Written by: Michele Hii
Chapter 7: Just follow Kyu Oppa~Kyuhyun
"What the hell...Yesung, why you bring your turtle back?" Ryeowook whined.
The small, skinny man came back to the dorm with a glass container. A green and brown shelled turtle was resting in it.
"I want to show Ddangkoma to Elphena." he said, "The aquarium staff even let me to take it with me for half a day."
"So that means..."
"I'm gonna return Ddangkoma before 3pm."
"Where is she anyway?"
"Hey!" I came out of Donghae's room before Ryeowook was about to answer.
"Hey, Elphena! Check it out! Guess who's here to visit?" Yesung grinned. His black shades slid from the bridge of his nose, showing excitement in his eyes.
"Oh, wow! Is that your turtle?" I exclaimed, bending down to see it.
"Quite right!" Yesung smiled.
"So cute!"
"Um..he's a grown turtle. I thought you're gonna say handsome."
"Well, I think the word 'cute' suits him better."
"Oh...I see..." Yesung sounded surprised. And a little disappointed.
"That's a good thing right?" I stood up, "You must have taken good care of him before you send him to the aquarium."
Yeah, I guess I did." he smiled again.
"Guys! It's TV time!" Kangin called from the opened door of his room.
"Huh?" I turned my back.
"We're gonna watch our previous performances on TV. We have a lot of files on a computer and we connect it to the TV to watch it." Ryeowook explained.
"Oh! That sounds cool!"
"Elphena, you can watch with us,since you're part of our family." Leeteuk said as he came by,
"Really?"
"Of course, you're like a sister to us now." Yesung nodded.
"Aww!" I responded.
"Heechul-ah! All set?" Leeteuk called.
"Almost done," the fashionista replied, "Just gonna find out how to connect."
"Annyeong! I'm home!" Kyu's voice made my heart leap.
I walked to the front part of the house and greeted him with an overjoyed grin.
"Hey, Elph!" Kyu smiled back and he immediately threw his arms around me. Everyone stared at him hugging me like a teddy bear.
"Omo! I knew it!" Ryeowook squawked.
"Uh...Kyu...don't you think we've let the cat out of the bag?" I whispered.
"Oh...shoot..." he gasped.
We let go off our arms and saw all of them staring. Some had their jaws dropped and some had their hands covered their mouths.
"Kyuhyun, what's going on? You didn't tell us that you and Elphena are dating?" Leeteuk scolded.
"Okay fine..." he sighed and held my hand, "So...uh...as you can see...we're dating. But we didn't mean to hide it from you guys."
"Kyuhyun-ah! We're happy that you've found someone, but the paparazzi is still on the loose. The scandal news earlier is still not erased away from the people's minds." Leeteuk lectured.
"I know..it's just that...I can't help it! Things just happen, you know." Kyu jabbed.
"I'm sure we can figure something out." I added.
"The worse thing is if the paparazzi sees you two together, it'll be worse!" Leeteuk said.
"But it's no longer a rumour. Elph and I really like each other." Kyu argued. He squeezed my hand. I could tell he wouldn't want to let it go.
"I'm just not sure if the fans will like this. The scandal has been around for almost a week now, I don't know how will they react to this."
"Can I say something?" I raised my hand.
Leeteuk looked at me for not more than a minute and nodded.
"I personally think that it doesn't matter if the fans like it or not. Sure, not everyone will support the fact that a K-pop idol is dating someone, especially a non-celebrity like me. But to clear up the rumours, at least somebody has to tell the truth right?" I said.
"She's got a point, Jung Soo." Heechul nudged his elbow.
"So you wanna tell the whole world that you're in love with Kyuhyun?" Leeteuk clarified.
"If there's a chance, I will."
Leeteuk looked at his boys. They were nodding and looking back with eager eyes.
"We'll see what we can do." he gave in.
"Alright!" Kyu grinned and hugged me again.
We were at the couches for an hour or so, watching performances from music shows and Super Shows. They even dared to pull out old ones, especially their very first big win back in the Popular Music Video Award show for their song "U".
"That's my favourite memory. It was overwhelming back then." Yesung said.
"It sure was." Ryewoook agreed.
I shortly opened my Macbook to check on my blog. I hadn't opened it in a while so I was curious to see the page views and comments. However, as I opened the Wordpress page, the screen showed a blank window with a warning box on top:
This page is unavailable.
What...the...hell???
I refreshed it three more times and tried to log in at the home page, but the warning box kept appearing.
"What happened to my blog? It's not working." I frowned.
