| Kim Minjeong
Alcohol.
I smell alcohol.
This was not a new smell to me. My sister sometimes comes home to Seoul just to drink alcohol just because she doesn't like the mixed smell of smoke and perfume in the clubs.
She tends to get dizzy because of the smell, while I get dizzy because of the noise.
But why do I smell the alcohol, you may ask?
"Let's drink."
"Huh?"
She smiled at me. "Let's drink and get drunk, Minjeongie."
That was what Aeri said as soon as she stepped inside her mansion. After her date with Yuji.
I expected her to come home with a big smile on her face, since she accomplished the goal she's been dying to experience. A date with Yuji. A date with her crush-my crush.
But she came home and immediately approached me, asking me to drink with her.
I remembered declining that offer before. I don't drink, I won't drink.
But here I am, along with my friends, in Aeri's living room, looking at the tons of bottles of beer in front of me.
Aeri is drunk, and quiet.
I expected her to become more loud if she got drunk, but I guess I was wrong.
My friends are drunk too, except for Ryujin who looks like she can still take three bottles more.
That girl is a drunkard, I swear.
They are loud. Even Chaeryeong is becoming loud. Yuna is doing a silly dance in front of us while Yeji and Jisu are laughing at her.
Ningning is at my side, quiet like Aeri.
I am drunk too.
Ryujin made me drink a whole bottle, and Aeri gave me another one. I wasn't used to drinking alcohol, hence why the effect quickly got into me. I'm feeling dizzy.
I looked at the girl who's on the other side of the couch.
Yuji, my beautiful Yuji.
She's just sitting there but she still looks so pretty. How unfair was that?
I don't know if she's drunk or not. Her cheeks are a bit red, but she's also quiet like Ningning and Aeri. So I think she's still thinking straight.
Wait, is she straight?
My eyebrows furrowed.
No, I don't think so.
I scrunched my nose and looked at her again.
Really pretty.
How did Aeri achieve to have someone like her?
I'm jealous.
I'm so jealous.
I wish I was the one who could have her.
I wish I was just like her so I can have her.
I wish I was Aeri.
I wish I was my best friend.
I chuckled.
I think I'm the one who's not thinking straight here.
I stood up from my seat. A bit wiggly, but I managed to walk towards her. I held her wrist, which seemed to startle her, but I didn't let go.
"Yuji~" I called. She looked at me.
"Mindoongie," She stared at my face. "You're drunk."
"I'm not." I pouted, before curling my lips upwards, smiling at her again. "Come. Come with me."
I pulled her away from my friends, from all the noise. I'm really feeling dizzy because of it, and me being drunk is not helping at all.
I kept pulling Yuji until we got into Ryujin and I's room. I pushed the glass door aside so we can enter the balcony.
Wow, it's cold here.
"Minjeong, what are we doing here?"
Minjeong?
"It's Mindoongie for you, stupid." I poked her shoulders. "And why do you sound so serious? It's not like I'll do something to you or anything." I grinned.
I saw her stare at me. "You're really drunk."
"I said I'm not!" I exclaimed, crossing my arms against my chest.
"Let's get you to bed, Min-"
"I like you."
"...W-what?"
I faced her. She looked shocked. Was my confession shocking?
"I said I like you, Yuji." My eyebrows furrowed. "No wait, I think I love you-no, I don't think I've gone that far. Yeah, I like you. That's right."
"A-are you serious right now?"
"No. I'm just kidding." I sarcastically said. "Do I look like a clown to you? Yes, I am dead serious."
She didn't answer. She looked speechless.
I waved my hand.
"It doesn't matter. You're with Aeri now. It doesn't matter." I repeated, forcing myself to look away from her.
The moon is so bright tonight.
"See that?" I pointed at the moon above us. "That's you."
"You're like the moon, so beautiful yet so hard to reach. I want to have you, keep you by my side so you can bring light to my life. But I know I can't," I put a hand on my chest.
Wow, it stinged. That hurt.
"Because I don't deserve you, Yuji." I smiled.
