Entry #14 : Cluck!
Chapters : #14
Featuring : Sungmin, Ryeowook, KyuHyun, Ahjummanie, Eunhyuk, Eeteuk
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“Can I kiss you, Lee Sungmin?”
“Kiss me?!”
My mind was still trying desperately, grasping, clinging to what little shred of self-control I had, but I shoved it all away when Sungmin's seduction began - the violent tremors of his hands only seemed to have eased when they rested on my shoulder.
His touch...was soft, gentle...just the way I've imagined it.
Our lips almost touched when he suddenly went, “Why?”
Aish, Sungmin-sshi!
Why did you have to ask me ‘why’!?
We were so terribly close, but I swear Lee Sungmin never looked this petrified before - that I couldn’t continue any further.
Hey, don’t start bricking me now. I’m not the one who totally killed the climax here!
I stopped and pulled away, dropping my eyes to the floor for a second when hearing him breathing once again - probably relieved that I decided to do so before he could cry or throw me over his shoulder Jackie Chan style or something.
“Nothing special,” I answered quickly as the space between us widened once more - trying not to sound too cold when I automatically switched to a casual, whimsical pretension.
Best Actor of the Millennium - me.
“You should have seen your expression,” I chuckled animatedly, “I should have taken a picture of it, hyung!”
Maintain key word in play: Hyung.
Folding his arms across his chest, Sungmin expression then darkened; seemingly unimpressed with the stunt I just pulled on him.
“So just now…” he said, unsmiling. “You were just…playing around with me?”
No.. “Yes.”
Perhaps there’s a reason why my parents named me Henry.
Hen-ry.
Hen.
As in CHICKEN?
Cluck, cluck, cluckety, cluckety CLUCK!
Turning away with a sharp roll of his eyes, my nerves tingled to the drastic contrast of his mood change when Sungmin’s jaw and shoulders tensed up a bit more.
Great. Now he’s going to Kung Fu my ass till I go running home to my mother.
“That was just a joke to you then?”
Hell no. “Uh…Why are you suddenly so mad?”
Then he scowled, “So I’m nothing special to you, Henli-sshi?”
“Ye-”
My words screeched to an abrupt halt when that thundered straight into my brains.
“No!” I gasped, my voice jumping to a shrill cry as my head shook in aggressive defence.
“I mean…No, you are! Of course you’re very special to me, Sungmin.”
He shifted his weight to one foot, still shooting crazy laser beams out of his eyes to destroy this obvious steeling façade that he knew I was putting up in hopes that he would just forget it already.
You know what? Screw my blaming the possible hydraulic lift.
Because it was beginning to look like TIME was being a right bastard here - I couldn’t blame anything else when everything around us seemed to have disappeared from our attention as the seconds purposely crawled by.
Sungmin slowly tilted his head at me, bringing his lips to a thoughtful pucker for a second.
“Oh?” He then raised an unreadable eyebrow. “So now…I’m very special to you.”
All I was thinking of was just grabbing him right that instant because he was so…
URGH!!!!!
Then I came to realize that I never even thought about taking the stairs at all in the first place.
Here lies Henry Lau - Could have just ran up the god damn stairs to save his ass but no, the Cola made him slightly stupid.
RIP: Rest in PABO-ism.
Unanimously, my wary senses were screaming louder at me to get out of this mess quickly.
“Ah, and,” I quickly said when I recovered, before the awkward pause between us could solidify.
“I’m sorry I don’t have anything to give to you now. I’ll give you your real present when you return from Taiwan, okay?”
Sungmin stepped into my path in a single swift motion when I bowed and started past him.
I think I shattered completely when his chest came into contact with mine, the brief brush of his lips upon the sensitive flap of my ear cutting a precise incision into my already crumbling soul.
Jesus Christ.
His breath scalded my skin when he whispered, “Is that a promise, Henli-sshi?”
He was talking about the birthday present, I know it.
Like, what else could he be talking about, really?
I heard a sudden, sharp sound of a loud, resonant crack somewhere inside of me.
Could that be my racing heart breaking into a quantumajillion pieces right then?
Aw, man. Here comes the pain…
Well it’s not like I wasn’t begging for it in the first place anyway.
So much for KANGIN POWER! I guess.
I sidestepped him, grabbing the split second opportunity to commit to memory…I mean, to inhale, no wait, to breathe in the heady sweet smell of his light cologne, at the risk of him finding out - before heading straight towards the lift’s open doors.
Wonderful timing, delightful lift.
Sungmin turned his head slightly to look at me over his shoulder.
I couldn’t read this air between us anymore, so I ended up flashing a V-sign with my fingers.
And as the doors were closing, I yelled out an extremely spirited, “Okay hyung, I promise!”
Exactly. I didn’t know what the hell that was either.
Cluck, cluck, cluckety, cluckety, CLUCK!!!!!!
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Am I really heartbroken?
Nah, it can’t be possible.
I’m Henry Lau, and I always look on the bright side of life…
Doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo!
Even with the possible Super Junior China shebang, a day in a life of a typical SM Trainee is like walking up and down paths to places you don’t even know in hell exists - but it always seems to stretch forever and ever anyway.
At this crucial point of time, it’s either you bite the bullet, or drop out and pack your bags.
I learnt that the general idea here is to not pick on the smallest of details and dwell in it when you’re training - or you’ll miss the big picture altogether.
Devil choreographers may have to sit on you and make you realize your full potential in doing a bloody split - but after a while you’ll come around to thinking that it is all constructive criticism and feedback being done in a more severe manner.
