The Rejected Beauty | Yoon Sanha

Chapter 8: Remember

"MAY I, CHRIS?" Sanha glanced at the big hands holding the chair next to him. As he journeyed his eyes upward, he saw the owner of the voice. "It's me -- Seth! Still remember me?"

Of course, Sanha thought. However, instead of saying it out loud, he just looked away.

"No?" Seth asked.

Sanha's eyes turned hopeful upon seeing Hans approaching their table. Meanwhile, he noticed that Seth pulled the chair and sat next to him.

"Y'know, Chris," Sanha heard Seth said but he didn't even glance at him, "we used to -- "

"Yeogi!" Sanha interrupted. With his arm raised, he shouted at Hans passionately. "Chingu!" (Here! Friend!)

Seeing Hans walked faster after he waved his arm with a thumb up, Sanha felt a sense of relief. Until he heard Seth chuckling.

"I see," Seth said, "you're forgetful now... Hans doesn't speak Korean, dude."

Because of embarrassment, Sanha's beak appeared. Not a literal beak, of course. But he knew it was obvious since his fellow ASTRO members kept on pointing out that his heart-shaped lips sometimes turn to a beak.

Sanha swiftly glimpsed to Seth who was fondly gazing at him. Oh, no, Sanha thought, he saw the beak... he might want to trigger me more.

He avoided Seth's eyes and kept on fixing anything that made contact to his hands.

"Now, I'm not sure..." Sanha heard Seth caroled so he wiped the screen of his phone, "if you forgot a lot... or you remember everything...."

Sanha froze.

As much as he wanted to reply now, Hans's arrival changed the mood. He noticed, too, that Seth stood up faster than him and and his demeanor exuded a happier vibe. Though in denial, this made Sanha feel slow and small.

While Seth and Hans were talking about matters that he couldn't relate to, Sanha did his best to appear enthusiastic, interested, and unaffected of Seth's presence.

And speaking of "presence"... he looked around and wondered where Grace and Janna were.

"Chris, you okay?" Hans asked.

"Retrieving old memories, perhaps?" Seth teased, trying to catch Sanha's avoidant eyes.

Sanha stood erect. He reminded himself of all the trainings and difficulties that he had undergone before he became an idol. I'm not the old Chris anymore, he told himself. I'm ASTRO Yoon Sanha.

Smiling, Sanha established a friendly eye contact to Seth and Hans alternately.

"Yes.... That's it..." Seth rejoiced. "Eye contact."

"You seem happy," Hans commented.

"Well, of course."

"Where's Kim Eun --- " Sanha interrupted. "I mean, Grace... Where's Grace and Janna?"

"Oh," Hans put his hands together. "They're already here... Just running some errands. Don't worry."

"Wait," Sanha felt his feet stiffened as he heard Seth's loud remark. "You remember... You do, right? 'Cause you still remember my cousin's old name!"

Sanha showed a tight-lipped smile. "Yes."

While forcing his lips to maintain the smile, Sanha watched Seth turned to Hans. At first, Seth complained that Sanha ignored him. The next second, he celebrated as he made Sanha's first answer to him a big deal.

Seth's and Hans's voices and presence faded in Sanha's perception. From a distance, Sanha saw two familiar women in red dress. He focused on the taller one. Do I know this woman?