Characters: Kibum, OC, SJ
Rating: PG
Chaptercount: 19/36
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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Nothing changed immediately after that, though. The days still seemed to move like a tornado, all tumbling around and rushing past each other. There was nothing really interesting happening, just everyone hanging out together. In the following months, Yumiko got to know the soccer group better as she spent most of her time in school with them, but she also hung out with me, at times going along with both my groups of friends during weekends. She turned out to be an awful basketball player, but did rather good in dancing and drinking. She also got along surprisingly well with Heechul, which was something not many people appeared to be good at.
Zhou Mi didn’t do so bad either. He managed to blend in nicely with everyone, becoming good friends with pretty much everyone, including a girl from his cooking class, and going around from one group of people he had befriended to the next. He easily adapted to the Korean culture and the language, still making mistakes often when he spoke, but no one ever minded because at least he tried and he was too nice to bother about the tiny language mistakes he made. I myself had developed a liking for him as well and often went out with him after school, because he never failed to make me laugh, even after the most boring days ever.
Yet, even though I enjoyed spending time with all my friends, I regretted being unable to visit my cousin as often as I used to and most of all I regretted leaving my online buddies on The Last Call. Sometimes when I had an hour after Yumiko went to bed, I would play some together with them and even more rarely with Heechul as well, but I never really managed to play a lot, since my mother took Yumiko’s presence as an excuse to keep me away from my computer. I didn’t quite mind spending time with the family, but sometimes I just wanted to lock myself up in my room and spend a few hours gaming.
That wish of mine was never fulfilled, however, because my mother wasn’t the only one keeping me elsewhere occupied. Heechul often dragged me out of my room to go to this and that place with him, and when he didn’t, there would be Hangeng or Haerin or Mi Cha or..well basically everyone else in my friend group inviting me to go shopping with them or watch a movie or go to a bar or simply take a walk in the park. I hardly found a spare moment to just be alone anymore, but had to admit that that was probably the way things worked when you had a group of friends that consisted of about sixteen people - and then I didn’t count the soccer group whom I didn’t know all too well, but whom Yumiko spent a lot of time with.
The change in my same old weekly schedule happened on a rather sunny Monday afternoon, three months after Yumiko and Zhou Mi had come into our lives, when Kibum asked me to spend some time with him. In the past months there had been hardly any times left anymore where it was just the two of us.. In fact, there had been no such times. There was always someone with us, no matter if we ate, talked or played some basketball. As I mentioned before, it was probably the way things worked with such a large group of friends - or acquaintances - as we had. I had been missing our occasional heartfelt conversations and times spent in comfortable silence, however, so I happily agreed to go along. He invited me over to his house and then insisted on driving me there, so that’s exactly what happened.
When we arrived at his place, I stared in surprise, as I only then realised that I had really never seen it before. He lived in a house much like my own, which somehow made me feel really comfortable. Compared to Heechul’s castle where I always felt like a beggar, I felt much more at home around Kibum’s little house. His mother, whom he had told me during the car ride didn’t work on Mondays, greeted me warmly, welcoming me kindly and thereby reminding me very much of my own mother. I thanked her with a smile, before walking up the stairs to Kibum’s room with him. I wanted to ask about his father, but luckily remembered our conversation at the soccer field in time, so I remained silent.
He flopped down on his desk chair and offered me a seat on his bed, which I happily took. We spent a few moments just sitting as I looked around his room. It had a bed, a desk, a desk chair and a few cupboards, but nothing more. His walls were empty apart from one, where some old and wise saying was painted on with black paint. All in all, his room was much like himself; very sober, but still nice and giving off a feeling of comfortableness. When I had taken in everything, I turned to look at him, only to notice he had been looking at me the whole time. I smiled.
“It feels so homey here.” I told him, which made him smile as well.
“It is home to me.” he calmly replied. I chuckled.
“Very true words, my friend.” I said, before letting myself fall backwards so that I was lying on his bed. Another nice silence settled between us and I closed my eyes for a bit, savouring the feeling of not being in a rush. It was always like that with Kibum. Never any rush. Just being yourself and moving along. It was a nice change compared to all the giggling and laughing with the girls, the competing with the boys or the bickering with Heechul. Zhou Mi was like Kibum as well. Relaxing, uncaring and calm. That’s why I spent so much time after school with him. That thought made me wonder why I didn’t spend more time after school with Kibum as well.
“You know..” I therefore started, right when Kibum said “Hey Jinnie..” We both fell silent and I lifted my head a little to be able to look at him. We remained like that for a few seconds, before I grinned and he smiled.
“You go first.” he told me. I smiled and sat up.
“I was just wondering why we haven’t spent much time together in the past months. I mean.. Spent time with just the two of us. I enjoy being around you it’s so calming.” I explained, before sighing. “Compared to Heechul and all his rushing and bickering.” Kibum chuckled softly at my words.
“Well your group of friends did increase quite a lot, Jinnie. You have Heechul, Hangeng, Mi Cha, Minji, Namin, Haerin, Zhou Mi, Yumiko and me you want to spend time with and then they have friends too whom they bring along, so you end up never being able to spend much time with one person alone unless you really do make time for it.” he said with a smile. “Or in your case also when you get dragged along by Heechul.” I laughed.
