STAY GOLD

[ hangover cure ] → hj+th

The hunger that she had when she walked into the kitchen, the nausea that came when her nervousness peaked in, everything uncomfortable had passed by now that they started talking. It did feel normal for once as if the cold of winter had turned into spring’s warmth. Her breath hitched underneath when his hand tightened around hers and the edges of her lips couldn’t helped but to twitched even the slightest to widen the smile. “You would just be sick of me saying that I’m glad at you.”, Hyejeong chuckled sheepishly as her eyes gazed away for a bit in embarrassment. The girl figured it could’ve been a way for the feelings that rumbled in her head slipped out but it was what she felt in all honesty.

Oh, how she wished that last night she had made other choices. Hyejeong wondered how it would’ve been if she accepted the boy’s offer from the get go. Would they’ve gotten to the kissing earlier? Or it wouldn’t happened at all? She was just glad that they went through how it went through even though now, the brunette’s cheeks couldn’t stop burning from the incoming embarrassment over and over. “You know, being in a club might make you do bad decisions but…”, her words trailed off as she didn’t know how to say the next part. With her eyes still on him, she took a deep breath with a slightly confident smile to continue. “But I know that not all of my decisions last night were bad ones.”, there was a new courage rummaging in her and making its way out. The playfulness she always had with her friends, Taehyun was no exception. She just had to hope he wouldn’t really catch the remarks as playful. “Thank you, though, for helping me either way. I haven’t really said that, right? I’m really, really grateful for you. I owe you.”

Now the memories of the kisses just flashed before her eyes, like a movie that happened right in front of her and blocked her vision of the male. Even only with memories, it still sent tingles up her spine and goosebumps woke up on her skin. Hyejeong gave his hand a gentle squeeze. It was odd how their hands were still connected despite them hadn’t said anything about their feelings, as if it was a forbidden territory for the time being. She just didn’t want to pull away like she didn’t want him to pull away. “Nah, I think we’re both busy. That’s why we haven’t crossed paths despite you’ve been staying here for a month. That’s like… thirty chances to meet.”, the girl chuckled before shaking her head in slight disbelief of their silly star-crossed fates. “SeoulArts?! Wow… You’re really going to the top.”, her eyes widened in amazement over his achievement. It reminded her of their third meeting in the past; he was studying in a coffee shop where she decided to ran away for the day from the witch’s wrath. It was where she discovered his true age and them getting to know each other further than just the ‘dumpling shop’s waitress’ or ‘convenient store guy’. “I’m taking photography, though. What about you? I feel like we both had so many turns for the years that I never thought you would be in SeoulArts. That’s amazing.”

More and more, Hyejeong felt like she had to get to know Taehyun again from the start. It was as if the years that gaped them flushed away their knowledge for each other. The feeling started to get unpleasant as she thought about how the male seemed so far away despite them sitting together. She quickly shook the thoughts away, though, not wanting them to reach any further into her head.

#uhxhyejeong #:re`p #:p`hangover cure #(( wow this reply has taken ages....

The atmosphere between them is quick to be a comfortable one once they’d started talking, as though the previous hostility between the two of them had just melted when they’d started talking and there’s even a part of him which thinks that he and Hyejeong are almost back to how their were all those years ago and the reason for the hostility in the first place is almost foggy and lost for him.

He ends up chuckling at her words, shaking his head a little in the process. “Yah, it’s really the alcohol that makes the bad decisions, don’t blame it on the club. I’m in the club a lot and I’d like to think that I don’t make a lot of bad decisions.” Taehyun ends up shooting a somewhat cheeky grin at the female, maybe it was too soon to tease her about the whole incident last night, but his cheeky grin soon fades upon hearing Hyejeong’s words and he can only mumble his agreement quietly. “No, I don’t think all the decisions last night were bad ones. Definitely not.” A small wave of his hand follows, together with a small smile. “Hey, you would do the same for me, even though I’m not sure I’d get into the same type of trouble. But really, there’s really no need to thank me.” Truth to be told, it’s not rare for Taehyun to see such scenes inside the club, in fact, it a much more common occurrence than one would think, but usually the security or the bouncers would step in before anything drastic would happen, he wasn’t usually someone to meddle, after all, his job was just a bartender and he’d really much rather keep it at that. But then again, last night was just an exception, Hyejeong was always an exception for him anyways.

Another shy laugh leaves him, as he ends up holding onto the girl’s hand even tighter–she hasn’t brought up the topic and it really does feel that it’s just some unspoken thing between them, the both of them wanting to be close to each other, yet not wanting to talk about the topic. “Well, we did manage to meet out of the sharehouse, which is an achievement. Who knows, maybe we’d be able to meet more now...?” It’s probably a little embarrassing to admit but he is shy and always a little shy when it comes to him talking about the school where he’s studying in. Taehyun knows of course, that the school he’s studying in is considered ‘top’ to some, yet when the topic comes up, he just usually shrugs it off. SeoulArts was the school and the only one that he’d wanted to get into ever since he’d had his mind set on picking up his education again. “It’s not..really...top. It was luck that I got in, I swear.” It’s his turn to be surprised now, his memory was always foggy about them talking about their future goals before, truthfully he thinks back then he was more focused on the present. “Photography? What type of photography are you into? Like the really artistic type? Or do you plan to be a photographer for journals and such? I haven’t really had much experience with taking photos. I draw rather than take photos, is that...strange?”

Dear Future Girlfriend,

At the moment you’re....someone semi-faceless? I hope when we meet, if we meet, I hope I’m in a good place, so that I’d be able to take care of you the way that I want to.

