Brazen Love [Chapter 8]

 

Chapter 8:

Hyun Joong walked in a circle, making certain to keep the brim of his beanie pulled low over his eyes. He was thankful for the cool weather this early autumn morning so that he could wear his scarf high on his face and not look suspicious. He had wanted to wear the one that Hwang Bo had made for him during WGM, but he was afraid that too many people would recognize it. He checked his phone again; 9:55 am. Hwang Bo had told him to show up at ten, but he had been too excited, and had ended up not sleeping properly, so he had headed over at 9:30 hoping that Hwang Bo would be early too, but she still hadn’t showed; he had made the group finish their schedule as soon as possible. He wanted to call her, but he didn’t want to bother her. She would probably be there at ten on the dot anyway.

Hwang Bo watched Hyun Joong from her car and laughed. “Why is he walking around in circles?” she asked herself aloud, amused. She had spotted him a little ways off and had decided to park where he couldn’t see so that she could surprise him. She got out of the car and tiptoed up to him. He had stopped circling and had stopped to look at his phone so he didn’t notice her approach. She stood behind him, smiling at what she was about to do. “Surprise!” she yelled suddenly.

Hyun Joong turned, his eyes wide and round, his hand pressed to his chest. Hwang Bo laughed at his appearance, all she could see were his round eyes, he was looking at her as if she were a dragonfly. “Did I startle you that much?” she laughed. He still hadn’t said anything, and all she could see were his eyes slowly being hidden by puffs of cold air from behind his scarf wrap as he steadied his breathing. “Ya!” she said grabbing onto his arm. “I think it’s too early in the morning for me to be scaring you. You probably haven’t woken up properly yet. I didn’t expect you to be here until twelve noon; you sleep so much.”

Hyun Joong smiled when he realized that it was just his Buin playing a prank. “Aniya...” he said. “How could I sleep in when we have a date today?” His smile got wider when he saw Hwang Bo’s smile and her cheeks blush. “But,” he said. “How did you know it was me? It would have been funny if you would have startled a complete stranger.” He laughed at the thought.

She smiled, she didn’t exactly know how she knew either. She smiled a Mona Lisa smile up at him. “Just... what kind of girlfriend would I be if I couldn’t recognize my Shillang?”

If a stranger would have walked by at that moment, they would have rolled their eyes at the clear mushiness of the couple. They were both grinning foolishly with their arms intertwined. Hwang Bo and Hyun Joong began to walk forward. “Where are we going?” Hwang Bo asked, matching her steps with his.

Hyun Joong shrugged, still smiling crazily behind his muffler. “I don’t really care, as long as I’m with you.” He didn’t notice the slight halt in her step as the words came out of his mouth; he was too happy about having the entire day together with her. “I don’t really want to go to a restaurant though, I’ve already eaten. I don’t want to go to the amusement park either, it’s too cold.” He thought some more. “I kind of want to go to the movies... I guess it does matter where we go even if I’m with you.” Hwang Bo laughed, her muffler slipping from around her neck she was laughing so exuberantly. She hurriedly glanced around and wrapped it around her neck once again, pulling it up to the bridge of her nose. “Okay,” she said still laughing. “Let’s go to the movies.”

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The ticket guy gave them strange looks as he handed them their tickets. “You know it’s...pretty warm in the theater,” he offered. But they just took their tickets, nodded once, and walked into the theater. “I think that guy thinks we’re crazy,” Hyun Joong said, laughing. Hwang Bo laughed along with him, having to agree.

“Should we get popcorn?” Hwang Bo asked, looking over at the snack counter. “Nah..”she answered herself. “It’d be hard to keep our scarves in place, hold the tickets, each other’s hand, and the popcorn, and I don’t really feel like letting go of your hand just yet,” Hwang Bo said. Hyun Joong smiled brightly underneath his scarf and tightened his grip on her hand, pulling her toward the sign that signified the room for viewing Twilight: Eclipse. They laughed as the man who returned their tickets stubs gave them a hard stare before directing them into the theater. They chose seats far in the back and toward the middle so that even if their scarves happened to slip, no one would be able to tell who they were; they also hoped everyone would be paying attention to the movie, that’s why they had chosen such a popular one to view; that and Hyun Joong had wanted to see the werewolves transform.

They watched the movie in contented silence, then after the movie was over, Hyun Joong and Hwang Bo walked out of the theater. They bowed a farewell to the ticket guy who shook his head when he saw them. “Did you have fun?” Hwang Bo asked.

