Quaint (4/?)
TITLE: Quaint
Author: ailaling1017
Genre: romance, fluff, college AU
Warning: genderswitch, minor language, cursing
Disclaimer: I do not own Super Junior...although I wish I did.xD * bricked*
Rating: PG-13
Status/Length: Incomplete; Chaptered, 4,569W
Pairing: KyuMin; girl!Min; side: EunHae; girl!Hyuk; ninja!YeWook; girl!Wook; broken!KiHae; girl!Kibum; ninja!HanChul girl!Heechul
Summary:They had clashing personalities, not to mention, different hobbies and ideals. Two parallel lines that wouldn't meet. Needless to say, they belonged to different cliques - Kyuhyun being in the high class and Sungmin, well, the lower class. They were opposite ends of a line - except that, Cho Kyuhyun and Lee Sungmin were the best of friends.
A/N: It's been long. Too long. I'm sorry but uhm, the sloth syndrome caught me and I just kinda hit a dead end with this. Nonetheless, I FORCED my brain to produce this crappy chappy since chunrren10 has been making me feel guilty for such a long time already. keke ~
Thanks to my lovely beta lavender_lace12 ~ Gem unnie ILY!^~^
Sungmin awoke with a start and looked around the familiar surroundings as she rubbed off sleep from her eyes. She was lying in the middle of her double bed, tucked in safely under her pink Hello Kitty blanky, which Kyuhyun gave her on her 10th birthday. It was a tad too short for Sungmin now but she’d rather endure curling up under it than using any other blanket that didn’t come from Kyuhyun. It somehow fueled her illusion of sleeping with Kyuhyun’s arms around her, and she couldn’t help but snuggle in just a little closer to the warmth that said blanket had provided.
She turned her gaze to the pink Hello Kitty alarm clock that was innocently perched on her side table. It read 11 o’clock. God, she must’ve slept too much. All she could remember was trying hard to keep her eyelids open as they were halfway through the second movie Kyuhyun picked - an English chick flick entitled Easy A.
Sungmin’s eyes fluttered on and off throughout the movie - only to be jolted awake whenever Kyuhyun laughed at a particularly hilarious scene. Aside from the fact that she didn’t really have a firm grasp on the English language, she was too tired to even pay attention to the subtitles. Kyuhyun’s chuckles eventually came to a halt and Sungmin was then able to snooze peacefully with her head on his shoulder and his protective arms around her. She smiled at the thought and wondered how simple things such as watching a movie, when spent with someone dear to your heart, can outweigh the most expensive dates at a plush restaurant.
She then smiled as her gaze fell to the photo frame next to the alarm clock. Gazing up at her was a picture of herself together with Kyuhyun - giddy smiles plastered on their faces. It was taken on their ski trip one winter a few years back. Sungmin thought it was the best vacation ever - it was the very first and only vacation they spent together and the both of them went alone after all.
It was the first since it was the time Kyuhyun and Sungmin finally went to college. Sungmin’s family had decided to live in the province, leaving her in their old apartment to be independent; and although she missed them, she was more than happy to have spent it with Kyuhyun. As for Kyuhyun, his parents were always away for some business appointments anyway. In fact, it was the first vacation he has had in years and he’s pleased to have gone with Sungmin.
It was a beautiful day. The cold air caressed Sungmin’s face as they rode the cable car towards the mountain slope. Sungmin and Kyuhyun were sitting side-by-side when they heard two boys about their age squabbling next to them. The boy with brown hair that fell on his face was scowling at his companion - a boy with jet-black hair and dark orbs for eyes which seemed to pierce anyone who’d look into them.
“Aisssh Yesung hyung! I don’t even know what I did this time!”
“Did you walk her through your attic-full of your stupid alien collection?”
“What!? No! And my alien collection is anything but stupid. One day, when they come to take over our planet, I’ll be laughing at you when they decide to snap you in half. I’ve read somewhere that they don’t like reptiles - turtles in particular. Surely, you’d be considered as an outcast by then.”
The boy named Yesung merely scoffed.
“Whatever. The way you say it in earnest, you’d think you were stating some fact of the atmosphere being 20.83 percent oxygen. Well, I hate to break it to you Lee Donghae but ALIENS DO NOT EXIST! Not in a million years! Dinosaurs, tyrannosauruses, hell… dragons may have had existed too. But aliens? NO!!! And besides, no one in their sound mind could possibly hate turtles okayyyyy!?!?” Yesung shouted indignantly at his dongsaeng who cowered momentarily at his hyung’s outburst.
Donghae figured that his hyung gets a little too emotional when the subject of turtles is being brought up, and he made a mental note not to mention it again. Little did he know that at the back of Yesung’s mind, he was contemplating on the best spot to hide Ddangkoma’s cage lest the possibility of Lee Donghae being sane happened and these so-called “aliens” invade soon.
After the elder has calmed down, the younger just did merong to him and slumped his shoulders while fiddling with his fingers. Yesung sighed deeply, as if seeing his dongsaeng acting like some sad idiot was causing him actual physical pain.
“Okay. So you didn’t touch the sensitive alien issue. What could’ve possibly gone wrong that made her so angry to refuse this holiday trip with you? I deserve to know since that’s mainly the reason why I got dragged here for the sake of not wasting the tickets you’ve pre-booked already.”
“Well, she told me we should go out to dinner last night. I told her I can’t ‘coz I have a Starcraft tournament to attend to and besides, we were supposedly gonna spend three days together here alone. I don’t even know how it happened. I mentioned Starcraft and all hell seemed to break lose. One moment she was snuggling to my side as we watched Titanic for the 1000th time then the next, she stormed off my apartment and banged the door after her. I swear one or two hinges came off.”
Sungmin felt Kyuhyun edge in just a little more to listen to the conversation at the mention of Starcraft.
