[PG-13] Caught in Between (8/25)
Title: Caught in Between
Characters: Kyuhyun/Taeyeon/Eunhyuk, Donghae/Jessica, Sungmin/Sunny, Siwon/Tiffany
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Romance, Friendship, Comedy, Drama
“This is great!” Taeyeon said as they walked in the Cho Ji Min Center. “Granny’s going to love you.”
“Really? As much as she loves Eunhyuk and Sungmin?” Kyuhyun joked.
“Probably not as much,” Taeyeon said, chuckling.
As soon as they entered, all of the staff started bowing really respectfully. Taeyeon bowed back, glancing at Kyuhyun with confusion.
“This is weird,” she whispered to him, although she continued bowing out of respect. “They’ve never been this respectful before. I’ve only seen them do this when the owners of the place visit.”
“Huh, maybe they’ve changed the rules or something,” he replied evasively. When Taeyeon wasn’t looking, he signaled the staff to stop bowing.
A nurse approached them. She was about to bow, but Kyuhyun shook his head at her.
“How’s granny?” Taeyeon asked her.
“She’s doing well,” the nurse answered. “We moved her to a new room.”
“Again?” Taeyeon asked.
The nurse led them down the hall and showed them to her grandmother’s new room, which took Taeyeon by surprise. It was a really big and nice room. She’d never been transferred to such a room before. It was usually reserved for the really high paying families.
Taeyeon turned to the nurse. “Are you sure this is correct? We don’t really need her to be in a room like this. Just something comfortable is good enough.”
The nurse smiled, glancing at Kyuhyun. “There was an opening and we thought of your grandmother at once. She’s going to be staying here permanently.”
“Really?” Taeyeon asked in amazement. She glanced at Kyuhyun with a smile. “Are you sure there’s no charge? We really can’t afford it.”
“Compliments of the center,” the nurse told her. “Kim Mi Youngsshi is one of our favorite patients.” She bowed, more to Kyuhyun, and left the room.
Taeyeon grinned as she approached her grandmother. “Granny! This is a wonderful room, isn’t it? There’s so much space!”
Granny smiled at her. “Taeyeonah,” she said, reaching out to her.
“How are you today, gran?” Taeyeon asked, giving her a kiss on the cheek.
“Good,” Granny answered. “What happened to your leg?”
“It’s just a sprained ankle,” Taeyeon said. “I’m all better now. No need for crutches.”
“You should be more careful,” Granny said. She saw Kyuhyun.
“This is my friend, Kyuhyun,” Taeyeon introduced him.
Kyuhyun bowed. “I’m Kyuhyun. It’s nice to meet you, ma’am.”
“Please call me gran,” Granny insisted. She turned to Taeyeon. “I see you have other friends aside from Eunhyuk and Sungmin.”
“Wow, you’re in a good mood today,” Taeyeon said, impressed that she remembers a lot of things. “Yes, I do have other friends.” She chuckled.
“So tell me about yourself, Kyuhyun,” Granny said, reaching for his hand. Taeyeon waited for his answer.
Placing his hand on hers, he said, “I’m 18. I’m part of top percentile of the whole junior batch.”
“He’s a math genius,” Taeyeon told her, rolling his eyes at him.
“An academic.” She winked at Taeyeon, who laughed. “Do play any sports or instruments?” Granny went on.
“I know how to play the piano,” Kyuhyun admitted.
“You do?” Taeyeon asked in surprise.
“I haven’t played in a long time,” Kyuhyun told her.
“Well we’ll have to hear you play some time,” Granny said. “And how did you meet Taeyeon?”
Taeyeon laughed. “We met in the library. I was having a hard time with my math homework and he helped me out.”
“An interesting way to meet,” Granny said. “Are you taking care of my granddaughter?”
Kyuhyun smiled. “A lot of people are taking care of her.”
Granny nodded contentedly and leaned back on her bed. She closed her eyes as if preparing to sleep. Taeyeon turned to Kyuhyun with a smile. “We should leave,” she said softly.
They went out to take a walk in the garden.
“How long has your grandmother been sick?” Kyuhyun asked.
“About a year now,” Taeyeon answered. “She’s only been here for a couple of months. Eunhyuk’s parents pulled in a favor for us. I think they’re friends with the owners.”
“Ah,” was Kyuhyun’s reply. “I’m sure they’re taking very good care of her.”
