ch. 38

"underneath it all I'm held captive by the hole inside."

-little do you know

"is van here?"

wooyoung stands before the cashier, asking one of the workers of the female's whereabouts. after the incident at lunch, he had an urge to come to the magic shop and talk it out with the person he trusts the most. he wants to know things from a girl's perspective, and van seems like the person who would have the best advice for him.

"i'm sorry, but van called in sick today."

hearing that makes the customer frown a little since he expected her to be here today, but if she's sick, he can't do anything about it. so instead of leaving the cafe, he orders himself a drink before finding himself a seat.

resting his elbow onto the table, the black-haired boy lays his chin on his hand and looks out the window, watching people pass by him. like the sidewalks of seoul, his mind is also buzzing with business.

he sighs.

ever since he had the courage to ask eunbi to the dance, his confidence to win her heart never left him. a desire to make her his girlfriend grows within, making him do all sorts of things a guy would do for their crush.

yet, for some reason, it infuriates her instead.

why is that? he asks himself, tapping his cheek with a finger. why was she so mad?

"what are you thinking about?"

wooyoung breaks from his thoughts when he hears the masculine voice, diverting his gaze from the window to the person who is seated before him. the worker with a yellow mask flashes him a curious smile as he passes the customer his drink.

"ah, hello chimmy." the younger male does a little bow with his head before taking a sip of his coffee.

chimmy simply bows back in response before asking once more. "so, what's on your mind? it seems like something is bothering you."

he takes a moment to decide whether to tell him or not, but he really needed to get this off his chest. taking a deep breath, he tells the worker the general idea of his thoughts without being too specific.

"so i have a friend who likes this girl," he begins while fiddling with his fingers. "and recently, he has asked the girl to be his date to the dance and she said yes. after that, he wanted to get really close to her and eventually become her boyfriend, so he does all these things for her but she got mad at him for doing so. he doesn't know what he is doing wrong."

the older male takes a few minutes to take in all the information, pondering about all the possibilities of the girl's reaction. his sister is really good at romance stuff like this, but she is not here unfortunately. the yellow-masked worker tries to imagine the situation in his head and an idea pops in his mind.

"maybe she's uncomfortable with what he's doing," chimmy suggests. "not all girls like guys rushing things, you know?"

wooyoung takes that into consideration, replaying all the moments he had with the girl recently, and notices how she always rejects his offer to help her in any way. he nods his head with understanding.

but then, he scrunches his eyebrows when he realizes a flaw in the assumption.

"if it was bothering her, she would have told him in the beginning." his eyes drift from chimmy and stare out the window. "she's a very straight-forward person."

"ah, okay."

the two males continue to talk among one another, coming up with different possibilities of the girl's reason behind her sudden action. each suggestion would be taken into consideration before being proven wrong by the black-haired customer.

"you know," chimmy speaks up again. "does she like anyone? at this moment?"

the younger male shakes his head. "not that i know of, she doesn't really tell my friends and i a lot of things about herself."

"so she's a secretive one. well, my hunch is that she likes someone and is not interested in your friend."

for some reason, his words remind wooyoung of van's advice during his previous cafe visit.

"what makes you think that she likes some other boy over you?" she told him. "maybe she's just really good friends with them and hasn't developed any feelings for anyone yet. she never declared it herself, did she?"

he is having doubts in her words at this point.

does she like someone right now? he asks himself. if she does, who is it?

is it... him?

the brunette before him notices a change in the customer's expression, assuming that he does have an intake of his friend's love interest. like his sister, chimmy reaches his hands out and holds onto the younger male's trembling ones.

"hey," he says in a whisper. "talk to me, buddy. tell me all your worries, so i can help you."

the reaction he receives displays hesitation, not knowing to trust him or not. his body language hints to him that he has been keeping this secret for a while now; he must not have the courage to tell his friend about it.

the black-haired boy nervously bites his bottom lip and avoids eye contact for some time as he debates whether he should speak up his worries or not. he has already burdened the worker with one thing, but to give him another weight to carry? he does not want to bother him anymore.

but the words eventually escape from his mouth.

