[PG-13] Caught in Between (3/25)
Title: Caught in Between
Characters: Kyuhyun/Taeyeon/Eunhyuk, Donghae/Jessica, Sungmin/Sunny, Siwon/Tiffany
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Romance, Friendship, Comedy, Drama
“Hey, where are you?” Jessica asked Hankyung through the phone. It was the weekend and she wanted to go out with her boyfriend. Ever since the party, they rarely saw each other anymore.
“Babe, I’m busy today,” Hankyung said.
“With what?” she demanded. He’d never been busy for her before and yet, recently, she noticed that he was busy with other things often.
“Just stuff. You know my dad,” he replied vaguely. “Look, I have to go. I’ll see you in school.”
“So we’re not even going to see each other tomorrow?” she said.
“I’m really busy,” he repeated with a tone of finality.
“Fine.” She hung up.
~ * ~
“Are you paying attention?” Donghae asked, waving his hand in front of Jessica’s face.
“Yes what is it?” Jessica asked, finally looking at him. He glared at her. “Sorry,” she said. “What were you saying?”
“Look, something’s obviously bothering you,” Donghae said, closing his book.
Jessica sighed. “I’m really sorry. It’s an off day. I’ll be better tomorrow, I promise.” She grabbed her bag and walked out of the library. She brought out her phone and dialed Hankyung’s number as she looked for her friends in the quad.
“Sica!” Tiffany said, waving at her.
Jessica sat down beside her and threw her phone in her bag.
“What’s wrong?” Yoona asked.
“I can’t seem to get a hold of my boyfriend these days,” Jessica muttered.
“Did he even go to school today?” Yuri asked.
“I don’t know. He’s not answering any of my calls or texts,” Jessica told them. “And I’m really getting annoyed. He’s been like this for days.”
“Maybe he’s busy with something,” Tiffany suggested uncertainly.
“Busy with what? He can’t even tell me,” Jessica continued. “Anyway, what are we doing tonight? Any plans?” She looked around. “Where’s Sooyoung?”
No one knew where she was. “I haven’t seen her since this morning in class,” Yoona shared. “I think she left. She’s not answering her phone.”
“Whatever,” Jessica then said. “Let’s go out tonight.”
“Ooh wait,” Yuri suddenly said. “There’s Eunhyuk.”
“Here we go,” Yoona said in a bored voice as they watched Yuri walk up to Eunhyuk.
“Hey!” Yuri greeted him brightly.
“Yuri,” Eunhyuk said with a small smile. His eyes scanned the squad.
“So listen, we’re thinking of going out tonight. You want to come?” she asked excitedly.
Eunhyuk hesitated, but he decided to be nice. “What are you guys planning?” He hadn’t been out with them in a while after all.
“We still don’t know, but you should come,” she insisted.
“I don’t really know…” he began.
“Of course you should bring Taeyeon,” she said, trying not to sound bitter. “The more the merrier.”
Eunhyuk grinned. “Thanks Yuri! I’ll ask her. I’ll let you know.”
“Great!” Yuri said, biting her lip.
~ * ~
“It’s the perfect plan,” Sooyoung told Yuri seriously. Yuri hesitated. “If you keep on hesitating, nothing’s going to happen. Taeyeon’s going to realize what’s in front of her and she and Eunhyuk will end up together. Unless you do something about it,” she went on impatiently.
“Kyuhyun’s never going to agree to it,” Yuri finally said.
“You let me worry about him,” Sooyoung said. “You do what you have to do.”
“Why are you so hell-bent on this? What are you going to get?” Yuri wanted to know.
“That’s not what’s important,” Sooyoung said dismissively, waving her hand. “Are you going to do this or not?” After a couple of seconds of silence, Yuri finally nodded. “See how easy that was?” She stood up and patted her on the shoulder. “I’ll take care of Kyuhyun. You concentrate on Eunhyuk.”
Sooyoung then left school and drove to a big white house. When she got in, she went straight upstairs. “Hi boys!”
Hankyung and Kyuhyun both looked up from the game they were playing. “Hey!” Hankyung said, clearing his throat. “What are you doing here?”
“I better go,” Kyuhyun said, standing up. “See you tomorrow,” he told Hankyung. He left the room.
Sooyoung followed him. “So you’re ignoring me now?”
Kyuhyun turned around and faced her. “I’m not ignoring you.”
“Really,” she said, moving closer to him until their faces were only inches away.
He took a step back. “What do you want, Sooyoung?”
“Is it wrong for me to miss you?” she asked teasingly, touching his face.
“You don’t miss me,” he said, moving his face away. “Look, I know what you’re doing. With Hankyung.”
Sooyoung looked surprised for a second then she smirked. “Are you jealous?”
“More like disgusted,” Kyuhyun interjected. “He’s Jessica’s boyfriend. You know, Jessica, your friend.”
Sooyoung shrugged. “What she doesn’t know won’t hurt her. Besides, I don’t mind sharing.”
“I really don’t know you anymore. I can’t talk to you,” he said, turning to go.
“Is that why you keep on talking to Taeyeon instead?” she called after him. He stood still. “Oh I know what you’re doing, Kyuhyun. She’s too good for you. She’ll know it soon enough.”
“Stay out of it,” he spat, looking at her. “And don’t you dare drag her into any of your affairs.”
“Are you actually concerned for her?” Sooyoung wondered, chuckling. “My my. This is more interesting than I thought.”
