LOVE KNOWS NO BOUNDARIES...CHAPTER 17.2/???
Title: Love Knows No Boundaries
Author: tikibuddy91
Characters: EXO, SISTAR19, BEAST, SHINee, f(x), SNSD (Taeyeon, Miyoung, Hyoyeon), CNBlue Yonghwa and Jonghyun, Juniel, INFINITE, Ingook, five cameo guests
Word Count: ~12000
Rating: PG-13
Summary: College students. Blind, Deaf, and Mute. Their lives deal with the ups and downs, like a roller coaster. They find relationships, and companionships. Life does not always have a happy ending, but they can try to get their own.
Author Note: Back after a long time~ :D HERE'S THE FIRST PART OF THE SECOND INSTALLMENT OF CHAPTER 17.
Author Note 2: We are now looking into the EXO part, having left the BAP part in the previous chapter. It's at Lee Jinki's cafe, Chakeo Corner. MANY THINGS HAPPEN. :D
Sign Language Guide
Families
Chapter 17 Part 1
“KYUNGSOO-YAH! BAEKHYUN-AH! LET’S GO!!”
Kyungsoo has just come out of his bedroom, all ready to go, when he points out to his brother, Jonghyun that Baekhyun is not yet done.
“Hyung, Baekhyun’s the one taking a while getting ready!”
Sound of feet pattering across the apartment floor from Jonghyun’s bedroom…
Rapid knocks on the bathroom door…
“Baekhyun-ah, what are you doing right now?! We need to get going! Kibum, my punctual boyfriend in case you’ve forgotten, is expecting us in like ten minutes from now, and the drive to get there takes fifteen minutes! I just saw you dressed up like five minutes ago. I didn’t even hear a toilet flush or anything. What could you possibly need to get ready with at the last minute?!”
“My eyes, hyung!” Baekhyun screams at Jonghyun. Jonghyun’s eyes widen, alarmed at the strained voice from Baekhyun.
“WAIT, WHAT,” Jonghyun raps his fist on the door, feeling a bit panicked. “WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU, BAEKHYUN-AH? ARE YOU OKAY?”
“I’M FINE; IT’S JUST THAT I’M PUTTING ON EYELINER AT THE MOMENT.”
Kyungsoo hears a solid thud and then another thud, as Jonghyun plants his head on the door and then turns around to lean back on it.
“BAEKHYUN-AH. YOU CAN JUST DO IT IN THE CAR. WE GOTTA GO! OUR NOONAS ALREADY LEFT.”
“NO, HYUNG. THE RIDE’S TOO BUMPY FOR ME TO DRAW NEAT LINES AROUND MY EYES.”
Kyungsoo slowly enters Jonghyun’s bedroom to see his brother facing the door with a scandalized look on his face, pointing with his finger at the door, as if the door had mocked at him about his height.
“Park Baekhyun, you listen to me right now. Get out of there this instant or I will knock this door down and drag you out without a care about your eyeliner,” Jonghyun warns.
“Hyunnggg~ I’m almost done! Just give me a few seco-“
“ONE.”
“WHAT, ARE YOU SERI-” Scrambling and a clutter is heard from the bathroom.
“TWO.”
“OKAY, FINE.” And Baekhyun opens the door, and the brothers see Baekhyun looking all the same, except his eyeliner surprisingly looks well pulled off, given Jonghyun’s threats and time constraint.
Baekhyun stares hard at his brother before averting his eyes to the ground; he does not want to put up a fight. Jonghyun shakes his head, almost in disbelief.
“Sheesh, all that for eyeliner. You look good without it anyway, I don’t see what’s the point of wearing them,” Jonghyun mutters to himself as he walks out of his bedroom in a brisk manner.
Baekhyun blinks as he is caught off guard by his brother’s compliment. He frowns at his brother’s retreating back, and suddenly makes eye contact with Kyungsoo. Kyungsoo nervously smiles at him before nodding his head in Jonghyun’s direction.
[Go?] (Shall we go?)
Baekhyun gives a small smile before checking around his body for his wallet and cell phone. Once he has them, he nods at his younger twin, and the two of them follow Jonghyun out their apartment.
- - -
Twenty minutes later, the Park brothers arrive to Chakeo Corner after Jonghyun has found a parking space in one of the many underground downtown parking substructures. They are met with an annoyed young man who has feline-like eyes and sharp cheekbones, a playful male couple and a chatty female couple, each pair having one member that almost seem androgynous, with the male having a ponytail and a female having short hair. The annoyed man is tapping his foot on the ground as he immediately spots Jonghyun and his brothers walking his way.
“YAH. Jonghyunnie-hyung. Why are you late?”
“Sorry, Kibum-ah, traffic was bad getting here. It’s a Friday night, after all. I didn’t plan properly ahead of time. It’s my fault.” Jonghyun glances at Baekhyun.
“Traffic? Yah…Park Jonghyun. Traffic at 6PM? Traffic usually happens around 4 or 8PM, never 6PM. I was on the phone with you twenty-five minutes ago, and you said you were already ready to go! What could have possibly been keeping you this late!?”
Baekhyun winces as he hears Kibum’s shrill voice ringing out in the less noisy street of Changgyeonggung-ro. The quartet behind Kibum is watching the lovers’ quarrel with wide eyes and hushed looks. The androgynous female sees Baekhyun and Kyungsoo and waves at them. Having returned the greeting, Kyungsoo nudges Baekhyun to join the pairs.
“My name’s Zhang Amber,” the girl introduces herself as Kyungsoo and Baekhyun draw near, unbothered by Baekhyun’s actions to fingerspell her name to Kyungsoo. “This is my girlfriend, Kim Soojung.” The pretty girl with wavy hair stares a bit longer at the twins with interest, before she realizes they are all looking at her. Hastily, she lifts her hand to wave her fingers with a shy smile. The twins introduce themselves before the male couple moves over a bit slightly to join the co-ed quartet.
“My name’s Kim Taemin, and this is my boyfriend, Choi Minho. Soojung-ah and I are Kibum’s siblings. I’m sure you’ve already met our brothers, Jongin and Sehun.” Taemin is smiling and Minho is hugging Taemin around the waist, standing behind him as he rests his chin on Taemin’s shoulder.
“Yeah, we did, and it was quite an interesting first meeting,” Baekhyun glances at Kyungsoo with a small smirk. “Do you guys go to our campus?”
“Ah, no,” Amber speaks up. “Soojung and I still go to high school, but I’m in my last year; and Taemin-hyung and Minho-hyung go to different colleges, majoring in dance and filmography, respectively.”
“…Hyung? But…aren’t you a girl? I’m sorry, but shouldn’t it be ‘oppa’?” Baekhyun wonders out loud.
Amber, Taemin, Minho and Soojung chuckle and nod, leaving the Park twins bewildered at their reactions.
“I could call them oppa, but sometimes the guys feel it strange that I’m calling them oppa when I give them an appearance of a guy. So they said I was free to call them hyung.”
“Ah…wow. Isn’t it strange for you?” Kyungsoo asks.
“Nah,” Amber replies. “Since I came from a Chinese background, our honorifics for siblings are gender-neutral. It’s the same honorifics for both younger males and females to an older male sibling or a female sibling, and vice versa. You’ve met Luhan-ge and Yixing-ge, yeah?”
Baekhyun and Kyungsoo nod.
“Yixing and I call Luhan ‘Luhan-ge’ or ‘ge-ge’, regardless of me and Yixing being different genders. They call me ‘mei-mei’. There’s no certain honorifics defined by gender, only by generations.”
Baekhyun and Kyungsoo nod once again, understanding what Amber is explaining to them. They all turn their focus to the lovers’ quarrel.
“I got lost and distracted with things in my mind.”
“Tsch, you got lost? That’s a lame excuse. You’ve been coming here for the past seven months. I think that clearly debunks your excuse for getting lost.”
Jonghyun nervously looks over to the six younger members before he grabs Kibum’s wrist and pulls him closer to whisper in his boyfriend’s ear. Kibum suddenly reaches out a hand to hold onto Jonghyun’s shoulder to hinder physical collision, though their bodies are close enough to only have a thin film of space between them.
“I got lost searching for you, and I’ve been distracted with the thought of you and the memories of our…sleepovers. Kibum-ah, I’ll make it up to you after tonight, ok? Come to my place. I’ll make my brothers sleep over at their friends’ place.”
Kibum’s eyes widen before he blushes at the way Jonghyun is whispering, against the area where his ear and jaw line connects, the lines of cheesy seduction and promises of make-up sex. He looks over to Minho, Taemin, Baekhyun, Amber, Kyungsoo and Soojung before giggling and nodding. He feels Jonghyun’s hands lowering to grip the sides of his waist, and then the two of them start to sway side-to-side. Realizing where he is with Jonghyun, Kibum pulls away slightly to slap Jonghyun lightly on the chest.
“Yah, Jonghyunnie. Would you stop that, we’re in the middle of a public area. Our dongsaengs are right behind you. Aish!” Kibum ends with a playful tone, and Jonghyun can only smile at him with the expression of an excited puppy. “Let’s just go in and get ourselves ready, you’re the DJ host tonight and I gotta get into the kitchen to start up some appetizers and entrees.”
Kibum lightly shoves Jonghyun away with a foxy smile before he looks at the dongsaengs, their faces showing mixtures of amused and slightly judging looks. His face drops.
“What.”
The six dongsaengs shake their heads, looking sideways and murmuring “nothing”s, acting as if the whole thing between Kibum and Jonghyun did not happen in front of them.
