Love Bites and Letters Chapter 3
Chapter 3
Love Bites and Letters
Five Years later……
He opens his locker to find a small parcel of assorted cookies. He rolls his eyes but then chuckles. He’s not surprised anymore to see that package of food not so mysteriously put inside his locker. He’s been receiving it since he was ten, it would be weirder if he opens his locker one day only not to find his usual treat. But then…… Wasn’t he praying to get away from that person’s radar ever since? He picks the small pink envelope tied to the pack and reads it.
“For my Hubby.” Jonghyun snorts at the letter. He takes a deep breath then starts counting.
“Five…..four…..three…..two…..one.”
“HUBBY!!!!”
Jonghyun closes his locker to stare at the person running towards him. To be specific, a 200 pound Choi Soooyung sprinting towards his direction. He swears, he can feel the ground shaking as the huge girl comes nearer. It’s a futile attempt for him to run away from the crazy girl so he braces himself for the full impact.
“HUBBY!!!!” Choi Sooyoung screams again then crushes her body towards him for a bone crushing hug.
“Umph!” Jonghyun grunts in pain. A snort from his left made him crane his neck to the side. His cousin, Jung Yonghwa, smirks mockingly while opening his own locker.
“Shut-up Yonghwa.”
“I didn’t say anything.” The latter drawls while picking a white piece of paper eagerly from inside his locker. Jonghyun has to control himself not to frown. He knows who sends those letters to his cousin.
“Hubby! Hubby! How are you today? Did you miss me?” Sooyoung’s loud voice distracts him from his bitter thoughts.
“Good morning to you too, Sooyoung.” Jonghyun answers lifelessly while disentangling himself from Soooyung’s arms.
A soft giggle made him crane his neck again. Seo Joohyun, Choi Soooyung’s stepsister, is giggling at him and her sister’s “display of affection” a.k.a Choi Sooyung mauling Lee Jonghyun.
“Just great.” He groans inwardly.
“Unnie, you’re choking Jonghyun Oppa.” Joohyun points out.
Jonghyun didn’t fail to notice the younger girl glancing sneakily at Yonghwa who is at the moment, still reading the letter. Somehow, seeing her doing that irritates him greatly.
“Hmp! I’m just being sweet to my nampyeon.” Sooyoung explains defiantly.
Feeling more irritated, Jonghyun pushes Soooyung forcefully away from him. Sooyoung stares at him hurtfully but Jonghyun pretends he didn’t see her wounded expression. He looks again at Joohyun and finds her still looking at Yonghwa. Joohyun’s smile brightens when she sees Yonghwa tucking the letter in his pocket.
“It’s that smile again.”
Although the smile isn’t for him still, it totally made his day.
# ---- #
After finishing reading his letter for the day, Yonghwa folds the tiny piece of white paper and tucks it carefully in his pocket. This is his second year receiving those mysterious letters. He feels incomplete whenever it’s weekend. It means no letters from her. Even if he’s not that of a diligent student, those letters are one of the few reasons that prompt him to look forward in coming to school. Though it was embarrassing to admit, the letters were his energy pills.
“I’m going.” He tells his cousin gruffly before walking away, leaving Jonghyun with the two sisters.
“Eh? Still cold and grumpy as ever cousin in law!” Soooyung calls after him.
“Aish…leave him alone, Choi Soooyung!” He hears his cousin scolding the crazy stalker.
“Tsk.” Yonghwa snorts while rolling his eyes. He quietly walks towards his classroom. He can see students avoiding his path as he walks. He can only roll his eyes again and scowl.
A lot has happened in the past five years. Yonghwa is no longer the cheerful and positive lad who at the sight of gogumas can make him happy already. In fact, he hates those root crops. They only bring hateful memories that he would gladly forget.
“Yonghwa, can you go outside for awhile and buy me some gogoumas?
“Deh, Omoni.”
“Omoni, I’m back! Here are your gogumas. Eh? Who are you?”
“Aish….Ryeowon! I thought your son won’t be back soon?”
He scrunches up his face when that memory suddenly flashes in his mind. The students he passes by cringe and immediately scampers off upon seeing his frowning face. That incident of five years ago made him cold and angry to almost everything.
He felt betrayed by his own mother. So he rebelled, got into fights and decides to flunk in school. His mother, that cheating woman, can’t take his actions anymore so she called her ex-husband, Yonghwa’s father, to take their son to live with him in Seoul and study there.
