Love in the Air

Chapter 8

I run inside, greet my mom and tell her a little bit about it before I take a quick shower and pull on a plain white shirt, jeans and red converse. I grab a beanie just in case it gets colder and text Jisang to ask him if he and Aetae are there. He says they're on their way so I grab my purse, say bye to mom and run outside. I walk to the nearest bus station and spend a few minutes trying to figure out where it is I'm supposed to be going. Once I finally find the right bus, I jump on and sit wherever.
This is weird, I think as I sit on the bus. I wasn't used to riding the bus back home and it all just seemed so different. Once I finally get to my stop I jump down and walk as quickly as I can toward the theater. I get lost a few times but I eventually find Jisang, Aetae and Daeun on a big screen while they wait for me.
"Hi, sorry I'm a little late," I say.
They turn around and smile at me. "You're here! Great let's go get your ticket so we can get some snacks and go in," says Aetae excitedly. Despite their instant happiness to see me, I feel out of place with them. Both Aetae and Daeun are wearing pretty dresses and have pins in their hair, Jisang has a plain blue button up and black skinny jeans while I'm wearing the most boring outfit and a beanie.
Jisang looks at me and simply gives me a reassuring smile and says, "follow me" as he starts walking to a kiosk. We buy my ticket, grab some snacks and sit in the theatre, Aetae, Daeun, Jisang then me. Jisang and I share snacks as we watch the movie. About an hour into the movie I start feeling my phone buzzing. I wonder who it could be but don't bother to check since we're in a theater and don't want to disturb anyone around me. People who talk or use their phones during movies annoy me so I don't want to be that person. After it ends, the four of us leave the theater and go to an arcade for a little bit. Aetae and Daeun are picked up after about 20 minutes so Jisang and I decide we should start heading home.
"Do you want to split a cab ride?" Jisang asks.
"Sure," I reply glad to have company on my way home. We find a cab and hop in. I take this moment to check my texts and see I have a few from unknown numbers. What the heck? I think to myself. I open the first ones and see that they're from Hongbin.
"Hey Rigi, it's Hongbin. You didn't give me a fake number right?"
"Are you enjoying your movie?"
"I had fun today. Let's do it again. Text me when you're out?"
Then I open the next ones. "Rigi-ah! It's your favorite man in the world! Guess who it is! Guess guess!"
It's Jaehwan, I think to myself and move on to the next set.
"Hey Rigi. It's Taekwoon. I have something I want to tell you. Can you call me tonight?"
Uuuuhhhh...... Okay.... I think.
"Hello. This is Wonsik. We made Hyukkie give us your number. Sorry if we're all disturbing you during your movie. I tried to tell them to leave you alone right now."
I smile at my phone, happy at how considerate Wonsik is yet how little the rest of the boys care.
"Hi Rigi!! It's Hakyeon! If you're not busy after your movie you should come over, I made dinner!" I laugh at how sweet Hakyeon is but I know I've been out too long and I should head home and rest so I can do all my homework.
"You have a lot of texts," Jisang says.
"Oh yeah. It's my neighbors. I gave my phone number to a few of them because we went to the beach today but they all got it and decided to spam me during the movie," I say to him.
"Are they our age?" he asks.
"They're a little older than us," I reply.
"Oh.... Are they all men?"
"Yes. Six guys."
"Oh..." The cab goes silent and I suddenly feel very awkward. Fortunately we're almost at my house so I dig through my purse to find my wallet. I pull out a little more than half since the cab will have to go a little farther to drop Jisang off and hand it to him.
"Thanks," he counts it quickly. "You gave me too much," he says as he hands me back the extra money.
"Well you're gonna have to go a little further so it's for that," I explain.
"It's okay, I kind of feel like walking the rest of the way. Plus, I can walk you to your house if I get down with you." Without another word he hands me the extra, pays the cab driver once we get in front of the house and we step out of the car. He starts to walk with me toward my house when the door to the boys' house bursts open and four of them come running toward us.