I’m not someone who’s very good at relationships, in fact, I haven’t really been in many relationships and what I have been in, I don’t really think of them as healthy ones.

If and when we meet, I hope I’d be in a good place, that I’d be ready for a relationship so our one can be a healthy one. I think I’m ready and I hope I’m really. The past year, I’ve really been working on myself, hoping that I’d be able to shake off the past and just be a better person.

Maybe, truthfully, I kind of have an idea of who I want you to be but I’m not going to let that cloud my judgement or get my hopes up because honestly at this stage, it’s really too early to tell. To tell the truth, you’re someone who hasn’t really left my mind these past years, as much as I had myself believe that you did. I honestly have no idea if you feel the same as you did or maybe it’s just a lot of wishful thinking on my part but for now, I’m content to enjoy our relationship the way we have it now.

Who knows what the future will bring and if I would really meet you in the near future. I just hope, that I really would be ready when that time comes.

- Taehyun

#uhxnj #:ans #:letters

Dear person I'm jealous of

Dear person I’m jealous of,

I don’t really remember your name nor your face but I remember the feeling of jealousy that I felt whenever I saw you around school. I was young then, really young, we were in the same class, I think? And we couldn’t have been more than 13.

I’m not really one to be easily jealous and to be perfectly honest, I don’t think we’ve even really spoken to one another or if you even knew my name. All I remember was every morning when I walked to school, you would be dropped off by both your parents and I remember the first time I noticed this, I thought maybe that day was a special occasion and maybe it was just a special day to ensue you being dropped off my both your parents. But after noticing this happening a couple of times, I realised this wasn’t the case and it was the same for every day. Your parents were just that loving and your family was just that close to warrant them taking you to school like that everyday, your father making sure that you had everything and your mother making sure that your uniform was immaculate.

I think, when I realised that, that was the first moment in my life when I ever really felt jealous. I love my family–my mother, I do, she’s the only family that I have and I love her more than anything in the world. But yet I remember feeling those pangs of jealousy, just hoping that for one day, I would be able to be in your shoes, just experiencing again that close family bond that I once wished that I had.

#uhxseulgi #:ans #:letters

winkon-usa

[HD SCANS] 2016 WINNER Season’s Greetings - KIDS OF W - Taehyun

Source: BRIN

#:nam

( ' initially he's really clumsy with this but pretending to sneak around to room 1B. Once he's there he quickly paste a sticky note on the door before running off, almost tripping on his way ) "Hey! It's your secret santa! I won't give you a lot of clues about myself because it might be too obvious. Just know I'll get you a great gift on Christmas! - SS out!

[’ he’s finally able to make his way back to the sharehouse, the last couple of days being extra tiring for him with all the projects and assignments needed to be worked on for his school and all he’s really looking forward to is to flop onto his bed for a good sleep, a smile is brought to his face however as he notices the bright sticky note on his door. He’d decided to sign up for the secret santa at the sharehouse this year, thinking that it’d help him get in the mood for the holiday. Briefly he wonders if he should leave his secret santa a note back, maybe he’ll have a stack of sticky notes stashed around he could just leave his secret santa a note on the door, but the again, would that be silly looking? So finally he ends up opening his door, carefully pressing the sticky note to the top of his small desk before finally flopping onto his bed]

#uh;santa #:xmas2015 #:anon #:ans

umbrella-memes-blog

[ ☂ ] dear... letters.

Remember that only memes posted under the umbrella-memes sublog are allowed to be reblogged. Feel free to send in memes that you want in circulation through the submit box. [ © ]

I will write about the following, leave one in my ask box.

Dear person I hate,

Dear person I like,

Dear ex boyfriend,

Dear ex girlfriend,

Dear ex bestfriend,

Dear bestfriend,

Dear *anyone*,

Dear Santa,

Dear mom,

Dear dad,

Dear future me,

Dear past me,

Dear person I’m jealous of,

Dear person I had a crush on,

Dear girlfriend,

Dear boyfriend,

#:meme #(( send me some of these while i slowly get into doing all the replies that i owe ;; ))

— *﹡ NO PROBLEM, ALL YOURS ; NTH&KMA

#uhxmina #:re #:re`s #:s`no problem all yours #(( thought there was still a reply to go and didn't see it was fin...so reblogging now ))#:fin

If you really insist so. [ ‘he’d never been one to keep insisting or offering something more than needed, but then again, the girl did help him out and while they did know each other, they still weren’t close and it just only felt better to be more polite] But noona, the offer is definitely still open always. [ ‘a look of surprise forms on his face, nodding a little] I moved in..a couple of weeks…a month ago? I thought I saw you around but I wasn’t sure. [ ‘he freezes for a moment, upon the mention of their mutual friend, he wouldn’t have known her if it wasn’t for their mutual friend anyways] Ah…yes..I..met her a couple of days ago actually. Had no idea she was around either.

93kma-blog

Yeah… ( ; she wonders if she’s made things more awkward by mentioning Hyejeong; from the way he’d momentarily frozen she’d wager she did. except now, they didn’t really have anything else to chit chat about ) It’s funny how the world works right? ( ; she smiles sheepishly as she comments this, thinking it’s probably time to excuse herself now ) Well. I guess… I’ll be going now. ( ; chuckles softly as she starts to step away ) I’ll see you around, Taehyun-ssi!

— FIN.