Not that I have problems doing splits at all, but you get my drift here right?
It must be one of those days where I’m not too smart to think about anything else - but prefer to wonder if I made the right decision to sign a contract with SM Entertainment.
Somehow despite all the set backs and stuff, I’m still walking on the greener side of the field.
And I don’t want this walk to end.
I don’t want to fall off the edge should I come to meet one, either.
Henry Lau’s random reality check for the day: Done.
You’re right. I should just pay attention to crossing the roads instead.
Jazz dance lessons ended earlier than usual last Friday evening, and I found myself walking out of the nearby Body Shop outlet with a white musk shower hamper in my hand.
I know I ever said Sungmin should stop smelling so good because it drives me nuts, but I really didn’t think buying another plush toy or cap or bracelet or necklace as birthday present was any better since he owns a museum of each anyway.
And I want him to smell so good all the time, because I like it when my sanity spirals out of control.
Ha-ha. I'm one confused kid, really. Don't have to remind me.
Then I decided to walk home - the apartment isn’t far from the company building itself, and I was feeling sort of snug and warm in my coat despite the night air being somewhere below a killer 10 degrees anyway.
Ah. I feel like having caramel popcorn all of a sudden.
I started to wonder if I was heartbroken again.
The time was a quarter after ten.
Hmm.
Only Ahjummanie’s is the answer!
The shop owner was hanging outside her still open store when I headed up her side of the street.
“Ah, Seungri ah,” she went, waving a little in her quirky fashion of waving at people.
No, seriously. Besides failing at hearing my name in our first meeting (hence, ‘Seungri’ is permanent), she totally fails at waving - which was weird, and funny altogether.
But it’s so cute anyway. “Ahjummanie! Hello!”
“Hello,” the aging woman sang; her friendly bright eyes twinkling.
“Long time no see! Omo…You cut your hair, Seungri ah.”
“Yes, it’s been a while actually.”
“It’s not like you’ve been visiting me lately,” she replied in a sarcastic, tongue-in-cheek manner.
“I’ve been busy with training,” I answered in my defence, hoisting the paper bag over my shoulder higher before a random number on a nearby street sign became stuck in my head.
“Oh! And happy 5th day of New Year,” I wished sheepishly - totally apologetic that I had tactlessly forgotten to call or even text her about it.
Wait. Come to think of it…I think I forgot to wish her a Merry Christmas too.
And…crap. I didn’t get her any presents too!
Will this turn into something like ‘Hell hath no fury than a cherished convenient store ahjummanie forgotten’?
OH AHJUMMANIE PLEASE SPARE ME FROM YOUR FESTIVE WRATH!
Thankfully, she only burst laughing when she sensed my guilt and failure to remember her existence - before dismissing my fluctuating awkwardness with a single, nonchalant toss of her thick, curly silver streaked hair.
I guess if there’s any bigger of a sassy diva than Kim Heechul out there, it’s Ahjummanie alright.
“Your Korean is a very good now, I see,” she said, giving an impressed smile to the new topic created.
“All the nonsense the boys make actually has a good effect on you after all, eh?”
“Yes it does,” I grinned, bemused by her words.
“And how have you been, Ahjummanie?”
“I’ve been well, though there’s nothing much or exciting to tell you about,” she replied with another string of light laughter.
“Kim Dong Wan-sshi still hasn’t dropped by, yet?” I teased, grinning wider at the mention of her favourite Shinhwa member.
“No!” She said irritably, looking through her eyes at nothing particular.
“I think the crazy ELFs are cursing our destiny; seriously annoying - some of them. I think I’ve gotten more fan letters than Jung Soo does - only mine comes with the extra sheet of job application as my shop assistant!”
Aww.
Seriously now, what’s worse than being rejected?
Being rejected over and over again!
No, no, no. I don’t think I’m heartbroken at all, really.
“Eh?” Ahjummanie mused, craning her neck in interest to what I was carrying behind me.
“Seungri ah, I never knew you as to be the type to use Body Shop.”
“It’s for Sungmin,” I said, bringing the bag to the front and showing her.
“Birthday present. I promised to get him something when he comes back and I couldn’t think of anything else that he doesn’t have so I got him this,”
“Oh, I see,” she said, nodding slowly at the sight of the item in it.
“I thought you guys are still not done playing that silly Mystery Santa.”
Ahjummanie the extra-ordinary convenient store lady - but of course she naturally knows things.
“I think everyone is, except for me” I answered, accidentally sighing at the thought of it.
“Why? No idea on what to get for the person?”
“None at all.”
“Well what did you get from your Mystery Santa?”
“Chopsticks.”
“Kangin?”
I laughed. “He’s too obvious, isn’t he?”
“Yes, he is. Who are you Santa to?”
Hell. I really couldn’t be bothered to be mysterious anymore, really.
“KyuHyun hyung.”
Ahjumannie’s eyebrows rose again. “What’s so hard about getting KyuHyunnie something?”
I shrugged, picking on the straying handles of the paper bag absent-mindedly.
“I don’t know why I bother so much about it, really. I’m just troubling myself unnecessarily.”
“Maybe you’re not cheap like Kangin,” she said, her poisonous tongue debuting but still laced in a kindly tone.
“So that’s why you think long and hard, even when it’s supposedly silly, Seungri ah.”
Hmm. She has a point there, but it wasn’t exactly correct.
“Or,” Ahjummanie continued, her enthusiasm building to this topic we were in.