“When Eunhyuk finds out…” Kyuhyun began.
“But he won’t find out,” she cut him off, “because you won’t tell him. You guys don’t talk anymore, remember? Anyway, if you do tell him, your little friendship with Taeyeon will be over. Eunhyuk would never want his best friend to be hanging out with you.”
“Sooyoung,” he warned.
“I promise I won’t go near her,” she said, smiling sweetly. “Or better yet, make sure I don’t get the chance to go near her.”
~ * ~
“Are you sure you don’t want to go?” Eunhyuk pleaded. He was on the porch of Taeyeon’s house, begging her to go out with them.
“I’ve had enough going out for a lifetime,” Taeyeon told him. “Besides, Sungmin’s going to be there. You’ll be fine.”
He sighed. “Even Sunny doesn’t want to come.”
“You can’t exactly blame her,” she said. “She doesn’t want to witness another YooMin show.”
“Alright,” he finally said. “So you’ll just be home?”
“Yes,” she answered. “Call me if you have to, but go. They’re your friends.” She pushed him down the steps.
He chuckled. “Okay okay, I’m leaving.” He got into his car and drove away.
Taeyeon was going to go back inside when she saw Kyuhyun approaching.
“Hey,” Kyuhyun greeted.
Taeyeon went out to the porch again. “What are you doing here?”
He shrugged. “Just walking around.”
“At this time of night?” Taeyeon said suspiciously, crossing her arms on her chest.
“Where’s Eunhyuk going?” Kyuhyun asked, changing the topic.
“Kyuhyunah,” she insisted.
“I was supposed to go somewhere, but I decided to just take a walk,” he told her.
“Towards my house?” she pressed. “Do you live in this neighborhood?”
“Yeah,” he said, “just a couple of blocks away.”
“How did you know where I live?” she then asked.
“I asked the first person I saw,” he said, smiling. “I just want to talk.”
Taeyeon decided to let it go and smiled. “Do you want to come in?”
Kyuhyun hesitated. “How about we stay out here?”
“Okay,” she agreed. They both sat down on the front steps.
“Where’s Eunhyuk going?” Kyuhyun asked, glancing at her.
“He’s going out with his friends,” Taeyeon shared, smiling, “the queenkas and kingkas.”
“Ah, your favorite group,” he responded in sarcasm.
She chuckled. “One of them really likes him.”
“Really? Who?” he inquired.
“Yuri,” she told him.
“And what do you think about that?” he wanted to know.
“Well… it really is his choice,” she answered safely.
“That’s your answer?” he asked, laughing.
“Fine,” she said, laughing as well. “I don’t know Yuri well enough, but I think she’s okay. I think she really likes Eunhyuk so she’s really doing everything she can to be noticed by him.”
“So if Eunhyuk dates her, you’d be fine with it?” he clarified.
“I’ve been pushing him to go out with her,” she said. “But I think he’s done dating queenkas.”
“What about you, are you dating anyone?” he then asked.
Taeyeon laughed. “No.”
“Why not?”
“You ask too many questions.” She pretended to look annoyed.
He chuckled. “I just want to get to know you better.”
“Why?” she asked, more seriously this time. She was honestly confused about the attention he was giving her. They hardly knew each other, but he was here, at her house.
Kyuhyun looked at her. He hadn’t exactly figured out the answer to that question. It was one that he asked himself, too. As he was about to tell her his fabricated answer, their front door opened and her brother walked out.
“Taeyeonah,” Heechul called sternly.
“Oppa,” Taeyeon said, standing up. “This is Kyuhyun. We were just talking.”
“I’m Kyuhyun,” Kyuhyun introduced himself, offering to shake his hand.
Heechul merely looked at him. “Taeyeon, get back inside.”
“Oppa,” Taeyeon began.
“Inside,” Heechul repeated with a tone of finality. Taeyeon shot Kyuhyun an apologetic look and went inside the house.
“Sir, I’m sorry about this,” Kyuhyun started. “I just wanted to talk to her.”
“If you want to talk to any of my sisters, you talk to me first,” Heechul declared. “And no one talks to them at this time of night outside the house.”
“Yes sir. It won’t happen again,” Kyuhyun said.
“Go home,” Heechul demanded and went back inside. When he closed the door behind him, he saw Taeyeon waiting for him.
“Oppa, you didn’t have to be so harsh,” Taeyeon said.
“What happened?” Sunny asked, coming down the stairs.
“I wasn’t harsh,” Heechul said, walking into the living room. Taeyeon and Sunny followed him.
“You were,” Taeyeon insisted. “You probably scared him away.” She pouted.
“He didn’t look scared,” Heechul responded.
“Who was scared?” Sunny asked.
Heechul then looked at Taeyeon. “It would upset you if I scared him away? Since when were you upset about me sending your suitors away?”
“Taeyeon has a suitor?” Sunny asked, looking surprised. “Who?”
“He’s not a suitor,” Taeyeon said, rolling her eyes. “I just met him. I’m just saying that you shouldn’t scare my friends away.”
“I don’t send Sungmin and Eunhyuk off,” he pointed out.
“They’re not my only friends,” Taeyeon stated.
“Who are your other friends?” Sunny wanted to know.
“I’ve never seen you worked up about a guy before,” Heechul commented.
