"Yah, Aimee, Aimee!"
I jerk my head up. Nobu is waving a French-fry in front of my face. I blink at him. I groan and close my eyes again. But I fail to fall asleep again. It's noisy in the Food Court of the mall. People coming and going. I lean on my arm, trying to nap. Suddenly, I get slapped in the cheek with a greasy fry. I open one irritated eye at Nobu.
"What?" I ask. He smirks.
"You're driving. Better not be sleeping," he eats the fry. "You should drink something. Or better, eat. I haven't seen you eat all day."
"I ate," I lied. I wasn't hungry. "I ate before I picked you up."
Nobu glanced at his watch, "That was around ten. It's nearly three now."
"Nyah," I stick my tongue out at him. "I'll go get a coffee."
He nods. I stand and walk to the café on the other end of the Food Court. As I walk in, I spot a familiar face. I smile.
"Unnie!" I walk over to Coordinator Wang. Suddenly, another face turns. The face of the person sitting across from Coordinator Wang. Yoo HeYi. I immediately regret saying anything. Too late. Too late to run now.
"Unnie!" HeYi grins brightly at me. I force a smile, and urge myself to continue my walk over to them. Coordinator waves a hand at my outfit.
"Very cute," she compliments. "Oh! What are you doing here?"
"I'm here with Nobu," I answer casually. HeYi gives a slight smirk. Coordinator Wang fawns.
"Yah, he's so adorable. Where is he?" she asked. I point to the other end of the Food Court.
"You should get him. Sit down and drink with us," HeYi offered. I smirked.
"No, thanks. I just came to get a quick coffee so I don't fall asleep on the drive home," I tell them. HeYi shakes her head.
"Please, stay. We're having a total girl-talk!" she grins, as if I was actually interested in whatever she had to say.
"Yes, Aimee you must stay!" Coordinator Wang tugged at my arm and made me sit.
"Just for a moment," I force the words out. "But let me place my order first."
"Ah! Yes," Coordinator Wang grins, when I come back to the table. "We were just talking about MiNam and the boys. Yoo HeYi is so silly. She's jealous of MiNam!"
I smirk, "Why would she have to worry about that? She's beautiful."
Coordinator Wang doesn't pick up on the tension between me and HeYi. She doesn't pick up on my sarcasm either. She nods.
"I know right! That's my point exactly. She has no need to be jealous," Wang reaches over and squeezes HeYi's hand supportively. HeYi sighs.
"But what if she doesn't return after she becomes a girl again?" HeYi shoots me a look. "She's treated so well, she might not want to go back."
No one says anything a while. I think about what she's saying. It's true. MiNam is treated so well by the three most gorgeous guys in the world. Why would she want to go back? Who would want to go back? I sighed. I tried not to think about it. Whatever. I'll move out if she does that. She can take my room. She's already pretty much taken up the space of me in their hearts, why not their house as well?
"Well, let me tell you guys something," Coordinator Wang lowered her voice, raising her brows at us. HeYi leans in. Despite myself, I lean in too.
"MiNam grew up in a convent. Naturally, she'll become a nun. After it all ends, she'll go back to the convent," Wang whispers, smirking. "But don't say a word to anyone. Not even the guys know it. I'm only telling you guys because HeYi seems so sad."
I glance at HeYi, who's grinning as bright as a star now.
"Wow, if the TaeKyung oppa and the others knew about this, they'd be really shocked," she says. She looks at me. "Wouldn't they, Aimee?"
I don't answer her. Instead, I raise an eyebrow at her.
"Mocha Frappucino!"
I move to get my order, but HeYi grabs my hand and sits me down. She smiles sweetly at Coordinator Wang.
"Could you get that, unnie? Aimee looks really tired," HeYi said. Wang gasped, looking at me.
"Yes, you look very pale. Let me go get that for you," she scurries off to the counter.
I shoot HeYi a credulous look. She smiles at me. I snatch my hand away from her. She was up to something. I didn't like that sick smile.
"You…" I start. "What are you up to?"
"TaeKyung oppa, Jeremy oppa, and…ShinWoo oppa," she named them all. "They'd be surprised if they found out MiNam was going to become a nun, huh?"
"What? Are you planning to tell them?" I scoff. "Or, no. Are you planning to threaten MiNam with it, saying you'll tell them? You need to get a life."
"I have a life, thank you very much. And it's wonderful," she laughs lightly. I want to puke on her. "I was just wondering…weren't you thinking the same thing as me? After all, you really like Kang ShinWoo."
I force a smirk. She's not going to get to me.
"I think MiNam deserves whatever is coming," I say. HeYi's face brightens. I smirk again. "But I'll let whatever is coming come on its own. I'm now the type to wreck a happy home, Yoo HeYi."
"She's the homewrecker, not me!" HeYi snaps suddenly, but quickly hushes again as some people turn to look. Sighing, she smoothes her hair back into place.
