OH, WHAT A BEAUTIFUL TOWN → 1
DISCLAIMER:
The following work(s) are fictitious in nature, including but not limited to characters and events. The content herein, coincidental or otherwise, is in no way a true reflection of the actual celebrities depicted, and is purely created for personal entertainment. No profit is being made. Any artwork is made by me unless otherwise stated.
oh, what a beautiful town
lee shin/seohyun, yonghwa/seohyun, lee shin/lee kyu won ⌖ 867w → pg-13
before him and before her, there had been a first.
The building is still under construction, so the windows are just gaping holes in the walls and the glass doors are slightly unhinged. It looks like a block of cheese or a haunted mansion without really being haunted. It's going to be a twenty-two story building, which makes it special by default because he's turning twenty-two this year. The only part that sucks is that she'll be turning twenty, but he'll never tell her that.
The entrance is located in an open but narrow alley, and there are parked cars against the opposite building and also garbage bins, but Lee Shin has an idea what design is like, and he has a feeling that the landlord is going to pay huge sums of money to clear the space out so that there's only the streets and a stream of blue sky and stars overhead. Because otherwise, it's just going to be a sophisticated building someplace ugly.
He slows down, already partway off his bicycle (he's not showing off; it's just more efficient and less time-consuming). Sitting on the concrete steps, she's beaming up at him and waving a bag of dried apple chips at him. Smirking out of sight, he rests the bike against the exterior wall and settles down beside her. He doesn't bother letting her know that he's about to snatch the bag from her hand and selfishly inhale the snack she's brought with her, knowing that she probably has another she's hiding from him.
"It's been a while."
"Not long enough," he replies as he swallows a particularly unpleasant chip with a sharp edge that scratches the back of his throat as it goes down. He's not one to have an overactive imagination, but he hates the feeling it gives, like nails on a chalkboard or nails raking down his back. He has a mild fear of dried or fried foods (which had been the first thing she happily pointed out they had in common) because he thinks it could split his esophagus open.
Unpleasant.
She narrows her eyes at him, and he reassures her that he's only kidding.
"Only just," she throws back at him in the way she casually disregards people and things that tire her. But even through her whips and snaps, Shin thinks that she's fine-tuned the art of polite snark. It makes it that much harder to get mad at her when she defies his authority as someone older, someone to respect.
"Anyway."
"Anyway?"
"Anyway, your new husband's kind of ... I don't know."
She hums like she's deep in thought, but then she says, "He kind of looks like you," which only slightly insults him. It's not that he cares much for looks or celebrity idols - it's not the kind of person he wants to be - but Jung Yonghwa looks a little ...
"He's kind of goofy-looking."
When she tries to reach for an apple chip, he pulls the bag out-of-reach. Unlike most girls who would make an attempt for boldness, instead she huffs and pulls back. "Fine," she says, sounding very resigned and, he thinks, very boring. He had half-expected her to rummage through her sack for another batch of dried apples he could potentially steal from her.
The younger girl tucks a strand of hair behind her ear, even when nothing is out of place, which he's long since deduced is something she does out of habit. He's seen her on television when there's nothing else to do and has made note of the way she composes herself when it's required of her, but Seo Juhyun is a wired ball of movement. If not in the obvious way that she plays with her hair, it's in the subtle way she clasps her hands together and is probably thumbing at the skin on her palm. There's also the twitchiness in her facial features, which is entertaining in itself to watch (especially when she plays like she's paying attention even when her mind is floating elsewhere).
"I think he's really kind. And he's careful to adjust to me." She looks at him, "It's a good match, right?"
He doesn't know what to say to that because he really doesn't know. He doesn't care about nurturing relationships - not really, anyway - and doesn't even know where to start if he wanted one. There's not much else he knows apart from his guitar and music composition. Some people - like that mouthy girl he had overheard at school one day - have called his passion one-dimensional, but it just makes him that much more driven. Less distractions.
Shin shrugs. "I guess. You know, if you like the goofy types."
"Don't be mean."
"If he treats you right, then I have no opinion."
And she knows that no opinion is a good one to have in Lee Shin's books. Unlike her sisters who fawn over everything the newlyweds say or do, Shin doesn't care one way or another unless it really matters.
"But he should really teach you how to drive better. I mean, really? How could you have messed up on that turn?"
"Says the one who rides a bicycle."
"It's called exercise."
"It's called not having a license."