[SJFF] Fragments of a Memory - Chapter 8
Title: Fragments of a Memory (Sequel to Angel of Death)
Characters: Kyuhyun, OC, SJ members
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Romance, Drama
Type: Novel
Summary: Even if he may have been released from those invisible bonds tying him down, even if he has been allowed to return, what are the odds of a separation occurring once again?
~ * ~
Chapter 08
He watched from a dark alley as the obese man staggered out of the convenience store into the large crowd with a six-pack in his hand. The figure, who was dressed in a crisp black outfit and a beanie, wrinkled his nose in disgust at the drunken demeanour that the fat man was displaying.
It isn’t even noon yet, he thought in dismay, as he slipped into the crowd as well. Keeping his head bowed down low but more than adequate for him to keep track of the obese man, he waded faster through the lunch crowd so that he could keep up with his target.
A satisfied smirk played on his lips when the man disappeared around the corner - it led to another quiet, unfrequented alley. The man was obviously too intoxicated to notice or care where the hell he was headed to, as long as he had a place to sit down and indulge himself in his alcohol.
Glancing around inconspicuously to ensure that no one was staring in his direction, the well-dressed man quickly allowed himself to be swallowed into the alley, and continued tailing his prey, lest the obese man stumbled elsewhere.
He could not afford to screw this job up. Not when the lives of two people are in his hands.
* * * * *
Pulling his hat off the top of his head, Kyuhyun puffed up his cheeks and exhaled in a burdened manner as he strolled through the shopping district of Apgujeong. To say that he wasn’t remotely annoyed by how the other pedestrians were literally shoving their elbows into his sides (and one of them, square in Kyuhyun’s stomach because she was too excited for that massive sales at the boutique on the opposite side of the road) would be an understatement of the century.
“Don’t these people have to be at work?” He huffed grumpily in his head, remembering that it was a weekday. That was the main reason why he was walking around without Hyeonmin in tow in the first place.
But to be fair, she did ask him to return to the company to work with her, but he politely (read: sent her the cutest look he could muster) declined her offer. One, because he was lazy; and two, he didn’t think that working as an IT analyst for the rest of his new shot at life was very appealing at all.
He’d thought that he would have a hard time convincing her to see things his way, but much to his surprise, she agreed fairly easily. Sungmin had a point - it’s really easy to butter someone up with aegyo. Then again, the lack of overt response or objection on Hyeonmin’s part didn’t sit too well with the worrisome part of his heart.
Deciding that the massive crowd and early summer heat was getting too much to withstand, Kyuhyun deftly slipped into the first café he came across and slumped into the lush armchair in a quiet corner of the outlet. He sighed in content as he fingered the velvet covering of his seat, feeling the sense of relief and oxygenation wash over him.
However, another different set of emotions tried to overcome that warm feeling barely seconds later, making Kyuhyun grimace in response. He quickly swallowed the entailing nausea, opening his eyes just in time as a girl in uniform - possibly in her early twenties - stepped up to him.
“Good afternoon, sir,” she greeted with an amiable smile. The same smile worn by almost every other individual dabbling in the service industry, but this was different, he noted. It was sincere. “Can I get you anything to drink?”
Kyuhyun found himself smiling back politely. “Black coffee would be good, thank you,” he replied. The waitress nodded in acknowledgement, and bounced off in the direction of the bar at once, chirping happily at her colleague. She seemed genuinely happy to be working here.
When he was left alone once again, Kyuhyun’s sharp brown eyes wandered off to the window panes separating the cosy interior of the outlet with the bustling streets out there, watching the people hurry past. He was amazed at the drastic difference between the two places, despite having only a thin sheet of glass in the middle. It was as though he was looking at a different dimension.
Glancing around and scrutinising the interior of the café for the first time since he had settled in, Kyuhyun came to realise that it was a coffee shop-cum-mini library of sorts. Tons of books lined the shelves which were tucked away at another corner of the shop. From the distance, he noticed that these books were probably not for sale; a couple of copies were falling apart, and several others had their covers carefully taped back into place.
