4AM °HOSHI

09

'wait, where are we going?' yooji slowly dragged her feet behind, moving aimlessly behind soonyoung.

the boy just smiled and pulled her hand so that she could catch up with him. they walked side by side to wherever he was about to bring her.

'soonyoung,' she called his name. 'tell me where are we going, please.'

he chuckled. 'i'm not going to kidnap you. chill, you've been asking since forever.'

'that is because you won't tell me!' she frowned. 'let me go.'

yooji wasn't in a good mood already, and she wasn't sure whether skipping school was a right option. bosoon could have been waiting for her.

soonyoung had also confiscated her phone, so she had no choice to follow him.

'here,' he finally slowed down as they turn around the corner and walked into the large indoor market of the city. different shops such as little boutiques, fancy snack booths, vegetable stores, fruit stalls, seafood shops and much more were lined up neatly on two sides.

'why a market?'

soonyoung smiled at her. 'i have a perfect place to go whenever i skip school.'

she also laughed. 'dude you sound like a pro school skipper.'

'does that even exist?' he flicked her forehead and pulled her hand gently again. 'come on, we're near.'

they walked past the first section of the market and turned left. they walked down the lane and stopped in front of a red sliding door with some japanese characters on it, situated in between a shabby looking vintage themed doll house and a closed metal gate with 'dirty adult toys' painted on it.

soonyoung wiggled his eyebrows and sniffed. he slid open the door to the petite japanese ramen house.

the smell of thick broth greeted their nostrils and already it was half full with old customers despite of the early time.

'mom! i skipped school woohoo!' he proudly announced as he stepped inside, raising his hands in the air, without even releasing yooji.

'yah kwon soonyoung you little slug!'

yooji blushed in embarrassment as the customers looked at them. one particular grandpa by the counter smiled happily. 'aigoo, what a fine boy soonyoung has grown into.'

'yah, where are we?' yooji was still confused. there was an open kitchen behind the counter, where a middle-age lady was busy with the egg rolls.

'it's our ramen house,' he said and pulled her across the place. his mother noticed him and rested her arms on her waist. yooji bowed.

'i met yooji on the way,' he beamed and finally released yooji, he pulled out a stool from under the counter.

that's when his mother noticed yooji too. she raised her eyebrows to her son. 'aigoo, didn't we talk about your birth control?'

'mom,' he tried to shush her.

yooji awkwardly chuckled at his mother's adorable tease, and went dead immediately as one of the uncles spoke.

'birth control is for girls, yooksoon,' he smiled and turned to face yooji. 'you should ask girlie instead.'

soonyoung was nearly pushed off the cliff. 'ah, uncle!'

the customers chuckled and laughed while they began to share the little things they know about soonyoung when he was small.

in order to get free lunch, they abided their opportunity to roam in the market and worked part time under his mother's constant nag. she tossed them two red aprons and they started working.

yooji found out that the shop was really popular with the old customers as well as workers from nearby offices throughout the day. bowls and bowls of spicy ramen was served, and also their famous gyoza. she didn't have a little free time to rest, but she was glad that her mind could be free from her troubles for a while.

she smiled inwardly as his mother offered them some ramen when soonyoung returned from delivering food for his father upstairs, where his taekwondo centre was.

even though apparently it was extremely spicy by observing its red colour of the soup, yooji was famished by all the work and couldn't wait to have some. she tossed away her apron and sat down, pulling soonyoung with her.

she slurped the first bite, and immediately choked on the broth. she coughed until her cheeks went red, and thumped her chest while his mother fed her water.

he laughed uncontrollably as he reached for the carton of milk from the fridge. 'déjà vu much?'

yooji didn't answer and drained the milk, while he exchanged their bowls. 'i think you got mine,' he smiled.

she returned him with a glare and mouthed a 'fuck you' when his mother wasn't looking.

they worked until the last customer of the night left the shop. it was only nine because his mom decided to close down earlier, but yooji was fatigue.

his mother thanked her a lot for helping and gave her some left over gyoza. 'yooji, it's already late, are you sure you don't want to go home with us?' she asked warmly, turning into a completely different person from that fierce sarcastic mom of soonyoung.

yooji returned her with a sincere smile. 'i can go home, auntie. it's really okay.' she grabbed her cardigan on the back of the chair and waved. 'thank you so much, i had a lot of fun.'

soonyoung waved back, but he wasn't ready to let her go. he wasn't feeling sick anymore, and he wanted her to stay. 'can't you stay the night? i'm sure soon-ah is willing to share you some clothes.'

she shook her head apologetically. 'sorry, soonyoung. i think i'd better go home now. diva kim would be-'

just then, her mother very cooperatively called her, as if it was scripted.

'honey, it's our first year anniversary tonight and would you stay outside? uncle is coming over.' her mother's sweet voice sent her shrills. she was still mad at her from that morning, so she angrily hung up without saying anything.

between her daughter and herself, of course, she goes first, and this is diva kim.

'fuck that hoe,' she cursed silently, not feeling guilty of saying that to her. she gritted her teeth.

'what's wrong?' soonyoung frowned. knowing that it was her horny mother, he half guessed what happened.

'i'm sorry if i would be a burden,' yooji turned around and forcefully pushed up a wan smile. 'do you mind if i stay the night?'