“Oh, Kyungsoo-yah, Baekhyun-ah. Miyoung-noona and Taeyeon-noona are already inside waiting for you guys. They’re with Hyojung and Bora-noona,” Kibum informs the group. “Amber-yah, Soojung-ah, go ahead inside; Qian-noona is in there with Jinri and Zitao. Jongin and Sehun should be on their way soon…I think Yixing had to get something he had forgotten back at the house, but Luhan’s driving so…I don’t know when the others will be here.”
The group nods and enters the café without a word. Kibum turns to face Jonghyun and adds in one more memo, “Jinki-hyung already came here with Hyojung and Bora-noona, because the girls are gonna perform their own composition tonight, just a heads up.”
Jonghyun nods with an “Ok”. He holds Kibum’s hand and leads him into the café.
- - -
Chakeo Corner is a pretty spacious café, co-owned by Lee Jinki and Yoon Doojoon; Kibum’s uncle personally designed it. It was an offer that Jinki could not refuse because the uncle offered himself to be the architect of the restaurant, due to the close friendship that Kibum and Jinki shared, and the impressions that Jinki had left on Kibum’s family during their high school years. While Doojoon may be an interpreter at the nearby campus where Kyungsoo attends, he still has a second responsibility: handling maintenances at the café. Both Jinki and Doojoon have agreed to let Jinki take over the café as the head manager, supervising the whole operations of the café. However, Jinki and Doojoon have groups of friends that also are taking over in some departments of the café. Kim Kibum and Yong Junhyung are head chefs, while Jang Hyunseung is sous-chef; they also have a few other chefs who are interning or working part-time with them. Yang Yoseob is in charge of the cashier and customer services while Kim Taemin works under him, they are the only two people that work in the cashier area. Choi Minho, Son Dongwoon and Lee Kikwang are head waiters, along with a few others, some who have had experiences of waiting on customers in the past and some who are fairly new.
When one enters the café through the double doors, they face the cashier area with the kitchen double doors behind it, a glass-covered display of pastries and cakes, and a huge blackboard of written menus and discount deals. To the right side of the cashier and the display glass, there is a mini hallway that leads to the restrooms, with the male restroom further down, and a female restroom nearby.
The café has two major sections in terms of seating: a minor section for quick meals or just a casual lunch date between two friends, and then a major section for dining pleasures and social gatherings. The minor section has small tables and two to four chairs surrounding the tables. The major section has a stage on the far left corner side of the café, with the DJ Booth in the back corner of the stage; there are cushioned seats near the front wall with windows above them, as well as bigger tables with four or more chairs surrounding each of the many tables. Also onstage Jinki’s office, is located next to the DJ booth; across the stage from Jinki’s office is the backstage area for stage equipments and changing rooms.
The lighting in the café changes throughout the day, to create a appropriate nice ambience during certain times. The lights do not get too bright nor too dim to make the diners feel comfortable and sociable. Even the waiters and waitresses socialize with the diners, making sure everything is well accommodated.
Just like the lights, the music is also playing throughout the café. During the day, songs from popular and old-time classic solo artists are played to suit the coffee/tea dates. When the night comes on, the café appeals more to a variety of audiences. The café will play top hits from the modern age, of boy groups and girl groups, aspiring artists, and foreign artists from China, Spain, America and England.
On certain Friday nights, Jinki holds stage performances from frequent bands and new bands. He lets them sign up to perform for gigs or for fun, as long as they can show up and deliver performances that appeal to the audiences. So far, there has not been a single band that has been turned away from the café due to the audience’s dissatisfaction. A mellow rock band quartet named CNBlue, a harmonious male duo called InVinite, and a duo called SISTAR19, made up of Jinki’s two sisters, are among the few regulars of Chakeo Corner.
Kyungsoo and Baekhyun are seated at a table with Zitao, having already greeted their sisters and Hyojung and Bora at another table, and are just catching up on the past few days and talking about what is to happen for the next few days. Taemin and Minho have already gone into their café mode, dressed up in their cashier and waiter attire, respectively. Amber and Soojung have joined Qian and Jinri, waiting for Sunyoung to arrive.
Qian, Jinri, Soojung, and Amber are seated at another table, slightly further from the smaller group of guys. Hyojung and Bora are seated with Miyoung, Taeyeon and Hyoyeon. Jinki is taking care of the café shop from his office, often coming out to check on his regular and new customers. Doojoon is working as the chef manager for the time being, watching over Kibum, Junhyung, Hyunseung and several other chefs.
“Neo nan ara~ Neo nan ara~”
“BAEKKIE-YAH!”
Baekhyun gives a jolt at the sudden outburst of his name, looking around. Kyungsoo quickly whips his head around to the source of the deep voice rumbling throughout the café. A few heads are turning as well to focus on a certain tall person with bronze hair straightened down and an energetic smile pasted on his face, walking towards Baekhyun and Kyungsoo with his long limbs clumsily knocking past chairs and tables. The mutters of “oh, sorry, sir”s and “excuse me, ma’am”s can be heard from Chanyeol as Joonmyeon graciously follows behind him. When they arrive at Kyungsoo and Baekhyun’s table, Kyungsoo meekly waves at Joonmyeon with a smile, and Joonmyeon gives a little bow to Kyungsoo, as if he was a prince.
“Ah, Chanyeollie-yah~,” Baekhyun stands up to hug his boyfriend, wearing the sweetest smile that reminds Kyungsoo of a content Golden Retriever puppy. “I missed you!”
“Baekhyun-hyung, you guyth juth sthaw them two hourth ago. You sthill missthed him in that two-hour gap of not stheeing eatch other?”
Kyungsoo hears Sehun’s lispy voice come up behind Joonmyeon and the quartet turns to see a poker-faced Sehun, and amused Jongin and Luhan standing around. Luhan giggles and smiles at Sehun, “Yah, be mindful of your hyungs, Sehun-ah.” Yixing finally arrives with Jongdae, having to guide Jongdae through any spacious gaps to get to the group. The group welcomes them warmly and Jongdae smiles with a wave of his hand, allowing himself to be hugged by some friends. While Jongdae receives some hugs, Yixing greets the quartet with a dimpled smile, hugging with his free arm since his arm is linked with Jongdae. Zitao walks over to join Yixing and Jongdae as Jongin walks up to Joonmyeon and Kyungsoo. Jongin leans on the back of the chair, looking at Kyungsoo and Joonmyeon.
“Hi, hyungs! What time did you guys get here?”
Kyungsoo replies, “Oh, Baekhyun and I got here about 10 minutes ago; Joonmyeon and Chanyeol just got here a few minutes ago.”
Yixing calls to Zitao, informing that Jongdae’s sister is with their sisters, Qian and the girls, sitting at a table next to a table of four girls who are quite lively and silly.
“Ahh…that would be our sisters” - Baekhyun points between himself and Kyungsoo - “and Chanyeol’s sisters,” Baekhyun sighs with a tone of amusement in his voice. “Our sisters are Miyoung and Taeyeon, while Chanyeol’s are Hyojung and Bora. They’re quite friendly, just very…too friendly.” Yixing chuckles.
“Shall we all sit down?” Luhan addresses to the whole group, and they all nod. They cooperate to gather the tables together to seat twelve people, as Jongdae announces that his brothers will be joining them later. Jongdae does not see the smile that graces on Zitao’s face, hidden from everyone’s sights.
- - -
Once the waiters have come by and taken their drink orders, the group splits into small groups as they talk about different topics, almost into the same groups as they usually are during lunch hours on campus. Minus the company of Yongguk and his friends like at college, they still take up a quarter of the space in the major section of the café. They are still waiting for Wufan and Minseok to arrive before they can eat dinner and enjoy the performances, but they have their drinks to wait for at the moment.
Kyungsoo sees Jongin joining him, Joonmyeon, Chanyeol and Baekhyun in one table, and Sehun joining with Luhan, Zitao, Yixing and Jongdae. He then talks about his classes and the incident that happened today in their apartment, as Joonmyeon watches on with genuine interest and a soft smile on his face as a reaction to Baekhyun’s response to Jonghyun’s threat.
Chanyeol turns to face Baekhyun and pokes lightly at Baekhyun’s nose with a smile, receiving a confused look and a pout from his boyfriend.
“What was that for?” Chanyeol shakes his head and smiles.
“You’re quite obsessed with that eyeliner, and I have seen you without it sometimes at school or in public, particularly during the daytimes. In the nights that we go out, you have it on. Your brother’s right; besides, I think you still look good without it anyway, more like charming, really. You have such endearing eyes, Baekkie, don’t deny yourself from that.” Chanyeol takes ahold of Baekhyun’s hands and lifts them to brush his lips against Baekhyun’s knuckles.
“Nan niga jeil joha~ niga jeil yeppeo~”
Baekhyun blushes at both the compliment and the gesture, and Kyungsoo can only roll his eyes in amusement and smiles at the couple. There is a small commotion of cheers and awed reactions somewhere near the entrance of the café and Kyungsoo cranes his neck to see what is going on. He can only make out two people dancing in the middle of a circled crowd and he is amused at the sight of two people dancing in the middle of the café.
Luhan, Sehun, Joonmyeon and Jongin watch Baekhyun and Chanyeol with amused expressions. Jongdae, Yixing and Zitao are in their own world as Jongdae teaches Yixing, with Zitao’s help, some of the alphabets that he learned from Kyungsoo and Daehyun. Zitao fingerspells to Yixing as Yixing attempts to imitate the same hand poses, with his hand blanketed under Jongdae’s palm. Jongdae had explained to Yixing that this method of fingerspelling under his hand is an effective way for Jongdae to read the deaf language.