It appeared to him that these were books that were treasured deeply by the owner of the café, but wanted to share it with everyone else nonetheless.
“Interested in getting something to read?”
A new voice joined him in his corner of the outlet, and was followed by the soft clattering of porcelain against glass top. He looked up with a smile to utter his thanks at the woman who had just served his coffee, though his expressions turned surprised within the next moment, then softened at the recognition.
“I know you,” he mused with a sing-song voice.
The woman quirked an eyebrow at him, mirroring his astonishment. “My, I didn’t expect you to remember me,” she pressed a hand against her chest, flattered.
“I would remember a pretty face anywhere,” Kyuhyun sent a mischievous wink in her direction. He chuckled when her cheeks turned scarlet. “I’m just kidding; my memory is fairly good, if you must know. I didn’t know you worked here, though.”
“Except that I don’t work here,” she giggled a little, and gracefully eased herself into the armchair right across him. “I own this place.”
“Oh?” he exclaimed, feeling impressed. “This is a pretty neat concept.”
“Thanks; it was something that was thought up by someone who used to be - and still is - very dear to me. It’s unfortunate that he couldn’t be around to watch this come to fruition, though…” the woman rambled on as her eyes wandered around her own shop. The nostalgia was clearly reflected in her eyes, though she caught herself just in time before she could say more about it. She probably thought that her customer wouldn’t appreciate having her talking on and on about her own life.
Kyuhyun also attempted to ignore her gaze that lingered a second too long on his face. A shudder shot down the length of his spine at the familiarity of it, but quickly pushed the matter aside.
“That’s a pity, but I’m sure that person will return eventually to see what a great job you’ve done,” he offered with a reassuring smile, not knowing that he was driving a wedge through her heart with his words. “Anyway, how’s your son? Has his wound healed?”
“Ah - yes, he’s fine. Thanks for your concern,” she replied with a tight-lipped smiled. It made Kyuhyun frown a little, but he thought that he wasn’t in any position to enquire further about it.
“So… I haven’t really been able to catch your name,” he therefore changed the subject, holding his right hand across the table. “I’m Sikyu. Ch-Sung Sikyu” he said, mentally chastising himself for nearly letting slip his actual surname. He had done so before upon his return from the realm of death, and it had invited a lot of unwanted questions - mainly about his relationship with a certain Cho Kyuhyun.
They all said that he was a dead ringer for the deceased singer, though they did not need to know that he was Kyuhyun himself. But of course, Kyuhyun knew better than to commit the same mistakes again - or so he hoped.
“Are you sure that’s not a fake name you’re giving?” the owner of the café asked, eyes crinkling in amusement over a distant memory of her past.
Kyuhyun’s eyebrows knitted in confusion. How did she know?, he wondered. Nevertheless, he kept his expressions unreadable, hoping that he did not give himself away with his lie and how he squirmed a little under her scrutiny. “No, why do you ask?”
“It’s nothing; just an amusing experience I had when I was younger,” she waved him off with a disarming smile, then reached over to take his outstretched hand in hers. “I’m Cho Jinri.”
* * * * *
She slowly cut out a slice of steak and delivered it into her mouth, though her eyes were completely fixated on her date. He had been oddly quiet for the entire day; the only sentence he had said to her was to ask her out for dinner, the moment she had returned from work.
She pushed away the bitter feeling that she was being neglected.
Glancing down at his plate, Hyeonmin frowned at the sight. He had not touched a single thing on it, even though his cutlery hovered over his meal. He was staring off into space for the thousandth time that week, though he would wave it off with a look of nonchalance whenever she tried to talk about the subject. Although it got onto her nerves, she decided to let him talk at his own pace.
Hyeonmin sighed and gently settled her own set of cutlery on the sides of her plate, reaching across the table to give his hand a gentle squeeze. “Kyuhyun,” she began, taking care not to let anyone else hear the name. “Sweetheart, your food’s getting cold. Are you alright?”