“You idiot, dimwit, imbecile! Dating 101 - number 1 in the rule book. Never, I mean, never ever mention Starcraft, or any online or video games for that matter, to your girlfriend especially when you choose gaming over her and you’re ditching spending time with her, even if it’s just for shopping…"
“JUST SHOPPING!?” Sungmin frowned but kept her thoughts to herself.
“Oh yeah? Really?” Why?" Donghae raised his eyebrows at his hyung.
Yesung nodded solemnly and continued.
“I…I…I don’t really know. But you’ve gotta trust me on this one bro. You know how cotton candy can pale in comparison as to how sweet Wookie is right?”
The Donghae kid could only nod.
“Well I had to learn the hard way. I once made this grave mistake of ignoring calls for dinner. I was playing Left for Dead on my laptop and I was about to complete the mission. You should’ve seen how many boomers I’ve slain and how I totally kicked that Tank’s ass. Anyway, that’s beside the point. I failed to hear her enter the room and the next thing I knew, my laptop was jerked away from my grasp by very strong arms and it landed on the floor as Wookie seriously threw it to the ground.”
Donghae’s lips quivered and Sungmin thought she saw him mouth: my laptop…
Kyuhyun who was beside her was also in a state of shock that he actually had his mouth agape.
“After that, my beloved laptop stayed at the menders for approximately three weeks. The extent of the damage has been so grave and it cost me big bucks. Never did I say a word related to gaming, or computers for that matter, to Wookie again.”
Sungmin wanted to burst out laughing at how the guy called Yesung said each word with such dignity rivaling that of the greatest orators in the monologues but beside her, Kyuhyun had a completely opposite reaction. His eyes widened so much to the point that his eyeballs threatened to pop out off its sockets and he had his hand up to cover his mouth to stifle the gasp that threatened to escape his lips. He had to or the boys would’ve sensed that they were eavesdropping.
A few uneventful minutes passed by until Sungmin felt the cable car halt to a stop - signaling the rest of the passengers to slowly make their way out of it. The Donghae kid excitedly jumped out of the cable car causing it to wobble violently and Sungmin found herself tipped to the side as she chose that very moment to stand up.
Sungmin closed her eyes to prepare herself for the painful crash that was sure to come when she found herself being caught by the waist by strong arms. She felt herself leaning into the warmth of said body when she heard a familiar voice clear his throat which made her open her eyes in curiosity. She found herself face to face with a scowling Kyuhyun - one would’ve thought his eyebrows were naturally knitted together as they were basically joined at the center of his forehead - looking at somewhere behind Sungmin.
“You can let go now.” Kyuhyun all but growled, voice dangerously low - all the while glaring at an unknown entity behind Sungmin when she realized that her best friend was referring to her “savior”.
Sungmin felt the grip on her waist gradually loosen and she slowly made to turn. She was welcomed by a nest of jet black hair - the boy named Yesung as she remembers - eyes turning into crescents as he smiled at her.
“Hi! My name is Jongwoon but you can call me Yesung.”
Said boy extended his hands to Sungmin’s direction and she was about to accept it when surprisingly, Kyuhyun got there first.
“I’m Kyuhyun and this is Sungmin. Now if you’d excuse us, we’re in a hurry.” Kyuhyun made to push Sungmin towards the exit and Sungmin hastily muttered a thank you - waving awkwardly at the seemingly-amused Yesung who looked like he was chuckling.
They continued to walk in silence with Kyuhyun walking a few steps ahead of Sungmin. If she didn’t know better, she’d think the former was sulking. But why?
She was so immersed in her thoughts of figuring Kyuhyun out that she didn’t notice that the other has stopped walking and ended up colliding with his back.
“Ow!” Sungmin yelped.
“Oh my god! Sungmin! Are you alright?" Kyuhyun cooed while he checked Sungmin’s forehead which conveniently landed on his C3 - a bony one at that. It must’ve hurt - bad.
Sungmin blushed at the sudden proximity of Kyuhyun - glad that if the need for her to explain the sudden onset of pink on her cheeks would arise, she could easily attribute it to the cold weather. Nonetheless, it didn’t look like she would have to lie this time as Kyuhyun seemed oblivious about his effect on Sungmin and continued to check every inch of her for any possible injuries caused by the “collision”.
“Aigoo! You’re right! They really are too cute for words!” a high-pitched squeal - ‘coz that’s the only thing it could probably be - and judging by the ringing on Kyuhyun’s ears, yes, it was definitely a squeal (a loud one at that) - sounded from somewhere on their right and both ended up turning to the source of the ruckus with wide eyes - Kyuhyun’s left hand still on top of Sungmin’s head while the other rested on her shoulder.
They were surprised to find four pairs of eyes looking straight at the both of them. Kyuhyun slowly lowered his hands and fiddled with his fingers instead. Sungmin on the other hand chose to look up - hoping to find something of interest - only to be disappointed as she was greeted with nothing but an endless expanse of snow-covered mountains.
They recognized the two guys in the group as the ones they saw in the cable car earlier - Donghae and Yesung, weren’t they?
The two girls however weren’t people they’ve met prior. Before they could ponder on their identity, high-pitched girl bounced forward towards them and extended a hand to Sungmin’s face, quite literally. Sungmin squinted at the said hand while the girl chirped.
“Hi! I’m Ryeowook! But you can call me Wookie for short. I’m Yesung’s girlfriend. Oh, Yesung! Yesung! This is Yesung by the way.” she beamed, all the while grabbing said man with what evidently were strong arms as the other basically lurched forward and almost fell down upon his girlfriends tugging - that, or he was just clumsy - both options very likely, Sungmin thought.
She thought she heard Kyuhyun mutter “laptop wrecker” under his breath and she was about to nudge him in the stomach for fear that their eavesdropping would be found out, but the girl didn’t seem to have noticed. Before the both of them could even think of coherent words to respond, Ryeowook babbled on. Woah, this girl can talk.