“Kyungsoo-hyung, can I ask you something?”
Kyungsoo’s ears perk up at Jongin’s murmurings audible only for him and Joonmyeon, and he looks at Jongin, who is staring at Zitao, Yixing, and Jongdae before turning to face him.
“What is it, Jongin-ah?”
“Can…you teach me the alphabets?” Jongin traces swirling lines with one of his fingers on the table surface as he shoots a tentative glance to Kyungsoo.
Kyungsoo smiles and replies, “Sure, Jongin-ah. I can teach you some right now, if you’d like.”
“Really? Cool!” Jongin smiles as he readies his hands and then, all of a sudden, a waiter swoops in quickly to attack Jongin’s sides with his hands, tickling him mercilessly. It startles Jongin as he yelps a bit too loud before giving in to laughter and recoiling jerkily. Kyungsoo and Joonmyeon jump a bit at the sudden invasion and reaction, while the others whips their heads around to see what was going on. Jongin is left gasping and scowling at the waiter. “Hyunngg, what was that for?”
This waiter has a slightly muscular but lean build and medium length of platinum blond hair, with a face that resembles a Western look; anyone would have mistaken him for a foreigner. Son Dongwoon smirks before ruffling Jongin’s hair, “Sorry kiddo. Kibum told me to do it. Hey, Joonmyeon-ah.” Dongwoon nods to Joonmyeon as Jongin shamelessly whines at the waiter.
“Hyuunngg~ Why did Kibum-hyung tell you to do it? You could have not done it…”
“You’re right, I could’ve, but Kibum suspects there’s something going on between you and someone named Kyungsoo.” Dongwoon shrugs at the name, despite the smirk on his face, relishing on the fact that Jongin is losing his cool façade. Kyungsoo looks up at him, perplexed. Joonmyeon is watching the whole scene with interest, yet keeping a calm posture.
“Wha…who told you? Wait, who told him? I didn’t even mention Kyungsoo-hyung to Kibum-hyung.” Jongin glances at his friend from across the table.
“Jonghyun-hyung did.”
“YOUR BROTHER?!”
“MY BROTHER?!” Kyungsoo squawks as his eyes widen at the revelation and even more at the coincidence that both he and Jongin exclaimed at the same time.
Dongwoon looks between Kyungsoo and Jongin. “Yeah…wait, are you Kyungsoo? You’re Jonghyun’s younger brother?”
Kyungsoo nods, his eyes still wide, as if he was caught guilty mid-action of doing something wrong. Dongwoon makes a silent “oh” and smiles at him, with a slight bow of his head, “Sorry about that. We have not met before, though I’ve heard your name and your twin’s name a few times in passing from your brother. Even so, I seldom meet with Jonghyun-hyung, because I’m more of Kibum’s friend than Jonghyun-hyung’s. But none of that matters right now; anyway, my name is Son Dongwoon. Pleased to meet you.” He flashes a smile.
Kyungsoo returns the smile, feeling a hospitable charm emitting from Dongwoon as he introduces himself.
“Well, then Kyungsoo-yah, call me Dongwoon-hyung, if you like. In the meantime, all of your drinks are coming up soon; it’s the mango passionfruit tea for you, Kyungsoo, correct?” Kyungsoo nods. “I think Kiki-hyung is coming around with that - his name is Lee Kikwang; he’s a year older than me. Joonmyeon-ah, your Americano is coming up with Minho. Minho’s taking the coffees while Kikwang’s taking the teas. I’m just taking the iced drinks tonight. I’ll see you guys around! Later, kiddo.” With that, he ruffles Jongin’s hair once again, and Jongin hurries to fix his hair with a glare at Dongwoon’s back as Dongwoon goes to retrieve the others’ orders.
“Still wanna learn the alphabets, Jonginnie-yah?”
“Hm? Ah, yeah, I almost forgot about that. Ready when you are.”
Minutes pass as Kyungsoo teaches Jongin the Korean alphabet, with Joonmyeon participating as an assistant. Kyungsoo uses Joonmyeon’s hand to show Jongin how the consonant or vowel is connected to the sign. Once they have covered the Korean alphabet, they are about to move on to the American alphabet when two waiters arrive to deliver the drinks to the group.
Kyungsoo sees that one of the waiters to be of a short build, though his muscles makes up for his height, and the eyesmile. Wow, that eyesmile is really something…it makes him look endearing, actually, Kyungsoo thinks to himself. And finally, he notices the lips, the thick lips that make Kyungsoo raise his eyebrows a bit skeptically. Is it even possible to have lips that thick?
“Hello, I’m Lee Kikwang, one of your waiters in the café tonight! Welcome to Chakeo Corner! What’s your name, kid?” The said waiter still has his eyesmile on as he gives an airy chuckle, introducing himself and welcoming Kyungsoo. He places the mango passionfruit tea in front of Kyungsoo and also puts down a straw.
“U-uh, Kyungsoo. I mean, Park Kyungsoo. Dongwoon-hyung briefly told me about you.”
“Oh, did he now? I hope he didn’t tell too much about me.”
“Ne? Uh…Dongwoon-hyung just said that you would be delivering teas and that you’re his hyung, and thus, you’re also older than me.”
“O-oh, hahaha, alright then. Yeah, just call me Kikwang-hyung. There’s no need for formal honorifics with one another in this café, well…I mean, not that I’m saying we can all use informal language. Still have to respect people around here.” Kikwang chuckles.
Kyungsoo politely nods with a smile.
Just then, a whining yelp comes from across Kyungsoo, grabbing some people’s attentions including Kyungsoo himself. Jongin scowls for the third time at another waiter, whom Kyungsoo recognizes as Minho from earlier.
“Jonginnie-yah, you’re finally here!” Minho chuckles, patting Jongin’s hair after ruffling it, as Jongin looks helplessly at his hair. “Aigoo, this kid. What took you guys so long to get here? Anyway, it looks like you and Sehun-ah are the maknaes of the whole group, and you don’t even look young. Compared to Kyungsoo-yah, Kyungsoo looks younger than you, kiddo.” Minho places Jongin’s order of caramel cappuccino in front of Jongin and places down a stirring stick.
Kyungsoo senses Jongin looking at him, and he can only react with a slight upturn of his lips and his brow furrowing upward, looking hesitant with a soft smile. Jongin looks at Kyungsoo in despair. Kikwang chuckles and agrees, nodding his head. “That he does, that he does.”
“And here you are, Joonmyeon-goon, your Americano.”
“Thanks, Minho-yah.” Joonmyeon smiles at said waiter and Minho returns it. Kikwang and Minho then take their leave.
Kyungsoo looks over to check on Zitao and Jongdae, before he jolts slightly in his seat. Zitao and Yixing are looking in his direction since the waiters were having a conversation with him, Joonmyeon, and Jongin. Zitao shoots a smile at him and beckons him to come over to their table. Kyungsoo points at himself with eyebrows raised, and Zitao nods, his finger sweeping in the air to include Jongin and Joonmyeon as well. Kyungsoo looks at Jongin and Joonmyeon before inviting them to join him at Zitao’s table. Joonmyeon politely declines whereas Jongin accepts, calling to Sehun to switch seats with him. Kyungsoo chuckles at Jongin’s excitement to see another interaction between him, Jongdae and Zitao.
Luhan and Sehun take their drinks to move and join Joonmyeon, Chanyeol and Baekhyun as Jongin and Kyungsoo, with their own drinks, take their spots. Baekhyun and Chanyeol are still seated in their table.
Jongdae, Jongin, Kyungsoo, Yixing, and Zitao are seated together in one table, as Zitao reviews with Jongdae and Kyungsoo Morse code, tapping on the others’ palms. Every now and then, Zitao would demonstrate the Morse code and then spell in ASL and KSL, in that order, for Jongdae to understand what exactly Zitao was saying. Yixing and Jongin watch with looks of contentment and interest, respectively, Jongin subconsciously tapping the table as he tries to imitate what Zitao is doing.
- - -
Wufan and Minseok finally arrive to the café a bit later, and Zitao happens to look their way. When he makes eye contact with Wufan, Wufan smiles and salutes to him with two fingers as he and Minseok arrive at the big group’s tables. Zitao blushes and focuses on spelling and signing.
“Yah, that guy over there. Zitao seems to be acting funny with him. Is there something going on that I should know?” Qian asks her younger friends. Soojung and Amber shrug, but Jinri and Sunyoung crane their necks to see Wufan trying to get Zitao’s attention and Zitao sneaking glances at Wufan.
“If you ask me, it looks like Zitao-ge has a crush on Wufan-ge.” Amber observes.
“Wufan? Is that his name? Huh, that’s a nice name…Wufan. He sure looks like a god,” Qian comments.
It is only when Wufan and Minseok take to their seats that Kikwang, Dongwoon, and two more waiters come by to take the orders of nineteen people; Kyungsoo and his group, Qian and her group, and the Park and Lee sisters. Minho had gone somewhere to another party to take their orders.
Once the group has ordered their meals, Kyungsoo goes back to teaching Zitao some more signing phrases upon Zitao’s suggestions, and Jongin and Yixing join in to learn.
“So wait, this is ‘How are you?’ but I can say ‘How are you all?’ too? Or this one also?” [How you, but can How you? *Jongin’s finger does a scanning motion* Or same How a-l-l you *He repeats the previous gesture*] Jongin asks Kyungsoo for clarification.
“Mhm, sign language is usually flexible with structure, as long as you get your point across and you have emphasize the focus of the sentence,” Kyungsoo explains, nodding.
