Yellow
Heeseung dropped Jangmi home after their impromptu lunch and left quickly—and it wasn't because of how the butterflies he felt the entire time. He wanted to stay with her more, but he had to go back to studying. Knowing Jangmi believed in him, he felt more motivated to study.
"Rest, okay? You did a good job today," were Heeseung's last words before he left Jangmi in front of her gate. After she waved back, she rushed inside and removed her padded jacket and scarf. She slipped into her house slippers before jumping at the loud noises coming from the living room.
"TAKE THAT, SUNGHOON!" She heard Jay shout in between laughter. She rolled her eyes at the laughter; and then stopped as a realization hit her. As much as she liked having guests, she wasn't in the mood to entertain anyone. All she wanted to do was work on whatever she needed to work on.
Jangmi walked further into the house and into the living room to see her brother and his best friend playing Mario Kart on their switches. Because of the way Sunghoon was sulking, she assumed that Jay had won the round. "Why'd you have to use the bomb? I could have won if you didn't use the bomb." Her brother didn't do anything but flip his hair at the other boy boastfully.
"Oppa, I thought you had training?" Jangmi asked him as she walked towards them, confused by the fact that he was in their house when he usually had training at that time. She wasn't bothered by his presence, she was just very confused. Sunghoon's expression seemed to change quickly as he looked at Jangmi. "Hello!" He smiled.
"None! Coach said that we could have a day off since we've been working hard! And your brother invited me so—"
"JANGMI'S HOME!" Jay shouted as he picked his sister off the floor. As much as she wanted to tell him off for being too loud, she didn't want to dampen his champion spirit. She liked seeing him happy like this.
When he placed her back down, Jangmi smiled. "Having fun?" both boys nodded at her. She laughed at how young and innocent they looked, as if she was older than them. She patted their heads like children and left them to head to her room and take a warm shower.
"Jangmi, join us!" Sunghoon called out to her before she started climbing the stairs. "I'd love to, but I have schoolwork to do," she told the older boy defeatedly before heading up. She heard both boys talking to each other; she couldn't hear much, but she did hear "Isn't she such a hard worker! Always striving to be on top," come from her brother's mouth.
When the younger girl got to her room, she locked the door and slid down to the ground. She was tired—really tired. She wanted to play games and have fun with them. She just wanted to rest once and take a breather for herself, but there was always had a voice at the back of her head telling if she wanted to remain on top, she had to keep working no matter what. It was like the pressure she got from other people had somewhat influenced the way she thought.
She stood up from her wooden floor when she heard a soft knock. Expecting it to be Jay, she groaned as she unlocked it. He knew that she didn't like being bothered when she was doing work; so, what did he want now?
"Sunghoon oppa?"
He stood in front of her and looked her in the eye. "What are you doing here?" She asked again, trying to call his attention as he seemed to be lost in his own thoughts. "And how did you get permission from my protective brother to be here?"
"He sent me up here to help you with schoolwork so that you can join us right away," he told Jangmi nonchalantly. The younger girl invited him into her room without a second thought. She didn't want to look rude and have the guest standing outside her room the whole time; so she let him be the third boy to enter her private space.
Sunghoon stepped inside the room carefully and looked around to see a white minimalistic room. A full body gold-framed mirror near the door, a white desk with gold and different colored trinkets on top, a short wooden bookshelf filled with books, and a white bed with a solid yellow duvet under the window. Although the room was white, the older boy could still see hints of yellow everywhere.
"Is yellow your favorite color?"
Jangmi shook her head as a response. "I actually don't have one. Usually whatever the color of the sunset is would be my favorite color—" She stopped abruptly and stepped back for a bit, looking around her room. "—I just started liking the color yellow because it's bright and happy," she said slowly as the realization sank in. She had many yellow-colored objects around her room, and she never realized it until now.
"Makes sense, though," Sunghoon told her as he continued to look around. Jangmi looked at him and raised an eyebrow. "I meant that because your personality is bright, it makes sense for you to like the color," he explained. The younger girl chuckled awkwardly before thanking him for the compliment.
