"Well, though I dated once, that was just like... you know. Fling?" Hyun Ae told Yoongi as he closed the door behind them. "But that mysterious guy..."
Yoongi glanced at her, witnessing how sparkling her eyes were when she mentioned the mysterious guy.
"His heroic action made me go head over heels for him," she continued, as they made their way toward the kitchen area where the others were.
Then she sighed, sadness replacing her happiness. "Not knowing where he is now and his name... I don't know about this feeling anymore."
"Wah, Jin hyung! They all looked delicious!" Jungkook complimented, in excitement as he took a seat on a stool at the counter.
The others began to sit down around the extended marble counter where the dinner was set out by Jin.
"Wow. You're really a good cook," Hyun Ae gasped, her eyes admiring each of the dishes that were made by Jin.
She sat on a stool beside Jungkook as she looked up at Jin, sitting across from her. Their eyes met, then she put her hands on her chest and chuckled, being overly dramatic. "Please be my husband."
"Ey, don't say that," Jin laughed, looking down at his bowl, fiddling with the chopsticks he had in his hand.
"Oooh, someone's blushing," Hoseok teased, nudging his elbow at Jin's side.
"S-Shut up."
"You like that, huh?" Hoseok added, wiggling his brows at the elder. In instant, Jin snatched away Hoseok's bowl, placing it at the far end of the counter. "Fine, fine! Please give it back to me!"
In the midst of their harmonious laughter, suddenly the doorbell rang. All went silent, heads turning at the door.
"Oh? Who's that?" Hyun Ae asked. "Jungkook ah, can you get the door?"
Jungkook sighed, then said, "I know I'm strong, but I still need to use some tools to get that door to you-"
"Do you want me to shove this spoon down your throat?" Hyun Ae asked with her gritted teeth, holding up her spoon in front of the young's face before tapping the metal on his nose. Hardly.
"Fine, fine! I was just kidding," he laughed, climbing down his seat, and hurriedly made his way to the front door. As he touched the LCD screen to see who was ringing the bell from the gate outside, he was surprised. "Oh?"
"Who is it?" Hyun Ae called out as she turned in her seat.
"Namjoon hyung."
*
Silent. The only word needed to describe the atmosphere in Nova House.
Ever since Namjoon came for the dinner after being called by Jin secretly, every joyous moment earlier went dead. The last word each of them had said was 'let's eat', and then silence came. And it was already three minutes.
"Huh," Jin sighed, clearly couldn't take it anymore. "Can anyone please start talking? This is not like we always are," he nagged, looking at each of them, including Hyun Ae, who had her eyes stuck onto her rice bowl, looking frustrated too.
"Namjoon ah, don't you have anything to say?" Jin sharply turned to Namjoon, who was sitting on his left side at the very end of the counter, concentrating on having his meal.
"Say what?" he mumbled, looking up at Jin blankly. Acting blankly.
"Seriously?!" Jin sighed, crossing his arms over his chest, and stared at the leader before he motioned his eyes to Hyun Ae.
"I'm..." Namjoon muttered under his breath, and then he looked over at her, who was picking up some carrots for Jungkook and a piece of meat for Yoongi on her left, trying to ignore the guy who she had an issue with.
"I'm sorry." His simple words made her halt, then looked up at him. He let out a sigh and then continued. "I was... feeling a bit tired... So my mind was kinda..."
Namjoon couldn't finish his words, so then Jin turned to the only girl in the house, giving her a look. "Hyun Ae ah?"
She still had her eyes locked on Namjoon for no reason, and her right hand was still in the middle of picking up rice, waiting to be eaten by her. Yoongi noticed this, then poked her side, waking her from her trance.
"I'm... sorry too. I shouldn't let Henry do that in public," she said, continuing to eat her rice, but her eyes still glancing at Namjoon, meeting his again a few times as they eat.
The atmosphere now had warmed up again, and the tension had finally died down.
"Done. Are we good now? Okay," Jin sighed in satisfaction as he picked up his chopsticks again. "Do you guys know where the pasta always hangs out every weekend?"
"Oh no... here we go again," Yoongi sighed, shaking his head as he took a sip of his drink.
"Anyone knows? Anyone?" Jin eagerly asked, looking at each of them before cracking up the answer. "'SPA-ghetti."
Every one of them couldn't help but hold in their laughter with stuff in their mouth. Hyun Ae almost choked on her rice, but Yoongi quickly handed her drink to her.
"Eish... this hyung..." Taehyung sighed in annoyance, taking another sip of his drink when Jimin repeatedly slapped his shoulder and still laughing at the lame joke.
"I... can't..." Jimin laughed out in between his short breaths and suddenly, to everyone's eyes, he began to disappear. Taehyung panicky grabbed his best friend's sleeve, but he knew it was too late to save the kid.
"YA!" Hyun Ae shouted out, watching Jimin slowly slide down the stool, finally reaching the tiled floor on his back, laughing even harder after realizing that he had fallen from his seat. "What's with you and the falling-from-chair thingy?!"
