Chapter 14
Yi Jung's POV
Yi Jung had gotten a call today. That was why he was at a club, sitting on a table with two women on both of his sides. Their table was looking out on the dance floor where Woo Bin was with his own conquests. The call wasn't something new or unusual. It happened every so often. And each time it racked him with guilt. His mother had tried to take her own life again. Yet here he was, drinking his emotions away while his mother laid in the hospital. But he wouldn't be a victim of her stupidity anymore. Nor his father for that matter as he had visited him earlier before coming to the club. He had found him in his office with another young model. So much as despising his father when he was here doing the same thing. The girl on his right was pouring more liquor into his glass, and he gratefully took it from her hands. Drowning his glass down, he started to feel even more hazy. The music was too loud in his ears, and his vision started getting blurry. He felt suffocated as the two women kept talking, but he couldn't understand a word of what they were saying. His head kept throbbing with the music, and that was when he decided it was his cue to leave. He excused himself from his table, and took out his phone from his pocket to call his driver to pick him up.
He stumbled his way on the stairs and out of the club. The strong gush of wind made him curl upon himself and rush to his car. He leaned his head on the cool glass of the car window hoping its coldness could sober him up a bit. His eyes were shutting down involuntarily as he tried to make sense of the streets that were passing by so quickly out of the car window. He got confused when the car stopped then he realized that he arrived at his studio.
After struggling to open the studio with his keys and kicking the door multiple times, he finally found his way in. He went straight to the toilet, while feeling around his way in the darkness, to splash his face with cold water in hopes of sobering up. He regained enough consciousness to make himself a cup of coffee and start a cozy fire in his fireplace. He sat on the ground beside it with the cup of coffee in his hands. He was still feeling a bit tipsy, but he was aware of his surroundings by now. The shame and guilt came back in full force now, and they were eating him alive by the second. Decaying every bit of conscious he had left. He needed company. Anything to get himself out of his brain. He got out his phone when the thought of someone popped up immediately. He knew it was one in a million chance that Ga Eul would reply to his text, but he was going to try anyway.
Yi Jung: Do you want to have some tea at my studio?
Ga Eul: Okay I'm coming right now.
Yi Jung was surprised by her sudden reply, and the fact that she agreed so quickly without him having to convince her.
It wasn't long before she arrived. He heard her footsteps behind him. She sat down next to him on the floor and used the blanket he prepared for her to cover herself against the cold. She looked to his side with furrowed eyebrows. The wrinkles between her eyebrows strong in the light of the fire. That was their only source of light.
"Looks you need the tea more than I do. You reek of alcohol." Ga Eul said.
"I had coffee already. The tea should be for you."
"No, thank you. I don't like drinking tea alone."
"Then, would you like to look at the fire with me?" Yi Jung asked, and Ga Eul replied with a soft chuckle.
They sat in silence for a little while. The only sound was the crackling sound of the bricks burning. Ga Eul kept locking eyes with him every few seconds. Her eyes brimming with concern. It was different seeing that expression in her eyes. He didn't know if it was the warmth of the fire, the aftermath of the alcohol or the comfort that came with being around Ga Eul, but Yi Jung spilled it out. "The woman that I prevented from working. I did that because she was my father's lover. Before he got married at least. They weren't together when I did that. But she never left his mind. To my mother that was worse than his other mistresses. She was the one that held his heart."
"Your mother asked you to do that?" Ga Eul asked while looking at him.
"Not exactly. She didn't have to ask back then. I did that because I thought I was getting revenge. For the sake of destroying my family. For making my father absent and my mother miserable. Or at least that was what she made me believe. It took six months too long before I realized that she was using me as her puppet."
"I know what that feels like. All too well. It's even more more disgusting coming from family." Ga Eul said.
"Who was it?"
"When you asked me what my anger was directed at, the answer was my late sister. I didn't, still don't, have the courage to say it."
"Oh." That was the only reply Yi Jung could muster.
"Don't get silent. I hate that. It makes me feel more guilty. I know that I shouldn't be saying that about my dead sister but here I am."
"You shouldn't feel too bad. I'm not an angel either. My mother is at the hospital right now. She tried to take her own life. Again. Another attempt at gaining attention." He said.
Ga Eul didn't respond for a minute. Eyes looking at the fire in front of her. "I guess we're more alike than I thought. Although I feel guilty, I don't regret what I feel. And you don't either."
"No, I don't."
"I normally pretend that Chun Ja never existed. I hate when I have to talk about her. Because I always have to lie." She said.
"Did her fiancé feel that way, too?"
"Never. No one could ever hate her. Much like you."
"Is that why you didn't like me at first? Because I reminded you of her." He asked, hesitantly.
"Yes. I hated that too much. It felt sour whenever I had to see you. But it's different now. Or I wouldn't be sitting with you."
"Thank you." Yi Jung said. And he truly meant it.
"You, too" Ga Eul said, smiling.