“That one over there is Donghae.” the brunet managed a small nod as Wookie pointed at him - he wasn’t exactly in his best of moods as he was earlier - that much Kyuhyun and Sungmin could guess.
Approximately a meter from him is a petite girl who had her arms folded over her front - chin raised into the air as high as it would go. Sungmin could imagine her rolling her eyeballs beneath the eyelids that she was now keeping shut - intent on blocking the man beside her out of her vision.
“And that beside him is Eunhyuk, his girlfriend.” Wookie continued, pointing at the redhead.
“EX-GIRLFRIEND!!!” said girl all but shrieked - causing Sungmin to flinch - Kyuhyun immediately wrapping her in his arms, bringing her closer to his side - all the while rubbing small circles on her back. Sungmin thought she’s never felt safer.
Donghae, Yesung, and Ryeowook on the other hand seemed unaffected - as if seeing this kind of scene was a daily occurrence in their lives - which probably was the case anyway.
Donghae scoffed and rolled his eyes right at the very unfortunate moment Eunhyuk chose to throw him a glare - earning him a rather powerful smack on the head. He barely had time to rub the swell that was starting to form at the back of his head caused by said bump, when she tried her hardest to stomp her foot as she walked away - tried, since the snow was a foot deep and stomping was basically an impossible feat in the given condition. How she managed the first few steps, one would never know. It may have been sheer will power though since she desperately wanted to distance herself from her jerk of a boyfriend. Correction, ex-boyfriend, she thought. A few steps later however, her boots got stuck and she fell face flat onto the snow.
Donghae, who was trailing behind her, hastened his pace and tried to pick her up by the cuff of her jacket - ignoring her flailing arms which aimed to get rid of him and the wild protests of his girlfriend.
“Errr… Are you sure this is a good idea, Hun?” Yesung nudged an all-too-calm Ryeowook. Said girl made to pinch her boyfriend’s cheek in a manner similar to that of a mother to her child.
“Of course babe. Don’t worry. They’d be making out, I mean, making up in no time. Hyukkie would thank us for setting this up before the sun sets today.” Wookie sing-songed before giving a seemingly unconvinced Yesung a pat on the head.
After a couple minutes of battling with each other, Donghae used his arms as shields while Eunhyuk hits him in rapid succession. He finally gave up and allowed himself to fall as well - face a few inches from Eunhyuk’s as he fell on top of her.
The rest who were chatting amongst themselves, got distracted as they heard a low moan from the direction of where the fighting couple should be - only to find them sucking each other’s face.
“I told you so!” Ryeowook winked at her gaping boyfriend and turned her attention to the equally shocked Kyuhyun and Sungmin who found solace in each other’s arms. Talk about culture shock. Ryeowook seemed unfazed by the sudden turn of events - as if she’d known this was coming - and continued to guffaw instead.
“Ya! Don’t worry. They’d be fine. There’s no use waiting for them to finish - all the ice would’ve melted by the time they decide to stop. Now, let’s go ski!” Ryeowook said jovially.
Kyuhyun and Sungmin could only let themselves be dragged away by an all too enthusiastic Ryeowook, who had her other hand on the shirt collar of her submissive boyfriend. Sungmin shot the couple one last worried look - only to find them still engaged in a passionate battle of tongues. What if they get frost bites? she mused.
They soon found out that the formerly fighting couple was actually naturally lovey-dovey to the point of giving the people around them a toothache. They literally couldn’t keep their hands off each other - seriously.
That trip was the start of a beautiful friendship between them. The boys have grown closer as much as the girls had. While Kyuhyun found playmates in Donghae and Yesung, Sungmin found good listeners in Eunhyuk and Ryeowook. Nevertheless, no one could ever replace each other in their hearts and their bond continued to grow stronger as the years passed by.
Whenever they had private conversations, Ryeowook would always insist on calling them the “Three Romeos with their Juliets” despite Sungmin’s protests of her and Kyuhyun not being a couple.
“Soon, you will be, so what’s the point of the delay?” Ryeowook would retort whenever Sungmin would argue and it would effectively shut the latter up. The taunting never failed to bring a blush creeping onto her cheeks.
The boys also kept to themselves and in as much as the girls would want to mingle with them, talking about Starcraft the whole freakin’ time just wasn’t that appealing. Also, Sungmin thought Kyuhyun had a little reservation when it came to being friends with the girls - Ryeowook, most especially. Sungmin thought she saw him squirm a little and tighten his hold on his laptop whenever Ryeowook is in the vicinity.
Ah… Good times. Sungmin thought, smiling to herself.
She was jolted out of her reveries when she heard a sudden ringing which she recognized as the fire alarm going off. She immediately ran towards the direction of the kitchen - the only place where she had installed one, knowing that her cooking isn’t really that good and that one day, she might need it.
She was greeted by the sight of a frantic Kyuhyun who was aiming the fire extinguisher towards the flaming stove in a stance that would make a five star general envious - surely, this was something he learned from playing those online games he had, which, in Sungmin’s opinion, involved a lot of fighting and violence.
As the stove was reduced to ruins of white substance and mist, Kyuhyun dropped the fire extinguisher onto the floor and huffed in relief - wiping the sweat on his face with the sleeve of his shirt.
“Kyu! What happened!?” Sungmin managed to croak.
“Me cooking. That’s what happened.” Kyuhyun muttered - still in a daze.
Sungmin was confused - she didn’t know whether to be mad or just laugh. However, the look on Kyuhyun’s face made her choose the latter seeing that he looked for all the world like a soldier who was shot in war, or an athlete who just participated in a decathlon perhaps.
Kyuhyun looked at her quizzically as she clutched onto the kitchen counter for support - little waves of laughter sending vibrations all over her body.
“Ya! That was not funny! I almost died just now!” Kyuhyun said, indignant.
“And so have I! What would’ve happened if I was still asleep? I would’ve ended up burnt to death.” Sungmin chided, although failing to keep her face straight as she still found Kyuhyun’s facial expression quite amusing that she continued to giggle like a school girl.