✖ watch it [ taehyun`jinri ]

@uhxcj

(´ it was early morning, most of the residents of this house are students which means almost everyone gets ready in the morning, some looks confused in the morning, more like zombies mostly, it’s time for finals for some of us, like Jinri, she goes around with some art materials and models for her projects, it’s quite tiresome honestly. Right on her way to leave, someone bumps into her, almost making her drop her box of crayons. Thank god it did not. She thought. ) Ow. ( a small sound left her lips, before back at him for a long while until he said something. ) Watch out where you walk..

[’ mornings are always a never-ending rush for him, between waking up late and trying to look more than representable, he always ends up rushing around the sharehouse, making sure that he’s got all his things for the day and his breakfast–or at least coffee before dashing off out to catch his bus. this morning was the same as another other, until he actually bumps into one of the tenants, a girl who he’s never really met before.] I’m sorry. I was in such a rush and I didn’t see. Are you ok? Did you drop anything? Break anything? [’ he bows his head in apology again, he’s usually a lot more careful then this and he’d be able to avoid bumping into anyone no matter how much of a rush he was in] I’m really, really sorry. Are you in a rush to go somewhere too?

#uhxcj #:re #:re`s #:s`watch it

[ hangover cure ] → hj+th

The thankful feeling washed over her again and again like the incoming waves to the shore as he kept reassuring her that it was in the past. It was in the past and even though the memories always haunted her, at least he wasn’t pressing on and being curious on what happened. Whenever Hyejeong woke up in the middle of the night, laying down on the dark, she always listened to the breeze that got into her room. Ever since Yuna moved out, the room felt so silent and the girl felt even more alone. There were times where her imagination got the best of her with the footsteps of other tenants sounding like the footsteps of her aunt, just moments before she slammed the door open, screeching Hyejeong to get out of bed by calling her names.

She snapped herself out of her head with a small flinch. Her eyes just focused on the male and listened to his story - or lack of thereof. There was something in him when he told her how Japan was. There must be a lot of things she didn’t know of but considering they were still walking on thin ice to the solid ground, it was best for her to kept her curiosity to herself. “I guess… None of our lives outside of this country were golden.”, the brunette murmured to herself but must’ve been loud enough for Taehyun to caught on. ‘It was golden just before both of us left. Or before I left.’, she added those sentences in her head. Knowing the boy back then felt like a much-needed escape from her daily routines. She loved her friends she made in school but having someone that came into her life all of a sudden and made her felt free was a once in a life time thing for her so far.

It was no much surprise on why he picked up the bartending job now. From what she knew, Taehyun had many jobs and which most of them weren’t something a then-high schooler should’ve done. She didn’t judge him as she knew what his reason was. It probably was one of the reasons the young girl had liked him even more; how courageous he was on taking jobs for his family. “Yah…”, the embarrassment gutted her once more as he touched the topic of what happened. There weren’t much that she remembered, only bits and pieces now, just like a dream that she forgot once she woke up. “Honestly, I would’ve rather stayed in… Or at least go out, staying sober and just drink coffee from a cafe. A lot more photos to take outside of a club, you know.”, she just returned the remark with a wider smile than before, showing just a little bit of the row of pearly whites. Taehyun probably didn’t know about her profound hobby as she wasn’t into photography when they knew each other. “Oh. I’m a student, at Kyunghee. I quickly returned to studying when I came back with a side job to keep me alive… then I got in, took a lot of credits so I can graduate faster and here I am. Still a year to go.”, her head bounced slightly for some small nods, her eyes gazing far off as if to remembered what she had gone through before refocusing back to the male next to her. “How about you? Please… Tell me you’re not just a bartender.”

For a moment Taehyun just observes the female as it seems like she’s recounting some memories, he knows from personal experience that sometimes when it comes to past memories, there’s really nothing that anyone else can do and it’s all up to yourself to get out of those thoughts. He wasn’t going to push the female for details similar to how he hoped that she wouldn’t push him for details either. There’s really only so much that he can do and for now, that’s to just hold onto Hye’s hand a little tighter, just to let her know that he would be there for her.

A small, almost bitter chuckle escapes him when he hears the words of the other and he can only nod slowly in agreement. While his time spend in Japan couldn’t be all classified as bad, they were still mostly things that he didn’t want to remember, so yes, the times definitely weren’t golden. “That doesn’t matter now. It’s and experience and what matters is that it’s in the past and we’re...here now.” There’s a small stutter in his words, almost as if he was unsure whether he should have said the last words, afterall was there really a ‘we’, a ‘them’? It was way too soon to even consider such a thing, right, they’d just finally gotten onto speaking terms and he didn’t even know if the girl might have any other love interest or not.

Hyejeong’s response was one that brought yet another smile to his face, he was sure that the girl knew that he was only joking about the previous night’s events. “Hey, I offered you a way out and you declined...” Taehyun ends up trailing off again. While they’re not on speaking terms, there really as no indication of what should be mentioned and what shouldn’t be. Was it ok? To mention last night? Or even anything that would have led to the past memories of how cold they were to each other recently? And how about that kiss, or kisses? Did the girl remember them or was it something she remembered but also came to regretting now that she was sober? His thoughts are once again interrupted when he catches sight of the girl’s smile, her smile was one of the things that had drawn Taehyun to her and after all these years, even though they’ve both gone through so many changes, Hyejeong’s smile still had the same effect on him. “Kyunghee? What do you study there? You’ve honestly been more busy than me then.? Oh me...?” With a laugh and cheeky grin, he ends up shaking his head. “No, of course not. I work at the convenience store too. Can’t give my my roots you know?” Another burst of laughter follows and for some reason he’s laughing the most that he has recently. “I’m joking. I’m a student too. At SeoulArts.”