“Hmm?” Kyuhyun voiced out in response, though he was clearly still in a daze and pre-occupied with whatever was in his thoughts. It wasn’t after several more seconds hand passed that he jolted back to reality with a sharp gasp. “I’m sorry, did you say something?”
The corner of Hyeonmin’s lips curved up into a wry smile. “You’re doing it again.”
“What do you mean?” he blinked.
“Staring off into the distance,” Hyeonmin supplemented, shooting a pointed look at his plate.
Kyuhyun’s eyes followed her line of vision, and he grinned apologetically when he realised that she was almost done with her food while his was virtually untouched. “I’m sorry,” he apologised again. It was something that he had been doing very often these days.
The situation was always the same; he would lose himself in his tumultuous mind - where he refused to let Hyeonmin in, saying that he didn’t want her to worry - and she would always be there to pull him out of it. It was difficult to endure long periods of silence even when they were close together.
“Don’t be. You seem particularly troubled today, though. Is it about your decision to re-enter the entertainment industry?” she asked. She was eager to keep him with her, now that he was back from being lost in his inner mind.
He shook his head in response as he started digging into his Cordon Bleu. There was a small frown on his face when he realised that the cheese was hardened because of his own neglect. “The poll hasn’t been finalised yet, so there’s still ways before I’d start worrying about it,” Kyuhyun said when he decided that there wasn’t a point dwelling over his food-gone-cold.
“Oh. Then did something happen while I was at work?”
“Hmm, I guess you could say so,” Kyuhyun hummed in consideration. “Do you remember the kid that bumped into me the other day?”
Hyeonmin nodded. “What about him?”
“Well, I met his mother at a café downtown today. Apparently she owns the place,” he quipped. Nevertheless, because Kyuhyun was concentrating on his food, he completely missed how Hyeonmin paled and how her grip on her fork tightened to the point that her knuckles were turning white.
This wasn’t supposed to happen!, her mind screamed. She had to rein her emotions in, willing herself to not suddenly burst into tears. It was a gargantuan task to achieve, especially when the extreme fear of losing him grappled her entire being.
When she was certain that she could at least speak without stammering throughout, Hyeonmin put up a brave smile and hoped that Kyuhyun did not notice those negative emotions of hers. “Did you manage to talk to her?” she then asked good-naturedly.
Hyeonmin chastised herself when she caught on to that slight quiver in her voice. She was barely able to stop herself from heaving a sigh of relief when she glanced up at Kyuhyun, however. He was too preoccupied with his dinner to pay attention to the finer details of the quality of her voice.
Just as he chewed on another thin slice of meat, Kyuhyun paused to think, resting his cheek on his right knuckle as he did so. “Actually, I did,” he admitted distractedly, the smile creeping up to his lips. He didn’t seem to have noticed the expression he was wearing, his eyes dreamy as he thought about something.
At that particular moment, Hyeonmin had never felt more estranged from him. Her knuckles whitened again as she gripped on the hem of the tablecloth, though she quickly loosened her fingers when the objects on the table rattle from the friction of the sliding piece of cloth.
“I certainly hope that you didn’t bore her with your Starcraft-related conversations,” she said absentmindedly, though Hyeonmin quickly explained herself when Kyuhyun seemed to be taken aback by her words. “I mean, not every woman would be interested in computer games after all.”
“True; you’re probably one of the rare exceptions to that rule,” Kyuhyun beamed, and Hyeonmin knew that she had managed to salvage the situation. “But that’s beside the point, Hyeon. I didn’t actually talk to her about games.”
Her eyes widened in mock surprise, a mischievous glint shining in them. “Wow, that’s a first.”
Kyuhyun laughed. “Who in the right frame of mind would bring up about that on their first encount- wait, you did.”
Hyeonmin appeared flustered when she realised that he was poking fun at her; she did, after all, ask him whether he played Starcraft on their very first formal meeting in her office. “Hey!” she called out indignantly.