“Maybe you just don’t want to buy him something at all, because you don’t feel like it.”
BULL’S EYE!
I ended up hanging my head, successful in appearing indifferent to her second opinion when I was so ready to hug her for understanding me so well right then.
Hold on a second here.
“Ahjummanie,” I went, excited all of a sudden when an idea dawned upon me.
“Let’s play a game, shall we?”
“I’m not going to race you if you’re suggesting that.”
“No,” I said, chuckling at her sarcasm. “You can help me with KyuHyun hyung’s gift idea! Since you know him so well and you’re good with presents, right?”
“Me? Aish, Seungri ah…”
“So I’ll say what I think, and you can’t ask me why, but then you have to suggest something, and I’ll give him that. Simple! Okay?”
She lost to my rocking excitedly on my heels. “Okay, okay. Go ahead.”
Leaning closer to her so she wouldn’t misheard me at all, I said, “I want to tell him that I’m very sorry-”
“Sorry? Seungri ah, are you and KyuHyunnie fighting-”
Ahjumannie stopped when I frowned a little at the interruption.
“Okay, okay. Continue.”
“I want to tell him that I’m very sorry,” I repeated carefully, word by word.
“I’m very sorry but I’m going to trouble him a lot in the future.”
The aging woman was totally stumped at what I just said - pausing for a long time in her surprise before working on her thoughts to continue this game.
The wrinkles around her eyes - they made the extra ordinary convenient store ahjummanie appear wiser and sassier than she already is.
But she said, “I think you should give him flowers, Seungri ah.”
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Eunhyuk came across an English word when watching television today.
“Henli ah, what’s ‘kurosutofobia’?”
Why he was watching some educational health programme instead of devoting his mind, body and soul into Playstation on a lazy Monday was something that perplexed me greatly too, but I was more amused at the randomness of his question.
“Claustrophobia?” I asked playfully. “What do you think it means hyung?”
After hesitating for a long time, he finally said, “Donghae said it is something like fear of….Santa Clause.”
ROFLMAO much?
Tears actually came out of my eyes, man. “What did Kibum hyung say?”
From the other end of this phone call we were in, I could literally hear Eunhyuk sulking.
Yet eventually, he deadpanned, “Kibummie said its GREAT fear of…Santa Claus.”
I guess it is true when the rest say they love pulling pranks on the resident rapper - mainly because he always seems to be begging for it without realizing it himself.
Poor, sweet and kind-hearted guy, really.
I told him what 'claustrophobia' is in simpler Korean.
He didn't sound amused at all. "That's it?"
"Yes, hyung."
"I'm going to go back to Playstation now. Thanks."
So that was the start of my Monday - Eunhyuk wins at Life first thing in the morning.
It was only later in the evening of the same day that I decided to go on a make-up date with my girlfriend (I, abusive. Remember?) at the rooftop of the apartment - and I think I might need a lot more than just showing some tender loving affection to win my muse over.
Ahhh! Don’t you just love the smell of damp air after the rain?
I do, because it reminds me of home - and cleaning the gutter of the house when my older brother Clint won household chores immunity in our occasional Jengga face-offs.
Placing my violin case next to me and pulling my legs all the way up till my knees touched my chin as I sat in one of those allegedly stolen benches (from the nearby duck reservoir!), I was starting to feel the lingering peace of the atmosphere registering into my senses…
…Until Ryeowook totally destroyed it.
“You went to WHAT?????!?”
I looked over my shoulder to see a huge column of a wall behind me, and realized that the voices were coming from the other side from where I was sitting.
You know, I should leave, really - It didn’t sound like that this was going to be pleasant, judging from the level of decibels Ryeowook just used to pull such an ear-piecing screech.
“What? I only went out for a jog, Ryeowookie ah.”
Ah ha…The unmistakable, compelling voice of the DraKyuHyun-sshi!
Wait. He’s yelling at KyuHyun?
Yes, I know. Eavesdropping is such a lowly thing to do.
Oh come on, like you won’t be listening into this if you were me right then.
So ANYWAY…
From where I was standing now, I could see that Ryeowook wasn’t thrilled at the calm, unaffected manner the younger one between them just answered him in.
“But you’re not well enough to JOG, Kyuhyunnie ah.”
“I’m well enough to do many things now,” the other man argued, hands on his hips now.
“I know that. But you went jogging on your own.”
“So?”
“You went jogging alone, KyuHyunnie ah,” Ryeowook snapped: frustration laced in his tone.
“Did it ever occur to you that it’s dangerous for you to be doing that!”
“Ryeowookie,” KyuHyun sighed, his eyebrows scrunching for a moment.
“I’ve been doing fine, okay. It was just a short run around the block,” KyuHyun said, his hands reaching out to hold the other by the shoulders.
“Everyone else was busy, and I didn’t want to trouble all of you, especially since I know I could manage it. You said I needed the exercise anyway.”
Ryeowook shrugged off the gesture, tensed and unsatisfied.
“Yes, but you could have told me what you were going to do and where you were going to go! When I couldn’t get through Sungminnie too I-”
“Hyung,” the other interrupted; his hands finally resting on the stiffening shoulders of the shorter one and giving them a light, assuring squeeze that silenced Ryeowook instantly.
“I. Am. Alright! See?” KyuHyun said with a smile, touched by such concern coming from the other before pulling him into a long, tight hug.