[ hangover cure ] → hj+th

It saddened her to see how much trouble she had caused to the people around her when she first disappeared. She knew that Mina had been looking for her but the girl just never thought these two had banded up to look for her. The past guilt she felt for her best friend rose once more, even though dulled. “Really?”, she breathed out with much guilt weighed down even her voice. “I know, it’s in the past… And… And I just really don’t want to have someone do that to me again. I could say it was not my fault but… I couldn’t say it wasn’t as well.”

The heat from his hand was still radiating and it made Hyejeong’s palm gradually sweat from the fluttering butterflies inside of her. She didn’t want to guess on what it meant as it would just popped much more questions in her head. The girl decided to just enjoyed it for as long as it could last. “Ah…”, the word trailed off and hung in the air as Hyejeong dug up her memories on what could’ve happened inside of his household. She remembered when they were telling stories about their families respectively, Taehyun didn’t have a good relationship with his father, an opposite to what she had. “But… Did you have a good time in Japan? It must be exciting to live overseas, even if it wasn’t that long.”, she honestly didn’t know what to expect from his answers. He had looked more mature, definitely. She just didn’t know if it was all natural or he had encountered hardships in his expat life.

Her eyes continued to scanned his appearance with building urge to just took care of him. She didn’t know what this talk meant. Did they have the agreement to rebuild their friendship, at least? It was a right step to take if they would wanted to rekindle what they had. At least, Hyejeong would want to do that down the road. “How did you even end up being a bartender, though? That was… The most unexpected place I would’ve ever thought on meeting you.”, the brunette looked down once more afterwards as she felt her cheeks heating up. One thing she figured out it was that she needed to learned more to control her embarrassment and shyness if they would be in this distance a lot.

He could see it and even sense it in the girl’s mood and expression how his words had affected her, while he could easily tell Hyejeong that everything was in the past and she shouldn’t think about it as much but Taehyun knows better than anyone that you can never really control you think or feel about things. All he could do for Hyejeong now was try to give her the support as much as he could. “Let’s really not think about it anymore, it’s really in the past and thinking back isn’t going to do any good, right”

It’s almost as if it’s natural now, the feeling of holding the girl’s hand in his was a familiar one and almost as if Taehyun had been searching for this feeling for the past years, maybe that’s why his past relationships or at least relations with girls failed, because they didn’t manage to give him this feeling, this feeling of being at peace. A small shrug followed in response to Hye’s questions, it’s an almost built in reaction to when people people ask him about Japan. He never liked going into much detail about his stay, especially not the activities that he’d been in while he was in the country. “Well, you know. It was different, I picked up the language, which is good. Spent time with my father, which wasn’t.”

He lets a small comfortable silence hang between the two of them before taking a look up at the girl, it’s not as if he didn’t get to observe the girl in the previous encounters but now, now he was finally able to observe her up close and while Hyejeong is still looking so tired from the hangover, he could still see the charm of the girl, the charm that’d attracted him in the first place all those years ago. “Bartending pays good. Plus sometimes I get free drinks.” Another shrug follows, to tell the truth, when Taehyun had first come back to Korea, he’d worked a couple of odd jobs before finally getting this current job in the club. He’d the knowledge of making a good couple of drinks, which worked in his favour of getting the job. Apart from being fairly good pay, being a bartender always meant it was easier to get girls, but he wasn’t about to tell Hyejeong that, no matter what their relationship was now. “I would say the same..and it wasn’t expected to see you there too. Did you have a good time at least..you know..before...everything..” And this is when Taehyun trails off, not entirely sure whether he should bring up the events of the previous night so instead, he clears his throat a little and gives the girl a small smile. “ You didn’t answer me, are you studying now...or just working..at the restaurant?”

[ hangover cure ] → hj+th

Now the whole tension and misunderstanding behind them, she honestly didn’t know what to feel. The feelings that were lingering once more ached as they wanted to be relieved as well but she knew it was too much to ask. Like she had thought before, it would be a long and difficult road. One that she didn’t even know she could walked down again now or later on. Even though Hyejeong was dying to know about his own feelings, she bit her tongue to quieted herself down. This was no time to asked him on that.

When his hand reached for hers, the girl froze in her spot and let him took her hand, instantly feeling the warmth that radiated from his skin. If someone had said that she and Taehyun would’ve held hands the morning after before she went into the club last night, they would got a full laughter from her. Now, Hyejeong’s cheeks could only burned into a deeper shade of red. “I know that you cared… I know that you must’ve been looking for me, or so I hoped back then, that was why I desperately wanted to look for you.”, her eyes glanced towards him from the corners before taking the courage to actually looked at him.

Observing past the tired look that painted so obviously on his face, she could leisurely gazed on him once more just like how she would years ago. The boyish charm that she had thought before was replaced by a more mature look, fitting his own age right now. His haircut was much neater yet not much shorter. The more she looked, the more butterflies fluttered inside of the brunette’s stomach. “You weren’t the only one. Honestly… I really erased all hope to meet you after the search party I had.”, carefully, Hyejeong tightened her own hold on his hand just for a mere second before loosening it up slightly.

To be in this situation made her felt like she was her 19-year old self, the one who first met him. With the feelings a hundred percent came back for her, Hyejeong just couldn’t helped but to smile even wider with a hint of shyness. “How did you end up here, though…? What happened… With Japan?”

