Time Machine
Paring: KyuYoung
Genre: angst, drama, romance
Rating: PG-13
Warning: (Not really any warning... Just very small bits of weak profanity...)
Summary: Sooyoung wants a time machine so that she doesn't have to feel the pain she's feeling now.
A/N: Omg, such a redundant summary! >.< But yeah, if you didn't guess by the title, this is a fic somewhat-based off of SNSD's "Time Machine" and it's the first hetero K-pop couple I'm posting anywhere. (Seriously thought HaeYul would be the first hetero K-pop couple I post, though...) I hope this receives much love because I tried hard not to make this one suck. T^T Enjoy~ ^^
~*~
The phone rang incessantly.
She sat on the floor beside her bed, ignoring the increasingly annoying sound. She hugged her knees to her chest and buried her face between her knees to block out the noise; to block out the world.
It was him again. It was always him. Ever since that day a week ago. It's over. She was sure it was over. Why wouldn't he just leave her alone? He's already humiliated her and broken her heart- did he really want to make it worse? The phone stopped ringing. But she knew it would start up again in a few seconds.
And it did. This time seemingly growing louder with each ring. Frustrated, she pushed herself up off the floor and used her long legs to take large strides to the phone. Her head was pounding as she hesitantly picked up the phone and prepared herself to hear the voice she hadn't heard in what felt like years. She pressed the 'talk' button and held the phone to her ear, but she didn't say anything.
“Sooyoung-ah,” he said, sounding relieved.
Choi Sooyoung smiled happily as she lightly applied her makeup. Today was the day she would confess her love to her long-time friend Cho Kyuhyun. She'd never been the type of girl to get dolled up to go somewhere- unless it was a party or something- especially if she was just going to see a friend, but she wanted to look pretty for this particular friend. She wanted it to be harder for him to reject her should their feelings not be mutual- maybe childishly hoping that he'd start liking her after seeing her all dressed up. A light coat of makeup would enhance her natural beauty and hide the few blemishes that tainted her face.
She had gone through a series of taking a shower, fixing up her hair, and doing her makeup before analyzing her appearance in the mirror and deciding it was too embarrassing to go out like that, and then taking another shower to wash off all the products she used for her hair and face. After all that, she had styled her hair normally and left her face bare, but then she had decided to apply at least a little makeup. Her appearance was turning out alright and she couldn't wait to go meet Kyuhyun at their usual cafe.
“Sooyoung, answer me,” he demanded warningly; his voice filled with desperation and concern.
“I have nothing to say to you,” Sooyoung responded in a quiet, dead voice. Her glassy eyes stared at nothing as she kept her head slightly tilted downward and stood in front of the phone cradle while her heart broke even more from the tone in his voice.
“Then at least hear me out,” he requested; begged.
“I'd rather not. Just please stop calling me, Kyuhyun-ssi,” she told him, keeping her voice low and purposely speaking formally to him. She was about to hang up when he spoke up.
“Wait, wait, Sooyoung-ah! What you saw that day… It was just-”
“I told you, I have nothing to say to you and I don't want to hear what you have to say either, so please just stop.”
“If you really love me, then you'd listen to what I have to say!” he shouted quickly as his last desperate attempt.
Sooyoung froze then; a sharp intake of breath being her only noise and her eyes widening being her only movement. He had struck a chord there and she begrudgingly had to admit that he was right. She removed the phone from her ear as she turned and leaned her back against the wall adjacent to the low cabinet upon which sat the phone cradle. The phone rested within both hands in front of her legs as she took the time to clear her throat and think for a second. Her irrational, angry side told her to just hang up the phone to make him think she was over him by now and didn't have anything more to do with him, but her more rational, weak side told her that what he had to say might make her feel better.
She just wished she had a time machine so that she could go back in time to that day she and Kyuhyun first met and became friends so she could control her emotions better before falling in love with him. If she had never fallen in love with him, she wouldn't be feeling so much pain and anger.
Maybe she was rushing into things. Maybe she shouldn't go through with it. What if Kyuhyun really did reject her? Then what? Things would be so awkward between them and their friendship would just end up crumbling before their very eyes. She wasn't ready for that. Her friendship with Kyuhyun- as imperfect as it may seem to others- was as precious as a feather from an angel's wings and there was no way she could so selfishly mess that up.
But she was already on her way to meet with him and before she realized it, she had reached the appointed cafe. She had told him that she had something important to tell him and there was no way she could come up with a lie on such short notice. If she was excited before, then she was ten times as anxious now. There was no turning back. He would only suspect something if she backed out so abruptly. It would show in her voice if not on her face.
“Go ahead then,” she urged calmly after putting the phone back to her ear.
A sigh could be heard from the other line and Kyuhyun began talking. “What you saw with me and Seohyun-ssi… I… We didn't… I'm sorry…”
Just as Sooyoung had finally made up her mind to go through with the whole ordeal and entered the cafe, she saw a sight that made her heart plummet to her stomach and shatter upon impact. There, at one of the center tables, stood Kyuhyun… in the middle of a kiss with her dear friend Seo Joohyun.
