unlock
Unlock
pairing: junho/suzy
rating: pg
genre: war!au, slice of life, hints of romance
words: 5 810
a/n: based on this, part 3 of course. Sorry if this was a mess. OTP feels are everywhere.
The world is plain and dull,
The colours we could see are just the plain shades of gray and other dull colours.
Ah, what a boring world we are living in,
Where even a spark of happiness is hard to come across.
And the sounds we could hear were just hums and some clatter.
What kind of world is this?
Suzy drank a glass filled with mild beer in just one chug. She swallowed hard before setting the glass down on the bar slowly. She gave out a small burp before continuing to watch the old TV. She was busy watching an old, super old, performance by an unknown band. She knew that it was actually illegal for her to watch those kind if shows since it was prohibited. Any form of entertainment was prohibited. Suzy disliked the rules set up by the government ever since the war started. What a boring life, her thoughts echoed almost all the time.
To her, music can bring her happiness. But with such ban, happiness was something rare, extremely rare, for her. Something delicate and fragile. It’s been a while since she could smile like she meant it.
Even though the war was nearing an end, no sign of the ban being lift was heard.
All of a sudden, the TV broke down again and she couldn’t watch the TV anymore. “Ahjussi! The TV is broken again,” she groaned out loud again at the bar owner. She doesn’t mind since she’s the only customer there. Who would care, though?
The bar owner got up from fixing a lights decoration and walked across the room. “Well, you should stop watching that. My license has just been renewed. I can’t risk another closing order from the government. You know the drill.” He said as he went to a generator. He pulled the generator so that the lights decoration and the TV could be working again. Fortunately, the generator started to grumble and produce power supply again. Thank God.
“They already made jets for people to fly to the moon, but they couldn’t provide us business owners a mere 250-volt of electricity,” the bar owner mumbled as Suzy continued to watch the TV. Cheapskate leaders, she thought
Junho grabbed the screwdriver and screwed the very last piece of screw onto the device he was making. Then, he was finally finished. He left it on the table for a while and made his way to the pantry as he wanted to eat some cup ramen. All that work really made him famished.
Once he finished making ramen, he went back to the lab. Suddenly, he found his friend messing around with his creation. He quickly went to his friend before grabbing the device away from him. “Yah Kyungsoo-ah! I’ve told you to not touch my stuff, at all.” He told at his friend.
“Look here, there’s a cassette inside of it. It can play music, you know?” Kyungsoo told Junho about his discovery before Junho grabbed it away from him.
He quickly shoved it inside of his pocket before telling him, “Don’t play around with music. You do know about what can happen, right?” he quickly reminded him.
“Well, you just don’t know music yet.” His friend laughed as he scratched the back of his head. Kyungsoo felt weird that Junho hated music, and he didn’t know why. “Junho-ah, Professor Kang called you just now. He wants to meet you in his office as soon as possible.” He quickly reminded Junho.
Junho let out a sigh before grabbing his sling bag and went off to the office. He kind of knew why though. The professor must be mad at him. After realizing that, he quickly made his way to the office from his dorm.
Once he had arrived at the office, he gulped as the professor turned around to face him. Professor Kang gave a stern face to him before asking, “Why are your grades so low?” he said as he shoved a stack of papers to Junho. “You should do well if you want to graduate. I’ve already recommended you to the government for the project. Don’t let me down.”
“Well, other subjects bore me.” He mumbled quietly but Professor Kang managed to listen to it anyway.
“Yah you little brat! Listen, I can cancel that recommendation at any time I want to. So, if you don’t want to lose that opportunity, you should be studying.” His professor reminded him angrily before dismissing Junho from his office.
Junho walked out from his office without feeling guilty. “Shesh. As if studying brings me any good.” He mumbled out loud.
Junho put on his baseball helmet and grabbed a bat as he made his way to the pitch. He positioned himself as he waited for the ball to be thrown. All of a sudden, a ball flew past him and was caught by the catcher. “Hey! Weren’t you paying any attention?” his classmates yelled at him. He kept his focus on the ball as he waited for the second throw.
The ball was thrown. When it was close enough, Junho swung his bat and the ball flew across the field. Junho didn’t expect that the ball could fly so far.
All of a sudden, the ball landed on a girl’s left hand and a loud thud could be heard. Everyone quickly made their way to the girl. Suddenly, the left hand was giving off voltage flickers. It was broken. The girl passed out and fell down.
“Junho! Look at what you have done!” his friends yelled at him.
