Chapter 5: Patch It Up

“Jeong Hoon,” I exclaimed. “What are you doing?” He looked at me and his face darkened.

“Waiting for you, what do you think?” he said.

“Didn’t you say you were going home?”

“Would you forgive me if I did?” he said. I kept quite for I knew the answer to that question. He knew me well. He knew that if he wasn’t here now, I’d be pissed for the rest of the week. I opened the door and walked into the apartment without another word as he trailed after me.

“Have you eaten?” I asked him.

“Yea,” he replied curtly as he sat down on the sofa.

“I’m gonna have my dinner and I’ll be right out,” I said.

“Okay,” he said as he switched on the television.

I ate quickly and took a shower before I came back out to the living room. I didn’t think I would be able to pay attention to him while I was sweaty and grimy from my walk home from the bus stop. I walked into the living room and sat beside him, facing the television. We pretended to watch the television in silence for the next few minutes, or at least I did, and Jeong Hoon finally spoke.

“So are you going to hear me out?” he asked.

“Mm…” I murmured, not looking at him. He turned off the television and adjusted himself so that his body faced me.

“The girl who called yesterday… she’s my cousin,” he said.

“So why couldn’t you just tell me that when I asked?”

“I was panicking myself because she wasn’t supposed to be here.”

“What do you mean?”

“She sort of ran away from home,” he explained.

“How old is she?”

“She’s only 17.”

“So what are you going to do about her?”

“I’ve called her parents to inform them that she’s safe with me. I’ll let her stay a couple of days before I try to persuade her to go home.”

“And meanwhile, who’s entertaining her when you’re at work?”

“I’ve taken the day off tomorrow to bring her sight-seeing. You want to come along?”

“If you’d told me earlier, I could’ve taken the day off tomorrow. It’s too late now.”

“No problem, I’ll be fine. I can show her around myself.”

“Hey!” I exclaimed as I suddenly remembered. “If you didn’t know she was coming, why did she say that you were supposed to pick her up?”

“She sent me a text message before she boarded the plane in Korea. I didn’t see it until after her phone call that morning,” he reasoned as he took my hand. “You doubt me?”

“Mian,” I said as I leaned over into his arms and he put his arms around me. “You have to admit it was pretty sudden. Any concerned girlfriend would behave like that.”

“Mian,” he whispered and kissed my hair. “I’ll be quicker at explaining stuff the next time.”

“So where are you taking her?”

“Shopping,” he sighed. “Where else?”

“You can meet me for lunch,” I suggested. “I’d like to meet your cousin.”

“Sure,” he said. “I’ll call you when we arrive. I’ll pick you up.”

“Okay,” I smiled. I pulled away from him and stood up. “You’d better go home,” I said.

“Chasing me away?” he grinned.

“No… it’s late and you’ve not showered and stuff.”

“Araso, I’ll go now,” he smiled. “Naeil payo,” he said and gave me a quick kiss on the lips.

“Is that all I get?” I said, pretending to be annoyed. “That’s what you call a make-up kiss?”

“Mian,” he said and he pulled me to him and kissed me slowly. I put my arms around him, not caring that he’d been out the whole day and had not showered. We pulled away sometime later and I noticed his eyes looked like they were half-closed.

“Are you sleepy?” I asked him.

“Nah,” he said, rubbing his eyes. “Just felt so comfortable that I could just relax and fall asleep.”

“I make you sleepy?” I asked him.

“No,” he said, putting his arm around me and dragging me along as he walked to the door. “I’ll see you tomorrow,” he said and he kissed me again before walking off.

Danae came back an hour later, with Dong Wook in tow.

“Where did you go?” I asked her.

“We went to the opening night of this new play. Hossan Leong was hilarious!” she grinned.

“I don’t know what she sees in him,” Dong Wook sighs.

“She has weird tastes,” I replied.

“Hey… are you trying to imply that I’m weird?” Dong Wook asked me.

“Hmm… maybe you are,” I laughed as I walked into my room and closed the door.

I turned on my laptop and began my nightly ritual of scouring the internet for the latest news on TVXQ. I’m not some stalker fan, mind you. This is research… so that I will be prepared when I interview them at Sentosa. I stared at Jae Joong’s photo, the one taken for the Prince in Prague photo book. He looked mesmerizing as usual. I could drown myself in those eyes of his. How could someone look so gorgeous all the time? How could someone have that kind of intensity in his eyes all the time? I flipped my laptop shut at 11pm. Time for bed. As I snuggled against my bolster under the covers, I imagined myself hugging Jae Joong.

My phone rang and I opened one eye to peek at it. It didn’t sound like my alarm. I looked at the time on my radio clock; it’s too early for my alarm to ring.

“Hello,” I mumbled into the phone as I flipped it open.

“Sierra, you awake?” Jeong Hoon asked.

“What do you think?” I said as I yawned and stretched.

“Do you wanna go for breakfast together?” he asked. What’s up with him? Feeling guilty?

“Breakfast? We’ve never had breakfast on a week day,” I don’t get down that easily :P

“Have you forgotten?” he said.

“Forgotten what?”

“It’s been a year already.”

“A year? A year of what?”

“Gawd!!! You’re so dense in the morning,” he said, exasperated. “It’s been one year since we’ve met!”

“Oooh…” I giggled. “Mian.”

“I’m not gonna do the remembering for our next anniversary,” he complained. I could almost imagine him pouting as he said that.

“You think we're gonna last that long?” I teased.

“Yaah!! What are you getting at?”

“Mian,” I laughed. “I’ll get dressed. Come pick me in half an hour.”

“Ppali,” he said.

“Araso,” I replied and hung up.

30 minutes later, I stood at the gates of the condo’s compound waiting for Jeong Hoon. I was dressed in a feminine blouse adorned with lace and a simple pencil skirt. I decided that today since today was a special day, I was allowed a new pair of shoes. I happily unearthed my new pair of kitten-heeled ballet shoes that I bought a few weeks ago. They felt wonderfully comfortable. It pays to pay more because my feet didn’t feel pinched and I didn’t feel any blisters coming. Jeong Hoon pulled up minutes later in his pimped out Mitsubishi. I remember when he first got that car. I was wondering if I’d dated the wrong guy. I hadn’t imagined him to be like that. I thought that he’d just buy a nice, classic European car.

“Hello,” I smiled as I got in. I reached over and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek and turned to put on my seatbelt.

“That’s all I get?” he asked.

“You’ll get more, later,” I winked.

“I’d better,” he laughed as we pulled out onto the main road.