"Aeri is a star, like, one of the biggest. She's probably the Sun." I chuckled. "She can reach you so easily, she just have to wait for you and her to collide and you will become the brightest. You become the brightest when you're with her."
My hands went to the railings, gripping it tightly.
"And I'm just a human, a normal person who can only watch your beautiful collision...from afar."
My gaze shifted to her.
She's giving me a look that I can't comprehend. Was it a pity? Sadness? Confusion? Pain?
I refused to know.
"I like you so much that it's so sad." I confessed. "It's sad that I don't even regret losing you."
I looked into her eyes. "Because I know you deserve so much better, Yuji. You deserve Aeri. Both of you deserve each other."
"Who are you to decide who I deserve?"
My breath hitched. Her voice sounds so dull and cold.
"Who are you to decide who I want to be? Who I want to like?"
"How dare you speak so low of yourself like that?"
My eyes widened.
"My God, Minjeong." She rubbed her face in frustration. I can even see the same emotion in her eyes when she looked at me again. "You're...you're everything. Good God, you're the whole universe to me."
What?
"You're my moon." She muttered. "You are the moon. You are the sun. You are the universe. You are everything to me, Love."
Love...
"And I'm the human who desires to have the universe." She chuckled weakly. "I desire to have you...ever since."
She held my hand.
"Ever since, Minjeong. Since day one. Not that time when you bumped into me and I paid for your snacks. Not that time when you first saw me in school or when I first saw you..."
She pulled me close, our faces are just an inch away from each other.
"It's the time when I was crying in front of the convenience store, soaked in wet rain, and you suddenly came to me and offered me snacks." She smiled.
My eyes widened even more.
"Remember? That kid you met who looks dirty and still has her nerdy glasses on. That kid, Minjeong. That kid was me."
"...Smiley?"
"Yeah," She laughed. "Smiley. That smiling girl. I was that kid, love."
My parents are fighting again.
So I'm going to buy some snacks!
My mom said to me that food is comfort. Food can take away sadness. Jennie Unnie doesn't believe that, But I do. I like pringles.
And Ice cream. Specifically, cookies and cream. I like it.
So I'm going to buy one. Because my father just came home, but he and mother just fought. It makes me sad. So I'm going to eat!
I was on my way towards the convenience store that I usually go to, with an umbrella in my hand because it's raining, when I saw a girl.
She's sitting in front of the convenience store. On the ground, soaking wet.
And she's crying.
Why is she crying?
I don't think she saw me. She has her head bowed down and she's crying quietly.
My gaze lingered at her for a whole minute, before I went inside the convenience store.
I immediately approached the freezer and took two drumsticks of cookies and cream flavored Ice cream. I also took two cans of pink pringles before I went to the counter and purchased them.
I went out of the convenience store and approached the girl who's still crying silently.
"Hello!" I greeted cheerfully, trying to get her attention.
She flinched and her gaze immediately went to me.
Wow, her glasses are so blurry.
She took it off. I think she saw that I was looking at it.
"What?" She snapped. I was taken aback.
That's mean.
But that's not enough for me to leave her.
So instead, I smiled widely and went to sit beside her. She's just staring at me as if she's seeing the weirdest person she has ever met in her life.
"Why are you crying?"
"Why do you care?"
"Because you're crying."
"It's not your damn business!" She snapped again.
"Yes, it's not." I calmly said. "But you're crying. And if you're crying, then I care. So I'm here."
"Go away." She tried to wipe her tears away, but it was useless. It keeps falling. And it's raining too.
I quickly placed the umbrella in my other hand so it could protect the two of us.
I faced her again.
"Why are you crying?"
"I said go away."
"You know, my sister said that talking to strangers is much more better than talking to the ones you know. They won't have the right to judge you because they don't know you."
"I don't care, just go away!"
I sighed.
"Okay. At least...take this." I took her hand, placing one drumstick above it. "Here, eat it."
"...Why?"
"Because Ice cream makes people happy." I smiled. "And food is comfort. So I'm giving this to you too." I placed the can of pink pringles in her lap.
She didn't speak and just stared at the snacks that I gave her.
"Go on, eat it." I said. "I'll just stay here to protect you from the rain while you're eating. I won't ask anything anymore, I promise."