“I’m not worked up about him! Ugh, this is pointless,” Taeyeon said, leaving and going up to her room.
~ * ~
Donghae watched as Jessica stared off into space. She had started to respond well in their sessions, gaining her grades of not lower than B in her quizzes. But recently, she had been like this, quiet and non-committal. He wondered what was going on with her.
“Jessica,” he called softly. When she didn’t hear him, he lightly poked her arm with a pen. “Jessica.”
Jessica looked at him and smiled sheepishly. “I did it again, didn’t I?” When Donghae nodded, she looked apologetic. “I’m really sorry. I just have a lot of things on my mind.”
“I can tell,” he stated. “Care to share?”
She hesitated. “It’s kind of personal.”
“You have to focus,” he reminded her. “I can’t help you learn anything if you’re not going to listen.”
She nodded. “I’ll focus.” When he started to teach her a certain word problem, she interrupted him. “Sorry, I really can’t process anything right now. Do you want to get something to eat?” she asked thoughtlessly.
“You’re asking me?” Donghae asked, completely surprised.
“I’m hungry. Maybe that’s why I can’t concentrate,” Jessica said, fixing her stuff. Her phone rang. “Hey,” she said, answering it. “I’ll be right out. Wait for us in front.” She ended the call and told Donghae that Tiffany was waiting for them.
“Are you sure you’re asking me to eat with you guys?” he repeated, not moving.
“Don’t worry. Tiffany doesn’t care about hanging out with geeks,” she said. “Besides, our session isn’t over. Let’s just pass the time together.”
They left the library and walked towards the school entrance. Since it was already after classes, there weren’t many students around.
“Hey!” Tiffany greeted them happily as they got in the car. She turned to the backseat, where Donghae was. “You’re Donghwa, right? I’m Tiffany.”
“Actually, it’s Donghae,” he said, glancing at Jessica.
“Oh, I thought… Sica said your name’s Donghwa,” Tiffany said apologetically, glancing at her friend seated in the passenger’s seat.
“Whatever,” Jessica said. “Let’s get out of here.”
They drove to a nearby bookstore, which had a small coffee shop. Donghae was in a state of shock.
“Are you alright?” Jessica asked. “You look weirder than usual.”
“You guys go here?” Donghae inquired carelessly. This coffee shop was a famous hangout for the “geeks”, as the queenkas and kingkas liked to call them, because of the bookstore. It wasn’t just any normal bookstore. It was an old books bookstore, books in tattered hardbound, smelling of dust.
“Tiffany loves going here,” Jessica told him as she replied to a text message.
Donghae looked at Tiffany in surprise. She smiled at him. “I come here all the time,” Tiffany declared.
They entered the place and all at once the people inside, composed of the geeks, turned their heads and looked at them. Donghae immediately spotted his friends, who were waving at him.
“How sweet,” Jessica commented.
“Do you want to meet them?” Donghae asked awkwardly.
“I’d love to,” Tiffany said excitedly.
“Hey guys,” Donghae said uncomfortably when they reached his friends’ table. Hyoyeon, Seohyun and Siwon stared. “This is Seohyun, Hyoyeon and Siwon. Guys, this is --.”
“I’m Tiffany,” Tiffany volunteered, shaking everyone’s hands. Seohyun was stunned, but Hyoyeon was beyond shocked. When it was Siwon’s turn, her smiled grew bigger. “It’s you again.”
“It’s me,” Siwon said, smiling.
“This is Jessica,” Tiffany said.
Jessica merely looked at all of them. “I’m going to get coffee.” She turned and went to the counter.
“She’s having a bad day,” Tiffany said. “It’s nice to meet all of you.” She glanced at Jessica who was waiting impatiently. “I’ll see you guys later. I’ll just order.” She walked away.
“Why are you hanging out with them?” Hyoyeon demanded.
“I’m not,” Donghae said, taking a seat beside Seohyun. “I’m tutoring Jessica, remember?”
“And you’re here why?” Hyoyeon pressed.
“Jessica wanted to take a break,” Donghae said.
At that moment, the door opened and Hankyung entered the shop. He went straight to where Jessica was.
“Great, this place is turning into a queenka-kingka hangout,” Hyoyeon muttered.
“So what are you guys doing?” Donghae asked.
“We were discussing the book Outliers,” Seohyun informed him. “These geniuses keep on giving counterarguments on everything the author has researched and proven.”
“Hey, I’m just agreeing because Hyoyeon keeps on kicking me,” Siwon interjected. Donghae chuckled.
“Looks like there’s trouble in paradise,” Hyoyeon said, ignoring them and nodding towards the coffee counter, where Jessica seemed to be arguing with Hankyung.
Donghae watched as Jessica gestured around angrily as she spoke, which Hankyung seemed to ignore. He then said something to her and left, leaving Jessica in tears. She saw Donghae look at her. For a moment, they held each other’s gazes then Jessica said something to Tiffany and left as well.
“Is everything okay?” Donghae asked Tiffany when she came over.
“Trouble in paradise?” Hyoyeon pressed.
“Sorry about that. Hankyung cancelled their date again. Anyway, I’m sure they’ll be fine,” Tiffany said.
“She cried just because he cancelled their date?” Hyoyeon smirked. “Wow.”
“Look, Hyoyeon, is it?” Tiffany said, glaring at her. “I know very well that you don’t like me and my friends. But you don’t have any right to judge us because you don’t know us. We don’t like you either but we don’t care what you do with your life.” She gave an apologetic look to the others and left.