“…That seems like a lot of work to fingerspell every single word, Zitao-hyung,” Jongin watches Zitao’s hand spell words at the speed of light blanketed under Jongdae’s hand. Zitao smiles and shrugs at him, it’s not a big deal.
“You sure know a lot of languages, Zitao-hyung…what I would give to have a skill like that. How do you even manage to not mix up words from different languages and be able to focus on one language when you use it?” Jongin says with deep admiration.
Zitao chuckles lightly as his hand stops doing its work, beaming at him. Jongdae laughs, hearing what Jongin said. Jongin then observes that Zitao is beginning to spell something new, as he can see the frown on Jongdae’s face. Zitao glances between Jongdae and Jongin as he continues to spell with a small smile on his face. Jongdae nods thoughtfully as he speaks up, “Zitao says it is easy, really. There are not many differences between some languages; some of them have the same root words.”
Jongin, Kyungsoo and Yixing nod in understanding and then Kyungsoo suddenly looks up, to somewhere behind Jongdae. There is a guy tentatively walking towards them, and Kyungsoo is not sure what to make of it; the guy seems harmless and he seems to be focusing on Kyungsoo himself. Jongin and Zitao also look up at the visitor while Yixing turns around to see what is going on before gripping Jongdae’s arm. Kyungsoo raises his eyebrows and speaks up.
“E-er…hi? Do you need something?” Kyungsoo hears his group behind him shifting around in their seats to look at the visitor as well, and the whole group goes silent.
Kyungsoo does not expect to what is coming.
“A-ah…no. Actually, sort of. It was just…I saw you from back there signing, and I noticed some of you were signing too and I was really surprised! It’s rare that I get to see and meet deaf people around the world. Sorry, I’m rambling too much, my name is Angelo. What’s your name?” The guy named Angelo ends with a nervous smile and a flourish of his hand above the group. [No, no, well, so-so. Really recent I sit-back *Angelo moves his hand backwards past his head* there see you-all ‘sign-sign’. Me surprise see you-all sign. Rare see meet-meet all-over world. Sorry ‘go-on-on-on’, my name A-n-g-e-l-o. Name sign A *He taps his A-shaped hand on his right temple* Your name what?]
Kyungsoo and the others, save for Jongdae, can only stare back at Angelo, a bit astonished at the speed of his signing. Some are unaffected by Angelo’s English, but they stare in amazement with the signs and when Angelo introduces himself in Korean. Kyungsoo and Zitao watch with fascination as they can understand some of Angelo’s English. Jongdae’s head is inclined towards Angelo to hear what he is saying and looks puzzled at what their visitor had to say. Kyungsoo brightens immediately and signs back, speaking in Korean.
“No no, it’s not a problem at all! My name is …er…wait, do you know Korean Sign Language?” [No, no-mind, *Kyungsoo shakes his head* problem! My name…*His hands are uncertain of how to spell his name with English letters, waving his fingers in nervousness* Wait, know you K-S-L, Korean Sign Language?]
“Mhm!” [Yes!] Angelo nods happily.
“Wow, really?!” - Kyungsoo’s eyebrows shot up in surprise - “Then my name is Park Kyungsoo. I’m 20, and my name sign is this; I know it looks offensive” - Kyungsoo sees the surprised look on Angelo’s face - “but it’s just emphasizing on my eyes, that’s all.” [Wow, really? My name B-ae-k G-yeo-ng-s-u. I age 20, name sign K. *Kyungsoo twirl his K-shaped hand on his right temple* I know offensive seem, but really, focus my eyes big.]
“Oh, okay. Hahaha, no worries. That makes sense after all. I’m 21, by the way. Nice to meet you.” [“Oh-I-see”, L-O-L. *Angelo shakes his head* not problem. Understand. “Let-you-know” age 21. Nice meet-you.] Angelo says reassuringly.
“And the same to you! Anyway, here’s the rest of my group of friends. Why don’t they introduce themselves, starting with Jongdae-yah here?” Kyungsoo indicates to Jongdae, who turns in his seat to face Angelo.
“Hi Angelo, I’m Lee Jongdae, 20.” Jongdae faces upward to greet the visitor and he moves his hand from the table to the air. Angelo notices that Jongdae is blind so he politely reaches out his hand to shake Jongdae’s hand, and allowing his hand to be felt around before letting go.
“I’m Zhang Yixing, 21. Pleased to meet you,” Yixing gives a dimpled smile to Angelo and inclines his head.
[Hi, my name H-u-a-n-g Z-i-t-a-o. Age 20. *Zitao shakes his head* I not deaf, I mute I. I try my best sign-sign learn K teach-me. Sorry i-f mistake-mistake.] (Hi, my name is Huang Zitao. I’m 20. I’m not deaf; I’m actually mute. I try my best learning sign language, and Kyungsoo teaches me when he can. I apologize if I’ve made any mistakes.) Zitao nervously glances at Kyungsoo, hoping that he has made his message clear. Angelo looks impressed at Zitao’s signing skills while Kyungsoo smiles at Zitao and nods in approval.
“Wow, how long have you been learning how to sign?” Angelo asks.
Zitao frowns a bit in thought. [U-h-h-h…month? Week-week?] (Erm…a month? Maybe several weeks?)
“Whoa! You’re pretty quick to learn in a short amount of time!” Zitao smiles, bowing his head at Angelo’s reaction.
Jongdae pipes in, “He’s known to be the linguist among us, though I don’t know how many languages he knows.”
Angelo’s eyes widen at the explanation and he stares at Zitao in admiration. “Dang, that’s some serious dedication there. What languages do you know, Zitao-sshi?”
[H-m-m-m…Not just Chinese, Korean, also Japanese, English, Arabic, Spanish, Russian, few more] (Hm…not only do I know my own languages, Chinese and Korean, but I know Japanese, English, Arabic, Spanish, Russian, and a few others.)
Angelo shakes his head in awe, “That is quite amazing. How do you even remember the characters and alphabets, because there are some differences within the writing systems, such as between Cyrillic and Roman alphabets. There’s so many phonetic differences among those languages…”
Zitao shrugs and smiles once again, just like before with Jongin commenting almost the same thing. Jongin’s voice comes in, getting Angelo’s attention.
“Zitao-hyung is just really cool,” Jongin compliments. “Anyway, my name is Kim Jongin. I’m 18. My twin brother is over there, Sehun.” Sehun waves shyly at Angelo, yet with an expressionless face.
“Er…is he always like that?” Angelo mutters a bit warily to Jongin about Sehun’s stoic face.
“Yeah, but when he warms up to you, he’s a whole ‘nother Sehun.”
Luhan, Wufan, Minseok, Baekhyun, Chanyeol and Joonmyeon introduce themselves in that order after Jongin brought Angelo’s attention to Sehun. Kyungsoo notices that Angelo looks a bit overwhelmed with so many names to remember.
“Nice to meet you all! Wow, you guys must be really close to have a group this big!”
“Ah, er…some of us kind of just met a month ago, like me, Zitao and Jongdae. In fact, Baekhyun and I are the new additions to the group, since we met them through Joonmyeon-hyung who is Chanyeol’s brother.” Kyungsoo explains with a soft smile.
“Wow, that’s…just wow. I never would have guessed. Well, anyway, I apologize for the interruption but it was really nice to meet you! I’m sitting with my group over there, and you’re free to come by and talk if you like! See you around!” Angelo bids the group farewell and leaves them to rejoin his group.
Kyungsoo notices Angelo’s group had one feminine guy, and three girls. The guy sticks out like a sore thumb with his white skin tone and obvious Western look, it slightly amuses him that this guy is the only non-Asian guest in this café. Another girl comes to their table and Kyungsoo sees that even though the girl is white, she exudes a Chinese look. Talk about international social networking over there, Kyungsoo thinks to himself.
- - -
The piano melody and slow electronic notes play throughout the café…
“Ooh, this is our song, unnie!” Hyojung murmurs to Bora. “Haha, that time was a good time, turning down our festive sides a notch, and showing our sultry sides, hahaha! Wae na honja bap-eul meok-”
“OH. THIS IS OUR JAM, GELO.”
Kyungsoo and a few others around him jump at the sudden shout coming from Angelo’s table as he looks up to see the white feminine guy stand up and hurry over to the stage, walking in a catwalk fashion with such agility. When he gets on stage and readies himself into position for the “Whoo-ooh-ooh-ooh”, Kyungsoo is amused how deeply focused this guy is into his dancing. The music continues, now with the lyrics, and Aaron begins to sing right along with the beat as he dances to Hyorin’s parts.
“Chueoki iri manheulkka~ Neon daeche mwohalkka?~”
(So many memories, I wonder what you do)
“Whoa…this guy got my dance parts spot-on…He must be fan of us…and he doesn’t even look Asian,” Hyojung mutters to Bora, as they observe the guy’s dancing and singing skills, the audience also watching. Bora nods. “Unnie, what do you think, should we have him join us onstage to dance to Loving U and How Dare You?” Bora looks at her, and thinks about it.
“Yeah, why not? It’ll be fun!”
Later, the sisters excuse themselves from Miyoung and Taeyeon to get ready and they make their way to the ramp that leads up to the stage.
Meanwhile, the guy looks around and, finding himself to be the only one dancing onstage, before he stops and glares to someone in the audience.
“BETCH, WHY ARE YOU NOT UP HERE, YA HOAR? Owh, the nerve of dis bich,” the guy mumbles to himself as he picks up the choreography from where he left off. Hyojung raises her eyebrows at this and side-glances at her sister.
