"Oh, ChoHee!" I exclaim as ChoHee finally steps out of the bathroom. She didn't have red eyes or anything that made her seem like she was crying. She did, however, have the strangest and blankest look on her face ever.
"Are you okay?" I ask her softly.
She nodded, forcing a smile, "I'm fine."
Something in her eyes told me she wasn't 'fine'. The way she turned away just a little too quickly and the way she went straight to kitchen told me something wasn't okay. I followed her to the kitchen, where I found ChoHee nibbling on a cookie and looking over my fridge.
"What are you looking for?" I ask her.
"Eggs. To bake a cake," ChoHee replied, not even turning to look at me. I remember what ShinWoo had said just this morning. ChoHee baked when she was upset. I sighed. It was obvious she was upset right now, and anyway, at this rate, I was going to run out of flour and eggs.
"ChoHee, what happened? Who called? And weren't we talking about Changsu just a moment ago?" I ask her a frenzy of questions, concerned by her behavior.
"Jesu," ChoHee sighed. "I guess I don't need to be worrying about Changsu anymore."
It took me a moment to realize what she meant.
"He broke up with you?" I almost shriek. "Why?"
ChoHee made a face, "It's 'personal'."
She made little quotation marks in the air as she said 'personal'. I stared at her, feeling sympathetic for her. Okay, so I was slightly relieved that they hadn't broken up because of me and that now at least, I didn't have to deal with the drama of them both…but still, as a friend, I was feeling bad for her.
"I'm sorry," I tell her softly.
"Don't be," ChoHee forced a smile and looked at me. "He was an asshole anyway."
I stare at her. She says things like that, but I had been the one to see how happy she was with him. ChoHee was just trying to be tough. She was trying to act like she didn't care. I frowned. She reminded me more of myself than I would've ever thought. I remember when I used to act like that.
"You don't have to act tough in front of me, ChoHee," I tell her softly.
"I'm not," ChoHee let out a hesitant laugh. "I'm okay, really. I could care less."
"But-" I start again.
"Look, I'm going out a moment to buy groceries. I'll be back later," ChoHee grabbed her keys and headed out the door without even waiting for me to reply. I wanted to stop her, worried that she might get into trouble. But who was I to stop her?
I watched helplessly as ChoHee left and exited. I sat down at the kitchen table. I sighed, shaking my head. I decided I should probably get back to writing my songs, so I went back to my room. I attempted to find some kind of inspiration to continue my tribute to Changsun, but I was just plain out stuck.
I pulled out my other song. Maybe, if I worked at something else a while it'd be easier to get back to the other song. But I was just as stuck on what to write here as I was on the other song. This song was meant to be a slow piano ballad.I sigh deeply and bang my forehead against my desktop. Just as I did so, my desk shook against the walls and a picture frame hanging above my bookshelf fell off the wall.
"Apa!" I quickly dive to catch the frame that holds the picture of my dad. But I miss. It hits the edge of the bookshelf and cracks before hitting the ground.
I pick it up, frowning at the large crack branching out over the picture. I sigh, staring at it. It's a picture of my dad and me when I was just a little girl. I could barely walk. We were at the beach, he was holding my hand and smiling. My mom had taken the picture.
Grandma had sent it to me a year back as my Christmas present. I treasured it. It was hung up right beside my picture of ShinWoo. And now, it was cracked.
Looking at the photo, my heart ached. I missed my dad. I really did. I wish I had gotten a chance to make things up with him; to say goodbye properly. But of course, I had waited so long and I was too late.
"I miss you, Apa," I say softly. "I wish there was something I can do for you even now."
Then, it hit me. I smiled to myself. I kiss my father's photo. I kiss it again and again and place it on top of my bookshelf. I go back to my desk and start thinking. The words come easily to me now, and I wonder why I'd even had troubles with it before.
TaeKyung and MiNyu lay on TaeKyung's bed, her head on his chest. They'd been talking about going public with their relationship.
"There are some rules that go along with this," TaeKyung told her. She nodded.
