I curse inwardly when I hear him hanging up the phone and coming to me.
"Were you listening on me?"
His accusation is quick and so are my lies.
"No, I didn't even hear your voice. Were you talking to someone?"
I know it's a pathetic lie but Jimin doesn't reply back anything. He looks down on me on floor and offer me both his hands. I'm taken aback for a second.
Is this the same rude boy? I'm utterly surprised.
And what's more surprising is that my hands lift up in his direction without my knowing and before I can blink, he gently pulls me up against him. A whole lot closely and my breath hitches in my throat from the proximity. The tips of my fingers in his surprisingly small and soft hands tingle.
I can see the effect on him too, from the way his puffy lips are parted and his pupils are dilated so widely I can clearly see it from the minute distance, eyes carrying an uncertain look.
We retract our hands back at the same time and look elsewhere but my eyes are drawn back to his when he asks, "Are you okay? Does it hurt anywhere?"
Again that uncertain look and this time I can tell he is sincerely concerned for me.
I shake my head in no. "I'm fine. I'm just clumsy."
"I can see that." Jimin smiles, like actually smiles and I'm so mesmerized by this sweet look that my own lips pull into a shy grin.
"Goodnight." I say to escape the sudden awkwardness between us when all there has been the whole evening was selective ignoring.
"Goodnight and if you need anything, just ask me."
With that charming last sentence he turns around and goes back to his room and I just stand there, looking after his retreating form, wondering what the hell just happened.
__________________________________
It takes me a minute to open my eyes to hear the low whispers more clearly that I've been hearing in my almost waking state that I thought were just my thoughts in mind. But no, they were actually coming from people in the same living room I was staying in.
When my vision cleared up from my sombre sleep and mind became a bit less dizzy, I could make out three people talking among themselves. Two I knew well, Jimin and Jihyo unnie and though I couldn't be hundred percent sure, the third person was probably their mother.
She had the same eyes as them and spoke in a busan accent. I felt awkward just laying on the couch and gazing at them so I shifted to a standing position and coughed to gain their attention.
But because they were in a heated argument they didn't notice, so I coughed harder. This time all their heads turned to me and now I felt more awkward, having all of their focus on me.
Their mother came close to me, a little too close actually and the next moment I was taken aback when she hugged me dearly.
"Oh my little girl grew up to be so beautiful!" She chanted and I patted her back in part awkwardness, part amusement and said my greetings.
"Mom we haven't even confirmed if she's the same Aera. Don't be touchy. She might be uncomfortable." Jihyo said, standing next to her mother who in return scowled at her in a disapproving manner.
"Can't you tell by looking at her?"
"Exactly! I don't even understand how you've overlooked this for so long noona." Jimin took her mother's side and the later turned to me again with big, hopeful eyes.
"You used to live in busan in your childhood then moved to Bucheon right? And your mother's name is Sang Eunmi?" She asks and I'm left dumbfounded. I didn't even tell Jihyo about it so how could her mother know about this?
"Yes." I answer in a shaky voice trying to find any loose points I've missed. "How do you know?"
The older woman once again smiles wide with gleaming eyes before taking my hands in hers. "Because dear, we were your neighbors when you lived in busan. Do you remember me Mieun auntie? Or Jimin or Jihyo?"
And suddenly it all hit me. Honestly, I didn't remember their mother but images of Jimin and Jihyo flashed in my mind. Not from now though, they had both grown up to be so beautiful it was hard to compare them with the mental image of their chubby faces.
I was born in Busan and for the first five years I lived there before my father's job transfer, Jimin and I were best friends and from what I remember and hear from my family is that we were basically attached to the hip. He was two years older than me but we still did everything together.
My brother, me and the park siblings attended the same school in busan and usually went together but Jimin would even go as far as to take me to my class. He would play kitchen set and doll house with me when I had no one to play them with. The best memory I have of us is him teaching me how to ride a bicycle without support tires.
Now when I look at the same boy I spent my early years growing it seems hard to imagine that he's the same boy. I mean he wouldn't play dolls with me now of course, but he's not the sweet innocent boy anymore. And if I trust Yoorae's words then he's a notorious playboy now and I wouldn't wanna associate myself with him.
Though his sister has definitely surpassed my expectations. Not only academically and look-wise but also in the family area. She's a nurse and a beautiful woman. And her son is the best child anyone could ask for. Now I wonder more why the father is not in the equation anymore that I know we are more closer than I thought we were.
Mrs Mieun brings me out of my thoughts when she once again holds my hands, making me startled and start asking about all the things she's missed in the past thirteen years of my life.
Jimin came to my rescue this time and pried his mother's hands away from me.
"Mom she's not going anywhere so keep it down a notch. Why don't you show her the picture I asked you to bring?"
His mother's eyes light up and she quickly gives me the said picture with a big sweet smile.
I look down into my hands and realize it's a picture of me and Jimin when we were little children and my memories take me to the day both our families took us on a little trip to nearby lake. We were dressed cutely and smiling at each other without any idea of getting photographed and the beautiful blue lake served as our scenic background.
"I look so small here." The candid shot brought a smile to my face and I couldn't help but utter something.
"You're still smaller than me." I heard Jimin's voice and to prove the point he puffed up his chest and stood towering over me. Now I'm a petite woman of 5'2 but Jimin is not too tall himself and I couldn't help but make a face at him when he tried to mock me with his height. In return, he just smiled bashfully.
Holding back my tongue to make a comeback for that I opt to ask something that crossed my mind the first time I realised he's the same Jimin I was friends with. "What happened to your chubby cheeks?"
Jihyo bursts out laughing and Jimin's lips form a straight line and he looks at his mother like he was just expecting her to say something any moment from now. And she doesn't disappoint.
"Right, Aera? I keep telling him he's getting skinny and I make so much food for him but he doesn't eat."
"Mom your force feeding isn't going to help me in any way. I'm a dancer. I need to be in shape." He exclaims and I smile at that.
I thought only my mother was adamant on feeding me like a pig. It's good to see other people suffer from that too.
The mother and son again start their banter and Jihyo pulls me away from them. She takes me to the three sitter sofa and makes me sit alongside her.
"Wanna see our old albums and revive some forgotten memories?"
And that's what we do till 12 in the afternoon and I was so immersed in that I forgot to take a bath. Trust me that's big on my side because I'm a very hygiene conscious person (although Yoorae likes to calls me neat freak) but talking to the three people I spent majority of my early years made it all worth it.
