[Stalkyoo] We're friends, right?

Part III

“Were you comfortable earlier, with the… you know. Sorry I didn't ask”, he suddenly asked Shin-Ae out of nowhere. When she looked up from her first chicken wing, she noticed the tiny, really tiny blush on Yeong-Gi’s cheeks. Never could she have guessed how cute this tall, handsome cinnamon-roll was able to look. Trying to keep from blushing herself - it was just as contagious as his smile, but she won't admit it, even if it was the end of her - Shin-Ae looked away. “Well, I guess… But yeah, you’ve got a girlfriend anyway, so what’s to worry about, right?”, she mumbled, looking down. “Except you want to say that you don’t want this. I know that I’m being a bit much right now, and I’m sorry”, Shin-Ae blurted, voicing her thoughts. With every word spoken she realised how much there was wrong about the way she acted. She took everything for granted. He was there for her at these times, and she was just too proud to say thanks? “I will repay you once I start working and I will apologize to Alyssa once this is all done, in case this kinda thing bothered her. Also, we need to set a boundary if you weren’tokay with the cuddle-ish stuff and I will leave you alone. I know it was selfish of me to ask you to help me out here.”
She couldn’t tell how thankful she was that Yeong-Gi interrupted her. “Shin-Ae. I think we’re good enough friends to say that iscompletely okay to do. I want to help you out and see you happy because you are important to me. As I said, people can be nice without expecting anything from you in return”, Yeong-Gi stated with a soft voice, an understanding smile plastered on his face. Yet Shin-Ae knew that he was hiding something again. “Also, I don’t know how to phrase it, but… I'm glad that you always were a good friend to me inmore ways than one, Shin-Ae. So I really don’t mind being your company.”
Suddenly, Shin-Ae sensed that he was nervous. He wanted to say something else. Mostly, it was anticipation, but what did she anticipate? In an attempt to distract herself, she blurted out: “You've got something on your mind, right?”. In some way, she felt the anticipation bubbling up even more.
“Yes. You know, I…”
Taking a deep breath, he smiled down at her, pulling his hand through his hair. This was it. He was going to lay the cards on the table. At least to one person in his life. "Well, Alyssa and I broke up two days ago. You were right when you said that I still had a relationship to fix. Even though we will maintain it for the sake of her popularity, she and I are not referring to each other as a couple anymore." Suddenly, he took his hand towards his heart and clenched it to a fist. She knew what it meant - he felt uncomfortable talking about it, exactly the way she would do it. This was a different situation from when she called him handsome though.
At that moment, Shin-Ae couldn't believe what he said. Sure, she had expected that something else was involved into their not-so romantic relationship during the time, maybe Yui had herself involved there? She could hold this witch accountable for anything. At least, she was glad that he would make the right decision. Still. He looked uncomfortable, and after everything she went through, it drained on her energy that this was her fault, being unable to make anyone happy or keep the people she loved close. "There's something else, isn't there?"
It was as if Shin-Ae could see through anything with him. Or at least that was how Yeong-Gi felt. Was he that obvious? After intense thinking, he realised that he had been wanting to tell her about his real feelings for her for quite some time. It was just that he couldn't spend any time thinking about it, but... something still stopped him. And when he looked into her eyes, he knew what it was. She didn't need any more baggage to carry. As bad as he was at hiding stuff from her, she was no different to him. All the things she experienced made her completely and utterly broken.
Screw his own family. Or rather 'family', if taken seriously. They'd never be family to him. Suddenly, he felt the urge to scoff and fight the upcomming goosebumps.
"Yeong-Gi?" He snapped out of his trail of thought - thank God - and realised Shin-Ae staring at him, worried. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine", he immediately smiled back, faking it again. Force of habit.
"Why are you smiling again? It didn't seem like the stuff you thought about made you happy", she pinpointed, raising her eyebrows and crossing her arms. "Well. It actually isn't that bad", he explained, trying to ease his smile into a normal expression. He hated himself for doing that, especially in front of Shin-Ae, who deserved nothing else but an honest and good friend. What he was actually going to risk if he actually told her about her feelings. Doing a jerkmove.
But she was insistent: "Then what is it? It seems to trouble you and the least I can do is being a good friend and offering a bit of listening to your problems."
"Thank you, I guess... No harms done. Are you sure?"
"Yes."
Mr. Stalker, what is it?
Here we go. I'm sorry, Shin-Ae.
“I really really like you. And it may be possible that I hada thing for you… for some time.”
No. No no no no no.
Instead of being moved in any way, Shin-Ae just sadly looked at him. This was... just the wrong timing. He actually had a reason for not telling her, huh.
There was a really long silence where both of them looked somewhere else. Shin-Ae tried to neither took account of her blush, nor the handsome man next to her. Damn it. When her brain should function, it didn't.
"Is that why you broke up with Alyssa then?", she blurted. Well, her brain wasn't functioning, but her intuition did. The thought of it actually made her feel bad. What if she was the sole reason for them breaking up? Maybe it was a healthy relationship before she came into their lives? Suddenly she felt guilt suffocating her.
"It wasn't. Let's say it was a good bonus. Alyssa and I had a conversation. I guess didn't have any feelings for Alyssa, so maybe it was also fair for her who had them at the beginning. But now, she also admitted that there was nothing between us anymore, so we could settle our relationship and make it clearer."
Shin-Ae's face just told the tale of utter confusion and overextension. Yeong-Gi really wished that he wouldn't have done that today, but he felt like being honest when she asked for it was the right call for her. To underline his news, he reached out for his phone and handed it to Shin-Ae. "This is how it went after the talk, to be more detailed." Honestly, neither of them could tell how long it took for Shin-Ae to read the messages there were between him and Alyssa. It was just too long, having an unusually uncomfortable silence between them.

