TRACK 08 #2
As we get closer to the overlook, Dav En relaxes into a walk, making In Se do the same.
I'd like to say that it's because he wants to look cool and calm before we get to her, but I know that's not the case.
Sure enough, the moment we round the corner and spot her, he takes off running, leaving In Se to stare at his back.
Another smile cracks my face. Not just watching the scene unfold, but also at the woman waiting patiently at the railing just like I knew she would be.
From the moment I started noticing her, there was something that drew me in until one day I gathered enough courage to speak to her.
No matter how lame I was that first night.
I'll never regret it. Only, looking back at it, I wasn't as nervous seeing her leaning against a railing that has the very slightest chance of giving way and her tumbling down that steep hill on that other side.
A small fact that's slowly coming to light is that I might just be starting to love this woman. They say love makes people crazy. How else do I explain the worry of that steel barricade possibly ever giving way?
Then, she turns around, and I can physically feel the words move straight from my mind into my chest. It takes my breath away. I almost choke when a laugh tries to force its way out watching Dav En make it to her, picking her up and swinging her around.
The rest of us reach them just as she kisses his cheek, and he puts her down. Her smile is wide with her cheeks flushed pink as her eyes search for me.
Cutting around Yeon Hu on the left, I pull her into my arms and squeeze her tight. "Sorry we left you waiting tonight."
"We thought each other invited you to the house," Dav En confesses.
"It's okay," she tells us. "I knew where you'd be and wasn't waiting long."
She turns to the others with a smile, "I'm actually glad everyone came tonight. I want to take you to one of my favorite places."
"The chicken place?" Dav En asks.
"Nope," she replies.
His face lights up, "The place where you fly?"
"Nope, and I'm not telling you," she says, sticking out her tongue a bit at him. "It's a surprise, so stop trying to guess. I've just got to make a phone call and make a quick stop before we get there."
In Se, Yoon Ji, and Minsul all get a good chuckle out of the pouty expression we all know Dav En wears under his mask.
He's not used to not getting his way. Reaching into her pocket, she hands me her phone, and I tuck it into my pocket like we've done almost every single night since we met.
She starts walking away, and we follow like baby ducks.
Spinning on her heel, she holds up a hand. "Does anyone have to be up early tomorrow?"
We all look to Seong Su. We're supposed to be off tomorrow, but that doesn't mean anything for him that it does for us. I can see when the left side of his lips pull up in a half smile as he looks at her because his cheek rises. Kind of makes me wonder if that's how I look at her, too.
"We're off tomorrow," he confirms.
"Okay, good," she breathes out. "I'd hate to have to rush through tonight. Did everyone eat already?"
"Yes," Yoon Ji answers for us before following it with the question we're likely all thinking. "Did you?"
"Yes, I had gimbap earlier," she answers with a smile at him before turning to me, "I need my phone back for a second," she tells me, holding out a hand for it as we turn around and start walking again.
I give it to her without hesitation. I've always told her that I thought she worries too much about that kind of thing when I'd never ever suspect her of using me or any of us for any kind of fame like others would.
For the first time in years, I feel like someone sees me for something other than an idol. She sees me, not the idol.
"Yes," she says speaking into her phone. "I'd like to order one samgyeopsal, a side of banchan, and two dak-kochi."
Consider me a goner at this point. I love listening to her speak the American Korean that her omma taught her. There's a soft difference in pronunciation from what we're used to, and it's endearing. It's very rare that her English comes out when she talks, but when it does, that's just as cute.
My brain comes out of the clouds as she hangs up and hands the phone back to me.
I'm slipping it into my pocket as Yoon Ji asks her, "Do anything exciting today?"
She thinks on it for a minute, tapping her chin a couple times before she answers, "Not unless you count sitting in a room with small children for hours trying to teach them English exciting."
"That doesn't sound fun," Dav En grumps. "I hated school."
"Maybe not fun," In Se says, coming up on my other side so he can see her face, "but still pretty cool that you do that in your spare time."
Shrugging, she says, "I think it's my calling to be honest. I enjoy teaching, no matter what the subject."
"You should look into jobs, so that you can get paid for doing it," Seong Su suggests.
She spins on her heel again to face him, but walks backwards this time instead of stopping. "If it turns into a job, I might not like it anymore, because I'll feel like I'm being forced to do it. Maybe one day, though."
She hits him with that heart-stopping smile before she spins back around.
Flipping a glance over my shoulder, I watch his pensive expression as he processes what she said as he checks out her body.
Yeon Hu is grinning like a fool underneath his mask beside him.
I can't see Jae-un or Minsul's face since they're behind me on my other side, but I'm sure they wear their own versions of Yeon Hu's smile.
"Did you have a busy day today?" she asks no one in particular.
"We did," Yoon Ji replies, admitting, "we were dead tired when we got home and were just going to relax for the rest of the night."
She stops so quickly that Seong Su almost runs her over. He reaches out to grab her shoulders to keep her from falling before jerking his hands back like they caught fire and apologizing.
Ignoring him, she glances up to me. "Why didn't you say anything? We don't have to do anything tonight."
I open my mouth to tell her the truth, but Jae-un beats me to it, "It's true. We were tired. We were in the studio most of the morning and dance practice all afternoon. But if the rest of my members feel like I do right now, I'm not even close to being tired anymore."
We all agree with him, making her side eye us.
"Okay," she starts, "but we can call it quits tonight whenever anybody needs us to."
That makes us all agree with her instead, not a single one of us willing to do any such thing before the night is over.
As we start walking again, I catch her biting her bottom lip as we move in silence. There's only one reason she does that, and it's when she's thinking hard on something. I'm trying to come up with a way to pull her out of her thoughts when I see it.
"Sunshine," I say softly.
Her gaze lifts to mine, and that feeling hits me again in the chest. For a moment, I forget what I'm going to say. Then she smiles at me, and I remember.
"Look," I tell her, pointing at the sidewalk.
Dav En sees it as I point and gets excited.
They take off at the same time with In Se and Yoon Ji right on their coattails likely not even knowing what they're running toward.
Dav En spins and stretches out his arms to bear hug our other two members before they run her over when she stops.
She does a few one then two-legged hops before coming to the end of the chalk boxes on the ground and turning around grinning.
Dav En starts to go, but she stops him. "Let me see your phone."
He's handing over his unlocked phone without a question just as we make it to them. We watch as she moves back to the end and sits down a little ways away from the block outlines.
"Okay, take your mask off then go," she tells him.