Hyun Joong blinked in the fading sunlight and nodded. “Yeah, the werewolves were cool...the vampires... but I know I slept for a bit in there, it couldn’t have been for that long. Why’s it getting so dark?”

“You slept!?” Hwang Bo hit him. “You’re the one that wanted to see it! No wonder you weren’t answering my questions.”

Hyun Joong laughed. “That doesn’t explain why you aren’t answering my questions right now. Why’s it getting so dark? Is there supposed to be a storm today? I don’t listen to weather. You’re old enough to like the news, though,” he said, joking around.

Hwang Bo’s smile was replaced with a snarl. She snatched her arm from his, pretending to be angry. “There is a storm coming. Why?” she taunted. “Are you afraid of thunderstorms?”

Hyun Joong looked up at the sky and adjusted his beanie over his hair. “Not really, but the rain will make us go bald.”

Hwang Bo’s eyes widened in shock. “What!?” she asked, startled. She then laughed. “The rain will make us go bald?” she asked back at him.

Hyun Joong nodded seriously, still staring up at the sky worriedly. Hwang Bo just shook her head, still laughing and grabbed onto his arm, leading him to a taxi parked conveniently close by. “Let’s go off the street then. It wouldn’t be good for either of our careers to suddenly go bald, and it’d be really suspicious if we both went bald at the same time.” Hyun Joong followed her into the taxi, taking her words seriously. Hwang Bo shook her head again and took his hand once he had shut the door. “Where do you want to go now? It has to be somewhere inside though... maybe we should just get some umbrellas from somewhere.”

Hyun Joong didn’t want to head back inside yet...It would seem to cut their date short. He had a sudden idea. “I know! Let’s stop by the convenience store first.” He told the taxi driver where to go.

Hwang Bo glanced over at him. 'What does this kid have in mind?’ She stood outside the cab trying to protect her head from the first drops of rain while Hyun Joong told the taxi driver to wait for them for about ten minutes, she didn’t really believe Hyun Joong when he said it would make you go bald, but she didn’t want to take any chances. She followed him into the store. He immediately headed to the umbrella rack and picked out one large one instead of two. Hwang Bo smiled. He headed further into the store and picked up a small shopping basket; he tossed a flashlight inside, a lighter, some packs of ramen, some snacks, a manga he had chosen at random, and an extra pair of headphones. Hwang Bo was getting more and more curious as she followed him. When she saw him head to the back of the store and pick up a small blue easily constructed tent, she tugged his jacket sleeve. “Yah...where are you trying to take me?”

When he didn’t answer but just walked to the counter to pay for some things, she asked, “Are we going camping?” She had asked it jokingly because she thought it was a ridiculous question with the weather the way it was. But Hyun Joong replied with a simple “Yeah.” Hwang Bo blinked in shock. “What!? Really!? In this weather!?” She followed Hyun Joong out the door after he had paid for the items. “Umbrella,” Hyun Joong said, telling her to open it. He indicated the bags he was holding. Hwang Bo opened the umbrella, grumbling as they walked to the taxi. “You never answer my questions. I should let you go bald.” But they got into the taxi comfortably and Hyun Joong gave the driver new directions.

“We-we’re going to the Han River Park?” Hwang Bo asked after she heard the directions, completely dumbfounded. “In this weather...we’re going to camp...outside...near the river...in this weather?” She could tell from what little she could see of Hyun Joong’s face that he was pleased and completely serious. “Are you sure about this!”

Hyun Joong simply nodded. “It’ll be fun.”

“Are you... could you be planning to get rid of me?”

Hyun Joong laughed and didn’t reply. Hwang Bo had been joking, but with the way Hyun Joong was acting, she was starting to get worried.

Hwang Bo tugged on his arm, but he just continued to eye smile into the distance, imagining what a fun time they would have. The taxi approached the turbulent waters of the Han and slowed to a stop. Hyun Joong paid the cab driver then indicated Hwang Bo should get out first so she could hold the umbrella over both their heads as he reached inside for the bags. He shifted the scarf away from the lower half of his face as the taxi drove away. “This is the perfect weather to come here, Buin.” He indicated the empty area around the Han River and for miles around. “We’re the only ones here.” He put both bags in one hand then reached over and pulled Hwang Bo’s muffler from the lower half of her face. He smiled then turned away. “Let’s go set up the tent before the wind gets so strong it blows the instructions away later.”

