[Fanfiction] You're Still Beautiful [1/?]
Title: You're Still Beautiful
Author: writetress
Pairing: Tae-kyung/Mi-nyeo
Rating: T
Summary: Tae-kyung's life as he awaits for Mi-nyeo's return from Africa and the journey and drama they all have together growing in acceptance, friendship, and love. My sequel to the drama You're Beautiful.
Disclaimer: I do not own You're Beautiful.
A/N: This story is basically what I would have liked to see happen if there had been a season 2 of You're Beautiful (Mother Superior do I ever wish there was a season 2). I'd like to thank junmaolove for commenting on my first YB story! Thanks! Please comment if you like! Thank you, writetress
You're Still Beautiful
Tae-kyung laid on his back in bed staring up at the ceiling, three weeks had passed since he had dropped off Mi-neyo at the airport for Africa and it was now 2 o’clock in the afternoon. He didn’t have any recordings to do, no A.N. JELL appearances, no interviews, the day was his for the taking and it was the most stressful day of his life so far. Mi-nyeo had called at least once each day since she left but now for two days she hadn’t….
He glanced down at the mobile phone in his hands for the second or maybe hundredth time today. “Why is that stupid pig-rabbit not calling?” he grumbled under his breath. He got up and paced over to his pig-rabbit doll glaring down at it. “You know what, fine. Don’t call I got loads of stuff to do after all I am the biggest and brightest star.” He looked around his room. “I’ll just…I’ll just sort out my desk!”
Tae-kyung walked over to his already perfectly organized desk and started looking through the draws, while doing this he came across an airplane ticket for Rome. He picked it up looking at it oddly. “Why do I have a ticket for Rome…” Then he remembered,”….oh, it’s that ticket that weird nun dropped…I forgot I put it in here after being occupied by Go Mi-nyeo almost destroying my room,” he raised it up ready to tear it into two and throw it away but then his eyes narrowed and his eyebrows came together. “Wait a minute, that nun now that I think about it she reminds me of someone..,” his eyes widened,”…was that weird nun…pig-rabbit?”
He stared down at the ticket in his hands in shock and then a couple of minutes later walked over to the pig-rabbit and placed the ticket in its lap. “There I returned it to its owner…sort of.”
Walking back to the bed he sat down on the edge staring at the pig-rabbit with the airplane ticket and then he rested his face into the palms of his hands and let out a deep sigh.
“It’s alright to be sad.”
Tae-kyung let out a strangled yelp at the sudden presence of someone in his room, he looked up to see President Ahn standing in front of him, his eyes squinting in sympathy as he looked down at him.
“What are you doing here?” Tae-kyung exclaimed, quickly feeling irritated by the invasion of privacy. “Does my door say welcome, come on in? No, it doesn’t! You can’t just waltz on in here!”
President Ahn didn’t seem to be paying attention to anything Tae-kyung was saying instead he sat down next to him on the bed and draped his arm around Tae-kyung’s shoulders in a supposedly comforting gesture. “It’s alright to be sad,” President Ahn repeated.
Tae-kyung glared at the offending arm touching his shoulder. “What are you talking about?” he said barely keeping his calm.
“I know you’re missing her, it’s perfectly normal,” said President Ahn.
Tae-kyung turned his head away from President Ahn’s unwavering gaze, he crossed his arms. “I’m…I’m not missing her,” he said rather unconvincingly,”….maybe a little,” he added on quickly.
President Ahn patted his shoulder. “I know it’s not easy, especially since she’s kind of seeing Go Mi-nam now.”
Tae-kyung twisted his neck around in an instant, he stared blankly at President Ahn as he blinked several times. “S-seeing Go Mi-nam?” he choked out.
President Ahn continued on with his misplaced advice. “I mean Yoo He Yi was your first love, it’s going to take time.” Tae-kyung’s eyes grew wide as he suddenly realized who President Ahn thought he was missing. “Is that the reason things are strained between you and Go Mi-nam? Because of He Yi? I mean you and Go Min-nam use to be tight and now you barely speak to him. You can’t let a girl get between your guy’s friendships…between A.N. JELL.”
Tae-kyung bolted off the bed, his lips in a thin line as he glared down at President Ahn. “I am not missing Yoo He Yi! I can’t stand her!”
President Ahn shook his head with a tsk-tsk. “It’s not good to act angry just to hide your true feelings.”
Tae-kyung’s nostrils flared as he pointed to himself. “These are my true feelings! I can’t stand that fake spoiled princess! Go Min-nam is more than welcome to date her! I don’t want anything to do with her!”
President Ahn sat in silence for a couple of minutes then narrowed his eyes. “If that’s true….then who were you talking about earlier? Who were you missing?”
