Four Years Past: Will The Flames Still Burn Bright?

By Ineo

It had been a long four years.

A very long four years.

A little apartment in a cheap area of Seoul stood locked. No one was in it, but even without the people inside, it was full of life.

The walls were papered a red and pink cherry blossom print, something that had been done on a rainy day long ago, with a little help from some friends.

The floors were stained red with paint stain.

The walls and the floor beamed warmth. In the little living room was one small leather sofa, maybe big enough for three people to sit on if you squished up. Most of the living room was filled by a low dining table, the kind you had to sit on the floor to eat around which was slightly inconvenient but many people could fit around it.

The living room also had a slightly claustrophobic feel; there were big shelves on the wall, the lower ones had hundreds of small photos in them, none of the photo frames matched. Most of the pictures had the same two girls in them, plus other people, mostly four men and a host of people resembling the two girls who were clearly relatives.

On the higher shelves sat ornaments, some looking to be of very little value, and others (fine works of pottery) looked very expensive.

The apartment also came with a small kitchen, and a bedroom shared between it's two residents.

Of course the two people who lived in these apartments where none other than Ga Eul and Jan Di. It was close to Jan Di's university, and Ga Eul's work and while it had been hard on both of them to leave their families (even if they were only a few subway stops away) they loved it.

The reason it was empty right now, came in two parts.

1.) Ga Eul was still at work.

2.) Jan Di was currently stood on a beach.

Jan Di smiled to herself as she watched the ocean retreat over the white sand. The man who was undoubtedly the love of her life was stood to her left with his arm around her waist, whom, despite being slightly idiotic she had missed terribly.

To her right stood her closest male friend, on his right her brother in most senses of the word and to his right was someone she had many questions for.

Jan Di tried to take in the bliss of the moment of being surrounded by the group of friends she had waited years to be reunited, yet her burning need for questions overtook her want for bliss.

'Yi Jung-ssi,' she said leaning forwards to peer past the other tall men who blocked her view.

Yi Jung appeared to be glowing, he had always been handsome but now he was radiant. He looked heavenly in the essence he looked as if he had transcended all of Earth's worries.

'Jan Di-ah,' he smiled in a lovely manner, 'are we not past this stage of formalities? Oppa, will do nicely.'

Jun Pyo did not seem to think "Oppa" would do very nicely. His arms stiffened possessively around Jan Di's waist. Four years had matured him in the business sense, but only because he'd been practicing running a business daily, yet he hadn't dated in four years. He was out of touch about how to behave around Jan Di and his jealousy was still that of his nineteen year old self's.

'She will not be calling you Oppa, are you insane? Another man's girl? Oppa?' Jun Pyo raised his fist in a threatening manner. Yi Jung didn't even flinch, knowing the raised fist was all part of the melodramatics Goo Jun Pyo was fond of.

Jan Di knew this too, yet she still reached over and swatted his fist away, 'I will be calling him what I want!' She informed him sharply.

Woo Bin let out a loud laugh, 'back to old habits quickly! Fighting already, tut-tut.' He shook his head at the hopeless couple. Jan Di let out a snicker. She had missed bickering with Jun Pyo, there was a certain intimacy about it, yet she had to prove to him he could not dictate her choices.

'Yi Jung Oppa, welcome back,' Jan Di moved towards Yi Jung to hug him, but was stopped by a firm hand on her shoulder pulling her backwards before she could reach him.

Jan Di's head snapped back over her shoulder to see just who was pulling her (although she already had a strong suspicion). Jun Pyo didn't care to explain himself even though her glare demanded an answer.

By the amused look on Yi Jung's face it was clear the only reason he had asked Jan Di to call him Oppa was to cause a classic Jan Di/Jun Pyo fight.

Jun Pyo's hand dropped from Jan Di's shoulder to her hand and started tugging her back across the beach. Jan Di turned away from him to shout back to Yi Jung.

'Oppa, did you talk to her?'

The oddness of this question made Jun Pyo stop pulling Jan Di across the beach. He took a step back without dropping Jan Di's hand to get closer to his friends.

Yi Jung beamed, 'I have, but just briefly. She was busy working and Woo Bin called up because he'd found out that Jun Pyo had slipped back into the country without us noticing so I came here since she was busy anyway. I'm going to pick her up after work,' he finished with a small nod to himself.

Woo Bin clapped him on the back. 'Good going, man!'

'...Who did he go to see?' Jun Pyo asked, his four companions all laughed at him. Of course that fool wouldn't have known.

'Ga Eul, you idiot,' Jan Di smiled to herself.

Jun Pyo paused for a second, he seemed to be thinking over the relationship Yi Jung could possibly have with Ga Eul.