The girl kept on holding onto her broken, mechanical hand which was giving her pain. “Ouch, my hand hurts.” She groaned out loud as Junho sat beside her. Junho could feel guilt overwhelming him. Well, Junho was the one who sent the ball flying at her.
“Are you okay?” he asked her worrying. “Does it hurt a lot?”
She turned around to face him with glaring eyes. She was mad at him for making her feel the pain she’s having. “Well, have you ever actually seen any healthy person acting this way?” she asked him sarcastically.
Junho was surprised at her reaction. “Well, you could have actually avoided it.” He mumbled loudly. “Besides, I was in class.” He said as he leaned back on the seat, ignoring the looks from her.
She glared at him before she heard name being called by the nurse. “Bae Suzy. Please come in.” she stood up nervously and made her way to the ward. She doesn’t like dealing with doctors. Plus, the smell of medicine was not her favorite scent.
Bae Suzy? What an interesting name, Junho thought to himself.
Right before Suzy went in the ward, she whipped around to face him. “Don’t try to run away. If my hand can’t work anymore, you need to pay for the new one.” She told him as she held her broken hand up, threatening him.
Junho smirked at her before saying, “I’m not promising anything.” She rolled her eyes at him and went inside to get her treatment.
Suzy looked at the bill she just has received. The treatment cost her 5000 dollars. She sighed quietly as she mumbled about the price being too expensive for her. Quickly, she fished out her wallet from her backpack and looked inside. Unfortunately, nothing was inside of her wallet. She sighed again as she looked at Junho with stern eyes.
“You will have to pay for it.” She said as she showed the bill right in front of his face. He gave her a look. Ignoring him, she took out her mirror and looked at it. She fixed her hair while Junho was looking at her. Suddenly, Junho stood up abruptly and pointed at her mirror.
“Wh… what’s that?” he asked her nervously. He was sure that the mirror was something really important back then.
“This?” she asked as she held up her mirror for him to look. “This is my mirror.”
Without any hesitation, Junho pulled her up from the seat and brought her away from the hospital.
The door of the elevator opened and Junho went inside, with Suzy trailing behind him. Junho pushed the buttons of the elevator so that they can go to the year of 2012 floor. They were at the Museum of Technology and Electronic Development. Being a big fan of gadgets, Junho always spends his time here to admire the technology of the old times. He can even memorize the names of gadgets available there.
“You see, in the early of the 20th century, music was played differently and yet openly. Music was stored in hardware devices and can be played where ever they go. It’s quite interesting, actually.” He paused as he looked at the device in Suzy’s hand before continuing, “Unfortunately, when the wars started, all those devices were destroyed with no trace left behind.”
Suzy looked at him talking about the techy stuff. It actually bored her. Weirdo. She let out a small sigh before mumbling, “What a nerd.” Thankfully, Junho was busy explaining to her about the past that he couldn’t hear her. Upon realizing it, she chuckled quietly. Naïve.
All of a sudden, the door of the elevator opened and Junho pulled Suzy inside. He took her to a shelf where they showed a collection of devices that could play music and videos a long time ago. He scanned around the shelf awhile, searching for a particular something, before finally settling onto a display where there was only a picture.
It was named, ‘iPhone’.
Junho glanced at Suzy before explaining, “Look. There’s only a picture of the iPhone...” He paused before continuing, “…But you have the exact device in your hands. Well that shows how precious that device is.” He crossed his arms over his chest. She looked at him, who was puffing his cheeks. “What?”
Suzy looked at the information printed on the display and asked him, “But why should I contact the government if I have one?” She gave him a confused look as she fished out the iPhone from her pocket. She stared at it for a while before looking straight at Junho, waiting for an explanation.
He thought about it for a bit before nodding. “There’s a part inside of the iPhone. The name is SIM chip. It’s actually very important for the defense system right now. If it’s for sale, it could be worth of 100,000 dollars…”
Suzy’s eyes grew wider when she heard of the price. “100,000 dollars?” she exclaimed out loud. “Where should I sell it?” she asked him.
Junho blinked his eyes confusedly at her. For a girl, she sure does have a thing for money. “Well… I…” he was hesitant to tell her about it. It was supposed to be a secret. Top secret, even.
Suzy groaned as she held out her mended hand right in front of his face. “Tell me where I should sell it. You still have to pay for my hospital bills too, you know.” A small smirk quickly appeared on her face as she stared at Junho’s pair of small eyes. Junho stared at her too.