“I like her,” Seohyun said.
~ * ~
“Are you avoiding me?” Sungmin asked Sunny, who was busily fluffing granny’s bed and pillows. They were at the center and Taeyeon and Eunhyuk had taken granny out to the garden. “Sunnyah,” Sungmin repeated when she didn’t answer him.
“I’m not avoiding you,” Sunny said, turning to fix the food they brought. She brought the fruits out of the basket and put some of it in the small refrigerator and placed the others on top of it. Actually, she was avoiding him. She just really didn’t know how to face him after feeling so jealous at seeing him and Yoona at the party.
“Really,” he said in sarcasm. “I’ve known you for 16 years. I think I know you pretty well. And I say you are avoiding me.”
“If you know then why are you asking me?” she said exasperatedly. She then went to the bathroom to change the water in the vase, after which she put the flowers that they brought in the vase then placed it on granny’s bedside table.
“Sunnyah,” Sungmin said, touching her arm, making her face him. “What did I do?” He put on his best puppy face. “Whatever I did, I’m sorry. Please forgive me and talk to me already.” He bent his knees so that he was looking up at her.
“Stop it,” Sunny said, unable to hold back her laughter.
“Am I forgiven?” he asked, his expression brightening.
“Hmmm.” Sunny pretended to think about it. “I don’t think an apology is enough.”
“How about ice cream?” he added. Sunny cutely shook her head. “Plus those cheesy romantic comedies that you love,” he went on.
Sunny then smiled and clapped. “Really?”
Sungmin pulled her into a hug and laughed. “Yes really.” He slightly pulled away and looked at her. “Are we good?”
“There’s still a lot of making up to do, but this is a start,” she told him.
“No problem,” he agreed. “I’m at your service.”
“Very well,” she said. “Will you open the door for me? I need to go outside.”
“Yes ma’am,” he responded diligently, opening the door.
Outside, Eunhyuk was pushing granny’s wheelchair, while Taeyeon walked beside him. Granny wasn’t in a very good mood that day so she was quiet.
“I knew you two would hit it off,” Taeyeon said, smiling at Eunhyuk.
“I wouldn’t exactly put it like that,” Eunhyuk replied, shaking his head. “We went out a couple of times. Big deal.”
“Of course it’s a big deal,” she told him. “You wouldn’t go out with her if you didn’t enjoy her company.”
“But that’s just it. I just enjoy her company,” he stated. “I have to admit that I was surprised that she was actually nice and funny. But I don’t like her as anything more than a friend.”
Taeyeon chuckled. “She’s so much nicer than Sooyoung.”
“You really like to bring her up, don’t you?” Eunhyuk glared at her.
“Sorry,” she said, laughing even harder. “It’s just one of those things. She is Sooyoung, after all, the queen bee. There is something I want to ask.” She looked at him. “If that other guy didn’t come along, do you think you’d still be with her? I mean, I know she was controlling sometimes and everything, but you did fall for her.”
“The thing with Sooyoung is… everyone falls hard for her. When she wants you, she really makes you feel like you’re everything and you just - bam! I admit there were some good times, but… I don’t think so,” he mused.
“Do you think you were in love?” she asked softly.
Eunhyuk looked at her. “I just might be.”
“Hey!” Sungmin said, arriving with Sunny, his arm around her.
“I see you two have made up,” Taeyeon observed.
“He still has to work for it,” Sunny declared.
“Let me guess… ice cream and cheesy movies?” Taeyeon said.
“Right,” Sungmin affirmed. “So we’re off to buy some ice cream and rent some DVDs. You guys coming?”
Eunhyuk and Taeyeon looked at each other. “Sure,” they chorused.
After making sure that granny was comfortably asleep, they left the center and went to rent some DVDs and buy some ice cream, strawberry for Taeyeon and cookies and cream for Sunny. They then went straight to Sungmin’s house and camped in his room.
Sungmin had a huge flat screen TV in his room, even though they had a mini theatre downstairs. He said he preferred not leaving his room to do things he wanted to do. Taeyeon and Eunhyuk managed to shotgun the sofa. So Sunny and Sungmin situated themselves on the bean bags.
“OMG I so love this movie,” Sunny said, clapping her hands excitedly as the opening credits of 10 Things I Hate About You started.
Taeyeon leaned back on the couch and chuckled. “We know, Sunny.”
After 30 minutes into the movie, Eunhyuk noticed Taeyeon nodding off. She had the tendency to sleep during movies she wasn’t a fan of. He smiled and scooted closer to her. He gently laid her down to sleep on his lap.
“Hyukkie,” Taeyeon mumbled, waking up. He immediately held her hand. As soon as he did, she fell back into slumber. She always had a hard time sleeping in places other than her own bed, which was why she never did sleepovers, unless he, Sunny or Sungmin was with her.
“Of course she’s asleep,” Sunny said, glancing back at them. “Just when the story’s starting.”
Sungmin chuckled. “I should call hyung and let him know you guys are sleeping over.” He stood up and walked to the other side of the room to get the phone.
Sunny smiled then looked back at Taeyeon to see how asleep she was. Instead, she saw Eunhyuk looking - no, gazing - at her sister. He brushed some strands of her hair away from her face and just… looked at her. When Eunhyuk looked up, Sunny immediately looked away, pretending not to see anything.