Yonghwa didn’t change that much. He’s still cold and gloomy but at least, he attends school now. He has to. He promised to his father in exchange of getting support for his musical hobbies. Besides, his father is a well off businessman so money isn’t a problem. So he started his junior year in his cousin’s, Lee Jonghyun’s school: Jeonju Arts Highschool.
Because of his I-am-angry-to-the-world demeanor, no one dared to befriend him. He was too scary to approach for most of the students in the school. Jonghyun, a year younger than him, is his only buddy and because Jonghyun is always pestered by Choi Sooyung, the Fat Stalker girl, Yonghwa got re-acquainted with little Joohyun.
If only Yonghwa is not consumed with his attitude of being angry t the world, he and Seo Joohyun would have been friends. But he’s too mad, got too much hate that he didn’t bother getting chummy with her. He just has little patience befriending anyone. He could see how the younger girl tries to be friendly with him but he’s too distant that eventually, Seo Joohyun gave up.
The fleeting friendship that they had in that park one rainy afternoon is just a distant memory now.
Now, he’s in his senior year. He must do well for the sake of graduating. He’s still cold and unapproachable……..except for one girl. She’s the reason why he’s less gloomy. His world somehow brightened even a tad bit when he saw her; Park Shinhye.
The ice prince’s cold heart was quickly melted by the beautiful girl’s warm smiles and cheerful laughter. Though it was a struggle to approach someone, Yonghwa was persistent to befriend her.
Because cold and gloomy he maybe, he still believed in the magic of love at first sight.
# ---- #
He was in his junior year that time, also the year he transferred to Seoul. He was part of this music club in school and that day, they were having an impromptu song composition activity. Yonghwa swears their club moderator was just trolling when he told them of the task. So amidst the groans and complains, the members were forced to be put in to pairs, boy and girl, and together, they are going to compose a song.
The theme? First love.
His partner was the then sophomore student Seo Joohyun. To describe the whole experience, it was awkward to the point of frustrating. Little Joohyun was too shy to talk. Yonghwa almost screamed at her due to lack of patience. The girl won’t talk! But this is a task, he and unfortunately for him, mute Joohyun must work on this together.
“Joohyun-sshi…..” Yonghwa tried again slowly, his patience getting thinner by the minute.
“Deh?” Joohyun asked tearfully.
Yonghwa stared at her in disbelief. Seo Joohyun can’t possibly cry because of this stupid song writing activity. Should he be the one crying because they already wasted a good amount of time doing nothing? Wait……is she scared of me? Yonghwa shakes his head, dismissing the absurd thought and tried asking her again.
“Just give me a word. Just one word that for you is associated with first love.” He said in exasperation. “Please!”
“…………………………………………………Dugeun……………dugeun.” Seo Joohyun answered softly, hear head bowed.
“A what?!”
“Dugeun dugeun…..the sound of your heartbeat when you’re near that person.” Joohyun repeated her answer; she slowly raised her head to look him in the eye. Yonghwa was silent as he mulled on her answer.
“You know…..you have sparkling eyes.” Yonghwa told her bluntly. His words effectively made the shy girl in front of him blush deeply.
“What is wrong with this girl? I was only telling the truth!” Yonghwa thought.
And so for the rest of that period, through Seo Joohyun and Yonghwa’s efforts, they’ve successfully created a song. For Seo Joohyun, the words came from the books that she has read and the experience of being near that person. For Jung Yonghwa, it was all theory. Love songs tend to be sweet and mushy so he just has to think like that and conjure all the sweet words he could muster.
What a piece of cake.
But the only problem was, they still don’t have a title for their song.
“Ottoke?” Joohyun wondered loudly, her sparkling eyes were staring at him again. It’s almost blinding him.
“Don’t worry. We still have fifteen minutes to think of a mushy title.” Yonghwa told her lazily. Joohyun nodded and looked back again at their paper, hoping she can find the title among the words they have written. She taps her pencil on the paper while pouting.
Yonghwa tilted his head towards the window. The awkward atmosphere between them made him sleepy and bored. He watched the group of girls gathered outside music club’s room. They were playing, throwing soccer balls at each other. Suddenly, one of them, a girl with shoulder length hair, turned around.
Yonghwa could hear the sound of his heart when he saw her face.
“Sarangbit!”
Joohyun’s excited voice forced him to stop staring at the still nameless girl. He willed himself to look at the girl beside him.
“What?”
“Sarangbit! Love light! That’s the title of our song.” Joohyeon told him happily.
“Sarangbit……sarangbit…..” Yonghwa mumbled. He looked at the girl again. She’s playing with her friends; the sound of her laughs was a tickle to the ears. He smiled widely when he saw the girl trip, making her blush. He looked at Seo Joohyun again and nodded his head.