“They are,” Taeyeon agreed. “And the new room!” she gushed. “Oppa and Sunny will be so thrilled.”
Kyuhyun smiled at this then was quiet for a second. “I noticed you don’t talk about your mom and dad. Is that deliberate?”
Taeyeon hesitated. “It’s deliberate and not deliberate at the same time. My dad left when we were 10 so I don’t know much about him. Ever since he did, my mom wasn’t the same. She was never home so there really isn’t anything I can share about my mom. We barely see her. Heechul oppa is the one who takes care of us.”
“That’s why he’s so protective of you,” Kyuhyun realized.
She smiled. “I think he’s warming up to you. He’s just not used to us having other friends other than Eunhyuk and Sungmin.”
“You mean guy friends?” he rephrased.
She chuckled and nodded. “Yes, guy friends.”
“Why is that?” he wanted to know.
“I guess it’s because he just doesn’t want us to get wooed easily and then get hurt,” she said, shrugging. “He really has nothing to worry about.”
“What do you mean?” he asked.
“I really don’t have plans of having a boyfriend any time soon,” she shared.
He chuckled. “Why?”
“I don’t know. I’ve just never really thought about it,” Taeyeon said, looking at him. “Falling in love just seems so scary, don’t you think? I mean, just watching Sunny go through it hurts me already.”
“Not all love is painful,” Kyuhyun told her.
“But at some point, you’re bound to get hurt,” Taeyeon responded. “And I really don’t think I want to go through that. Just look at what happened to my parents. They were madly in love and yet it didn’t work out.” She looked at him. “Have you ever been in love?”
“I don’t know if you would call it love,” Kyuhyun said, smirking a little. “But I’ve been in relationships.”
Taeyeon shook her head. “How would you know it’s love?”
“I think you just know when you look at a person,” Kyuhyun said, looking at her.
Taeyeon looked back at him. She never really saw how beautiful and deep his eyes were. When she realized she was staring, she looked away and cleared her throat.
“So, uh,” Taeyeon stammered. “We should go.”
Kyuhyun chuckled. “Let’s go.”
~ * ~
Donghae watched as Jessica walked towards her locker with Tiffany. When he was sure there were no other queenkas arriving, he approached them.
“Hey,” Donghae said.
Tiffany saw him first. “Donghae!” she greeted him cheerfully. She looked behind him. “Are you alone?”
Donghae smiled. He knew she was looking for Siwon. They had been spending a lot of time together since the party. “Yeah. I just wanted to talk to Jessica.”
“What about?” Jessica asked civilly. She and Donghae had become friends somehow. She really enjoyed talking to and spending time with him. Their conversations consisted of everything under the sun and not just boy problems. Even so, they never acknowledged each other in public.
“I saw your exam grades,” Donghae answered. “You did well.” He handed her a sheet of paper containing all her grades. There were some As and most were Bs. No Cs at all.
Jessica smiled happily. “OMG!” she gushed.
“Sica, that’s awesome!” Tiffany said, hugging her.
“Thank you for this,” Jessica said. “Thank you,” she repeated meaningfully.
Donghae nodded. “You’re welcome.”
Jessica turned to Tiffany. “Can you believe this? I actually don’t have any C grades!” she said, completely forgetting about Donghae.
“This means you won’t need tutoring anymore,” Donghae interrupted.
Jessica looked at him in surprise. “Why?”
“You already have good grades,” Donghae said. “You only need to be tutored when you’re failing and you’re not failing anymore.”
Jessica didn’t know what to say. She hadn’t expected their tutoring sessions to end. She never actually thought it would end.
Donghae smiled. “Congratulations, Jessica! See you around.” He nodded at Tiffany and walked away.
“See you around,” Jessica muttered softly, thinking if they would ever actually talk again.
“Why was the geek here?” Hankyung asked as he arrived. He gave Jessica a kiss on the cheek. Tiffany giggled.
“He’s not a geek,” Jessica corrected him, feeling annoyed. “He’s my tutor.”
“Aren’t all tutors geeks?” Hankyung said, looking confused.
Jessica closed her locker loudly and walked away.
“What’s with her?” Hankyung asked Tiffany.
~ * ~
Sungmin rang the doorbell to the Kim residence. Sunny still wasn’t talking to him and he wanted to set things straight once and for all. He wasn’t going to lose his best friend over something he didn’t even know and understand.
The door suddenly swung open and Sunny stepped out smiling. But when she saw it was him, she took a step back, her smile disappearing.
