{A/N: All of the Korean in this chapter is either courtesy of my friends over at HelloTalk or Google Translated}
Crap
Crap
Crap
"If you were going to be late, a nice text message would've been perfect."
I shoveled another ladle of frosted flakes into my mouth.. If she'd just bought me a new phone like we'd discussed...
"Ma, I tolf u dat I jus vokeup!"
There was an audible gasp from her and in the background. I should've guessed everyone was already there. Wonderful.
"Are you eating right now?! You can't eat before my fitting. Its bad luck!"
I swallowed.
"Mom a little bit of frosted flakes won't hurt you." I said, rolling my eyes.
"You're kidding, right? Those things are packed with sugar-"
End Call.
My mom was not normally this needy and annoying. It was only since a couple weeks when Paul proposed to her that she became a total bridezilla. I loved the woman but she had some serious control problems.
Finishing the last of the flakes, I gulped down the sugary milk as fast as I could.
Since I was already dressed, the last thing I did was struggle greatly with putting my large hair into a braid and grabbed my mini backpack (which I preferred over a purse) along with a pair of old gym shoes and I headed out the door. The bus stop was only a block away from my place, which I thanked God for.
Tiffani's Bridal Shop was on East Kellog (hehe like my cereal) focus, Fi. Ok east downtown station is the 13th stop on the 64B bus. When you don't have a car, you learn your bus routes. It was a Saturday, so that line came every 20 minutes or so. But wait what time was it now? I plunged my hand into my jacket pocket only to find it empty. Oh no no no.
I dropped the bag from my shoulders and desperately fished through each pocket in search for my cell phone. Crap. Again. I left it on the table. Great.
I wouldn't be able to get through this stupid fitting without my phone. So, of course, I turned around and practically sprinted back to my apartment.
The streets were less than crowded, it being a Saturday morning. But still a fair amount of people walked the block. Which meant more people I had to dodge on my way back home. God, this was like the hallways in high school. Yeah, You're on the Street, Walk Faster (A/N: waddup Luan Legacy reference)
Once I arrived at the main apartment building door and unlocked it, I skipped two stairs at a time to get to my personal door. I fumbled with my keys and eventually inserted the right one into the keyhole. Dashing into the kitchen, I grabbed my phone off the table. Then, of course, I left and locked the door behind me. When I turned, a body stood silently behind me and I jumped a fairly high distance into the air.
"Oh my god you scared the hell out of me!"
It was the tall guy who I gave that drumstick to.
The flashback to last night came faster than I expected.
The names, the dabbing, the song. They were my neighbors, the band from next door.
The morning sunlight poured in to reveal long hair that was let down and pushed behind one ear. I noticed it was only to his shoulder, but on him it worked. Well. The only thing that threw me off was the fact that he stood there alone with a shoulder bag over his body so if he was going somewhere.
He looked at me with an expression I couldn't interpret, but soon followed with a warm smile. Right...
Taking my eyes off of him, I took a glance at my cell phone and was quickly distracted by Jackson Wang's body, which was my lock screen. Wow those triceps...
Crap crap crap again.
It was 8:19 and there was no way I could get to the bus stop in time for the 8:20, which meant that I'd have to wait another 20 minutes for the next one to come and mom would be furious.
Fantastic.
Wonderful.
The tall dude still stood there, looking at me with eyebrows raised.
"What?" It came out harsher than I intended, but I don't think he noticed.
"You...don't have...Uh..."
He seemed to be searching for a word. I'd forgotten he was the one who knew the least English.. After a short moment, he seemed to settle on a close second, the Korean equivalent.
"Cha?"
"Cha is..." He made a steering wheel-like motion with his hands and it immediately registered. "Car?"
"Yes!" He nodded happily. I couldn't help but laugh at his enthusiasm.
"No I don't have one. Wait, do you? I could totally use a ride." I all but pleaded. All that crossed his mouth was a smile and he simply said,
"Ddarawayo."
I interpreted that as 'follow me', as I'd heard in many Korean dramas. So I did. If this guy had a car, I'd be saved from another lecture by my family about my lateness. The only thing I could say to that is "yass"
I followed him through the back door of the building. Ok maybe it was parked in the back, which technically was a parking lot. Or maybe he was taking me back there to murder me. I quickly put the latter out of my mind seeing as he'd really have no reason to do it and, also, there were security cameras in the back so even if he did, he wouldn't get away with it...
