“Hey guys,” Chansoo said, walking back into their circle. All four of them turned around to look at Chansoo.
“Hey, took you long enough,” Taeil said chuckling, as he looked at the other friends sheepishly.
“Y-yeah,” Jinkyu said, returning the nervous look. “We thought you fell in or something.”
Chansoo shook his head. “Nah, there was a line, if you could believe that,” he said with a forced smile.
Emma laughed. “I think that’s a first; it’s normally only the ladies' bathroom with a line,” she said, oblivious to the mood.
“Yeah,” Chansoo replied with a shrug. He looked up, turned around and walked into the open arms of Namgi.
“Hey Channie!” he shouted and hugged his friend. “Thought you said you wouldn’t be able to make it?”
Chansoo chuckled. “I wouldn’t miss your wedding, hyung. I worked it out and took a long weekend and made the trip out.”
“Glad you could fly over from Tokyo. It’s been too long since I’ve seen you. You’re not going to make it a habit of only coming back to Seoul for weddings, are you?” Namgi asked, with an eyebrow cocked.
Chansoo only shrugged in response, plastered on an innocent grin and pulled away. There’s no other reason I should come back, is there? She’s no longer here. He silently sighed and walked over to Misun to hug her as well. “Congratulations noona; you’re looking beautiful, as usual.”
She lightly giggled as he squeezed her one more time before stepping back from the hug. “I knew there was always a reason you were my favorite… well… besides Nam oppa,” she said and smiled. Chansoo returned the smile and smirked at Namgi. “I so would have hit on you back in school, if you hadn’t been so young and if you hadn’t started dating my best friend.”
Chansoo’s smile faltered but forced it to brighten. “Oh, the words you say, noona. You wouldn’t have dated me. Because even if I was your favorite, I know I was always the immature kid in your eyes,” he said with a half-laugh and stepped to the side to allow the others to greet the newlyweds. However, his mind was now only thinking of her best friend and fighting with himself to ask her where her best friend happened to be, oblivious to the small smirk on the bride’s face.
The group walked away and entered the banquet room —where the reception would be held— and looked around for their table. Namkyu —Namgi’s older brother— directed them to their table. “Thanks, guys. I mean, I know you’re all the best of friends, but I appreciate you all making it to help Namgi and Misun celebrate their day.”
“What are friends for, right?” Jungmo said and gave him a side-hug.
As Namkyu walked away to continue his duty of best man and usher, they turned to find their places. They all smiled to see they were all seated with others from their circle of friends. In fact, the group needed two tables to accommodate everyone in their circle. At one table, sat the couples: Joowon and Hei-Ran with Eun-mi, Chunghee, and Eui with Kang-dae, Sanghee and her boyfriend Yoogun, and Yoora with her boyfriend Sihyun. The second table had the last two couples: Taeil and Emma, Min with her date, along with the four bachelors: Jinkyu, Jungmo, Wooyoung, and Chansoo.
“Channie!” Min shouted as he saw her oppa sit down. She stood and grabbed Minhyuk’s hand to drag him along with her. As she neared him, she was already crying and walked into his arms but not before hitting him a few times on the chest. “Where have you been? Don’t you know how much I’ve missed you?”
Chansoo —in shock at her words, especially said in front of the man whose hand she had just been holding— gently patted her back. “Minnie, you know I’ve been in Tokyo,” he replied, as he groaned when she hit him again.
She pulled away and smacked his chest another time. “I know that and that’s not what I mean. I meant, how could you just go and never come back for a visit or return any of my emails or calls or anything!”
He felt bad and guilty because, besides the guys, he purposefully stopped contact with all the girls in their circle of friends. The guys knew better than to bring up Ae-cha, but the girls… they always volunteered information on her to the point where he stopped even reading their emails. “I’m sorry Minnie,” he said quietly. There was nothing else he could say. He winced when she hit him another time.
“Just try and not return my emails now, Channie. I will never forgive you if you ignore me again after this,” she said and walked in close again for a hug.
He only softly patted her back again. He had missed Min too. She really had become the little sister he never had and felt worse that to help alleviate the pain of the breakup with Ae-cha, he walked away from her too. “I promise to always reply now Minnie,” he said and glanced back at the man standing behind Min.
Minhyuk smiled and extended a hand. “Nice to finally meet you Chansoo. I’m Lee Minhyuk, Min’s fiancé.”
Chansoo immediately pushed Min away from the hug and leaned in to look at her. “Y-your fiancé?”
The question only infuriated Min more and she smacked at his chest again. “If you read any of the emails, you would have already had that piece of information,” Min answered and walked over to Minhyuk. “He proposed a month ago and, of course, I accepted.”
Chansoo smiled and reached out to shake his extended hand. “Congratulations, Minhyuk. She’s a handful but will always treat you right.” Min smacked him on the arm with a glare, earning a laugh from both Chansoo and Minhyuk. “Of course, as her oppa, I will say that if you hurt my Minnie, I’ll hurt you. Got that?”