“Sunny,” Sungmin began before she could slam the door in his face. “We need to talk about whatever this is.”
“I’m busy right now,” Sunny said, starting close the door.
“Sunnyah,” Sungmin said, stopping the door and going inside the house. “You can’t avoid me forever. We’re going to talk about this now.” He closed the door.
“There’s nothing I have to say,” Sunny said.
“I know there are a lot of things you probably want to tell me,” Sungmin prodded her. “I want to understand why you’re upset.”
“I’m not upset,” she whispered, teary-eyed.
“I wish you would trust me to understand. I want you to tell me what I did to hurt you,” he pleaded.
“You didn’t do anything wrong,” she said, shaking her head. “It’s not your fault.”
“What isn’t my fault?” he pressed, stepping closer to her.
“Nothing,” Sunny said, looking at him. “Look, I’m sorry for the way I acted. I was being childish. Let’s just forget about it. I won’t avoid you anymore. Things will be back to normal, I promise.”
“That doesn’t really solve anything,” Sungmin angrily said. “Sunnyah! Just tell me! Why can’t you just tell me?” He moved closer to her and grabbed her shoulders. “What’s the problem?”
Without warning, Sunny leaned closer and kissed him.
“What - what -- ?” Sungmin stuttered, unable to form a coherent thought.
“That’s my problem,” Sunny said softly, looking at the floor. “I’ve fallen in love with my best friend.”
Sungmin merely stared at her for a few seconds then said, “Why didn’t you tell me before? I mean… how - I…” He cleared his throat.
“I didn’t want to lose our friendship,” Sunny told him. “But after this… We can’t take back what we had. Everything changes now. I’m sorry.” She paused. “You don’t have to say anything.”
And Sungmin really didn’t say anything. He just didn’t know what to say or how to start.
She gave him a forced smile, holding back her tears. “I’m really sorry.” She turned and ran upstairs.
Sungmin stood there for a whole minute. He looked up the stairs and wondered what he should do. Sunny was in love with him? Sunny was in love with him! His best friend was in love with him!
Sunny watched Sungmin in between the pillars of the staircase. She hoped that he would call her back, stop her or follow her. But he did none of those things. Instead, he walked away, leaving her heart broken.
Characters: Kyuhyun/Taeyeon/Eunhyuk, Donghae/Jessica, Sungmin/Sunny, Siwon/Tiffany
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Romance, Friendship, Comedy, Drama
“This is great!” Taeyeon said as they walked in the Cho Ji Min Center. “Granny’s going to love you.”
“Really? As much as she loves Eunhyuk and Sungmin?” Kyuhyun joked.
“Probably not as much,” Taeyeon said, chuckling.
As soon as they entered, all of the staff started bowing really respectfully. Taeyeon bowed back, glancing at Kyuhyun with confusion.
“This is weird,” she whispered to him, although she continued bowing out of respect. “They’ve never been this respectful before. I’ve only seen them do this when the owners of the place visit.”
“Huh, maybe they’ve changed the rules or something,” he replied evasively. When Taeyeon wasn’t looking, he signaled the staff to stop bowing.
A nurse approached them. She was about to bow, but Kyuhyun shook his head at her.
“How’s granny?” Taeyeon asked her.
“She’s doing well,” the nurse answered. “We moved her to a new room.”
“Again?” Taeyeon asked.
The nurse led them down the hall and showed them to her grandmother’s new room, which took Taeyeon by surprise. It was a really big and nice room. She’d never been transferred to such a room before. It was usually reserved for the really high paying families.
Taeyeon turned to the nurse. “Are you sure this is correct? We don’t really need her to be in a room like this. Just something comfortable is good enough.”
The nurse smiled, glancing at Kyuhyun. “There was an opening and we thought of your grandmother at once. She’s going to be staying here permanently.”
“Really?” Taeyeon asked in amazement. She glanced at Kyuhyun with a smile. “Are you sure there’s no charge? We really can’t afford it.”
“Compliments of the center,” the nurse told her. “Kim Mi Youngsshi is one of our favorite patients.” She bowed, more to Kyuhyun, and left the room.
Taeyeon grinned as she approached her grandmother. “Granny! This is a wonderful room, isn’t it? There’s so much space!”
Granny smiled at her. “Taeyeonah,” she said, reaching out to her.
“How are you today, gran?” Taeyeon asked, giving her a kiss on the cheek.