Kyuhyun was facing her and for some reason opened his eyes right then just in time to see her astonished, hurt expression. His eyes widened in shock, realization, and guilt as he broke off the kiss, none-too-gently pushing Joohyun away. “Sooyoung-ah…” he breathed out, reaching out a hand and taking a step towards her, coming to a quick halt when he saw his friend step back in turn.
“Eonni…” Joohyun whimpered in slight fear; possibly scared of what her friend might say.
Without thinking or waiting for them to explain themselves, Sooyoung ran away from them- unable to stay there any longer and see their faces. Her legs moved of their own accord and her eyes betrayed her as they let the tears seep out one by one. But she tried to hold them back. She wanted to cry in the privacy of her apartment where no one could see or hear her.
…Where she couldn't see or hear them.
Sooyoung laughed- a non-humorous, bitter-sounding scoff. “You're sorry? You're… Ahh, that's funny~” She stopped laughing and her face became masked with a blank expression. “You're sorry.”
“Sooyoung-ah, please. Even if I had ten mouths, I-”
“Hah! Even one hundred or one thousand mouths wouldn't be enough for you to apologize.” She rubbed her temple as the pounding in her head came back and went to sit down on the couch, hugging her knees to her chest. “You hurt me, you know that?” she quipped in almost a whisper. The anguish could be heard clearly in her voice as it trembled slightly.
She got to her apartment and fell to the floor as soon as she had slammed the door shut. Her tears escaped at full force and she sobbed to let out the endless heartache; her makeup running with the salty wetness. Really, why had she even bothered?
The more important question, however, was… How did those two meet? Did he call her there? Were they secretly together and didn't tell her? It wasn't fair! Joohyun knew how Sooyoung felt for Kyuhyun, so she shouldn't have let it happen!
Unless…
Unless Joohyun made the first move. The younger girl is pretty, so of course Kyuhyun wouldn't be able to resist her. But no, Joohyun wasn't like that. She wasn't the type to go behind a friend's back- especially when the friend is an eonni- and carelessly kiss someone that her friend was in love with. It took the girl the first twenty-one years of her life to even start taking an interest in guys, but in the end, she was still very picky about the kind of man she wanted, so there was no way she initiated the kiss.
Was it Kyuhyun then? She couldn't really blame him because, again, Joohyun's pretty and he's a man. Any sane man would want to kiss a pretty girl, right? But that didn't take away the pain she was currently feeling in her chest. She cried out in a futile attempt to rid herself of the pain and held her fist over her heart as if to keep it intact. Oh, how she wished she had a time machine to take her back to the day she first realized her feelings for Kyuhyun so that she could harness them right then and not let them grow into something stronger.
It took a moment before Kyuhyun answered. “…I know. I didn't mean to. If I had known at the time how you felt about me and that you were nearby or if I had realized my feelings for you, I-”
“What?”
Did he just confess?
“What? I… umm… What?” he stammered, sounding a bit nervous.
“Your feelings for me- what feelings.” It wasn't making sense to her. Kyuhyun loved her? If so, then how long exactly? And how did he hide it so well when she was always struggling to keep her heart in check? Did he… Did he really love her?
The phone rang and Sooyoung made no move to get up and answer it. She knew very who it was and he was the last person she wanted to talk to at that moment. But what was she to do? It was obvious now that she at least liked him and if he still didn't know, then Joohyun has probably told him by now. She actually kind of wanted to talk to Joohyun to find out why she was there and why they were kissing, but her pride wouldn't let her. So she sat there in front of the door and let out all her anguish, staying like that for a couple days before deciding it best to try and move on.
A deep intake of breath could be heard on the other line and Sooyoung knew Kyuhyun was getting ready to possibly (hopefully) confess. “Sooyoung-ah… I-”
“Why was Joohyun there?” She wasn't sure what had come over her at that moment, but she suddenly felt scared of hearing a confession from Kyuhyun- if that's even what he was about to do. It didn't make sense because she would've loved it if he returned her feelings for him. Well, it didn't matter until she found out how Kyuhyun knew Joohyun and why they were even kissing at the place that she was supposed to meet Kyuhyun.
“What? Sooyoung, I'm trying to tell you something here,” Kyuhyun said, sounding as if he was if he was reprimanding a child.
“I don't want to hear it until you tell me how you know Joohyun and why the two of you were kissing.”
Kyuhyun sighed very audibly and Sooyoung imagined him ruffling his hair in frustration. A dull thud could be heard- indicating that Kyuhyun had plopped down on his couch or bed or a chair- and he began talking. “It started before you and I met. Seohyun-”
“Seohyun?”
“Yeah, that's what I call her- Joohyun, that is. Anyway, she was my hoobae at the high school I went to and we happened to meet by chance.”
“How?”
