The rear doors opened in the relative quietness and out walked a pixie of a little girl, probably two or three years of age. She was wearing a light pink dress with flowers in her hair, carrying a small white basket. With every other practiced step, she would reach in and grab a few petals to throw on the floor.
Chansoo glanced away from the pretty little girl and over to his side at the nudge of his arm. He raised an eyebrow and mouthed, “What?”
“That’s Eun-mi; Joowon hyung’s daughter,” Wooyoung whispered. “She’s so small like her mom.”
He had to agree, because if his memory was correct, Eun-mi should have been three or maybe even four. He watched Wooyoung point to the little boy carrying a pale pink pillow, start his walk down the aisle.
“That’s Kang-dae; Chunghee hyung and hyungsoo Eui’s little boy,” Wooyoung added and chuckled. “Not to say that Chunghee is ugly, but I’m glad Kangie takes after his mom.”
Chansoo rolled his eyes and pushed his best friend. “Be nice,” he said and turned back to look at the rest of the wedding party. He watched Namgi’s two dongsaengs walk down the aisle, hand-in-hand, smiling at their oppa. He glanced up at Namgi and saw that he was visibly shaking as he stood next to the pastor by the altar. So, Nam can be nervous after all? He silently chuckled to himself to see the usual confident man be so shaken. He turned back to see the rest of the bridal party and found himself holding his breath.
As the Bridal March was played, everyone fell into line and stood while Chansoo found himself releasing his breath with a frown. He literally shook and schooled his expression, followed everyone’s actions and watched the beautiful bride start to walk down the aisle, waiting to start the rest of her life.
As Misun finally reached where Namgi was, she handed her bouquet to a teary Yung Mi and turned to clasp hands with her soon-to-be-husband.
Though Chansoo should have been paying attention like everyone else, he found himself looking over at the people sitting on the bride’s side. He wrung his hands together, hoping to see —but not see— someone in particular. He noticed that the best friends of the bride were all sitting in the third to the last row of seats —two rows behind where he and the best friends of the groom were sitting— but frowned that he couldn’t see whom he had secretly been counting the days to see again.
Wooyoung nudged him and with one finger, pointed down at the floor. He quickly looked around to see everyone else with their heads bowed for the small prayer being said by the pastor. He closed his eyes and blushed at being caught not paying attention. He forced himself to pay attention and focus on the rest of the ceremony.
“I now pronounce you man and wife. You may kiss the bride,” the pastor said and chuckled along with everyone else in the church as Namgi wrapped both arms around Misun in a tight hug before kissing her for all he was worth.
Chansoo followed the other three bachelors in their circle of friends —Wooyoung, Jungmo, and Jinkyu— and Taeil with his girlfriend Emma through the progression line and waited to greet the newlyweds. The men were joking and pushing one another, while Emma stood by with a smile and just shook her head at them act like their childish selves. But if Chansoo was to admit it, he was too preoccupied trying to find where the bride’s best friends had wandered off to, to pay attention to their jokes.
“Yo, Chansoo, you alright?” Jungmo asked as he slung an arm around his shoulder.
“Yeah hyung, I’m fine,” he replied but was still too distracted. As he stood on his tiptoes to look over the crowd, Wooyoung poked him.
“Looking for someone?” he asked, trying to keep a straight face.
Chansoo blinked at him and shook his head. If he admitted it to his friends, he’d never be able to hear the end of it —the boys could be harsh in their joking. “Just seeing how long until we reach the couple so I can run to the men’s room.” Lame, Chansoo, lame.
Taeil laughed. “Just go, man. It’s not like you can’t come back in line with us when you come back.”
He mutely nodded and walked away.
“You think he was looking for her?” Jungmo asked, looking between his friends.
“More than likely,” Wooyoung said and raised a hand to rub his chin.
“You think? It’s been four years since they’ve seen one another,” Jinkyu commented. He found himself standing on his own toes and looked over the crowd to see if he could find the female friends of their group.
Taeil raised an eyebrow. “Didn’t he break it off?”
Emma put a hand on her boyfriend’s arm and gently patted. “What are you all talking about, Tae?”