"What blog?" Heechul craned his neck to take a look.
"My SuJu blog. I usually write SuJu stuff in it and it works fine every time...but not now!"
"Maybe the Wordpress site went down." Ryeowook guessed.
I checked a random Wordpress blog and a brown background with a list of English literature book names appeared on my computer.
"It's not down at all. There's definitely something wrong with my blog!"
"Let me see." Kyu who sat next to me lifted the laptop off my lap and settled it onto his. He refreshed, logged on and even checked the settings on Google, but everything seemed to be fine.
"Did someone delete my blog?" I panicked.
"Or maybe someone hack your blog." Kyu said.
I stared at him for a few seconds, "Hack? As in stealing my username and password?"
"Yeah someone must have done something with your Wordpress account and make your blog vanish."
"Who would do something like that?"
Kyu shrugged his shoulders. He stared at the ceiling to think.
"Oppa, otoke?"
"Maybe I can help with something." he finally said and started a new browser tab on Google. His fingers punched noisily on the keyboard as he typed "Google Analytics".
"What are you doing, Kyu?"
"Tracking the hacker's IP address."
"Oh, we're gonna find that hacker?"
"Exactly, Elph."
"Doesn't that take a long time?"
"Well, a few of my friends have used this to track down hackers before and they said it's pretty useful. So why not give it a shot?"
I wrapped my left arm around his right arm as I watched him doing the nerdy stuff.
"Aww...look! We have a real-life romance show going on right here in SuJu dorm!" Ryeowook teased.
My cheeks were burning. I immediately bury my face on the sleeve of his sweater with most of my face covered by my hair. I could hear Kyu giggle. Oh geez...this is kind of embarrassing!
After several attempts, Kyu let out a sigh of disappointment. Realizing that I've been napping on his shoulder for ten minutes, I woke up and looked at the computer screen. The map on the google page was a cluster of pixels.
"Find anything?"
"Nothing. Sorry Elph...I've tried." Kyu sighed again.
"I see..."
"I can try again later, if you want me to."
"The hacker can be anywhere, Kyu. We won't find that person in just one click of the mouse."
I stared at the still-on TV screen.
"Life could get better"
The very first SuJu song, "Miracle", was cheerful, innocent, and upbeat, yet it didn't made me smile. How could someone ever do something like this to me? I don't think I've done anything wrong on the Internet, except that the scandal was still spreading.
Kyu closed my Macbook and grabbed my hand, "Let's go."
"Huh?"
"I say, let's go! We're going out!"
"To where?"
"Just follow me. Bring your purse with you."
* * *
"Where are we going? Answer me please, Kyu!"I demanded.
"Elph, my dear. Just relax. Okay? We're almost there." Kyu winked.
We were on a semi-long traffic with families of three to five members in neighbouring cars. Were they heading to the same destination? The children at the back of the cars were smiling from ear to ear. Their eyes sparkled with excitement as the cars got closer and closer.
I had to make him tell me the place, so I cleared my throat and put on my best aegyo face as possible. I put my hands in fists below my eyes, like as if I was crying, and whined like a baby, "Oppa! Jeh-bahl! Please tell me where we're going!"
Kyu didn't answer. He focused on stopping and driving forward.
"Oppa! Kyu Oppa! Please please please please pleaseeeee!" I tried again. I even put on my best puppy-dog face. I think I went a little overboard this time. 0.0
Kyu giggled but his eyes were still on the road.
"Humph...I tried..." I finally sighed and crossed my arms.
"Aww...my baby's not happy." Kyu pouted. As the car stopped three feet away from a black Landcruiser, Kyu leaned closer and kissed my cheek.
I let out a small laugh and grabbed his hand to squeeze it gently. His other hand controlled the steering wheel.
"Do you think we'll find the hacker?" I asked.
"I'm sure we will. We just need to have faith. And faith leads to hope." he chanted.
"That sounds like a pastor would say." I giggled.
"Pretty much. I got that quote from church." he stuck out his tongue.
After another fifteen minutes, we finally arrived at the parking lot. I was about to get out of the car when suddenly he said, "Can you put this on?" I stared at him, dumbfounded. He was holding a white sleep mask.
"You want me to be blindfolded?"
"Yeah, is it okay for you?"
"Um...sure? I guess?"
"It's my sleep mask," he giggled, "but I'm sure it'll fit."
"Once again, where are you taking me to?"
"Just put it on, okay?" he looked with his big eyes that trigger my heart to drum in a palpitation.