It seemed normal really, the feeling seemed normal and everything just felt right when Taehyun had taken her hands in his own, it wasn’t anything symbolic, he’d merely just wanted to express his concern in some way, to offer some consolation to the girl in some way, Even though the incidents that the girl was recounting had happened a while ago, she clearly looked shaken up and who wouldn’t? Something like this, something this big happening within one’s family must be something to put behind them, no matter how long it’s been. Taehyun could only hope that he’d be able to show the girl some sort of care, that despite how he’d acted towards her in the past, he still cares for her, as a friend, if she even wanted to be that right now. It was too early, too soon to even be considering about his feelings or how the girl’s feelings towards him were, after all, it’s been so long since then and maybe the both of them were in different places now.

“Mina...she looked for you....she looked for me too and well, we both tried to look for you.” Slowly, he found himself being at a loss for words, he was never one to be good with his words and definitely not when it came to words of comfort. “It’s in the past now, lets agree that...I wasn’t mature the way how I acted when we met again and...what’s important is that, it’s in the past now, right?” He tries his best to offer Hyejeong a small smile with a small squeeze of her hand. Ever since they’d first met, it would be a stretch to say that they even started of as being friends, there was always something more between them and even they’d shared things about themselves, it was still a stretch to say that they were friends. Looking at Hyejeong now though, he felt all those feelings that he’d tried to bury deep inside him start to rush back but with a small shake of his head, he tries to bury them again. it’s way too soon to be thinking in the way, and it was definitely not the time to think otherwise now. She needed a friend and he was going to try his best to be one for her.

“Japan...things happened at home and my father sort of forced me to go to Japan with him.” A small shrug follows his response, Taehyun had never liked talking about his father and why he went to Japan. While Japan held some, very few nice memories, they were mostly filled with bad ones, ones that he’d wanted to put behind him. “Are you..studying now?”

[ hangover cure ] → hj+th

She wouldn’t blamed him as well. It was definitely a lot to take in and she had lived through them all, see everything from her own eyes. The nervousness that boiled inside of her stomach cooled down as she knew that he had trusted her now. Hyejeong knew the road to actually returned things back to the way they were would be long and difficult but at least they had taken the first, little step. She even needed to stop thinking about whether Taehyun wanted it to be the way it was or not. “They didn’t know… Or they knew but they couldn’t cared less. At my first days here, I thought my parents would’ve called the cops of me missing but… No one came. Nothing happened. They just… They just left me to die on my own, mostly.”, she pursed her lips, feeling the bitterness in her mouth from the word ‘die’. Something that her mother must’ve wanted Hyejeong to ended up with.

It made sense on why they never crossed paths for the years she had been back. He wasn’t even in the country. Everything now fit to the puzzle that Hyejeong had to let out a soft, almost inaudible chuckle. The universe was definitely putting a joke on them. The girl scooted a little bit to give him more space but kept her arms to herself. It was silly to think everything would go back to normal after this. They had spent years without each other. They only had spent months back then. She believed that things must’ve changed in between.

“No… No, don’t say sorry. Everything happened for a reason… And I understand why you were like that before.”, the stings that his actions brought when they reunited just dulled now they had to came to terms. Beforehand, Hyejeong would feel raged and sad for how Taehyun treated her back at the barbecue restaurant. She knew he could’ve had assumptions as well on why she had left but it was in the past. “I really just want you to trust me… and to tell you the whole thing because I’ve been wanting to for all these years.”, the sniffles couldn’t be contained anymore as she let one out, quickly covering it with the sleeve of her sweatshirt. It was embarrassing enough for her to bear it all in front of the boy.

As the brunette calmed down more from the sniffling and the threatening tears, she took a deep breath before turning her focus onto him. There was still a bit of guilt but for another reason; the big dump of story she had put on him. Hyejeong let them stayed in silence for a minute that felt like forever before her lips looped once more into a slightly bigger smile than before. “I still, am glad to meet you again.”

There’s a few moments of silence as Taehyun takes the seat next to the girl, his mind his processing everything and trying to make sense of the situation. He believes her now of course, as bizarre as the situation was, there really was no other way, but he thinks, its still definitely going to take him sometime before he can wrap his mind around the situation. “Let’s not...let’s not talk about your family and the whole situation for now, it’s really not the right time to be talking about such things, right?”

His actions were probably on auto-pilot again, because soon he found himself reaching for Hyejeong’s hands, the want to hold them carefully in his own was too strong. His mind was already swirling with all the information that he was trying to process and the fact that he’s actually mistaken Hyejeong all along, maybe he had be wallowing in the sadness and hate all by himself, for no reason at all. As he reaches for her hands, the sole thought that he has in his mind is to just provide some comfort to the girl, there’s no thought whatsoever about what this whole talk would mean for them, and whether they would even be like the way they were. It was just that the girl looks so distraught and he just wanted to be able to provide some comfort in some type of way. So carefully, he raises a hand to tuck the falling strands of her hair behind her ear again, just like how he’d done so the night before.

“Everything...is a little hard to process, but I promise, now that I know, I’m not going to be like how I was. I guess...I was just always confused and hurt with the way you left and how your mother made it seemed like you didn’t care. Because you know...you know that I cared...” Taehyun ends up trailing off, clearing his throat and looking away. It was no secret between them how the feelings between the two were back then even though no official confession was made. “I’m glad too, to meet you again, I honestly never thought we would be able to meet again. That’s why I was so surprised at the restaurant...”

