Seventeen: NOTHING MORE, NOTHING LESS
1124 Words
I was surprised when the moment I came out of the convenience store I worked at, I saw Gianna waiting for me outside. She looked excited when she saw me that she basically ran towards me.
We hugged tight. It was the first time that we saw each other since they started training.
"How are you?" I asked her as we hugged each other tight.
"I'm good. I'm good. OMG! I missed you so much!" she said as she hugged me tighter.
I pulled away from her to check on her. "Gosh, you look different!" I said as I spun her around. "It's amazing how two weeks in Korea can change you this much!"
"It's the air, girl," Gianna said as she playfully spun around in front of me. "Knowing that I breathe the same air that my kdrama oppas breathe gave me a different kind of glow."
I laughed out loud.
"How are you?" she asked.
"I'm good, I'm good. How about you? How's the training?"
"Well, aside from the fact that I get to see Doreen every single day, I'm fine." She made a face.
I chuckled. "I think you should learn to live with her."
"I guess, I have no choice. Unless one of us gets eliminated in the training and I hope that's not me."
"Of course, no. You're not going to get yourself eliminated. You're gonna finish this training with flying colors and debut here in Korea," I said to cheer her up.
"Correction. We're going to debut together," she replied.
"Yes, of course. We're going to debut together," I agreed.
"That's the goal. But before anything else, let's eat first. I'm hungry." She gave me puppy eyes.
I chuckled. "You always are. Let's go, I'll treat you with tteokbokki."
"Yey!" She linked her arm with mine as we walked hand in hand.
"No way! No freaking way!" Gianna said later while we were at my favorite go-to place, enjoying our tteokbokki or spicy rice cakes. She was staring at her phone.
"Why?" I asked as I chewed on my dakgangjeong or Korean sticky chicken.
"Look at this!" She raised her phone to my face. "It says Skye is secretly dating Dan Bi of Galax-Z!" She was referring to a member of a new girlgroup.
I read what's written on her phone. It was posted by some Korean entertainment site. It wasn't confirmed, though.
"Is that true?" she asked.
"I dunno," I said, shrugging my shoulders off.
"What do you mean you don't know? You're practically living with him!"
"Shhhhh! Shut up!" I glared at her.
"Sorry." She covered her mouth with her own hand. "I mentioned no name anyway."
"And I am not living with him," I corrected her. "I am staying at his empty place."
"Yeah, yeah, I know. My bad. But still, you're friends with him all your life. You should know if he's dating anyone or not."
"I… I really don't know. It's his private life. I'm not supposed to interfere with that," I said in as calm as possible though deep inside, I couldn't accept the idea.
Like no way! There's no way he's dating that girl. I mean Dan Bi is okay, I have nothing against her, but still… there's no way she should be dating Skye!
"Are you okay with that?" Gianna asked.
"About what?"
"About the idea of Sk--- I mean him dating that girl? Or any girl for that matter?"
I shrugged off my shoulders once again. "I dunno. I don't think I have any say on that."
"Girl, stop giving me a 'showbiz' answer. Are you okay with the idea that he dated someone else?"
"What do you mean with someone else? We're just friends and ---"
"Haven't you ever thought of dating him? I mean, I know you're friends and all, but, girl… your friend is like every girl's dream boyfriend. Haven't you had any feelings for him?"
"No, no! Of course, not!" I chuckled. "I basically grew up with him. He's like a brother I never had. I mean… I've never looked at him as a man. I don't know if it makes sense but when you practically grew up with someone, it's unlikely that you developed feelings for him."
"Yup, it doesn't make sense. I have this childhood friend and I have had this huge crush on him ever since."
"Maybe that wasn't the case for everyone but everyone is not me. I mean, I only see him as a friend. Nothing more."
Gianna looked at me suspiciously.
"What?" I asked her.
"Why do you sound so defensive?"
"Of course, I am not."
"And why do you look jealous?"
I chuckled before I stuffed chicken into her mouth. "Stop spewing nonsense and eat! You're just hungry!"
I hated the way she's injecting nonsense ideas into my mind. Like why would I feel jealous if ever Skye started dating anyone? It's not like I see him that way. Ever.
[FLASHBACK]
POV: 11-year-old Yuri and 13-year-old Haneul
"Who was that?" I asked Haneul the moment I opened his bedroom door.
He was on his study table, writing something on his workbook. He looked like he's doing some school work.
"Like who?"
"That girl who gave you something earlier, who was that?" I asked again with my right hand on my hip.
"No one."
"What do you mean no one? I saw her giving you something. It looks like a gift with a pink ribbon on it! What was that?"
"Nothing."
"What do you mean nothing? I definitely saw it with my own two eyes! What did she gave you? And who was that girl?" I started to get frustrated.
"Why are you so curious?"
"Who was that girl!"
"That was no one."
"That couldn't be no one! She got to have a name!"
Haneul chuckled. "Ye Jun… Yu Jun… see? I couldn't even remember her name."
"What's funny?" I asked, irritated.
"Nothing."
"Then why are you laughing?"
"I wasn't laughing."
"No, you did. You laughed! I saw you laugh!"
"No, I didn't laugh." He chuckled some more.
"See? You just did! You just laughed!"
"No, I wasn't." He was still grinning.
"Don't laugh! Don't even smile!" I whined.
But it only made him laugh out loud, to my annoyance.
"Eomeonim! Haneul is dating someone!" I screamed as I spun around to leave his bedroom.
He was quick to leave his seat and grabbed me by the mouth to stop me from screaming.
But the moment his hand covered my mouth, I bit it right away.
"Ouch! Why did you bite me?!" He flinched in pain.
I took the opportunity and started running away from him while screaming "Eomeonim! Haneul is dating someone!"
- Writer