“He’s got a wild mouth,” Hyojung mutters in Korean.
PART 3
Author: tikibuddy91
Characters: EXO, SISTAR19, BEAST, SHINee, f(x), SNSD (Taeyeon, Miyoung, Hyoyeon), CNBlue Yonghwa and Jonghyun, Juniel, INFINITE, Ingook, five cameo guests
Word Count: ~12000
Rating: PG-13
Summary: College students. Blind, Deaf, and Mute. Their lives deal with the ups and downs, like a roller coaster. They find relationships, and companionships. Life does not always have a happy ending, but they can try to get their own.
Author Note: Back after a long time~ :D HERE'S THE FIRST PART OF THE SECOND INSTALLMENT OF CHAPTER 17.
Author Note 2: We are now looking into the EXO part, having left the BAP part in the previous chapter. It's at Lee Jinki's cafe, Chakeo Corner. MANY THINGS HAPPEN. :D
Sign Language Guide
Families
Chapter 17 Part 1
“KYUNGSOO-YAH! BAEKHYUN-AH! LET’S GO!!”
Kyungsoo has just come out of his bedroom, all ready to go, when he points out to his brother, Jonghyun that Baekhyun is not yet done.
“Hyung, Baekhyun’s the one taking a while getting ready!”
Sound of feet pattering across the apartment floor from Jonghyun’s bedroom…
Rapid knocks on the bathroom door…
“Baekhyun-ah, what are you doing right now?! We need to get going! Kibum, my punctual boyfriend in case you’ve forgotten, is expecting us in like ten minutes from now, and the drive to get there takes fifteen minutes! I just saw you dressed up like five minutes ago. I didn’t even hear a toilet flush or anything. What could you possibly need to get ready with at the last minute?!”
“My eyes, hyung!” Baekhyun screams at Jonghyun. Jonghyun’s eyes widen, alarmed at the strained voice from Baekhyun.
“WAIT, WHAT,” Jonghyun raps his fist on the door, feeling a bit panicked. “WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU, BAEKHYUN-AH? ARE YOU OKAY?”
“I’M FINE; IT’S JUST THAT I’M PUTTING ON EYELINER AT THE MOMENT.”
Kyungsoo hears a solid thud and then another thud, as Jonghyun plants his head on the door and then turns around to lean back on it.
“BAEKHYUN-AH. YOU CAN JUST DO IT IN THE CAR. WE GOTTA GO! OUR NOONAS ALREADY LEFT.”
“NO, HYUNG. THE RIDE’S TOO BUMPY FOR ME TO DRAW NEAT LINES AROUND MY EYES.”
Kyungsoo slowly enters Jonghyun’s bedroom to see his brother facing the door with a scandalized look on his face, pointing with his finger at the door, as if the door had mocked at him about his height.
“Park Baekhyun, you listen to me right now. Get out of there this instant or I will knock this door down and drag you out without a care about your eyeliner,” Jonghyun warns.
“Hyunnggg~ I’m almost done! Just give me a few seco-“
“ONE.”
“WHAT, ARE YOU SERI-” Scrambling and a clutter is heard from the bathroom.
“TWO.”
“OKAY, FINE.” And Baekhyun opens the door, and the brothers see Baekhyun looking all the same, except his eyeliner surprisingly looks well pulled off, given Jonghyun’s threats and time constraint.
Baekhyun stares hard at his brother before averting his eyes to the ground; he does not want to put up a fight. Jonghyun shakes his head, almost in disbelief.
“Sheesh, all that for eyeliner. You look good without it anyway, I don’t see what’s the point of wearing them,” Jonghyun mutters to himself as he walks out of his bedroom in a brisk manner.
Baekhyun blinks as he is caught off guard by his brother’s compliment. He frowns at his brother’s retreating back, and suddenly makes eye contact with Kyungsoo. Kyungsoo nervously smiles at him before nodding his head in Jonghyun’s direction.
[Go?] (Shall we go?)
Baekhyun gives a small smile before checking around his body for his wallet and cell phone. Once he has them, he nods at his younger twin, and the two of them follow Jonghyun out their apartment.
- - -
Twenty minutes later, the Park brothers arrive to Chakeo Corner after Jonghyun has found a parking space in one of the many underground downtown parking substructures. They are met with an annoyed young man who has feline-like eyes and sharp cheekbones, a playful male couple and a chatty female couple, each pair having one member that almost seem androgynous, with the male having a ponytail and a female having short hair. The annoyed man is tapping his foot on the ground as he immediately spots Jonghyun and his brothers walking his way.
“YAH. Jonghyunnie-hyung. Why are you late?”
“Sorry, Kibum-ah, traffic was bad getting here. It’s a Friday night, after all. I didn’t plan properly ahead of time. It’s my fault.” Jonghyun glances at Baekhyun.
“Traffic? Yah…Park Jonghyun. Traffic at 6PM? Traffic usually happens around 4 or 8PM, never 6PM. I was on the phone with you twenty-five minutes ago, and you said you were already ready to go! What could have possibly been keeping you this late!?”
Baekhyun winces as he hears Kibum’s shrill voice ringing out in the less noisy street of Changgyeonggung-ro. The quartet behind Kibum is watching the lovers’ quarrel with wide eyes and hushed looks. The androgynous female sees Baekhyun and Kyungsoo and waves at them. Having returned the greeting, Kyungsoo nudges Baekhyun to join the pairs.
“My name’s Zhang Amber,” the girl introduces herself as Kyungsoo and Baekhyun draw near, unbothered by Baekhyun’s actions to fingerspell her name to Kyungsoo. “This is my girlfriend, Kim Soojung.” The pretty girl with wavy hair stares a bit longer at the twins with interest, before she realizes they are all looking at her. Hastily, she lifts her hand to wave her fingers with a shy smile. The twins introduce themselves before the male couple moves over a bit slightly to join the co-ed quartet.
“My name’s Kim Taemin, and this is my boyfriend, Choi Minho. Soojung-ah and I are Kibum’s siblings. I’m sure you’ve already met our brothers, Jongin and Sehun.” Taemin is smiling and Minho is hugging Taemin around the waist, standing behind him as he rests his chin on Taemin’s shoulder.
“Yeah, we did, and it was quite an interesting first meeting,” Baekhyun glances at Kyungsoo with a small smirk. “Do you guys go to our campus?”
“Ah, no,” Amber speaks up. “Soojung and I still go to high school, but I’m in my last year; and Taemin-hyung and Minho-hyung go to different colleges, majoring in dance and filmography, respectively.”
“…Hyung? But…aren’t you a girl? I’m sorry, but shouldn’t it be ‘oppa’?” Baekhyun wonders out loud.
Amber, Taemin, Minho and Soojung chuckle and nod, leaving the Park twins bewildered at their reactions.
“I could call them oppa, but sometimes the guys feel it strange that I’m calling them oppa when I give them an appearance of a guy. So they said I was free to call them hyung.”
“Ah…wow. Isn’t it strange for you?” Kyungsoo asks.
“Nah,” Amber replies. “Since I came from a Chinese background, our honorifics for siblings are gender-neutral. It’s the same honorifics for both younger males and females to an older male sibling or a female sibling, and vice versa. You’ve met Luhan-ge and Yixing-ge, yeah?”
Baekhyun and Kyungsoo nod.
“Yixing and I call Luhan ‘Luhan-ge’ or ‘ge-ge’, regardless of me and Yixing being different genders. They call me ‘mei-mei’. There’s no certain honorifics defined by gender, only by generations.”
Baekhyun and Kyungsoo nod once again, understanding what Amber is explaining to them. They all turn their focus to the lovers’ quarrel.
“I got lost and distracted with things in my mind.”
“Tsch, you got lost? That’s a lame excuse. You’ve been coming here for the past seven months. I think that clearly debunks your excuse for getting lost.”
Jonghyun nervously looks over to the six younger members before he grabs Kibum’s wrist and pulls him closer to whisper in his boyfriend’s ear. Kibum suddenly reaches out a hand to hold onto Jonghyun’s shoulder to hinder physical collision, though their bodies are close enough to only have a thin film of space between them.
“I got lost searching for you, and I’ve been distracted with the thought of you and the memories of our…sleepovers. Kibum-ah, I’ll make it up to you after tonight, ok? Come to my place. I’ll make my brothers sleep over at their friends’ place.”
Kibum’s eyes widen before he blushes at the way Jonghyun is whispering, against the area where his ear and jaw line connects, the lines of cheesy seduction and promises of make-up sex. He looks over to Minho, Taemin, Baekhyun, Amber, Kyungsoo and Soojung before giggling and nodding. He feels Jonghyun’s hands lowering to grip the sides of his waist, and then the two of them start to sway side-to-side. Realizing where he is with Jonghyun, Kibum pulls away slightly to slap Jonghyun lightly on the chest.
“Yah, Jonghyunnie. Would you stop that, we’re in the middle of a public area. Our dongsaengs are right behind you. Aish!” Kibum ends with a playful tone, and Jonghyun can only smile at him with the expression of an excited puppy. “Let’s just go in and get ourselves ready, you’re the DJ host tonight and I gotta get into the kitchen to start up some appetizers and entrees.”
Kibum lightly shoves Jonghyun away with a foxy smile before he looks at the dongsaengs, their faces showing mixtures of amused and slightly judging looks. His face drops.
“What.”
The six dongsaengs shake their heads, looking sideways and murmuring “nothing”s, acting as if the whole thing between Kibum and Jonghyun did not happen in front of them.
