Sad, Beautiful & Tragic // Love Next Door

Seven

When Seung-hyo came back from France during his high school's second last year, San-yeong was preparing for her bar exam so most of her days were either spent in the library of her college or the study room near their colony.

To say that Choi Seung-hyo was annoyed would be an understatement when he found out that San-yeong was too busy to talk to him but was free enough to have a boyfriend. The boy stopped sitting next to her during breakfasts and opted to sit next to her annoying younger brother Bae Dong-jin who constantly yapped about things that didn't make sense.

It was always when him, Jeong Mo-eum and Bae Seok-ryu were returning from school, San-yeong was found hand-in-hand with a tall and handsome boy. San-yeong often bribed them with ramen to keep their mouths shut. While Seok-ryu and Mo-eum happily slurped their noodles, devious plans hatched in Seung-hyo's brain.

One fine day he told aunt Mi-suk that her eldest daughter was dating and to his surprise she looked rather pleased than angry. Now any chances of break up between San-yeong and her boyfriend Jun-yeol seemed thin. So he shut his mouth and endured the torture. He watched her holding his hand and occasionally kissing his cheek. All of it seemed torture.

"You act as if you're better than everyone else!"

Seung-hyo watched his San-yeong's noona scoff loudly. It was awfully cold and it was raining. Jun-yeol was holding an umbrella but he let san-yeong soak.

"That's your pathetic way to justify why you slept with Minji?" Seung-hyo froze when he heard what she said. How could someone choose another woman over San-yeong noona?

"We're done here. Don't come near this place anymore, you'll corrupt the air near me."

"There you are playing all high and mighty! Who do you think you are?"

Seung-hyo heard her chortle loudly. She laughed so hard that she almost slipped. "Ya, why shouldn't I act all high and mighty in front of you? To be honest you should be lucky I even spared a glance at you. Are you aware of the fact how perfect I am? I mean your highest grade is my lowest grade. I'll be a valedictorian and successful while you'll be right here even ten years later. Why shouldn't I act all high and mighty? I deserve to be so..."

The last lines must have hurt the man's ego as he raised his hand to hit her. Seung-hyo saw red but he knew he couldn't go against a bodybuilder so he just used his brain. "SAN-YEONG NOONA! SEOK-RYU IS LOOKING FOR YOU!"  Seung-hyo ran closer to them and put the blue umbrella over her to protect her from the icy droplets of the rain.

"This isn't over Bae San-yeong. This isn't over..."  Jun-yeol glared at the younger boy who shielded her from the pelting rain. "I'll buy you a cake. Let's go..."

Seung-hyo stuck close to San-yeong as the two made their way towards the nearby convenience store. As San-yeong was paying for the cakes, Seung-hyo purchased two hot coffees for both of them.

The two sit outside on the porch under the shed waiting for rain to stop. "You should not eavesdrop on adult conversation." San-yeong did not scold him. She just looked at him softly. "You should not be treated like that..." Seung-hyo argued. A smile took over San-yeong's lips as she looked ahead. "What if he hit you?" Seung-hyo looked at her incredulously.

A comfortable silence engulfed them. The two sipped the hot coffee. Seung-hyo looked at his San-yeong noona who was happily watching the rain. Something had taken control of his mind that day because he leaned in to placed a small kiss on her cheek.

Unfortunately San-yeong had turned to face him at the wrong moment and the kiss didn't exactly touch San-yeong's cheek of her lips. Seung-hyo accidentally kissed San-yeong's nose and he was embarrassed about it. Really really embarrassed.

As if God was willing to save him the alarm of Seung-hyo's watch started to go off reminding him that it was time to study. He quickly handed the umbrella to the elder girl and broke into a run. He didn't wait around to see her reaction. The following days he didn't even go to Seok-ryu's house for breakfast.

～⁠～～●～⁠～⁠～●～⁠～⁠～

God knows why Seung-hyo woke up dreaming of the memory which was long forgotten by both him and San-yeong. He has just gotten comfortable around her and now his embarrassment had resurfaced.

The very first thing he saw when he looked out the window was San-yeong drying her hair. He should've been used to it by now because he was aware of the fact that Seok-ryu and San-yeong were sharing the same room. But still it caught him off-guard.

San-yeong too spotted the boy and gasped incredulously. "Shut the curtains Seung-hyo!!" She shouted from her window. Seung-hyo confused as to why she was acting like that looked down to see that he still hadn't wore his shirt and was bare bodied. Embarrassment hit him like a truck again and he pulled the curtains so hard that they snapped. Again embarrassed, Seung-hyo somehow wore his shirt and screamed "eomma! Replace my window! I mean replace my curtains!!"

The boy buttoned up his shirt and ran downstairs. His day had started so incredibly that now he was doubting whether his business meeting would go well or not.

～⁠～～●～⁠～⁠～●～⁠～⁠～

A/n

Hey everyone!

So this is basically the lore dump behind Seung-hyo and San-yeong's story. There will be lot of moments like these when you will wish to just smack this boy in the head once. ☠️

Anyways, I have a vacation from med school this week so I can think I can update both lovely runner fic and family by choice fic.

Hope you enjoyed reading ❤️