[FIC] It's Complicated

Title: It's Complicated
Characters: Kibum, OC, SJ
Rating: PG
Chaptercount: 24/36
Summary: Soojin meets a guy who turns her world upside down but then there's a few dozen others as well.
A/N: This is one of my most beloved novels (not that I wrote THAT many, but still) and I think I will forever cherish the characters in this. This story also helped me shape my view on the different members and is the first of few stories in which I used first person.

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“Ready to go?” Kibum asked me the next day as he walked up to me after school, the bag of his camera hanging loosely over his shoulder. “You should know that I got Jungsoo to give me a ride today just so that I could let you drive me around, so if he complains, it’s all your fault.” I huffed and gave him a friendly push against his shoulder.

“You can be such a drama queen.” I then told him, walking up to my car on the parking lot. I waved goodbye at Yumiko when I saw her walking towards the soccer field with the boys and got a wave back from both her and Hyukjae. I grinned as I took my keys out of my pocket and opened my car. When I looked up at Kibum, he was standing a few metres away still, staring at my car. I raised my eyebrows in wonder and waited until he would say what was on his mind.

“It looks even more pitiful from up close.” he finally said, showing me a playful smile. I laughed and stuck out my tongue at him.

“You’re lucky there’s nothing I can throw close by or I’d have thrown it at you.” I retorted, making him grin happily.

“There’s always your bag.” he suggested, which made me look down at my bag and then up at him with a mischievous smile on my face.

“Oh you so should not have said that.” I told him, taking the thing from over my shoulder and launching it in his direction. He obviously hadn’t expected me to actually throw it, but he did catch it in time, before it hit him square in the face. He gave me a disbelieving look, but then just carried it with him towards my car and got inside. I followed his example, taking the wheel and starting the car. He meanwhile dumped my bag on the back seat.

“So, miss murderous bag attacks, did you pick a place yet for us to go to?” he asked once he turned back to the front and I drove out of the school’s parking lot. I chuckled.

“Actually, no, I still don’t know really well where we could go to. I’m trying to think of a nice place to take pictures of you, but we have basically been everywhere they have nice backgrounds for pictures.” I then replied, glancing over at his side a moment. “Do you know anything?”

“Well, when you put it like that, lots of places are out of the question already indeed.” he agreed, thinking about possible places to go to. He then suddenly snapped up his head. “I know a place, it’s not too far from here. It’s nothing much like a park or something, but I think you’ll like the scenery to take pictures. We just have to ask for permission to shoot there, but that probably won’t be a problem.”

“Sounds like a nice idea. Is there something where we can eat on the way? I need a little something for my completely empty stomach.” As to prove my words, my stomach growled right at that moment, making Kibum look down at it.

“I see.. Well, you can eat there, so no need to stop anywhere.” he then replied amused, looking back at the road. I softly swatted his arm.

“Don’t laugh at me.” I told him, pouting. “But okay, let’s go to this place of yours. Which way do I have to drive?” I glanced at him shortly again. He was smiling amusedly, looking very animated, which was quite unlike Kibum. “Are you having a good day again, mister?” I therefore asked him with a huff, making his smile grow wider.

“Actually I am. I am pretty sure that I sealed the deal for that little apartment I told you about.” he told me. “So who knows, I might just be moving out soon already.” I looked at him shortly, amazed by his announcement. “You have to follow this road until the lights and then turn right.” he then continued undisturbed, explaining the way to me. I nodded, keeping the directions in mind so to not ride in a complete wrong direction.

“Really moving out, are you? I understand now why you look so happy.” I said, smiling as well. He nodded and I chuckled. “If you should need help with moving, I know a nice group of around twenty people who’ll surely be happy to help. I believe I call them friends. How does that sound?” He laughed and turned to look at me.

“Sounds tempting. Will it be free help?”

“Well..” I pretended to think about it. “You might need to have some twenty bottles of soda in stock and maybe prepare them like a few hundred sandwiches, but yes, apart from that, I don’t think they’ll ask for payment.”

“Oh, what a relief.” he said sarcastically. “I think the amount of food and drinks I would be needing to keep them all happy will cost me more than any moving firm would charge me.”