Yeong-Gi: You know, I don’t know how you feel about this. But our relationship isn’t how it once has been, Alyssa. I’m sorry that I called you for the hospital. I still hope you understand. I’m still going to tryto support you on your career as well as I can.

The date was the day of her entrance exams. Actually it was the night when her and Yeong-Gi were on the rooftop and they shared those moments when Shin-Ae broke down. And then she realized: when she saw Yeong-Gi in the hospital when Kousuke took her home, she was with him. That was when they were talking? Shocked, as she let it hit her, Shin-Ae continued to read:

Alyssa: I noticed. I already had a feeling you’ve laid interest in another girl and I haven’t been bothered by it at all, so I wasn't really honest to you either. I'm sorry babe. Also, now you know that Shin-Ae went through a lot. Please treat her well, for your and my sake.


Yeong-Gi: What do you mean? You’d be okay with me having interest in her?


Alyssa: As you know, I have been focusing more and more on mycareer. And I have to admit, after some time of relationship, this may haveshifted to be my main reason to be with you. You are a sweet guy, Yeong-Gi. But you  don't make me as happy as my career does and you're not what I'm looking for in a relationship. I’m sorry for not telling you.


Yeong-Gi: It’s okay. Goodnight.

From then on, Shin-Ae realised that they were texting eachother differently – more formally. She remembered how he called her ‘babe’ several months ago when they were at the K-Mall together. No sign of it. Anywhere.
Nevertheless she was alarmed. "What did she mean with 'now you know that Shin-Ae went through a lot?'" She actually dreaded the answer. This should not have been how Yeong-Gi should get to know that part of her past. She wasn't ready to talk about it. She wasn't, but she wanted to know. It felt like she needed to know. Was she panicking?
Immediately, Yeong-Gi felt her distress. Now he really should give her some space - he pressured and burdened her enough for today.
Just be there for her, bloody hell. Is that so hard?
When he watched her, he was suddenly a bit overwhelmed. They were still sitting close in a blanket, with those chicken wings, which probably got cold. But none of them even tried to eat any of those. How weird.
"Shin-Ae... We should not talk about this stuff right now. You need some time for yourself to get better. But if it calms you, whatever Alyssa told me doesn't change my picture of the Shin-Ae I know. If it did, it just makes you stronger in my eyes. What has been done to you was completely undeserved. They were just dicks that didn't deserve your attention in any way, okay? Like I just said", he took a deep breath, smirking slightly down at her, "I really like you. And we don't need to talk about it, but you are still important to me."
The blush on Shin-Ae's face didn't go unnoticed. How her eyes looked down, even though in a sad manner, was beautiful in its own way, how her brown hair would cover half of her face. Even though Shin-Ae's eyes are even more addicting to look at, he knew that giving her space was for the best. A long silence was between them, but this one was more comfortable. Neither of them made a move, but they didn't have to. They just enjoyed each other's presence.
“What happened between the two of you?”, Shin-Ae asked. Yeong-Gi frowned, being already kind of overwhelmed with such a simple question. Still, he didn't mind answering.
“After the party, I knew I couldn’t pretend to like Alyssa anymore. Our relationship didn’t go well, as you probably noticed. And I couldn’t take it for being always there for her, when she doesn’t need me in any sense, but my… mother.” He gave himself several moments breathing deeply in and out. He doesn’t want to think about Yui. Neither see, nor feel her in any way. Hewould never see a human in her. She was a beast hiding in its shell. Something he wanted to protect Shin-Ae from. But he failed.
Hearing him releasing a few deep breaths, Shin-Ae noticed again how horribly this witch has impacted Yeong-Gi in life. What has she done to him? How could she help?