“I had gone there during my third year of college to substitute for one of my old math teachers for a week and Seohyun had been in one of the classes. She was always so quiet and a really good student and I admired her for that. One day, she had come to me for help with something and we ended up spending almost an hour just… talking.”
“It took you that long to help her?”
“No, that only took about five minutes. After I helped her, we just somehow got to talking and it was going really well. Her interests were so unique and I just wanted to know more about her. I guessed she felt the same about me because when I asked her to go on a date with me, she agreed.”
“So you two have dated.” It wasn't a question. Sooyoung felt like an idiot for never knowing and briefly wondered why Joohyun never told her that she had been in a relationship.
“Yes.”
“Enough about that,” she sighed, not really wanting to hear more about her friends' past relationship. “Why was she at the cafe and why were you kissing.” It was more of a demand than question.
Kyuhyun sighed again- an exasperated, yet anguished exhale of breath. “Do you promise not to interrupt me once I start telling you?”
“…It depends.”
“Sooyoung,” he growled warningly.
“Fine, I promise,” she responded flippantly.
With another sigh, Kyuhyun launched into the story. “We broke up after a year of being together. It just wasn't working out the way it was supposed to and we didn't seem to match well at all. Maybe at the start it felt like we did, but after being in a relationship with each other for so long… it just wasn't it; we lost that spark we had felt. We didn't see or contact each other after that until a few months later when we bumped into each other at the cafe- the one you and I were supposed to meet up at last week.”
“Wait a second! You two have been rendezvousing at that cafe for-”
“Sooyoung, you promised you wouldn't interrupt.”
“I didn't interrupt; you were done talking.”
“Only with that sentence!”
“Whatever! I bet you two have been meeting there in secret just to rekindle that old flame and sneaking behind my back like low-life adulterers,” Sooyoung accused bitterly.
“Choi Sooyoung, will you calm down and shut up for once!” Kyuhyun had never sounded so angry like he did right then and it was pretty scary. When Sooyoung did nothing but grumble, Kyuhyun took that as his cue to continue. “Now… After she and I bumped into each other at the cafe, we didn't see or hear from each other for two days. Nevertheless, we both had felt that old spark. It was that second day when I decided to call her, but she beat me to it right when I was reaching for the phone.
“We ended up getting back together for about six months or so and because our relationship had been renewed and became stronger, we had moved in together during her second year of college. But after that sixth month, we realized it was just the same as it was the first time. For one thing, it started feeling like everything she did got on my nerves and I couldn't help but take out my frustration on her so much. And she never once talked back to me, but I could tell that she was always angry with me too, so we decided to break it off for good.
“Every once in a while, we'll bump into each other and feel that old spark again and have the foolish desire to get back together, but we never let ourselves go there again. It was too much pain to go through the first time and even worse the second time around. I can only imagine how it would be the third time around, so there's no use even trying anymore. We're obviously not meant to be since we keep breaking up. The thing is… every time we see each other, that damn spark flares up and we somehow end up in a deep kiss. That's why we were kissing at the cafe last week. Actually, it's more like 'how' instead of 'why because we don't really kiss for a reason, but because it ends up that way.
“I'm sorry I hurt you, Sooyoung-ah. I never meant for any of that to happen. But it just did. This is all just a huge accident that never should've happened and there's no one to blame for that. But… I meant what I said before.”
Sooyoung lifted her head at that, wondering what he was talking about. “Huh?” she whimpered.
“Before… when I said something about my feelings for you… There's a reason that slipped out. It's because I'm ready to tell you. I have been ever since a few days ago.”
Gulping anxiously, Sooyoung anticipated Kyuhyun's next words and urged him to go on. “What is it?” she asked in a small voice, sounding like she had mostly forgiven him by now.
A happily resolved sigh crackled through the phone into her ear. “I love you, Sooyoung-ah. Maybe not in all the time we've known each other, but I think it started a couple of years after we became friends. I just didn't know it then.”
Still in a small voice, Sooyoung questioned, “Why?”
Kyuhyun chuckled handsomely before replying in a seductively joking tone. “Because I'm a stupid, stupid man.”
Quirking a smile, Sooyoung let out a short burst of a giggle and wiped the tears that welled up in her eyes and ran down her cheeks all in the same second. “So stupid,” she agreed, returning the joke.
“But do you want to know the one smart thing I've done in the past four years we've known each other?” he quipped.
Confused, Sooyoung tilted her head to the side and furrowed her eyebrows in question. “What?” The sudden knock at her door scared her so hard that she almost fell off the couch and she scrambled up from her position to get up and answer the door. “Hold on a second…” she said dazedly into the phone and not caring that she didn't get a reply. She looked through the peephole only to find something covering the other side so that she couldn't see who was at her door. “Who is it?” she called to the person. When she only received a knock in return, she decided to just open the door. And when she did… it was the biggest shock of her life.