“Oh, Kyungsoo-yah, Baekhyun-ah. Miyoung-noona and Taeyeon-noona are already inside waiting for you guys. They’re with Hyojung and Bora-noona,” Kibum informs the group. “Amber-yah, Soojung-ah, go ahead inside; Qian-noona is in there with Jinri and Zitao. Jongin and Sehun should be on their way soon…I think Yixing had to get something he had forgotten back at the house, but Luhan’s driving so…I don’t know when the others will be here.”
The group nods and enters the café without a word. Kibum turns to face Jonghyun and adds in one more memo, “Jinki-hyung already came here with Hyojung and Bora-noona, because the girls are gonna perform their own composition tonight, just a heads up.”
Jonghyun nods with an “Ok”. He holds Kibum’s hand and leads him into the café.
- - -
Chakeo Corner is a pretty spacious café, co-owned by Lee Jinki and Yoon Doojoon; Kibum’s uncle personally designed it. It was an offer that Jinki could not refuse because the uncle offered himself to be the architect of the restaurant, due to the close friendship that Kibum and Jinki shared, and the impressions that Jinki had left on Kibum’s family during their high school years. While Doojoon may be an interpreter at the nearby campus where Kyungsoo attends, he still has a second responsibility: handling maintenances at the café. Both Jinki and Doojoon have agreed to let Jinki take over the café as the head manager, supervising the whole operations of the café. However, Jinki and Doojoon have groups of friends that also are taking over in some departments of the café. Kim Kibum and Yong Junhyung are head chefs, while Jang Hyunseung is sous-chef; they also have a few other chefs who are interning or working part-time with them. Yang Yoseob is in charge of the cashier and customer services while Kim Taemin works under him, they are the only two people that work in the cashier area. Choi Minho, Son Dongwoon and Lee Kikwang are head waiters, along with a few others, some who have had experiences of waiting on customers in the past and some who are fairly new.
When one enters the café through the double doors, they face the cashier area with the kitchen double doors behind it, a glass-covered display of pastries and cakes, and a huge blackboard of written menus and discount deals. To the right side of the cashier and the display glass, there is a mini hallway that leads to the restrooms, with the male restroom further down, and a female restroom nearby.
The café has two major sections in terms of seating: a minor section for quick meals or just a casual lunch date between two friends, and then a major section for dining pleasures and social gatherings. The minor section has small tables and two to four chairs surrounding the tables. The major section has a stage on the far left corner side of the café, with the DJ Booth in the back corner of the stage; there are cushioned seats near the front wall with windows above them, as well as bigger tables with four or more chairs surrounding each of the many tables. Also onstage Jinki’s office, is located next to the DJ booth; across the stage from Jinki’s office is the backstage area for stage equipments and changing rooms.
The lighting in the café changes throughout the day, to create a appropriate nice ambience during certain times. The lights do not get too bright nor too dim to make the diners feel comfortable and sociable. Even the waiters and waitresses socialize with the diners, making sure everything is well accommodated.
Just like the lights, the music is also playing throughout the café. During the day, songs from popular and old-time classic solo artists are played to suit the coffee/tea dates. When the night comes on, the café appeals more to a variety of audiences. The café will play top hits from the modern age, of boy groups and girl groups, aspiring artists, and foreign artists from China, Spain, America and England.
On certain Friday nights, Jinki holds stage performances from frequent bands and new bands. He lets them sign up to perform for gigs or for fun, as long as they can show up and deliver performances that appeal to the audiences. So far, there has not been a single band that has been turned away from the café due to the audience’s dissatisfaction. A mellow rock band quartet named CNBlue, a harmonious male duo called InVinite, and a duo called SISTAR19, made up of Jinki’s two sisters, are among the few regulars of Chakeo Corner.
Kyungsoo and Baekhyun are seated at a table with Zitao, having already greeted their sisters and Hyojung and Bora at another table, and are just catching up on the past few days and talking about what is to happen for the next few days. Taemin and Minho have already gone into their café mode, dressed up in their cashier and waiter attire, respectively. Amber and Soojung have joined Qian and Jinri, waiting for Sunyoung to arrive.
Qian, Jinri, Soojung, and Amber are seated at another table, slightly further from the smaller group of guys. Hyojung and Bora are seated with Miyoung, Taeyeon and Hyoyeon. Jinki is taking care of the café shop from his office, often coming out to check on his regular and new customers. Doojoon is working as the chef manager for the time being, watching over Kibum, Junhyung, Hyunseung and several other chefs.
“Neo nan ara~ Neo nan ara~”
“BAEKKIE-YAH!”
Baekhyun gives a jolt at the sudden outburst of his name, looking around. Kyungsoo quickly whips his head around to the source of the deep voice rumbling throughout the café. A few heads are turning as well to focus on a certain tall person with bronze hair straightened down and an energetic smile pasted on his face, walking towards Baekhyun and Kyungsoo with his long limbs clumsily knocking past chairs and tables. The mutters of “oh, sorry, sir”s and “excuse me, ma’am”s can be heard from Chanyeol as Joonmyeon graciously follows behind him. When they arrive at Kyungsoo and Baekhyun’s table, Kyungsoo meekly waves at Joonmyeon with a smile, and Joonmyeon gives a little bow to Kyungsoo, as if he was a prince.
“Ah, Chanyeollie-yah~,” Baekhyun stands up to hug his boyfriend, wearing the sweetest smile that reminds Kyungsoo of a content Golden Retriever puppy. “I missed you!”
“Baekhyun-hyung, you guyth juth sthaw them two hourth ago. You sthill missthed him in that two-hour gap of not stheeing eatch other?”
Kyungsoo hears Sehun’s lispy voice come up behind Joonmyeon and the quartet turns to see a poker-faced Sehun, and amused Jongin and Luhan standing around. Luhan giggles and smiles at Sehun, “Yah, be mindful of your hyungs, Sehun-ah.” Yixing finally arrives with Jongdae, having to guide Jongdae through any spacious gaps to get to the group. The group welcomes them warmly and Jongdae smiles with a wave of his hand, allowing himself to be hugged by some friends. While Jongdae receives some hugs, Yixing greets the quartet with a dimpled smile, hugging with his free arm since his arm is linked with Jongdae. Zitao walks over to join Yixing and Jongdae as Jongin walks up to Joonmyeon and Kyungsoo. Jongin leans on the back of the chair, looking at Kyungsoo and Joonmyeon.
“Hi, hyungs! What time did you guys get here?”
Kyungsoo replies, “Oh, Baekhyun and I got here about 10 minutes ago; Joonmyeon and Chanyeol just got here a few minutes ago.”
Yixing calls to Zitao, informing that Jongdae’s sister is with their sisters, Qian and the girls, sitting at a table next to a table of four girls who are quite lively and silly.
“Ahh…that would be our sisters” - Baekhyun points between himself and Kyungsoo - “and Chanyeol’s sisters,” Baekhyun sighs with a tone of amusement in his voice. “Our sisters are Miyoung and Taeyeon, while Chanyeol’s are Hyojung and Bora. They’re quite friendly, just very…too friendly.” Yixing chuckles.
“Shall we all sit down?” Luhan addresses to the whole group, and they all nod. They cooperate to gather the tables together to seat twelve people, as Jongdae announces that his brothers will be joining them later. Jongdae does not see the smile that graces on Zitao’s face, hidden from everyone’s sights.
- - -
Once the waiters have come by and taken their drink orders, the group splits into small groups as they talk about different topics, almost into the same groups as they usually are during lunch hours on campus. Minus the company of Yongguk and his friends like at college, they still take up a quarter of the space in the major section of the café. They are still waiting for Wufan and Minseok to arrive before they can eat dinner and enjoy the performances, but they have their drinks to wait for at the moment.
Kyungsoo sees Jongin joining him, Joonmyeon, Chanyeol and Baekhyun in one table, and Sehun joining with Luhan, Zitao, Yixing and Jongdae. He then talks about his classes and the incident that happened today in their apartment, as Joonmyeon watches on with genuine interest and a soft smile on his face as a reaction to Baekhyun’s response to Jonghyun’s threat.
Chanyeol turns to face Baekhyun and pokes lightly at Baekhyun’s nose with a smile, receiving a confused look and a pout from his boyfriend.
“What was that for?” Chanyeol shakes his head and smiles.
“You’re quite obsessed with that eyeliner, and I have seen you without it sometimes at school or in public, particularly during the daytimes. In the nights that we go out, you have it on. Your brother’s right; besides, I think you still look good without it anyway, more like charming, really. You have such endearing eyes, Baekkie, don’t deny yourself from that.” Chanyeol takes ahold of Baekhyun’s hands and lifts them to brush his lips against Baekhyun’s knuckles.
“Nan niga jeil joha~ niga jeil yeppeo~”
Baekhyun blushes at both the compliment and the gesture, and Kyungsoo can only roll his eyes in amusement and smiles at the couple. There is a small commotion of cheers and awed reactions somewhere near the entrance of the café and Kyungsoo cranes his neck to see what is going on. He can only make out two people dancing in the middle of a circled crowd and he is amused at the sight of two people dancing in the middle of the café.
Luhan, Sehun, Joonmyeon and Jongin watch Baekhyun and Chanyeol with amused expressions. Jongdae, Yixing and Zitao are in their own world as Jongdae teaches Yixing, with Zitao’s help, some of the alphabets that he learned from Kyungsoo and Daehyun. Zitao fingerspells to Yixing as Yixing attempts to imitate the same hand poses, with his hand blanketed under Jongdae’s palm. Jongdae had explained to Yixing that this method of fingerspelling under his hand is an effective way for Jongdae to read the deaf language.