[ hangover cure ] → hj+th

Her appetite just slowly decreased and she couldn’t even really looked at the ramyeon without feeling nauseas from the nervousness that coiled in her stomach. The bites she took before just made her stomach ached even the slightest as Hyejeong shifted in her seat, making herself more comfortable for the long haul. “My mom told that… To you and Mina, my best friend… Or to whoever had looked for me as well.”, she sighed even with her voice dropped in volume to quiet. “She just wanted to make me seem ignorant to everyone because she thought… She thought I would never came back.”

The girl closed her eyes for a moment before nodding. The slightest of his trust was enough for her, at least, for now because she couldn’t asked for more. It was a lot to intake and he was one of the couple people who had the right to hated her guts for leaving. She would’ve hated herself too if she was one of those people. “Okay… Thank you.”, her bare lips twitched into the smallest smile and exhaled the breath she had been holding. It was time. It was finally the time she could tell him what went wrong. “So, the day we supposed to meet… I was about to go out to where we should’ve met but then… My parents stopped me. They told me I had to go to the states to check out the schools that I applied to… Which I was also semi-forced to do.”, Hyejeong couldn’t helped but to furrowed her brows and wrapped her arms around herself. The headache didn’t help at all as she tried to traced back to the bad part of her memory. “My mother took my phone, saying I should packed for at least a month and along the way to the airport, she never gave it back so I couldn’t contacted anyone even if I asked her for my phone because you were waiting for me. Then, I just… Never had it anymore. I went to America, stayed with my uncle and aunt who also treated me badly.”

At this point, the pot of ramyeon looked like worm soup that Hyejeong had to pushed it away, careful enough not to spill anything. She felt sick from the hangover and also the mixture of guilt that came along with the story. “I’ve tried to contact you and everyone else by phone… Or by the internet but whenever I get caught, I always got beat by my aunt. Whenever I didn’t get caught, you weren’t there to pick up and one day… It said your number wasn’t active anymore.”, she remembered the day perfectly when that happened. How she felt defeated that the main way of connecting to Taehyun had been cut. “Then I just didn’t know how else I could contacted you. I stayed there for a year and a half before I was sent home from being… Such a disobedient trash, quoted from my aunt. I ran away as soon as I landed at Incheon.”, her voice started to shook with her arms folded on the table now. There were invisible weights on her shoulders, making her leaned down and forward onto the edge.

When they first got close, Hyejeong always tried her best to keep the smile on her face, even when she told the boy how her family was. She acted like nothing bugged her as she wanted to keep her title of ‘sunshine’. It was hard now, after everything that actually happened but she also didn’t want to make him trust her by her tears. “When I came back, I tried to go to the convenience store that you worked in, just like I said, in case you really still worked there. I asked the staff there that worked with you but he didn’t know as well. I went around where we went to before but you weren’t there. I tried so hard… I tried too but I just thought… I thought I would never see you again and I lost my chance.”

He tried to remain silent, trying not to show his surprise as he was listening to Hyejeong’s story. To be perfectly honest, this was definitely not what he expected, the fact that he and Hyejeong were talking was already not something that he had expected. All these years, when he’d allowed himself to think about what went wrong Taehyun had just assumed that the girl had a change of mind and she was no longer interested. He’d never thought something like this would have happened to her.

He soon lost his appetite or whatever was left of it that made him wanted milk in the first place and and he soon pushed his carton of milk further away on the table. He knew, in a very general sense that Hyejeong’s mother for some strange reason didn’t like her, and they didn’t have a good relationship. And even himself, he didn’t have a good relationship with his father, but he would have never imagined something like this could happen. It’s a long moment before he can finally speak, “This...this is a lot to take in...I want...I really want to trust it...” Taehyun ends up trailing off, deep inside, he’s so eager, so willing to trust into her words and honestly, shouldn’t he? Who would even make up something like this, he certainly wasn’t worth the trouble to make up such a big extravagant story, right?

And the story somehow makes sense. He does remember all those years ago, that his phone would randomly get some missed calls from a strange number. He’d tried to call back but somehow the calls never got through and he never found out who was the mysterious caller. “So, you’ve been back for a year...? They don’t know?” There’s really no doubt in his mind now, that Hye’s story is real and there is no reason why he should doubt her story. “I moved...I went to Japan for a year or so...I didn’t really keep in touch with many people..”

With everything that Hyejeong had revealed to him, his mind was yet again swimming with questions, confusions and mostly just at a lost of what he should do next. Where does it leave them now? It’s been a long time since they’ve last seen each other and they’re no longer the same people that they were, at least he was no longer the Taehyun that Hyejeong once knew, he’s sure of that at least. It’s almost as if his mind and limbs are acting on their own now, because before he knows it, he’s already walking over to Hye’s side of the table and taking the seat next to her. She looks so lost, so helpless and so in pain both from recounting the story and probably because of the suffering that the hangover is causing. “Hye, I’m sorry. I’m sorry for everything..and how...how bad of a person I’ve been...I’m just...sorry.”

[ hangover cure ] → hj+th

The steam of the ramyeon washed up to her face and strangely made herself more awake with the tangy smell of the soup. Her eyes could opened more, bringing up her hand to rubbed on them awake. “I’ve been here for six months. It was a surprise… That at least I didn’t catch you here.”, Hyejeong chuckled weakly yet sheepishly on the confession. She didn’t know what she would’ve done exactly if it was the case. She carefully picked up her chopsticks and began to stirred the noodles, focusing on the food below for a moment before carefully looking up. He definitely seemed more fresh than she was but there was a hint of fatigue on his face. Had he slept? “Even though you’re not in this rut, you definitely need some sleep.”