Behind the building, I found not a car, but a motor bike. A light blue two-seater Moped to be exact. Awesome.
I clapped in excitement. "Oh my god this is so cute!" I said, circling around it and checking out all of the cool little features; front lights, a mirror, the works.
"Thank you!" he replied. Going around to the back of the bike, he opened the seat and retrieved 2 helmets, handed one to me and one of his long legs slid over the seat. He gestured for me to get on behind him. I carefully followed his leg movement while I fastened the helmet under my chin.
I felt butterflies in my stomach as I slid in behind him and held onto the sides of his seat. He fastened his own helmet, then reached back and grabbed my hands, only to wrap my arms around his midsection.
"Right..." He tugged on his right sleeve. "Left..." he repeated the action with left. It was endearing, really, to see that even though he didn't exactly speak my language, he made an effort to communicate.
So when he started the bike, I was completely prepared.
He took off and around the back and onto the main road we went.
It remained silent and I had to remind myself to thank him immensely for this. It wasn't every day that I saw chivalry. Especially in this form. His dark hair flowed after his head beautifully. This kind of thing reminded me of a long-haired knight or one of those Joseon horseback scholars. Beautiful.
Every turn, I would pull his shirt sleeve and then hang on for dear life. And I had a feeling he made such sharp turns on purpose just to freak me out. So much for that chivalry idea.
In less than 10 minutes we arrived outside of the small dress shop and I could see clearly the view through the window from outside. Members of my family; my aunts and older cousins stood around my mother with most displeased expressions. I could only imagine how the bridesmaids fittings were going in the presence of the bridezilla herself.
I jumped off, and gratefully turned to face the guy.
"Thank you so so so much! I promise I'll pay you back."
He shrugged and smiled.
Then I began to walk into the shop.
"Ahjumma!" I turned, not realizing that this basically meant I had accepted it as my nickname.
"Yeah?"
He held out one finger and tapped the top of his head.
"What?" I also held my hand up to my head. "Oh right." I awkwardly undid the strap and handed it to him.
He didn't reply, but saluted me then sped away. Almost recklessly, he whipped the bike around the corner. I wondered if that was how he drove when others weren't with him. And the chivalry is back.
Oh wait, what was his name again? Something... Shin?
"Maybe if you calmed down with the sugar, the dress would fit better."
"Wow, thanks Mom..."
She shrugged and turned back to Aunt Carol. The frilly blue dress didn't look any better on her than it did on me. It seemed like the evil plan of the bride to make sure nobody else stands out at her wedding. I wouldn't blame her.
I rolled my eyes and went back into the changing room. After taking off the dress and changing back into my own clothes, I went back outside to sit on the bench and tried to deflect people by keeping my eyes glued to my phone. I hung my dress on the keep rack and plopped down.
"You need a size up, Susan." My mom said. But Aunt Susan wasn't having it. While my mom and cousin tried to zip up the back of her dress, she sucked in her belly as far as it would go.
"Jackie, I can fit a seven."
"No you can't, Mom."
"Shut up Dana."
Knowing they would never shut up, I was glad I brought my earbuds.
I plugged them in and turned on my FML playlist.
Close to 5 minutes later, as Got7's If You Do blew into my ears, I felt a tap on my shoulder. A girl who looked a few years older than me stood in front of me smiling.
"Hi," I said. It came out more of a question than a greeting. Looking at her, I realized she was wearing the bridal shop work uniform with a name tag that said Madison. I pulled one earbud out of my ear.
"Hi." She replied, sitting down next to me. "I couldn't help but notice you were listening to Got7."
Embarrassed, I pulled out the second one. "It's that loud, is it? I didn't realize-oh wait you know kpop?"
She laughed heartily. "Is it because I'm white?"
"N-no no no," I turned to face her, shaking my head frantically. "Just...well, kinda."
"It's okay, I get that all the time. I'm sure you do too."