"So, you won't help me get rid of her? It'll make things easier for you and ShinWoo," HeYi says, and surprisingly, she doesn't sound sly or smug at all. She sound completely earnest. And for a moment, I'm not sure if she's acting or if she's sincerely earnest.
"There's nothing between me and ShinWoo," I tell her plainly. Where is Coordinator unnie? Why is she taking so long? I stand to leave.
"I wonder what Nobu oppa would have to say about you liking Kang ShinWoo, Aimee," HeYi says suddenly. She looks at me. I turn red with fury.
"You want to threaten me?" I snap at her. "Go ahead. Tell him whatever the heck you know. I don't care. Try to hurt me. Try to screw me over, bitch, and I'll screw you over twice as bad."
"Wah," HeYi doesn't even flinch. "So violent towards me. And I haven't even touched your man. Are you so violent to MiNam too? She's all over him, can't you tell?"
I scoff and turn away. Coordinator Wang walks up. I snatch my frappucino from her and head back to Nobu. God damn. I let the bitch get to me.
MiNam pushes open the door, holding the tray of juice in her hand. She walks over to the piano, her heart lightening a little at the sight of TaeKyung. She places the juice on the piano he's playing and smiles at him.
"Jeremy says to bring you the lime juice you like so much," she nods to him, grinning proudly at finally being able to do a good deed for him.
"Lime," TaeKyung scoffs, shooting her a glare. Her heart sinks. "That I drank such a sour disgusting thing is also your fault."
"My fault?" she says, meekly. "Hyung-nim, how can it be my fault? You've wronged me."
So much for doing a good deed.
"Go MiNam," TaeKyung stares long and hard at her. "Didn't you use to bear with it all, no matter how much I wronged you?"
MiNam was taken back slightly by her sudden outburst. She nodded, frowning slightly.
"Ah, yes. I'm sorry. I'll bear with this now as well," she looks away from him.
TaeKyung scoffed, ignoring her statement, "Then why didn't you, just now? Because of ShinWoo, you also couldn't bear it and fell down."
"A-ah," MiNam reddened, remembering ShinWoo's sudden kiss. "That was because I was too startled!"
"Ah, yeah," TaeKyung said sarcastically. "But it wasn't just that. It was so obvious, that you wanted to be with him. You wanted to show him your best, and held on until the end. It's obvious that you like him!"
MiNam jumped as he snapped angrily at her. Why was he being so horrible? Tears stung at MiNam's eyes. She searched for something to say back to him.
"Hyung-nim! I've already told you it's not true!" she tries to explain.
Why was he so clueless?
"You won't be able to bear with it until the end," TaeKyung goes on, ignoring her. "ShinWoo will know as time passes. He'll feel sorry towards you. If things develop that way, it'll bring trouble to you both then!"
MiNam was on the verge of tears now. His harsh words were like a knife into her soft heart.
"Is liking someone such a bad thing?" she manages to choke out. "Not hoping for anything; trying not to be found out…is that not allowed?"
"Is that what you're doing? Is that how the female mind works? You and Aimee…" TaeKyung curses. "If I were Kang ShinWoo, I'd be feeling pretty lousy!"
MiNam is too hurt to even notice the comment about Aimee. Tears slip from her eyes, despite her best effort to hold them back. TaeKyung doesn't look at her. He stares off, angry. MiNam bites her lip, staring at him.
Why was he being so horrible?
Suddenly, TaeKyung turns and looks at her again. He opens his mouth to shout more when he notices her tears. His face softens.
"Are you…crying?" he asks softly.
MiNam quickly wipes her tears away, "No, I'm not! I can bear with it! I won't be found out."
TaeKyung's expression showed a slight hint of worry and guilt, "Although it's quite troublesome, should I show my face and settle it for you?"
"No!" MiNam exclaimed loudly. She sniffled. "Please do not interfere. You can just pretend not to know anything and stay put!"
Her angry tone surprised even herself, but she didn't care anymore. She turned, and stomped away from the jerk. She wiped her tears, sniffling.
"Yeah! Let's see how much you can bear, Go MiNam!" she heard TaeKyung scream after her.
After dropping off Nobu at his dorm, I drove back home. I pulled into the driveway and got out, slinging my bag over my shoulder. I catch glimpse of ShinWoo coming out the front door, stylishly dressed in a blue plaid button-down and leather jacket. He doesn't notice me as he climbs into his car and pulls out of the driveway. I try not to think about where he's going.
It doesn't concern me. It doesn't concern me.
"MiNam's the homewrecker…!"
I shake HeYi's voice from my mind. Never mind what HeYi had to say. Nonsense. Nonsense. There's nothing between me and ShinWoo. Just an old, forgotten, unrequited love. I scoff.
Yeah, right.