“Hi,” he greeted, smirking down at her and looking very proud of himself. When she didn't say anything, he stepped forward- making her step back in her shocked state- and leaned down so that he was eye-level with her. “In case you're wondering, this” -he cupped her chin and pressed his lips to hers for a brief moment before letting go to look her in the eye- “is the one smart thing I've done in the past four years we've known each other.” He pecked her lips again and reached up to gently stroke her cheek with the back of his hand. “Do you forgive me now, Sooyoung?”
In an instant- as if she hadn't been standing there like a statue and gaping at him like a fish- Sooyoung reverted back to her normal self and rolled her eyes at her best friend of four years- Cho Kyuhyun. “Do you really think I'd forgive you?” she quipped playfully, making sure to add some attitude to her tone. She mentally hi-fived herself in triumph when she saw the crestfallen expression on the man's face. Taking pity on him, she decided to be nice ans answer more honestly. “Of course I would forgive the man I love,” she exclaimed sweetly, squeaking when he hugged her tight and picked her up to spin her around. They let out a small shout when they fell on the floor of her living room and just laid there- limbs tangled and bodies squished together- laughing in pure bliss.
After a few minutes, they calmed down and just absentmindedly staring at each other as if the other wasn't there to see it. Kyuhyun spoke up first. “What are you thinking about, Soo?” he asked as he mindlessly combed his fingers through her long wavy tresses, calling her by the nickname he always called her before the week prior.
“I'm thinking about how great it would be to have a time machine,” she answered matter-of-fact; eyes closed and enjoying the moment between them.
…That is, until the fingers in her hair stopped moving, making her open her eyes to see a slight pout on her love's handsome face.
“Why would you want a time machine?”
“Because,” she started off simply, shrugging her shoulders a bit and closing her eyes again. “Because then I could go back in time to before you met Joohyun so that you could meet and fall in love with me first. Maybe we could've met while we were in high school- Oh, better yet, go back in time to when I was registering for high school so that I could go to the same school you went to- I mean, I only would've been your hoobae by two years- where we would have inevitably met and become friends and since we've fallen in love now, then we definitely would've fallen in love back then as well!”
“Geez, Soo, I knew you were weird, but I don't think I quite knew the full extent of what I was getting myself into when I confessed to you. Kinda regretting that now,” Kyuhyun joked.
“Yah!” Sooyoung exclaimed in appall, slapping her boyfriend on the arm. “Cho Kyuhyun, take that back!”
“Hmmm … On one condition.”
“What's that?” Sooyoung held herself up with her right arm, looking down at him expectantly.
“Go on a date with me.”
The request was so simple, but Sooyoung had to correct him. “Nope.”
Dark brown eyes widened and looked frantically up at lighter brown orbs. “What do you mean?”
“I don't want to go on a date with you,” she said, telling it like is and having a bit of fun with him. It was just payback for what he said a few seconds ago.
“Why?!” Poor Kyuhyun was at loss as to how Sooyoung could love him and be so blissfully happy that they were finally together, but didn't want to go on a date. How did that make any sense?
“I don't want to go on one date with you,” she rephrased, making Kyuhyun's heart shatter. “I want to go on a million dates with you; so many that we lose track.”
And just like that, Kyuhyun's heart pieced itself back together. He let out a sigh of relief and tugged on Sooyoung's arms, pulling her down so that she lay beside him once more. “I can make that happen,” he promised.
“Good. And Kyu-oppa?”
“Yeah, Soo?”
“…I love you.”
Nothing could beat the huge grin that appeared on Kyuhyun's face after those three words came out of his girlfriend's mouth and he was sure he'd always feel this happy hearing her say those words to him. “I love you, too. And you do not ever need a time machine. Anything could happen and if we had met and fallen in love sooner, chances are that our relationship would be the one that doesn't work out. Sure, we went through some pain, but I don't regret the paths we took that got us here… here, in each other's arms like this. Because now we never have to worry about pain. We have each other and that's all I really need to make me happy.”
Sooyoung kept silent for a moment to let her boyfriend's words process in her brain. Then she nodded in agreement and moved closer to him, burying her face in his chest. “You're right.”
Time machines are just fleeting thoughts that keep us entertained when we're not happy with something in our lives. If anyone was ever really serious when they said they wanted to travel back in time, then time machines would have already been made and be a normal, everyday thing to see. Kyuhyun taught that lesson to Sooyoung, and now they live a happy life together with two sons and a daughter on the way- no more thoughts of time machines and pain. And they made sure to teach their kids that same lesson. Problems work themselves out eventually and in the end, you can only be happier. Besides, what's happiness without a few bumps and bruises?
~*~
A/N: So did anyone like it? I hope no one got confused with all the italicized stuff. Obviously, the paragraphs that have quotations around them are when Kyuhyun is speaking through the phone. The paragraphs without quotations or anything around them are little tidbits of flashbacks from what happened a week prior to when this fic takes place. I wanted to try something new and see if a writing style like that suited my abilities or not. You guys are the judges, so please comment and tell me what you think! :D
Genre: angst, drama, romance
Rating: PG-13
Warning: (Not really any warning... Just very small bits of weak profanity...)
