Why Must My Heart Ache?

Chapter 10: Dinner with SuJu (and Soju)

    It took longer than the others to take photos. She didn't really have experience in posing for pictures, and her outfit wasn't the kind of thing that used to. Her auburn curls were held back with a white, silk headband, her bangs styled neatly on her forehead. Her white dress went just above the knees, had an elegant, wide, ebony belt, and had a wine-colored, mid-arm-sleeved shrug that matched her heels. Her makeup made her honey-brown eyes stand out.

    ShinHye gave her a few tips, and after a little bit Flora started to pick it up quickly. She stopped thinking about it and began to have fun. After the shoot though, Heechul, Eunhyuk, and Sungmin had been joined by the five remaining active Super Junior members. They ganged up on the co-stars, extending a dinner invitation to ShinHye and Flora. ShinHye declined, but Flora wasn't allowed to say no to them.

    "I should go check with the teacher subbing for me. Today was her first day with my students and-" she began, but Eunhyuk interrupted her.

    "Kyuhyun offered to set up a private fan meeting for you, right? You've chosen work over us for weeks! If you don't come, we'll all take it personally," he convinced her. Ryeowook began to ask her what kind of foods she liked, and when she had turned her back on Eunhyuk to answer him, Kyu punched his hyung and held him back as the others walked her to her changing room.

    "Why'd you make her accept?" he hissed ferociously. Livid though Kyu was, Eunhyuk couldn't help grinning at him.

    "You told me that it was love at first sight with her," he began to explain, but Kyu just shook his head.

    "I was irrational. She obviously doesn't even really want to be here, nor does she want to work with me. I've given up, and I'm going to get over it," he retorted determinedly.

    Eunhyuk pondered this. "Well, it's still good to have dinner with co-workers. Besides, you can start working on your English with her now so that you'll do well in your part."

    Eunhyuk dragged him over to the others who were debating where they would eat based on Flora's tastes in food while waiting for her to change and come back out. Heechul grinned at them conspiratorially and lifted his phone to show Eunhyuk when Kyu wasn't looking and hit the send button.

    Eunhyuk's own phone buzzed, and he realized that it was a text from his hyung before even looking at the screen. He looked at the message and held back a snort.

    We'll gradually get rid of everyone, then leave too. Wait for my signals. We'll still spy, of course. 키 키

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    Flora trumped all of their restaurant suggestions and handed the van driver an address slip. She refused to answer their questions and just stared out the window, clutching her seat-belt to make it go tighter across her lap.

    Kyuhyun noticed this and wondered if she'd ever been in a car accident before. Not likely, he chided himself. She's from America. Of course she'd be scared of traffic here.

    The van stopped at a convenience store nearby a school. "I've texted my substitute. She's still waiting for me in the school. We'll eat here. You can start without me." She bolted out of the van and jogged into the school. They all looked at each other, unsure of what to do.

    Heechul spoke first. "It's really late, and it doesn't look very busy around here."

   Siwon brought up that their number might draw attention, though. They agreed that just a few of them would go in and buy ramen and Soju, then they would eat in the school parking lot. They settled into the van with the door open, spreading out so they had more room. Sungmin and Shindong sat on the floor of the van, digging into their ramen. Kyu hadn't touched his food and just stuck to Soju, despite the varied protests of his hyungs.

    Flora came back about fifteen minutes later, covered in a light sweat from her hurry, and clutching a rolled-up poster in her hand. She accepted ramen from Ryeowook and sat down between Sungmin and Shindong. She passed the poster to Donghae, who was sitting right behind her, along with a blue gel pen. "For my mom," she said simply.

    He unrolled it and laughed, showing the others. It was their military style Mr. Simple poster. He signed it and handed it around to the others, most of whom found it just as amusing as he did. Flora ignored the laughter and ate her ramen in silence until Siwon brought up the missing members.

    "I'll take it to them to sign, if that's alright with you, Flora-ssi," Heechul offered. She nodded and picked her chopsticks back up. Shindong stared at her hands as she expertly ate her noodles. She noticed as he opened his mouth to compliment her, but then she rushed to explain. "My mom was half Japanese. I learned how to use these from her when I was really little."

    He smiled and nodded at her, then passed her a green bottle. "Soju, huh?" she said as she reached for her small leather backpack and pulled out a Coca-Cola and an empty wide-mouthed water bottle. "I can only drink this stuff if it's diluted," she explained as she poured half the bottle of soda and half the bottle of alcohol into the water bottle, closed it, and shook it up. All but one of them laughed at her, and she laughed along.

    Heechul spoke up after a few minutes of them asking questions about Flora's life. "Isn't their an MBC filming today?" he inquired knowingly. This fact was acknowledged, and the narrowing down had begun. Those with a schedule that day stayed in the van while the others went with Flora to some benches on the school-ground.

    Eventually, Heechul and Eunhyuk left with those remaining, except for Kyuhyun. Of course, Flora protested staying with Kyu because she said they should all go back home, that and she thought to herself that she couldn't handle him by herself if he got too drunk. Soju was strong stuff, and he was on his third bottle, just staring into space and swallowing every thirty seconds.

    Heechul said that he was just seeing the others off to the bus but that he would be back to take Kyu in a taxi and avoid as much public drunkenness as possible. Flora agreed and settled into the bench. The bus stop is nearby, I shouldn't have to baby sit him for too long. When she glanced over at him, though, her heart lurched. Today was successful, he shouldn't be drinking so much. I know he likes wine, but I've never heard of him getting drunk on Soju for pleasure. Something must be wrong, right?

    Then Kyu spoke for the first time since they had left the photo-shoot. "Why didn't you call our manager? You came back for signatures anyway, so why didn't you want the fan meeting? I'm curious," he stated groggily. That's weird, usually his tolerance is pretty high, Flora thought.

    "I had to work, and I was checking the schedules on your website, and I was planning to call right before Christmas, actually, but then this whole drama thing popped up and everything got crazy," she told him. He nodded, and then he fainted. She caught his shoulder and redirected his fall from landing on his face to on her lap. Her heart pounded as she looked down at him. There was a thin sheen of sweat on his face that she hadn't seen before in the dark, and he looked paler than usual. She lifted a hand and felt his forehead. He was burning up.