Chapter 20

NEW UPDATE! REPLIES! :D

DuGI Ah, thank you so much for always being there for me! :) I've written some one shots that if ever you want to read if you don't have anything, I'll be glad to post them up! Again, thank you for reading. Hope you enjoy the chapter :D
Passerby I feel so touched to know you come back here :) Well, here it is. Finally, an update. Thank you so much for the words of encouragement. I really do feel better! Here's the update~ Thank you for reading.
Gade I'm glad that you enjoy this! Thanks for reading! And don't worry. There's gonna be Giyeon moments in the next chapters. Hehe. It'll come! Hope you enjoy this update! :)

Finally. I get the time to update. I actually have a Psych 101 homework and Math exam to study for but BLEHHHH. I miss you guys too much, haha. And I missed this so much that I couln'd wait to put it. Haha. I hope you enjoy this, and thank you for reading! :)

* * *

“I’ll leave for the army next, next week.”

Sometimes in life, people don’t get what they want all the time. Some people are just lucky. For others, that’s not really the case. For Chae Yeon, that was never the case.

“Umma~ I want this dress! Please buy me this dress! It’ll look pretty on me!”

“Darling, you already have so many dresses. Some of them, you don’t even wear.”

“But umma, those dresses were brought by appa!!!!”

“What’s wrong if appa bought them, honey?” The woman asked, bowing down to the height of the little girl. She was the epitome of a Korean mother, with short hair, big eyes, small height, and a wide smile. And the child? She was a brat… But she was still beautiful anyway.

“I don’t like him! I saw him eating another woman! And... And… You said it was bad! I want him to only eat you!”

The woman giggled, but there were no hints of happiness in her eyes. She sighed, combed her fingers through her daughter’s hair, before speaking again. “He was eating the woman, you say?”

“Eung! They were laughing and smiling together, holding hands! Then they went to a corner and he ate her! But I saw them still!” The little girl said proudly.

“See? They were laughing. Smiling…” The mother paused before continuing. “At least they are happy. Let us leave them that way.”



“You are such a brat, you know that?”

Chae Yeon stuck out her tongue at Tei and left a tip on the table. “A brat you love.”

“Out of my will,” Tei playfully scoffed at her.

Chae Yeon reached out her hand, to which Tei happily held and they walked to the door. Chae Yeon leaned onto her man and Tei rested his head on hers.

“Thank you for coming. Have a nice day.”

“You too!” The couple cheered, before finally going out of the coffee shop.

* * * *

SEUNG GI’S POV

“You too!”
I heard a couple say. The voices sounded familiar but…
“Ya!”

Surprised, I looked back to Da Hae and answered in hush tones, “Sorry. I thought I hear—Nevermind.”

“No, it’s okay. Couples always go in here and do so much PDA and those cute things. Like talking at the same time… It gets pretty annoying, but I think I got so used to it.” Da Hae laughed.

I had already spent 4 hours in this coffee shop, and had ordered two cups of coffee and 2 tall glasses of frapuccino. Trust me. It’s that good. Either that or I just have a really, really weird stomach to actually put up with too much caffeine intake.
“So I heard that Tei’s going to the army?”

“Yeah… Which is supposed to make me happy –“

“Since he’s gonna leave Chae Yeon, right?”

“Yeah. But for some reason, I feel more sadness than happiness.”

“Man…” She sighed dramatically, “You really are gay.”
“Ya!” I sneered, “It’s not like that. It’s just that, if Chae Yeon isn’t happy, then why should I be happy? Do you get it?”

“No.”

Frustrated, I ran my hands through my fingers. This Da Hae girl is so weird. She’s been like this the whole time we were talking. She was so pessimistic talking about love. It bothered me for quite a while, seeing as I was not used to blunt personalities like her, but even so, I still enjoyed her company.

She then continued, “I just don’t see why you people are always like this. If she’s not happy, then MAKE her happy.”

“Obviously, you’ve never been love. It’s easier said than done, dongsaeng.” She was a month younger than me.

The faint smile on her face suddenly disappeared, and I think I saw her grimace for a second. She suddenly turned serious, “Oppa,” she started at me with her beautiful eyes, “Then at least try.”


