Love Letters

6: A Little Jealousy

Hoshi's POV
I continue staring at the mesmerizing girl in front of me. This has to be a dream. Yoon Momoe isn't in front of me right now. Yeah... This is just a really good dream. I must've passed out after work...
"Hoshi?" She raises an eyebrow.
"Ne?"
"Are you alright? You've been staring at me for a while.... Are you confused that I'm here?" She laughs.
"Aniyo, this is a dream. Any moment I'm going to wake up." I shrug.
"Hosh, this isn't my dream. I'm in Korea again! I get to see my best friend again!" She smiles wide, hugging me tight.
When her arms wrap around me, the bubbly, warm feeling surrounds me and I can't help but feel a sense of relief. I can hear my heart beating as fast as the speed of light and I wonder if she can hear it too. I'm so nervous to be in her presence now that I know she's actually here. This isn't a dream. This is real. My best friend since we were five is really here. Wait... Why is she here?
"How did you...? When did you...? What?" I scratch my head in confusion.
"Mianhe." She slowly pulls away and bows, "I've been gone for so long and with no contact. I'm not the greatest best friend. Yeongseohae."
"What have you been doing this whole time?" I whisper.
"College has been busy for me. So many assignments and events we have to attend. I'm also in the gymnastics team so I'm always traveling for competition."
"You're still in gymnastics." I smile.
"Of course. You know I'd never give up that sport." She smirks then looks down with a frown, "I thought you'd be busy with college too."
My mind wanders to the last two years of my life. I've been on the dance team and competitions were always popping up. There was also meeting the boys, my crazy best friends whom I'd never give up. But there was also Aelia. I tried to fall for her because I figured Momoe wouldn't be back. Eventually, the bet came around and Aelia found out. We all know how that went...
It's a good thing and bad thing she's gone. Bad because the boys are a mess without her. Good because without her here, I'm able to focus. Sure, I should be more upset but she made me realize how much I love the girl in front of me. Momoe shouldn't know about Aelia just yet.
"Yeah... I was busy." I lick my lips.
"I never thought about calling you. I regret it." She looks back up at me, "I missed my Hoshi."
"Byeolie~" my face reddens.
She laughs then gasps.
"Eomma's making the usual. Wanna come?" She smiles, holding her hands behind her back like a little kid.
"Jinjja?! Omo! Ne! I'll come! That sounds so good."
"Maybe you should change first." She laughs, pointing at my outfit. "Your hair looks cute too."
I look down and notice I'm still in my work uniform.
"What's wrong with my hair?" I pat my head lightly.
"Go look in the mirror, dork. Hurry."
I smile and nod then rush upstairs to the bathroom. My eyes widen and my cheeks redden. Well that's embarrassing... I have random pieces of hair sticking out like some anime character. Geez... I cover my face, groaning into my hands then shake my head. I need to get dressed. My smile widens again as I remember that she's back. The feelings this girl makes me feel.
I quickly throw on a pair of black jeans and a white tee shirt with black sneakers. I rush over to the mirror and ruffle my hair to make it decent looking, smirking in satisfaction. I look good~ A thought suddenly comes to my mind as I stare my reflection. Now that she's back, do I have the courage to tell her my feelings? Maybe at dinner. Her eomma could even help since she knows. I smile again, nodding. Yeah, that's what I'll do.
I rush back down the stairs to see her still standing outside the door where I left her. She's looking down at her feet, rocking back and forth once again as she purses her lips. Cute~ I can't help but feel giddy inside from just being near her. Man, how I've missed that feeling.
"Okay! I'm all set!" I smile at her.
She looks up at me and smiles wide.
"Aww! You look adorable~ Come on! The food is getting cold!" She grabs my hand and pulls me with her.
My cheeks redden as I let her pull me along to her house. She doesn't even notice how our hands are still tightly fitting into one another's when she opens the door, but I sure as hell do. I gulp, staring down at our casually intertwined hands. No bigee... I did this with Aelia all of the time! What's so different now? Oh, right...
A gasp escapes her lips as soon as she opens the door. I snap back to reality and notice someone rubbing their bottom as they try to stand up from the ground. My eyes widen when I notice it's a boy who looks to be about our age, maybe a couple of years older. My eyebrows scrunch together as soon as he notices we're staring at him.
"Momoe! I was just about to get you!" His eyes land on our hands and he freezes.
His dark eyes slowly look up straight into my own. If looks could kill, I would've been dead in an instant.
"Who the hell is this?" We ask at the same time.
"And why are you holding his hand?" He glares at me.
"Oh! Mianhe! We used to hold hands all the time when we were kids so it was a forcive habit." She lets go of my hand then bends down to look at him, smirking slightly.
"Oh wait. Is that Sushi?" The guy asks.