Summary: Sooyoung wants a time machine so that she doesn't have to feel the pain she's feeling now.
A/N: Omg, such a redundant summary! >.< But yeah, if you didn't guess by the title, this is a fic somewhat-based off of SNSD's "Time Machine" and it's the first hetero K-pop couple I'm posting anywhere. (Seriously thought HaeYul would be the first hetero K-pop couple I post, though...) I hope this receives much love because I tried hard not to make this one suck. T^T Enjoy~ ^^
~*~
The phone rang incessantly.
She sat on the floor beside her bed, ignoring the increasingly annoying sound. She hugged her knees to her chest and buried her face between her knees to block out the noise; to block out the world.
It was him again. It was always him. Ever since that day a week ago. It's over. She was sure it was over. Why wouldn't he just leave her alone? He's already humiliated her and broken her heart- did he really want to make it worse? The phone stopped ringing. But she knew it would start up again in a few seconds.
And it did. This time seemingly growing louder with each ring. Frustrated, she pushed herself up off the floor and used her long legs to take large strides to the phone. Her head was pounding as she hesitantly picked up the phone and prepared herself to hear the voice she hadn't heard in what felt like years. She pressed the 'talk' button and held the phone to her ear, but she didn't say anything.
“Sooyoung-ah,” he said, sounding relieved.
Choi Sooyoung smiled happily as she lightly applied her makeup. Today was the day she would confess her love to her long-time friend Cho Kyuhyun. She'd never been the type of girl to get dolled up to go somewhere- unless it was a party or something- especially if she was just going to see a friend, but she wanted to look pretty for this particular friend. She wanted it to be harder for him to reject her should their feelings not be mutual- maybe childishly hoping that he'd start liking her after seeing her all dressed up. A light coat of makeup would enhance her natural beauty and hide the few blemishes that tainted her face.
She had gone through a series of taking a shower, fixing up her hair, and doing her makeup before analyzing her appearance in the mirror and deciding it was too embarrassing to go out like that, and then taking another shower to wash off all the products she used for her hair and face. After all that, she had styled her hair normally and left her face bare, but then she had decided to apply at least a little makeup. Her appearance was turning out alright and she couldn't wait to go meet Kyuhyun at their usual cafe.
“Sooyoung, answer me,” he demanded warningly; his voice filled with desperation and concern.
“I have nothing to say to you,” Sooyoung responded in a quiet, dead voice. Her glassy eyes stared at nothing as she kept her head slightly tilted downward and stood in front of the phone cradle while her heart broke even more from the tone in his voice.
“Then at least hear me out,” he requested; begged.
“I'd rather not. Just please stop calling me, Kyuhyun-ssi,” she told him, keeping her voice low and purposely speaking formally to him. She was about to hang up when he spoke up.
“Wait, wait, Sooyoung-ah! What you saw that day… It was just-”
“I told you, I have nothing to say to you and I don't want to hear what you have to say either, so please just stop.”
“If you really love me, then you'd listen to what I have to say!” he shouted quickly as his last desperate attempt.
Sooyoung froze then; a sharp intake of breath being her only noise and her eyes widening being her only movement. He had struck a chord there and she begrudgingly had to admit that he was right. She removed the phone from her ear as she turned and leaned her back against the wall adjacent to the low cabinet upon which sat the phone cradle. The phone rested within both hands in front of her legs as she took the time to clear her throat and think for a second. Her irrational, angry side told her to just hang up the phone to make him think she was over him by now and didn't have anything more to do with him, but her more rational, weak side told her that what he had to say might make her feel better.
She just wished she had a time machine so that she could go back in time to that day she and Kyuhyun first met and became friends so she could control her emotions better before falling in love with him. If she had never fallen in love with him, she wouldn't be feeling so much pain and anger.
Maybe she was rushing into things. Maybe she shouldn't go through with it. What if Kyuhyun really did reject her? Then what? Things would be so awkward between them and their friendship would just end up crumbling before their very eyes. She wasn't ready for that. Her friendship with Kyuhyun- as imperfect as it may seem to others- was as precious as a feather from an angel's wings and there was no way she could so selfishly mess that up.
But she was already on her way to meet with him and before she realized it, she had reached the appointed cafe. She had told him that she had something important to tell him and there was no way she could come up with a lie on such short notice. If she was excited before, then she was ten times as anxious now. There was no turning back. He would only suspect something if she backed out so abruptly. It would show in her voice if not on her face.
“Go ahead then,” she urged calmly after putting the phone back to her ear.
A sigh could be heard from the other line and Kyuhyun began talking. “What you saw with me and Seohyun-ssi… I… We didn't… I'm sorry…”
Just as Sooyoung had finally made up her mind to go through with the whole ordeal and entered the cafe, she saw a sight that made her heart plummet to her stomach and shatter upon impact. There, at one of the center tables, stood Kyuhyun… in the middle of a kiss with her dear friend Seo Joohyun.