Characters: Kyuhyun/Taeyeon/Eunhyuk, Donghae/Jessica, Sungmin/Sunny, Siwon/Tiffany
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Romance, Friendship, Comedy, Drama
“Hey, where are you?” Jessica asked Hankyung through the phone. It was the weekend and she wanted to go out with her boyfriend. Ever since the party, they rarely saw each other anymore.
“Babe, I’m busy today,” Hankyung said.
“With what?” she demanded. He’d never been busy for her before and yet, recently, she noticed that he was busy with other things often.
“Just stuff. You know my dad,” he replied vaguely. “Look, I have to go. I’ll see you in school.”
“So we’re not even going to see each other tomorrow?” she said.
“I’m really busy,” he repeated with a tone of finality.
“Fine.” She hung up.
~ * ~
“Are you paying attention?” Donghae asked, waving his hand in front of Jessica’s face.
“Yes what is it?” Jessica asked, finally looking at him. He glared at her. “Sorry,” she said. “What were you saying?”
“Look, something’s obviously bothering you,” Donghae said, closing his book.
Jessica sighed. “I’m really sorry. It’s an off day. I’ll be better tomorrow, I promise.” She grabbed her bag and walked out of the library. She brought out her phone and dialed Hankyung’s number as she looked for her friends in the quad.
“Sica!” Tiffany said, waving at her.
Jessica sat down beside her and threw her phone in her bag.
“What’s wrong?” Yoona asked.
“I can’t seem to get a hold of my boyfriend these days,” Jessica muttered.
“Did he even go to school today?” Yuri asked.
“I don’t know. He’s not answering any of my calls or texts,” Jessica told them. “And I’m really getting annoyed. He’s been like this for days.”
“Maybe he’s busy with something,” Tiffany suggested uncertainly.
“Busy with what? He can’t even tell me,” Jessica continued. “Anyway, what are we doing tonight? Any plans?” She looked around. “Where’s Sooyoung?”
No one knew where she was. “I haven’t seen her since this morning in class,” Yoona shared. “I think she left. She’s not answering her phone.”
“Whatever,” Jessica then said. “Let’s go out tonight.”
“Ooh wait,” Yuri suddenly said. “There’s Eunhyuk.”
“Here we go,” Yoona said in a bored voice as they watched Yuri walk up to Eunhyuk.
“Hey!” Yuri greeted him brightly.
“Yuri,” Eunhyuk said with a small smile. His eyes scanned the squad.
“So listen, we’re thinking of going out tonight. You want to come?” she asked excitedly.
Eunhyuk hesitated, but he decided to be nice. “What are you guys planning?” He hadn’t been out with them in a while after all.
“We still don’t know, but you should come,” she insisted.
“I don’t really know…” he began.
“Of course you should bring Taeyeon,” she said, trying not to sound bitter. “The more the merrier.”
Eunhyuk grinned. “Thanks Yuri! I’ll ask her. I’ll let you know.”
“Great!” Yuri said, biting her lip.
~ * ~
“It’s the perfect plan,” Sooyoung told Yuri seriously. Yuri hesitated. “If you keep on hesitating, nothing’s going to happen. Taeyeon’s going to realize what’s in front of her and she and Eunhyuk will end up together. Unless you do something about it,” she went on impatiently.
“Kyuhyun’s never going to agree to it,” Yuri finally said.
“You let me worry about him,” Sooyoung said. “You do what you have to do.”
“Why are you so hell-bent on this? What are you going to get?” Yuri wanted to know.
“That’s not what’s important,” Sooyoung said dismissively, waving her hand. “Are you going to do this or not?” After a couple of seconds of silence, Yuri finally nodded. “See how easy that was?” She stood up and patted her on the shoulder. “I’ll take care of Kyuhyun. You concentrate on Eunhyuk.”
Sooyoung then left school and drove to a big white house. When she got in, she went straight upstairs. “Hi boys!”
Hankyung and Kyuhyun both looked up from the game they were playing. “Hey!” Hankyung said, clearing his throat. “What are you doing here?”
“I better go,” Kyuhyun said, standing up. “See you tomorrow,” he told Hankyung. He left the room.
Sooyoung followed him. “So you’re ignoring me now?”
Kyuhyun turned around and faced her. “I’m not ignoring you.”
“Really,” she said, moving closer to him until their faces were only inches away.
He took a step back. “What do you want, Sooyoung?”
“Is it wrong for me to miss you?” she asked teasingly, touching his face.
“You don’t miss me,” he said, moving his face away. “Look, I know what you’re doing. With Hankyung.”
Sooyoung looked surprised for a second then she smirked. “Are you jealous?”
“More like disgusted,” Kyuhyun interjected. “He’s Jessica’s boyfriend. You know, Jessica, your friend.”
Sooyoung shrugged. “What she doesn’t know won’t hurt her. Besides, I don’t mind sharing.”
“I really don’t know you anymore. I can’t talk to you,” he said, turning to go.
“Is that why you keep on talking to Taeyeon instead?” she called after him. He stood still. “Oh I know what you’re doing, Kyuhyun. She’s too good for you. She’ll know it soon enough.”
“Stay out of it,” he spat, looking at her. “And don’t you dare drag her into any of your affairs.”
“Are you actually concerned for her?” Sooyoung wondered, chuckling. “My my. This is more interesting than I thought.”