"It will get harder for you to do ordinary things like you used to. Paparazzi will try to take photos of you, so be prepared always. Don't do interviews without asking me first," TaeKyung counted them off his fingers. "Paparazzi will try to ask personal questions; don't answer if they make you uncomfortable. And be careful with your answers. They could very well be used against you and cause a scandal."
"Okay," MiNyu nodded. "I will do my best as Hwang TaeKyung's girlfriend!"
TaeKyung smiled. She was so cute all the time. She was always enthusiastic and always tried so hard to make everyone happy. TaeKyung kissed her softly on the nose and smiled at her. MiNyu smiled back. She was always happy when TaeKyung was being affectionate with her, even if it was usually only when they were alone. TaeKyung felt awkward being affectionate even so around the band.
"Do you remember when Aimee and ShinWoo first went public?" MiNyu asked, laughing a little.
TaeKyung chuckled, "Aimee never thought about the rules. She never did anything too bad, but she certainly had her own way of doing things."
"Aimee's always been such an individual," MiNyu smiled.
"I don't know how ShinWoo can handle being her boyfriend," TaeKyung smirked to himself.
MiNyu poked him playfully, "ShinWoo is a very capable man. He's also very patient and very caring. He compliments Aimee perfectly. Only he can bear with her brash ways and get through her tough shell."
"That's true," TaeKyung replied. He hadn't seen Aimee been happier these past couple of years. With all the drama of MiNam and MiNyu dying down and since Aimee got with ShinWoo, everyone's life had been much more peaceful.
"It seems everyone got a happy ending when my brother came back," MiNyu smiled, looking at TaeKyung. He smiled softly and nodded.
"I only wish Jeremy could have found someone as well," MiNyu sighed. "He's a good man."
TaeKyung chuckled lightly, "Sometimes it's hard to think of Jeremy as a man. He's so childish."
"It's just his personality. Aimee sometimes acts like a child too," MiNyu laughed.
"And before you came along, I was dealing with both children all on my own," TaeKyung smirked. "ShinWoo sometimes managed to keep Aimee in control, but that was before he realized how crazy she was about him."
MiNyu shrugged, "It still puzzles me even now how it took ShinWoo so long to figure out about Aimee's feelings. It took everything that happened the way it did before he finally opened his eyes and saw her there. Even then, it was almost too late."
"ShinWoo can be thick-headed sometimes," TaeKyung remembered those times. "He's gentle, mature, caring, and patient but he's also extremely stubborn and sometimes hopelessly stupid."
"Well, you took quite a while to figure out that I liked you too," MiNyu shot her boyfriend a teasing look. TaeKyung frowned.
"After everything I did to you, I thought you hated me. And anyway, I thought you liked ShinWoo," TaeKyung snuggled closer to his girlfriend. Even if at the time he hadn't realized his own feelings for her, thinking she liked ShinWoo had been hard.
"He's a very good man," MiNyu seemed sad. "I only wish he didn't have to go through what he did with me. I'm sure it hurt him very much."
"I think he's over it," TaeKyung smile softly. "And anyway, like you said. It took everything that happened the way it happened for him to finally see Aimee's love for him. So it's good it happened. And anyway, everything ended happily."
"I suppose that's true," MiNyu smiled again.
"Now, what are those rules I told you again?" TaeKyung looked at her, grinning.
Jeremy sipped on a carton of chocolate milk as he walked around the AN building. It was a nice change from his usual apple or orange juice. Tomorrow, he promised himself he'd buy the strawberry milk that they sold at the café downstairs.
Jeremy was headed for the dance studio. He was planning on practicing his dance moves today, since there were no classes in the studio. There may be a few people who'd come to practice alone, but for the most part it'd be empty. Speaking of empty, Jeremy could hear the strange slurping sound from his carton now. He frowned, disappointed his milk was all gone already. He threw it in the nearest trash can and headed for the dance studio.
As he stepped into the studio, he saw a couple other trainees. He greeted them briefly, but then he caught glimpse of an even more familiar face.
"Noona!" he skipped over happily to Aimee, who had been stretching.