'Yah! I'm a great matchmaker! Who made you two spend time together on New Caledonia?' Jun Pyo seemed to be very impressed with himself, then his expression fell as he noticed something.

'Hey, in that case I deserve that vase back. The one I gave you for spending that time with her!'

Jan Di gave him a playful slap, 'you can't have it. It's Ga Eul's now, it's in our apartment.'

Jun Pyo didn't have a response to this, and for a second the atmosphere was peaceful. The sound of the waves lulling against the shore filled their ears, then Woo Bin started laughing uncontrollably.

'What?'

He kept laughing, 'Jan Di-ah hasn't said yes yet.'

Jun Pyo's eyes glazed over as this dawned on him, but before he could start making a fuss, Jan Di's phone started ringing.

Avoiding the eye contact of Jun Pyo who was trying to get her attention she picked up the phone.

'Hello? ….Oh hello. ….Yeah, okay, yeah okay. That's a good idea! ... Yes Jun Pyo is here too… Ga Eul. Ga Eul. Ga Eul! Stop screaming! … I want rice, and a lot of it. I don't care what else. …Okay I'll ask them.' Jan Di pulled the phone away from her face and put her hand over the microphone.

'What do you guys want for dinner? Ga Eul and I are going to cook.'

'I want an answer!...and egg rolls,' Jun Pyo said sulkily. It wasn't every day you saw a grown man sulking, yet that was what he was going.

'I feel like apples,' Woo Bin smirked thinking of past apologies. Jan Di rolled her eyes. 'And Ga Eul's spicy rice cakes, also your egg rolls.'

'Yah, you can't eat her egg rolls! They're mine!' Jun Pyo snapped, pulling slightly on his hair in frustration. Jan Di ignored his whining.

'Sunbae, what do you want?' Jan Di turned to Ji Hoo.

He smiled mischievously, 'I also want egg rolls.' His statement made Jun Pyo storm away from Jan Di's side to try and put his antagonistic friends into headlocks.

'And Yi Jung Oppa, what do you want?' Jan Di ignored the antics of her boyfriend.

'Anything Ga Eul makes,' he said, and Jan Di swore she saw him blush.

She repeated every one's answers to Ga Eul who was on her way to the supermarket, she had left work early (she had clearly forgotten in the hysteria of the day that she was meant to wait and call Yi Jung when she was finished work so he could pick her up).

As Jan Di gave the last request word-for-word down the phone she was sure Yi Jung's ears turned a brighter shade of red. Once the phone was hung up Jan Di turned to Ji Hoo, who was still currently wrestling with her boyfriend.

'We need to go and check out of work,' she was sure they would be allowed to leave work early, the only had another half an hour left on their shifts anyway, not to mention their medical school and by default the charity clinic they were working were owned by Jun Pyo who even if she didn't want to, would pull strings to make it happen.

Ji Hoo nodded and side-stepped the wrestling match to walk away with her. Jun Pyo grabbed on to her hand and pulled her back towards him. Jan Di couldn't help but show a small smile.

'Yah, I need to go check out.'

'I'll deal with it.' He told her. She rolled her eyes.

'I'll be two minutes.' She told him. He still didn't seem pleased with this impending epic two minute separation. He whipped out his phone, and was calling someone before she could pull her hand out of his.

'Get Jan Di and Ji Hoo off work, and send out a car to drive Chu Ga Eul home from the supermarket, I don't know which one she's at but find her.'

Yi Jung looked slightly disappointed he hadn't been able to get Ga Eul himself.

With all the technicalities worked out, Jan Di was more than happy to allow Jun Pyo to guide her back along the beach until they reached a black limo. He helped her into the car first before looking back at his friends.

He didn't want to offer them a lift in the limo - he wanted private time with his recently reunited flame - but he wasn't going to strand them if they had no other way of getting back.

Ji Hoo seemed to pick this up.

'I'll get a lift with Yi Jung, we need to catch up anyway, Woo Bin came in his own car anyway,' he said.

Jun Pyo nodded and slammed the limo door shut behind him.

Writers Note / The great Konglish debate.

During the rewrites of this story which started in November 2015 I almost took out the parts of conversations which included things like "ssi" and "oppa", having seen a lot of criticism on this topic on other websites, however I realised it would not only take away from certain scenes and conversations but would also take away some of the Korean-ness to it which as this story is a non-cannon continuation of a Korean drama feels necessary for it to be there.

If the story was a character driven fan fiction (an au) I would not have used the language but I have chosen to to stay true to the drama which uses these words when the characters address each other.

(Although- Disclaimed I claim no rights to the drama Boys Over Flowers or the characters presented in this story, I only own the story arch.)

Chapter first published May 3rd 2013 / Edited November 14th 2015