Lost Without You

Chapter 8

She had oppened the door only to be confronted by a newspaper office, the grayness of which usually bored Hyunjae to tears, but was now a vibrant shade of red, and thos normally stuffy atmosphere of printing ink and paper had been replaced by a sweet fragrance of flowers.

Bouquets of red roses covered every available surface. Those are a plentyof rose petals on Hyunjae's own desk, and a lot more on every spaces.

At the center of all the redness stood the tall, tanky figure of Eunhyuk, the chief editor of the school paper. He was holding a sealed envelope, then handed over to Hyunjae.

"All these roses are for me?" Hyunjae asked as she tore open the enevelope.
Gaeul peekes over her friend's shoulders as she started to take the card out of its envelope.

"I know, it's all from Kim Kibum!"
"Kibum? What do you mean?" Hyunjae asked.

"Ever since you ran off from him at the Christmas dance, he became obsessed with you! He never talks about anything else!"

"Really?" Hyunjae was suddenly very interested, so much that she forgot about the envelope in her hands. "Kibum is obsessed with me?"

Gaeul nodded. "Well, come on! Read this card!"

"Hmm.. 16 bouquets to be precised." Came Eunhyuk's sarcastic comment as she tried to clear a space at his desk.

"Take a look at the card, Gaeul." There was a delighted grin on Hyunjae's face which she tried unsuccessfully to hide.

Gaeul's eyes grew even bigger as she read the message on the card. She looked up at her friend in amazement.

"THESE ARE FROM HC!?" she gasped. "That's what it says," Hyunjae said, then took the card from Gaeul and read the message aloud;

"To the best lady reporter. Sorry about the interview. Maybe we can hold it again over dinner. Thinking of you, HC."

"Gosh Hyunjae! HC still wants to take you out to dinner!"

Hyunjae picked up one of the bouquets and brought the flowers to her face. They smelt fresh and sweet. It had been a long time since she received flowers, and roses had always been her favorites. It was a lovely of HC to apologize for last night, maybe he wasn't such a bad guy after all...

Lee Hyunjae! What are you thinking! -- She scolded herself. She replaced the card inside its envelope and tossed it on her desk.

"If I know him, dinner will probably be eggs and ramen at the local food stall. That guy got no style."

"Ten million roses isn't a style then?"

"It's showing off, and don't exagerate. He's proving he's a flash and has a bit of money to throw around. A single rose would have been much more effective, but.... even that would not work either.. cause im not going out with him."

"You're not? WHAT THE!? The hunkiest guy in the world, the space big star wants to take you out for dinner and you're turning him down? Oh my Lee Hyunjae!"

"That's right.. let him go out with his fans who could spend the whole evening telling him how wonderful he is and gazing into his hazel eyes..."

"Hazel eyes? I didn't know he had that!"

"Ahuh.. they're just like the color of the autumn leaves after the rain..." recalling HC staring into her eyes last night. "... or maybe, just the color of those dried leaves around..." she continued jokingly.

Gaeul nodded wisely. Even on the posters and pictures of Super Junior's first single, she had never noticed the color of HC's eyes. She exchanged a knowing look with Eunhyuk who had finally cleared a space at his desk. It seemed that HC had more effect on Hyunjae than she, even realized.

"Guys like HC are all.. duh... and besides we've got nothing in common."

"They do say that opposites attract." Gaeul said mischievously.

Hyunjae paused for a moment, remembering what her Mom had told her regarding her mom's feelings towards her dad. Maybe away from the other members the band, when he didn't feel a need of show off, HC could be a different sort of person, bet there's suddenly a spring of defense into her. When Shindong had threatened her to call the police "Well, I don't believe that", she claimed stubbornly.

"And no matter how many roses he sends me - I'm not going out to let myself become the latest in his string of one
-night stands."

"You don't really know if he's like that."

"You know what they say about rockstars, don't you?"

"Yes," Gaeul said dreamily, hoping that at least half of what she'd heard about wild parties was true.

"Anyway, I've got much important things to take care of."

"I know, articles for the Lodestar, you work with... The kids at the charity hall..."

Hyunjae shook her head; there was a wicked twinkle in her eyes. "No - Kim Kibum... Do you think he really likes me?"

----- next chap :)

AN: Hooooh it's been a long time. Thanks to those who added this story to their list. I am surely back and will definitely update once in a while.. lol ... 😁 love ya'll. God bless!
vote.share.comment pls.

~g. ❤️