"i saw her with some guy one day," he says. "it was after the girl returned from her one-week break after something dramatic happened to her at school. we wanted to go eat out at first, but she said she was busy. when her ride picked her up, my friends and i decided to grab something to eat and hit the gym."

he takes in a deep breath before continuing his story.

"after a few minutes in our workout, i saw her sneak into one of the practice rooms with someone, who was probably her brother. i thought i was delusional at first, but my instincts kept telling me it was her. at one point, a group of people left the room and none of them were her, so i walked over to the room without them noticing me. i looked into the window and..."

chimmy can see the boy's eyes become glassy.

"and she was in the arms of this guy. they were looking into each other's eyes as if they were the entire world. he kisses her on the forehead and it brings out the most loving smile i've ever since from her."

an unfamiliar feeling begins to build within him.

listening to this occurrence, the older male begins to remember the time his cousins and him brought his sister to the gym that one time because they had dance practice. everyone except hoseok and eunbi left the room to refill their water bottles, and being tired, he was lagging behind the group.

he recalls the feeling of dropping his water bottle behind him, so he turned around to pick it up and saw someone casually peering into the dance room. he thought they were just checking if it was available and dismissed it as nothing.

oddly, wooyoung's story fits in this memory.

"wooyoung-ssi," he calls out, earning the boy's attention. "has she ever told you and your friends who she lives with?"

"her brother and her cousins," he answers.

his suspicions start to rise as he continues to ask the black-haired male more questions about the girl. "do you know the gender of her cousins?"

he takes a moment to think about, not realizing that he has absolutely no clue about her cousins. "no, she never told us."

the yellow-masked worker blinks a few times, connecting the dots of each word he has received. his eyes drift to the customer's red shirt, recognizing the school logo located in the corner of his chest.

kq performing arts school- the school his sister attends.

then everything clicks.

eunbi's sudden call to the cafe, wooyoung's situation, his story of the gym...

everything makes sense now.

with a forced smile, chimmy gently squeezes the customer's hands as a sign of comfort.

"do you know if she hangs out with anyone in particular after school?" he questions, wanting to confirm his conclusion.

"no," the younger male replies. "she barely hangs out with my friends and i after school. every day, a black van comes and picks her up and they leave almost immediately."

a black van.

all the information he has obtained is pointing at only one person as the girl who wooyoung is talking about.

"then, have you ever thought that the guy who was with that girl could be her cousin?"

that question causes the male before him tense up a little, acknowledging the fact that he was overreacting about the sighting at the gym. it would make no sense if eunbi was to hang out with some guy if she doesn't even have time for him and his friends.

a soft smile makes its way to his lips and the bothersome feeling from within disperses into thin air.

"no," wooyoung finally answers. "i think she was with her cousin at the time."

chimmy lets out a sigh of relief when he sees a change in the boy's expression.

"i think your friend needs to talk to that girl in private," he advises. "there is a misunderstanding between one another, and a nice talk would help resolve that."

liking that piece of advice, wooyoung nods his head with appreciation and checks his phone to see that he is late for dance practice with his companions. quickly, he grabs his belongings and his drink before bidding goodbye and thanking the worker.

after the customer's departure, chimmy rushes to the changing room and appears in his casual wear. the workers look at him with a perplexed expression, wondering where the male was going suddenly.

"yah! where do you think you're going?!?" seokjin comes out of the kitchen with a wooden spoon in his hand. "i'm going to smack you until you tell me!"

he zooms right past his cousin, earning more yelling from the lad, and exits the cafe through the back. hopping into one of the black vans, the brunette turns on the engine of the vehicle and begins his way to the first place that comes to mind.

entering the streets of seoul, jimin taps the wheel impatiently as he drives, his mind only focused on his little sister.

eunbi, what are you hiding from me?