Kyuhyun was facing her and for some reason opened his eyes right then just in time to see her astonished, hurt expression. His eyes widened in shock, realization, and guilt as he broke off the kiss, none-too-gently pushing Joohyun away. “Sooyoung-ah…” he breathed out, reaching out a hand and taking a step towards her, coming to a quick halt when he saw his friend step back in turn.
“Eonni…” Joohyun whimpered in slight fear; possibly scared of what her friend might say.
Without thinking or waiting for them to explain themselves, Sooyoung ran away from them- unable to stay there any longer and see their faces. Her legs moved of their own accord and her eyes betrayed her as they let the tears seep out one by one. But she tried to hold them back. She wanted to cry in the privacy of her apartment where no one could see or hear her.
…Where she couldn't see or hear them.
Sooyoung laughed- a non-humorous, bitter-sounding scoff. “You're sorry? You're… Ahh, that's funny~” She stopped laughing and her face became masked with a blank expression. “You're sorry.”
“Sooyoung-ah, please. Even if I had ten mouths, I-”
“Hah! Even one hundred or one thousand mouths wouldn't be enough for you to apologize.” She rubbed her temple as the pounding in her head came back and went to sit down on the couch, hugging her knees to her chest. “You hurt me, you know that?” she quipped in almost a whisper. The anguish could be heard clearly in her voice as it trembled slightly.
She got to her apartment and fell to the floor as soon as she had slammed the door shut. Her tears escaped at full force and she sobbed to let out the endless heartache; her makeup running with the salty wetness. Really, why had she even bothered?
The more important question, however, was… How did those two meet? Did he call her there? Were they secretly together and didn't tell her? It wasn't fair! Joohyun knew how Sooyoung felt for Kyuhyun, so she shouldn't have let it happen!
Unless…
Unless Joohyun made the first move. The younger girl is pretty, so of course Kyuhyun wouldn't be able to resist her. But no, Joohyun wasn't like that. She wasn't the type to go behind a friend's back- especially when the friend is an eonni- and carelessly kiss someone that her friend was in love with. It took the girl the first twenty-one years of her life to even start taking an interest in guys, but in the end, she was still very picky about the kind of man she wanted, so there was no way she initiated the kiss.
Was it Kyuhyun then? She couldn't really blame him because, again, Joohyun's pretty and he's a man. Any sane man would want to kiss a pretty girl, right? But that didn't take away the pain she was currently feeling in her chest. She cried out in a futile attempt to rid herself of the pain and held her fist over her heart as if to keep it intact. Oh, how she wished she had a time machine to take her back to the day she first realized her feelings for Kyuhyun so that she could harness them right then and not let them grow into something stronger.
It took a moment before Kyuhyun answered. “…I know. I didn't mean to. If I had known at the time how you felt about me and that you were nearby or if I had realized my feelings for you, I-”
“What?”
Did he just confess?
“What? I… umm… What?” he stammered, sounding a bit nervous.
“Your feelings for me- what feelings.” It wasn't making sense to her. Kyuhyun loved her? If so, then how long exactly? And how did he hide it so well when she was always struggling to keep her heart in check? Did he… Did he really love her?
The phone rang and Sooyoung made no move to get up and answer it. She knew very who it was and he was the last person she wanted to talk to at that moment. But what was she to do? It was obvious now that she at least liked him and if he still didn't know, then Joohyun has probably told him by now. She actually kind of wanted to talk to Joohyun to find out why she was there and why they were kissing, but her pride wouldn't let her. So she sat there in front of the door and let out all her anguish, staying like that for a couple days before deciding it best to try and move on.
A deep intake of breath could be heard on the other line and Sooyoung knew Kyuhyun was getting ready to possibly (hopefully) confess. “Sooyoung-ah… I-”
“Why was Joohyun there?” She wasn't sure what had come over her at that moment, but she suddenly felt scared of hearing a confession from Kyuhyun- if that's even what he was about to do. It didn't make sense because she would've loved it if he returned her feelings for him. Well, it didn't matter until she found out how Kyuhyun knew Joohyun and why they were even kissing at the place that she was supposed to meet Kyuhyun.
“What? Sooyoung, I'm trying to tell you something here,” Kyuhyun said, sounding as if he was if he was reprimanding a child.
“I don't want to hear it until you tell me how you know Joohyun and why the two of you were kissing.”
Kyuhyun sighed very audibly and Sooyoung imagined him ruffling his hair in frustration. A dull thud could be heard- indicating that Kyuhyun had plopped down on his couch or bed or a chair- and he began talking. “It started before you and I met. Seohyun-”
“Seohyun?”
“Yeah, that's what I call her- Joohyun, that is. Anyway, she was my hoobae at the high school I went to and we happened to meet by chance.”
“How?”
