Chapter 5

"Just grown-up things"

The sun was shining ever so brightly, warming up Taehyun's body as he walked down the street. It had been raining a lot the last two weeks, but now it had finally cleared up and the fresh smell of grass and flowers hit you the minute you stepped outside. 

All around, Taehyun saw people outside enjoying the weather. Some were out walking their dog, some were on their way to enjoy a picnic with their family, and others simply went for a walk to clear their mind and fill themselves with warmth and happiness.

Taehyun on the other hand, was a man with a goal. He wasn't out for an afternoon stroll. With his backpack swung over his right shoulder, he was walking the all too familiar road to the Choi House.

After only a few minutes of walking, Taehyun arrived at his destination and even though he was hanging out with Yeonjun nearly everyday, he still went up to the door and rang the bell, whereafter he took a step back and waited patiently.

"COMING!" a female voice yelled and Taehyun nearly tripped and fell from the shock when the door was swung open. 

There, right before him, stood Yoo Jin, wearing a cute summer dress, her hair braided to one side and with a big smile on her face, which had a lot more makeup on than on most days he saw her. But the smile only remained for a second, as Yoo Jin looked at Taehyun who was trying to remain calm in front of her.

"Oh, it's just you," she said with a dejected look on her face and sighed, "well, come on inside."

Without a word, Taehyun followed Yoo Jin inside, unable to take his eyes off of her, and he almost walked into her when she stopped in the middle of the hallway.

"YEONJUN!" she yelled out of her lungs full capacity, "MAGIC BOY IS HERE!"

Before Taehyun could fathom what was going on, Yoo Jin had disappeared upstairs and instead was replaced by Yeonjun who had a tired look in his eyes.

"What is going on?" asked Taehyun after searching for the words and Yeonjun just reached for his head.

"Noona's friends from UNI are coming over, so she's been acting crazy all day," said Yeonjun, "I'm already tired, I can't even imagine how it will be when they get here."

"Her friends are coming over?" Taehyun asked and got a nod in response, "what are they like?"

"I don't know, I have never met them before," said Yeonjun and shrugged his shoulders, "they're probably just boring adults."

"I doubt that, Yoo Jin Noona isn't boring so why would her friends be?" Yeonjun just looked at Taehyun with a raised eyebrow and then let out another sigh.

"Nope, I don't even want to get into a discussion with you about it," he said, "let's just play games and forget about my sister and her friends."

But it wasn't really that easy to forget about, since Yoo Jin kept walking around the house like a maniac. Always looking out of the windows, then looking at her phone, then at the watch and then out of the windows again. Every now and then she would mutter something to herself, something which, in Taehyun's ears, sounded like "they should be here by now..." and "maybe they got lost?". Everytime these words left Yoo Jin's mouth, a smile appeared on Taehyun's face, but only for a little while, as he quickly brought himself back to his senses and focused on the game before Yeonjun would notice and call him out on being absentminded. 

And then it happened. The doorbell rang and every fiber in Yoo Jin's body responded in the matter of a millisecond.

"I'LL GET IT!" she yelled out and ran to the door, before any of the boys had realized what was happening.

"CHAEYEONG!" yelled Yoo Jin as she threw herself in the arms of her shorter girlfriend who was standing in the hallway.

"YOO JIN!" yelled Chaeyeong in response as she hugged her, "I've missed you so much."

"I've missed you too."

"Hey, what about me?" Yoo Jin released herself from the hug and looked at the man who was standing a few steps behind them, with a jealous expression on his face.

"Eric, it's so good to see you too," she said and walked over to give him a tight hug as well.

In the living room, Taehyun had once and for all stopped focusing on the game and instead was focusing on the conversation that took place behind the wall.

"Yeonjun, was that a man's voice just now?" he whispered and Yeonjun let out a sigh before putting down his controller.

"Yes, one of her friends is a man," Yeonjun said, "are you even paying attention?"

"Seriously?" spouted Taehyun, completely ignoring the last part of Yeonjun's sentence, but their entire conversation was soon interrupted when Yoo Jin entered the living room, followed by Chaeyeong and Eric.

"Chaeyeong, Eric, this is my brother Choi Yeonjun," Yoo Jin said and gestured towards Yeonjun, "Yeonjun, these are my friends, Park Chaeyeong and Eric Nam."

"Eric Nam, that doesn't sound very Korean," said Yeonjun immediately and Eric laughed quietly.

