unseen || yang jungwon

15: realization

Jungwon lied down in his bed with several things circling his mind. 

That was close. What was I thinking, about to confess just like that? She might think I'm a psycho. And Sunghoon. Who does he think he is? I met her first, and she even said I'm closer to her. 

He continued to think about these things until he drifted asleep.

———

"Good job on your competition Sunghoon." Yeji said as she took his bags. Sunghoon narrowed his eyebrows as he thanked her. "What are you doing?" He asked. "Don't think I'm trying to help you, Mom said if I went with her to watch your competition and help you she'd buy me lunch tomorrow." The older then tilted his head and settled for the evening. 

———

"I'm going out with a couple friends, see you later." Yeji said as she grabbed her purse. "Who?" Sunghoon asked walking out of the kitchen. "None of your business." The doorbell then rang causing Yeji to answer. Two girls stood at the doorway. "Ok, I'm leaving now." The door then shut. 

They look familiar, Sunghoon thought, drinking a cup of iced tea. He shrugged it off then sat on the couch for a while. He thought about his competition yesterday and he smiled a bit. He was happy, but he wondered, why? I haven't felt this happy about winning in so long. He had won the previous fall, winter and spring competitions but he'd nearly forgotten about those. 

"You surprised me yet again." The words of his coach were brought up in his mind. He hasn't thought this hard about figure skating for about year now. Before he found himself losing interest but just in the past week he's been getting back on track. 

"I'm proud of you Sunghoon." He turned his head back to see his mom. "Thanks." She walked over to sit on the couch across from him. "I haven't seen you smile after winning in so long, did something come up?" He looked at the wall a bit and spoke, "I'm not sure, but I had a good time." His mother nodded, "It's good to see you like this, your sister as well. She even asked to go watch your competition." 

She asked? Never has she done that before, he thought to himself. "Oh? She said something about you buying her lunch in return of her support." His mother tilted her head, "I don't recall saying such things." She chuckled, "She's probably embarrassed to admit her support for her brother." 

"Oh yeah, who are those girls she's with, I feel like I've seen them before.", He asked. "Hana and Nari, they seem really sweet, although I'm not sure if you've met them before." 

"I almost forgot, who were the two people that came to watch you yesterday, not Jay and Jaeyun." His mother asked as she stood up to walk to the kitchen. Sunghoon followed, "Ah that was Choon Hee and her friend Jungwon." "That's good you're meeting new friends, you don't know how happy I am to see you out and about like this."

It was a coincidence everyone was starting to make friends at this time. Choon Hee and Jay moving to a new city, Jungwon finally making a friend, and Sunghoon, slowly making his way out of his introverted self.

"I wouldn't call Jungwon a friend, more of a mutual person." His voice trailed off at the end. "Oh don't say that, he's our neighbor, it's about time you guys get to know each other." Sunghoon was tired of hearing his name. "So who's Choon Hee?" He looked up at her question, "She's Jay's sister, the one I took to the rink last weekend." The older raised her brows, "Ahh, I see. Are you two close?" Her son blinked in confusion, "I don't know, but she's nice to be around. Oh yeah, did I ever tell you she's blind?" "Oh? That poor girl, you must be careful with her, Sunghoon." He pursed his lips a bit and nodded, "I do take care of her, it seems she does the same for me."

His mom smiled a bit making Sunghoon tilt his head. "What." He said to his mother. "You know, I've been wondering why you've been in a good mood the past week." she then continued, "I thought, what could it be that makes you happy all of a sudden." Sunghoon stayed silent not knowing where this was going. "But now I realize it's not what, but who." "Who? What do you mean?" Sunghoon brushed his hair back with is fingers. "Choon Hee. It's obvious you like her." She chuckled a bit. 

Sunghoon was took back by what he just heard. Me? Liking Choon Hee?, he thought. "No, no, I've only seen her as a friend, an acquaintance merely." "You think I wouldn't know? And how could you say she's an acquaintance when she went out of her way to watch you perform?" She then continued, "I take that back, she can't even see, Sunghoon. But she still went to show you support. That isn't an acquaintance." 

She in a way was correct, but Sunghoon knew in his heart that it wasn't her who had decided to go it was himself. "She's my friend's sister. I'm not going to do that to Jay." 

Later that night he again thought about this matter. 

"It's obvious you like her." She wasn't wrong, I did like her. She made me happy. She helped motivate me for the competition. But was it that obvious? Could she tell?