I raise an eyebrow and look at Momoe to see she's about to roll her eyes back into her head.
"His name isn't Sushi! I've told you this!" She groans.
"Sushi?" I tilt my head at her in confusion.
"Mianhe, Hoshi-ssi. I've told him before that your name is Hoshi. When I first said your name, he thought I said Sushi so now he thinks it's okay to call you Sushi." She gives him a look.
"Hey, his name is different for me and I thought you called him a food! But now that I see him..." he is already standing up at this point so he circles me, "He does look like a piece of sushi..." he lifts up a small piece of my hair with a disgusted look on his face, "Smells like it too."
"JINYOUNG!" She hits him.
"What?! I'm wondering if that's his favorite food."
"You pabo, we made sushi that's why it smells like it."
"Oh yeah, huh. Oh well." He shrugs.
"Um... Byeol-ah, who is he?" I stare at him with no expression.
"Hmm? Oh ne! I forgot to introduce him to you!" She grabs his hand and intertwines their hands, "This is my namjachingu, Park Jinyoung. Jinyoung, this is my actual best friend, Kwon Soonyoung, or as you know him, Hoshi not Sushi. Don't tell Jackson or Jia I said that."
My eyes widen as soon as I see their hands come together. A big proud smirk appears on his face and I can feel my heart breaking into pieces. This isn't happening. I knew this was too good to be true. She leaves for two years, how can I not expect her to get a boyfriend? She's absolutely beautiful and talented. I'd be surprised if she DIDNT get a boyfriend.
"I won't tell them if you don't tell Jaebum I took his new pack of underwear that Youngjae bought him recently."
"Deal." They laugh.
"Who's Jackson? Who's Jia? And who's Youngjae? Who's Jinyoung?"
She tries not to laugh as he glares at me. I smirk. I can make her laugh too. Try me, boy.
"Gosh, I have to catch you up on so much. Let's go see eomma first then I'll catch you up." She pulls me inside and brings me to the kitchen where the scent of a feast hits my nose.
Oh my goodness, it smells amazing.
"Is that what I think it is?!" My eyes light up when a certain smell fills my nose.
"Of course! Only for you, my boy." Her eomma turns around and smiles at me.
"Yakitori and gyoza! Remember the first time we had it together?" Momoe leans to the side a bit like a kid sticking their head out from behind a tree.
"Ne! That was an interesting day. It was the first day after I met you, huh? Our parents decided to have lunch together and your appa barbecued them. My food dropped on the floor and I started crying so you gave me half of yours. At that point that's when I knew you weren't mean." I laugh.
"Momoe is mean. She just shows it in her way." Jinyoung pokes her cheek, coming up behind her.
"Youngjae and Yugyeom would completely disagree with you." She smiles and pats his cheek.
"Seriously, who is Youngjae and now who is Yugyeom." I pout.
Momoe laughs then walks over to the cabinet. She hands me a bunch of plates and utensils then smiles.
"Set up the table, jebal. Then I'll let you in on everything we've missed."
Jinyoung and I set up the table while she and her eomma grab the food, bringing it to the table. Jinyoung purposely bumps into me during the process, making me drop all the utensils in my hands on the floor. I groan as he smirks. Momoe rushes in, her eyes wide.
"What happened?!" She asks, bending down to start picking up the forks.
"Jin-" I get cut off.
"He tripped while walking around the corner of the table." Jinyoung lies.
What a di-
"Aww, Hoshi. Are you okay? Did you stub your toe?" Her concern is now directed towards me.
"O-oh. N-ne. I'm okay. I think the knife cut me a little on my finger though." I fake, looking at her with sad eyes.
Jinyoung tsks. That's what you get. You don't know how she is with me. I have best friend benefits and at the moment, I'm so grateful for them.
"I'll be right back! I'll get you a bandage. Jinyoung, can you pick up the rest and get new ones? I don't trust him with dangerous objects." She turns to me and smiles, "You haven't changed one bit, have you, Soonyoung?" She whispers before running to the bathroom.
"Well played. Obviously she cares for you. Let's see who's gonna win her attention by the end of the night."
He walks away to do what she asked. I smirk. One point for Sushi. Zero for the imma.
Momoe quickly comes back and grabs me, bringing me to sit down in the living room. She asks me where it hurts and I show her where it had slightly cut my finger. She frowns then puts some spray on it before covering it with a small bandaid. She kisses it lightly before laughing a little.
"Reminds me of every time you fell and scraped your knee in grade school." She looks straight into my eyes and gives me her famous smile.
I can't help just to stare back. My eyes can't tear away from hers. Oh, what I would do to kiss her right now... A strong resistance holds me back from doing it though. I don't know how long we're staring at each other till someone clears their throat. We turn and notice Jinyoung standing there with his arms crossed.