“I’m just kidding,” he chuckled even more, reaching over to hold her hand. “You know, if you hadn’t initiated that conversation about Starcraft, I probably wouldn’t have remembered about my past at all.”
“Well… I did want to bury myself six-feet-under when the question left my mouth… I felt so compelled to ask you that, although I tried to convince myself otherwise,” she mumbled miserably as she remembered about that embarrassing event.
“Thankfully you didn’t; we probably wouldn’t be here together right now if you distanced yourself away from me,” Kyuhyun grinned.
“Cheesy,” she shot back. “So what did you talk to her about again?” Hyeonmin then quickly changed the subject, knowing full well that Kyuhyun would get even cheesier if she didn’t. she was already dying from embarrassment as it was; her cheeks were probably completely flushed by now.
Kyuhyun mulled over the question for a moment as he took a sip of his wine. “Basically about the reasons behind her decision to start up a book café. That’s not her only job, though. I was told that she works as a freelance photographer too.”
Hyeonmin stiffened a little. “Oh? Did she tell you more about the photography job, then?” she queried cautiously. She hoped that Jin Ri hadn’t mentioned about SME, because then Kyuhyun would bombard the other Super Junior members with questions regarding his ex-wife (not that he knew about it).
She knew she was being selfish, but she wasn’t too sure whether she could handle seeing Kyuhyun return to Jin Ri.
“Not exactly, no,” Kyuhyun replied, much to Hyeonmin’s relief. “Why are you being so curious about her, anyway?”
“Because it’s the first time you’ve really talked about anyone else in this new life of yours,” she said. It was a partial lie; one that she had to tell as the other Super Junior members had advised her to.
He eyed her sceptically. “You’re not by any chance… jealous, are you?” he asked, lips curving up into a mischievous smirk.
Hyeonmin blushed at his comment; it was the truth after all. “Who wants to be jealous because of you?” she huffed and averted her gaze away from him.
“You would,” he pointed out in a sing-song voice, happily finishing up the rest of his food as he watched Hyeonmin sport a permanent pout.
Characters: Kyuhyun, OC, SJ members
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Romance, Drama
Type: Novel
Summary: Even if he may have been released from those invisible bonds tying him down, even if he has been allowed to return, what are the odds of a separation occurring once again?
~ * ~
Chapter 08
He watched from a dark alley as the obese man staggered out of the convenience store into the large crowd with a six-pack in his hand. The figure, who was dressed in a crisp black outfit and a beanie, wrinkled his nose in disgust at the drunken demeanour that the fat man was displaying.
It isn’t even noon yet, he thought in dismay, as he slipped into the crowd as well. Keeping his head bowed down low but more than adequate for him to keep track of the obese man, he waded faster through the lunch crowd so that he could keep up with his target.
A satisfied smirk played on his lips when the man disappeared around the corner - it led to another quiet, unfrequented alley. The man was obviously too intoxicated to notice or care where the hell he was headed to, as long as he had a place to sit down and indulge himself in his alcohol.
Glancing around inconspicuously to ensure that no one was staring in his direction, the well-dressed man quickly allowed himself to be swallowed into the alley, and continued tailing his prey, lest the obese man stumbled elsewhere.
He could not afford to screw this job up. Not when the lives of two people are in his hands.
* * * * *
Pulling his hat off the top of his head, Kyuhyun puffed up his cheeks and exhaled in a burdened manner as he strolled through the shopping district of Apgujeong. To say that he wasn’t remotely annoyed by how the other pedestrians were literally shoving their elbows into his sides (and one of them, square in Kyuhyun’s stomach because she was too excited for that massive sales at the boutique on the opposite side of the road) would be an understatement of the century.
“Don’t these people have to be at work?” He huffed grumpily in his head, remembering that it was a weekday. That was the main reason why he was walking around without Hyeonmin in tow in the first place.