“And I’m so sorry that I made you worry so much, Ryeowookie ah. It was selfish of me to not remember that you’re always thinking about my condition. I’ll inform you next time if I’m going to do such silly things, hyung, so I won’t scare you anymore.”
See, the thing about me is that witnessing sappy things like this makes me feel sorry all over again for over-dramatizing KyuHyun’s character in my own perspective - regardless of how true some of it is.
Oh, pssh.
“You’re damn right you’re selfish,” Ryeowook muttered unhappily, pulling away from the taller one before giving him an annoyed roll of his eyes.
“I love you so much KyuHyunnie ah,” he suddenly added, his own smile finally debuting out of his anger dying down a little as he punched KyuHyun softly on his shoulder.
That stunned me for a second.
I mean…was that a…confession done in an interesting manner?
“And I can’t believe this is the kind of treatment I’m getting from you, do you know that?”
Now how the hell did Ryeowook maintain such a stylish note and a straight face when saying things like this in front of someone who he possibly has deep feelings for?!
“Being in love just makes me like doing even the most tedious things for KyuHyunnie.”
That's what it's all about, right?
KyuHyun laughed. “I’m pretty spoilt, aren’t I?”
“You mean you don’t have any idea of it at all?!” Ryeowook snorted; his tone still light.
“You’re selfish, spoilt and simply oblivious of my affection towards you. KyuHyunnie ah, you can be so annoying at times like this. Aish!”
Man. Kim Ryeowook could just be the most amazing Homo sapien right then, I swear.
“Okay, okay, I understand it already!” KyuHyun answered, almost in a whine as he begged to be spared from the words that seemed to have registered into his understanding as nothing more than a nagging lecture from the other.
As for me, I think I just found my love fighter sensei.
YOU'RE SO AMAZING, RYEOWOOK-SSHI!!!!
A second later, KyuHyun left the roof when he got a call on his cell phone - and for some reason I decided that it was a lot wiser for me to remain as a smashing ninja for a little while longer…
“You can come out now, Henli-sshi.”
…Until Ryeowook totally destroyed that too.
He picked up the violin case and placed it on his lap as he dropped into the space next to me.
I was regretting that I couldn’t be any better of a sneaky Jedi right then, for crying out loud.
But Ryeowook, he was smiling at me with that type of smile that says that I shouldn’t have been so nosey but since he fails at Tae kwon do, he couldn’t really damage any part of me for it.
“Nice weather?” he went so casually, handing me my girlfriend.
“Hyung, I didn’t mean-”
“If you had breathed,” Ryeowook cut in, shaking his head a little. “KyuHyun would have known.”
“How did you-”
He winked. “I’m actually Superman. I can see through walls!”
YOU’RE SO AMAZING, RYEOWOOK-SSHI!
Laughing, I nodded to his comical reply. “So I’ll have to keep your identity a secret.”
“And everything else that I think you already know,” Ryeowook added, stressing his point.
Then I found myself contemplating long and hard about asking him what he meant with the last sentence he just said.
So that really means-
Ryeowook suddenly turned to directly face me.
“What I’m feeling right now…” he went, hesitant after seemingly reading my mind.
Then he stopped, and tried to find something better to execute this failing damage control.
Actually, I was just struck dumb by my own surprise and interest mixed with a lethal doze of awe - but maybe he was seeing it as my being uncomfortable with what I just witnessed?
OH, YOU’RE STILL SO AMAZING, RYEOWOOK-SSHI!
“Just…please understand one thing, Henli-sshi,” Ryeowook interrupted, slicing into my thoughts and bringing me back to the bench we were sitting in at the rooftop of the place we live.
“Whatever you maybe thinking about me right now, I don’t really care much…”
“…But whatever it is and whatever that’ll happen, I don’t want anything to change at all between KyuHyun and me. Understand?”
So that means I must shut up, or he’ll learn to use Kangin’s thoughtful chopsticks on me.
I hate kindly, silent threats to Hell - so I complied with no further noise.
Just like that, he went back to immersing himself in the tranquillity of Seoul’s gradually darkening atmosphere - the purplish sunset we were facing gradually blanketing a mild composure over our silence as it stretched longer than it was supposed to.
Yes. I just turned into a Kim Ryeowook fan boy - officially.
AMAZING!!!
“Yah! Ryeowook-sshi! There you are!”
We turned our head around to see Eeteuk rushing over to us, his newly coloured hair flying in the wind in the same manner his baggy, oversized.…err…I think he was wearing a tent or something?
Up close, he reminded me of a magnificently erected, native Indian tepee.
“Kangin,” Eeteuk huffed, breathless and cold when he skidded to a halt behind us.
“We’re kicking him out of the dorm.”
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Read the rest of the previous entries :
Entry #1 : I started blabbering (a Henry Lau P.O.V)
Entry #2 : I started blabbering, again.
Entry #3 : Title : I started seeing things.
Entry #4 : Title : I started panicking
Entry #5 : Title : I started conversing
Entry #6 : Title : Blame lethargy
Entry #7 : Title : Reaaaaaaaaally
Entry #8 : Title : "Oppa"
Entry #9 : Title : Sunday
Entry #10 : Title : Love Ache-tually
Entry #11 : Title : The big bad cat's away!
Entry #12 : Title : TPL - Talk, Plot, Love
Entry #13 : Hallelujah, probably
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Many, many thanks to virginangelic for the beta-ing process and well, generally for the muse XD!
Hope you guys like this one. Might not be able to update as soon as possible because apparently I found a freakin' job that's turning me SANE.
anyway, enjoy!