"Jagiya~ Eomma wants you to help bring the food over." He gives her a charming smile.
"Oh! Alright, I'll be back!" She smiles, standing up and quickly going to the kitchen.
Jinyoung grabs her arm before she walks in. She stares at him in confusion and he smiles and pecks her lips. Her cheeks redden, making me scoff and look away. She rushes into the other room right after and my eyes glare at the table.
"One point for Prince Jinyoung." He smirks, pointing at himself.
"Dinner is served, boys!" Momoe's eomma announces as she sets the plates of food on the table.
"Wah! It looks yummy! Gomawo, eomma!" I lick my lips in delight, staring at all the food.
"Eat up." Momoe sits in a chair.
Jinyoung and I look at each other before rushing to take the seat next to her. Momoe stares at the two of us in confusion as we start pushing each other out of the way like children.
"Boys." Her eomma sternly says.
We both freeze and stare at her with wide eyes. She raises an eyebrow and we gulp.
"Why don't you both sit next to her on opposite sides?"
"Okay..." we mutter and sit on either side of her.
"So, Hoshi, what have you been doing? You're going to an arts college, ne?" Momoe looks over at me as she takes a bite of her yakitori.
"Oh, ne." I hum.
"What're you majoring in?" Jinyoung asks, genuinely curious.
"D-dance and choreography."
"Jinjja? That's amazing! You're gonna be so successful in that. Jinyoung, you need to see him dance! He's so good!" She slaps his arm multiple times.
"Have you seen me dance before?" Jinyoung raises an eyebrow.
"Aniyo... You can?" Her eyes widen too.
"Ne. And you barely found out I can sing too." He smirks.
"Wah! Jinjja?! How come you never told me you dance?!"
"It's a secret hobby of mine." He shrugs.
"I-I can sing as well." I blurt out.
Her eomma drops her fork and the room becomes quiet as everyone stares at me in shock.
"You can? How come you've never told me?" Her eyes are popping out of their sockets by now.
"Also a secret." My cheeks reddens as I clear my throat.
"Now you both have to sing for me soon! You learn something new everyday." She smiles cutely then munches on her gyoza.
It's quiet as we eat for a few more minutes when I remember something else.
"I'm the captain of the dance team. I have been for the past three years."
"I've been the gymnastics captain for the past three years too." She smiles.
"Gymnastics captain as an entering freshman?" My eyes widen.
"Yeah, I thought it was weird too. My coach didn't want this girl to be captain so she put me, but I've been a good captain anyways so people re-elected me." She shrugs.
"Same here! Some of my closest friends are on the team! Omo, I can't wait till you meet all of them! You'll love them. They're a bit crazy and loud but they're super sweet! Well, except Jihoon-ah. He's a different story... but that's a story for another time!" I say really fast.
"I've met some of them before actually. They're all like Hoshi-ah just in different bodies." Her eomma laughs.
"They sound lovely. I can't wait to meet them!" Momoe claps excitedly.
The thought finally hits my mind that at some point she is going to have to meet the boys and that thought scares me. What if they end up liking her like how they did with Aelia?! I'll lose my chance! I know a few who will flirt for sure (cough Jun cough) and I'll hurt them if they even think about touching her.
"Hosh? You good? You zoned out." She frowns.
"Hmm? Oh, ne. I was just thinking." I smile, "Did your appa ever get you the dog you wanted?"
"Aniyo~ But I have a turtle! It's so cute! Her name is Kuki." She smiles cheekily.
"Ahh." I laugh, "Do you remember that time-"
"We promised to never speak of that time, Soonyoung." She groans, covering her cheeks in embarrassment.
"Wait, now I want to hear." Jinyoung looks at her with a raise eyebrow.
"Geez, now he wants to know." She glares at me.
I laugh nervously, scratching my neck. She looks back at Jinyoung to see he's still staring at her with the same curious look.
"Fine... When we were, what, eight?" She looks at me for confirmation and I nod, "I had an obsession with eating whatever cookie I saw... or anything that looked like a cookie..."
"Oh! I remember this! You used mouthwash ten times after that!" Her eomma laughs at her.
"Eomma!" Her face reddens.
"Mianhe!" She giggles, eating a bite of her food as if nothing happened.
"Did you eat something bad?" Jinyoung raises an eyebrow.
"I ate a sand dollar..."
"How the hell...?" His eyes widen.
"This is why we agreed to never talk about it!" She whines.
"Mianhe, Byeolie. Yongseohae?" I give her the puppy dog eyes.
"Byeolie?" Jinyoung's attention perks up when he hears the nickname.
"Okay, fine. Only cause I can't resist the pouts you always give." She sighs.
"Yay!" I chomp away at my food, a bright eye smile forming.