Tae-kyung’s eyes bulged out, he looked around the room fidgeting as he tried to avoid President Ahn’s curious stare. What could he say? President Ahn didn’t know about Go Mi-nyeo, well he did in a way as Shin-woo’s pretend girlfriend….ex-girlfriend. He had to say something quick. “J-Jolie,” he blurted out.
“Jolie?” President Ahn repeated in his dumbfounded state. “Jeremy’s dog? You were missing a dog?”
“Y-yes,” Tae-kyung stuttered, twitching nervously in place,” she…she’s grown on me over the years and I was just thinking how I haven’t…spent much time with her,” he finished lamely.
“Denial isn’t just a river in Egypt, Tae-kyung.”
“I’m not in denial,” Tae-kyung hissed clenching his fists at his side.
“Really, Tae-kyung?” said President Ahn giving him a look.
Tae-kyung just gapped at him opening and closing his mouth speechless at President Ahn exasperating behavior, finally he couldn’t take it anymore. “It was all a sham!” he blurted out. “I was never dating Yoo He Yi! It was all a publicity act! That little “national fairy” blackmailed me into it!” he finished heaving.
“Blackmailed you?” questioned President Ahn.
“Yes! She found out-“he suddenly cut off and started again awkwardly,”….something..she wasn’t supposed to find out and threatened to tell the world about this…something if I didn’t pretend to be her boyfriend.”
“Believe what you want to believe, Tae-kyung,” said President Ahn in pity.
Tae-kyung blinked. “E-excuse me?” he crossed his arms. “You…you think I just made all that up?”
“Of course, come on Tae-kyung that sounds like something out of a drama that doesn’t happen in real life. But if believing that helps you cope-“
“It’s the truth!” Tae-kyung blew up at him.
“Sure, whatever you say Tae-kyung,” said President Ahn being as thick as ever, he got up from the bed and gave Tae-kyung one last pitiful look before he exited his room.
Tae-kyung’s voice could be heard booming down the hallway.
“I’M NOT IN DENIAL!”
“AND GO MI NAM HAS HORRIBLE TASTE IN WOMEN!”
Tae-kyung laid on his back on the bed holding his pig-rabbit doll above him. “Can you believe him Pig-rabbit?” he grumbled to it. “He thought I was lying! That I was in denial! He’s the one in denial!” he glanced down at his silent mobile phone lying on his bed. “And why isn’t she calling!” he exclaimed shaking the pig-rabbit.
Tae-kyung’s mobile phone suddenly started ringing as if it heard him, he quickly dropped the pig-rabbit scurrying across the bed to pick up the mobile phone his face filled with anticipation. This anticipation didn’t last long as his face turned sour as he saw a phone number he didn’t know listed as calling and not Mi-nyeo’s phone number. “Why does this phone number I don’t know keep calling me?” he complained aloud.
Tae-kyung didn’t answer phone numbers he didn’t know because there were times when fans or reporters would somehow get his number and harass him. He quickly tossed the phone aside and listened as it continued ringing then went silent again.
Tae-kyung picked up the pig-rabbit and continued talking to it. “This little piggy went to the market, this little piggy stayed at home, this little piggy had roast beef, this little piggy had none, and this little piggy-rabbit,” he said grabbing the pig-rabbit’s foot shaking it in frustration,” went to Africa going “Wee! Wee! Wee!” I’m not going to call Tae-kyung because I’m an ungrateful little pig-rabbit!”
“Are you talking to a stuffed animal?” said a voice. “Aren’t you a little too old for that?”
Tae-kyung jumped in place and looked up to see Go Mi-nam standing in the doorway giving him an odd look. This being the real Go Mi-nam and not his pig-rabbit dressed up as a boy. It was still a bit weird seeing Go Mi-nam he looked so similar to his twin sister but there were definitely differences, for one he didn’t make Tae-kyung feel strangely happy. This Go Mi-nam made him feel annoyed…well so did his sister but she annoyed him in a useful way that he didn’t mind as much.
Tae-kyung quickly put the pig-rabbit down and raised an eyebrow at him. “Did I say you could enter my room?”
“I’m not in your room, I’m in your doorway,” Go Mi-nam replied crossing his arms.
Tae-kyung rubbed his lips together in his trademark smirk and narrowed his eyes.
Mi-nam leaned against the doorframe. “President Ahn sent me in here, said you and I should do some male bonding.”
Tae-kyung scoffed at him. “I’m not going to the spa with you and scrubbing your back.”
“I share the sentiment,” said Mi-nam dryly.
“Leave.”
Mi-nam sighed. “I would but President Ahn is in the living room and he expects me to stay in here for at least thirty minutes or else he will send us to the spa together.”
Tae-kyung was not pleased, he stared Mi-nam down and then crossed his arms looking away. “Fine.”
