, they’ve got plumbing issues in their house so they can’t access their water and can’t take a shower or cook some food so they’ve decided to stay with us just for tomorrow since the plumber will be repairing the malfunction,” She explains to Jongin, hoping the boy will be able to understand. “Also, if you think about it, it’s a great way for me and Soonmi to catch up with each other.” 

“Soonmi?” Jongin questions silently, trying to recall the name since he was positive that he had heard it several times before. “Didn’t you go and visit her house like five months ago or something? Or was that a different person?” Jongin knew there’s a high possibility that he’s just mistaken another person to another person because his mother literally has thousands of friends all over the world and this Soonmi character was just one out of those thousands. 

“I did,” Mrs. Kim answers, nodding her head in confirmation. “But, that was five months ago. So many things have happened. You don’t have any idea just how many events has the potential to happen in just a five months span.” She points to her son with her index finger, indicating that this was an important fact he should always remember. 

“I think you do know Soonmi. You’ve met her so many times before when I was taking you to those birthday parties...” 

“I was ten at that time,” Jongin contradicted, looking at his mother incredulously. “You have to remember that I only came there for the cake.” 

Mrs. Kim had to laugh at her son’s comment, it’s quite a disappointing reality but it was true. Like most of the children, he only agreed to go after interrogating his mother with questions such as the size of the cake, the flavor of the cake, if ice cream was mixed in the cake, or if there was going to be ice cream served with the cake. Jongin was such a loquacious child when he was still young and now he still is, but it seems like he’s been performing his best to avoid that habit now. 

“Hmm..I think you might be very familiar of Soonmi’s son. He attends the same high school as you do and I believe he’s in the some of your classes as well.” 

“What’s his name? I probably don’t know him because I only memorize names when I actually need to. Otherwise, it’s just a ‘hello’ and bam! I can’t even recognize them anymore.” Jongin was right. Out of all the people he’s encountered with, he’s only learned the names of the people he knew that actually has a role in his life. It’s meaningless to deposit some random names of people in your mind if you already can tell that they won’t create such a big impact in your life. 

“Do Kyungsoo. I think, yeah, it’s Kyungsoo.” Right after he was capable of registering the name in his mind, Jongin accidentally falls down from the couch and lands on the floor with a loud ‘thud’ coming from the friction between his body and the surface. Instantly getting up from the ground, Jongin mentally smacks his brain just to make sure he certainly did hear his mother pronounce Kyungsoo’s name and he hadn’t misheard it. Surely, it didn’t sound like Myungsoo, Kwangsoo, Kwongsoo, or even Kwingsoo, so maybe, it really was Kyungsoo. 

“Kyungsoo?! Kyungsoo is coming over to our house?! How come you only mentioned this to me right now, oh my god. This isn’t really happening, is it? Please tell me I’m just sleeping right now and this is all a dream,” It would be an understatement to say that Jongin was losing his sanity upon knowing such sudden news. While Jongin performs incessant attempts of converting himself back to reality and a couple of cheeks slapping to verify if he was indeed awake or still asleep. Few minutes later, he finally welcomes the saddening truth that this is all real. 

“Jongin dear, are you alright? You look like you’ve just found out that your crush is going to share the same house with you, like you know in those dramas.” Despite the look of concern written all over his mother’s face, Jongin lets out a soft chortle as a reply, seemingly astounded at the accuracy of his mother’s words. 

“You know what mom, you go do something else. I’ll sweep and vacuum the floor again just to make sure there’s no speck of dusts remaining and I’ll make sure to pick up all of these garbages under the couch and take out the trash as well. Trust me, this house will be so pristine in no time that you can even see your reflection on the tiles. So now mom,” Jongin eyes his mother in the most innocent and cordial manner as he can before snatching the broom from the corner just right next to the vacuum cleaner. And that’s when he begins to sweep the floor delicately with as much energy as possible, phone stuffed inside his pocket, his headphones on his ears since music provided him a lot of energy. 

Mrs. Kim is completely clueless as to what kind of spirit just entered her son’s body that manipulated him to clean. She just has no idea what exactly happened and what she should do, so she stands there dumbfounded. 

Jongin must’ve been very eager and full of determination then because just after an hour, all of the rooms in the house—including the bathroom, Jongin despises cleaning the bathroom so he’s never done it before until now—had such an immaculate appearance and he was right, you really could see your reflection through the tiles. 