“I had gone there during my third year of college to substitute for one of my old math teachers for a week and Seohyun had been in one of the classes. She was always so quiet and a really good student and I admired her for that. One day, she had come to me for help with something and we ended up spending almost an hour just… talking.”
“It took you that long to help her?”
“No, that only took about five minutes. After I helped her, we just somehow got to talking and it was going really well. Her interests were so unique and I just wanted to know more about her. I guessed she felt the same about me because when I asked her to go on a date with me, she agreed.”
“So you two have dated.” It wasn't a question. Sooyoung felt like an idiot for never knowing and briefly wondered why Joohyun never told her that she had been in a relationship.
“Yes.”
“Enough about that,” she sighed, not really wanting to hear more about her friends' past relationship. “Why was she at the cafe and why were you kissing.” It was more of a demand than question.
Kyuhyun sighed again- an exasperated, yet anguished exhale of breath. “Do you promise not to interrupt me once I start telling you?”
“…It depends.”
“Sooyoung,” he growled warningly.
“Fine, I promise,” she responded flippantly.
With another sigh, Kyuhyun launched into the story. “We broke up after a year of being together. It just wasn't working out the way it was supposed to and we didn't seem to match well at all. Maybe at the start it felt like we did, but after being in a relationship with each other for so long… it just wasn't it; we lost that spark we had felt. We didn't see or contact each other after that until a few months later when we bumped into each other at the cafe- the one you and I were supposed to meet up at last week.”
“Wait a second! You two have been rendezvousing at that cafe for-”
“Sooyoung, you promised you wouldn't interrupt.”
“I didn't interrupt; you were done talking.”
“Only with that sentence!”
“Whatever! I bet you two have been meeting there in secret just to rekindle that old flame and sneaking behind my back like low-life adulterers,” Sooyoung accused bitterly.
“Choi Sooyoung, will you calm down and shut up for once!” Kyuhyun had never sounded so angry like he did right then and it was pretty scary. When Sooyoung did nothing but grumble, Kyuhyun took that as his cue to continue. “Now… After she and I bumped into each other at the cafe, we didn't see or hear from each other for two days. Nevertheless, we both had felt that old spark. It was that second day when I decided to call her, but she beat me to it right when I was reaching for the phone.
“We ended up getting back together for about six months or so and because our relationship had been renewed and became stronger, we had moved in together during her second year of college. But after that sixth month, we realized it was just the same as it was the first time. For one thing, it started feeling like everything she did got on my nerves and I couldn't help but take out my frustration on her so much. And she never once talked back to me, but I could tell that she was always angry with me too, so we decided to break it off for good.
“Every once in a while, we'll bump into each other and feel that old spark again and have the foolish desire to get back together, but we never let ourselves go there again. It was too much pain to go through the first time and even worse the second time around. I can only imagine how it would be the third time around, so there's no use even trying anymore. We're obviously not meant to be since we keep breaking up. The thing is… every time we see each other, that damn spark flares up and we somehow end up in a deep kiss. That's why we were kissing at the cafe last week. Actually, it's more like 'how' instead of 'why because we don't really kiss for a reason, but because it ends up that way.
“I'm sorry I hurt you, Sooyoung-ah. I never meant for any of that to happen. But it just did. This is all just a huge accident that never should've happened and there's no one to blame for that. But… I meant what I said before.”
Sooyoung lifted her head at that, wondering what he was talking about. “Huh?” she whimpered.
“Before… when I said something about my feelings for you… There's a reason that slipped out. It's because I'm ready to tell you. I have been ever since a few days ago.”
Gulping anxiously, Sooyoung anticipated Kyuhyun's next words and urged him to go on. “What is it?” she asked in a small voice, sounding like she had mostly forgiven him by now.
A happily resolved sigh crackled through the phone into her ear. “I love you, Sooyoung-ah. Maybe not in all the time we've known each other, but I think it started a couple of years after we became friends. I just didn't know it then.”
Still in a small voice, Sooyoung questioned, “Why?”
Kyuhyun chuckled handsomely before replying in a seductively joking tone. “Because I'm a stupid, stupid man.”
Quirking a smile, Sooyoung let out a short burst of a giggle and wiped the tears that welled up in her eyes and ran down her cheeks all in the same second. “So stupid,” she agreed, returning the joke.
“But do you want to know the one smart thing I've done in the past four years we've known each other?” he quipped.
Confused, Sooyoung tilted her head to the side and furrowed her eyebrows in question. “What?” The sudden knock at her door scared her so hard that she almost fell off the couch and she scrambled up from her position to get up and answer the door. “Hold on a second…” she said dazedly into the phone and not caring that she didn't get a reply. She looked through the peephole only to find something covering the other side so that she couldn't see who was at her door. “Who is it?” she called to the person. When she only received a knock in return, she decided to just open the door. And when she did… it was the biggest shock of her life.