Taeil lowered his head so he could whisper the story to his girlfriend. “Chansoo has a history with one of the girls in our circle of friends,” he started. “As you know, most of us met while at university. We were all studying one form of art or another and naturally hung out with other art students. Eventually, it ended being the core group of thirteen of us. You’ve met some of us.” She nodded. “We had always made it a rule that we shouldn’t date within the circle, but as you can tell from Chunghee and Eui, along with Joowon and Hei-Ran, that didn’t work.”
Emma giggled. “The best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry,” she quoted, and everyone nodded in agreement.
“Aww, my girlfriend’s so cute,” Taeil said and gave her a hug.
Groans were heard. “Single people here,” Jungmo said and crossed his arms.
Taeil rolled his eyes but chuckled as he simply ignored the others and leaned in towards his girlfriend again. “The other two that dated within our circle was Chansoo and Ae-cha.”
Emma blinked up Taeil. “A-Ae-cha?” she asked, remembering the short-haired girl that had been playing basketball with the boys the first time she had met her. “I… I thought,” she cleared her throat. “Let me preface the next line with, I assumed she was a lesbian because she had told me I was beautiful.”
The others chuckled; Jinkyu hitting the arm of Jungmo before he not-so-softly punched him with a harsh, “Stop hitting me!”
Wooyoung shook his head but smiled. “That’s just Ae-cha being her honest self. If I may say, Emma, you are beautiful, so she acknowledged that fact. Plus, even if she did like girls or played for both teams, Tae’s been head over heels in love with you, and she knows that, so she’d never hit on you.”
Emma blushed and looked over to her boyfriend as he smiled and just squeezed her hand. “Ok, so they were a couple?”
“Actually, the two didn’t get along for the longest time,” Jinkyu remembered with a smile. “Ae-cha and I both play the guitar and since one of her roommates was anti-noise, she always came to my place to play. My roommate was Chansoo and he would always complain about the noise as well but was always hovering nearby when we'd practice.”
“We decided to check his feelings for her,” Jungmo continued to tell the story. “We had Jinkyu call her up to come over and play when we knew he’d be home. We told her to head over and that Jinkyu was just going to drop off something at his ex-girlfriend’s house and meet up.”
“However, I had already arranged to just hang out my ex’s apartment for a while and see what happened when it was just the two of them,” he interrupted.
“What happened next?” Emma asked.
“I waited a few hours and headed back to the apartment. Let’s just say I walked in on them kissing like no one’s business,” Jinkyu said and laughed.
Chansoo rolled his eyes, overhearing his friends tell the story of his past with Ae-cha. They had been so busy laughing that they hadn’t realized he was back and standing behind them. Hearing them retell the story made him blush and remember how he had fallen so deep for their tomboy friend. He had always imagined that the girl of his dreams would look more like… well more like Tae’s girlfriend Emma —cute and feminine with long hair; someone who easily blushed and giggled lightly at the jokes around her.
He had never imagined he would have fallen for the girl who wouldn’t hesitate to punch you if you joked or picked too much on her or someone close to her… someone who dressed like one of the guys… someone who seemed to be more comfortable around the boys than not… someone who laughed too hard and too much… someone who could carry her own when parrying with one of the guys when they randomly practiced their taekwondo or picked up a game of basketball… someone so unlike he had always imagined. But it was also those differences that made her intriguing… and someone he started to compare other girls he met with.
The too fake giggles compared to Ae-cha’s out and out laughter —she never held back when she found something funny. The girls who would pout and not sit on the floor… the girls who would sit bored out of their minds when the boys would want to play ball compared to Ae-cha’s “I’m in,” when even the suggestion of basketball came up. The way she was when around both boys and girls… her affectionate way of touching someone when she talked… the way she tilted her head subconsciously and listened with absolute focus… Her low, mellow, and comforting voice when she’d sing with Jinkyu… drawing anyone who heard her in… absolutely and completely…
Chansoo had come home after working out with Taeil and some of the other guys that night. He was hot and drenched in sweat; the only thought on his mind was of a cold shower and a packet of ramen noodles before focusing on his chemistry notes for the test the next day. To say that he was surprised to see Ae-cha sitting cross-legged on the floor in front of their doorway, casually plucking at her guitar. To say that she was looking so breathtakingly beautiful as she sang would have been an understatement. He silently opened the door and welcomed the younger girl into the apartment, nervously quiet.