►►►

Jongin allows another hour full of him just observing all around the house, making sure everything was perfectly organized and there were no such litters visible. His sudden change of behavior might’ve appeared to be a little shocking at first, but Do Kyungsoo was visiting his house moreover, stay for the whole day and the last thing he yearned to do was to make a great impression. Jongin is the type of person who doesn’t have the tendency to be over-excited about upcoming events because he prefers just waiting for it to occur rather than have huge expectations. But, there was a slight exception to that and that exception turns out to be his intense crush, Do Kyungsoo. 

Do Kyungsoo, an intelligent young man with an utterly adorable face, dark locks, a distinct smile that forms into a shape of a heart, and a pair of big, round eyes that’s relatively uncommon to an average Korean. His height was pretty short as well, approximately about a few inches shorter compared to Jongin’s. Jongin didn’t mind though, in fact, he finds it cute. Kyungsoo’s one of those bashful and introverted people out there, though when you get to know him, he’s actually very genial and holds a great sense of humor within him. He just needs to be approached first. 

Kyungsoo is far way different than Jongin. Kyungsoo likes to read, Jongin likes to do anything but reading. Kyungsoo likes to cook any type of meal and he excels at it too unlike Jongin who only has the knowledge to cook ramen noodles and sometimes, when he’s in his indolent mood, he purchases cup noodles from the convenient store. His mother happens to be a very good cook too but typically, most of the meals she prepares are traditional with all the seasonings and the other peculiar-looking additives that probably only old people would enjoy consuming. On top of that, Jongin was also a very finicky person so satisfying him was a very arduous duty to do. And lastly, Kyungsoo’s overall personality is very withdrawn and reserved whereas Jongin’s is very confident and definitely social. 

They may have several differences from each other but that never stopped Jongin from thinking that Kyungsoo and him were very compatible. They could even be soulmates, if such belief really does exist. The only thing Jongin knows for sure is that whenever he lays his eyes on Kyungsoo, he always ends up smiling unknowingly. He finds himself staring at Kyungsoo constantly too every five seconds at school which is why he decided to take the seat on the back so he can obtain a clear view of Kyungsoo. Jongin never knew he even had this side of him acting all weirdly because of a small crush—or maybe not that small—when he’s the most popular figure in school and he can literally sweep everyone off their feet and make them beg for him the next second. However, Kyungsoo was different. He wasn’t like those others who can be easily charmed. His perception of things were more deep and sincere and Jongin understood that. 

When Jongin initially realized that he preferred to be romantically involved with boys than girls, he was occupied with shock and perplexity. He didn’t really thought of himself in that way, of course, he knew it wasn’t impossible, but he just wasn’t expecting it to happen to him. He was in the fifth grade when he found out about his interests with the same gender, solely for the reason of Do Kyungsoo. All of his friends were guys yet none of them really attracted him, mostly because they were all a bunch of idiots. But, when he finally took notice of Kyungsoo, that was where everything commenced and every single day he steps inside the classroom and spots Kyungsoo, he becomes even more drawn to him. As a matter of fact, he doesn’t even know how he had managed to hide his secret crush on Kyungsoo all these years without having to explode. Kim Jongin was amazing, so amazing. 

Practically throwing himself on the bed carelessly, Jongin looks up at the ceiling in a contemplative manner, wondering what it’d be like spending a day with Kyungsoo alone. He’d always imagined it happening during the day when he’s daydreaming and in the evening when he enters dreamland peacefully, but he just never thought it would happen so fast and so sudden. Now that he’s in the middle of pondering about it, he comes across the realization that maybe Kyungsoo staying in his house for a day wasn’t such a bad idea after all. Perhaps, he’ll finally regain the courage to confess to Kyungsoo about how much he truly loves him. Oh, who was Jongin kidding, he was going to confess under any unforeseen circumstances whether Kyungsoo likes it or not because he’s been bottling up his feelings for a reasonable amount of time and this might just be the perfect timing. 

“How do I confess though..that’s the problem,” Jongin contemplates aloud by himself, unconcerned about the fact that he resembled a stupid idiot at the moment. There was no one to blame though, Jongin’s just stupidly in love with Kyungsoo therefore he’s prone to behaving like an idiot. Although, come to think about, he was a natural idiot in life too. 

Minutes passes by, Jongin’s still stuck in his own thoughts. Confessing to Kyungsoo wasn’t something he could abandon for another day because this was it, he was willing to declare his eternal endearment for the love of his life. That sounded cliché but it was the truth, it was now or never. Well, technically not right now but tomorrow, you get the point. 

“I know!” Jongin pipes up, a light bulb appearing inside his mind. “I’ll just contact Sehun. He’s an expert at these stuff, right?” 

Jongin couldn’t suppres