Yi Jung was awakened by the screaming pain down his neck and across his shoulders. He found himself lying on the floor beside his fireplace. He half sat up to see the window outside indicating that it was already morning. The fire was gone out, but he found himself wrapped in a blanket. The one he left for Ga Eul yesterday. Thought of Ga Eul reminded him of their conversation. He waited to feel the regret of oversharing. But he didn't. He didn't feel an ounce of it but instead a lightness. A tiny mount from the weight of secrets and guilt taken off his back.
He still had time to go to school. Although he didn't need to, but he wanted to see Woo Bin. He ran off yesterday without telling him. But first he desperately needed to get a shower and loads of painkillers to fight off his splitting headache.
At their lounge, Yi Jung was holding onto his favorite cup of tea. Trying to relax away the headache threatening to crack his skull open. Woo Bin was in no better shape than him. Maybe even worse since Yi Jung left earlier than him. He was lying on the couch other side of him. Barely keeping his eyes open. The better half of the F4 were the only ones in decent shape. While Jun Pyo was busy texting Jan Di, Yi Jung couldn't miss the rare questioning glances from Ji Hoo. They were very easy to miss. But one knew to notice them if they spent as much time as he did around Ji Hoo. However, Yi Jung couldn't guess the reason behind his curiosity.
A server placed a tray of breakfast delicacies on their table. The soft smell of vanilla pastries and fresh fruits got his stomach in a confused state between starvation and nausea. He fought the urge to delve them down knowing it wouldn't end well. Woo Bin didn't seem to care as he took one of the French pastries munching on them.
"By the way, where did you go yesterday? You weren't there when I left." Woo Bin asked Yi Jung.
"I left early. I got tired."
"Doesn't seem like you." He said.
"I met Ga Eul later." Yi Jung replied just as Jan Di made her entrance to their lounge. Yi Jung's words got all their attention. He knew that would happen, but he felt it unnecessary to hide something as trivial as that. He and Ga Eul weren't strangers anymore.
"You did? Weird. She didn't tell me anything about it." Jan Di said, surprised.
"We just had some tea at my studio."
"I didn't know you two were close." Jan Di said, speculatively.
"We see each other a lot because of you two, so it's only natural to happen." Yi Jung said to Jan Di and Jun Pyo.
"I never thought I'd hear those words from you. Looks like I have competition over Ga Eul's friendship." Jan Di said. With that, Yi Jung let out a stifled chuckle. But that left him with a hint of curiosity.
"Does Ga Eul have no other friends beside you?" He asked.
"She has a few acquaintances, but that's about it. She likes keeping to herself."
"She doesn't look like it." Woo Bin added.
"She's good at talking to people, but she has no close friends. Except me. And now Yi Jung." She said, this time Yi Jung felt the bitterness coming from her mouth.
He understood why everyone felt skeptical of him. Yi Jung rarely made friendships outside of the F4. Barely genuine ones. And for it to be Ga Eul definitely raised some eyebrows. Especially since they've had a heated up confrontation in front of everyone before.
But that didn't matter to him anymore. They had already made up, and more importantly than that, they enjoyed each other's company. Yi Jung felt no valid reason for him to give up such a friendship. He wasn't sure Ga Eul felt the same way, but he could tell it was something similar to his feelings. Comfort and warmth.
After enduring another day of tedium, Yi Jung thought of seeing Ga Eul. He sent her a text, and was again surprised by her quick reply. She told him to meet at her workshop. This time Yi Jung made sure to change out of his suits into more modest clothing. He couldn't risk ruining his suits again.
This time he was more expectant of the smells and the chaos in there. Knowing his way, he went down the stairs and into the workshop itself. He got confused when he couldn't see Ga Eul. Straining his neck to get a clearer view on the stairs, he could see a pair of legs. When he made it down next to the car, he found Ga Eul half hidden under the car.
To get her attention, he knocked on the metal of the car. Almost instantly, Ga Eul slid out from under the car. Still lying down on the creeper, she frowned, her hair and clothes a mess of black exhaust. He snickered at her disheveled appearance.
"Someone's late. I almost forgot you were coming." She said, standing up.
"I had to change out of my clothes. Don't want them to get ruined."
"I also wondered why you're cosplaying as a regular human." She said, sarcastically.
"I never have to. Clothes are merely an accessory. Either way people know who I am."
"You're right. Everyone knows." Ga Eul said while she grabbed a seat for him. "Do you mind if you watched for a while. I'm kind of busy."
"No, not at all." He said, getting inwardly curious of watching her work.
He realized how many hours he'd spent in her workshop when he accidentally glanced over his watch. Seeing her completely engrossed in the car was a new kind of entertainment to him. Her expressions could go from a frown to a satisfactory grin in a second. When she was feeling generous enough she would provide commentary on what she was doing. That was when she wasn't huffing in frustration, or hunched over the car's engine with deep grooves between her eyebrows.
Finally reaching her limit, Ga Eul joined him in a seat next to him. Her head against the wall.
"I'm sure it was fun to see me struggle." She said.