For the first time since our conversation started, there was an awkward moment between us. She was fiddling with her fingers and biting her bottom lip, almost as if she was trying to stop her mouth from saying something.

“Yeah… Try…” I sighed after her. “I could do that.”

“You should…”

“Yeah.”

“Hmm.”

I watched her as she nodded her head continuously, only mumbling yes’s and hmm’s. She was looking around the room, avoiding my gaze. I didn’t understand why, though. Then, she started speaking again.

“You know why I’m so bitter about this whole love fiasco?” I opened my mouth to ask her why, but she still continued without waiting for my reply, so I remained silent for her to continue. “People always think that the most painful thing is losing the one you value, the one you love. But the truth is, the most painful thing was that I lost myself in –I mean… Losing yourself in the process of valuing someone too much, and forgetting that…” her voice croaked, “You’re special too.”

I didn’t know where she was going with this.

Noticing that I didn’t get what she was saying, she brought both her hands to her face and squealed in them. Then, she composed herself by sighing deeply and speaking, “I was once in love. It was beautiful… And it ended up as a disaster.” Once she said the last word, she pulled up her long sleeved uniform and showed me her arms. I gasped as I saw that there were visible bruises on them. My eyes were as big as they can ever get for a Korean man, but they were still visibly out of their normal setting. I’m not a doctor so I didn’t really know how long the bruises were on her arms, but they were visible. Clearly.

She returned her long sleeves to their original places and continued. “So who are you to tell me that I’ve never been in love?” She glared and huffed under her breathe. I think she was waiting for a response because she was tapping on the table impatiently. But the only thing I could give her was a face that of shock and pity. She shook her head and grunted.

I tried grabbing onto her hand as she stood up, and I latched on her elbow like my life depended on it. I threw her a glance showing how sorry I was, because something was caught in my throat that didn’t let me speak. I didn’t mean to insult her that way. Heck, I didn’t know that she was so emotional. So I said sorry, and asked her to sit down.

She bowed her head and I think I saw a faint smile spread across her lips. Thankfully, she sat down again and placed her hands on the table. I leaned closer to her as well and our heads were almost touching.

“Love sucks.” We both sighed and breathed in the aroma of coffee in the shop.

It surely did…
…especially for the both of us.

-END OF POV-

* * * *

“Tei, try not to make a scene like that stint you did two days ago, araso?” HaHa explained.

Tei just shrugged it off…

“What scene?”

…which pissed HaHa even more. “Ya. You know what I’m talking about,” and made smooching noises to Tei and Chae Yeon.

Embarrassed, Chae Yeon threw her hands to HaHa’s face, which made him fall backwards.

“Ya! What was that for?!”
“Sorry oppa. You were just being annoying as always.” Chae Yeon smiled, and helped HaHa back up.

“As always??!”

“Yes. As always,” Tei held out his hand as well and dusted off the dirt off of HaHa’s bright yellow clothes. “Don’t worry hyung. I promise I won’t. I’ll be good. I’ve already had much of Chae Yeon a while ago.” Tei winked at her, which made the girl blush profusely.

HaHa made a face and winced, “YA!! Don’t talk about things like that to me!!! Ugh that’s disgusting!”Chae Yeon suddenly threw her arms in the air again, but HaHa was quick enough to bring his arms up to his face for defense. Chae Yeon explained, “Aniyo, oppa! It’s not what you think! Tei! That’s so embarrassing!” She screamed, as she watched HaHa walking away, with both his hands covering his ears.

With nothing much to do anyways, Chae Yeon just sighed and hit Tei’s arms.

“Last call for all X-Man guests… Please proceed to Room 13 for the boys and Room 14 for the girls. Thank you.”

“Aww, I have to leave my baby already.” Tei cooed.

“Aish Tei. It’s not like I have to have you 24 hours a day.”

“What, you wouldn’t want that? I’ll be with you every second…” Tei slowly walked up to her and started walking her up to a wall. “Every minute…” He whispered into her neck. “Every day.” Her back hit the wall and Tei brought his hands up to the sides of her head. “Every week…”

“Uhm…” was all that Chae Yeon was able to mutter.