Mi-nam walked into the room and took a seat at Tae-kyung’s desk occupying himself by whirling back and forth in the chair.
Tae-kyung kept glancing at him. “Would you stop doing that!”
Mi-nam stopped spinning in the chair putting his hands up. “Okay, sorry hyung-nim.”
Tae-kyung’s eyes went wide. “I told you don’t call me hyung-nim!”
“What do you want me to call you? Hyung?”
“No…call me Hwang Tae-kyung.”
“So, Hwang Tae-kyung,” began Mi-nam,” I’m guessing from the side comments made by Jeremy hyung-nim, Shin-woo hyung-nim, and He Yi and the way you ran off to find my sister before the concert and hugged her in front of thousands of fans that you have a thing for her. And she has a thing for you?” he said the last part with uncertainty and disbelief.
Tae-kyung raised an eyebrow at his tone.
“It’s just I’m surprised you don’t seem like my sister’s type, I mean you’re so….,” Mi-nam seemed to be trying to find the right word,”….you’re so you.”
“Which means?” Tae-kyung asked through clenched teeth.
“Just that…um…I don’t know,” said Mi-nam shrugging his shoulders,” if she was going to be with anyone I would have thought she would have fallen for…I don’t know…Shin-woo? If not him, Jeremy.”
“Well, I am her type,” retorted Tae-kyung. “Guess you don’t know your twin sister that well.”
Mi-nam narrowed his eyes at that. “By the way, President Ahn mentioned how I stayed and slept in this room with you for a couple of weeks, what’s that about?”
“It’s all your I-have-no-respect-for-personal-space aunt’s fault. She just decided to freeload here which left Go Mi-nam….,” Tae-kyung glanced at Go Mi-nam and cleared his throat,”…Go Mi-nyeo without a room.”
“And you just decided it’d be best for her to stay with you with no alterative motive in mind?”
“Me!” exclaimed Tae-kyung with a grimace. “She’s the one that forced me to room with her! If anyone had an alternative motive it was her!”
“Yeah, my sister….the nun apprentice had the alternative motive,” Mi-nam said giving Tae-kyung an are-you-kidding-me look.
The rest of the thirty minutes was spent in tense silence after that Tae-kyung tried to occupy himself by trying to compose a new song on the piano but he only ended up singing the mountain rabbit song and planting his face into the piano keys. Next thing he tried was watching TV that didn’t turn out well either….
Tae-kyung turned on the TV that just happened to be on the animal channel.
“Today on The Animal Channel Africa’s most deathly creatures,” said the announcer on the TV.
Tae-kyung’s eyes went wide. “What the-“
“The hippopotamus may seem like a gentle creature floating in the waters of Africa but it is anything but. The hippopotamus is an extremely territorial and aggressive creature with a gigantic crushing jaw, it is very easily provoked and will not hesitate to attack a nearby human and a person cannot escape them on land as they can run over twenty miles an hour.”
Tae-kyung stared at the TV screen stunned as he watched a hippopotamus attack, he gulped making his Adam’s apple bounce.
“The Nile crocodile a reptile that can grow up to over ten feet long often attack humans standing near the riverbanks. They will often get a hold of their prey and hold them underwater until they drown.”
Tae-kyung gasped and grabbed a pillow holding it close to his chest.
“The lion not a kitty-cat to mess with especially with a pack of lionesses, the hunters of the pride. They do not generally hunt humans but some lions are not called man-eaters for nothing and will often strangle their prey to death with their jaws and teeth.”
Tae-kyung started breathing heavier as his grip tightened around the pillow.
“The elephant you don’t want to be in this 12,000 pound animal’s path when it goes in a stampede, much less a whole herd. The males can be aggressive without really being provoked and will trample a poor soul to death.”
Tae-kyung cringed while his hands shook and he watched on in horror.
“The mosquito the most dangerous of Africa’s creatures, though you may laugh, they are responsible for killing millions in Africa though the transfer of the disease of Malaria that they carry and give to their hosts. You don’t want to be bitten by these silent killers.”
Tae-kyung eyes grew abnormally wide as he began to imagine Mi-nyeo running for her life through the savanna being chased by hippos, crocodiles, lions, elephants, and a swarm of mosquitoes while she screamed, “Hyung-nim! Hyung-nim! Help! Help me!”
Tae-kyung leapt off the couch his eyes stricken with panic. “What was I thinking allowing her go to Africa?” he said talking to himself. “Pig-rabbit’s so accident prone she makes a bathroom seem dangerous now she’s in Africa! Africa of all places!” He quickly fumbled around for his phone and dialed her number only to hear a message that her phone was out of service.