‘Instructions? Ahh...for the tent...’ Hwang Bo was so bewildered that she found herself following along with everything he said without question. When Hyun Joong had found a good place and had taken out the tent, Hwang Bo studied the instructions. Hyun Joong had already begun trying to set it up without looking at them. Hwang Bo struggled with trying to hold the umbrella over both of them while holding the instructions and trying to stay out of his way as he put up the tent. “Wait,” Hwang Bo said, after glancing at the instructions. “That’s not how you do it.” Hyun Joong continued to try to stretch the end of the tent to reach the peg in the ground. “That’s not how you do it,” Hwang Bo repeated. “Move.”

Hyun Joong stood back while Hwang Bo sat up the tent. He was impressed that she managed to get the confusing contraption up in less than five minutes. He tucked the handle of the umbrella in his elbow and clapped. “Wah, General Hwang Buin, I should have entrusted it to you in the first place.” He laughed when she pouted and tried to hit him. He picked up the bags and placed them in the tent which had an opening that was elevated at least four inches off of the ground. “Let’s go inside so we don’t have to keep holding this umbrella,” Hyun Joong said.. Hwang Bo nodded and preceded him inside. She sat down and waited for him to get settled beside her. He took everything out of the bags and spread them out in front of them then tilted his head. “I feel like I forgot something.” Hyun Joong looked around at the items again, then at the floor of the tent. He snapped his fingers, the cold of the day making the action a bit difficult. “Ah...sleeping bags.”

“Huh!?” Hwang Bo asked shocked. “We’re going to spend the night out here!?”

Hyun Joong nodded like it was the most obvious thing in the world. “Of course. You said we were going to have a date all day together. A day isn’t just the time when it’s bright outside. Just because the sun gets a little tired doesn’t mean the day is over. Are you trying to go back on your promise?” He asked, the last coming out a bit harsher than he intended. He quickly smiled to cover some of his anxiety when he heard her laugh, but he couldn’t help remembering all of their other moments together that she had cut short. “It’s just... I want to spend as much time with you as I can because our schedules are both so busy and this is the most time I’ve had free in months and won’t again for a few more.”

“Okay. Okay.” Hwang Bo nodded. “I know.” ‘Does he have to explain so much?’ Hwang Bo wondered to herself. ‘It’s making me feel guilty even though I don’t know why.’ “But..” Hwang Bo said. “Couldn’t we have just gone to a sauna?” At the look Hyun Joong gave her, Hwang Bo nodded and laughed. “Okay. I know. Being cold and wet can be fun too, I guess.” Hyun Joong grew unsure. ‘Is she really disappointed?’

Hyun Joong dug through the snacks he had bought from the convenience store and handed Hwang Bo a chocolate chip granola bar. “Here, we didn’t eat anything at the movies.” He watched her smile when she bit into it. ‘Maybe she was just hungry.’

Hwang Bo wasn’t really annoyed. She just enjoyed seeing his expressions whenever she gave him a hard time. “Aren’t you going to eat one too?” she asked, when she noticed he didn’t get one for himself.

Hyun Joong smiled and nibbled on a granola bar once he saw that she had stopped questioning his decision to come here. He pulled out his ipod and plugged in a thing that allowed two headphones to be connected to the ipod. He plugged in his own pair and the extra he had gotten for Hwang Bo at the store. He set the ipod to shuffle then passed the headphones to Hwang Bo. She glanced at him, a smile hidden in her eyes, then settled the headphones over her ears.

She was expecting a romantic song to play, but a hard rock song blasted through the headphones. “Oh!” she jumped and placed a hand over her heart. “Startled me,” she said. “Startled me too,” Hyun Joong replied, turning the volume down and going to the next song. “Hey girl!” Lee Hyori’s U-Go-Girl started. “Yah...skip this,” Hwang Bo said. Hyun Joong did so, and the melody from Hwang Bo’s Mature started. Hwang Bo smiled, satisfied, and they listened to the song quietly together. The next song was f(x)’s song Nu ABO. Hwang Bo gasped. “I like this song,” she said, trying to ignore the tingling curiosity as she was reminded of Hyun Joong’s and Amber’s sudden friendship. “What to do unnie!?” Hwang Bo and Hyun Joong both sang the first line, and soon they were up trying to do the dance moves. Hwang Bo laughed as Hyun Joong did the “look-and-touch” choreography perfectly. “Did you practice that before?” Hwang Bo asked suspiciously as they sat down. Hyun Joong said no, but she was still unsure. “Amber...” Hwang Bo looked up and glanced at Hyun Joong’s expression. “She’s really cool isn’t she?”