"Yeah, no, it's not," said Eric, "I'm born and raised in America." Yeonjun nodded understandingly, while both Eric and Chaeyeong's eyes shifted to Taehyun.

"Oh and that's my brother's friend, magic boy," Yoo Jin said without a care, "Magic boy, meet my friends."

"It's nice to meet you," said Taehyun and bowed politely.

"It's nice to meet you too, magic boy," said Chaeyeong, "but seriously, what's your real name?"

"Ah, it's Kang Taehyun," he answered, a little embarrassed about his nickname.

"Are you good at magic?" asked Eric and Taehyun shifted his eyes to him.

"I... I don't know..." said Taehyun.

"Can you show us a magic trick?" asked Chaeyeong.

"Oh... I don't know..." said Taehyun again, while fidgeting with his hands, "...maybe!" In the same second, Taehyun lifted his right hand and made a card appear from nowhere, making both Chaeyeong and Eric applaud.

"Wow, you really are a magic boy!" said Chaeyeong.

"Hence, the nickname," followed Yoo Jin.

"Anyways, what are your plans for today?" asked Yeonjun, who was getting bored from all the talk about magic.

"Hm... whatever Yoo Jin has in store for us, I guess," replied Eric as he wrapped his arm around Yoo Jin with a smile, immediately making Taehyun's heart drop to the bottom of his chest.

"Well, there's not really much to do in this small town," said Yoo Jin, not bothered in the slightest about Eric's arm around her shoulder.

"Maybe you can give us a tour around town," said Chaeyeong, "we've never visited your home town before."

"That might be fun," said Yoo Jin.

"Can we come too," it almost fell out of Taehyun and everyone turned their eyes to him.

"Sorry," said Yoo Jin and walked over to give him a quick pat on the head, "no kids allowed."

***

The silence quickly overtook the house when the three friends left while Yeonjun and Taehyun stayed behind in the living room.

"Why did you even want to go?" asked Yeonjun who was looking at his phone, "they're just going to talk about boring adult stuff or University stuff." Yeonjun looked up, waiting for a reply from Taehyun, but all he got was a shrug as he kept scrolling through his social media.

Outside, the three friends were enjoying the weather, following Yoo Jin around the neighborhood while she explained everything in details, like a real life tour guide of her own hometown.

"And this is where I fell off my bike as a child," she said and pointed at the curb, "I hit my head pretty badly. Actually, I think I still have a scar, can you see it?" Yoo Jin walked up close to her friends, pointing to her forehead where an almost invisible scar was found.

"Yes, we see it," said Chaeyeong and laughed. Yoo Jin quicklt returned to her tour guide role and continued moving forward.

"Yoo Jin," said Chaeyeong suddenly in between Yoo Jin's stories, "how are you?"

"What... what do you mean?" asked Yoo Jin who wished she could go back to her silly childhood stories.

"Are you doing okay?" Chaeyeong continued, "and your jobhunt... how is it going?"

"We... Chaeyeong and I... we have been worried about you," said Eric.

"I'm fine, really!" said Yoo Jin, "but really, can we just... not talk about this... I promise we can talk about it later, but right now I just want to enjoy my time with you two."

"Alright, deal!" said Chaeyeong and interlocked her arm with Yoo Jin, "then, lead the way!"

Yoo Jin looked at her friend, whereafter she nodded and continued onwards, but they didn't get very far, before a middle aged lady approached them.

"Good afternoon, Mrs. Kim," said Yoo Jin and bowed; as did Chaeyeong and Eric.

"Good afternoon, Yoo Jin," said Mrs. Kim, "it's so good to see you with a smile on your face." Yoo Jin's smile immediately turned awkward as the lady continued.

"How is your jobhunt going?" asked Mrs. Kim, "your mother always looks so worried."

"It's going okay, but you know how it is nowadays, if you don't have the right connections," explained Yoo Jin, "but I'm sure something will turn up, I'm optimistic!"

"Oh, hang in there sweetheart," said the lady and gently patted Yoo Jin on her shoulder before moving along.

"I'm sorry about that," said Yoo Jin when Mrs. Kim had left, "anyways, where were we?"

"Yoo Jin!" shouted another lady as she approached the three, "it's so good to see you out, I was starting to wonder if you had given up on everything."

"Mrs. Lee, it's good to see you too," Yoo Jin said while restraining herself, "and don't worry, I haven't given up on anything."