Her brows creased on his words as she remembered about the promise they made. The girl pursed her lips and looked at him, her eyes weren’t hard but they were quite pleading. Talking was something she had wanted to do with him for almost four years, it was time for them to talk. “No, no… Please. I want to talk. I… Remember the promise and I am holding onto it.”, she nodded quietly before taking the first bite of the noodles even if it scalded her tongue, hoping it would given her strength to go through the long-awaited conversation. “What I said last night… I really meant it. It was the truth… Not detailed truth yet but… It was. I never meant to leave.”, there was no second to spare as Hyejeong quickly dove into the point.

They knew what they would be talking so there was no point of chitty chats beforehand. Hyejeong had waited for so long to tell him and to explained her rash departure, building word by word on how to tell the boy. She could’ve seemed eager now but she played it calmly and just hoped. “I thought… I thought I could’ve contacted you right after I landed or right after I settled, just like how I thought I could’ve contacted everyone back home but… No. They didn’t want anyone to know where I was… Or what situation I was in.”, as the story built up, she let her head drooped and hung again, her eyes were on the noodles. She slowly eat the noodles again, letting Taehyun processed what she had said as she also masked the tears that were threatening to fall by it. She felt helpless and weak for wanting to cry many times but she couldn’t helped herself. It was the moment she had been waiting for.

“I just want you to believe me… Even if it’s not completely for now… But I really will tell you in details if you want me to. I just… I just really want to tell you everything and… That I didn’t leave you, leave everyone because I wanted to.”

The smell of the ramyeon that lingered between them was somehow making the atmosphere a little more cosy and more bearable, the two of them really did seem like friends now and not the enemies or strangers they had others believe so previously. Taehyun’s surprised, to the point when he widens his eyes when Hyejeong tells him how long she’s been living here. “Really? I live on the ground floor and normally I see everyone come and go.” He’s usually amongst to first to find out when someone moves in or out since he’s so close to the entrance, yet for as long as he’s been living here, he hasn’t been able to spot Hyejeong at least once. But maybe it was just as well that their run in at the sharehouse only happened now, they probably wouldn’t have acknowledged each other.

A small shrug follows, if the girl had noticed his fatigue then it definitely meant that it was serious, but at the moment, its the thing that Taehyun cares the least about at the moment. They were finally about to talk and maybe he was finally going to get the answers that he’s been looking for for so many years. All those years ago, when he really did feel like he and Hyejeong had something good going on, only to have his dreams and feelings smashed and to this date, he still had no idea why and where everything went wrong. “We don’t have to do it now....” And he trails off when he catches the eye of the female. As much as he didn’t wan to press or push, Taehyun still did want his answers but then again, does he even want to know the truth? What if the truth was something that he’s been fearing all along?

In the end he can only listen and nod along, taking sips of his milk as he tries to listen to Hyejeong while trying to block out the questions floating in his mind. It was short and simple, only the situation didn’t seem as simple and short as the words said .”I tried to find you, that day..and the weeks after and...and I just couldn’t find you anymore and your mother said something about you not caring...” While Hyejeong hadn’t really talked in much detail about her family back then, he did know that she and her mother were on bad terms and her mother was not one who treated Hyejeong well, but back then, her mother was the only person that Taehyun could reach and ask about her.

“I want to, I really do want to believe.” There was nothing more that he wanted but to believe in the words that Hyejeong was saying but maybe it was just a little too much to take in for now. “I want to....I want to know everything. I’m not sure...Hye, I’m really not sure about anything...but...as long as you tell me, I’m going to try my best to trust in it...”

[ hangover cure ] → hj+th

Opening the ramyeon pack and cooking the noodles were hard tasks with never ending throbs and pounds on her head. Her eyes were narrowed throughout the whole time that she could only focused on the spicy boiling broth in the small pot. She couldn’t took too much into her head that her world was only consisted by the ramyeon for now, a voice that interrupted her focus resulted her into flinching and almost yelped. Hyejeong turned around and she couldn’t be anymore surprised. It was a joke. She was certain it was a joke that the universe liked to pull on her. After last night, she thought there would be a grace period before she would get thrusted into one but no, it was really him.

Despite last night’s turnabouts, Taehyun looked more normal and composed than she was, making her confidence dropped from sky high. She went self-conscious all of a sudden and backed up until her rear end bumped onto the counter next to the stove. There was no way out. Hyejeong cleared her throat and carefully smoothed the tangles that appeared obviously on her hair, like it was something she had thought to do. “I’m working… On it.”, her voice was raspy and low. She cleared her throat once more before turning her back onto him again, her cheeks were bursting with red.

The memory of their kiss came in stronger and with how sensitive the girl was to light or anything in general for now, it was as if she could felt his lips against hers again. She groaned so quietly now with the knowledge that he was in the same room as she turned off the stove. Even though the noodles weren’t cooked throughout yet, that would do. Hyejeong knew she had to played it cool. “How was yours?”, she chimed in then felt stupid right the next second. Did he drink last night? Was she the only one that seemed like trash this morning? Carefully, the tall girl took off the pot by its handles and settled it down on the shared table, waltzing as normal and graceful as she could for a pair of chopsticks next.

It was when she sat down she could looked at the male with more focus and clarity. He definitely didn’t seem like her despite him working near alcohol all night. It was another realization that they were living in the same share house. For months, she had never seen him before around, even if it was just a simple passing by on the way to and from the front door. Hyejeong felt silly that who she had been looking for all these times was living underneath the same roof. “Have you been here long?”, the question slicked through her lips as a loud thought. Even with the regret that bubbled inside of her now, they were the only two people in the kitchen so might as well they get on with it.

