Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Thank You (JGS POV on Two is Better than One)


Thank You


Keun Suk has never spent a Valentine’s Day alone. Not in his 23 years of existence. If not with a girlfriend, he spends it with his noona cousins or girl friends. Just never alone.  It’s too precious a day to spend it alone. And this would not be the first time, he vows to himself as he toys with his phone.

He has been lying in bed for the past hour, deliberating if he should call Shin Hye or not. He knows he could pull a cute act or a joke over the phone but he wants more than to hear her voice or receive a text message from her today. He wants to see her, and no, not over a video call, please. He wants to be with her today, tonight. It’s a special day and he wants to spend it with her. But he, Keun Suk, does not know how to ask without scaring the hell out of both of them.

He has been cursing himself for the past hour. Hell, I’m not even gonna ask her to date me so what am I worrying about? Korean guys have the right to ask for chocolates and candies on Valentine’s day, right? So I will just ask her about it. Then, greet her “Happy New Year” while I’m at it. Keun Suk tries to reason to himself, holding his phone. A ready message has in fact been blinking on his phone for the past 30 minutes. He just doesn’t have the balls to send it, he taunts himself.

It’s not like I’m going to propose, darn it! I’m just going to ask for some freaking chocolates. He lets out a scream.

Without thinking, he hits Send.

Screw reason.



~0o0~


He looks at Shin Hye’s shy smile and startled gaze and he can’t help but smile, too. He wishes he could explain to her how it felt so natural to reach out and pick the snowflake from her lashes but he knows that would only startle her more. It was never his intention to make her feel embarrassed although he enjoys how her eyes dance anxiously whenever she feels flustered over something he does. Looking at her all bundled up, standing on the snowy pavement, cheeks flushed from the chilly wind, he feels a familiar instinct to hug her and shelter her from the cold. She looks like a child, he tells himself silently. A child you would like to hug and kiss.

He notices her bare hands and fights the urge to shove them in his pocket for warmth. “Aren’t you cold without any gloves?” If he could only envelop them with his own hands, he would.

Shin Hye looks down at her naked hands and laughs. “Cold,” she shoves her hands in her jacket’s pockets. “I just forgot to wear them on my way out. My mind was on those chocolates, Oppa,” she teases.

He shakes his head. “So now you’re making me feel guilty.” Putting down the box of chocolates on his car’s hood, he takes off his gloves and gives them to her. “Here, wear these.”

She shakes her head laughing. “No way! I’m okay, really. Besides, it’s nice to make you feel guilty sometimes.”

He looks at her seriously, grabbing her hand and shoving his gloves in them, without any trace of smile on his face. “Wear these. You can give it back to me later when I’m done with these chocolates.”

Shin Hye nods her head slowly taken aback by his serious tone. She diligently wears his gloves as told. “Okay. Thanks,” she mumbles shyly.

Keun Suk nods at her in approval. “Good girl.”

He picks the chocolate box in the car’s hood and opens the door to driver’s seat.

"What's gonna happen on the 18th?" Keun Suk asks, a little smile forming on his lips. He has put the chocolate box in the car and is now holding a small paper bag in his hand.

Shin Hye feigns ignorance at the question, eyes on the bag in his hand. "I'm having a photoshoot for a magazine on the 18th, I think," she lies, striking a thoughtful pose.

Keun Suk raises his left brow, smirking. "Really? Then can my little friend here come with you?" He asks and lifts up a small dwaeji-tokki, a miniature of the stuff toy from the drama, around 30-cm in size, from the bag. "He can be a little annoying though," he warns, pinching the pig-like nose which prompts the toy to jerk its hands and say "Go Mi Nam!" in Hwang Tae Kyung's voice.

Shin Hye shrieks in delight at the sight of it and hearing Tae Kyung's voice sends her into a giggling fit. "Oppa! Where did you get this?"

Eyes crinkling in equal delight at her reaction, he hands her the Go-Mi-Nam-talking toy. "That's a trade secret. Happy Birthday, Go Mi Nam!"

Shin Hye's eyes sparkle and dance brightly on her face as she inspects her gift, laughing excitedly as she listens repeatedly to Tae Kyung's voice shouting "Go Mi Nam!"

"I got the recording from the fans. Remember, the one we listened to online before? And I think they are actually selling smaller pig-rabbit toys like this already. I just asked an ahjussi at the toy shop to customize this for me," Keun Suk explains, happily watching Shin Hye tinkering with the toy. “Mianhe. I’m not good with gifts. This is not very original but I thought the daweji-tokki prettily defines us, you know…I mean, our characters in the drama. So I figured you’d like this. It’s a lazy gift…” he trails on, belatedly realizing that he is starting to blab incoherently.

“Oppa, I like it,” Shin Hye answers him, voice filled with gratefulness. “This is just ‘Wow!’ That's a lot of work, Oppa. Remembering my birthday would have been enough," Shin Hye says.

"A lot of people remember your birthday, Shin Hye. I just want to be a little different." He searches her face, memorizing the delightful expression on it, cherishing this moment when the world seems to be rotating around its axis ever so slowly and gently, giving him time to spend the night with her some more.

Shin Hye beams at her, gratefulness evident in her eyes. "I should have given you an extra chocolate box for this," she jokes. "Komawoyo, oppa."

Keun Suk bows his head in acknowledgment. "Ani. I should be the one thanking you." Then in his best Tae Kyung voice, he whispers into the night air, barely audible for Shin Hye's ears but loud enough for the words to resonate in her heart. "Thank you for being born."

Shin Hye smiles. “That’s my line.”

Keun Suk pouts at her, mockingly. “I’m just borrowing it. I told you I have run out of originality these days.” He opens his arms wide and gestures for a hug. “C’mon, let me give you an advance birthday hug before I get out of here.”

Shin Hye laughs, her eyes dancing like starlights on a winter night. “Thank you, Oppa,” she whispers as she moves towards his waiting arms.

Not bad a move, man, says a voice inside Keun Suk’s head and he smiles silently. Nice move, indeed.

2 comments:

wengwa said...

really nice move! love this POV... komawoyo jossa! love is really in the air!

Anonymous said...

I'm late in reacting to Thank You ... but Thank You, Jossa! (: This is my personal favorite (you know why, heehee)

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