"O...okay." I nodded and did as he told.
He helped me out of his car and whispered in my ear not to let go off his hand . My heart wouldn't stop pounding. He made a beeline through the parked cars as he walked me to what seemed like an earthy brick flooring.
"Okay. You can take off the mask now." he said. His hands were on my shoulders behind me.
"Now?"
"Yeah."
As soon as I did so, a gigantic sign with the words "Everland" above a row of counters stood before me. The amusement park was packed, but the people had auras of excitement spreading all around.
"Oh wow!" I exclaimed.
"Welcome to Everland!" he showed a toothy smile.
"This place looks awesome!"
"Shall we?" Kyu asked, holding out his hand.
I smiled back and held his.
"Oh! I wanna ride that!" Kyu's face lit up.
"What?"
I watched him pointing at a swinging Viking-style pirate boat. It may looked safe, but I cringed at the way the boat goes all the way up to the sky and swooshed down to the other side. It was like a gigantic pendulum,
"Let's go!" he yanked my hand, signalling me to run.
"Are you saying we're heading...to that?" I gulped.
"Yeah! It looks fun, right?"
"Not to me...I hate scary rides!"
"But scary rides are what make amusement parks fun!"
"I don't wanna fall off that thing!" I shook my head vigorously.
Kyu pouted. Geez...every time when he pouted, it always ALWAYS got me! He's such a puppy!
"Come on! I really want you to ride it with me!"
"But I'm scared of those kinds of rides! And heights!"
"Just for this once, please!"
"No!"
"Please!"
"Andwae!"
I held my ground and tried to pull Kyu's hand back to my direction, but his triceps was as buff as his biceps I couldn't even beat him in an arm-wrestling match.
He finally walked to me and pulled me into a hug that soothed my beating heart. He nuzzled his nose on my forehead.
"Hey...it's gonna be okay."
"But...Kyu Oppa...I don't know if I can go up there." I shivered.
His fingers combed my hair. It calmed me down a little.
"Have you ever been on a roller coaster or any other scary rides before?"
"I've been to a few but every time I went on one, I get so terrified."
"How was your first round? You get scared at first, but after you did, it's not that scary at all right?"
I slowly nodded, "I guess so."
"Same goes to this one. You just have to face your fear," he whispered, "and don't worry, Oppa's here to protect you. Okay?"
There it was again. That honey voice that drove me crazy, but comforted me at the same time. I buried my head on his chest as I sighed. He held my face close to his and looked at me with an emboldening smile. At first I thought he was about to kiss me on my lips (but my lips were a little chapped as I forgot to put on Vaseline last night. Plus, I forgot to bring my water bottle today), I felt a light, soft press on my forehead.
I looked at him and smiled. I immediately ran my fingers on his soft reddish-brown hair. Seriously! his hair felt like cotton!
"So...do you wanna give it a try?" he asked.
"Sigh...I guess I'll give it a go."
"That's my Elph."
I could felt my whole body turning as white as paper once I saw the giant boat up close. As we got closer and closer in the long queue, I couldn't even feel my legs anymore. Kyu Oppa kept rubbing my shoulder to calm my nerves, but all I could hear was the "victims" in the boat screaming to death. A tiny voice shrieked in my head, "Get me outta here!" But my legs were forced to go forward.
Fifteen minutes later, I followed Kyu at the very back row on the right side of the boat.
Oh, geez. I'm dead.
We sat on the last two seats.
I'm so dead right now.
Kyu said, "Hold on the hand rails here, and you should be fine."
What if I lose grip and fall off the boat and crack my skull?
The doors on both sides were closed and the boat suddenly rocked forward.
Oh my gosh oh my gosh oh my gosh oh my gosh oh my gosh
Second time, it rocked a little higher.
Holy crap! It's getting higher!
Third time, it got to the highest peak.
HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Fourth time onwards...
I think I'll have cardiac arrest!
"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" Kyu screamed. He was laughing and squinting his eyes as the boat swung in extreme height.
"Opppaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!" I screamed. I wished I could wrap my hands around his arm but I was terrified of letting my hands off the handle in front of me.
The boat just went faster and higher that I couldn't even open my eyes. I didn't see what was below us but I could imagine how high we were.
Four minutes later, the boat finally slowed down and came to a complete stop. Kyu went "WHOOOOOOOOOO!" and slapped his hands down on his thighs. He then looked at me and reached over to give me a hug. I opened my eyes and saw his hands wrapped around me. As he smiled, I couldn't smile back. Instead, my eyes were glassy. "Aww...my baby..." he hugged me some more. "Just get me out of here please." I choked in my tears.