"Yes, very."
"Seriously though. This can't be fun to watch. I didn't think you'd agree to see me here after last time you came. We could've gone somewhere else after I've finished."
"I know, but it really is amusing to see you work. Just like it was for you when you saw me at the studio." He replied.
"Then I'm honored." She said cockily.
The conversation was cut short when the door to the workshop opened to announce someone coming in. He was a tall guy with brown hair faded on the sides. He looked down from upstairs on Ga Eul and Yi Jung. His eyes hovering on the latter. Yi Jung held his confused eyes for a brief second before he concluded that he was the other guy that worked here. He came down the stairs towards them when Ga Eul said, "Hi, Jin Woo. It's been a while."
"Yes, how are things going with the Pony?" Jin Woo asked.
"I'm still struggling a bit, but definitely better than before."
"What Pony?" Yi Jung asked, puzzled.
"Oh, it's the car's model. It's a 1986 Hyundai Pony." Jin Woo said.
"I haven't introduced you two, yet. This is Yi Jung, he's my friend and the new owner of the Pony." She told Jin Woo.
Jin Woo reached out his hands to introduce himself. "I'm Jin Woo. I work here with Ga Eul." He told Yi Jung. His grip was firm, but his face looked welcoming enough. He could tell that Jin Woo couldn't recognize him. Yet. His face kept searching Yi Jung for an answer to his curiosity. Yi Jung contained a smirk coming up on his face. That was face right there was one of his favorite moments. Right before they recognized him. Right before they understood the who he was and the status he owned.
When the spark of recognition appeared in his eyes, Yi Jung finally allowed himself to smirk. A reminder of his power. His position. "You can't be So Yi Jung, right?" He asked, bewildered. Yi Jung answered in a quiet laugh, giving Jin Woo all the answer he needed.
"Could you cover the rest for me, Jin Woo? I'm beat for the day." Ga Eul said.
"Yes, sure." He said, his eyes still on Yi Jung. His stance showing his discomfort.
"Thank you, let's get going now?" She told Yi Jung. He nodded his response, and they made their way out of the workshop.
"So I'm your friend now?" He asked her coyly.
"As if you needed me to say it." She said.
"So do you want to go do something, or should I take you home?" He asked.
"We can go to your studio. You still owe me tea. I haven't forgotten. But I have to change out of these clothes first. I'll meet you at the studio." She said.
"I'll wait for you."
Yi Jung had been waiting for Ga Eul for an hour in his studio. Getting impatient, he started tapping his feet on the ground. His eyes traveling to the clock hung upon the wall every few minutes. He didn't know why he felt so fidgety. Maybe it was because he never had to wait for anyone, he thought.
Ga Eul arrived later than he would've liked, but she had a brown paper bag in her hand. "Sorry I'm late. But getting these took longer than I expected." She said, raising the bag a bit with her hands.
"What are those?" He asked, bemused.
"These are biscuits. To have with our tea." She said, putting the bag on the table he was sitting at, and getting the biscuits out.
They were molded into flowers, and Yi Jung could tell their flavor wasn't going to be nearly as appetizing as he was used to, but the gesture made his heart warm.
"Then, I'll get to making the tea." He said, excitedly.
He placed the tray of tea on the table, and poured some into Ga Eul's bowl. She took a quick sniff of it before taking a soft sip. And with it a bite of her biscuits. He decided to follow her suit and was surprised that the biscuits matched well with his tea. They both ate in the quiet of his studio, appreciating the delicacy of the tea and sweetness of the biscuits.
"Can I ask you a question?" He asked, after taking the last bite of his biscuit.
"Okay."
"I was taken aback when you replied so quickly to my message yesterday. And you did the same today. You also seem less careful around me. Why is that? I don't exactly radiate affinity." Yi Jung asked.
Ga Eul smiled at his curiosity before saying, "I've known Jan Di since I was a child. She's been my best friend through thick and thin. But, much to my dismay before, you saw how I have to tiptoe my way around her in some aspects. She has a way of seeing the world in black and white. The villain and the victim. And sometimes I get tired of her seeing me as the victim. She thinks I'm too good when I'm not. I'm not the villain, either." She said through a soft chuckle. "She thinks it's her job to protect me from everything, and although I appreciate that, it takes a toll on me from time to time. Until I found myself hiding things from her. Ironically enough, I don't do the same around you. I don't have to. You don't radiate affinity, but that doesn't mean you don't have it. I am more myself around you than I am with other people. I hated it at first, but I decided not to fight it anymore. I don't want to rid myself of a friendship that gives me peace." She continued.
Yi Jung found himself at a loss of words for a second. His only genuine friends were the F4. And it was astounding enough that he got to make friends with someone like Ga Eul. But to know that she shared with him the same feelings of amenity and comfort, it gave him a new kind of joy. The kind one gets when they stumble upon a new friend. A feeling he had long forgotten.
"I feel the same way, too." He said, not knowing how to respond to her words.
"I know." She said through a snide smile.