“Tell me about it.” I rolled my eyes, but smiled anyway, because I could never be angry at Heechul for long. I knew that, Kibum knew that and
“You sound like you committed a terrible crime.” he said with a grin. “You spent quite a lot of time with all of your friends, you know. I think you’re much better in handling this ‘large group of friends’-thing than I am. I’ve hardly seen anyone in the past months. Ever since Jongwoon is together with Heeyoung and..”
“Jongwoon is together with Heeyoung!?” I exclaimed surprised as I looked up at him, interrupting him in the middle of his sentence. He nodded.
“Yes, and Zhou Mi is having a thing for Yumiko, so..”
“Zhou Mi’s got a thing for Yumiko!?” I sat up when exclaiming those words, because my surprise was too big. He frowned shortly at my second interruption, but simply nodded again and continued.
“So that’s two of my friends being elsewhere occupied. I’ve seen them all on group outings of course, but I used to help out Jongwoon in the garage from time to time, which now doesn’t happen anymore of course, and Zhou Mi is hardly ever home.. I basically spend most of my free time on basketball, photographing and hanging out at the soccer field with Hyukjae and the guys.” He finished his explanation without any further interruptions from my side and I stared at him in silence for a while.
“You might not see your friends as much as I do, Bummie, but you sure do know a hell lot more about them. You like photographing?” I mumbled. He smiled and nodded again
“It’s rather calming. I don’t have to think, just take my camera and go for a walk to take a bunch of pictures.” he then replied, turning around on his chair for a bit. “Oh, by the way, Yumiko has a thing for Sungmin.”
“Poor Zhou Mi.” I replied mindlessly, still staring at Kibum in shock. He knew so much about our friends, that I almost felt guilty for being so uninformed. He stopped his turning and focused his gaze on me again, an amused smile on his face.
“Not really. Yumiko likes him too. I’m just waiting to find out who she’s going to pick in the end. I mean, both her and Zhou Mi are returning to their home countries in three months, right?” he then said. I was completely stunned by his words and
“Anything else I should know? Maybe Namin and Kyuhyun are expecting a baby? Or perhaps Jungsoo and Haerin plan on getting married?” I asked, only partially joking as everything seemed to be possible. Kibum laughed softly at my words.
“Well, I don’t know about Namin and Kyuhyun, but-” he started his reply, but I didn’t even let him finish.
“Don’t tell me Jungsoo and Haerin are really going to get married?” I exclaimed in shock.
“I’m quite sure Jungsoo and Haerin plan on getting married.” he continued, undisturbed by my shock. “Once in their lives..” I grabbed his pillow and threw it at him, offended. He laughed as he shielded his face with his hands, but the pillow hit him straight in the stomach anyway. I shot him a displeased look, which only made him laugh harder and after a few moments of watching his joy, I couldn’t hold back a smile either. I waited until his laughter died away before talking again.
“Anyway, what did you want to say earlier?”
“Err..” He thought back to the moment I was talking about, obviously having
“Is this another joke or are you serious right now?” I decided to make sure. He laughed, before shaking his head.
“I’m serious.” he then said, going on explaining after that. “I mean, I’m twenty-two, almost twenty-three, and I’m starting to want some freedom. Not that I don’t like living with my mother, but well.. I’d like to have my own place.” I smiled a little.
“Totally understand that last part. Sadly enough I don’t have the money, or I wouldn’t be living with my parents anymore already.” I agreed, nodding slightly.
“Yeah, well, I’m going to use my scholarship money to rent a little apartment floor not far from here.” I saw his eyes lit up as he talked about it and realised that he had already planned it all out and was really looking forward to it. “It’s got a bedroom, a bathroom and a little living room with kitchen. It’s not much, but I don’t need much. I’ll probably also have to get a part-time job then, but I’d be happy to. Gives me a chance to learn something about the business life.”
“Sounds great.” I said with a smile, imagining the whole situation and suddenly longing for something like that as well. “But use your scholarship money? Then how are you going to pay for university? You’re not going to quit, are you?”
“No, no, of course not. Although my dad doesn’t give me any fatherly attention - not that I mind much anymore -, he’s been paying for my school ever since the start. So the scholarship money was actually just a nice bonus that I am now going to use for my own liking.” He smiled at me and looked outside the window for a while. I followed his gaze, staring at the clear blue sky a bit myself, all lost in thoughts about living on your own, having a part-time job and other weird stuff the future was likely going to bring me.
My thoughts were interrupted by a sudden click and when I looked up, Kibum was looking at the screen of his camera. He smiled lightly when he turned the thing towards me and I checked the picture he had taken from me. It looked rather idyllic at first sight; a girl at a window, staring into the big outside world with a dreamy expression on her face, but then I gave it a closer look and my expression was just ridiculous, not at all dreamy and I looked rather comical in total. Kibum quickly pulled the camera away before I could delete the picture, though, smiling innocently at me when I frowned at him.
“Let’s go out for a walk.” he then suggested, getting up from his desk chair and leaving me no time to answer as he walked out of the room, camera still in hand. I had no other choice but to follow.
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