Featuring : Sungmin, Ryeowook, KyuHyun, Ahjummanie, Eunhyuk, Eeteuk
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“Can I kiss you, Lee Sungmin?”
“Kiss me?!”
My mind was still trying desperately, grasping, clinging to what little shred of self-control I had, but I shoved it all away when Sungmin's seduction began - the violent tremors of his hands only seemed to have eased when they rested on my shoulder.
His touch...was soft, gentle...just the way I've imagined it.
Our lips almost touched when he suddenly went, “Why?”
Aish, Sungmin-sshi!
Why did you have to ask me ‘why’!?
We were so terribly close, but I swear Lee Sungmin never looked this petrified before - that I couldn’t continue any further.
Hey, don’t start bricking me now. I’m not the one who totally killed the climax here!
I stopped and pulled away, dropping my eyes to the floor for a second when hearing him breathing once again - probably relieved that I decided to do so before he could cry or throw me over his shoulder Jackie Chan style or something.
“Nothing special,” I answered quickly as the space between us widened once more - trying not to sound too cold when I automatically switched to a casual, whimsical pretension.
Best Actor of the Millennium - me.
“You should have seen your expression,” I chuckled animatedly, “I should have taken a picture of it, hyung!”
Maintain key word in play: Hyung.
Folding his arms across his chest, Sungmin expression then darkened; seemingly unimpressed with the stunt I just pulled on him.
“So just now…” he said, unsmiling. “You were just…playing around with me?”
No.. “Yes.”
Perhaps there’s a reason why my parents named me Henry.
Hen-ry.
Hen.
As in CHICKEN?
Cluck, cluck, cluckety, cluckety CLUCK!
Turning away with a sharp roll of his eyes, my nerves tingled to the drastic contrast of his mood change when Sungmin’s jaw and shoulders tensed up a bit more.
Great. Now he’s going to Kung Fu my ass till I go running home to my mother.
“That was just a joke to you then?”
Hell no. “Uh…Why are you suddenly so mad?”
Then he scowled, “So I’m nothing special to you, Henli-sshi?”
“Ye-”
My words screeched to an abrupt halt when that thundered straight into my brains.
“No!” I gasped, my voice jumping to a shrill cry as my head shook in aggressive defence.
“I mean…No, you are! Of course you’re very special to me, Sungmin.”
He shifted his weight to one foot, still shooting crazy laser beams out of his eyes to destroy this obvious steeling façade that he knew I was putting up in hopes that he would just forget it already.
You know what? Screw my blaming the possible hydraulic lift.
Because it was beginning to look like TIME was being a right bastard here - I couldn’t blame anything else when everything around us seemed to have disappeared from our attention as the seconds purposely crawled by.
Sungmin slowly tilted his head at me, bringing his lips to a thoughtful pucker for a second.
“Oh?” He then raised an unreadable eyebrow. “So now…I’m very special to you.”
All I was thinking of was just grabbing him right that instant because he was so…
URGH!!!!!
Then I came to realize that I never even thought about taking the stairs at all in the first place.
Here lies Henry Lau - Could have just ran up the god damn stairs to save his ass but no, the Cola made him slightly stupid.
RIP: Rest in PABO-ism.
Unanimously, my wary senses were screaming louder at me to get out of this mess quickly.
“Ah, and,” I quickly said when I recovered, before the awkward pause between us could solidify.
“I’m sorry I don’t have anything to give to you now. I’ll give you your real present when you return from Taiwan, okay?”
Sungmin stepped into my path in a single swift motion when I bowed and started past him.
I think I shattered completely when his chest came into contact with mine, the brief brush of his lips upon the sensitive flap of my ear cutting a precise incision into my already crumbling soul.
Jesus Christ.
His breath scalded my skin when he whispered, “Is that a promise, Henli-sshi?”
He was talking about the birthday present, I know it.
Like, what else could he be talking about, really?
I heard a sudden, sharp sound of a loud, resonant crack somewhere inside of me.
Could that be my racing heart breaking into a quantumajillion pieces right then?
Aw, man. Here comes the pain…
Well it’s not like I wasn’t begging for it in the first place anyway.
So much for KANGIN POWER! I guess.
I sidestepped him, grabbing the split second opportunity to commit to memory…I mean, to inhale, no wait, to breathe in the heady sweet smell of his light cologne, at the risk of him finding out - before heading straight towards the lift’s open doors.
Wonderful timing, delightful lift.
Sungmin turned his head slightly to look at me over his shoulder.
I couldn’t read this air between us anymore, so I ended up flashing a V-sign with my fingers.
And as the doors were closing, I yelled out an extremely spirited, “Okay hyung, I promise!”
Exactly. I didn’t know what the hell that was either.
Cluck, cluck, cluckety, cluckety, CLUCK!!!!!!
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Am I really heartbroken?
Nah, it can’t be possible.
I’m Henry Lau, and I always look on the bright side of life…
Doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo!
Even with the possible Super Junior China shebang, a day in a life of a typical SM Trainee is like walking up and down paths to places you don’t even know in hell exists - but it always seems to stretch forever and ever anyway.
At this crucial point of time, it’s either you bite the bullet, or drop out and pack your bags.
I learnt that the general idea here is to not pick on the smallest of details and dwell in it when you’re training - or you’ll miss the big picture altogether.
Devil choreographers may have to sit on you and make you realize your full potential in doing a bloody split - but after a while you’ll come around to thinking that it is all constructive criticism and feedback being done in a more severe manner.