It was a sudden urge that went through her, but when she took his hand, it felt right as heck. When he stared at her hands, she felt him tense, but then calm down again. What was it about him? Why was he like this so often? Shin-Ae could tell that this kind of tension before relaxing wasn't normal at all.
The more she felt her heart melt when his thumb rubbed over her hand and a little smile covered his lips.
“Take your time”, she mumbled, eating her wing in a very weird angle. Still worth it. Those chickens were delicious. Once again, they fell into a comfortable silence. Leaning onto her shoulder, Yeong-Gi closed his eyes. He felt a déjà-vu in the back of his mind, but couldn't recall for the love of God. Shin-Ae however, indeed remembered how she complimented his smell randomly and how he passed out on her shoulder. She had probably even enjoyed his presence at that point already. It just felt right. But in the present, she just inwardly cursed herself for her goofy smile. The prank they pulled was pretty awesome.
Both of them welcomed the change of how often they reached out for physical contact. And how it suddenly grew into being normal and natural. Their solitude was just treasurable. When the silence was broken, Shin-Ae said: “Thank you for being there for me. And being honest to me. I know it must be a lot.”
Those words had a greater effect than Yeong-Gi wanted to admit, his face got a relieved expression. This woman shocked Yeong-Gi every time with her words. Her eyes bore into his when he put his head from her shoulders, full of open emotions Yeong-Gi couldn’t all tell at once.
She sighs and looks at him: “You know, I like you too. I also think that I owe you so much. But... if you think you're not out of your mind if you want a relationship with me-" She interrupted herself and watched Yeong-Gi with a shocked expression. "Uh, I mean like. Um... Like the one meme with-" but before she could embarrass herself even further, Yeong-Gi saved her once again, "Yes, I'd love to."
Those words truly made her heart stutter. And then she reflected on the situation: Three weeks passed since the formal, shortly after, she had to extend the rent fee and the landlord was very generous for allowing it. But her father died during a necessary surgery and she couldn't live with herself. The test results - which were awful - haven't been better, and all this time she thought people would avoid her - especially since Kousuke was mentioning the job she was offered. And then this: she all of a sudden saw Yeong-Gi, he helped her, spent time with her and confessed his feelings to her.
This must be some weird af dream.
Then she looked at the beautiful, yeong (damnit Yeong-Gi!) man in front of her. This redhead made her feel understood, respected, and appreciated for who she was. Even with all his flaws, she knew he was a sweet man who would travel to the ends of the earth to help those he cares about. And there was just so much more about him that she was intrigued by. It was just utterly weird. She still couldn't deny the smile on her face when she continued though:
"You still officially have a girlfriend, Yeong-Gi. And even though Alyssa is okay with it, I’m kind of feeling a bit uncomfortable with it. I don’t want to complicate things too much for you.” All those mixed feelings drove the redhead crazy. She may be right about what she said. She was so pure, so true to herself, unaffected by what happened around her. She was headstrong.
Sadly, he wasn’t. “To be honest, I couldn't care less.”
Stunned from those words, Shin-Ae tried to find out whether Yeong-Gi was serious. Did he just say that he didn’t care about his own situation, sacrificing anything for her to be with him? It didn’t surprise her as much as she thought. What was more shocking was how he openly admitted it to her, how important it was for him to prove his point. He really wanted to convince her. Was he lacking self-worth just that much? She felt something pulling her heartstrings.
He was more than that.
“And…”, she realised that she ran out of points to say, “How can I be sure that you’re going to be okay?”