It was true. Most of my friends were Asian so when I told people I liked kpop they'd say something along the lines of: "Kpop?...but you're black..." which alone was pretty offensive. I wasn't even completely black (my mom is but my father is 3/4 Turkish. Pretty cool, right?).
"Yep. So what other groups are you into?"
About ten minutes of fangirling after I met Madison, we'd exchanged numbers and parted ways. I wanted to get out of there asap and she didn't argue. She liked rookie groups especially JYP and Big Hit groups. I respected that.
After leaving with a quick word from my mother, I hurried to the corner and was able to catch the closest bus back to the other side of the city. I rode in silence apart from the music playing in my earbuds. I knew I had at least a good 15 minutes, so I closed my eyes.
Before I knew it, I was drifting off.
Tap
"Hey, ahjumma!"
I stirred, but turned away from the voice.
Something warm blew on my ear, tickling it gently. I swatted whatever it was away and continued my slumber.
"Yah!"
I was startled alert, almost jumping out of my seat, but a hand held my arm down.
"What the-"
"Heck?" It was the baby faced boy from across the hallway? Why were these guys showing up in my life? He waved at me cutely, despite being only about 6 inches away from me. "Annyeonghasaeyo!" He bowed his head.
I bowed back slowly. "Uh...ne annyeonghasaeyo...Min..." I said, not sure if my years of Kpop had paid off or if I could remember his name.
"Min Hyuk." He said with a smile. Then he gasped, confirming. I did a silent self-five. "Ahjummaneun hangukmal hal su idtnayo?"
"Uh..." I probably looked like an idiot.
"Oh. Um that's okay because my English is not that great either." He gave me an eye smile and scooted closer to me.
In this weirdness, my right earbud had fallen out.
"Oh?" he breathed curiously and grabbed the loose bud. "What music are you listening to, ahjumma?"
Instead of waiting for my reply, he took it and slid it into his own right ear. I adjusted the one in my left. Just Right by Got7 was playing. What can I say? I like Got7 a lot.
Since Minhyuk was on my right, using the right side and I was using the left, the cords stretched farther than usual to support the width of two heads. "We should probably switch-"
He leaned toward me, his cheek touching mine. My face grew warm, but he didn't seem to think anything as he bobbed his head to the beat of the song.
"I love this song. Who is this?" he asked as they went into the second chorus. A large smile covered his face.
I barely even mumbled, "G-Got7," for lack of something better to say while I was so focused on how smooth and soft his skin felt. Was that a Korean thing?
When the stop not far from our building came up, we stood at the same time and walked out together side-by-side. The sun was beginning to set and the streets were slowly clearing out. James wasn't a busy street, although connected to the main road. But only a few feet into the street, it becomes near silence. All there is is apartment buildings mainly.
So when the intro to Girl's Day's Something came on and he let out a high-pitched squeal, it was definitely heard. I couldn't hold in my giggles. This was also one of my favorites.
"You like this song too?" I looked at him with a surprised smile.
"YES!" He nodded back enthusiastically.
Was this it? The bonding moment that would establish us as best friends?(well, besides Kaylie who's my #1) Were we about to jam to Girl's Day on this less than crowded, dark street?
Minhyuk snapped along to the beat of the song and we both began to walk in rhythm.
"DON'T YOU LOOK INTO MY EYES AND LIE AGAIN!" He sang at the top of his lungs. His singing voice was just as you'd imagine; cute and light.
"I'M SICK OF BEING ALONE~~~~" I finished.
"DROP IT!" *drop*
We both dropped as the beat did and we probably looked like idiots. But I felt accomplished seeing as he was the third friend I'd made that day. Hey, maybe I'll end up becoming friends with all of our neighbors. I can invite Kaylie and welcome Madison and we can have, like, a block party...or...a building party or...eh whatever, I'll figure it out.
{2nd A/N: Sorry for the long chapter but I haven't been updating so...anyway there is the chapter. Also, sorry it's very sloppily put together. I wanted to update before I got back to mn so...here it is!
Please be sure to vote if you want because aye that ish matters (whaddup Superwoman reference! *chest pound* No?...okay...) Share with your friends and your CNBlue fangirls too!
If it's absolute TRASH, tell me! I muuussst know! Anyway, that's it.}
~Tay