But to be fair, she did ask him to return to the company to work with her, but he politely (read: sent her the cutest look he could muster) declined her offer. One, because he was lazy; and two, he didn’t think that working as an IT analyst for the rest of his new shot at life was very appealing at all.
He’d thought that he would have a hard time convincing her to see things his way, but much to his surprise, she agreed fairly easily. Sungmin had a point - it’s really easy to butter someone up with aegyo. Then again, the lack of overt response or objection on Hyeonmin’s part didn’t sit too well with the worrisome part of his heart.
Deciding that the massive crowd and early summer heat was getting too much to withstand, Kyuhyun deftly slipped into the first café he came across and slumped into the lush armchair in a quiet corner of the outlet. He sighed in content as he fingered the velvet covering of his seat, feeling the sense of relief and oxygenation wash over him.
However, another different set of emotions tried to overcome that warm feeling barely seconds later, making Kyuhyun grimace in response. He quickly swallowed the entailing nausea, opening his eyes just in time as a girl in uniform - possibly in her early twenties - stepped up to him.
“Good afternoon, sir,” she greeted with an amiable smile. The same smile worn by almost every other individual dabbling in the service industry, but this was different, he noted. It was sincere. “Can I get you anything to drink?”
Kyuhyun found himself smiling back politely. “Black coffee would be good, thank you,” he replied. The waitress nodded in acknowledgement, and bounced off in the direction of the bar at once, chirping happily at her colleague. She seemed genuinely happy to be working here.
When he was left alone once again, Kyuhyun’s sharp brown eyes wandered off to the window panes separating the cosy interior of the outlet with the bustling streets out there, watching the people hurry past. He was amazed at the drastic difference between the two places, despite having only a thin sheet of glass in the middle. It was as though he was looking at a different dimension.
Glancing around and scrutinising the interior of the café for the first time since he had settled in, Kyuhyun came to realise that it was a coffee shop-cum-mini library of sorts. Tons of books lined the shelves which were tucked away at another corner of the shop. From the distance, he noticed that these books were probably not for sale; a couple of copies were falling apart, and several others had their covers carefully taped back into place.
It appeared to him that these were books that were treasured deeply by the owner of the café, but wanted to share it with everyone else nonetheless.
“Interested in getting something to read?”
A new voice joined him in his corner of the outlet, and was followed by the soft clattering of porcelain against glass top. He looked up with a smile to utter his thanks at the woman who had just served his coffee, though his expressions turned surprised within the next moment, then softened at the recognition.
“I know you,” he mused with a sing-song voice.
The woman quirked an eyebrow at him, mirroring his astonishment. “My, I didn’t expect you to remember me,” she pressed a hand against her chest, flattered.
“I would remember a pretty face anywhere,” Kyuhyun sent a mischievous wink in her direction. He chuckled when her cheeks turned scarlet. “I’m just kidding; my memory is fairly good, if you must know. I didn’t know you worked here, though.”
“Except that I don’t work here,” she giggled a little, and gracefully eased herself into the armchair right across him. “I own this place.”
“Oh?” he exclaimed, feeling impressed. “This is a pretty neat concept.”
“Thanks; it was something that was thought up by someone who used to be - and still is - very dear to me. It’s unfortunate that he couldn’t be around to watch this come to fruition, though…” the woman rambled on as her eyes wandered around her own shop. The nostalgia was clearly reflected in her eyes, though she caught herself just in time before she could say more about it. She probably thought that her customer wouldn’t appreciate having her talking on and on about her own life.
Kyuhyun also attempted to ignore her gaze that lingered a second too long on his face. A shudder shot down the length of his spine at the familiarity of it, but quickly pushed the matter aside.
“That’s a pity, but I’m sure that person will return eventually to see what a great job you’ve done,” he offered with a reassuring smile, not knowing that he was driving a wedge through her heart with his words. “Anyway, how’s your son? Has his wound healed?”
“Ah - yes, he’s fine. Thanks for your concern,” she replied with a tight-lipped smiled. It made Kyuhyun frown a little, but he thought that he wasn’t in any position to enquire further about it.