The reaction from Hyejeong upon when he spoke told him that she, like him also had no idea that they were living in their same building. He felt bad, but Taehyun really can help but to have a small grin on his face as he watches the girl having all the trouble with trying to get her breakfast cooked and even trouble to even look at him. One look told him that the hangover that she was experiencing wasn’t a light one and maybe he should be more compassionated over it, but he can’t help but to just want to smile at how adorable the girl seemed.

Maybe it was the words that she spoke the night prior or maybe it was the kiss that ended up igniting up some lost feelings in him, but he really did not want to be as hostile as he had been in the previous meetings. “Drink more fluids, energy drinks helps. Or maybe get some of that hangover soup?” Working as a bartender and having his history with drinking back in Japan definitely taught Taehyun how to deal with hangovers and definitely how to also not drink on the job. “I didn’t drink much last night, not supposed to drinking while I’m working anyways. So I am luckily, hangover free.”

There’s a lingering silence as the girl sits down and Taehyun reaches for a carton of milk from the fridge, he wasn’t hungry yet anyways. He’s unsure, maybe they’re both unsure about what to do next, the last times they’d seen each other, they’d been pretty hostile and after last night, maybe they’re both sure that they no longer want to act that way to each other, at least Taehyun was sure on his own behalf. “Me? I’ve been here around a month or so? You? Have you been here for long?” Maybe she would have only just moved in, then the joke played on them wouldn’t feel so big then. Quietly, he takes a seat opposite to Hyejeong, trying to make as little noise as possible–he knew how bad of a headache noises could cause. As much as he didn’t want to, there really was no reason and no excuse anymore, apart from getting straight into it. “So, about...last night...I know, I knowI said that we would talk again, when you weren’t drunk...and..it’s ok if you don’t feel like talking anymore.”

[ hangover cure ] → hj+th

The curtain wasn’t that thick to hold back the streaming sunlight that shined the room, telling the sleeping girl that it was morning already. Hyejeong felt like she was partially made out of stone with her limbs heavy along with her head that felt like it was a thousand kilos more than last night. The night before had been a whirlwind as she tried to recollected what happened but the aching and throbbing of her head distracted her way to the memories. It was painful, the girl let out a groan as she - carefully - laid her head back down on the pillow.

Seconds, minutes and maybe an hour had passed with her eyes wide awake, focusing on the white ceiling not too far above her as the girl finally able to recollected what happened last night. The clearest memory she had was finding Taehyun being the bartender, fetching her beer and flirting with her friend right next to her. That thought made Hyejeong’s blood boiled even the slightest, feeling her skin heated underneath the blanket. Further down the road, the memories got fuzzy like she was trying to look through a cloth. There was a guy and shots after shots then she remember the boy’s face afterwards. It was dimmed and dark, they got talking and her eyes widened when she finally remembered what was the climax of the night. They kissed.

Blood rushed beneath the skin of her cheeks and made her blushed as she felt butterflies fluttering inside her stomach. They kissed and she remembered about a promise to talk about the past in another day. The blanket felt hotter by the seconds made Hyejeong just pushed it off and decided to get out of bed. It turned out to be almost the noon with dozens of phone calls and texts from her friends from last night that were worried about her wellbeing. She did just leave them and went home by herself. Ignoring the spectators, she went out of the room, only in sweats and hair that looked like a bird’s nest.

The outside world was even brighter as she had to squinted her eyes to look ahead. It was a trip down to the kitchen way downstairs and another adventure to rummage through the cupboards for her groceries. Ramyeon would do the trick as her headache and hungover were more important than reminiscing what happened last night. For now.

The previous night ended up in what somewhat felt like a blur, after seeing Hyejeong off to get safely into a taxi, he made his way back into the club and to his serving station. Surprisingly, he didn’t even get into trouble for leaving the station for that long. The rest of the night was long and busy one and most of it just melted into a blur of memories as he was trying to serve all the guests.

He’d stayed way past his shift, until the closing of the bar, working extra hours for extra pay and tips, besides, his mind was too swarmed with questions to leave the place early anyways. The extra hours helped him numb down the questions, pushing them away and pushing his thoughts and doubts away.

Taehyun ended up making his way back to the sharehouse a the crack of dawn and he spend the rest of the night..or rather, early morning tossing and turning in his bed while hoping he wouldn’t wake his roommate. He couldn’t sleep anyways and somewhere around 6am, Taehyun finally got the sinking feeling in his stomach when he realised he never managed to get Hyejeong’s new number. They’d promised, he’d promised her another talk when she was sober, but without her number now, how were they supposed to talk?

He probably spends a couple of hours thinking through all the various questions in his head before he finally kicks off his covers, it was clear that he wasn’t going to get any more sleep anyways. So he makes his want towards to the kitchen, maybe getting a drink of water would do the slowly forming headache good. Maybe some breakfast would make the sinking feeling in his stomach go away. What he doesn’t expect though, is the sight that’s in front of his eyes when he walks towards the kitchen. It’s almost as if the heavens are playing a cruel joke on them. He’d been living in the sharehouse for a month or so, going to and from the doors everyday and meeting the tenants and it’s not until now, until after what happened last night when he finds out the girl who’s always been in his thoughts, his dreams, is living in the same building as him. “How’s the hangoever?”