Poignant Affairs; Chapter 07 - Chemistry
Title: Poignant Affairs
Author: honeyiceblend
Length: 7/15
Genre: Romance, Slight Angst, Drama
Characters: Yunjae, Jaemin
Summary: Time cannot erase the pain. Neither can it wash memories away. Memories, so vital to one and the only thing you can hold on to. Maybe one day I will open up my palm to let the breeze blow the dandelions away. As if letting go of your soul…
Warning: Character's death
Previous Chapters: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6
Chapter 7; Chemistry
4 Years Ago
School Canteen
“One Set Meal D, please.”
Leaning towards the counter to place my order, I heard somebody else’s voice echo the same words as mine. It was a familiar voice, which I will love to hate and hate to love. Unfortunately events were proving my theory incredibly wrong.
The both of us stared hard at each other as if looking at the other for the first time ever. His chiselled features were hard to miss and proved to be unlikely to forget. Behind the counter, Auntie Lee dressed in a white uniform and cap with a blue apron tied around her huge waist, gave the two teenagers an amused glance and nodded, “Two set meals D it is then.” What was this? Why do we have to meet in the oddest of places under the strangest of circumstances? And sometimes when I don’t see him, something inexplicably similar to nostalgia penetrated my veins. Not good, not good at all.
Although Yunho did seem like he had so much stuff to get off his chest he was about to blurt every single word to me, he had remained oddly silent as we stood side by side, waiting for our Set Meal D to arrive. The longer the silence stretched, the more I felt the burning temptation to begin a conversation with him, as if the foreign feeling of being termed strangers with him was almost hurting.
“Here is your meal,” Auntie Lee informed in her heavily Taiwanese accent and shoved the tray of food into my hands before turning to Yunho and handing him his. Searching for some money, I placed a Five-dollar bill onto the counter and Yunho did the same. “Keep the change,” we both blurted at the same time. Shooting him a glance, I felt almost freaked by the unusual coincidence. Maybe it was not such a simple coincidence at all… Realising that for the past five minutes of standing and waiting for the counter, we must have shared almost the same thoughts without advance planning. Shivering at the thought and the weirdness of it all, I was about to hurry away when Auntie Lee grinned at us knowingly, “You two have such chemistry.”
Somehow, I knew she was going to say that since this scene was a type, which happened in drama series, not real life where ordinary kids such as Kim Jaejoong existed.
Flashing her an awkward smile, I almost scurried away in embarrassment towards the table at the far end of the school canteen that has been labelled unanimously as the Yunho and Jaejoong table.
He chuckled, “Auntie Lee said we had chemistry.”
Is that why he’s here? My heart took to an erratic thumping, as I responded, “No, she said we had biology, a hell lot of it.”
Rolling his eyes, he got onto the topic finally, “I have some great news to tell you!”
Eyeing him, I wondered what his great news would be. Somehow, I had this feeling his great news would not be too great for me. “Why? Am I selected to go for an extreme makeover?”
Instead of rolling his eyes, he chuckled again, a sound melodious yet annoying at the same time. “Okay that was funny, but no, my great news is that Seul Gi had agreed to out on a date with me!” He sounded so excited I was almost afraid to burst his bubble. But to feel excited along with him? I don’t think so. Yes, in case you are wondering, I did help him along with his secret love letter to his beloved Seul Gi and she was obviously touched by his sincerity or my sincerity rather.
I nodded, unable to roll my eyes and tell him how super ‘great’ his news was but also equally unable to bounce in my seat along with and go “yay”. Therefore, I looked down my Set Meal D and began devouring the mashed potatoes like I had not seen them before. Yunho being Yunho had not noticed my reluctance to continue pursuing the topic and went on, “Since your letter had been so well written, I want to ask the great and mighty Jaejoong for some advice on how to blow Seul Gi away on the first date!”
Snapping out of my mashed potatoes obsession immediately, I shot him a wary glare. At once, I could picture myself as a burly man with muscles too huge for his shirt with a Cupid bow and arrow in my hands. Oh Yuck. But it was not the thought of that which put me off but the thought of how Yunho was pleading me to unknowingly become a second time Cupid for Seul Gi and him.
“Please, Hyung… Please, Please, Please!!” His voice sounded in my head like a broken tape recorder replaying the same words over and over again.