After some silence, she cleared her throat to call his attention. "Anyways, did Jay oppa really send you up here to help me with schoolwork?" She repeated her question from earlier. Sunghoon just looked at her and sat down on her bed, staying quiet for a few minutes as he refused to answer the question.
"Are you avoiding me or your brother?"
Jangmi didn't understand where Sunghoon's question had come from since they've never done anything that would make her hate them. "Why would I when both of you have done nothing wrong?"
He sighed in relief and nodded, thinking of what to say next. "Then, why did you say that you have schoolwork to do? You told me that you finished everything before the weekend," he asked curiously. He remembered their conversation last Friday before he dropped her off at the gym. She was rambling, like usual, about how tiring school was ("But, good thing I finished my schoolwork! I can do other things on the weekend," she told him happily.)
Jangmi sighed, trying to think of the right words. "I just..." she looked and eyed Sunghoon's concerned expression. "I just feel like I need to work," she told him warily.
"It's weird, I know. But, it just feels like I need to work all the time to stay on top of everything. No time to rest," she mumbled the last part as she sat down on the carpet beside her bed, refusing to sit on her bed when she hasn't showered yet. The older boy stared at her and absorbed the information she had just told him.
Moving down to the carpet, Sunghoon sat in front of Jangmi. He stared at her and sighed. "No one's forcing you to be on top all the time," the older boy told her as he slipped his hand in hers, stroking it with his thumb carefully as if he was touching glass.
"No one's forcing me, but that's what they all want and expect me to do," Jangmi told him defensively.
"If it's the pressure getting to you, don't listen to any of it. You're in charge of yourself. No one has the right to tell you what to do and how to feel, especially if it pushes you to the point of fatigue."
Jangmi didn't reply; and instead, looked at her desk worriedly as she thought about the idea of rest. "Look at me," Sunghoon called her attention sternly. When the younger girl looked back at him, he removed his hands from hers and ran them through her hair reassuringly. "You've finished all your work already; so, one day of rest won't hurt, right?" She nodded at him. He untangled his fingers from her hair and pat her head like what she did to him earlier.
"Does your brother know about this? The pressure you've been feeling from school and cheerleading?" He asked her. Jangmi gulped anxiously as she shook her head, and Sunghoon frowned at her response.
"Why not?"
"He's already worried about me as it is. I don't need to worry him more," she replied with a sigh. Jangmi really loved her brother. She trusted her brother more than anyone in the world; but the thought of him worrying just didn't sit well with her. Although she still talked to him about all the other things, she didn't want to tell him about the heavy parts because she hated the idea of him being stressed out.
"But he's your brother, Jangmi. He'll end up knowing at some point, and it will break his heart to not hear—"
"How are my favorite people doing? Do you need anything?"
Jangmi and Sunghoon's conversation had been interrupted at the sound of Jay's voice. He had opened the door slightly to check up on the both of them. Sunghoon looked up at him with a blank expression that made him older brother very confused.
"Why are you looking at me like that?" The worried features on Jay's face made Jangmi anxious. Never did she like confrontations as it was always something serious that turned into something saddening or upsetting. She didn't want to be reason for it to turn that way, but she had to face him sooner or later.
"She has something to tell you, actually," Sunghoon told Jay as he excused himself out of the room and closed the door for them to talk privately.
---
Sunghoon sat in the living room for 10 minutes while he waited for the siblings to finish. He contemplated on whether he had been telling Jangmi the right things: to rest, to tell her brother, to tell him things that bothered her. It was starting to sink in that maybe the things he had been suggesting are not like her at all, to which she may be having a hard time doing all of it. He hadn't fully known the girl yet, and the last thing he wanted to do was cross a line. If he got to know the kind of person she was, then maybe he would be able to give better advice.