Min rolled her eyes and pulled their hands apart. “He won’t but if he does, all the boys have already warned him. Sheesh, all you men are so violent,” she said and intertwined her fingers with her fiancé’s. She glanced at the table and saw from the place cards that Jungmo and Jinkyu would have sat between Chansoo and her, so gestured them over. “Move. I wanna sit next to my Channie.”
“Why can’t he sit in the empty chairs on the other side of the table?” Jungmo asked and shook his head but was ignored.
“You’re gonna make us jealous,” Jinkyu said and batted his eyes at Min. “Always Channie this and Channie that.”
Chansoo laughed at the objections from the two bachelors and caught the raised eyebrow of Minhyuk. “Shouldn’t I be saying that?” he asked with a chuckle. “I hear Channie this and Channie that all the time, you know. I think I should be jealous.”
“Why would you be, honey? He’s just my stupid oppa,” she answered and leaned in to place a kiss on his cheek.
“Hey now, if I’m just your stupid oppa, why are you acting like this?” Chansoo asked with a blank expression.
Min turned back to narrow her eyes at him. “Fine!” she shouted and looked at Jinkyu and Jungmo. “You can have your seats back.”
“Not so fast, Minnie. I’ve missed my stupid dongsaeng too,” Chansoo said and pulled her back into the seat next to him, earning laughs from everyone at the table.
Min smirked. “That’s what I thought,” she said and happily sat.
Chansoo shook his head but smiled at how happy Min was acting. He was more than happy for another reason to have made the trip back to Seoul. He looked over at Minhyuk as Min started talking to Emma about planning another shopping trip together. “So, how long have you two been together?” he asked.
“Ah, Min and I met about two and a half years ago through my best friend’s girlfriend, who happened to also be a dance instructor where Min works. We hit it off immediately and started dating now too long after,” he explained.
“All right, over two years of dating. I can’t find any objections then especially since you seem to be making her happy. But just remember, if you make her unhappy, she has plenty of oppas who will kick your butt,” Chansoo said and pursed his lips. “She did mention most of us are belted in taekwondo, right?”
He laughed. “She did and so did the other guys. I promise, no hurting her,” he replied.
Chansoo smiled that his little sister seemed to have found a good guy. Minhyuk seemed to be funny and honest; perfect for Min. And from their interactions over dinner, he seemed to be very attentive to her needs and wants. It was over dessert when Minhyuk scooted over to Min’s seat, as she had walked to the restroom with some of the other girls.
“Why do girls go to the bathroom in packs?” Minhyuk asked with a raised eyebrow. Chansoo along with the other men at the table chuckled together.
“Your guess is as good as mine,” Chansoo replied and picked up his cup of coffee.
“So, Min said you’re an illustrator for one of the literary companies in Tokyo?” Minhyuk asked, picking up his own cup of coffee.
He nodded. “Nipponsei Anime and Literary,” he answered. “I’ve been there for about four years, almost five, mostly on their online division.”
“Why did you choose to go to work in Tokyo when you could have stayed in Seoul?” Minhyuk asked, curious since he had friends in the same business, in fact owning one of the smaller, successful manhwa producing companies in South Korea.
Chansoo shrugged. “No reason I guess. I just wanted a change of scenery,” he answered, though only one person knew the truth of his reasons.
“We’re back oppa,” Min sing-songed and kissed Minhyuk’s cheek as she pushed him back into his seat with a giggle.
“Whoa,” Jinkyu said and whistled lowly.
Everyone turned to glance at Jinkyu and then over in the direction he was looking at.
“Whoa is right,” Wooyoung said and glanced at Chansoo to see his eyes wide and mouth opened in semi-shock. He glanced at Min and found her giggling at her oppa’s expression but stood and ran towards the two in the doorway of the banquet hall.
“Ae-cha!” Min squealed.
Ae-cha… Ae-cha’s here… Chansoo mentally chanted. He couldn’t look away from the girl he had almost given up on seeing that night. She looked different from how she had looked four years ago. She had almost always been dressed in what would be termed as boy clothes, even having been mistaken for a boy before. But if one looked beyond that, she was pretty in her own ways and even very feminine with some of her tendencies.
But with how she was dressed now… no one would have mistaken her for a boy.
Even with her hair still pageboy short, there was no mistaking her for anything but a sexy young woman. She had on a sleeveless, cream-colored dress that reached her mid-thigh —that showed her shapely legs nicely— along with a pair of neck-breaking, cream-colored heels. Her small hand had a single gold bracelet and her ears had little diamond studs. She carried a small gold clutch purse and she looked absolutely… breathtakingly… beautiful.
“Chansoo.”
Chansoo silently looked over at Wooyoung as he called out his name. He raised a hand to place a finger under the taller man’s chin and pushed his mouth closed. “Down boy. She’s nice to look at, but she’s not yours anymore, remember?”
He glared at his friend and looked down at the table.
He’s right… she’s not yours anymore… can’t ever be anymore… you’ve lost your chance with the girl of your dreams…
You idiot.
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