The Thirteen Ways Hyukjae Tried to Confess (and the One Way he Sort of Did); Part 2/3
Eight: Siwon
“Be a gentleman.”
“Siwon, this may be the worst advice I’ve gotten so far.”
“Hey, it hasn’t failed me yet.”
“You don’t have a girlfriend.”
“I’m too busy!” Siwon made an excuse hastily.
“Sure, sure.”
“Think No Other,” Siwon suggested. “Go on a walk with her and tie her shoe or something.”
“What if her shoelace isn’t untied?”
“Er, I’m not sure what to tell you.”
“How about, guidance?” Hyukjae remarked sarcastically.
“Be a gentleman,” Siwon smiled, patting his friend on the back.
“That’s not helpful!”
-----
“Any particular reason you wanted to go for a walk?”
“Not really,” Hyukjae responded truthfully.
They strolled down the same path Hyoyeon should have walked two weeks ago.
Then I wouldn’t be in this mess.
Their arms swayed back and forth, hands just barely touching. Hyukjae wanted to hold hers so badly, but he was afraid of how she’d react. He suddenly remembered.
Be a gentleman.
Would it be so wrong to hold her hand?
Closer, closer, closer--he stretched his fingertips until they grazed hers slightly. Summoning all of his courage, he took her hand at last, intertwining his fingers in hers.
Hyoyeon looked down at their hands; she looked back up at him. “What...are you doing?”
“Do you mind?” Hyukjae smiled hesitantly.
“No,” Hyoyeon smiled back, more confident, “But what if someone sees us?”
“Oh, well,” Hyukjae shrugged nonchalantly, squeezing her hand tightly.
He never got around to confessing that day. But he felt like he was almost there.
Way Eight: Failed
Nine: Zhoumi
“Surprise her.”
“I say, surprise her.”
“Hm, I do like surprises,” Hyukjae mused. “What kind of surprise?”
“I don’t know,” Zhoumi admitted. “All I know is that girls love when good, unexpected things happen.”
“I have a plan, but it’s sort of risky.”
“Don’t we need to take risks in love sometimes?” Zhoumi said wisely.
“You’re right, you’re right...”
“Well, I hope things go okay. If you’ll excuse me, I have a shopping spree to go on with Key.”
“Why am I not surprised?” Hyukjae laughed.
“Because you shouldn’t be!”
-----
“No, you absolutely cannot do that.”
“Why not?” Hyukjae whined.
Jungsu scoffed in disbelief. “Well, hm, Hyukjae, let’s see the possible outcomes here. One, you’ll get in trouble with Sukira. Two, you’ll get in trouble with our managers. Three, you’ll get in trouble with Soo-man. Four, you’ll get in trouble with SNSD’s managers. Five, you’ll cause unnecessary publicity for both Super Junior and SNSD. Six, the ELFs--”
“Okay, I get it; there’re a lot of possibilities!”
“You can’t seriously be thinking of confessing to her on a public radio show.”
Hyukjae shook his head. “No, it’s like this. I pretend to read a fan letter from some SONE, to Hyoyeon. And it’s like some love letter, okay?
Jungsu cut him off. “Hyukjae, just promise me you won’t do something incredibly stupid.”
“I’ll try my hardest?”
-----
“Hyoyeon-sshi, what do you want to say to this SONE?” Hyukjae asked after reading the fake letter.
“I love you, SONE!” Hyoyeon grinned cutely, making a heart with her arms.
“I thought you liked someone else,” Sooyoung joked.
“What is this? Hyoyeon-sshi has another idol crush?” Jungsu jumped in, ecstatic to get the scoop first on Sukira.
The other girls giggled and hooted and hollered.
“Not really,” Hyoyeon denied with an unconvincing laugh.
And Hyukjae could no longer go on with his intended scheme once he heard she liked someone.
Way Nine: Failed
Ten: Donghae
“Play hard to get!”
Hyukjae had decided that even though Hyoyeon liked someone else, he would still at least tell her his feelings. Perhaps then, the feelings would subside and he would stop feeling guilty.
So he made the choice of asking Donghae for some tips.
“Really, Donghae?”
“Yeah! Play hard to get!”
Hyukjae rolled his eyes. “How is that working out with you and Jessica?”
“...It’s not working out very well, now that you bring it up.”
“So what makes you think it’ll work for me?” Hyukjae smacked the boy’s head.
“Don’t girls like the chase? Running? And all that?”
“Do I look like a girl to you?”
Donghae opened his mouth. “Don’t you dare answer my question.” he closed it.
“The Mnet Asian Music Awards are tonight,” Donghae nudged his pal. “It gives you a chance to ignore her.”
“I already know this won’t work.”
“Tenth time’s the charm, right?”
“Third, Donghae. Third.”
“Third? Is that really the saying?”
“Yes.”
-----
Playing hard to get was no easy task.
Especially when the girl you had to not associate with was a talkative, bubbly, funny, pretty, beautiful, dancer.
Hyukjae learned this quickly. During the ending, all the artists gathered on the stage and mingled around. Thankfully, there was no sign of Hyoyeon.
But then, there she was, in the flesh, looking stunning in her stage costume and her curly blonde ponytail.
She started to dance next to him. And he shortly apprehended the fact that she was trying to get him to dance with her. He mentally punched himself and walked away from her, going over to Sooyoung instead.
“Why aren’t you with Hyoyeon?” she posed her question.
“I’m not obsessed with her, you know!”
“...”
“Is it obvious?” Hyukjae lowered his voice.
“Not at all,” she grinned mischievously, swiveling her head around. “But you know, she’s over there talking to Doojoon.”
“Where?!”
“Kidding,” Sooyoung snorted. “I don’t think playing hard to get is your thing.”
“I agree.”
“Don’t beat yourself up about it.”
“There goes number ten...”
“What?”
“Nothing!”
Way Ten: Failed