“When Eunhyuk finds out…” Kyuhyun began.
“But he won’t find out,” she cut him off, “because you won’t tell him. You guys don’t talk anymore, remember? Anyway, if you do tell him, your little friendship with Taeyeon will be over. Eunhyuk would never want his best friend to be hanging out with you.”
“Sooyoung,” he warned.
“I promise I won’t go near her,” she said, smiling sweetly. “Or better yet, make sure I don’t get the chance to go near her.”
~ * ~
“Are you sure you don’t want to go?” Eunhyuk pleaded. He was on the porch of Taeyeon’s house, begging her to go out with them.
“I’ve had enough going out for a lifetime,” Taeyeon told him. “Besides, Sungmin’s going to be there. You’ll be fine.”
He sighed. “Even Sunny doesn’t want to come.”
“You can’t exactly blame her,” she said. “She doesn’t want to witness another YooMin show.”
“Alright,” he finally said. “So you’ll just be home?”
“Yes,” she answered. “Call me if you have to, but go. They’re your friends.” She pushed him down the steps.
He chuckled. “Okay okay, I’m leaving.” He got into his car and drove away.
Taeyeon was going to go back inside when she saw Kyuhyun approaching.
“Hey,” Kyuhyun greeted.
Taeyeon went out to the porch again. “What are you doing here?”
He shrugged. “Just walking around.”
“At this time of night?” Taeyeon said suspiciously, crossing her arms on her chest.
“Where’s Eunhyuk going?” Kyuhyun asked, changing the topic.
“Kyuhyunah,” she insisted.
“I was supposed to go somewhere, but I decided to just take a walk,” he told her.
“Towards my house?” she pressed. “Do you live in this neighborhood?”
“Yeah,” he said, “just a couple of blocks away.”
“How did you know where I live?” she then asked.
“I asked the first person I saw,” he said, smiling. “I just want to talk.”
Taeyeon decided to let it go and smiled. “Do you want to come in?”
Kyuhyun hesitated. “How about we stay out here?”
“Okay,” she agreed. They both sat down on the front steps.
“Where’s Eunhyuk going?” Kyuhyun asked, glancing at her.
“He’s going out with his friends,” Taeyeon shared, smiling, “the queenkas and kingkas.”
“Ah, your favorite group,” he responded in sarcasm.
She chuckled. “One of them really likes him.”
“Really? Who?” he inquired.
“Yuri,” she told him.
“And what do you think about that?” he wanted to know.
“Well… it really is his choice,” she answered safely.
“That’s your answer?” he asked, laughing.
“Fine,” she said, laughing as well. “I don’t know Yuri well enough, but I think she’s okay. I think she really likes Eunhyuk so she’s really doing everything she can to be noticed by him.”
“So if Eunhyuk dates her, you’d be fine with it?” he clarified.
“I’ve been pushing him to go out with her,” she said. “But I think he’s done dating queenkas.”
“What about you, are you dating anyone?” he then asked.
Taeyeon laughed. “No.”
“Why not?”
“You ask too many questions.” She pretended to look annoyed.
He chuckled. “I just want to get to know you better.”
“Why?” she asked, more seriously this time. She was honestly confused about the attention he was giving her. They hardly knew each other, but he was here, at her house.
Kyuhyun looked at her. He hadn’t exactly figured out the answer to that question. It was one that he asked himself, too. As he was about to tell her his fabricated answer, their front door opened and her brother walked out.
“Taeyeonah,” Heechul called sternly.
“Oppa,” Taeyeon said, standing up. “This is Kyuhyun. We were just talking.”
“I’m Kyuhyun,” Kyuhyun introduced himself, offering to shake his hand.
Heechul merely looked at him. “Taeyeon, get back inside.”
“Oppa,” Taeyeon began.
“Inside,” Heechul repeated with a tone of finality. Taeyeon shot Kyuhyun an apologetic look and went inside the house.
“Sir, I’m sorry about this,” Kyuhyun started. “I just wanted to talk to her.”
“If you want to talk to any of my sisters, you talk to me first,” Heechul declared. “And no one talks to them at this time of night outside the house.”
“Yes sir. It won’t happen again,” Kyuhyun said.
“Go home,” Heechul demanded and went back inside. When he closed the door behind him, he saw Taeyeon waiting for him.
“Oppa, you didn’t have to be so harsh,” Taeyeon said.
“What happened?” Sunny asked, coming down the stairs.
“I wasn’t harsh,” Heechul said, walking into the living room. Taeyeon and Sunny followed him.
“You were,” Taeyeon insisted. “You probably scared him away.” She pouted.
“He didn’t look scared,” Heechul responded.
“Who was scared?” Sunny asked.
Heechul then looked at Taeyeon. “It would upset you if I scared him away? Since when were you upset about me sending your suitors away?”
“Taeyeon has a suitor?” Sunny asked, looking surprised. “Who?”
“He’s not a suitor,” Taeyeon said, rolling her eyes. “I just met him. I’m just saying that you shouldn’t scare my friends away.”
“I don’t send Sungmin and Eunhyuk off,” he pointed out.
“They’re not my only friends,” Taeyeon stated.
“Who are your other friends?” Sunny wanted to know.
“I’ve never seen you worked up about a guy before,” Heechul commented.
“I’m not worked up about him! Ugh, this is pointless,” Taeyeon said, leaving and going up to her room.