“Then Sarangbit it is.”
Yonghwa frowned when he noticed Seo Joohyun didn’t respond; she only gasped and remained frozen on her seat. He grabbed her shoulder and shook her lightly. Joohyun immediately snapped out of her daze and hastily wrote the title of their song.
(Yonghwa never knew that his smile had made Joohyun temporarily speechless that time.)
Yonghwa looked at the girl with the shoulder length hair again. He can’t understand it but seeing her face, he felt light and weirdly happy. His heart even made weird noises. He blinked his eyes repeatedly when a realization hit him.
“Joohyun-sshi……I think you’re wrong on the dugeun dugeun part.”
“Deh?” Joohyunn asked him, it was obvious in her voice that she’s confused with his statement.
“You see….” Yonghwa explained thoughtfully. “Even if that person is far away from you….you’re heart….it can still go………dugeun dugeun.”
Seo Joohyun looked outside the window to see what Jung Yonghwa was looking. To her sadness, she saw Park Shinhye, a sunbae and a junior like Yonghwa who was playing with her friends. She gazed back at Yonghwa and she realize;, Jung Yonghwa was looking at Park Shinhye the whole time.
Jung Yonghwa is finally smiling and it’s not because of her.
# ---- #
“Yonghwa-sshi!!!”
Yonghwa halts in his steps when he hears her voice. He turns around and waits for her expectantly while keeping a poker face. He could feel his heart pounding uncontrollably and he wonders how come he’s still alive? His heart is beating erratically! Any normal person would die of this abnormality. But then, being in love makes a person invincible to heart ailments. Well, that’s what he believes. He’s experiencing it right now.
Watching Park Shinhye walking down the corridors is a heart stopping experience.
“Can she even hear the sound of my heart?” He wonders.
“Good morning Yonghwa-sshi!” Shinhye greets him warmly.
“Mo-morning.” Yonghwa stutters. Shinhye scrunches her nose cutely hearing him stutter, giggling at his awkwardness. Her action made Yonghwa blush. He coughs loudly as he tries to maintain his composure.
“Yonghwa-sshi, how was your weekend?”
“Good.”
Shinhye nodded contentedly at hi mono-syllabic answer but then immediately brightens upon remembering something. She opens her navy blue mail bag and takes out a music sheet. She smiles at Yonghwa gratefully before giving him the paper.
“Komwao Yonghwa-sshi. The chords you wrote really helped my friend.” Shinhye earnestly told him.
“It-it’s nothing!”
“Ahni!” Shinhye argues, shaking her head profusely. “It really helped Geunsuk Oppa.”
“Geunsuk?” Yonghwa asks in alarm.
“Deh. Geunsuk Oppa. He’s….he’s a friend!”Shinhye answers. Yonghwa notices a faint blush creeping on Shinhye’s cheeks when she said her friend’s name. It made him worry. Does Shinhye like someone?
But it can’t be. She likes-
“Anyways, I have to go to class now!” She says brightly. She bows at Yonghwa politely and is about to walk away when she turns to Yonghwa again. Yonghwa’s eyes widen in surprise when Shinhye unexpectedly grabs his cheeks, pulling them to make his lips form a smile.
“Smile more, Yonghwa-sshi. Girls will like it.” Shinhye playfully advises him with a wink. She lets go of his face and steps back. She waves her hand in goodbye and proceeds towards her classroom.
Yonghwa watches Park Shinhye wak away from with a broad smile lingering his face. He has nothing to worry about then. He’s now sure whom Shinhye really likes. He takes the folded white paper from his pocket and re-reads it again. His smile becomes wider seeing the sweet message again.
“A smile can do wonders to someone’s face. Frowning is not good for you. In fact, it doesn’t suit you at all! >.< Smile more often please. ^___^”
-SH-
To be continued.
Author’s Note:
Ate Raj, you won. LOL. I have to cut it in the end. Hehehehe.
So for this chapter, it’s the boys turn to shine. Well, more of Yonghwa and a glimpse of Jonghyun. Yup, it’s five years after the events in Chapter 2. So what do you think?
And oh, It’s the girls turn in Chapter 4 and some things will happen.
Ruth and Sandy, the cameos are not in this chapter. Just a heads up! :D
I would like to say sorry to those JongYoon shippers out there. *coughSandycough* But I’m sticking with this JungSoo pairing. So again, Mianhe. *bows*
By the way, TGBTW will be updated Mid-March. Yehey? :D
Enjoy reading.
-Merki-