Not that I have problems doing splits at all, but you get my drift here right?
It must be one of those days where I’m not too smart to think about anything else - but prefer to wonder if I made the right decision to sign a contract with SM Entertainment.
Somehow despite all the set backs and stuff, I’m still walking on the greener side of the field.
And I don’t want this walk to end.
I don’t want to fall off the edge should I come to meet one, either.
Henry Lau’s random reality check for the day: Done.
You’re right. I should just pay attention to crossing the roads instead.
Jazz dance lessons ended earlier than usual last Friday evening, and I found myself walking out of the nearby Body Shop outlet with a white musk shower hamper in my hand.
I know I ever said Sungmin should stop smelling so good because it drives me nuts, but I really didn’t think buying another plush toy or cap or bracelet or necklace as birthday present was any better since he owns a museum of each anyway.
And I want him to smell so good all the time, because I like it when my sanity spirals out of control.
Ha-ha. I'm one confused kid, really. Don't have to remind me.
Then I decided to walk home - the apartment isn’t far from the company building itself, and I was feeling sort of snug and warm in my coat despite the night air being somewhere below a killer 10 degrees anyway.
Ah. I feel like having caramel popcorn all of a sudden.
I started to wonder if I was heartbroken again.
The time was a quarter after ten.
Hmm.
Only Ahjummanie’s is the answer!
The shop owner was hanging outside her still open store when I headed up her side of the street.
“Ah, Seungri ah,” she went, waving a little in her quirky fashion of waving at people.
No, seriously. Besides failing at hearing my name in our first meeting (hence, ‘Seungri’ is permanent), she totally fails at waving - which was weird, and funny altogether.
But it’s so cute anyway. “Ahjummanie! Hello!”
“Hello,” the aging woman sang; her friendly bright eyes twinkling.
“Long time no see! Omo…You cut your hair, Seungri ah.”
“Yes, it’s been a while actually.”
“It’s not like you’ve been visiting me lately,” she replied in a sarcastic, tongue-in-cheek manner.
“I’ve been busy with training,” I answered in my defence, hoisting the paper bag over my shoulder higher before a random number on a nearby street sign became stuck in my head.
“Oh! And happy 5th day of New Year,” I wished sheepishly - totally apologetic that I had tactlessly forgotten to call or even text her about it.
Wait. Come to think of it…I think I forgot to wish her a Merry Christmas too.
And…crap. I didn’t get her any presents too!
Will this turn into something like ‘Hell hath no fury than a cherished convenient store ahjummanie forgotten’?
OH AHJUMMANIE PLEASE SPARE ME FROM YOUR FESTIVE WRATH!
Thankfully, she only burst laughing when she sensed my guilt and failure to remember her existence - before dismissing my fluctuating awkwardness with a single, nonchalant toss of her thick, curly silver streaked hair.
I guess if there’s any bigger of a sassy diva than Kim Heechul out there, it’s Ahjummanie alright.
“Your Korean is a very good now, I see,” she said, giving an impressed smile to the new topic created.
“All the nonsense the boys make actually has a good effect on you after all, eh?”
“Yes it does,” I grinned, bemused by her words.
“And how have you been, Ahjummanie?”
“I’ve been well, though there’s nothing much or exciting to tell you about,” she replied with another string of light laughter.
“Kim Dong Wan-sshi still hasn’t dropped by, yet?” I teased, grinning wider at the mention of her favourite Shinhwa member.
“No!” She said irritably, looking through her eyes at nothing particular.
“I think the crazy ELFs are cursing our destiny; seriously annoying - some of them. I think I’ve gotten more fan letters than Jung Soo does - only mine comes with the extra sheet of job application as my shop assistant!”
Aww.
Seriously now, what’s worse than being rejected?
Being rejected over and over again!
No, no, no. I don’t think I’m heartbroken at all, really.
“Eh?” Ahjummanie mused, craning her neck in interest to what I was carrying behind me.
“Seungri ah, I never knew you as to be the type to use Body Shop.”
“It’s for Sungmin,” I said, bringing the bag to the front and showing her.
“Birthday present. I promised to get him something when he comes back and I couldn’t think of anything else that he doesn’t have so I got him this,”
“Oh, I see,” she said, nodding slowly at the sight of the item in it.
“I thought you guys are still not done playing that silly Mystery Santa.”
Ahjummanie the extra-ordinary convenient store lady - but of course she naturally knows things.
“I think everyone is, except for me” I answered, accidentally sighing at the thought of it.
“Why? No idea on what to get for the person?”
“None at all.”
“Well what did you get from your Mystery Santa?”
“Chopsticks.”
“Kangin?”
I laughed. “He’s too obvious, isn’t he?”
“Yes, he is. Who are you Santa to?”
Hell. I really couldn’t be bothered to be mysterious anymore, really.
“KyuHyun hyung.”
Ahjumannie’s eyebrows rose again. “What’s so hard about getting KyuHyunnie something?”
I shrugged, picking on the straying handles of the paper bag absent-mindedly.
“I don’t know why I bother so much about it, really. I’m just troubling myself unnecessarily.”
“Maybe you’re not cheap like Kangin,” she said, her poisonous tongue debuting but still laced in a kindly tone.
“So that’s why you think long and hard, even when it’s supposedly silly, Seungri ah.”
Hmm. She has a point there, but it wasn’t exactly correct.
“Or,” Ahjummanie continued, her enthusiasm building to this topic we were in.
“Maybe you just don’t want to buy him something at all, because you don’t feel like it.”