“Probably.” I agreed, chuckling.

“Actually I was planning to ask Jongwoon to help, then he could bring one of his father’s minivans, and Zhou Mi will be helping as well, since he’ll probably move with me for the two months that he’ll still be here.” Kibum then went on, more serious again. “If you want you can always come and help as well, but then you’ll probably be the one packing or unpacking my stuff, since I don’t know if you want to be carrying heavy furniture around.”

“I’m fine with packing and unpacking. I’m a pro at it, believe me. I should be working in a supermarket, packing people’s groceries for them.” I told him, grinning slightly over my own completely failed joke. Kibum grinned nonetheless.

“So I can call you out of bed at seven in the morning this weekend or the next?” he asked.

“Sure. Just don’t expect me to be in a good mood then. You have to give me an hour or so in the mornings before I start talking.” He laughed when I said that and I couldn’t stop smiling myself. It was then that I reached the lights and turned right. “Now where?” I asked him, glancing aside again shortly.

“Second street to the left. It’s in that street.” I followed his directions and we ended up in an everyday street with houses on every side that all had nicely taken care of front gardens and mostly looked the same. About fifty metres further, he told me to pull over, so I did, cutting the engine and looking at the house we stopped at. I burst out laughing immediately.

“A pancake house?” I asked, turning to look at Kibum. He was smiling happily.

“Yes. Something wrong with that?” He raised an eyebrow as he gave me a questioning look, but I was still laughing.

“No, not at all. It just surprises me that you think I’ll like the scenery of a pancake house to take pictures of you.” I told him in between chuckles, slowly calming down again.

“Well they have a nice garden where you can sit as well. I was thinking more of that place than the inside.” he replied calmly, opening the car door and getting out. “Now get your lazy butt moving. We don’t have all day.” I opened my mouth in shock and got out of the car in an instant.

“Did you just call my butt lazy?” I asked offended, looking at him over the roof of the car. He simply nodded, but then showed me one of his ‘I’m cute and sweet and you wouldn’t be angry at me’-smiles. I rolled my eyes and closed the car, before following him towards the entrance of the pancake house. There was only one other car standing on the small parking lot and when I gave it a closer look, I realised I knew it. “Jongwoon’s here as well?” I therefore asked surprised. Kibum merely smiled at me and pushed open the door.

I followed him inside and was welcomed into a nice large space with perfectly made tables, all having the same plates and cutlery on them. It looked rather cosy, really, and I was still admiring the looks when someone walked in to greet us. I didn’t notice him at first, but when he spoke, he caught my attention, causing me to look up at him.

“Kibum hyung!” he exclaimed happily, walking up to my friend and exchanging a handshake and a friendly hug. “It’s been a while since I’ve seen you around. How are things going? Oh, and who is this?” He looked very young and had these cute chubby cheeks that I felt like pinching. The way he approached Kibum showed me that he was indeed younger than us, but not that much.

“Heya Hamster.” Kibum replied, smiling. “Things are going fine, really. Might move out soon, get my own place, you know the thing. This is Soojin. I’m sure Eun Hee told you about her.”

“Oh right, Soojin noona. You’re really famous, you know that?” the boy said happily, giving me a polite bow and then shaking my hand as well.

“So it seems.” I replied with a smile, before cocking my head to the side. “Hamster?” I then asked. Both boys grinned and exchanged a glance.

“Yeah, it’s a nickname. My real name’s Henry Lau.” the boy then said, still grinning widely. He seemed like a happy, merry-go-round kind of person and I could see from the start why he and Kibum were friends.

“Henry Lau? That’s a rather foreign name..”

“Yeah. I was born in Canada to Chinese parents who moved to Korea with me when I was fifteen.” he said with a grin. “I have this kind of multi-nationality thing going on.” I grinned at that explanation.

“And hamster as a nickname, huh? You don’t happen to be the hamster who always steals Jongwoon’s car, do you?” I went on questioning, already quite sure of what the answer would be.

“Steal? I never steal! I merely borrow.” he replied, faking to be offended, which made me chuckle.