"That's so good to hear," said Mrs. Lee as she grabbed Yoo Jin's hand in hers, "I can't even imagine how hard it must be, not only for you, but for your mother as well. Not being able to find a job for more than a year, having to move back home..." Mrs. Lee kept stroking Yoo Jin's hand while she continued her emotional rant.

"But, hang in there, alright?"

"S...Sure..." said Yoo Jin and calmly retracted her hand, "say hello to your family, Mrs. Lee."

"I sure will, and have a nice day."

When Mrs. Lee had finally left and was out of sight, Yoo Jin let out a huge sigh and looked at her friends who hadn't said a word.

"I am... really sorry..." she said, and Chaeyeong immediately opened her mouth to respond, but Yoo Jin quickly continued, "no! Please don't say anything, let's just... move on."

Chaeyeong and Eric both nodded and followed as Yoo Jin walked down to the dock where everything was as lively as ever before. Yoo Jin was happily explaining everything about the small port town and its history. But no matter how much Yoo Jin explained and how unapproachable she tried to look, people still approached her, everytime with the same topic in mind.

How is your job hunt going?

This must be so hard on your mother!

Hang in there...

Yoo Jin felt her body being more and more drained with each person she had to speak to, and this was evident in her face, making Chaeyeong and Eric look at each other in worry.

"Yoo Jin," said Eric as he took a step closer to her, "it's okay, you don't have to force yourself."

"No... you came all this way..." said Yoo Jin.

"It's okay, really," said Chaeyeong, "I come from a small town too, people can be really nosy, not knowing how to mind their own business. It's draining."

"Yeah... it is..." said Yoo Jin with a faint smile, "if it's okay with you... I think I would like to just go home."

***

While Yeonjun and Taehyun were lying around in the living room, not really doing anything productive, and not caring about it either, they heard the sound of the door and both looked up to see three people walk inside.

"You are back early," said Yeonjun when he got eye contact with his sister.

"It's a small town," said Yoo Jin and looked away, afraid her brother would be able to see through her fake smile immediately.

"We'll be upstairs until mom and dad get home," continued Yoo Jin while guiding Chaeyeong and Eric to her room.

Silence had once again fallen upon the living room, although it was occasionally interrupted by an outburst of laughter coming from upstairs. Everytime it happened, Taehyun felt his eyes being drawn to the staircase, as if he would be able to hear better that way, but it didn't help.

"Yeonjun?"

"Mm."

"Do you think that Eric guy is Yoo Jin Noona's boyfriend?" Yeonjun looked up from his phone and got eye contact with Taehyun.

"I don't know and I don't care either."

"Why do you always say things like that?"

"I don't know, it just happens," said Yeonjun and suddenly felt bad about his earlier statement, "it's not that I don't care about Noona, but I have to admit, things were better when we lived apart. I think after she moved back home, we have just reverted to the way things used to be before she moved out. We keep getting on each other's nerves."

"That makes sense."

"Ah, the love of siblings... it's complicated." Both Taehyun and Yeonjun turned around in shock when they heard a male voice speak and they both stared at Eric who was standing right behind them.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to eavesdrop or anything," said Eric apologetic, "I just needed a break from all the girltalk, but you two were in the middle of such a deep conversation so I didn't want to interrupt you."

"Oh..." said Yeonjun after a while of awkward silence, "are the girls really that boring?"

"No it's okay, I'll go back in a few minutes," said Eric, "After nearly 6 years I have learned to live with it."

"Have you known Yoo Jin Noona for that long?" asked Taehyun, who was finally joining the conversation.

"Yes, I guess I have," answered Eric, "we got to know each other pretty quickly in our first year in UNI, and we have been friends ever since."

"That's nice," said Yeonjun, "you are staying until Sunday, right?"

"Yes, that's right."

"Any crazy plans for tomorrow?"

"Actually, I heard the girls talking about going to a karaoke bar," said Eric, "oh oh, I know! Why don't you guys join us?" Taehyun and Yeonjun looked at each other and then back at Eric, while replaying the episode from this same afternoon.

"I don't think Noona would like that..." said Yeonjun.

"Don't worry about Yoo Jin, I'll take care of her. I need more guys in the group!" said Eric enthusiastically, "so, what do you say? Are you up to it?" 

Hello everyone!

I hope you enjoyed first chapter. What did you think of Yoo Jin's friends? We finally got to meet them, not only through a video call.

Remember to stay warm and eat healthy and take care of yourself. Stay safe.

Also, don't forget to leave a comment down below.

Love, Annalise~