BULL’S EYE!
I ended up hanging my head, successful in appearing indifferent to her second opinion when I was so ready to hug her for understanding me so well right then.
Hold on a second here.
“Ahjummanie,” I went, excited all of a sudden when an idea dawned upon me.
“Let’s play a game, shall we?”
“I’m not going to race you if you’re suggesting that.”
“No,” I said, chuckling at her sarcasm. “You can help me with KyuHyun hyung’s gift idea! Since you know him so well and you’re good with presents, right?”
“Me? Aish, Seungri ah…”
“So I’ll say what I think, and you can’t ask me why, but then you have to suggest something, and I’ll give him that. Simple! Okay?”
She lost to my rocking excitedly on my heels. “Okay, okay. Go ahead.”
Leaning closer to her so she wouldn’t misheard me at all, I said, “I want to tell him that I’m very sorry-”
“Sorry? Seungri ah, are you and KyuHyunnie fighting-”
Ahjumannie stopped when I frowned a little at the interruption.
“Okay, okay. Continue.”
“I want to tell him that I’m very sorry,” I repeated carefully, word by word.
“I’m very sorry but I’m going to trouble him a lot in the future.”
The aging woman was totally stumped at what I just said - pausing for a long time in her surprise before working on her thoughts to continue this game.
The wrinkles around her eyes - they made the extra ordinary convenient store ahjummanie appear wiser and sassier than she already is.
But she said, “I think you should give him flowers, Seungri ah.”
❤ ❤ -------------------------------------- ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ -------------------------------------- ❤ ❤
Eunhyuk came across an English word when watching television today.
“Henli ah, what’s ‘kurosutofobia’?”
Why he was watching some educational health programme instead of devoting his mind, body and soul into Playstation on a lazy Monday was something that perplexed me greatly too, but I was more amused at the randomness of his question.
“Claustrophobia?” I asked playfully. “What do you think it means hyung?”
After hesitating for a long time, he finally said, “Donghae said it is something like fear of….Santa Clause.”
ROFLMAO much?
Tears actually came out of my eyes, man. “What did Kibum hyung say?”
From the other end of this phone call we were in, I could literally hear Eunhyuk sulking.
Yet eventually, he deadpanned, “Kibummie said its GREAT fear of…Santa Claus.”
I guess it is true when the rest say they love pulling pranks on the resident rapper - mainly because he always seems to be begging for it without realizing it himself.
Poor, sweet and kind-hearted guy, really.
I told him what 'claustrophobia' is in simpler Korean.
He didn't sound amused at all. "That's it?"
"Yes, hyung."
"I'm going to go back to Playstation now. Thanks."
So that was the start of my Monday - Eunhyuk wins at Life first thing in the morning.
It was only later in the evening of the same day that I decided to go on a make-up date with my girlfriend (I, abusive. Remember?) at the rooftop of the apartment - and I think I might need a lot more than just showing some tender loving affection to win my muse over.
Ahhh! Don’t you just love the smell of damp air after the rain?
I do, because it reminds me of home - and cleaning the gutter of the house when my older brother Clint won household chores immunity in our occasional Jengga face-offs.
Placing my violin case next to me and pulling my legs all the way up till my knees touched my chin as I sat in one of those allegedly stolen benches (from the nearby duck reservoir!), I was starting to feel the lingering peace of the atmosphere registering into my senses…
…Until Ryeowook totally destroyed it.
“You went to WHAT?????!?”
I looked over my shoulder to see a huge column of a wall behind me, and realized that the voices were coming from the other side from where I was sitting.
You know, I should leave, really - It didn’t sound like that this was going to be pleasant, judging from the level of decibels Ryeowook just used to pull such an ear-piecing screech.
“What? I only went out for a jog, Ryeowookie ah.”
Ah ha…The unmistakable, compelling voice of the DraKyuHyun-sshi!
Wait. He’s yelling at KyuHyun?
Yes, I know. Eavesdropping is such a lowly thing to do.
Oh come on, like you won’t be listening into this if you were me right then.
So ANYWAY…
From where I was standing now, I could see that Ryeowook wasn’t thrilled at the calm, unaffected manner the younger one between them just answered him in.
“But you’re not well enough to JOG, Kyuhyunnie ah.”
“I’m well enough to do many things now,” the other man argued, hands on his hips now.
“I know that. But you went jogging on your own.”
“So?”
“You went jogging alone, KyuHyunnie ah,” Ryeowook snapped: frustration laced in his tone.
“Did it ever occur to you that it’s dangerous for you to be doing that!”
“Ryeowookie,” KyuHyun sighed, his eyebrows scrunching for a moment.
“I’ve been doing fine, okay. It was just a short run around the block,” KyuHyun said, his hands reaching out to hold the other by the shoulders.
“Everyone else was busy, and I didn’t want to trouble all of you, especially since I know I could manage it. You said I needed the exercise anyway.”
Ryeowook shrugged off the gesture, tensed and unsatisfied.
“Yes, but you could have told me what you were going to do and where you were going to go! When I couldn’t get through Sungminnie too I-”
“Hyung,” the other interrupted; his hands finally resting on the stiffening shoulders of the shorter one and giving them a light, assuring squeeze that silenced Ryeowook instantly.
“I. Am. Alright! See?” KyuHyun said with a smile, touched by such concern coming from the other before pulling him into a long, tight hug.