~ * ~
Donghae watched as Jessica stared off into space. She had started to respond well in their sessions, gaining her grades of not lower than B in her quizzes. But recently, she had been like this, quiet and non-committal. He wondered what was going on with her.
“Jessica,” he called softly. When she didn’t hear him, he lightly poked her arm with a pen. “Jessica.”
Jessica looked at him and smiled sheepishly. “I did it again, didn’t I?” When Donghae nodded, she looked apologetic. “I’m really sorry. I just have a lot of things on my mind.”
“I can tell,” he stated. “Care to share?”
She hesitated. “It’s kind of personal.”
“You have to focus,” he reminded her. “I can’t help you learn anything if you’re not going to listen.”
She nodded. “I’ll focus.” When he started to teach her a certain word problem, she interrupted him. “Sorry, I really can’t process anything right now. Do you want to get something to eat?” she asked thoughtlessly.
“You’re asking me?” Donghae asked, completely surprised.
“I’m hungry. Maybe that’s why I can’t concentrate,” Jessica said, fixing her stuff. Her phone rang. “Hey,” she said, answering it. “I’ll be right out. Wait for us in front.” She ended the call and told Donghae that Tiffany was waiting for them.
“Are you sure you’re asking me to eat with you guys?” he repeated, not moving.
“Don’t worry. Tiffany doesn’t care about hanging out with geeks,” she said. “Besides, our session isn’t over. Let’s just pass the time together.”
They left the library and walked towards the school entrance. Since it was already after classes, there weren’t many students around.
“Hey!” Tiffany greeted them happily as they got in the car. She turned to the backseat, where Donghae was. “You’re Donghwa, right? I’m Tiffany.”
“Actually, it’s Donghae,” he said, glancing at Jessica.
“Oh, I thought… Sica said your name’s Donghwa,” Tiffany said apologetically, glancing at her friend seated in the passenger’s seat.
“Whatever,” Jessica said. “Let’s get out of here.”
They drove to a nearby bookstore, which had a small coffee shop. Donghae was in a state of shock.
“Are you alright?” Jessica asked. “You look weirder than usual.”
“You guys go here?” Donghae inquired carelessly. This coffee shop was a famous hangout for the “geeks”, as the queenkas and kingkas liked to call them, because of the bookstore. It wasn’t just any normal bookstore. It was an old books bookstore, books in tattered hardbound, smelling of dust.
“Tiffany loves going here,” Jessica told him as she replied to a text message.
Donghae looked at Tiffany in surprise. She smiled at him. “I come here all the time,” Tiffany declared.
They entered the place and all at once the people inside, composed of the geeks, turned their heads and looked at them. Donghae immediately spotted his friends, who were waving at him.
“How sweet,” Jessica commented.
“Do you want to meet them?” Donghae asked awkwardly.
“I’d love to,” Tiffany said excitedly.
“Hey guys,” Donghae said uncomfortably when they reached his friends’ table. Hyoyeon, Seohyun and Siwon stared. “This is Seohyun, Hyoyeon and Siwon. Guys, this is --.”
“I’m Tiffany,” Tiffany volunteered, shaking everyone’s hands. Seohyun was stunned, but Hyoyeon was beyond shocked. When it was Siwon’s turn, her smiled grew bigger. “It’s you again.”
“It’s me,” Siwon said, smiling.
“This is Jessica,” Tiffany said.
Jessica merely looked at all of them. “I’m going to get coffee.” She turned and went to the counter.
“She’s having a bad day,” Tiffany said. “It’s nice to meet all of you.” She glanced at Jessica who was waiting impatiently. “I’ll see you guys later. I’ll just order.” She walked away.
“Why are you hanging out with them?” Hyoyeon demanded.
“I’m not,” Donghae said, taking a seat beside Seohyun. “I’m tutoring Jessica, remember?”
“And you’re here why?” Hyoyeon pressed.
“Jessica wanted to take a break,” Donghae said.
At that moment, the door opened and Hankyung entered the shop. He went straight to where Jessica was.
“Great, this place is turning into a queenka-kingka hangout,” Hyoyeon muttered.
“So what are you guys doing?” Donghae asked.
“We were discussing the book Outliers,” Seohyun informed him. “These geniuses keep on giving counterarguments on everything the author has researched and proven.”
“Hey, I’m just agreeing because Hyoyeon keeps on kicking me,” Siwon interjected. Donghae chuckled.
“Looks like there’s trouble in paradise,” Hyoyeon said, ignoring them and nodding towards the coffee counter, where Jessica seemed to be arguing with Hankyung.
Donghae watched as Jessica gestured around angrily as she spoke, which Hankyung seemed to ignore. He then said something to her and left, leaving Jessica in tears. She saw Donghae look at her. For a moment, they held each other’s gazes then Jessica said something to Tiffany and left as well.
“Is everything okay?” Donghae asked Tiffany when she came over.
“Trouble in paradise?” Hyoyeon pressed.
“Sorry about that. Hankyung cancelled their date again. Anyway, I’m sure they’ll be fine,” Tiffany said.
“She cried just because he cancelled their date?” Hyoyeon smirked. “Wow.”
“Look, Hyoyeon, is it?” Tiffany said, glaring at her. “I know very well that you don’t like me and my friends. But you don’t have any right to judge us because you don’t know us. We don’t like you either but we don’t care what you do with your life.” She gave an apologetic look to the others and left.
