Static

Chapter Nine

The thing was, Woo Bin didn't really have any sort of concrete plans when he pulled over in front of Ga Eul's house.

-okay, so that was only partially true since he did plan on ensuring he practiced proper parking, because apparentlyshe lived in a neighborhood where a slightest disturbance in the road meant total blockage of one side of it.

Aside from that, though? Ha.

But he had no time to dwell on such trivial facts. Woo Bin stepped out of the car and, as was his tradition, made certain his hair looked perfect (it did) that his clothes were immaculate (they were), and that he smelled divine (of course). It took him precisely two seconds to realize that this tradition was, in fact, something he practiced before meeting women he had plans to woo - and just as quickly, he ceased all self-tidying actions and marched directly to Ga Eul's door.

He pressed the doorbell. Needing some sort of distraction from another blooming realization that he was actually quite, quite anxious - which made no sense at all - Woo Bin looked up and around, studying the quaint neighborhood he found himself in.

Similar to his own, Ga Eul's neighbors seemed to like keeping to themselves, as there were barely anyone loitering the streets. Unlike his own, however, the houses littering the neighborhood were simple, unadorned - much like Ga Eul's house, which stood in between residences indistinguishable from it.

No wonder it took him a few tries to find it.

Woo Bin pressed the doorbell again. He took a deep breath, exhaled loudly, tucked his hands in his pockets, and waited.

In the empty silence that accompanied his arrival, he could hear the blood roaring in his ears, as well as the loud thumping of his heart, and Woo Bin gritted his teeth because no, he was not nervous, not at all-

It took him another minute to realize he was now pressing the doorbell quite incessantly.

His finger was hovering a mere centimeter from the doorbell when the door it's attached to opened suddenly, making him blink in response. Quickly he pulled his digit back, pretending he was not abusing the doorbell in any way.

Ga Eul stood at the other side of the door, her expression undefinable.

Well, this looked promising already.

"Yo," he said, saluting and smiling at her. No, nothing was amiss, not really. "Ready to go?"

"Woo Bin-Sunbae," she said, cocking her head to one side, "is this your first encounter with a doorbell?"

He shot a look at the seemingly offending piece of equipment. "I-"

"I heard you on the first ring, but you seem to be having fun so I let you press it as much as you want." Ga Eul then grinned at him before stepping out and closing the door behind her.

He rubbed the back of his neck, feeling himself flush and felt foolish for it. "Ah, Ga Eul-yang is being cute," he said, infusing as much insult to it as he could and failing spectacularly at it.

She laughed. "Well I could be right, you know. Don't you have people who open doors for you so you don't have to?"

He gestured towards the driver-less car and grinned. "Not today."

Woo Bin was about to place a hand at her back as his gentlemanly way of guiding her to the vehicle when the door behind them opened again.

"-Song Woo Bin?"

"That's Master Song, to you!"

Both he and Ga Eul turned at the sources of the voices, only to find two middle-aged people coming out of the house and moving towards them. Woo Bin just raised his brows, not knowing what to say. He risked a glance at Ga Eul, only to find her looking highly embarrassed.