Tae-kyung stared at the phone in disbelief. “Why is her phone out of service?” he stared off into space. “Maybe it’s in a crocodile,” he shook his head,” no, no! I’m being irrational she always makes me irrational. I’m not that way, I’m cool, I’m calm. She’s fine, no reason to panic she’s with other people surely they wouldn’t let her get into too much trouble…..she’s fine,” he exhaled. “I need some water.”
Tae-kyung opened the fridge and got a bottle of water and took a swing of it, at this moment Jeremy entered the kitchen.
“Hi, hyung!” he said brightly as he got into the fridge to get some juice. “What you up to?”
“Drinking water,” Tae-kyung said shortly.
Jeremy took a sip of his juice and sighed. “I miss Go Mi-nam…I mean Go Mi-nyeo.”
“Uh-huh,” said Tae-kyung taking another swing.
“I mean it was so much more fun around here with her. I miss going to the food market with her, doing band rehearsals with her, the way she called you hyung-nim and the way we all played at the park. She’s the only one that would eat spicy food with me, I mean it bothers Shin-woo’s stomach, and you’re allergic to most the things on their menu and Go Mi-nam….,” Jeremy’s face twisted into a frown,”…I don’t want to hang out with him! He’s stealing my fans! You know, with him around here it’s like a consistent reminder that his sister isn’t here and-“
“Jeremy?” said Tae-kyung interrupting.
“Yeah, hyung?”
“Shut up.”
Finally it was nighttime and Tae-kyung was glad to see this stressful day come to an end, only there was a problem as he laid in bed with the light on.
“I. can’t. sleep,” Tae-kyung groaned, every time he closed his eyes he saw Mi-neyo running from some creature. Glancing at his clock he saw it was three in the morning, he groaned again. He sat up in bed and looked over at where the pig-rabbit was. “This is all your fault,” he got up out of bed and picked it up. “Pig-rabbit tonight you have the honor of sleeping in bed with me, you should feel very grateful.”
He got back into bed holding the pig-rabbit doll in his arms. “I’m not going to turn the light off, you just have to cover your eyes,” he said then put his hand over the pig-rabbit’s eyes. “Go to sleep,” he said more to himself than the pig-rabbit.
The next day Tae-kyung sat in the make-up chair getting ready for an A.N.JELL’s photo shoot, while Jeremy kept looking at him strangely.
“What?” snapped Tae-kyung.
“Hyung,” said Jeremy stepping closer to him, he reached out a finger and poked at a spot under his eyes,” you have dark circles under your eyes.”
“Really, I didn’t notice,” Tae-kyung said gripping the arms of the chair.
Jeremy backed away from him making a face. “Sorry, Mr. Grumpy.”
“Couldn’t sleep?” asked Shin-woo sitting in another chair against the wall. “You should have told me I could have made you some herbal tea, Tae-kyung.”
“I don’t need any stinking herbal tea.”
Just then Mi-nam walked into the room holding his mobile phone against his ear as he talked to someone, his eyes filled with an aura of warm concern as he listened to the caller. “Are you doing alright?” he said softly into the receiver.
Tae-kyung sneered at him. “Talking to that demon fairy again,” he called out.
Mi-nam glared at him quickly putting a hand over the receiver. “If you must know,” a smug smirk formed on his lips,” I’m talking to my sister.”
Tae-kyung started choking on air, his eyes going wide. “Your sister!” he cried out. In an instant he got out of the chair and grabbed the phone from Mi-nam before he even knew what was happening.
Mi-nam stared down in shock at his empty hand. “Hey, you just can’t-“
Tae-kyung gripped the phone firmly in hand holding it up to his ear, his eyes ablaze and mouth in a tight grimace. “Oh, I guess you have the time to call your brother but not me, huh?” he barked into the phone.
There was a couple of moments of silence on the other end. “Hyung-nim?” came Mi-nyeo’s soft voice sounding confused.
“Oh, you do remember me?” he retorted.
“Of course, I remember you hyung-nim,” came Mi-nyeo’s voice again. “I called you but you never answered my calls.”
Tae-kyung blinked. “What?” he hissed. “That’s a lie! I haven’t seen your number listed on my phone for the past two days!”
Mi-nyeo didn’t answer immediately. “Well…I…I sorta dropped my phone in the toilet and it went down,” she said her voice small and feeble with embarrassment. “So I’ve been using my friend’s phone to call.”
Tae-kyung’s eyes popped open, he tilted his head to the side. “That number that kept calling….that was you?” he breathed in disbelief. His eyes narrowed as he suddenly noticed an annoying beeping sound. “What’s that beeping in the background?”
“The IV machine,” answered Mi-neyo simply.
“Oh, the IV….,” he suddenly cut off as his eyes went even wider than before,”….the IV machine! Go Mi-nyeo where are you?”
Go Mi-nyeo’s next words made him stop breathing.
“I’m in the hospital, hyung-nim.”