City Lights: Chapter 7

Chapter: 7 Characters (in order of appearance): Jin Chul, Seung Hyun, Ye Jun, Young Hak, mystery idol, Hee Jin*, Yoon Ah*, and Jin Ho*. *indicates original character Words: 1,854 Edits: 0 Added: February 5, 2011

Korean Notes:

Ahjumma/Ajumma: Older woman. Ahjussi/Ahjusshi/Ajussi: Older man. Agassi: Younger woman. Unni/Unnie (only used by females): Older sister (can be used to those who are close but not actually related). Oppa (only used by females): Older brother (can be used to those who are close but not actually related). Hyung (only used by males): Older brother (can be used to those who are close but not actually related). Noona/nuna (only used by males): Older sister (can be used to those who are close but not actually related). Manhwa: Korean comic book. Jeju Island/Jeju-do: A popular place in South Korea people often enjoy vacationing at. Noraebang: A karaoke bar/box; a popular activity for young people in Korea.

Friday, July 16, 6:37pm
Seoul, South Korea

"Hey, Jin Chul, you coming?" Seung Hyun asked, peeking into the back of the restaurant. He gasped when he saw how clean the room looked. "Whoa! Have you been working on it the entire time?"

Jin Chul made a small sound in agreement and continued cleaning.

Seung Hyun walked in slowly, looking around, completely distracted. He stopped at a large brown desk and picked up a photo sitting on it. It was of him, Jin Chul, Young Hak, and Ye Jun. "Oh! I remember this! This was when Young Hak's parents took us to Jeju Island." He laughed a bit and then looked a little closer. "Did I always look this fat?" He looked up when he heard a loud bang. Jin Chul had knocked over the chair when he was digging under the computer desk.

Seung Hyun looked away and spotted something else on a stack of neatly piled boxes. He put the photo down quickly and raced over to it. "I know what this is!" he said excitedly. He picked up an old manhwa and looked through it. "Oh man. I wondered what happened to this." He sat down on a nearby chair and began reading it.

Jin Chul finished pulling papers and garbage out from under the computer desk and had begun looking quickly through the papers and shoving most of them into the garbage can. He froze when he saw page two of the chat he and Hee Jin had had before. He glanced over at Seung Hyun, who was completely enthralled with the manhwa, and then back at the paper.

He began reading:

MSTRMND_61: not quite sure wht you mean but you can trust me Snowy_summer10: Okay. Here goes. Snowy_summer10: This is the month my mom passed away when I was 13. MSTRMND_61: go on. Snowy_summer10: She had been fighting an illness for over a year. Snowy_summer10: She suddenly got it a week after her 47th birthday when I was 12 and was in and out of the hospital up until her final month. Snowy_summer10: My older brother took over house chores and took care of me. He helped me with my homework and relieved a lot of the stress put on my mom. Snowy_summer10: My dad was busy with work. He made himself even busier when my mom got sick. He had a hard time with it so he buried himself in work. Snowy_summer10: I remember going with my older brother everyday to see my mom whenever she was in the hospital.

Jin Chul paused. He remembered Hee Jin had lost her mother when she was young but he didn't remember all of the details and this conversation seemed very hazy. Why didn't he remember such an important detail of Hee Jin? Out of everything they had talked about, this seemed to have been at the bottom of the list.

He went on:

Snowy_summer10: About three months before she died, she started getting much better. She had way more energy and even the doctors had high hopes that she would get better. Snowy_summer10: She was at home most of the time and even my dad stopped working so much. Snowy_summer10: I was really close with my mom so I think it affected me a lot when she got sick. It might also have been that I was young and my mom always spoiled me.

Just then, Seung Hyun made a loud shout of surprise. Jin Chul quickly stuffed the paper in his pocket and looked over at Seung Hyun.

Seung Hyun had dropped the manhwa on the floor and was staring wide eyed at his cellphone. He looked at Jin Chul, "I forgot! We're gonna be late! Oh boy. Young Hak just texted me and he sounded mad. Hurry!"

Jin Chul rolled his eyes and reluctantly stood up.

Seung Hyun eyed him from head to foot, looking thoroughly disgusted. "You're not going like that, are you?" Jin Chul shrugged. Seung Hyun shouted, "You're filthy!"

"Alright already. I'll go change. Just stop shouting, will you?" Jin Chul said, irritated.

"Hurry, hurry!" Seung Hyun said, bouncing up and down which earned him a glare from Jin Chul as he grabbed his bag and went into the employees' washroom.

Friday, July 16, 7:22pm
Seoul, South Korea

Jin Chul and Seung Hyun finally arrived at the noraebang room the others had rented. A couple girls were already singing and the rest were either watching or talking to each other. Ye Jun was fully enjoying himself, armed wrapped around one of the girls. She and another girl kept giggling at the things he said. Young Hak was talking to a guy next to him and shot Jin Chul and Seung Hyun a dirty look when they entered the room.

"Whoa! They're here!" Ye Jun shouted. The girls giggled again. Ye Jun smirked at Jin Chul and Seung Hyun and turned his attention back to the girls.

"You were supposed to be here nearly an hour ago," Young Hak said, clearly irritated.

Seung Hyun quickly began defending himself, "It wasn't my fault! I tried dragging Jin Chul away but he wouldn't quit cleaning."

Jin Chul hit Seung Hyun on the back, nearly knocking him forward. "Ow!" Seung Hyun shouted.

"The point is, we're here," Jin Chul said. He then went and sat down next to Young Hak and started snacking on some food.