As she tried to suppress her laughter which continued to come, she was surprised when Kyuhyun closed the distance between them and enveloped her in a hug so tight. She knew that if it wasn’t Kyuhyun, she would’ve pushed the other person away already.
“You know I would never let that happen to you.” Kyuhyun whispered onto her hair, his voice a little husky.
Sungmin let herself bask in the warmth that is Kyuhyun and snuggled close to his chest. Time seemed to have stopped for the both of them and it wasn’t long before Sungmin found it a little hard to breathe. She ended up looking at Kyuhyun, only to flush in embarrassment as she found the latter staring back into her eyes. She racked her brains for a way to get out of that sudden awkwardness as she imagined how much she might’ve resembled a tomato due to the blush on her cheeks.
“Ramen.”
It seemed to take a million years before her brain formed something coherent - and a single word at that, Sungmin wanted to smack herself.
“Eh?” Kyuhyun continued to stare at her, confused.
“Let’s eat ramen instead! Good thing I went to the grocery store the other day.” Sungmin said as she unwillingly disentangled herself from Kyuhyun’s arms.
She rummaged through the cupboards in search for her trusty stock of her staple food and took out two when she found them. She plugged the electric heater on and waited for the water to boil - still refusing to look back towards Kyuhyun’s direction for fear that the awkwardness would come once again. However, she could hear the other moving in what seemed to be an attempt to clean the mess as she heard the sound of water running down the faucet and wiping over the stove’s steel exterior.
Sungmin couldn’t help but smile as she heard Kyuhyun mutter curses under his breath - something along the lines of evil cook books never really being clear about instructions, improperly labeled cooking oil, and pizza deliveries taking too long.
She finally zoned out Kyuhyun’s grumblings and concentrated on filling the first ramen cup with boiled water. She almost dropped the kettle when Kyuhyun perched his chin on her left shoulder all of a sudden and almost ended up burning herself, if not for Kyuhyun’s hands which landed on top of hers, steadying the kettle.
“Oops. Careful!” Kyuhyun’s gentle voice hummed on her ear - a little too close for comfort and Sungmin felt herself stiffen, she felt very much aware of Kyuhyun’s hand, still on top of hers, guiding her to fill the second cup of ramen - before finally settling it back down onto the counter.
Sungmin released the breath she didn’t realize she was holding when Kyuhyun finally pulled away - taking both of the ramen cups over to the table for them to cook. She stayed rooted to the spot and only turned around when she heard her name being called.
“Minnie? Are you okay?”
“Oh. I’m alright. It’s just that you startled me.”
“Really? Are you sick? Why do you seem so flustered these days?” Kyuhyun walked towards her, concern evident in his voice. He ended up feeling her forehead with the back of his hand as if to check on her temperature.
Sungmin shrugged Kyuhyun’s hand away and started moving towards the kitchen table - propping herself on one arm as she blew on her ramen. Kyuhyun handed her a pair of chopsticks and settled on the chair across her. They ate in comfortable silence whilst kicking each other under the table - throwing each other mischievous smiles.
Words were something they really didn’t need and it is in times like these that Sungmin could truly feel the strength of their bond ‘coz really, how many people in the world could proudly say that they have someone in their life who could understand them even without words? Sungmin felt so happy that she has this type of relationship with Kyuhyun. Nonetheless, it is also the very reason for her sorrow at times. A friendship as beautiful as theirs was not something she was ready to risk - not just yet. She reveled in the comfort of Kyuhyun’s presence and for the first time that morning, she felt the beating of her heart calm down.
Sungmin slurped the rest of the contents of her cup in one go and patted her stomach as she set it down on the table. Her eyes widened momentarily when Kyuhyun leaned over the table - bringing his thumb over the side of Sungmin’s mouth, brushing a crumb that got stuck there. Sungmin’s breath picked up and she was more than happy to hear the door bell ring. At the very moment Kyuhyun’s fingers moved to cup her cheek.
She jumped off her seat and dashed off towards the door. She would have to thank this person for saving her from further embarrassment in front of Kyuhyun ‘coz seriously, blushing every time your best friend does something remotely caring is becoming a bad habit of hers.
The person on the door was someone she definitely didn’t expect to see.
She was welcomed by the sight of a very prim-looking Siwon - clad in a plaid polo not quite different from the one he wore the night prior, and dark colored jeans which seemed tight at all the right areas - accentuating his rather perfect assets. He was holding a bouquet of pink roses on one hand - looking for all the world like a modern prince charming
To say that Sungmin was mesmerized by his appearance would be an understatement and she wanted to disappear into thin air upon realizing that she was still sporting her pajamas from the night prior. Heck, she hasn’t even washed her face for god’s sake!
“Hi Minnie!” Siwon said as he handed Sungmin the bouquet and proceeded to giving her a slight hug.
Sungmin distanced herself a little bit before speaking - afraid that her morning breath might scare Siwon off.
“Oh hi Wonnie! Sorry but uhm, what’re you doing here?”
“Oh nothing! Am I interrupting something? I just thought I’d drop by and ask you out to lunch or something. I mean, I wanted to see you and Monday seemed too far away and I can’t tomorrow since I have to go to church and I…I…I’m just gonna go now.” Siwon stumbled with his words and to actually see him flustered made Sungmin smile.
“No it’s perfectly fine! Is it okay of I take a shower first? I’d be quick. I promise.”
“Okay! Sure! Take your time!” Sungmin thought she saw Siwon sigh in relief.
“Take a seat first. I’ll be right back.” Sungmin motioned to the couch which suspiciously had a pillow and a blanket on it.
Sungmin skipped merrily towards her bedroom - feeling tingly all over at the prospect of a date with her crush. There, she said it. It was definitely a crush all right. Little did she know that another man’s heart is breaking in her kitchen at the very same moment.