“I like her,” Seohyun said.
~ * ~
“Are you avoiding me?” Sungmin asked Sunny, who was busily fluffing granny’s bed and pillows. They were at the center and Taeyeon and Eunhyuk had taken granny out to the garden. “Sunnyah,” Sungmin repeated when she didn’t answer him.
“I’m not avoiding you,” Sunny said, turning to fix the food they brought. She brought the fruits out of the basket and put some of it in the small refrigerator and placed the others on top of it. Actually, she was avoiding him. She just really didn’t know how to face him after feeling so jealous at seeing him and Yoona at the party.
“Really,” he said in sarcasm. “I’ve known you for 16 years. I think I know you pretty well. And I say you are avoiding me.”
“If you know then why are you asking me?” she said exasperatedly. She then went to the bathroom to change the water in the vase, after which she put the flowers that they brought in the vase then placed it on granny’s bedside table.
“Sunnyah,” Sungmin said, touching her arm, making her face him. “What did I do?” He put on his best puppy face. “Whatever I did, I’m sorry. Please forgive me and talk to me already.” He bent his knees so that he was looking up at her.
“Stop it,” Sunny said, unable to hold back her laughter.
“Am I forgiven?” he asked, his expression brightening.
“Hmmm.” Sunny pretended to think about it. “I don’t think an apology is enough.”
“How about ice cream?” he added. Sunny cutely shook her head. “Plus those cheesy romantic comedies that you love,” he went on.
Sunny then smiled and clapped. “Really?”
Sungmin pulled her into a hug and laughed. “Yes really.” He slightly pulled away and looked at her. “Are we good?”
“There’s still a lot of making up to do, but this is a start,” she told him.
“No problem,” he agreed. “I’m at your service.”
“Very well,” she said. “Will you open the door for me? I need to go outside.”
“Yes ma’am,” he responded diligently, opening the door.
Outside, Eunhyuk was pushing granny’s wheelchair, while Taeyeon walked beside him. Granny wasn’t in a very good mood that day so she was quiet.
“I knew you two would hit it off,” Taeyeon said, smiling at Eunhyuk.
“I wouldn’t exactly put it like that,” Eunhyuk replied, shaking his head. “We went out a couple of times. Big deal.”
“Of course it’s a big deal,” she told him. “You wouldn’t go out with her if you didn’t enjoy her company.”
“But that’s just it. I just enjoy her company,” he stated. “I have to admit that I was surprised that she was actually nice and funny. But I don’t like her as anything more than a friend.”
Taeyeon chuckled. “She’s so much nicer than Sooyoung.”
“You really like to bring her up, don’t you?” Eunhyuk glared at her.
“Sorry,” she said, laughing even harder. “It’s just one of those things. She is Sooyoung, after all, the queen bee. There is something I want to ask.” She looked at him. “If that other guy didn’t come along, do you think you’d still be with her? I mean, I know she was controlling sometimes and everything, but you did fall for her.”
“The thing with Sooyoung is… everyone falls hard for her. When she wants you, she really makes you feel like you’re everything and you just - bam! I admit there were some good times, but… I don’t think so,” he mused.
“Do you think you were in love?” she asked softly.
Eunhyuk looked at her. “I just might be.”
“Hey!” Sungmin said, arriving with Sunny, his arm around her.
“I see you two have made up,” Taeyeon observed.
“He still has to work for it,” Sunny declared.
“Let me guess… ice cream and cheesy movies?” Taeyeon said.
“Right,” Sungmin affirmed. “So we’re off to buy some ice cream and rent some DVDs. You guys coming?”
Eunhyuk and Taeyeon looked at each other. “Sure,” they chorused.
After making sure that granny was comfortably asleep, they left the center and went to rent some DVDs and buy some ice cream, strawberry for Taeyeon and cookies and cream for Sunny. They then went straight to Sungmin’s house and camped in his room.
Sungmin had a huge flat screen TV in his room, even though they had a mini theatre downstairs. He said he preferred not leaving his room to do things he wanted to do. Taeyeon and Eunhyuk managed to shotgun the sofa. So Sunny and Sungmin situated themselves on the bean bags.
“OMG I so love this movie,” Sunny said, clapping her hands excitedly as the opening credits of 10 Things I Hate About You started.
Taeyeon leaned back on the couch and chuckled. “We know, Sunny.”
After 30 minutes into the movie, Eunhyuk noticed Taeyeon nodding off. She had the tendency to sleep during movies she wasn’t a fan of. He smiled and scooted closer to her. He gently laid her down to sleep on his lap.
“Hyukkie,” Taeyeon mumbled, waking up. He immediately held her hand. As soon as he did, she fell back into slumber. She always had a hard time sleeping in places other than her own bed, which was why she never did sleepovers, unless he, Sunny or Sungmin was with her.
“Of course she’s asleep,” Sunny said, glancing back at them. “Just when the story’s starting.”
Sungmin chuckled. “I should call hyung and let him know you guys are sleeping over.” He stood up and walked to the other side of the room to get the phone.
Sunny smiled then looked back at Taeyeon to see how asleep she was. Instead, she saw Eunhyuk looking - no, gazing - at her sister. He brushed some strands of her hair away from her face and just… looked at her. When Eunhyuk looked up, Sunny immediately looked away, pretending not to see anything.