"Jaehwan get back inside!" I hear Hakyeon yell from the house.
"I just want to say hi!" Jaehwan yells as he continues to run toward us at full speed. "Rigi! I missed you so much!" he sings as he pulls me into a tight hug.
"Jaehwan I just saw you three hours ago," I gasp as I try to push him off of me.
He stops and turns his attention to Jisang. "Hello friend of Rigi. I am Jaehwan. Take care of my Rigi or else you will suffer the consequences." I can't help but laugh a little bit because I couldn't take him seriously. He looked like a little boy telling his dog to sit down or else he wouldn't get a treat. Jaehwan's furrows his eyebrows and says to me, "I'm being serious!"
"Okay Jaehwan, go home," I reply. He pouts, turns angrily and stomps back home.
"Sorry about that," Hongbin says to Jisang.
"It's okay... anyway, I'm Jisang," Jisang stammers.
"I'm Hongbin. I-"
"Yeah, you guys are from that famous band aren't you?" Only now do I realize why he had been stammering and looked so shocked.
"Yes, I'm Sanghyuk and this is Taekwoon," Hyuk replies nonchalantly.
"Jisang," Taekwoon says suddenly, quietly and sternly. "Do take care of our Rigi." His intense eyes even scare me at this moment.
"Yes sir," he stutters. "I should go home. Bye." He takes off toward his home as fast as he can leaving me with three crazy guys that have just scared off one of my only friends.
"Hey! What the hell was that?! You guys can't just scare off my friends like that!" I yell at them angrily.
"That was not our intention Rigi. We just wanted to-" Hyuk starts.
"I don't care what you wanted to do. He and my friends treated me well and I need to make sure I keep them as friends if I don't want to be a total loner at school!" I take a deep breath and look up at the three men standing before me. They all looked shocked yet remorseful. "I'm sorry I yelled at you guys but I'm still a little upset. I want to go inside and rest. I'll talk to you later." I start walking towards the door and as I reach it I hear them quietly apologize.
Once I finally close the door on them I hear my dad call me into the living room. "What the heck was all that commotion outside?"
"Just the neighbors being nosy about my friends and scaring them off," I spit out.
"Well I can see you're upset. How was the rest of your day? It seems like you should have had a busy and fun day."
"Yeah it was fun. I miss you though, you're always working."
"I know, I'm sorry. We can go out on my next day off okay?"
"Promise?"
"Promise."
I smile at my dad because I know he's happy here but a part of me is also very sad. I want to go back home and I don't want him to be working so much, I feel bad seeing him so tired all the time. I go into my room, throw my stuff on a chair and fall onto my bed. I sigh as I think about how crazy everything has been today. What could Taekwoon want? Does he like me too?? Why is this happening?! They're way too hot for me, they should be dating models. I groan and roll over in my bed. I rub my eye that are begging to be asleep. I decide it'd be best if I just slept and worked everything out tomorrow.
Knock knock knock
What the hell?
Knock knock knock.
I roll over and look at my phone. It's 8 o'clock in the morning and I'm wondering who the heck is knocking on my window while I'm trying to sleep. I run the sleep out of my eyes and I get out of bed and open the blinds. There stands Taekwoon with potato rice cakes looking at me like a cat would after he's knocked something intentionally off of the table, evil yet innocent and cute.
I open the window and he tries to hand me the rice cakes. "Take these. I'm sorry about last night. I didn't mean to scare you're friend."
I blink my eyes a few times, still half asleep and I take the rice cakes without a word. I stand and stare at him for a little bit longer before I finally reply. "It's okay. I overreacted a little bit. Thank you for the rice cakes, they smell delicious."
"I made them this morning for you," he states as a young child would. "Can I talk to you about something now?"
"You're here and we're talking, you can talk about whatever you want."
"Rigi-ah..." he pauses and looks down for a little bit as if he were nervous. "Did you get that note I left for you?"
"What note?" I ask.
"The one I left on your doorstep. It was folded in the shape of a crane."