P.S. See you next year. LOL
Author: ailaling1017
Genre: romance, fluff, college AU
Warning: genderswitch, minor language, cursing
Disclaimer: I do not own Super Junior...although I wish I did.xD * bricked*
Rating: PG-13
Status/Length: Incomplete; Chaptered, 4,569W
Pairing: KyuMin; girl!Min; side: EunHae; girl!Hyuk; ninja!YeWook; girl!Wook; broken!KiHae; girl!Kibum; ninja!HanChul girl!Heechul
Summary:They had clashing personalities, not to mention, different hobbies and ideals. Two parallel lines that wouldn't meet. Needless to say, they belonged to different cliques - Kyuhyun being in the high class and Sungmin, well, the lower class. They were opposite ends of a line - except that, Cho Kyuhyun and Lee Sungmin were the best of friends.
A/N: It's been long. Too long. I'm sorry but uhm, the sloth syndrome caught me and I just kinda hit a dead end with this. Nonetheless, I FORCED my brain to produce this crappy chappy since chunrren10 has been making me feel guilty for such a long time already. keke ~
Thanks to my lovely beta lavender_lace12 ~ Gem unnie ILY!^~^
Sungmin awoke with a start and looked around the familiar surroundings as she rubbed off sleep from her eyes. She was lying in the middle of her double bed, tucked in safely under her pink Hello Kitty blanky, which Kyuhyun gave her on her 10th birthday. It was a tad too short for Sungmin now but she’d rather endure curling up under it than using any other blanket that didn’t come from Kyuhyun. It somehow fueled her illusion of sleeping with Kyuhyun’s arms around her, and she couldn’t help but snuggle in just a little closer to the warmth that said blanket had provided.
She turned her gaze to the pink Hello Kitty alarm clock that was innocently perched on her side table. It read 11 o’clock. God, she must’ve slept too much. All she could remember was trying hard to keep her eyelids open as they were halfway through the second movie Kyuhyun picked - an English chick flick entitled Easy A.
Sungmin’s eyes fluttered on and off throughout the movie - only to be jolted awake whenever Kyuhyun laughed at a particularly hilarious scene. Aside from the fact that she didn’t really have a firm grasp on the English language, she was too tired to even pay attention to the subtitles. Kyuhyun’s chuckles eventually came to a halt and Sungmin was then able to snooze peacefully with her head on his shoulder and his protective arms around her. She smiled at the thought and wondered how simple things such as watching a movie, when spent with someone dear to your heart, can outweigh the most expensive dates at a plush restaurant.
She then smiled as her gaze fell to the photo frame next to the alarm clock. Gazing up at her was a picture of herself together with Kyuhyun - giddy smiles plastered on their faces. It was taken on their ski trip one winter a few years back. Sungmin thought it was the best vacation ever - it was the very first and only vacation they spent together and the both of them went alone after all.
It was the first since it was the time Kyuhyun and Sungmin finally went to college. Sungmin’s family had decided to live in the province, leaving her in their old apartment to be independent; and although she missed them, she was more than happy to have spent it with Kyuhyun. As for Kyuhyun, his parents were always away for some business appointments anyway. In fact, it was the first vacation he has had in years and he’s pleased to have gone with Sungmin.
It was a beautiful day. The cold air caressed Sungmin’s face as they rode the cable car towards the mountain slope. Sungmin and Kyuhyun were sitting side-by-side when they heard two boys about their age squabbling next to them. The boy with brown hair that fell on his face was scowling at his companion - a boy with jet-black hair and dark orbs for eyes which seemed to pierce anyone who’d look into them.
“Aisssh Yesung hyung! I don’t even know what I did this time!”
“Did you walk her through your attic-full of your stupid alien collection?”
“What!? No! And my alien collection is anything but stupid. One day, when they come to take over our planet, I’ll be laughing at you when they decide to snap you in half. I’ve read somewhere that they don’t like reptiles - turtles in particular. Surely, you’d be considered as an outcast by then.”
The boy named Yesung merely scoffed.
“Whatever. The way you say it in earnest, you’d think you were stating some fact of the atmosphere being 20.83 percent oxygen. Well, I hate to break it to you Lee Donghae but ALIENS DO NOT EXIST! Not in a million years! Dinosaurs, tyrannosauruses, hell… dragons may have had existed too. But aliens? NO!!! And besides, no one in their sound mind could possibly hate turtles okayyyyy!?!?” Yesung shouted indignantly at his dongsaeng who cowered momentarily at his hyung’s outburst.
Donghae figured that his hyung gets a little too emotional when the subject of turtles is being brought up, and he made a mental note not to mention it again. Little did he know that at the back of Yesung’s mind, he was contemplating on the best spot to hide Ddangkoma’s cage lest the possibility of Lee Donghae being sane happened and these so-called “aliens” invade soon.
After the elder has calmed down, the younger just did merong to him and slumped his shoulders while fiddling with his fingers. Yesung sighed deeply, as if seeing his dongsaeng acting like some sad idiot was causing him actual physical pain.
“Okay. So you didn’t touch the sensitive alien issue. What could’ve possibly gone wrong that made her so angry to refuse this holiday trip with you? I deserve to know since that’s mainly the reason why I got dragged here for the sake of not wasting the tickets you’ve pre-booked already.”
“Well, she told me we should go out to dinner last night. I told her I can’t ‘coz I have a Starcraft tournament to attend to and besides, we were supposedly gonna spend three days together here alone. I don’t even know how it happened. I mentioned Starcraft and all hell seemed to break lose. One moment she was snuggling to my side as we watched Titanic for the 1000th time then the next, she stormed off my apartment and banged the door after her. I swear one or two hinges came off.”
Sungmin felt Kyuhyun edge in just a little more to listen to the conversation at the mention of Starcraft.