“So… I haven’t really been able to catch your name,” he therefore changed the subject, holding his right hand across the table. “I’m Sikyu. Ch-Sung Sikyu” he said, mentally chastising himself for nearly letting slip his actual surname. He had done so before upon his return from the realm of death, and it had invited a lot of unwanted questions - mainly about his relationship with a certain Cho Kyuhyun.
They all said that he was a dead ringer for the deceased singer, though they did not need to know that he was Kyuhyun himself. But of course, Kyuhyun knew better than to commit the same mistakes again - or so he hoped.
“Are you sure that’s not a fake name you’re giving?” the owner of the café asked, eyes crinkling in amusement over a distant memory of her past.
Kyuhyun’s eyebrows knitted in confusion. How did she know?, he wondered. Nevertheless, he kept his expressions unreadable, hoping that he did not give himself away with his lie and how he squirmed a little under her scrutiny. “No, why do you ask?”
“It’s nothing; just an amusing experience I had when I was younger,” she waved him off with a disarming smile, then reached over to take his outstretched hand in hers. “I’m Cho Jinri.”
* * * * *
She slowly cut out a slice of steak and delivered it into her mouth, though her eyes were completely fixated on her date. He had been oddly quiet for the entire day; the only sentence he had said to her was to ask her out for dinner, the moment she had returned from work.
She pushed away the bitter feeling that she was being neglected.
Glancing down at his plate, Hyeonmin frowned at the sight. He had not touched a single thing on it, even though his cutlery hovered over his meal. He was staring off into space for the thousandth time that week, though he would wave it off with a look of nonchalance whenever she tried to talk about the subject. Although it got onto her nerves, she decided to let him talk at his own pace.
Hyeonmin sighed and gently settled her own set of cutlery on the sides of her plate, reaching across the table to give his hand a gentle squeeze. “Kyuhyun,” she began, taking care not to let anyone else hear the name. “Sweetheart, your food’s getting cold. Are you alright?”
“Hmm?” Kyuhyun voiced out in response, though he was clearly still in a daze and pre-occupied with whatever was in his thoughts. It wasn’t after several more seconds hand passed that he jolted back to reality with a sharp gasp. “I’m sorry, did you say something?”
The corner of Hyeonmin’s lips curved up into a wry smile. “You’re doing it again.”
“What do you mean?” he blinked.
“Staring off into the distance,” Hyeonmin supplemented, shooting a pointed look at his plate.
Kyuhyun’s eyes followed her line of vision, and he grinned apologetically when he realised that she was almost done with her food while his was virtually untouched. “I’m sorry,” he apologised again. It was something that he had been doing very often these days.
The situation was always the same; he would lose himself in his tumultuous mind - where he refused to let Hyeonmin in, saying that he didn’t want her to worry - and she would always be there to pull him out of it. It was difficult to endure long periods of silence even when they were close together.
“Don’t be. You seem particularly troubled today, though. Is it about your decision to re-enter the entertainment industry?” she asked. She was eager to keep him with her, now that he was back from being lost in his inner mind.
He shook his head in response as he started digging into his Cordon Bleu. There was a small frown on his face when he realised that the cheese was hardened because of his own neglect. “The poll hasn’t been finalised yet, so there’s still ways before I’d start worrying about it,” Kyuhyun said when he decided that there wasn’t a point dwelling over his food-gone-cold.
“Oh. Then did something happen while I was at work?”
“Hmm, I guess you could say so,” Kyuhyun hummed in consideration. “Do you remember the kid that bumped into me the other day?”
Hyeonmin nodded. “What about him?”
“Well, I met his mother at a café downtown today. Apparently she owns the place,” he quipped. Nevertheless, because Kyuhyun was concentrating on his food, he completely missed how Hyeonmin paled and how her grip on her fork tightened to the point that her knuckles were turning white.
This wasn’t supposed to happen!, her mind screamed. She had to rein her emotions in, willing herself to not suddenly burst into tears. It was a gargantuan task to achieve, especially when the extreme fear of losing him grappled her entire being.