The rest of dinner, we talk about Jinyoung's friends who are also her friends. Apparently, she loves Youngjae and Yugyeom like they're her sons or something. She even calls Youngjae her sunshine. That is what I call jealousy. And then there's Jackson. Jackson seems... like the boys... Actually, they all seem like the boys, just a smaller number of them.
Her eomma gets up from the dinner table and picks up her dishes. We all look at her and she smiles.
"I'm gonna start cleaning up. Are you done with your plates?" She asks.
"Ne! Gomawo, eomma~" I bow to her slightly as I hand her my empty plates.
"Just doing the best I can to make my daughter happy." She smiles at her.
"Let me help you, eomma. You've already done a lot." Momoe stands up and collects Jinyoung's empty plates before following her eomma into the kitchen once again.
Jinyoung and I sit there in awkward silence for what feels like an eternity. Neither of us want to be near each other and neither of us want to start a conversation. How lovely. I don't understand the guy. He obviously knows I like her, but he's also not really threatening me about it...
"Were you guys ever a thing before college?" He suddenly asks, not looking at me.
My face becomes completely red at that point, not answering because of the extreme embarrassment I feel. He notices the silence from me and turns to look at me. A glare forms as he realizes I'm not gonna give an answer with how heated I am.
"You were?" He says through grit teeth.
"A-aniyo! We're o-only friends!" I shake my head quickly.
"Why do I feel like you're lying?" His face becomes dark, making me gulp.
"I'm not. I promise." I close my eyes, my heart beating out of my chest.
"Omo! I haven't been here for two years, that's like forever!" Momoe walks out of the kitchen, whining, "I forgot where everything is and how everything looks. Hosh, we should go on a tour!" She grabs my hands and swings them, excitedly.
My heart flutters at the thought of just the two of us hanging out like we used to. Omo, if we can go back to how we used to be, maybe she'll leave that imma finally and move to Korea like we always said she would do when we were kids.
"Ne! That'd be so much fun! Just like the old days." I smile gratefully.
"Awesome! This'll be great!" she squeals.
"Yeah! I'm excited! It's been so long!" We're both jumping up and down in circles like the kids we are.
"What time should Jinyoung and I meet you?"
I stop jumping and my smile fades immediately. Jinyoung almost chokes on the drink he's drinking because he starts laughing. I don't even glare at him. I just glance at him then look back at my best friend with a shocked expression.
"Mianhe... what did you say?" I tilt my head closer to hers in confusion.
"I said when should Jinyoung and I meet you... Is something wrong?" She blinks innocently.
Momoe... You're so clueless to our feelings... You're lucky I've known you for so long, otherwise I'd be so frustrated.
"A-aniyo. There's nothing wrong." I smile, "Is nine in the morning alright with you?"
"Of course! Tomorrow? It's Saturday tomorrow so you don't have school."
"School. Oh, ne... I-um- that reminds me. I need to get home to finish some school work and get rest for work in the morning!" I try to get away.
"Work? But you said-"
"It might have to be next weekend because it was so sudden... Is that okay? I'll see you tomorrow to talk about it, ne?" I wave it off.
"Wait! Why can't you stay longer? We can make some homemade desserts-"
"Mianhe, Byeolie. I got to go." I frown.
"Momoe, let him go. He wants to keep up with his studies like a good boy." Jinyoung comes up behind her and wraps his arms around her. I stare at them with no expression as Momoe frowns.
"Okay... I'll see you tomorrow then, Hoshi-ssi."
"Annyeong, Byeolie." I cup her cheek and smile lightly before turning to her eomma, "Annyeong, eomma. Gomawo!"
"Anything for you, Hoshi-ah. I'll walk you out." She smiles and starts walking to the door.
As soon as we're out of earshot from them, I hear her screaming and laughing, most likely being chased around by him. Her eomma opens the door for me and I bow to her in thanks.
"Hoshi... Mianhe... Jinyoung..." she bites her lip, looking to the side.
Her eomma knows how much I like her daughter. She has always wanted us to be together ever since we were kids. She always encouraged me to make her happy, even letting me know how to win her heart. But for some reason, Momoe never payed attention to those small details. She treated them as if it was a best friend gesture and it always hurt. There was one time that I thought she had feelings for me back, but she left and never came back before I could ask.
"It's alright." I lick my lips, "I'm still gonna try. I'll keep trying until she straight up tells me she doesn't love me back." I nod affirmatively.
She smiles and waves to me as I walk back to my house.
As soon as I get inside, I sigh. What a day... I run a hand through my hair, lazily walking to my room. My feet shuffle across the house, making no sound as I enter my room. I close the door behind me then plop down in exhaustion. I stare at the ceiling thinking about her smiling face and her angelic laugh. Realization hits me once again. She's back. She's finally back after no contact for two years. A smile creeps up on my lips and with that last thought, I fall asleep.