With a mutter of, “Make yourself at home; I’m gonna shower,” he ran off to escape the awkwardness of the moment. He grabbed his clothes and a towel and texted Jinkyu to hurry home before going into the bathroom. He had even taken an extra-long time in the shower, hoping that by the time he came out, his roommate would be home and help with the atmosphere, but of course, as he walked back into the living room, drying his hair with a towel, she was still alone.
She was laying on her tummy on top of the sofa, reading one of her textbooks. She had taken off her hoody and was only in her sleeveless t-shirt and jeans, her skinny jeans that hugged all the right places. He had found himself looking too long at her legs and bottom that he felt himself blush.
He stepped back into the hallway and walked back into the room loudly. “Jinkyu isn’t back yet?”
Ae-cha sat up and shook her head. “He texted me saying he’s trying to get his girl to let him come back.”
“She’s a clingy thing, isn’t she?” he asked, walking deeper into the room.
She shrugged. “He can be too,” she retorted, and both laughed, knowing that was the truth.
That was another thing about Ae-cha; even as awkward as he felt around her, within seconds of her talking he’d find himself comfortable or at least as comfortable as he could be with the girl he had the biggest crush on. He cleared his throat and threw the towel across the treadmill in the living room. “I’m going to make some ramen, want some?”
She closed her book and smiled, making his heart catch. “Sure. Need help?”
Chansoo quickly rejected that idea. “The kitchen’s on the small side so I’ll do it.”
Ae-cha laughed. “Whatever. Jinkyu, Yoora, and I have all baked cookies in that small kitchen and made it out in one piece.”
He couldn’t help but laugh along with her and simply shrugged. “Alright, but if I bump into you, don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
It had been hard standing across the room from her but being in an even smaller enclosed space with her made his pulse race. Since they had been only making ramen, there wasn’t much she could help with, so she offered to wash the dishes after they finished. Dinner had been more comfortable. He told her about how the boys had all ran trails that went up the mountains behind campus and made bets of who would be last. Last having to deal with a punishment.
“It was funny because Taeil hyung was the one who suggested it, but he ended up being last,” Chansoo said and smirked. Ae-cha laughed, head thrown back and enjoying the misfortune of their mutual friend and that laugh shocked his system.
I want her.
With that sudden thought, Chansoo immediately stood and carried his bowl to the kitchen sure his face was bright pink. He started to rinse his bowl when Ae-cha placed a hand on his.
“Thanks for making dinner. I’m a girl of her words. I’ll wash the dishes,” she said and smiled again.
Her hand on his… her being so close to him… made him breathless.
“I want her.”
“What was that?” she asked, an eyebrow raised.
Oh no… was that out loud?
“Who?” Ae-cha asked with a smile. “Is it Yoora eonnie? Have you told her?”
Yoora? Oh crap… it was out loud. “Uh… no,” he said and took a step back from her.
“Hmm… Min?”
“Min? She’s like a dongsaeng,” he heard himself say. He mentally facepalmed at unsuccessfully changing the subject.
“Ah, someone not in our circle of friends,” she said and turned to finish rinsing the bowls.
Oh, but she is…
He stood there and watched her as she dried the two bowls with a dish towel and turned to open the cupboards to put the bowls away. However, being as petite as she was, she couldn’t reach the third shelf comfortably, so he walked over to help her. It wasn’t intentional, but he found himself standing behind her, his front to her back and could only freeze as she bent forward a little to try to reach up again. The brush of her bottom across his hardening male organ made him close his eyes and made her freeze too.
“Ch-Chansoo oppa?”
“Y-yeah?”
“What are… are you doing?” she asked as she lowered her hand to the counter.
He didn’t remember but was told after the fact that he turned her around and picked her up and sat her on the countertop. He leaned in and kissed her hesitantly; still clearheaded enough to wait for a reaction. Because if she even so much as shook her head, he was going to apologize and take another cold shower. But when she placed her arms on his neck and deepened the kiss, there was no stopping them.
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