When she was certain that she could at least speak without stammering throughout, Hyeonmin put up a brave smile and hoped that Kyuhyun did not notice those negative emotions of hers. “Did you manage to talk to her?” she then asked good-naturedly.
Hyeonmin chastised herself when she caught on to that slight quiver in her voice. She was barely able to stop herself from heaving a sigh of relief when she glanced up at Kyuhyun, however. He was too preoccupied with his dinner to pay attention to the finer details of the quality of her voice.
Just as he chewed on another thin slice of meat, Kyuhyun paused to think, resting his cheek on his right knuckle as he did so. “Actually, I did,” he admitted distractedly, the smile creeping up to his lips. He didn’t seem to have noticed the expression he was wearing, his eyes dreamy as he thought about something.
At that particular moment, Hyeonmin had never felt more estranged from him. Her knuckles whitened again as she gripped on the hem of the tablecloth, though she quickly loosened her fingers when the objects on the table rattle from the friction of the sliding piece of cloth.
“I certainly hope that you didn’t bore her with your Starcraft-related conversations,” she said absentmindedly, though Hyeonmin quickly explained herself when Kyuhyun seemed to be taken aback by her words. “I mean, not every woman would be interested in computer games after all.”
“True; you’re probably one of the rare exceptions to that rule,” Kyuhyun beamed, and Hyeonmin knew that she had managed to salvage the situation. “But that’s beside the point, Hyeon. I didn’t actually talk to her about games.”
Her eyes widened in mock surprise, a mischievous glint shining in them. “Wow, that’s a first.”
Kyuhyun laughed. “Who in the right frame of mind would bring up about that on their first encount- wait, you did.”
Hyeonmin appeared flustered when she realised that he was poking fun at her; she did, after all, ask him whether he played Starcraft on their very first formal meeting in her office. “Hey!” she called out indignantly.
“I’m just kidding,” he chuckled even more, reaching over to hold her hand. “You know, if you hadn’t initiated that conversation about Starcraft, I probably wouldn’t have remembered about my past at all.”
“Well… I did want to bury myself six-feet-under when the question left my mouth… I felt so compelled to ask you that, although I tried to convince myself otherwise,” she mumbled miserably as she remembered about that embarrassing event.
“Thankfully you didn’t; we probably wouldn’t be here together right now if you distanced yourself away from me,” Kyuhyun grinned.
“Cheesy,” she shot back. “So what did you talk to her about again?” Hyeonmin then quickly changed the subject, knowing full well that Kyuhyun would get even cheesier if she didn’t. she was already dying from embarrassment as it was; her cheeks were probably completely flushed by now.
Kyuhyun mulled over the question for a moment as he took a sip of his wine. “Basically about the reasons behind her decision to start up a book café. That’s not her only job, though. I was told that she works as a freelance photographer too.”
Hyeonmin stiffened a little. “Oh? Did she tell you more about the photography job, then?” she queried cautiously. She hoped that Jin Ri hadn’t mentioned about SME, because then Kyuhyun would bombard the other Super Junior members with questions regarding his ex-wife (not that he knew about it).
She knew she was being selfish, but she wasn’t too sure whether she could handle seeing Kyuhyun return to Jin Ri.
“Not exactly, no,” Kyuhyun replied, much to Hyeonmin’s relief. “Why are you being so curious about her, anyway?”
“Because it’s the first time you’ve really talked about anyone else in this new life of yours,” she said. It was a partial lie; one that she had to tell as the other Super Junior members had advised her to.
He eyed her sceptically. “You’re not by any chance… jealous, are you?” he asked, lips curving up into a mischievous smirk.
Hyeonmin blushed at his comment; it was the truth after all. “Who wants to be jealous because of you?” she huffed and averted her gaze away from him.
“You would,” he pointed out in a sing-song voice, happily finishing up the rest of his food as he watched Hyeonmin sport a permanent pout.