Hyun Joong nodded, completely unaware of Hwang Bo’s suspicion and fledgling jealousy. “She’s just like a little brother...except she’s a girl...sorta.” Hwang Bo stared at him. “How can she be 'sort of’ a girl?” Hyun Joong shrugged his shoulders and shuffled through his ipod, his thumb hovered over Seung Ki’s Love Taught Me to Drink but he moved on to Let Me. “She doesn’t really act like one. Young Seang is more of a girl than she is.”

Hwang Bo would have laughed, but she was intent on finding out more about their relationship. “Do you guys see each other a lot?”

He blinked his eyes. “Nope… last night was the third time. The photo shoot...the party...the club when she snuck out and couldn’t find anyone else to celebrate her birthday with her... yup, three times.”

Hwang Bo nodded. “Ahhh...” She wasn’t sure if she should be happy with that information or not. For even though they had only met three times, they seemed so close. And they had already exchanged phone numbers. Hwang Bo was about to ask more when a sudden strong wind blew against the tent, threatening to uproot it. “Omo.” Hwang Bo inched closer to Hyun Joong. “Did I put the tent up strong enough?”

Hyun Joong laughed. “You pushed the pegs so far into the ground with just your bare hands and your leg strength that if a tornado came through, this tent would probably be the only thing left.”

Hwang Bo laughed and hit him on the arm. “Whatever.” They passed the daylight hours talking, listening to music, and eating snacks. Hyun Joong was happy that Hwang Bo was actually keeping her promise to stay with him the whole day. He concluded that she must be taking their relationship seriously now. He touched his pocket where a pair of couple rings were. 'Should I ask her to wear these now?’ he wondered to himself. A thunderclap broke through the night. “Let’s tell ghost stories,” Hwang Bo said, inspired by the darkness and the weather. The only light illuminating the tent came from the flashlight and the ipod.

Hyun Joong let his hand drop to his side as he nodded. He had plenty of time before daylight to give her the ring. Hwang Bo grinned widely and picked up the flashlight holding it under her chin. She told Hyun Joong to turn off the ipod before she started so the story wouldn’t be interrupted at a crucial part. She shoved the snacks out of the way then sat across from Hyun Joong, she once again placed the flashlight beam under her chin so that it highlighted her sharp features in the darkness. “On a dark and gloomy night a lot like this one, a young man left his home to visit his girlfriend whom he had promised to see one last time before he left for the military the next day. He reached their appointed place only to find his always punctual girlfriend...LATE.” Another thunderclap exploded on that word causing both of them to jump. They both laughed it off before Hwang Bo picked up the flashlight and continued again. “He looked around the darkened playground. A swing in the distance creaked...a merry go-round squeaked as it spun from the strength of the wind. He glanced over at the play equipment.. his eye caught by a fluttering scrap of white cloth against the back drop of the night. Squeak, squeak, flutter.” Hyun Joong leaned into the intensity of the story. “Squeak...squeak, flutter, flutter- ahh!” Hwang Bo screamed when she heard the fabric of the tent flutter with a gust of wind. Hyun Joong had leapt clear across the tent causing her to drop the flashlight again.

The light of the flashlight turned off as it hit the ground. “Omo! Omo!” Hwang Bo whispered, quickly holding onto Hyun Joong now that he was on her side of the tent. “That was just the wind right?”

Hyun Joong who was just about scared out of his mind couldn’t answer. He hoped the ghost that always seemed to be around in the SS501 dorms hadn’t followed him here.

“Go check,” Hwang Bo said. Hyun Joong furrowed his brows in disbelief in the darkness. 'What!?’ He was about to say it was probably just the wind when they heard a rustling against the tent again. Hwang Bo huddled closer to Hyun Joong. “I think I saw a shadow,” Hyun Joong said. Hwang Bo held him tighter. “Yah!” she screamed in a whisper. “You’re just trying to scare me, aren’t you? Go check it out.” But though she said it, her hands continued to hold him tightly. “Let’s check it out together.” Hyun Joong said. Hwang Bo didn’t want to go check it out, but she didn’t want to stay by herself either so she thought it was a good idea. “Okay,” Hwang Bo said. They both inched toward the door of the tent to open it, jumping back when they heard a tapping on the tent flap. They hesitated. Hyun Joong picked up the umbrella just in case he needed to hit something, and opened the flap slowly at first and then quickly. “What are you two doing here? You can’t be out here like this.” It was a man dressed in a security uniform.

