Are you OK?
I'm fine
You can stay with us you know
I know but I'll be fine. Really.
Is Yi Jung still with you?
Yeah, he's fixing me some tea now.
Call me if you need anything at all OK?
Yes mom.
I'll send JunPyo to pick you up if you call me mom again.
I want to say LOL but it doesn't seem appropriate?
But really, don't worry about me.
Promise me to stay safe.
I will JanDi. Now hush.
I love you
I love you too.
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When Ga Eul was in her second year of college her parents decided to move away from Seoul. They told her that they were done with big city life and much preferred to live in a relatively quiet surrounding. And so they packed their bags and moved to her father's hometown. They had been living there ever since, opened a small business they ran from home.
Her dad, for whatever reason decided that what his hometown really needed was a reliable plumbing service and so he set up an office and recruited a few men who worked hard with him. She was quite surprised when the business actually served them well, prompting her father to persuade her to move as well. She resisted though, choosing instead to live alone by herself in her small rented apartment.
She stayed in the same apartment until she finished college and started her working life. Being a kindergarten teacher didn't really pay well, but she managed to save. With the money she made, she managed to move to a better and slightly bigger apartment. The one she'd been living in since. It was, of course, close to what you'd call a dump or a doghouse if compared to the flashy houses and apartments those F4 boys used to.
'Sugar?'
'No thanks.'
'How about milk?' Yi Jeong appeared with a mug in his hand in front of her. It was a birthday gift from her class back when she was still working as a teacher and it somehow made her feel a little bit better.
She shook her head quietly and received the steaming hot tea.
'I really don't think you should spend tonight alone,' he said while she sipped the scalding liquid slowly.
'I'll be fine.'
'That's not what that detective said.'
Earlier today, after they made their witness statement at the police office, the detective in charge told Ga Eul that she might be in a rather delicate position right now. What with her as the sole eye witness of the suspected person who ran away, and the said person actually saw her being there. Apparently it was not a desirable combination.
'People have been put in dangerous situation for much less before, Miss.'
She argued that she did not really see the face of the suspected person, let alone confident enough to identify him.
'Ah, you can't underestimate the power of your brain to gather information and store them for future reference. You might forget things when you're in shocks, but later they might all come back to you.
'Yeah, but…'
'You might not see the face, but you might recognize someone's posture, gait, the way they hold things with their hands. The way they move.'
'Hmmm…' she mumbled her protest, unconvinced of his statement. Still, they told her to be extra careful until they found the perpetrator.
'There's no telling what he might do, miss,' the older detective told her. Detective Kang-Hee, was his name.
She shivered a little and quickly drank the dark liquid in her hand, grimacing when her lips protested in pain over the temperature. Stupid as she might be, she was not prepared to follow Yi Jeong's idea of her staying with him in his house. There needed to be some cataclysmic shit going on before she placed herself anywhere near the man.
'Look, I really doubt he's going to come after me in such a short time. For all we know, he might regard me as some random passerby who accidently passed the house and went away for good. I'm pretty sure I'd be safe tonight. As safe as, oh, I don't know, as safe as driving 30 km/hr while using a seatbelt. As safe as eating organic free range chicken eggs. As safe as having sex with condom.'
'Excuse me?'
'Well you get the gist.'
'Fine then, if you said so' he shrugged his shoulders. 'We'll do it your way. You can stay here.'
Ga Eul heard herself exhale loudly. She didn't even know she was holding her breath.
'But I'll stay here tonight.'
She coughed until she's blue in the face.
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'Here, I guess you can wear this tonight,' Ga Eul brought a pair of sweat pants from her room and gave them to Yi Jeong. She gave up convincing him to just go home an hour ago. It was really no use convincing him to just go and leave her alone, she could handle things herself.
'Are those your boyfriend's?' Yi Jeong scrunched his nose in distaste.
'Gosh, no!' she looked horrified to hear his question. 'I don't have a boyfriend.'
He felt a little smirk coming up.
'Not at the moment anyway,' she added with eyes narrowed. 'And even if I did, I don't keep mementos.'
'Well then,' he fought hard not to smile, 'are they your father's?'
'I think they are Jun Pyo's.'
'What?'
'Don't look at me like that,' she frowned at him, aghast at his suggestion. 'Jan Di left her gym bag the last time she came here. Somehow those pants were inside.'