“Kyungsoo-hyung, can I ask you something?”
Kyungsoo’s ears perk up at Jongin’s murmurings audible only for him and Joonmyeon, and he looks at Jongin, who is staring at Zitao, Yixing, and Jongdae before turning to face him.
“What is it, Jongin-ah?”
“Can…you teach me the alphabets?” Jongin traces swirling lines with one of his fingers on the table surface as he shoots a tentative glance to Kyungsoo.
Kyungsoo smiles and replies, “Sure, Jongin-ah. I can teach you some right now, if you’d like.”
“Really? Cool!” Jongin smiles as he readies his hands and then, all of a sudden, a waiter swoops in quickly to attack Jongin’s sides with his hands, tickling him mercilessly. It startles Jongin as he yelps a bit too loud before giving in to laughter and recoiling jerkily. Kyungsoo and Joonmyeon jump a bit at the sudden invasion and reaction, while the others whips their heads around to see what was going on. Jongin is left gasping and scowling at the waiter. “Hyunngg, what was that for?”
This waiter has a slightly muscular but lean build and medium length of platinum blond hair, with a face that resembles a Western look; anyone would have mistaken him for a foreigner. Son Dongwoon smirks before ruffling Jongin’s hair, “Sorry kiddo. Kibum told me to do it. Hey, Joonmyeon-ah.” Dongwoon nods to Joonmyeon as Jongin shamelessly whines at the waiter.
“Hyuunngg~ Why did Kibum-hyung tell you to do it? You could have not done it…”
“You’re right, I could’ve, but Kibum suspects there’s something going on between you and someone named Kyungsoo.” Dongwoon shrugs at the name, despite the smirk on his face, relishing on the fact that Jongin is losing his cool façade. Kyungsoo looks up at him, perplexed. Joonmyeon is watching the whole scene with interest, yet keeping a calm posture.
“Wha…who told you? Wait, who told him? I didn’t even mention Kyungsoo-hyung to Kibum-hyung.” Jongin glances at his friend from across the table.
“Jonghyun-hyung did.”
“YOUR BROTHER?!”
“MY BROTHER?!” Kyungsoo squawks as his eyes widen at the revelation and even more at the coincidence that both he and Jongin exclaimed at the same time.
Dongwoon looks between Kyungsoo and Jongin. “Yeah…wait, are you Kyungsoo? You’re Jonghyun’s younger brother?”
Kyungsoo nods, his eyes still wide, as if he was caught guilty mid-action of doing something wrong. Dongwoon makes a silent “oh” and smiles at him, with a slight bow of his head, “Sorry about that. We have not met before, though I’ve heard your name and your twin’s name a few times in passing from your brother. Even so, I seldom meet with Jonghyun-hyung, because I’m more of Kibum’s friend than Jonghyun-hyung’s. But none of that matters right now; anyway, my name is Son Dongwoon. Pleased to meet you.” He flashes a smile.
Kyungsoo returns the smile, feeling a hospitable charm emitting from Dongwoon as he introduces himself.
“Well, then Kyungsoo-yah, call me Dongwoon-hyung, if you like. In the meantime, all of your drinks are coming up soon; it’s the mango passionfruit tea for you, Kyungsoo, correct?” Kyungsoo nods. “I think Kiki-hyung is coming around with that - his name is Lee Kikwang; he’s a year older than me. Joonmyeon-ah, your Americano is coming up with Minho. Minho’s taking the coffees while Kikwang’s taking the teas. I’m just taking the iced drinks tonight. I’ll see you guys around! Later, kiddo.” With that, he ruffles Jongin’s hair once again, and Jongin hurries to fix his hair with a glare at Dongwoon’s back as Dongwoon goes to retrieve the others’ orders.
“Still wanna learn the alphabets, Jonginnie-yah?”
“Hm? Ah, yeah, I almost forgot about that. Ready when you are.”
Minutes pass as Kyungsoo teaches Jongin the Korean alphabet, with Joonmyeon participating as an assistant. Kyungsoo uses Joonmyeon’s hand to show Jongin how the consonant or vowel is connected to the sign. Once they have covered the Korean alphabet, they are about to move on to the American alphabet when two waiters arrive to deliver the drinks to the group.
Kyungsoo sees that one of the waiters to be of a short build, though his muscles makes up for his height, and the eyesmile. Wow, that eyesmile is really something…it makes him look endearing, actually, Kyungsoo thinks to himself. And finally, he notices the lips, the thick lips that make Kyungsoo raise his eyebrows a bit skeptically. Is it even possible to have lips that thick?
“Hello, I’m Lee Kikwang, one of your waiters in the café tonight! Welcome to Chakeo Corner! What’s your name, kid?” The said waiter still has his eyesmile on as he gives an airy chuckle, introducing himself and welcoming Kyungsoo. He places the mango passionfruit tea in front of Kyungsoo and also puts down a straw.
“U-uh, Kyungsoo. I mean, Park Kyungsoo. Dongwoon-hyung briefly told me about you.”
“Oh, did he now? I hope he didn’t tell too much about me.”
“Ne? Uh…Dongwoon-hyung just said that you would be delivering teas and that you’re his hyung, and thus, you’re also older than me.”
“O-oh, hahaha, alright then. Yeah, just call me Kikwang-hyung. There’s no need for formal honorifics with one another in this café, well…I mean, not that I’m saying we can all use informal language. Still have to respect people around here.” Kikwang chuckles.
Kyungsoo politely nods with a smile.
Just then, a whining yelp comes from across Kyungsoo, grabbing some people’s attentions including Kyungsoo himself. Jongin scowls for the third time at another waiter, whom Kyungsoo recognizes as Minho from earlier.
“Jonginnie-yah, you’re finally here!” Minho chuckles, patting Jongin’s hair after ruffling it, as Jongin looks helplessly at his hair. “Aigoo, this kid. What took you guys so long to get here? Anyway, it looks like you and Sehun-ah are the maknaes of the whole group, and you don’t even look young. Compared to Kyungsoo-yah, Kyungsoo looks younger than you, kiddo.” Minho places Jongin’s order of caramel cappuccino in front of Jongin and places down a stirring stick.
Kyungsoo senses Jongin looking at him, and he can only react with a slight upturn of his lips and his brow furrowing upward, looking hesitant with a soft smile. Jongin looks at Kyungsoo in despair. Kikwang chuckles and agrees, nodding his head. “That he does, that he does.”
“And here you are, Joonmyeon-goon, your Americano.”
“Thanks, Minho-yah.” Joonmyeon smiles at said waiter and Minho returns it. Kikwang and Minho then take their leave.
Kyungsoo looks over to check on Zitao and Jongdae, before he jolts slightly in his seat. Zitao and Yixing are looking in his direction since the waiters were having a conversation with him, Joonmyeon, and Jongin. Zitao shoots a smile at him and beckons him to come over to their table. Kyungsoo points at himself with eyebrows raised, and Zitao nods, his finger sweeping in the air to include Jongin and Joonmyeon as well. Kyungsoo looks at Jongin and Joonmyeon before inviting them to join him at Zitao’s table. Joonmyeon politely declines whereas Jongin accepts, calling to Sehun to switch seats with him. Kyungsoo chuckles at Jongin’s excitement to see another interaction between him, Jongdae and Zitao.
Luhan and Sehun take their drinks to move and join Joonmyeon, Chanyeol and Baekhyun as Jongin and Kyungsoo, with their own drinks, take their spots. Baekhyun and Chanyeol are still seated in their table.
Jongdae, Jongin, Kyungsoo, Yixing, and Zitao are seated together in one table, as Zitao reviews with Jongdae and Kyungsoo Morse code, tapping on the others’ palms. Every now and then, Zitao would demonstrate the Morse code and then spell in ASL and KSL, in that order, for Jongdae to understand what exactly Zitao was saying. Yixing and Jongin watch with looks of contentment and interest, respectively, Jongin subconsciously tapping the table as he tries to imitate what Zitao is doing.
- - -
Wufan and Minseok finally arrive to the café a bit later, and Zitao happens to look their way. When he makes eye contact with Wufan, Wufan smiles and salutes to him with two fingers as he and Minseok arrive at the big group’s tables. Zitao blushes and focuses on spelling and signing.
“Yah, that guy over there. Zitao seems to be acting funny with him. Is there something going on that I should know?” Qian asks her younger friends. Soojung and Amber shrug, but Jinri and Sunyoung crane their necks to see Wufan trying to get Zitao’s attention and Zitao sneaking glances at Wufan.
“If you ask me, it looks like Zitao-ge has a crush on Wufan-ge.” Amber observes.
“Wufan? Is that his name? Huh, that’s a nice name…Wufan. He sure looks like a god,” Qian comments.
It is only when Wufan and Minseok take to their seats that Kikwang, Dongwoon, and two more waiters come by to take the orders of nineteen people; Kyungsoo and his group, Qian and her group, and the Park and Lee sisters. Minho had gone somewhere to another party to take their orders.
Once the group has ordered their meals, Kyungsoo goes back to teaching Zitao some more signing phrases upon Zitao’s suggestions, and Jongin and Yixing join in to learn.
“So wait, this is ‘How are you?’ but I can say ‘How are you all?’ too? Or this one also?” [How you, but can How you? *Jongin’s finger does a scanning motion* Or same How a-l-l you *He repeats the previous gesture*] Jongin asks Kyungsoo for clarification.
“Mhm, sign language is usually flexible with structure, as long as you get your point across and you have emphasize the focus of the sentence,” Kyungsoo explains, nodding.