Those words triggered something in Yeong-Gi. Something deep, deep down that suddenly vibrated in his chest. There was no reason for her to care for him this much, or even like him in the first place. He was a burden to her right now despite her needing his help so direly. He used her emotional being to confess to her. And after all,
he was just a mistake.
But she was right. At some point, he needed to do something about all the garbage piling up in real life.
“You have my word.”
Those words made her inhibitions slowly fade. She knew how much his word meant for him, and could only how much she meant to him when he broke one. When he moved close to kiss her, he couldn’t have dreamed that it would feel so incredibly natural, so intoxicating. Her lips were soft on his and she kissed him in back the same way, thick of emotion and passion. It was most probably unfair to use her like this during hard times, not to ask her beforehand, not to think about solely her. But he needed this. He needed her for a very long time. And he could only hope that she did as well.
When they parted, their eyes immediately met. “Why… Why did it feel so good?”, Shin-Ae muttered, completely startled. Her eyes shone with a new light and her cheeks had an adorable flush, in utter confusion. "Dunno. But you can try again to figure out what it was", he grinned back at her, making her slightly grin. "Yeah, maybe I will, stalker."
"Well, I'll let this one slide because I just like yoo", he retorted, getting his face closer to her. He knew how much his closeness affected him. But she wasn't lacking on her effect either. Again, he realised how beautiful she was.
Holding her breath, Shin-Ae tried not to look at his lips right now. There were so good. She never had her brain going to mush like that. Seriously, she needed every cell off discipline and control she had in her body. "You know what? Nope. I'm leaving", she fired back, getting away from him and standing up from the couch. "What? Wait! It was just a harmless pun! I'm sorry!", she heard him plead, having her grin. "I'm just gonna shower and change my outfit, not gonna kiss you for that pun." "But... The chicken!"
This made Shin-Ae freeze for a second. He was right.
Crap, the chicken.
She again pulled herself together. "Nope, not going to fall for that fella!"
With those words, she left. All that while didn't see how Yeong-Gi was furiosly blushing at her remark going to shower. And there he was thinking that he was an actually calm dude when coming to this kind of stuff.
Just cook the bloody potato dish.
Yep. That was the best idea. Maybe it was good to prepare stuff so that he and Shin-Ae had other stuff to eat than chicken wings. While putting the chicken into the freezer (kind of a shame, but it's bearable) he started thinking about the fact that he was in a real relationship. For the first time. This had to be what it felt like. And it was hella great. Grinning like a madman, he was all about preparing the stuff for cooking, completely lost in thought. Then, he saw the little blackboard Nana used for her and Yeong-Gi's personal recipes and daily to-do list. Suddenly, an idea flashed in Yeong-Gi's mind. He forgot to do it for today, so it should be added to the list, right?
With his messed up writing, he added the task to the list which contained of 'buy potatos' and 'do laundry'. And looked pleased at the content.
Tell Shin-Ae she's beautiful.
.
.
.
.
.
Fin.

The end! Woohoo! Just because I feel like it belongs here, this was the plan I was working with when my brain was utterly out of place xD
rfsbruqujvajvajv I love yoo gurl. Let’s kiss muah. But in arealistic scenario lol. Cause why else should we be Yeong-Gi and Shin-Ae.
SA:True.
Both: *Man I love my s.o.* Also lol I need to suffer so it’s realistic. F**k youauthor!
SA: GONNA LEAVE WITH MY HUBBY!!! “Yeong-Gi, let’s get away from the creep.”“Okay.”
Author: Did I just scare the ILY characters away? BUT I NEEDTHEM FOR THE PLOT WAIIIIT-
I'm so sorry :,D
Anyways, thx for reading and sticking with the three parts of this short story ^^ <3
PS: Dang, Nana took a long time grocery shopping lol. What she might be up to...