“Good,” Granny answered. “What happened to your leg?”
“It’s just a sprained ankle,” Taeyeon said. “I’m all better now. No need for crutches.”
“You should be more careful,” Granny said. She saw Kyuhyun.
“This is my friend, Kyuhyun,” Taeyeon introduced him.
Kyuhyun bowed. “I’m Kyuhyun. It’s nice to meet you, ma’am.”
“Please call me gran,” Granny insisted. She turned to Taeyeon. “I see you have other friends aside from Eunhyuk and Sungmin.”
“Wow, you’re in a good mood today,” Taeyeon said, impressed that she remembers a lot of things. “Yes, I do have other friends.” She chuckled.
“So tell me about yourself, Kyuhyun,” Granny said, reaching for his hand. Taeyeon waited for his answer.
Placing his hand on hers, he said, “I’m 18. I’m part of top percentile of the whole junior batch.”
“He’s a math genius,” Taeyeon told her, rolling his eyes at him.
“An academic.” She winked at Taeyeon, who laughed. “Do play any sports or instruments?” Granny went on.
“I know how to play the piano,” Kyuhyun admitted.
“You do?” Taeyeon asked in surprise.
“I haven’t played in a long time,” Kyuhyun told her.
“Well we’ll have to hear you play some time,” Granny said. “And how did you meet Taeyeon?”
Taeyeon laughed. “We met in the library. I was having a hard time with my math homework and he helped me out.”
“An interesting way to meet,” Granny said. “Are you taking care of my granddaughter?”
Kyuhyun smiled. “A lot of people are taking care of her.”
Granny nodded contentedly and leaned back on her bed. She closed her eyes as if preparing to sleep. Taeyeon turned to Kyuhyun with a smile. “We should leave,” she said softly.
They went out to take a walk in the garden.
“How long has your grandmother been sick?” Kyuhyun asked.
“About a year now,” Taeyeon answered. “She’s only been here for a couple of months. Eunhyuk’s parents pulled in a favor for us. I think they’re friends with the owners.”
“Ah,” was Kyuhyun’s reply. “I’m sure they’re taking very good care of her.”
“They are,” Taeyeon agreed. “And the new room!” she gushed. “Oppa and Sunny will be so thrilled.”
Kyuhyun smiled at this then was quiet for a second. “I noticed you don’t talk about your mom and dad. Is that deliberate?”
Taeyeon hesitated. “It’s deliberate and not deliberate at the same time. My dad left when we were 10 so I don’t know much about him. Ever since he did, my mom wasn’t the same. She was never home so there really isn’t anything I can share about my mom. We barely see her. Heechul oppa is the one who takes care of us.”
“That’s why he’s so protective of you,” Kyuhyun realized.
She smiled. “I think he’s warming up to you. He’s just not used to us having other friends other than Eunhyuk and Sungmin.”
“You mean guy friends?” he rephrased.
She chuckled and nodded. “Yes, guy friends.”
“Why is that?” he wanted to know.
“I guess it’s because he just doesn’t want us to get wooed easily and then get hurt,” she said, shrugging. “He really has nothing to worry about.”
“What do you mean?” he asked.
“I really don’t have plans of having a boyfriend any time soon,” she shared.
He chuckled. “Why?”
“I don’t know. I’ve just never really thought about it,” Taeyeon said, looking at him. “Falling in love just seems so scary, don’t you think? I mean, just watching Sunny go through it hurts me already.”
“Not all love is painful,” Kyuhyun told her.
“But at some point, you’re bound to get hurt,” Taeyeon responded. “And I really don’t think I want to go through that. Just look at what happened to my parents. They were madly in love and yet it didn’t work out.” She looked at him. “Have you ever been in love?”
“I don’t know if you would call it love,” Kyuhyun said, smirking a little. “But I’ve been in relationships.”
Taeyeon shook her head. “How would you know it’s love?”
“I think you just know when you look at a person,” Kyuhyun said, looking at her.
Taeyeon looked back at him. She never really saw how beautiful and deep his eyes were. When she realized she was staring, she looked away and cleared her throat.
“So, uh,” Taeyeon stammered. “We should go.”
Kyuhyun chuckled. “Let’s go.”
~ * ~
Donghae watched as Jessica walked towards her locker with Tiffany. When he was sure there were no other queenkas arriving, he approached them.
“Hey,” Donghae said.