“And I’m so sorry that I made you worry so much, Ryeowookie ah. It was selfish of me to not remember that you’re always thinking about my condition. I’ll inform you next time if I’m going to do such silly things, hyung, so I won’t scare you anymore.”
See, the thing about me is that witnessing sappy things like this makes me feel sorry all over again for over-dramatizing KyuHyun’s character in my own perspective - regardless of how true some of it is.
Oh, pssh.
“You’re damn right you’re selfish,” Ryeowook muttered unhappily, pulling away from the taller one before giving him an annoyed roll of his eyes.
“I love you so much KyuHyunnie ah,” he suddenly added, his own smile finally debuting out of his anger dying down a little as he punched KyuHyun softly on his shoulder.
That stunned me for a second.
I mean…was that a…confession done in an interesting manner?
“And I can’t believe this is the kind of treatment I’m getting from you, do you know that?”
Now how the hell did Ryeowook maintain such a stylish note and a straight face when saying things like this in front of someone who he possibly has deep feelings for?!
“Being in love just makes me like doing even the most tedious things for KyuHyunnie.”
That's what it's all about, right?
KyuHyun laughed. “I’m pretty spoilt, aren’t I?”
“You mean you don’t have any idea of it at all?!” Ryeowook snorted; his tone still light.
“You’re selfish, spoilt and simply oblivious of my affection towards you. KyuHyunnie ah, you can be so annoying at times like this. Aish!”
Man. Kim Ryeowook could just be the most amazing Homo sapien right then, I swear.
“Okay, okay, I understand it already!” KyuHyun answered, almost in a whine as he begged to be spared from the words that seemed to have registered into his understanding as nothing more than a nagging lecture from the other.
As for me, I think I just found my love fighter sensei.
YOU'RE SO AMAZING, RYEOWOOK-SSHI!!!!
A second later, KyuHyun left the roof when he got a call on his cell phone - and for some reason I decided that it was a lot wiser for me to remain as a smashing ninja for a little while longer…
“You can come out now, Henli-sshi.”
…Until Ryeowook totally destroyed that too.
He picked up the violin case and placed it on his lap as he dropped into the space next to me.
I was regretting that I couldn’t be any better of a sneaky Jedi right then, for crying out loud.
But Ryeowook, he was smiling at me with that type of smile that says that I shouldn’t have been so nosey but since he fails at Tae kwon do, he couldn’t really damage any part of me for it.
“Nice weather?” he went so casually, handing me my girlfriend.
“Hyung, I didn’t mean-”
“If you had breathed,” Ryeowook cut in, shaking his head a little. “KyuHyun would have known.”
“How did you-”
He winked. “I’m actually Superman. I can see through walls!”
YOU’RE SO AMAZING, RYEOWOOK-SSHI!
Laughing, I nodded to his comical reply. “So I’ll have to keep your identity a secret.”
“And everything else that I think you already know,” Ryeowook added, stressing his point.
Then I found myself contemplating long and hard about asking him what he meant with the last sentence he just said.
So that really means-
Ryeowook suddenly turned to directly face me.
“What I’m feeling right now…” he went, hesitant after seemingly reading my mind.
Then he stopped, and tried to find something better to execute this failing damage control.
Actually, I was just struck dumb by my own surprise and interest mixed with a lethal doze of awe - but maybe he was seeing it as my being uncomfortable with what I just witnessed?
OH, YOU’RE STILL SO AMAZING, RYEOWOOK-SSHI!
“Just…please understand one thing, Henli-sshi,” Ryeowook interrupted, slicing into my thoughts and bringing me back to the bench we were sitting in at the rooftop of the place we live.
“Whatever you maybe thinking about me right now, I don’t really care much…”
“…But whatever it is and whatever that’ll happen, I don’t want anything to change at all between KyuHyun and me. Understand?”
So that means I must shut up, or he’ll learn to use Kangin’s thoughtful chopsticks on me.
I hate kindly, silent threats to Hell - so I complied with no further noise.
Just like that, he went back to immersing himself in the tranquillity of Seoul’s gradually darkening atmosphere - the purplish sunset we were facing gradually blanketing a mild composure over our silence as it stretched longer than it was supposed to.
Yes. I just turned into a Kim Ryeowook fan boy - officially.
AMAZING!!!
“Yah! Ryeowook-sshi! There you are!”
We turned our head around to see Eeteuk rushing over to us, his newly coloured hair flying in the wind in the same manner his baggy, oversized.…err…I think he was wearing a tent or something?
Up close, he reminded me of a magnificently erected, native Indian tepee.
“Kangin,” Eeteuk huffed, breathless and cold when he skidded to a halt behind us.
“We’re kicking him out of the dorm.”
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Read the rest of the previous entries :
Entry #1 : I started blabbering (a Henry Lau P.O.V)
Entry #2 : I started blabbering, again.
Entry #3 : Title : I started seeing things.
Entry #4 : Title : I started panicking
Entry #5 : Title : I started conversing
Entry #6 : Title : Blame lethargy
Entry #7 : Title : Reaaaaaaaaally
Entry #8 : Title : "Oppa"
Entry #9 : Title : Sunday
Entry #10 : Title : Love Ache-tually
Entry #11 : Title : The big bad cat's away!
Entry #12 : Title : TPL - Talk, Plot, Love
Entry #13 : Hallelujah, probably
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Many, many thanks to virginangelic for the beta-ing process and well, generally for the muse XD!
Hope you guys like this one. Might not be able to update as soon as possible because apparently I found a freakin' job that's turning me SANE.
anyway, enjoy!