Hyun Joong pushed Hwang Bo back into the tent hoping the security guard wasn’t able to see their faces well in the dark. “Ah, thank you. We were just thinking that, but our car...” He scrabbled for Hwang Bo’s scarf and indicated she should wrap it around her face and neck. He started to gather some of their gathered snacks. “Would you mind getting a cab for us, Sir? Both of our phones got damaged in the rain...and it’s still raining pretty hard so we can’t go outside and wait for one.”

“Ah...yeah,” he said, giving them suspicious looks. “Wait here and I’ll call one for you.” When he left to call one, Hyun Joong settled back into the tent. He sighed. “Where are we going to go now?” Hwang Bo sat up, her hair frazzled from trying to wrap the scarf in the dark. She laughed. “You sound like a homeless man.” Hyun Joong laughed too. “Let’s just go home now,” Hwang Bo said. Hyun Joong stopped laughing. “No!” he almost shouted. He searched frantically in his mind for something to do. “Let’s go to a restaurant. I’m hungry now.”

Hwang Bo looked around at the scattered snacks and noticed they’d only nibbled on a few granola bars and about six hours had passed since they had come here. She nodded and hurried to finish getting dressed and cleaning up. Hyun Joong held the umbrella over Hwang Bo and himself as she struggled to remove the tent pegs...but she had done such a good job that she couldn’t get them out. The security guard strolled up and told them a taxi should be out for them in about five minutes. He watched Hwang Bo struggle over the pegs. “I’ll take those out in the morning after I get some tools...looks like they’re in pretty deep.” Hwang Bo and Hyun Joong laughed. Suddenly the beams of a car could be seen from the distance. Hyun Joong gasped when they glinted from the skull of the policeman’s bald pate; the man only looked about thirty…why was he already bald. Hyun Joong looked up at the sky and the rain that was still falling pretty heavily, then over at the man’s head before the security guard slapped his hat back on. Hwang Bo looked at Hyun Joong wide eyed. They both squished together under the umbrella and they both tried to get into the taxi without getting a single drop of rain on them, they almost snatched the umbrella in with them while it was still open. The guard shook his head watching the suspicious people crowd into the taxi. “End up meeting all sorts of people doing this work,” he muttered as he walked away.

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Hyun Joong had managed to convince Hwang Bo not to go home and change. He wanted to keep her in his sight all day today. They had just taken off their outer layers and had gone into the fancy restaurant. It was near closing time so there weren’t many people there anyway. Hyun Joong smiled across at her. Hwang Bo blushed at the way he was looking at her. She glanced across the restaurant at the clock. It was getting late. And she was nowhere near saying goodbye to him. She became nervous at the thought. Throwing it from her mind, she looked back at Hyun Joong. “Shillang...” she said. “Shouldn’t you have protected me better just then? What if it had really been something strange out there?”

Hyun Joong answered unblinking. “I was protecting you by not going outside. What would you do if I was hit on the head outside, then I wouldn’t be able to help you or myself.”

Hwang Bo laughed. She was never sure if he was just talking or honestly being truthful. But...the answer gave her a good feeling so...pass. She glanced around at the restaurant they had come to. It looked familiar.

Hyun Joong noticed Hwang Bo looking around the restaurant like she was searching for something. “It’s almost closing time, so we shouldn’t run into anyone who knows us,” Hyun Joong said, thinking that Hwang Bo had gotten nervous again now that they weren’t in the tent in the middle of nowhere in a torrential rain. “Eat faster so we can leave faster if you’re worried.”

“No,” Hwang Bo said, looking back at him. “I was just thinking I had been here before. I’m not sure though.”

Hyun Joong paused for a second with his chopsticks halfway to his mouth then shook his head and ate the spicy noodles; there was more than one reason to come to a restaurant. “Buin, do you go to so many fancy restaurants that they’re all starting to look the same to you?” he asked jokingly.

Hwang Bo laughed nervously, realizing that she should get off this topic. “Is that it?” she asked. She parted the salad that came with her food absentmindedly. When something glinted in the bright lights, she stopped. 'Is there glass in my food?’ she wondered. She lifted the lettuce fully off of the object and her mouth fell open. It was a ring. She looked up to see Hyun Joong smiling proudly across from her.