The next morning, I checked the
group wall of my class on Facebook and it turns out that our lecturer wanted us
to film the idols choreography for extra credit. I remembered my past marks
weren’t really satisfying. So, I texted Minho to make an appointment and it was
decided on that evening at their dance studio. While waiting for 5 pm, I
charged up my camera battery to film their dance later and surfed the internet
to open their website for further details. When I open the gallery, I noticed
myself going through Minho’s photo only. I felt like my heart was racing fast.
I quickly shut my laptop off wanting to get rid of that mysterious feeling. My
eyes wandered around the room as if it was searching for something and it found
a teddy bear, a gray teddy bear that Syaoran once gave me. I only looked at it
and didn’t want to hold it because I realized the clock on the wall was already
4.30 pm. I jumped out of the chair that I was sitting on, grabbed my towel and
went into the bathroom to freshen up. I took a bus and along the way, I
remembered about the teddy bear again and because I have Syaoran’s number now,
I can text him. So I sent him one “Thank you for the teddy bear you gave me”
When I arrived at the studio, it was already 5.10 pm. I felt really bad for
arriving very late than our appointment. Jonghyun was sitting on the sofa,
playing with his phone while waiting for the other members to show up. I wanted
to apologize for being late but thinking that the other members haven’t arrived
yet, I decided not to say anything. “Oh, Aiman ssi. Come, sit down first. The
other members are still on their way from the dorm” he said with that warm smile
on his face. “Why didn’t you come together?” I asked “I was already on my way
from home and made my way here instantly” he replied while still looking down
on his phone. I just nodded after listening to his explanation. Suddenly, he
got up, stretched his arms and let out a huge sigh. “Where are they? They
aren’t usually this late” Jonghyun murmured. I was trying to keep myself busy
by playing with my phone. Jonghyun just stepped outside for a while. He
wandered in front of the studio and then he disappeared.
Suddenly, my eyelids started to
feel heavy and the next thing I remembered, I was already in dreamland. I was
brought back to the past where I met Syaoran at the playground. Tears rolling
down my cheek and he said those words “Please don’t be sad about it and hear
out my thoughts first. I wanted to tell you that…” I don’t know why but
Minho didn’t appear at all and the words from Syaoran’s mouth were… “I like
you” Suddenly, my eyes open wide and saw Minho in front of me. “Aiman ssi,
mianhe (sorry). There was a heavy traffic because of an accident and we’re
really sorry about it” he said “Oh, uh… okay. Can we start filming now?” I
asked with a rough voice because I just woke up. “Ne (yes)” he replied. After
that nice sleep, I got my energy back but I kept remembering Syaoran’s words… “I
like you” Does it really mean that the three words that Syaoran said in the
dream might’ve been the unspoken words from before or it was just a dream that
my mind made up? I forgot about that a minute later to focus on filming their
choreography. Their dance move was just spectacular and in sync. During recess
break, I spent some time jotting down notes that I could use to complete my
assignments. “Taeminnie, can you go and buy some black noodles for us?”
Jonghyun suggested. Suddenly my stomach growled for hunger and I was completely
embarrassed about it. “Oh! I think you need to buy two for Aiman ssi” Onew said
jokingly and the other members just laughed. Taemin stood up and said “Aiman
ssi, kaja (come on)!” I was a bit startled but agreed to him immediately. We
went there by foot and a conversation started “Aiman ssi, how come you’re so
good in Korean and understand it very well?” Taemin asked. I told him about my
childhood and somehow I felt that we became close for that few minutes.
*************************************************************************************
We arrived back to the studio.
While we were eating, a woman appeared out of nowhere and called Minho “Oppa!!”
Everyone just rolled their eyes and shook their heads and the mood from
laughter became gloomy. She wore a branded yellow dress, four-inch high heels
and a Gucci bag which was the latest one in the season. She ran to Minho and
hugged him. Minho quickly pulled away and said “Don’t bother me. I’m eating”
She just pouted and took a glare at me with a disgust face. “Wae (why)?
Never seen a human being before?” I just said it in my mind. She looked back
at Minho and asked “Nugu (who is she)?” “None of your business. Don’t you have
anything better to do?” Minho just replied unwillingly and the others just
giggle. She just pouts even more and suddenly an aegyo (acting cute) came out.
“Oppa~ the reason I came here is to tell you to wear the brown suit that I got
you on your birthday for the red carpet next week” Then, the worst thing
happened. She suddenly glare at us with
those laser-like eyes and one by one began to stand up, left the group and went
to the other corner of the room. Then, she started babbling about wanting to
match their attire together for the red carpet. Suddenly Onew pulled my arm to
get me out of that chaos. He pulled me to join the others who just ran away
from her. Jonghyun, Key and Taemin were already there. “Why did you pull…”
before I could finish my sentence, Jonghyun interrupted “Better not disturb
those two if you don’t want to get a bite from that ahjuma (auntie)” “Ahjuma?