“You idiot, dimwit, imbecile! Dating 101 - number 1 in the rule book. Never, I mean, never ever mention Starcraft, or any online or video games for that matter, to your girlfriend especially when you choose gaming over her and you’re ditching spending time with her, even if it’s just for shopping…"
“JUST SHOPPING!?” Sungmin frowned but kept her thoughts to herself.
“Oh yeah? Really?” Why?" Donghae raised his eyebrows at his hyung.
Yesung nodded solemnly and continued.
“I…I…I don’t really know. But you’ve gotta trust me on this one bro. You know how cotton candy can pale in comparison as to how sweet Wookie is right?”
The Donghae kid could only nod.
“Well I had to learn the hard way. I once made this grave mistake of ignoring calls for dinner. I was playing Left for Dead on my laptop and I was about to complete the mission. You should’ve seen how many boomers I’ve slain and how I totally kicked that Tank’s ass. Anyway, that’s beside the point. I failed to hear her enter the room and the next thing I knew, my laptop was jerked away from my grasp by very strong arms and it landed on the floor as Wookie seriously threw it to the ground.”
Donghae’s lips quivered and Sungmin thought she saw him mouth: my laptop…
Kyuhyun who was beside her was also in a state of shock that he actually had his mouth agape.
“After that, my beloved laptop stayed at the menders for approximately three weeks. The extent of the damage has been so grave and it cost me big bucks. Never did I say a word related to gaming, or computers for that matter, to Wookie again.”
Sungmin wanted to burst out laughing at how the guy called Yesung said each word with such dignity rivaling that of the greatest orators in the monologues but beside her, Kyuhyun had a completely opposite reaction. His eyes widened so much to the point that his eyeballs threatened to pop out off its sockets and he had his hand up to cover his mouth to stifle the gasp that threatened to escape his lips. He had to or the boys would’ve sensed that they were eavesdropping.
A few uneventful minutes passed by until Sungmin felt the cable car halt to a stop - signaling the rest of the passengers to slowly make their way out of it. The Donghae kid excitedly jumped out of the cable car causing it to wobble violently and Sungmin found herself tipped to the side as she chose that very moment to stand up.
Sungmin closed her eyes to prepare herself for the painful crash that was sure to come when she found herself being caught by the waist by strong arms. She felt herself leaning into the warmth of said body when she heard a familiar voice clear his throat which made her open her eyes in curiosity. She found herself face to face with a scowling Kyuhyun - one would’ve thought his eyebrows were naturally knitted together as they were basically joined at the center of his forehead - looking at somewhere behind Sungmin.
“You can let go now.” Kyuhyun all but growled, voice dangerously low - all the while glaring at an unknown entity behind Sungmin when she realized that her best friend was referring to her “savior”.
Sungmin felt the grip on her waist gradually loosen and she slowly made to turn. She was welcomed by a nest of jet black hair - the boy named Yesung as she remembers - eyes turning into crescents as he smiled at her.
“Hi! My name is Jongwoon but you can call me Yesung.”
Said boy extended his hands to Sungmin’s direction and she was about to accept it when surprisingly, Kyuhyun got there first.
“I’m Kyuhyun and this is Sungmin. Now if you’d excuse us, we’re in a hurry.” Kyuhyun made to push Sungmin towards the exit and Sungmin hastily muttered a thank you - waving awkwardly at the seemingly-amused Yesung who looked like he was chuckling.
They continued to walk in silence with Kyuhyun walking a few steps ahead of Sungmin. If she didn’t know better, she’d think the former was sulking. But why?
She was so immersed in her thoughts of figuring Kyuhyun out that she didn’t notice that the other has stopped walking and ended up colliding with his back.
“Ow!” Sungmin yelped.
“Oh my god! Sungmin! Are you alright?" Kyuhyun cooed while he checked Sungmin’s forehead which conveniently landed on his C3 - a bony one at that. It must’ve hurt - bad.
Sungmin blushed at the sudden proximity of Kyuhyun - glad that if the need for her to explain the sudden onset of pink on her cheeks would arise, she could easily attribute it to the cold weather. Nonetheless, it didn’t look like she would have to lie this time as Kyuhyun seemed oblivious about his effect on Sungmin and continued to check every inch of her for any possible injuries caused by the “collision”.
“Aigoo! You’re right! They really are too cute for words!” a high-pitched squeal - ‘coz that’s the only thing it could probably be - and judging by the ringing on Kyuhyun’s ears, yes, it was definitely a squeal (a loud one at that) - sounded from somewhere on their right and both ended up turning to the source of the ruckus with wide eyes - Kyuhyun’s left hand still on top of Sungmin’s head while the other rested on her shoulder.
They were surprised to find four pairs of eyes looking straight at the both of them. Kyuhyun slowly lowered his hands and fiddled with his fingers instead. Sungmin on the other hand chose to look up - hoping to find something of interest - only to be disappointed as she was greeted with nothing but an endless expanse of snow-covered mountains.
They recognized the two guys in the group as the ones they saw in the cable car earlier - Donghae and Yesung, weren’t they?
The two girls however weren’t people they’ve met prior. Before they could ponder on their identity, high-pitched girl bounced forward towards them and extended a hand to Sungmin’s face, quite literally. Sungmin squinted at the said hand while the girl chirped.
“Hi! I’m Ryeowook! But you can call me Wookie for short. I’m Yesung’s girlfriend. Oh, Yesung! Yesung! This is Yesung by the way.” she beamed, all the while grabbing said man with what evidently were strong arms as the other basically lurched forward and almost fell down upon his girlfriends tugging - that, or he was just clumsy - both options very likely, Sungmin thought.
She thought she heard Kyuhyun mutter “laptop wrecker” under his breath and she was about to nudge him in the stomach for fear that their eavesdropping would be found out, but the girl didn’t seem to have noticed. Before the both of them could even think of coherent words to respond, Ryeowook babbled on. Woah, this girl can talk.