She's still not speaking, but that's okay for me. At least she's now considering eating the ice cream since she's unwrapping it.
"You know, my parents fought today."
"You said you won't say anything."
"I said, I won't ask." I smiled when she just looked away.
I continued. "They are fighting everyday-wait, no. Not everyday. They only see each other once a month, but everytime my father comes home, they fight."
"...Why?"
"I don't know." I shrugged. "I always hear the words 'co-workers' and 'time', but aside from that, I know nothing."
I turned to look at her. She's now eating the ice cream.
"I always feel sad whenever they fight. So one time, when my mother saw me crying because of them, she gave me an ice cream. She said it makes her happy and she hopes that it would make me happy too. And it did." I glanced at the pink pringles. "I just added the pringles 'cause it's my favorite."
I looked at her again, and I swore I saw a small smile on her face. It's just really small, and it faded away quickly. But I'm glad I got the chance to put that in her face.
"My parents..."
She spoke, so I remained quiet. I think she's ready to talk now.
"My parents just died."
My eyes widened.
"They died in a plane crash. It's their funeral today. I just escaped." A small tear left her eyes. "I can't stand seeing them inside those wooden coffins. I hate it. I hate that they left me alone."
"But you're not alone."
She looked at me, so I smiled at her.
"I'm here, so you're not alone." I glanced at the ice cream she's holding. "And snacks are here, so you don't need to feel alone."
"But you're a stranger. You will be gone in my life in just a few minutes."
"But I can always come back again." I said. "Here, in this convenience store. You can always find me here."
She didn't speak, so I continued.
"If you feel alone, you can wait for me here. If I don't come, then buy these snacks and you won't feel alone anymore."
"But I don't eat snacks that much."
"Then just the ice cream. It makes me happy, so I hope it can make you happy too." I scratched my head. "That is, if you like cookies and cream flavored."
She suddenly laughed, which made me taken aback once again. But for a good reason now.
"You look pretty."
She stopped. "What?"
"You look pretty when you smile." I repeated. "I hope you can keep smiling."
She was about to say something, when a car suddenly stopped in front of us. A man got out of the car and called the girl beside me.
"Miss, your Grandma is looking for you. You need to go home." He said formally. I guess he's a bodyguard.
I heard her sigh. She stood up so I stood up too. The man immediately offered an umbrella to her.
She went inside the car and the man followed.
Suddenly, the window rolled down.
"What's your name?!" The car is starting to drive away.
"Kim Minjeong!"
"Kim Mindeong?!"
"No, it's Kim Minjeong!" I waved to her. "Bye, smiley!"
She flashed me a smile. A genuine smile.
I like that smile.
"I'll find you! I promise!" The window rolled up.
I looked at the convenience store in front of me.
She can find me here.
"That's you...smiley..."
Jimin smiled at me. The same smile she gave me before the windows rolled up.
"I am, Mindoongie."
"You changed so much." She doesn't have glasses anymore. She's not dirty and soaking wet anymore.
"But I'm still Yuji. The smiling Yuji." She smiled. "You found me in the worst phase of my life. You found me dirty, crying in front of the convenience store because my parents just died. You found me when I was close to losing my smile."
"I never thought I could smile again until you came, Mindeong." She cupped my cheeks. Our foreheads are already touching. "You became my everything when I thought I already lost it. I waited for you, in the same convenience store for years. I tried to find the girl who offered me ice cream and pink pringles. The girl who loves snacks...the girl that I love."
"Y-yuji?"
"What if I want you to? What if I want you to try?" She muttered. "What if you are the one who I want to deserve and not Aeri?"
This can't be real.
"I love you. I love you so much, Mindoongie. You're the only one who deserves me." She whispered to me. I can feel her breath hitting my lips.
And because of it, my gaze went down on her lips.
"Yuji..."
I can feel her getting close. I can feel her hands wrapping around my waist, pulling me closer to her. My arms went to her shoulders.
Our lips are slowly touching.
Until I heard the door open.
My grip on Jimin loosened and I backed away. We both looked at the person who suddenly came.
"Aeri..."