Why are you calling her that?” I asked back. “Because she’s a busybody, that’s
why” Key said with an angry voice. “She’s always making a fuss if we don’t give
them the ‘alone time’ ” Key continued while making a disgust face pointing to
her. “But, Key-goon. Aren’t you just the same as her? Always making a fuss when
you’re not wearing your BB cream every day?” said Onew. “Yah!” Key gave a shout
to Onew. Jonghyun and Taemin just laughed hysterically. “True, true…” said
Jonghyun. “But, really who is she?” I asked again and hoped they would give me the
right answer to that simple question. “Rachel” Onew answered “She’s an idol
from another company” “But, why do they look…” “Not like a couple?” and again,
Jonghyun cut off my line. “They had an arranged marriage by their parents and
now Minho can’t back off his family request because of his mother’s last wish
to see him getting married before she…” Key stopped and suddenly I said “…dies?”
“Aniyo (no)!” Onew denied. “How could you say such a thing?” Key said that to
me with a sarcastic face that he likes to make. “Well, you stopped there and I
thought she was dy…….ing” My voice trailed off in the end when I saw Minho
walking up to us. I just bit my lip hoping he didn’t hear me said ‘dying’ thinking
that I wanted his mother to die. “Umma (mom) was going to leave Korea and move
to Japan because she wanted to stay there for good” Minho said. “Oh, where’s
Rachel ssi?” Taemin asked. “She went to meet with Naeun ssi. Taeminnie, you
should go and visit Naeun ssi more. She seems lonely to only have Rachel as her
friend.” “I’m meeting her tonight” Taemin explained. “Come on, we have to
continue the rehearsal if we want to get it right before our comeback” Minho
said while patting their backs. They complained saying that they wanted to gossip
more about Minho with me; share some secrets maybe but they continued the
rehearsal anyway. I filmed the whole process in deciding the right dance moves
and as time pass by it was already 11 pm.
Everyone went back home leaving me
all alone in front of the building on that cold night. I decided to take a cab instead
of riding a bus. Suddenly, a familiar white car came and stopped in front of
me. It was Minho. “Hop on, it’s cold out here plus it’s really hard to catch a
cab at this time of the night” I tried declining several times but he insisted
me to let him send me back home. I looked around and there weren’t any cabs. He
was right. I let out a sigh and got inside of the car. “Gomawo” I said. He just
smiles and every time he does that it reminded me to the Minho I met 7 years
ago. That childish smile, I still remember that. It felt like the pain of me
missing him dearly was healed by the warm smile Minho gave me now but I tried
reminding myself not to let myself remember about him anymore. I really don’t
want the past to arise again. I remembered a novel that I brought along from
Malaysia and decided to read it for a while. My eyes got drowsy and soon I fell
asleep again. It was a really rough day for me. I was feeling unconscious but then
a sweet voice calling out my name woke me up. “Aiman ssi. Aiman ssi. Wake up.
We’ve arrived” it was Minho. I thanked him again and got out of the car. I was
walking up to the gate when I realized that he was still there. I just ignored
him and entered the house without looking back again. I dropped myself on my
bed and seconds later a text came in “Are you free tomorrow? If you are, can
we meet at the café where we met before? I’ve got some explanations to tell you”
It was from Syaoran. I didn’t reply and went straight into dreamland.
*************************************************************************************
Meanwhile, Minho arrived at the
dorm. Before he got out of the car, he spotted a book under the seat. “I think
this is hers’. I’ll just return it tomorrow” he said to himself. He walked into
the dorm and everyone was in front of the television watching soocer except for
Taemin. He went to meet with Naeun. Minho was smiling from ear to ear. The
others were curious. Key asked “Where did you go? The play started an hour ago”
Minho just seemed like he didn’t hear anything and went straight into his room.
Onew felt really curious because usually Minho would respond right away when it
comes to soccer as it was his favorite thing in the world. Of course Onew is
such a caring person because he’s the leader and the oldest in the group. “Are
you okay? You look… weird” Onew asked while looking at Minho from outside of
the room who seemed to be just sitting at the desk while holding a thick book,
smiling. He didn’t respond to what Onew was saying. Then, Onew walked to his
bed as it was Onew’s room too. He took a pillow and threw it at Minho. He saw
it coming and caught it. Now, Onew got his full attention. He just stares into
Minho’s eyes and asked “Are you in love?” Suddenly, Minho’s eyes starts to
widen.
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