His lost his train of thought when he heard Jangmi's bedroom door creak open. Sunghoon expected to hear sniffles coming from either of them but heard none. They went down the stairs smiling at each other before they noticed his staring. Jay removed his arm from his sister's shoulder and walked over to his best friend.
"Turns out, you haven't been helping her with schoolwork when I asked you to," he glared at him playfully before shoving lightly. Jangmi scoffed. "Don't be mean!" She told him.
As Jay went to the kitchen, the younger girl stayed behind with Sunghoon. She sat down, right next to him on the couch, and faced him. For some reason, she didn't want to make eye contact with him, and it worried him. "Jangmi, is something wrong?" he asked her, voice clear with concern.
Did he do something wrong?
"Thank you," Jangmi told him shyly. "I have a hard time dealing with heavy emotions because my mind gets clouded easily. So, thank you for helping me back there." Sunghoon sighed in relief and ruffled her now damp hair. "No problem, Jangmi. You're my friend. I'm here if and when you need me," he smiled at her.
"Wow, you're clean already," he teased Jangmi, who's smile fell. She raised her arm to hit him when she felt her muscle start to ache. "You're lucky I can't hit you right now." She pouted and crossed your arms.
He noticed the pout again and gulped. It got Heeseung to buy her ramyeon in the past. It got Jay to give in and let her eat the said ramyeon. For Sunghoon, it persuaded him to be okay with 'oppa' when they first walked to training. It wasn't like she was doing it on purpose, but she was really cute when pouting. He wasn't going to lie, but he would instantly smile whenever he saw it.
Sunghoon generally just thought the younger girl was cute.
"Why can't you hit me? Muscle ache?" Jangmi just nodded at the boy, her pout changing into a frown. Sunghoon instantly felt guilty for teasing her. Although he didn't take it too far, he just felt bad that she had muscle aches. She seemed to be fine earlier, but maybe the pain just came delayed.
"Jangmi! Can you help me set the table?"
"Coming!" She replied as she brisk walked into the kitchen. Sunghoon went to follow her suit and saw Jay in the middle of cooking an early dinner for the three of them. "You're not going home yet, right?" he asked his best friend; to which he just shook his head.
"Tell them that you're having dinner here. They trust me, after all."
When her older brother had said such words, Jangmi cocked an eyebrow at him. "They trust you?" She asked with a tone of disbelief. While Jay's eyes widened, Sunghoon laughed out loud—obviously entertained by the Park siblings' bickering.
"Hey! Parents like me and trust me with many things!"
"But remember when you lost Jungwon and Ni-ki in the amusement park?"
"How did you know that? Did Jungwon tell you that? And I didn't lose them, Heeseung hyung did!"
"That's still counts because you were with him when you lost the both of them!"
Sunghoon laughed as he remembered that day: they went to the amusement park and were complete for half of the day. When they went to buy some food ("And bungeoppang for Ni-ki," Sunoo reminded them), they realized that they were only five remaining. Ni-ki had strolled somewhere else; and Jungwon, being the responsible one, followed him and tried to bring him back. But when they got back to the place they came from, the group was gone—leaving the both of them alone for 30 minutes.
Those were good memories for the friend group. Stressful, but still good.
He snapped out of his reminiscing when he heard Jangmi groan at the weight in her arms. The ceramic pot she was holding, for the kimchi jjigae, was quite heavy. She could have been able to carry it properly if her arms weren't so sore from all the conditioning. Sunghoon watched Jangmi with concern in his features before running over to her to help her carry the pot. He wrapped his hands around half of it it. "It's okay, oppa—"
"It's okay! I can help," he told her. Because he was in a slight rush to help carry the pot, Sunghoon fingers accidentally grazed Jangmi's while he searched for a part to grasp. He muttered a quick apology and avoided eye contact out of awkwardness, solely focusing all his attention on the kimchi jjigae being poured.
They brought the stew to the dining table and went back to the kitchen quickly, only to be stopped by Jay. "I can bring the chicken, don't worry," he told them reassuringly. "Just sit down there and wait for dinner to be ready." They watched the chef stumble around the kitchen before settling in front of the rice cooker.