“Hi,” he greeted, smirking down at her and looking very proud of himself. When she didn't say anything, he stepped forward- making her step back in her shocked state- and leaned down so that he was eye-level with her. “In case you're wondering, this” -he cupped her chin and pressed his lips to hers for a brief moment before letting go to look her in the eye- “is the one smart thing I've done in the past four years we've known each other.” He pecked her lips again and reached up to gently stroke her cheek with the back of his hand. “Do you forgive me now, Sooyoung?”
In an instant- as if she hadn't been standing there like a statue and gaping at him like a fish- Sooyoung reverted back to her normal self and rolled her eyes at her best friend of four years- Cho Kyuhyun. “Do you really think I'd forgive you?” she quipped playfully, making sure to add some attitude to her tone. She mentally hi-fived herself in triumph when she saw the crestfallen expression on the man's face. Taking pity on him, she decided to be nice ans answer more honestly. “Of course I would forgive the man I love,” she exclaimed sweetly, squeaking when he hugged her tight and picked her up to spin her around. They let out a small shout when they fell on the floor of her living room and just laid there- limbs tangled and bodies squished together- laughing in pure bliss.
After a few minutes, they calmed down and just absentmindedly staring at each other as if the other wasn't there to see it. Kyuhyun spoke up first. “What are you thinking about, Soo?” he asked as he mindlessly combed his fingers through her long wavy tresses, calling her by the nickname he always called her before the week prior.
“I'm thinking about how great it would be to have a time machine,” she answered matter-of-fact; eyes closed and enjoying the moment between them.
…That is, until the fingers in her hair stopped moving, making her open her eyes to see a slight pout on her love's handsome face.
“Why would you want a time machine?”
“Because,” she started off simply, shrugging her shoulders a bit and closing her eyes again. “Because then I could go back in time to before you met Joohyun so that you could meet and fall in love with me first. Maybe we could've met while we were in high school- Oh, better yet, go back in time to when I was registering for high school so that I could go to the same school you went to- I mean, I only would've been your hoobae by two years- where we would have inevitably met and become friends and since we've fallen in love now, then we definitely would've fallen in love back then as well!”
“Geez, Soo, I knew you were weird, but I don't think I quite knew the full extent of what I was getting myself into when I confessed to you. Kinda regretting that now,” Kyuhyun joked.
“Yah!” Sooyoung exclaimed in appall, slapping her boyfriend on the arm. “Cho Kyuhyun, take that back!”
“Hmmm … On one condition.”
“What's that?” Sooyoung held herself up with her right arm, looking down at him expectantly.
“Go on a date with me.”
The request was so simple, but Sooyoung had to correct him. “Nope.”
Dark brown eyes widened and looked frantically up at lighter brown orbs. “What do you mean?”
“I don't want to go on a date with you,” she said, telling it like is and having a bit of fun with him. It was just payback for what he said a few seconds ago.
“Why?!” Poor Kyuhyun was at loss as to how Sooyoung could love him and be so blissfully happy that they were finally together, but didn't want to go on a date. How did that make any sense?
“I don't want to go on one date with you,” she rephrased, making Kyuhyun's heart shatter. “I want to go on a million dates with you; so many that we lose track.”
And just like that, Kyuhyun's heart pieced itself back together. He let out a sigh of relief and tugged on Sooyoung's arms, pulling her down so that she lay beside him once more. “I can make that happen,” he promised.
“Good. And Kyu-oppa?”
“Yeah, Soo?”
“…I love you.”
Nothing could beat the huge grin that appeared on Kyuhyun's face after those three words came out of his girlfriend's mouth and he was sure he'd always feel this happy hearing her say those words to him. “I love you, too. And you do not ever need a time machine. Anything could happen and if we had met and fallen in love sooner, chances are that our relationship would be the one that doesn't work out. Sure, we went through some pain, but I don't regret the paths we took that got us here… here, in each other's arms like this. Because now we never have to worry about pain. We have each other and that's all I really need to make me happy.”
Sooyoung kept silent for a moment to let her boyfriend's words process in her brain. Then she nodded in agreement and moved closer to him, burying her face in his chest. “You're right.”
Time machines are just fleeting thoughts that keep us entertained when we're not happy with something in our lives. If anyone was ever really serious when they said they wanted to travel back in time, then time machines would have already been made and be a normal, everyday thing to see. Kyuhyun taught that lesson to Sooyoung, and now they live a happy life together with two sons and a daughter on the way- no more thoughts of time machines and pain. And they made sure to teach their kids that same lesson. Problems work themselves out eventually and in the end, you can only be happier. Besides, what's happiness without a few bumps and bruises?
~*~
A/N: So did anyone like it? I hope no one got confused with all the italicized stuff. Obviously, the paragraphs that have quotations around them are when Kyuhyun is speaking through the phone. The paragraphs without quotations or anything around them are little tidbits of flashbacks from what happened a week prior to when this fic takes place. I wanted to try something new and see if a writing style like that suited my abilities or not. You guys are the judges, so please comment and tell me what you think! :D