Did I mention that I'm Usagi Tsukino the crybaby in real life?
"Aigoo! Don't cry!" Kyu comforted.
I kept burying my face on his chest because I was too embarrassed to look at the people who stared at me. We were really creating a scene in the middle of the street.
"That...is by far...the worst...ride I've...ever...been to...in my life!" I blubbered.
"But you've rode it, and that's good enough, right?" Kyu said. He kept on ruffling my hair. His touch soothed me, but I still couldn't command my tear sacs to stop sweating.
"Oh! Look at that! There's two mascots posing in front of cameras!" he said.
I finally peered to where Kyu was pointing.
A human-size mouse in a prince suit and a human-size nutcracker who revealed his cartoon-like teeth waved and bounced in front of children.
"Let's go and take a picture with them! That'll cheer you up."
"I don't think that's a good idea, Kyu." I mumbled.
"Why?"
"Because I don't want a picture with me looking like this!"
Kyu sighed and held my face with one hand. He carefully rubbed the lower lash line of my left eye and did the same to my right. I was surprised that he didn't bothered to get a napkin or a handkerchief. He just wiped my wet face with his gentle fingers. He even swept my slanting fringe off my forehead and tucked its end behind my left ear.
"There. That's better, right?" his warm eyes beckoned me to smile.
"Yeah. Thanks, Oppa." I giggled.
We got closer to the two mascots who stood behind a magical forest background. Kyu asked a passer-by in Korean to help take a picture with his phone.
"I don't know if I look pretty, Kyu." I whispered, "I could still feel my cheeks swollen after crying for I-don't-know-how-long."
Kyu laughed and pulled me into a hug, "You still are pretty to me."
"Aww Kyu!" I smiled.
"Hana...dul....set!" the passer-by counted as he snapped a photo. We flashed smiles as I was in his arms. The photographer gave a thumbs-up and handed Kyu back his phone.
"Kamsahamnida!" he bowed.
"We look good!" he commented as he swiped to the latest photo in the gallery.
"I don't dare to look!"
"Why not? I'm serious! We look amazing. Here!" he shoved his phone on my face.
Sure enough, we looked like a happy couple in the picture. :)
"Can we go to a less scary ride this time?" I begged.
"Well anything you wanna try here?" he asked.
"Umm..." I scanned around and immediately spotted a nostalgic ride.
"Oh! Bumper cars!" I pointed.
"Where?"
"There!"
I dragged him to the kiddy ride where a queue awaited us. There was even high school students lining up.
"So you like bumper cars?" Kyu teased.
"Well, I also ride on bumper cars whenever I go to an amusement park."
"So you like kiddy rides."
"Well, just the bumper cars, and a few others to accompany my youngest sister."
"Ah I see."
"What about you? Have you gone to kiddy rides?"
"Well when I was kid, yes."
"So...you haven't been to kiddy rides recently?" I raised my eyebrow.
"Oh! Come on! We're adults now! Don't you think it's a little embarrassing?"
"We can be kids again...at heart." I chuckled.
"But I wanna ride on the Hurricane." he pouted.
"See?"
"What?" he looked at me, stunned.
"You're acting like a kid!"
"No I'm not." he blushed.
"Yes you are!"
"No I'm not!"
"Oh yes you are!"
Kyu zipped his mouth and pouted. I burst out laughing because his face killed me.
"What are you laughing at, Elph?"
"You're doing a sad aegyo face, and it's the cutest face I've ever seen in my life!"
This time, his face turned tomato red. I cushioned my body against him and wrapped my arms around his back.
That moment when it was our turn to ride on the bumper cars, a sunny grin was on my face the whole time. I couldn't remember how many times I laughed when I hit Kyu's mini red car for five whole minutes. Well, actually it was a tie. We hit on each other's vehicle with an equal number of strikes.
"Where to now?" I asked.
"Just follow Kyu Oppa!"he winked and grabbed my hand.
We skipped down the brick road until we stopped in front of a giant wheel-like structure with big seats arranged on the outside. It was not only spinning like a top but it was also swinging here and there...just like that freaking boat ride.
"Oh hell no!"
Kyu hid his teeth with his hands as he giggled.
"Why do you have to drag me to this?" I panicked.
"Hey, calm down, okay. You're not riding it."
"Huh?"
He leaned closer and winked, "I'm riding it for you."
"For real?" my mouth opened into a wide O.