Tiffany saw him first. “Donghae!” she greeted him cheerfully. She looked behind him. “Are you alone?”
Donghae smiled. He knew she was looking for Siwon. They had been spending a lot of time together since the party. “Yeah. I just wanted to talk to Jessica.”
“What about?” Jessica asked civilly. She and Donghae had become friends somehow. She really enjoyed talking to and spending time with him. Their conversations consisted of everything under the sun and not just boy problems. Even so, they never acknowledged each other in public.
“I saw your exam grades,” Donghae answered. “You did well.” He handed her a sheet of paper containing all her grades. There were some As and most were Bs. No Cs at all.
Jessica smiled happily. “OMG!” she gushed.
“Sica, that’s awesome!” Tiffany said, hugging her.
“Thank you for this,” Jessica said. “Thank you,” she repeated meaningfully.
Donghae nodded. “You’re welcome.”
Jessica turned to Tiffany. “Can you believe this? I actually don’t have any C grades!” she said, completely forgetting about Donghae.
“This means you won’t need tutoring anymore,” Donghae interrupted.
Jessica looked at him in surprise. “Why?”
“You already have good grades,” Donghae said. “You only need to be tutored when you’re failing and you’re not failing anymore.”
Jessica didn’t know what to say. She hadn’t expected their tutoring sessions to end. She never actually thought it would end.
Donghae smiled. “Congratulations, Jessica! See you around.” He nodded at Tiffany and walked away.
“See you around,” Jessica muttered softly, thinking if they would ever actually talk again.
“Why was the geek here?” Hankyung asked as he arrived. He gave Jessica a kiss on the cheek. Tiffany giggled.
“He’s not a geek,” Jessica corrected him, feeling annoyed. “He’s my tutor.”
“Aren’t all tutors geeks?” Hankyung said, looking confused.
Jessica closed her locker loudly and walked away.
“What’s with her?” Hankyung asked Tiffany.
~ * ~
Sungmin rang the doorbell to the Kim residence. Sunny still wasn’t talking to him and he wanted to set things straight once and for all. He wasn’t going to lose his best friend over something he didn’t even know and understand.
The door suddenly swung open and Sunny stepped out smiling. But when she saw it was him, she took a step back, her smile disappearing.
“Sunny,” Sungmin began before she could slam the door in his face. “We need to talk about whatever this is.”
“I’m busy right now,” Sunny said, starting close the door.
“Sunnyah,” Sungmin said, stopping the door and going inside the house. “You can’t avoid me forever. We’re going to talk about this now.” He closed the door.
“There’s nothing I have to say,” Sunny said.
“I know there are a lot of things you probably want to tell me,” Sungmin prodded her. “I want to understand why you’re upset.”
“I’m not upset,” she whispered, teary-eyed.
“I wish you would trust me to understand. I want you to tell me what I did to hurt you,” he pleaded.
“You didn’t do anything wrong,” she said, shaking her head. “It’s not your fault.”
“What isn’t my fault?” he pressed, stepping closer to her.
“Nothing,” Sunny said, looking at him. “Look, I’m sorry for the way I acted. I was being childish. Let’s just forget about it. I won’t avoid you anymore. Things will be back to normal, I promise.”
“That doesn’t really solve anything,” Sungmin angrily said. “Sunnyah! Just tell me! Why can’t you just tell me?” He moved closer to her and grabbed her shoulders. “What’s the problem?”
Without warning, Sunny leaned closer and kissed him.
“What - what -- ?” Sungmin stuttered, unable to form a coherent thought.
“That’s my problem,” Sunny said softly, looking at the floor. “I’ve fallen in love with my best friend.”
Sungmin merely stared at her for a few seconds then said, “Why didn’t you tell me before? I mean… how - I…” He cleared his throat.
“I didn’t want to lose our friendship,” Sunny told him. “But after this… We can’t take back what we had. Everything changes now. I’m sorry.” She paused. “You don’t have to say anything.”
And Sungmin really didn’t say anything. He just didn’t know what to say or how to start.
She gave him a forced smile, holding back her tears. “I’m really sorry.” She turned and ran upstairs.
Sungmin stood there for a whole minute. He looked up the stairs and wondered what he should do. Sunny was in love with him? Sunny was in love with him! His best friend was in love with him!
Sunny watched Sungmin in between the pillars of the staircase. She hoped that he would call her back, stop her or follow her. But he did none of those things. Instead, he walked away, leaving her heart broken.