I go into the house, dropping my keys into the dish by the door. I toss my bag onto my bed, change into house-clothes and plop down onto my bed next to my bag. I stare at the ceiling a moment. Groaning, I roll over onto my stomach and reach under my pillow for my sketch book. I flip through the pages silently, staring at the pictures I'd drawn of the others. My best friends. The loves of my life. I stare a long moment at a portrait of ShinWoo.
Time to move on.
I flip to a clean page and pull my picture strip of Nobu and I out from my bag. I stare at Nobu's face in all the pictures. A strange feeling in my chest emerges. I lay the strip next to my sketchbook and grab a pencil off my night table. I start to sketch the outline of his face. The high cheekbones, the thick lips, the dark eyes…
"Nobu," I whisper softly, saying his name as if it was something precious.
I can't sleep that night either. Maybe it was the late frappucino I had. I'm not sure. I get up and grab my dance gear. I haven't danced in a while. It's nearly ten, but I head to the studio anyways. I'm surprised to see cars parked outside. I realize one is ShinWoo's white Mercedes. I hesitate a moment, before going in.
Climbing up the stairs to my dance studio, I look around for any sign of ShinWoo or anyone else. No one. I shrug it off. I flick on the lights to my studio, gasping in shock as I see a figure sitting on my wooden floor, clutching his knees to his chest. I take a moment and look at the figure. I see a leather jacket and a slight hint of a blue shirt. The figure looks up at me. ShinWoo.
I stare at him a long moment. The moistness of his eyes and the silence lets me knows that this is because of Go MiNam. ShinWoo looks away from me, knowing I know. I am just about to say something when ShinWoo suddenly speaks.
"Don't I seem like a fool?" he asks softly. He scoffs. "After everything, I just keep sitting here like a fool, loving her and smiling against the pain."
I remain silent as ShinWoo stares off, sniffling. The deep hatred in my heart begins to burn again. Watching him cry like this…Watching him hurt…no matter how much I tell myself there's nothing between us, I know it's not true. Watching him cry made me realize it all over again.
God. Just when I think I can let him go, something like this happens to suck me back in.
My own tears start to form as I watch ShinWoo try to hold back his tears. He stands and faces the wall.
"I'm worthless. Stupid, worthless, aren't I, Aimee?" he looks up at me, forcing a smile. I don't smile back. I drop my bag onto the ground, loudly. I glare at ShinWoo, who seems surprised at my sudden anger.
"Stupid, yes. You're the stupidest person on this entire earth," I spit at him. "But you're not worthless."
ShinWoo holds my gaze a moment longer.
"Are you…crying?"
I ignore his question. I don't even move to wipe my tears away. I sniffle and let out a breath.
"You're not worthless. You…" I start. I could confess now. I could say everything now.
You're not worthless. You're everything to me.
"You're not worthless," I say again. "You were the one who helped me move on. I walked again because of you. Before you, I hated the world for what it did to me. If it wasn't for you, I'd be no better off than Nobu in a stinking wheelchair for the rest of my life…"
ShinWoo stares at me, silent. I sniffle again, wiping some tears away.
"You helped me to stand and walk again, ShinWoo. And that's not worthless. You were my life," I choke out. "So unless I'm nothing, you're not nothing either. So don't you ever call yourself worthless."
I wipe the remaining of my tears away. ShinWoo is still looking at me, speechless. I look away from him, trying to wipe the tears, but they keep coming. God. I hated crying so much. I kept wiping them away.
Suddenly, a hand comes at me. ShinWoo turns me to face him, and reaches out, brushing my tears away with his thumbs. He doesn't look into my eyes. I let my hands fall to my side as he wipes away my tears. Neither one of us says anything. Finally, he looks up at me. I think he's going to say something, but he doesn't. Instead, he surprises me by reaching out and wrapping his arms around my shoulders.
"Thank you for your words, Aimee."
I close my eyes, but don't hug him back. Any other time, I would've taken this moment in and ignored the rest of the world, but suddenly, this didn't feel right anymore. ShinWoo was still clueless.
You damn clueless jerk.
Author's Note: Yayy, new chapter! =D Leave reviews. I'd love it if you did =D They make me super happy! I can't believe I'm already about on episode 12. Only four more episodes! T_T I need to wrap this stories' loose ends up, ahahaha. =) Can you believe we're almost done? . Hmm….Love you guys ahaha.
Also, finally, ShinWoo shows a little affection to Aimee, huh? She deserves a little. But aww, Nobu is so adorable. Who would you choose? Your first love, or the one who helped you move on?
Also, I got lots of people saying they can't imagine Aimee as Kim So Eun. Ahaha. I agree. Who do you think Aimee seems like? =) Let me know. And maybe, I'll remake a banner/trailer with your pick! =) Just wanna know who you guys think is like Aimee. =)