“That one over there is Donghae.” the brunet managed a small nod as Wookie pointed at him - he wasn’t exactly in his best of moods as he was earlier - that much Kyuhyun and Sungmin could guess.
Approximately a meter from him is a petite girl who had her arms folded over her front - chin raised into the air as high as it would go. Sungmin could imagine her rolling her eyeballs beneath the eyelids that she was now keeping shut - intent on blocking the man beside her out of her vision.
“And that beside him is Eunhyuk, his girlfriend.” Wookie continued, pointing at the redhead.
“EX-GIRLFRIEND!!!” said girl all but shrieked - causing Sungmin to flinch - Kyuhyun immediately wrapping her in his arms, bringing her closer to his side - all the while rubbing small circles on her back. Sungmin thought she’s never felt safer.
Donghae, Yesung, and Ryeowook on the other hand seemed unaffected - as if seeing this kind of scene was a daily occurrence in their lives - which probably was the case anyway.
Donghae scoffed and rolled his eyes right at the very unfortunate moment Eunhyuk chose to throw him a glare - earning him a rather powerful smack on the head. He barely had time to rub the swell that was starting to form at the back of his head caused by said bump, when she tried her hardest to stomp her foot as she walked away - tried, since the snow was a foot deep and stomping was basically an impossible feat in the given condition. How she managed the first few steps, one would never know. It may have been sheer will power though since she desperately wanted to distance herself from her jerk of a boyfriend. Correction, ex-boyfriend, she thought. A few steps later however, her boots got stuck and she fell face flat onto the snow.
Donghae, who was trailing behind her, hastened his pace and tried to pick her up by the cuff of her jacket - ignoring her flailing arms which aimed to get rid of him and the wild protests of his girlfriend.
“Errr… Are you sure this is a good idea, Hun?” Yesung nudged an all-too-calm Ryeowook. Said girl made to pinch her boyfriend’s cheek in a manner similar to that of a mother to her child.
“Of course babe. Don’t worry. They’d be making out, I mean, making up in no time. Hyukkie would thank us for setting this up before the sun sets today.” Wookie sing-songed before giving a seemingly unconvinced Yesung a pat on the head.
After a couple minutes of battling with each other, Donghae used his arms as shields while Eunhyuk hits him in rapid succession. He finally gave up and allowed himself to fall as well - face a few inches from Eunhyuk’s as he fell on top of her.
The rest who were chatting amongst themselves, got distracted as they heard a low moan from the direction of where the fighting couple should be - only to find them sucking each other’s face.
“I told you so!” Ryeowook winked at her gaping boyfriend and turned her attention to the equally shocked Kyuhyun and Sungmin who found solace in each other’s arms. Talk about culture shock. Ryeowook seemed unfazed by the sudden turn of events - as if she’d known this was coming - and continued to guffaw instead.
“Ya! Don’t worry. They’d be fine. There’s no use waiting for them to finish - all the ice would’ve melted by the time they decide to stop. Now, let’s go ski!” Ryeowook said jovially.
Kyuhyun and Sungmin could only let themselves be dragged away by an all too enthusiastic Ryeowook, who had her other hand on the shirt collar of her submissive boyfriend. Sungmin shot the couple one last worried look - only to find them still engaged in a passionate battle of tongues. What if they get frost bites? she mused.
They soon found out that the formerly fighting couple was actually naturally lovey-dovey to the point of giving the people around them a toothache. They literally couldn’t keep their hands off each other - seriously.
That trip was the start of a beautiful friendship between them. The boys have grown closer as much as the girls had. While Kyuhyun found playmates in Donghae and Yesung, Sungmin found good listeners in Eunhyuk and Ryeowook. Nevertheless, no one could ever replace each other in their hearts and their bond continued to grow stronger as the years passed by.
Whenever they had private conversations, Ryeowook would always insist on calling them the “Three Romeos with their Juliets” despite Sungmin’s protests of her and Kyuhyun not being a couple.
“Soon, you will be, so what’s the point of the delay?” Ryeowook would retort whenever Sungmin would argue and it would effectively shut the latter up. The taunting never failed to bring a blush creeping onto her cheeks.
The boys also kept to themselves and in as much as the girls would want to mingle with them, talking about Starcraft the whole freakin’ time just wasn’t that appealing. Also, Sungmin thought Kyuhyun had a little reservation when it came to being friends with the girls - Ryeowook, most especially. Sungmin thought she saw him squirm a little and tighten his hold on his laptop whenever Ryeowook is in the vicinity.
Ah… Good times. Sungmin thought, smiling to herself.
She was jolted out of her reveries when she heard a sudden ringing which she recognized as the fire alarm going off. She immediately ran towards the direction of the kitchen - the only place where she had installed one, knowing that her cooking isn’t really that good and that one day, she might need it.
She was greeted by the sight of a frantic Kyuhyun who was aiming the fire extinguisher towards the flaming stove in a stance that would make a five star general envious - surely, this was something he learned from playing those online games he had, which, in Sungmin’s opinion, involved a lot of fighting and violence.
As the stove was reduced to ruins of white substance and mist, Kyuhyun dropped the fire extinguisher onto the floor and huffed in relief - wiping the sweat on his face with the sleeve of his shirt.
“Kyu! What happened!?” Sungmin managed to croak.
“Me cooking. That’s what happened.” Kyuhyun muttered - still in a daze.
Sungmin was confused - she didn’t know whether to be mad or just laugh. However, the look on Kyuhyun’s face made her choose the latter seeing that he looked for all the world like a soldier who was shot in war, or an athlete who just participated in a decathlon perhaps.
Kyuhyun looked at her quizzically as she clutched onto the kitchen counter for support - little waves of laughter sending vibrations all over her body.
“Ya! That was not funny! I almost died just now!” Kyuhyun said, indignant.
“And so have I! What would’ve happened if I was still asleep? I would’ve ended up burnt to death.” Sungmin chided, although failing to keep her face straight as she still found Kyuhyun’s facial expression quite amusing that she continued to giggle like a school girl.