'OK then,' he took the offending sweatpants from her hand and went to the bathroom to change, 'even though it pains me to wear something of that idiot, I'd comply just for you.'
This was stuff straight from Ga Eul's nightmare. The effort of the past four years she'd been dedicating her time avoiding him was destroyed in just one day. Not that it was anybody's fault. Well, except for that criminal. She shuddered when her thoughts returned to the scene she witnessed earlier today.
They spent hours in the police station giving statements to the detective in charge before allowed to go back to Seoul. Both were quiet during their drive home. At one point Yi Jung took her shaking hand and kept it in his, his thumb tracing her palm softly almost as if he was consoling her without words as he drove his car back to Seoul.
She had to admit that it helped to keep the cold feeling in the pit of her stomach at bay.
Sometimes Ga Eul just couldn't understand him at all.
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Yi Jeong settled himself on the couch even though it was too fucking small for his tall frame, but it was him who insisted on spending the night here and he had no right to complain. He wondered when was the last time a girl had flatly said no when offered to spend a night at his house. Well, there's always a first for everything, he laughed a little at himself.
He wondered not for the first time why GaEul seemed to vanish altogether from his life. It had not been a conscious decision when he kind of disappeared from her life for a while. Five years in Sweden had proven to be just what he needed in term of his career and renewing his passion for his art. He supposed he got a little carried away with it.
When he decided it was time to go back to his social life, Ga Eul had gone underground. Hiding in plain sight, it would seem, judging by the fact that she still in contact with the Jan Di and Jae Kyung. Powerful and confident females turned him on, but they could be so scary sometimes.
I'm spending the night at Ga Eul's
Wow Bro….
Definitely not what you're thinking
Still…
I need to talk to you on Monday
Only if you agree with the term full disclosure
Yeah, definitely shut your dirty mind
FINE! Come to my office after lunch. I have a meeting in the morning.
Not that you'd wake up by 11 anyway….at least
And full disclosure!
This is like that Jun Pyo saga all over again, huh?
Fucking Ji Hoo needs to come back from France already
Who's going to be the other man when you two fuck up along the way.
Dude?
Dude?
HEY DUDE!
He was asleep when someone tapped his shoulder.
'What?' he said grumpily. His neck felt stiff; there was definitely a crack sound when he moved his head a little from the arm rest.
'Yi Jeong Sunbae….'
'Yeah?' He swore he'd burn this hard and uncomfortable couch the first chance he got and replace it with the more ergonomic La-Z boy one. Preferably the latest model with massage option.
'I can't sleep.' Her voice was small in the dark. 'I kept thinking about what happened today.'
He shook his head and looked at her slim frame. 'Oh, Ga Eul. Darling.'
'Will you sleep with me? Just, you know,' her voice faltered a little, 'just so I can sleep knowing there's another person beside me. I'm afraid I'd get a really bad nightmare. I haven't had nightmare for years.'
'Yeah, sure,' he sat up for a while, listening to the silence before got off the couch and followed her to the bedroom.
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The bed was a decent Queen size covered with girly pink and white quilt. He noticed how Ga Eul had kept the two sides separated by placing a pillow in the middle of the bed. She never failed to amuse him.
'Umm, just so we're on the same page, Yi Jeong Sunbae..'
'Yes?'
'I don't just invite people to, well, to sleep with me, you know…'
'Well I'm glad to hear that.'
'You're making fun of me.'
'I most certainly am not.'
She stood unmoving, her eyes fixed on him.
'I swear I won't do anything you don't want me to do, Ga Eul.'
'Thank you.' She paused, 'I really mean it.'
'Come on, let's get some sleep.' He turned off the light and climbed onto the bed.
The road to good night sleep was a long and windy one. Yi Jeong listened to Ga Eul's steady breath beside him, wishing he could have touched her but refrained himself to do so. There was that one time so many years ago that they almost kissed. He wished they had done it. This tension between them might have disappeared had they done so.
'Sunbae….'
'Hmm?'
'I still can't fall asleep.'
'I can think of something…'
'Sunbae!'
'Just kidding, Ga Eul, jeez.'
'Sorry.' Paused. 'Can I hold your hand?'
He removed the pillow between them and held his hand out. Slowly she took his offer and laced their fingers together.
'Good night,' she whispered quietly.
'Good night.'
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