Whether I had realized for it or not, anger had wormed its way towards me. Getting absolutely irked, I slammed my hand against the table and stood up brusquely, knowing I was just earning a hush silence from the nearby tables. “If you think I’ll help you with your every single move to get your girl until I become your wedding planner, you’re wrong! Because I happen to have a life, Mr. Jung! Now, stop talking to me or I’ll explode.” In fact, I already did. Forsaking the five dollars worth of lunch and ignoring Yunho’s bewildered expression, I marched out of the canteen with my insides stewing with rage and resentment.
How dare him! How dare him!!!! How dare him…
As I forced myself to cool down, and my brain to think logically, I realized there had not been a valid enough reason for me to be furious. So why had I been? After all, although Yunho had always been annoying, he always was. Yet my over-reaction was just unexplainable. Unless… unless…
“I can’t be jealous!”
It took a while for me to notice that I had actually announced my thoughts out loud just a few metres away from the school canteen. Gaining strange stares, I quickly strode out of the corridor, feeling my cheeks heating up with sheen of crimson embarrassment.
***
The Present (2009)
Staring at the menu which classified their set lunches into Set Meal A, Set Meal B, Set Meal C and Set Meal D respectively, I squirmed in discomfit in the classy restaurant. Why were we even here if we were here for a drink?
“What do you want?” Changmin asked in an almost too friendly tone.
“An Iced Lemon Tea, thank you.”
“You sure you don’t want anything? A steak or something? Because this place is famous for their steaks.” Changmin asked politely, his eyes gleamed although the restaurant was dark and took on an obscure atmosphere.
I began, having too many questions raiding my mind. “So… Changmin, how did you know my name?”
“What do you mean?” He arched an eyebrow.
“I don’t remember telling you my name,” My voice hardened.
Changmin finally gave in, his façade broken, “Okay, fine, I checked up on you, after all I do have my contacts… But believe me, Jaejoong, I am very interested in such a beautiful m-“
“You checked up on me?” I could not be bothered to give him time to complete.
“I… listen to me, Jaejoong…”
Calm down Jaejoong, this jerk is not one worth of your anger. Glaring at him with penetrating eyes, I inhaled deeply, “Fine, I’ll listen.”
Changmin paused, as if taken aback by my sudden coolness but immediately took advantage of it. Slowly, he began his side of the story which I gladly listened to, “When I first time met you in Mac’s, although you were feisty and all, you were very attractive. And when I met you in the restaurant again, I knew it was some sort of destiny. Therefore I followed you home and got an investigator to check up on you. But I really don’t mean any harm. I just want to get to know you more and I went to MacDonald’s almost everyday for lunch, wanting to meet you again. This time at the shopping centre was another total coincidence.”
“Okay…” I said slowly, finding it hard to register all Changmin said at once. Suddenly, another thought struck me, “What else do you know about me?”
“I know you have two nephews, that one is obvious as I’ve already met them. I know you got into a relationship with Jung Yunho, your ex-classmate in High School. But he died.” Changmin fed his information without any means of hiding the fact that he had checked up so thoroughly on me. I felt disgusted, like I was peeped at and Changmin had successfully seen me stark naked.
Feeling especially insulted and enraged that Changmin knew so much about Yunho, I clenched my jaw and spoke through barely gritted teeth, “Please stop checking up on me, Shim Changmin. You are invading my privacy and that’s one of the only things I have in my life now.” At that sentence, my voice started to crack so I pushed the chair backwards and stood to leave.
“Wait, Jaejoong!” Something made me turn back to look at him and suddenly I saw Yunho in him. They shared an uncanny resemblance in looks, but in personality, they were in direct contrast. “I’m very sorry Jaejoong, it’s just that I really liked you from the minute I saw you.” There was so much sincerity in his voice that I wanted to just soften and sit back down. But I knew I had to uphold my principles.
“I’m sorry as well, Changmin, because I don’t think I would like to see you again.” Rushing away, I was only able to catch his disappointed expression. I had almost given in to Changmin, and it was because something in his eyes again. He was so very like to Yunho, yet Yunho had never had that effect on me. Yunho’s eyes were gorgeous and self-explanatory sometimes, but they never swayed any of my decisions.
Then, I wondered if I would ever see Shim Changmin again. Him and his infamous Armani suit.
Perhaps.
Yet, perhaps not.
Something shattered in my trance and I took a moment to realize it was actually my mobile phone. Fishing it out from my handbag, I answered, “Hello?”
“Jaejoong? Please come to the hospital now! Something happened to Sungwoong!”
I almost dropped the mobile.