As she tried to suppress her laughter which continued to come, she was surprised when Kyuhyun closed the distance between them and enveloped her in a hug so tight. She knew that if it wasn’t Kyuhyun, she would’ve pushed the other person away already.
“You know I would never let that happen to you.” Kyuhyun whispered onto her hair, his voice a little husky.
Sungmin let herself bask in the warmth that is Kyuhyun and snuggled close to his chest. Time seemed to have stopped for the both of them and it wasn’t long before Sungmin found it a little hard to breathe. She ended up looking at Kyuhyun, only to flush in embarrassment as she found the latter staring back into her eyes. She racked her brains for a way to get out of that sudden awkwardness as she imagined how much she might’ve resembled a tomato due to the blush on her cheeks.
“Ramen.”
It seemed to take a million years before her brain formed something coherent - and a single word at that, Sungmin wanted to smack herself.
“Eh?” Kyuhyun continued to stare at her, confused.
“Let’s eat ramen instead! Good thing I went to the grocery store the other day.” Sungmin said as she unwillingly disentangled herself from Kyuhyun’s arms.
She rummaged through the cupboards in search for her trusty stock of her staple food and took out two when she found them. She plugged the electric heater on and waited for the water to boil - still refusing to look back towards Kyuhyun’s direction for fear that the awkwardness would come once again. However, she could hear the other moving in what seemed to be an attempt to clean the mess as she heard the sound of water running down the faucet and wiping over the stove’s steel exterior.
Sungmin couldn’t help but smile as she heard Kyuhyun mutter curses under his breath - something along the lines of evil cook books never really being clear about instructions, improperly labeled cooking oil, and pizza deliveries taking too long.
She finally zoned out Kyuhyun’s grumblings and concentrated on filling the first ramen cup with boiled water. She almost dropped the kettle when Kyuhyun perched his chin on her left shoulder all of a sudden and almost ended up burning herself, if not for Kyuhyun’s hands which landed on top of hers, steadying the kettle.
“Oops. Careful!” Kyuhyun’s gentle voice hummed on her ear - a little too close for comfort and Sungmin felt herself stiffen, she felt very much aware of Kyuhyun’s hand, still on top of hers, guiding her to fill the second cup of ramen - before finally settling it back down onto the counter.
Sungmin released the breath she didn’t realize she was holding when Kyuhyun finally pulled away - taking both of the ramen cups over to the table for them to cook. She stayed rooted to the spot and only turned around when she heard her name being called.
“Minnie? Are you okay?”
“Oh. I’m alright. It’s just that you startled me.”
“Really? Are you sick? Why do you seem so flustered these days?” Kyuhyun walked towards her, concern evident in his voice. He ended up feeling her forehead with the back of his hand as if to check on her temperature.
Sungmin shrugged Kyuhyun’s hand away and started moving towards the kitchen table - propping herself on one arm as she blew on her ramen. Kyuhyun handed her a pair of chopsticks and settled on the chair across her. They ate in comfortable silence whilst kicking each other under the table - throwing each other mischievous smiles.
Words were something they really didn’t need and it is in times like these that Sungmin could truly feel the strength of their bond ‘coz really, how many people in the world could proudly say that they have someone in their life who could understand them even without words? Sungmin felt so happy that she has this type of relationship with Kyuhyun. Nonetheless, it is also the very reason for her sorrow at times. A friendship as beautiful as theirs was not something she was ready to risk - not just yet. She reveled in the comfort of Kyuhyun’s presence and for the first time that morning, she felt the beating of her heart calm down.
Sungmin slurped the rest of the contents of her cup in one go and patted her stomach as she set it down on the table. Her eyes widened momentarily when Kyuhyun leaned over the table - bringing his thumb over the side of Sungmin’s mouth, brushing a crumb that got stuck there. Sungmin’s breath picked up and she was more than happy to hear the door bell ring. At the very moment Kyuhyun’s fingers moved to cup her cheek.
She jumped off her seat and dashed off towards the door. She would have to thank this person for saving her from further embarrassment in front of Kyuhyun ‘coz seriously, blushing every time your best friend does something remotely caring is becoming a bad habit of hers.
The person on the door was someone she definitely didn’t expect to see.
She was welcomed by the sight of a very prim-looking Siwon - clad in a plaid polo not quite different from the one he wore the night prior, and dark colored jeans which seemed tight at all the right areas - accentuating his rather perfect assets. He was holding a bouquet of pink roses on one hand - looking for all the world like a modern prince charming
To say that Sungmin was mesmerized by his appearance would be an understatement and she wanted to disappear into thin air upon realizing that she was still sporting her pajamas from the night prior. Heck, she hasn’t even washed her face for god’s sake!
“Hi Minnie!” Siwon said as he handed Sungmin the bouquet and proceeded to giving her a slight hug.
Sungmin distanced herself a little bit before speaking - afraid that her morning breath might scare Siwon off.
“Oh hi Wonnie! Sorry but uhm, what’re you doing here?”
“Oh nothing! Am I interrupting something? I just thought I’d drop by and ask you out to lunch or something. I mean, I wanted to see you and Monday seemed too far away and I can’t tomorrow since I have to go to church and I…I…I’m just gonna go now.” Siwon stumbled with his words and to actually see him flustered made Sungmin smile.
“No it’s perfectly fine! Is it okay of I take a shower first? I’d be quick. I promise.”
“Okay! Sure! Take your time!” Sungmin thought she saw Siwon sigh in relief.
“Take a seat first. I’ll be right back.” Sungmin motioned to the couch which suspiciously had a pillow and a blanket on it.
Sungmin skipped merrily towards her bedroom - feeling tingly all over at the prospect of a date with her crush. There, she said it. It was definitely a crush all right. Little did she know that another man’s heart is breaking in her kitchen at the very same moment.
P.S. See you next year. LOL