They were silent for a while. Chae Yeon couldn’t read the expression Tei had on his face. It was like he was thinking deeply. His lips were in a deep thin line and –

*smooch*

He kissed her lips. “Saranghae,” he said in a husky voice, then smiled widely, before running away to room 13. He waved his arms in the air, and left a giggling Chae Yeon.

“I LOVE YOU TOO!” Chae Yeon screamed, shaking her head and smiling to herself, “Unbelievable.”

“What is?” Chae Yeon looked back and saw Seul Gi.

She jumped to her toes and brought her hands to her racing heart. It was beating so fast out of shock. Either one of two things: Seul Gi just popping out of nowhere or Tei. It’s quiet obvious what the logical answer is. “Oh! How long have you been here?”

“Long enough to see you and your boyfriend’s lame excuse of a tease.” Seul Gi laughed, “That was pretty sweet of him to do that though.”

“I know, right?” Chae Yeon said dreamily. “C’mon. They’re waiting for us at Room 14.”

Seul Gi snorted and replied, “Pabo. We’re already in Room 14.” She pointed up to the sign at the door to where she was standing next to: Room 14.

“Is this what love does to a person?” Seul Gi raised her eyebrow and teased Chae Yeon by poking her stomach.

Chae Yeon laughed, “Unbelievable.”

* * * *

“Okay everybody, cut!”

Everybody clapped their hands. Another day, another finished X-Man episode. The team had started filming episodes in advance, and thankfully, finished everything in advance as well.

That meant that everybody was going to have a free week since no shooting was scheduled for the whole week.

“YES!”

* * * *

-CHAE YEON’S POV-

I groaned as I felt the sun’s rays on my face. I squinted my eyes to try to make things better, but that didn’t do much help. The sun was practically teasing me! So early in the morning??!!??!!!!





I bonked my head and laughed at myself for using such a lame line. Well duh… Maybe because the sun starts the morning, babo.

Seeing that I was already amused by myself, I opened my eyes and stretched my arms as far the heavens could reach. I was sleepy. But something always popped in my head the minute I woke up that made me look forward to waking up.


Tei


I had L-O-V-E written all over my face, but I was not complaining. I sat up and I felt my cheeks burning up (add to the fact that the sun was still glaring at me from the window) and a smile was drawn on my lips. I ran my thumb across my lips as I looked back to the kiss that Tei gave me in the X-Man show and in the coffee shop.

“Here is your food.”

Tei… Just thinking about him makes me all giddy inside. I feel like a little girl in a toy shop. I haven’t felt this happy since appa left us. That’s right. I did not like my appa. He hurt my mother and since I loved my mother very deeply, I hated him for making her cry. That’s why I was glad he left. End of story.





Anyway, back to Tei.

Isn’t he dreamy?

“I hope you enjoy your meal.”

I giggled when I remembered our date at the coffee shop. Now that I look back to it, I’d regard it as the best date I’ve ever had. The guys I used to date were so… I mean, they were goodlooking and funny, but… I wasn’t into them as much as I was with Tei. Or, there just wasn’t that spark I was looking for in a relationship. I was looking for something in a guy to make me complete, as cheesy as it may sound… And Tei gave me that something. Tei is that something.

I laughed heartily and threw my head back as I went back to lie down on my bed. I jerked backwards so fast that I didn’t realize that there was a headboard so--

*POK*

That’s right. That’s a beauty spot right there.

I rubbed the back of my head as I groaned in pain. “Ouch… He’s not even here and he still finds ways to hurt me.” Ouch ouch ouch.

I heard a scoff and I turned to my left, only to see… Yes, Tei, leaning carelessly on the wall.

I yelped up in surprised and hit my head again on the little wooden plank that was protruding off the headboard. Why the heck was it even protruding anyway??! Ouch my head.

I heard Tei laugh and saw him run to me to my bed. He was laughing so hard that his eyes were gone and his smile was as big as it could ever get. He kissed my forehead and I think I simmered down a bit after that.




But it still hurt.

“Aigo…” I felt tears on my face because of the pain.