One of the girls sitting near Ye Jun got up and went and sat next to Jin Chul. She wrapped her arm around his and began flirting with him. He pulled his arm roughly away and kept eating. Offended, the girl got up and went and sat down next to Ye Jun. He put his arm around her as well and said, "There, there. Is the big mean Jin Chul picking on you?" The girl made a fake sad face and nodded. Then she and her friend started giggling again.

Seung Hyun was distracted again; this time, by the girls singing up front. As soon as the song ended, he raced up to join in for the next song.

Young Hak leaned in to Jin Chul. "You okay?" he asked, looking a little concerned.

"I'm fine," Jin Chul lied.

Friday, July 16, 7:00pm
Seoul, South Korea

JaeJoong knocked on Hee Jin's apartment door. "Just a minute!" he heard her shout. He could hear her shuffling around inside, clearly trying to hurry.

"It's okay. Take your time," JaeJoong shouted back. "It doesn't start until seven thirty anyway."

He leaned against the hallway wall, unable to keep from smiling. He was actually going on a date with Hee Jin. He shook his head. No, it wasn't a date. If he thought that in his head, he might say it out loud and get her ticked at him again. He couldn't have that. He finally was able to get on her good side and he didn't want to ruin that. But still.... he and Hee Jin.... the thought gave him goosebumps. He covered his mouth, trying to hold in his happiness.

JaeJoong jumped when Hee Jin suddenly opened the door. "I'm ready!" she said, a little out of breath.

JaeJoong's jaw dropped. He didn't think it was possible for her to get any prettier but add a little makeup, nice hairdo, pretty clothes, and she looked absolutely stunning.

Hee Jin locked the door and turned around. JaeJoong straightened up a bit, trying to stop himself from staring at her too much. He scratched his head and said with a stutter, "Y-you ready.... uh... you ready to go?"

"Yup!" she said a little louder than she intended. She felt nervous. She hadn't gone on a group date or a party in quite a while and doing it in a completely different environment made her even more nervous. Her Korean was still weak and she didn't know exactly what most young adults did for fun, having not lived in Korea since she was young.

They both stiffly walked out of the building. JaeJoong kept avoiding looking at her, which, she was certain, was because he was just as nervous. She really wished he'd start talking or do something to make the atmosphere a little lighter. She sighed. Well, if he wasn't going to talk, she'd have to.

"So, um...." she said.

"Yeah?" JaeJoong responded loudly. Yes, he was definitely nervous, Hee Jin thought.

Hee Jin continued, "How did you know my name? I don't remember telling you."

JaeJoong relaxed a little. "Oh that? The landlord told me a couple days before you moved in."

"Let me guess, the landlord is a woman?" Hee Jin said, imagining him flirting with some ahjumma.

"Yeah, of course. Didn't you meet her already?" JaeJoong asked.

"No, I've never met her," Hee Jin responded.

"Well then, how did you get the apartment?"

"I'm not actually renting the apartment. It's my uncle's. He found out I was planning on coming to Korea and asked me to house sit and feed his cat while he was on vacation," Hee Jin explained.

"Ah, I see," JaeJoong said.

They walked in silence for a bit and then JaeJoong suddenly said, "Wait. You don't actually live in Korea?"

Hee Jin shook her head. "No. My family and I moved to Canada when I was nine. I've only visited Korea I think four times since then and I only ever visited relatives. This is my first time on my own." Hee Jin smiled happily. JaeJoong blushed and quickly looked away. Hee Jin didn't seem to notice.

They didn't talk much the rest of the walk there. It took them twenty minutes but it felt much longer to the both of them. They were still nervous and JaeJoong kept mumbling his words whenever they did talk.

They walked up to the others waiting outside a building and JaeJoong quickly introduced Hee Jin to them. There were three guys and four girls and all of them seemed pretty friendly.

"Who's missing?" JaeJoong asked.

One of the girls, Yoon Ah, answered, "Ji Won and Sung Oh but there's no point in waiting. They'll know where to find us."

They all went inside the noraebang building and told the lady at the counter that they had a room booked.

"Sorry but your name isn't on the list," the lady answered.

"That's impossible," one of the guys, Jin Ho, said. "I booked one the day before yesterday."

"Sorry but I've looked three times and you're name is not on it," the lady said, rather snobbishly.

 Yoon Ah whispered to Jin Ho, "And you're sure you booked a room?"

"Yes," he answered angrily. He turned to the lady at the counter, "Is there any possibility we could get one right now?"

"Young man," the lady began, "It's a Friday night. Do you really have to ask?"

JaeJoong chimed in, "Is there a possibility someone would drop out or leave early?"

"Sorry," the lady answered loudly. "We're completely full. Go find somewhere else to spend your Friday evening."

Everyone groaned and grumbled as they made their way toward the entrance. Now what were they going to do?

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Author's Notes:

YES! I've finally completed this chapter. I started last night and had a REALLY hard time starting it for some dumb reason. It took me forever just to write 87 words. But, I continued and finally busted through my writer's block and ended up going over the word limit so I had to split the chapter. Still working on the rest of the next chapter, though. Hopefully things continue to go smoothly and I don't end up taking another month or two to write the next chapter >____< My sister might kill me if I do. Okay, so as you can see, the chat thing between Jin Chul and Hee Jin isn't over yet. I don't know how people will think or *feel* when they read it but I really felt a closeness to Hee Jin when writing it. It felt almost real especially since I was pretending Jin Chul was on the other side reading it. Use a real private chat room helped immensely. My characters came to life in there *o* Ehehehehehehe~ I told you all, didn't I? I said not to assume Hee Jin and JaeJoong were going to the same party/get-together as Jin Chul and his friends were. But, then again, who knows what will happen in chapter 8? >:) I decided to have Korean notes before my story since I plan to start using some Korean words more.