“…That seems like a lot of work to fingerspell every single word, Zitao-hyung,” Jongin watches Zitao’s hand spell words at the speed of light blanketed under Jongdae’s hand. Zitao smiles and shrugs at him, it’s not a big deal.
“You sure know a lot of languages, Zitao-hyung…what I would give to have a skill like that. How do you even manage to not mix up words from different languages and be able to focus on one language when you use it?” Jongin says with deep admiration.
Zitao chuckles lightly as his hand stops doing its work, beaming at him. Jongdae laughs, hearing what Jongin said. Jongin then observes that Zitao is beginning to spell something new, as he can see the frown on Jongdae’s face. Zitao glances between Jongdae and Jongin as he continues to spell with a small smile on his face. Jongdae nods thoughtfully as he speaks up, “Zitao says it is easy, really. There are not many differences between some languages; some of them have the same root words.”
Jongin, Kyungsoo and Yixing nod in understanding and then Kyungsoo suddenly looks up, to somewhere behind Jongdae. There is a guy tentatively walking towards them, and Kyungsoo is not sure what to make of it; the guy seems harmless and he seems to be focusing on Kyungsoo himself. Jongin and Zitao also look up at the visitor while Yixing turns around to see what is going on before gripping Jongdae’s arm. Kyungsoo raises his eyebrows and speaks up.
“E-er…hi? Do you need something?” Kyungsoo hears his group behind him shifting around in their seats to look at the visitor as well, and the whole group goes silent.
Kyungsoo does not expect to what is coming.
“A-ah…no. Actually, sort of. It was just…I saw you from back there signing, and I noticed some of you were signing too and I was really surprised! It’s rare that I get to see and meet deaf people around the world. Sorry, I’m rambling too much, my name is Angelo. What’s your name?” The guy named Angelo ends with a nervous smile and a flourish of his hand above the group. [No, no, well, so-so. Really recent I sit-back *Angelo moves his hand backwards past his head* there see you-all ‘sign-sign’. Me surprise see you-all sign. Rare see meet-meet all-over world. Sorry ‘go-on-on-on’, my name A-n-g-e-l-o. Name sign A *He taps his A-shaped hand on his right temple* Your name what?]
Kyungsoo and the others, save for Jongdae, can only stare back at Angelo, a bit astonished at the speed of his signing. Some are unaffected by Angelo’s English, but they stare in amazement with the signs and when Angelo introduces himself in Korean. Kyungsoo and Zitao watch with fascination as they can understand some of Angelo’s English. Jongdae’s head is inclined towards Angelo to hear what he is saying and looks puzzled at what their visitor had to say. Kyungsoo brightens immediately and signs back, speaking in Korean.
“No no, it’s not a problem at all! My name is …er…wait, do you know Korean Sign Language?” [No, no-mind, *Kyungsoo shakes his head* problem! My name…*His hands are uncertain of how to spell his name with English letters, waving his fingers in nervousness* Wait, know you K-S-L, Korean Sign Language?]
“Mhm!” [Yes!] Angelo nods happily.
“Wow, really?!” - Kyungsoo’s eyebrows shot up in surprise - “Then my name is Park Kyungsoo. I’m 20, and my name sign is this; I know it looks offensive” - Kyungsoo sees the surprised look on Angelo’s face - “but it’s just emphasizing on my eyes, that’s all.” [Wow, really? My name B-ae-k G-yeo-ng-s-u. I age 20, name sign K. *Kyungsoo twirl his K-shaped hand on his right temple* I know offensive seem, but really, focus my eyes big.]
“Oh, okay. Hahaha, no worries. That makes sense after all. I’m 21, by the way. Nice to meet you.” [“Oh-I-see”, L-O-L. *Angelo shakes his head* not problem. Understand. “Let-you-know” age 21. Nice meet-you.] Angelo says reassuringly.
“And the same to you! Anyway, here’s the rest of my group of friends. Why don’t they introduce themselves, starting with Jongdae-yah here?” Kyungsoo indicates to Jongdae, who turns in his seat to face Angelo.
“Hi Angelo, I’m Lee Jongdae, 20.” Jongdae faces upward to greet the visitor and he moves his hand from the table to the air. Angelo notices that Jongdae is blind so he politely reaches out his hand to shake Jongdae’s hand, and allowing his hand to be felt around before letting go.
“I’m Zhang Yixing, 21. Pleased to meet you,” Yixing gives a dimpled smile to Angelo and inclines his head.
[Hi, my name H-u-a-n-g Z-i-t-a-o. Age 20. *Zitao shakes his head* I not deaf, I mute I. I try my best sign-sign learn K teach-me. Sorry i-f mistake-mistake.] (Hi, my name is Huang Zitao. I’m 20. I’m not deaf; I’m actually mute. I try my best learning sign language, and Kyungsoo teaches me when he can. I apologize if I’ve made any mistakes.) Zitao nervously glances at Kyungsoo, hoping that he has made his message clear. Angelo looks impressed at Zitao’s signing skills while Kyungsoo smiles at Zitao and nods in approval.
“Wow, how long have you been learning how to sign?” Angelo asks.
Zitao frowns a bit in thought. [U-h-h-h…month? Week-week?] (Erm…a month? Maybe several weeks?)
“Whoa! You’re pretty quick to learn in a short amount of time!” Zitao smiles, bowing his head at Angelo’s reaction.
Jongdae pipes in, “He’s known to be the linguist among us, though I don’t know how many languages he knows.”
Angelo’s eyes widen at the explanation and he stares at Zitao in admiration. “Dang, that’s some serious dedication there. What languages do you know, Zitao-sshi?”
[H-m-m-m…Not just Chinese, Korean, also Japanese, English, Arabic, Spanish, Russian, few more] (Hm…not only do I know my own languages, Chinese and Korean, but I know Japanese, English, Arabic, Spanish, Russian, and a few others.)
Angelo shakes his head in awe, “That is quite amazing. How do you even remember the characters and alphabets, because there are some differences within the writing systems, such as between Cyrillic and Roman alphabets. There’s so many phonetic differences among those languages…”
Zitao shrugs and smiles once again, just like before with Jongin commenting almost the same thing. Jongin’s voice comes in, getting Angelo’s attention.
“Zitao-hyung is just really cool,” Jongin compliments. “Anyway, my name is Kim Jongin. I’m 18. My twin brother is over there, Sehun.” Sehun waves shyly at Angelo, yet with an expressionless face.
“Er…is he always like that?” Angelo mutters a bit warily to Jongin about Sehun’s stoic face.
“Yeah, but when he warms up to you, he’s a whole ‘nother Sehun.”
Luhan, Wufan, Minseok, Baekhyun, Chanyeol and Joonmyeon introduce themselves in that order after Jongin brought Angelo’s attention to Sehun. Kyungsoo notices that Angelo looks a bit overwhelmed with so many names to remember.
“Nice to meet you all! Wow, you guys must be really close to have a group this big!”
“Ah, er…some of us kind of just met a month ago, like me, Zitao and Jongdae. In fact, Baekhyun and I are the new additions to the group, since we met them through Joonmyeon-hyung who is Chanyeol’s brother.” Kyungsoo explains with a soft smile.
“Wow, that’s…just wow. I never would have guessed. Well, anyway, I apologize for the interruption but it was really nice to meet you! I’m sitting with my group over there, and you’re free to come by and talk if you like! See you around!” Angelo bids the group farewell and leaves them to rejoin his group.
Kyungsoo notices Angelo’s group had one feminine guy, and three girls. The guy sticks out like a sore thumb with his white skin tone and obvious Western look, it slightly amuses him that this guy is the only non-Asian guest in this café. Another girl comes to their table and Kyungsoo sees that even though the girl is white, she exudes a Chinese look. Talk about international social networking over there, Kyungsoo thinks to himself.
- - -
The piano melody and slow electronic notes play throughout the café…
“Ooh, this is our song, unnie!” Hyojung murmurs to Bora. “Haha, that time was a good time, turning down our festive sides a notch, and showing our sultry sides, hahaha! Wae na honja bap-eul meok-”
“OH. THIS IS OUR JAM, GELO.”
Kyungsoo and a few others around him jump at the sudden shout coming from Angelo’s table as he looks up to see the white feminine guy stand up and hurry over to the stage, walking in a catwalk fashion with such agility. When he gets on stage and readies himself into position for the “Whoo-ooh-ooh-ooh”, Kyungsoo is amused how deeply focused this guy is into his dancing. The music continues, now with the lyrics, and Aaron begins to sing right along with the beat as he dances to Hyorin’s parts.
“Chueoki iri manheulkka~ Neon daeche mwohalkka?~”
(So many memories, I wonder what you do)
“Whoa…this guy got my dance parts spot-on…He must be fan of us…and he doesn’t even look Asian,” Hyojung mutters to Bora, as they observe the guy’s dancing and singing skills, the audience also watching. Bora nods. “Unnie, what do you think, should we have him join us onstage to dance to Loving U and How Dare You?” Bora looks at her, and thinks about it.
“Yeah, why not? It’ll be fun!”
Later, the sisters excuse themselves from Miyoung and Taeyeon to get ready and they make their way to the ramp that leads up to the stage.
Meanwhile, the guy looks around and, finding himself to be the only one dancing onstage, before he stops and glares to someone in the audience.
“BETCH, WHY ARE YOU NOT UP HERE, YA HOAR? Owh, the nerve of dis bich,” the guy mumbles to himself as he picks up the choreography from where he left off. Hyojung raises her eyebrows at this and side-glances at her sister.
“He’s got a wild mouth,” Hyojung mutters in Korean.
PART 3