Seeing that I was in serious need of TLC, he kissed me again and smirked, “Okay. Did that help?”

I shook my head as a response. I lowered my hands because it was already tired but as I did, I could feel the pain shoot up to my head, so I brought them back up, hoping that my hands could lessen the pain.

There was silence, and all I could feel was Tei staring at me. “How long where you in here?”

“Long enough to see you smiling to yourself so early in the morning. You looked beautiful.”
I swear I forgot everything for a second, even the jolting and throbbing pain in my head as he said those words.

But happiness could only last for so long, because after a few seconds, I finally felt the bruises on my head again. “Uh… Can you be a good boyfriend and get me ice?”

He grinned and said okay. He threw his arm around me and gave me a kiss on the cheek. The closeness we shared was undeniably making me feel so happy, so I closed my eyes as he did. As I opened my eyes, I saw him getting some ice cubes from the tray which I had found out that he brought in while I was uhm… fangirling over him. He went through my drawers and looked for a handkerchief. Placing the ice cubes in the pink hello kitty handkerchief he got, he started humming a song that was oddly familiar to me.

“What song--ow not too hard-were you humming?” I asked as he gently patted the home-made remedy he made for the bruises. He blew on to my head and started patting me with the ice cubes inside the handkerchief again.

“Because You’re My Woman. Seung Gi’s song,” he replied nonchalantly. “Remember him?”

I felt myself stiffen at the thought of Seung Gi. How was he? The last time I saw him was during that day where he injured his hand. I was so worried. All that blood in his hand made me wince and made me want to walk away but just the thought that he was hurt made me feel so bad that I wanted to clean up his wounds. Physically and emotionally…

It’s been 2 days. I haven’t seen him nor heard from him.

“Hey,” Tei sneered. He poked my bruise which made my hand jolt and I accidentally hit his jaw, which made him falter and fall back on the bed. Realizing what I had done, I jumped on him and held his jaw slowly. “Oh! I’m so sorry Tei! I didn’t mean to oh my gosh did it hurt wait let me ow let me get you th-- wait wait--ahh!!!”

I fell off the bed.

This morning was seriously the most action packed morning of my life.

“I’ll get it,” he stood up the bed and went to the drawer to get himself some ice. He did it in such a suave way that all I could do was just gape at him at awe. “Doesn’t it… hurt?”

“What? You socking me at the jaw?” he answered coolly. He scoffed and moved his lower jaw from left to right, “Yeah. It does. But I’m a big boy.” He brought some ice to the swollen area and walked to me. I was still on the floor and was too tired and hurt to move so I just leaned on the bed and let my head rest on the soft mattress. I brought my knees close to my chest and closed my eyes. Tei sat down next to me and he suddenly held my hand.

He continued to hum Seung Gi’s song.

I listened as he serenaded me with his beautiful voice. I’ve always loved it when he sang to me. He brought my hands to his lips and kissed it. I smiled and gripped on his hand tighter, not wanting to let go. The throbbing in my head was slowly disappearing, much to my delight. Tei always knew how to make me feel better.

“Stop singing. I’m sorry for punching you. I didn’t mean to. You poked my bruise so--"

“Hmm.” He continued humming Seung Gi’s song, not minding my sermons. It was the chorus already. I stretched my legs because I knew that he wasn’t going to listen anytime soon.

“Hey, doesn’t it hurt?” I asked. I opened my eyes to see him smiling at me genuinely. I smiled back at him and giggled. He did not answer my question, but I could tell that he was squirming, trying to hide the pain in his face. His eyebrows met in an unruly fashion, and his left eye was twitching.

“It hurts, doesn’t it?” I snorted.


He rested his head on my shoulders suddenly. I wanted to flick the top of his head and say that it should be the other way around, but I didn’t. I threw my arms around his shoulders and leaned my head into his. The scent of his hair smelled of wax and hair products. Who puts that much stuff in their hair so early in the morning? But that really didn’t matter anyway. I just let it all sink in. I looked down on our intertwined hands which was placed on my lap, and smiled. Nothing could ruin things between us.

“Sarangh...”

Knock knock.

“Chae Yeon… Someone’s looking for you down stairs. It’s a boy.”