"Actually, Sunghoon, can you help me with the rice? Jangmi, you can wait at the dining table," he instructed. When Jangmi left the kitchen to sit down, Jay nudged him. "Is there something going on with you and my sister?" He said in a mischievous manner as he raised an eyebrow.
"What?"
"I know you guys are close, but I didn't expect you to be this close to one another."
Sunghoon shook his head as he took the container of rice out of the rice cooker. "You already know the story, Jay. I just talked to her on behalf of Sunoo because he was worried that she had no one to relate to, in terms of athletics. We're friends, but that's it," he said nonchalantly.
Jay eyed his best friend and noticed no malice in his words. He nodded and sighed. "I trust you with her, don't worry." Sunghoon worriedly looked over to him. "I don't like her like that. I only like her as a friend." Jangmi's brother just nodded his head again.
"I know, I didn't say anything." He noticed it again, the mischievous tone, but chose to not to focus on it too much.
"The chicken is finally done!" Jangmi cheered as she spotted the two older boys enter the dining room. As what she usually did whenever she about to eat a meal, she tried to tie her hair back— but failed to do so because of the soreness in her arms. She couldn't even raise her arms to the height of her hair.
Sunghoon noticed the younger girl having a hard time and signaled Jay to do something. But since her older brother was too busy looking at his cooked meals so lovingly, he took the hair tie from her wrist and made his way behind her. "Let me," he told her softly.
Jangmi froze as Sunghoon's hands running through her hair; but it faded as he did it more. She's always liked it when people played and tended to her hair because it made her feel relaxed. Initially, she didn't expect him to tie her hair back, which is why she was tense all of a sudden. But the way he ran his hands through her hair made her close her eyes momentarily.
After a few seconds, she felt his hands untangle from her hair. "All done," he said proudly as he admired his work before sitting down. She looked over at Jay, who had been staring at them the whole time. The older boy looked at his little sister's ponytail and nodded in approval. "Not bad, Sunghoon. Jangmi usually likes her ponytail higher, but that's not so bad."
The awkwardness started to fade as they ate, complimenting the meal as they tasted the food. Jay kept talking throughout dinner, making it more fun and vibrant; while Sunghoon just listened and laughed. Jangmi, not saying much, was happy. She thought she would spend her day being buried in some nonexistent schoolwork, but she started to realize how unnecessary it was to add more work when there was none.
She was starting to realize how rest was important. Even if she wasn't asleep, she was still resting as she spent more time with them. Her body felt lighter, a smile on her lips for most of the night.
Jangmi felt well-rested, but she didn't know that Sunghoon also felt the same.
He was starting to realize how fun Jangmi actually was. He would talk to her about her worries and anxieties, but he didn't know her that well to start conversations outside of it. When he talked to her about topics outside of academics and athletics that day, she was very happy as she smiled and laughed the entire time.
As for Sunghoon, a smile rested on his lips for the rest of the night.
Hello! The thirteenth chapter's up!
I start online classes on the 10th and I HATE IT! I just want to keep writing "Gold" but no 😡 I will try my hardest to stick to this schedule but I'm just worried that I would have to do more writing especially since we already picked genres to focus on. Mine's nonfiction btw!
Also, I'm a little bit bitter that I didn't watch EN-CONNECT; I could have looked for a link but I got lazy + student org work duties. I'm not jealous of other ENGENEs for seeing the boys live and watching the fanmeet, I'm just sad that I couldn't be there 😭 BUT ANYWAYS, TO THE PEOPLE WHO DID WATCH / SEE THEM LIVE: I hope you had a blast! I'm seeing the posts and it looked so fun! Very very happy for you 🥰❤️
🎧 Don't wanna be fool, wanna be cool, wanna be loved. 너와의 same love 🎧
Hope you guys like the chapter! Don't forget to vote and comment if you're enjoying so far! 💛
See you in the next chapter!
- Lia