"Oh, hey Jeremy!" her face was already glistened with sweat from hard practicing.
"What are you doing here?" Jeremy asked her. She hadn't been to dance practice in a long time since she'd been working on her album. She also didn't have any routines she really needed to practice, since she hadn't been performing live or shooting music videos either.
"Just wanted to catch up on my dancing. I'm getting stiff," she grinned. "How's that move of yours? The one you couldn't do before?"
Jeremy nodded, remembering how Aimee had helped him that one day.
"I'm great with it now! See?" Jeremy demonstrated the move effortlessly and flawlessly to her. She clapped her hands, grinning at him. Jeremy grinned back. He loved Aimee's vibe. She was always so upbeat nowadays, even more so right now.
"You're in a good mood today," Jeremy laughed. "Come to think of it, so is ShinWoo. I heard he spent the night yesterday."
Jeremy wiggled his eyebrows suggestively at his noona. She smacked him playfully on the head and they both laughed. Aimee didn't say anything to his words. They stretched together. Jeremy stared at Aimee, the way she was concentrating so hard. She seemed far away in her mind.
Honestly, Jeremy was a bit weirded out by the idea of ShinWoo and Aimee sleeping together. He wasn't as naïve as people thought, but just thinking of his two friends like that was awkward. So he decided to drop the subject and stop thinking about it. It was giving him the goose bumps.
"Noona, we haven't danced together in a long time. We should dance to…Bonomana by Super Junior!" Jeremy suggested. Aimee laughed.
"I love that song. Let's go," Aimee jumped to her feet and went to the radio. She quickly picked out the song and Jeremy heard the familiar beat. Aimee joined him back at his side and they started the dance.
After countless rounds of dances with Jeremy, I finally collapsed from exhaustion. Jeremy collapsed beside me, sprawled on the ground. I hand him one of my extra water bottles. He gulps it down greedily.
"Ah, reminds me of the old days," Jeremy smirked. "When you used to be our choreographer we used to always dance until we collapsed. Those were the days before you and ShinWoo got together. Before MiNam and MiNyu came along. Those were happy times."
I tilted my head at Jeremy.
"I mean, uh, not to say these aren't happy times now either with them here. And not to say that you and ShinWoo shouldn't be together, I'm just saying…" Jeremy sat up and scratched his head awkwardly. "It's been kind of boring for me since everyone's had someone."
I look at Jeremy and sigh. He was always such a happy guy. He always smiled and supported all of us despite what he was really feeling on the inside. I loved him for that. Only, I felt bad now. I'd been so busy with ShinWoo and the ChoHee drama that I hadn't taken much time to realize Jeremy was even still around.
"You've always got me, dongsaeng," I hook an arm around Jeremy's shoulders.
Jeremy laughed, but then his lips turned into a devilish smirk. I didn't even have the chance to run as Jeremy suddenly tackled me down with tickles.
"Tickle time!" he announced loudly.
His fingers tickled at my sides as I desperately tried to kick him away between laughs. Jeremy let out an evil laugh and tickled me more.
"Stop!" I breathed out between my laughs.
"Okay!" Jeremy immediately stopped tickling me, but then squished me over the stomach with his body weight. I attempted to push him off, but he was forcing all his body weight on me, still smirking like an evil scientist. Neither of us even cared that other people in the studio were staring at us now.
"Get your fat butt off me!" I attempted a futile push at Jeremy again.
"I'm fat?" Jeremy pretended to be horrified by my words. "I'm hurt, noona."
"You're lame," I laughed. He grinned and finally got off me. Reaching a hand out to help me get up, he smirked triumphantly. I could've taken his hand and just accepted his help, or I could've had fun with it. So I grabbed his hand and pulled him back down again. He fell easily, shocked by my sudden actions. It was my turn to jump on him and tickle him.
Ah. I love hanging out with Jeremy.
Author's Note:
Ahhaa. Aww. Jeremy so cute 3 Strawberry milk, hehe. I just had to write a bit about Jeremy, since everyone kinda wanted me to develop his character. Don't worry~ He's definitely going to play an important part =)