“I see. Well, nice to meet you, Henry.” I then said, looking back at Kibum to see what our next step was. He looked at me for a moment before turning to Henry.

“She’s a little hungry, so would you mind making us some pancakes?” he asked with a smile.

“Borrowing my backyard, wanting pancakes.. You’re very demanding today, hyung. What’s going to be next? I’ll have to cut them for you and feed you myself?” the boy complained, but he was already on his way back to the door he came from, which showed that he didn’t really mind.

“Actually that sounds like quite a nice idea, Hamster.” Kibum called back, making me hide a grin behind my hand. The boy waved a fist at him before disappearing into the kitchen. I looked up at Kibum again, who preceded me to the door that lead outside. He opened it and motioned me to go first.

When I stepped outside, I could hardly believe my eyes. It was a real Chinese or Japanese garden with all the fancy flowers, plants and fountains that you can see in books. Here and there a little bit of room was made for tables to be put in case people wanted to eat outside. It looked really beautiful and gave me some kind of fairytale-like feeling with all the pretty flowers and correctly made paths.

“Well, what do you think?” Kibum asked after a while, having given me time to take in the whole thing. I kept staring at the garden as I replied.

“What do I think? I think that if I take pictures of you in this garden you might just not be the handsomest thing on the pictures, and that’s an achievement, believe me.” I said, still stunned by the beautiful garden. I turned to him and reached out a hand. “Let’s walk through it.” I offered.

He smiled and walked up to my side, once again ignoring my offered hand as he did so. I decided not to care and we walked up the path that took us to the back of the garden. It was a curly path, going right and left as we walked and after like ten steps, the pancake house was already hidden behind bushes and trees, which gave me a feeling of being completely alone and hidden, something that was rather nice.

“It is indeed a nice place.” Kibum suddenly said, catching my attention. I looked up at him and he smiled. “I came here once to take pictures. They were really quite good, even if I say so myself. Henry’s mother had one enlarged and it hangs inside the pancake house now.” I smiled.

“I’m sure they were wonderful indeed.” I told him, which made him look at me for a moment. I focused my attention on the surroundings again, pausing for a bit to give one of the plants on the side a closer look since I didn’t really know it. It had kind of heart-shaped leaves and I smiled the moment I noticed that.

When I turned back to the path, I noticed that Kibum had stopped a few steps further. I walked up to him, but right as he turned around to walk away, I took hold of his hand. He stopped in his movement, shortly looking at our hands before giving me a questioning look. I merely took another step towards him, letting my body rest against him as I put my arm around his middle and closed my eyes. It didn’t take him long to put his free arm around me as well, our hands still entangled.

“You’re confusing, you know that?” I mumbled against his T-shirt, which made him chuckle as he rested his head against mine.

“Am I?” he wondered and I couldn’t help but smile.

“Yes you are. Kissing me and then not doing anything anymore. Why don’t you just tell me you like me, at least then I know what it’s all about.” I retorted, creating some distance between us again so I could look up at him. He grinned.

“Now where’s the fun in that?” he then asked, making me roll my eyes.

“At least I wouldn’t have to come up with conspiracy theories with Yumiko or question your friends to find out that way what you’re up to.” I protested.

“So that was what you were doing the past week?” His voice sounded very amused when he asked me that and his happy smile said the same.

“No. I was spending time with my other friends and waiting for you to make another move the past week. The conspiracy theories and the questioning of your friends happened only yesterday.” I retorted slightly uncaring. “Well actually I didn’t question them. I just started a conversation and they happily told me about you. That was until you showed up and ruined it all. Jongwoon was just about to tell us about the girl you liked about a year ago but whom you didn’t want to talk to yet.”

“Oh I’m sorry.” he said amused. “But I doubt Jongwoon could have told you anything, for he doesn’t know who it was either.” I decided not to answer anymore and we just kept standing like that for a while, looking at each other up close in silence, until I finally sighed.

“You’re really going to make me do it, aren’t you?” I asked, causing him to frown.

“Make you do what?” he wondered, but before he could even have a guess at what I was talking about, I stood up on my toes, thereby closing the distance between our faces, and kissed him.