~~~
"Hey," Namjoon called out, as he poked his head into the observatory on the rooftop.
"Oh, hey," Hyun Ae replied with a smile, turning her head around as Namjoon approached her and stood beside her.
"What are you doing?" he asked, as she was looking back and forth between her computer screen and the eyepiece of her huge telescope.
"Just... stargazing," she smiled, looking into the eyepiece again. Then she sighed in frustration. "Supposedly Sirius is in this position. Did I miscalculate it?" she muttered, staring back at her computer, before looking at Namjoon. "Wanna see something cool?"
He gave her a puzzled look before she stood up and reached out her hand towards a button among a few buttons on the wall of the hut. As she pressed it, the hut began to rotate, making Namjoon shocked with the sudden movement.
"Woah!" he said, as the hut stopped moving. Hyun Ae giggled as she sat back on her swivel chair and moved toward her computer. "Your house is full of surprises!" he claimed, sitting on the other chair beside her.
"I know right?" Hyun Ae chuckled, eyes still on the screen. She hummed in confusion, fingers tapping against her keyboard at a quick pace, without noticing Namjoon was watching her in awe. "Hm... maybe I miscalculated it."
"You're so smart," he whispered, without realizing it.
"What?" Hyun Ae turned at him, unsure of what she had heard.
"I mean... you're full of knowledge," he said, moving closer to her as he continued to ask. "How did you even determine the location?"
"I just used this software. But Sirius is kinda easy to spot since it's the brightest star," Hyun Ae explained, in a cheerful tone as Namjoon figured out, making him smile involuntarily. "I hope I can find my own Sirius soon," she whispered, smiling before she turned to him. "So... how's she?"
"Who?"
"Seorim-ssi."
"Ah..." Namjoon responded, scratching the back of his head.
"She's your childhood friend?" Hyun Ae began to ask as she worked on her computer again.
"Uh, no. She went to the same high school as me."
"Ah... friends since school..."
"Actually..." he paused, getting Hyun Ae's attention before he continued. "She was my girlfriend."
"She was?"
"Yep. But back then she was so popular among the boys, so I got jealous easily."
"Oh, so she was the one that you... um..." Hyun Ae stopped when Namjoon gave her a weird look, then she chuckled. "Well, I knew it because you've mentioned it on a show before. No wonder she was popular, she's so beautiful. Modeling is totally the perfect job for her. She nailed it in every product commercial."
"Modelling?" he asked, furrowing his brows at her.
"Don't tell me that you didn't know she's a model?" Hyun Ae asked, couldn't believe the response she got from him. "What, you only stay in your studio and make songs?!"
As Namjoon gave her a head shake, Hyun Ae sighed, then swiftly opened her internet browser and began to search for something on the website. "Her name in this modeling world is Sora. Look!"
Namjoon shifted his seat a bit as she moved her computer screen a bit so he could see the image results of her search.
The screen was full of Seorim's modeling pictures, from magazine covers to commercials.
"Wow... she IS beautiful..." Namjoon whispered, eyes still scanning over the screen when suddenly the browser is gone. "Hey!"
"You can check it out yourself!" Hyun Ae huffed, relaunching back her software, and began to type something again, but this time he noticed how loud the tapping sounds her fingers made as if she did it on purpose.
"Are you jealous?" he chuckled, directly saying it to her.
"W-What? Me? No! Pfft! I just... I need to search for the weather forecast for tomorrow night. Sheesh..."
She continued to let her fingers run over the keyboard, typing at a fast speed along with the clicks of her mouse. Namjoon chuckled, stretching his back, and let out a sigh as he stared through the window of the observatory's dome.
"So... who's Henry?"
"Henry? Suddenly?" Hyun Ae muttered, fingers still on the keyboard.
"Hey, you asked me about Seorim."
"Huh," she sighed then continued. "He's just a friend of mine when we were together in the culinary academy in Canada. Though he was two years older than me, he got enrolled in the same year as me. And surprisingly I got graduated first."
"How old were you?"
"I was... sixteen."
"That young?" he said, sitting straight as he stared at the girl in amazement. "Wow. Your parents must be so proud of you!"
"Oh well..." she chuckled then glanced at a small clock in front of her. "Oh, almost 11. It's getting late."
"What are you rushing for?" Namjoon asked, standing up and pushing the chair back towards the table as she began to shut down her computer.
"Excuse me. I'm working tomorrow," she sighed, pressing a button on her telescope and it began to shorten its body parts, back into the observatory. Then she went for a switch on a wall beside her, then repeatedly pressed it. "Urgh. Is that thing broken again?"
Suddenly, to Namjoon's surprise, Hyun Ae kicked off her slippers and began to climb on top of the table and stood at the edge. "H-Hey, what are you doing?"
"I just need to... do something..." she grunted, extending her arms towards the opening part of the dome where the telescope was, then trying to yank a part of it to close the gaping hole.
"Urgh, I need to fix this soon- ah!!!"
*********************************************************************************
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