My Star - ii
My Star - ii
Junho x Suzy; 1348 words
The first time he laid out this “plan” of his, she was eating with a bunch of friends. It was a very hot morning, and Sooji was not liking it one bit. The next moment, when Junho took one step into the cafeteria, wearing a white shirt under a black jacket and denim pants, with a picnic basket on one hand, she thought that very hot was definitely an understatement.
He made his way to where she was sitting, not daring to take her eyes off of her. He had a smirk playing at the corner of his lips because he knew she was annoyed. He sat beside her with none of the personal space that she ever so kept in the 19 years she’d been living.
“My my, Sooji. You never told us you had a boyfriend.”
“That’s because I don’t,” Sooji murmured.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
Junho said nothing but smiled. He took two spaghetti plates out of the basket and ate his own in a hurry. Ignoring all the weird looks they’d been getting since Junho arrived, she started to dig in the spaghetti that was clearly hastily prepared. She threw sideway glances at him, and she thought he looked pathetic. Very pathetic indeed.
On the twenty third day, she started having these very weird almost butterflies dancing in the pit of her stomach when Junho held her hand for the first time. He tried to in the last twenty two days that they have been together, but he never seemed to have the opportunity, or at least that was what it seemed to him. Sooji was avoiding everything, evading all his efforts. It came to a point where Junho was so tired of it, he threw comments like, “Come on, at least do this for me. Mars might throw a fit if---” He stopped himself.
“If what?” Sooji became curious.
“Nothing. Now please cooperate!”
They were in the park, and Sooji wore a light sundress and cute flip-flops, while Junho wore khaki shorts and a white shirt. What was with him and white shirts anyway?
She was caught off-guard when Junho slid his hand into hers. Their hand were intertwined, and Sooji was nervous now more than ever. She pried off her hand. “My hands sweat like crazy. That seems unattractive to anyone.” But he took her hand again. “It may seem unattractive to anyone but me.”
He smiled at her, the smile that she wanted more than anything in the world. Then for once after everything that had happened, she saw him as a different person. They stopped at the bridge and watched the ducks float around. “When d’you reckon you’ll leave?” The question pierced through her but she just had to ask.
Junho sighed. “I don’t know. When I convince Mars that you fell in love?”
Sooji smiled at that, and thought how that guy had a ridiculous life. “Well, alright.”
“But don’t worry about that now. You’ve got me now, haven’t you?”
She was in love with him, and at the same moment a feeling of dread swept over her like a quick gust of wind. She was afraid.
Sooji gave him a reassuring smile. “Yes, I have.”
She lay on her bed that night thinking about everything all at once. Wasn’t this what Mars had planned out? Wasn’t the plan working out? But why does it feel so wrong? Why do I feel like I’m being used, but I’m actually okay with it?
Then it hit her. So bad that not even a boulder could weigh her heart down even more because it hurt now more than it should. Then the butterflies sprung all over again, creeping on the edge of her stomach and taking over her whole being. She thought of his smile, the smile that made his eyes crinkle and look like sunshine burning into her skin, the sunshine to a cloudy day. She thought about the first time that he went to her school, with that smirk plastered at the corner of his lips. She was so damn annoyed at his presence. But she knew, she knew that he was so pathetic, but she wanted him. She wanted him.
She stood up and gazed outside her window. The stars were very pretty, just like the way Junho’s eyes seemed to twinkle for Sooji.
Look, Mars. I’m not even sure if you’re real, or what Junho said the first time I met him was true. But I’m taking a chance on you because I took a chance on Junho too. He came into my life for a reason, and I now know what that reason is. So please, I beg of you, don’t take him away from me.
Junho always slept uncomfortably in the living room. The sofa was soft, yes, but he couldn’t distinguish that weird sound he always heard in the first hour of dawn… until only in the twenty third night.
Today was the day when he held her hand for the first time. It was quite a great feeling for him. The way their hands fit together nicely, and the way Sooji blushed at his gesture. That girl really was something. He wasn’t sure if he was doing his job well, but he was hoping for the best.
Then came that weird sound again. It took him long enough. He got up and peeked inside rooms. None of the rooms were interesting to him, except for one particular room at the end of the hallway. He opened it to find a shrine dedicated to a guy named Jang Wooyoung. His name was written in big bold letters in Hangul. He tilted his head to the side when he saw a life-sized Wooyoung at the right side of the room. Junho frowned at that.
He followed the noise again. It seemed to be upstairs, and when he got there, it was no surprise that it came from Sooji’s room. Junho let out a laugh. He tried to open it, and fortunately the door wasn’t locked. Seriously, who doesn’t lock their door when they’re sleeping?
Sooji let out that horrible noise from her mouth. Is that something common to earthlings? She continued to make that noise, and while she was at it, Junho made his way towards the side of the bed. He looked at her, and suddenly had the urge to kiss her. But he didn’t. He left the room, slowly closing the door behind him. He walked briskly down the flight of stairs. He crashed onto the sofa and closed his eyes, his heart beating a hundred per second.
On the fifty fifth night, they went stargazing up at Sooji’s terrace. She had a telescope, and he could look straight into the heart of one star in a second. They sat cross-legged on a makeshift mat. They took turns describing the stars, with Junho’s descriptions a little bit more distinct.
He knew a whole lot about the stars when they started talking to him. When Junho couldn’t sleep on most nights, they talked to him, about what they are and why they could communicate to Reincarnations such as himself.
“That star is lonely. He’s a little bit shy and doesn’t have that many friends, so I talk to him often. That one is in love. She fell in love with that guy from across the street. She has been watching him silently since then.”
“How do you know all these?”
“They told me. See, Reincarnations can talk to stars. They explained it to me when I got all weirded out.”
Sooji laughed, and the pace of his heartbeat quickened.
“Are you in love?” She blushed at his question. “Why ask that?”
“Because I saw your shrine dedicated to Jang Wooyoung. Seriously. The guy’s not even half as gorgeous as me.”
She punched him lightly in the arm. “I’ll have you know that he is the man of my dreams, the love of my life.”
“Are you sure it’s not me?”
“No.” She crossed her arms.
“Then I’m going to have to take the necessary measures.”