"Yeap! I can see why you don't like scary rides..your tears said so." he replied.
I laughed a little before smoothing a small wrinkle on his denim jacket, "Thank you, Kyu."
"Don't mention it." he kissed my forehead and set off to line up.
"Be careful, okay?" I shouted.
He formed his fingers into an OK sign and raised it up high.
Just by looking at that monstrous machine, I felt like throwing up. How could a timid person like me ever ride on this? I was, of course, relieved, that my boy decided to ride it for me. I wouldn't want to go through another series of blubbering and weeping.
"Elph!!!" Kyu yelled from the Hurricane.
"Kyu!!!! Kyu Oppaaaa!" I yelled back, waving.
"Saranghae!!!!" he made a big heart with his arms bent and hands on top of his head.
I blushed a little, but I did a heart too.
I watched in fear as the wheel started to move. It went left, then to right, back to left, and right again. It spun non-stop while thrust from one direction to another. I caught glimpses of him in the Hurricane and I couldn't stop laughing at the way he screamed and the way he gritted his teeth. One moment when I clutched my stomach while laughing super loud was when Kyu's hair stuck out like an untrimmed bush. His beautiful hair was all puffed up.
"Oppa! Gweanchana?" I giggled once he came back from the ride.
"That was insane!" he held a thumbs-up, "One of the best rides I've ever taken."
"Not for me."
"I know." he smiled before glancing at his watch, "Oh! It's almost 6:30pm! No wonder the sky's getting dark."
He was right. I almost forgotten that the sky was a mix of bright colours with the sun setting down.
"Come on! Let's go eat something and then we'll watch a lighting show." he said.
"A lighting show eh? Sounds cool!"
"Yeah, it's kind of like a musical fountain show. You'll love it."
"I'm in!"
We waited at a bench near a beautiful castle where the evening event would be held. As we munched on crispy golden-brown Churros we bought from a food stand, we watched as the evening sky slowly transformed into an obsidian black.
"So this is the place? I asked after my first swallow of the mouth-watering treat.
"Yeap. This is Rose Castle, well that's what they call it."
"Can I...talk to you about something?"
"Yeah, go ahead." he took another bite.
"I know this is more like a personal question but how would you describe your past relationships?"
"Hmm..." he looked up, thinking, "I was just...young back then. At first I thought that things would went well and I believed that the person I was deeply in love with was the one I wanted to spend time with forever. However, circumstances came in that changed the things I once expected. My experience with love back then...was rough. But I'm not giving up in learning about love in depth, especially when it comes to knowing new people and finding new ways to show affection."
"Wow...that's a very good answer." I remarked.
"What about you?"
"Huh? Me?"
He nodded as he took another go of his Churro.
I sighed and stared at the passers-by, "I've never been in a relationship before back then."
"Really?"
"Yeap. Before I met you, I had fallen in love with a few guys but all I did was dreaming about them and being friends with them but, in the end I didn't have a chance to tell those crushes how I really felt. I let my feelings slide and I gave up on them."
Kyu finished his Churro (wow, that was fast) and clasped his hands together.
"I was known as the shy, quiet, mysterious girl who never had the courage to approach other people, especially cute guys. I fall hard for a guy easily, but I find it hard to reveal my heart to them right on the spot. Like saying the truth. You know what I mean?"
"Yeah, I feel you." he nodded.
I looked into his eyes and smiled, "But...now that I have you, my first love, I no longer feel bad about myself because I can finally love a guy who shares the same feeling."
Kyu smiled back. I leaned my head on his shoulder. He rested his head on top of my head.
"Oh! It's time!" he said.
The lights surrounding the venue suddenly blacked out and the castle was illuminated in hues of blue, yellow, and purple. A row of water sprays in front of the castle shot up rhythmically to the orchestra music played in the background. The colour of the castle walls were immediately metamorphosed into a brilliant glow of yellow and white as if solar energy was transmitted into this landmark tonight. It was absolutely beautiful.
As I glanced at his side profile, my heart would not stop beating. I wanted to reach out to him. I wouldn't want to be that same old girl who once had feelings and ditched it away into the black hole of missed opportunities. I wanted to let him know that I was happiest of letting him in through the door of my heart.
He looked back at me and we stared for a few seconds. I rested one hand on his shoulder, the other one on his cheek. And the next thing I knew, I let my lips touched on his. I no longer see light on the castle. Instead, I see sparks formed by this very moment. My first move. My first kiss. With the man I once crazed, but now the man whose name I tattooed on my heart.
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