After fighting off glares from each other, Junho admitted his defeat. Like it or not, he must bring her to the place where she could sell her iPhone. He was surprised to meet such a hard-headed girl. He could feel that Suzy was celebrating her win quietly. He sighed again as he lead her way out from the museum. Weirdo.
They walked around the dark, gloomy hallways of an abandoned building. Orange lights were illuminated from the lights at the ceiling. It was a bit humid too. Suzy and Junho walked around the area until Junho stopped in front of a small opening.
“Suzy,” he called her out since Suzy was already far in front of him. Suzy went backwards and stood beside him. “So, here’s the place,” He said as he led the way inside the small opening to another hallway. At the end of the hallway, lies a room.
He pointed his finger at the room. “That’s where I usually go if I want to exchange something for money.” He paused before continuing, “Be careful though. The dealer can be dangerous if you can’t talk to him properly. He has a short temper,” he said the last sentence quietly, almost like a whisper. Suzy nodded gently after listening that.
All of a sudden, Junho grabbed the iPhone from Suzy before telling her, “I should go inside. You stay here. He’s too dangerous for you.” He said as he went inside the room slowly, with Suzy kept looking at him. He gave her an assuring smile before entering the room. Suzy rolled her eyes at Junho for making her feel like she’s a little kid.
“I’m not a kid.” She mumbled to herself. You don’t know what I can do, she thought to herself.
Once he entered, a guard came near him, grabbing him, and pulled him to the leader’s table. Behind the table, a large leather chair spun around and a middle-aged man faced Junho. “And what do you need?” he asked with a dangerous look on his face.
Junho gulped, calmly handled the situation. “I guess you needed this once?” he said as he held out Suzy’s iPhone from his pocket. By then, he was sure that he had the dealer’s attention in his hands. He put down the iPhone slowly on the table. Then, Junho backed away a few steps before the dealer picked up the iPhone. He examined it slowly before a satisfied smile was spread across his face. No, it was a grin. An evil grin.
“This is an interesting find you have here, little kid.” The dealer said as he stood up, instructing his guard to take something from a small room. “Is 5,000 dollars fine with you?” he asked Junho for confirmation.
Junho glanced outside the room to meet Suzy’s eyes. Suzy held her hand ups and making a 10 sign. She wanted 100,000 dollars. Junho gulped again. If that’s the price the dealer said, then that’s what you will get. No bargaining of whatsoever. He sighed under his breath before nodding his head slowly. He agreed to the price.
The guard came back from the room; it must be a store, with a large sling bag in his hands. He glanced at the dealer before he gave Junho the bag. It was heavy. Junho took the bag straightaway and looked inside. It was definitely money. Thank God. Junho thanked the dealer and went outside to meet Suzy.
He gave the bag to her and explained, “Well, here you go. It’s 5,000 dollars…”
“5,000 dollars? I thought you said it could be 100,000 dollars!”
“Well, err… I -,”
“That’s it, I’m coming in.” Suzy said as she stormed inside the room to meet the dealer. Junho followed her from behind, forcing her to stop whatever she was going to do.
Suzy stood in front of the dealer and his guard as she held her hand out. “I need that thing back, please.” She said as she motioned for the iPhone.
The dealer raised an eyebrow at her. “So you are the owner of this thing, eh?” he paused as he looked at Suzy. A smirk quickly grew on his face. “Sorry but once sold, you can’t get it back. It’s the rules. It’s the common etiquette.”
All of a sudden, Junho shoved Suzy away from the dealer. He faced the dealer before telling, “I’m really sorry. This friend of mine really cares - cared - about that thing. So she had a problem about selling it.” He said as he looked at Suzy with eyes that told her to back off. “We are going now.”
Junho pulled Suzy away from the dealer as they went out. But Suzy quickly pulled her hands away from Junho’s grasp and went back to the dealer. She wanted her iPhone back. It’s the only thing that contains the precious, limited memories of her parents. Without it, she couldn’t remember a thing about her parents.
Her plans didn’t work when the guard stood in front of her, blocking her way. The guard held her left hand with a strong grip. It hurt Suzy since it was just mended, and this angered Suzy as well as Junho. Junho quickly grabbed Suzy away from the guard and directly stared at the guard. He knew how powerless he was compared to the guard, so he knew that he might be beaten up.
All of a sudden, he could feel a hard punch landed right on his stomach and it sent him flying backwards. Unable to do anything since it was all in a flash, he fell down on his back. All he could feel was numbness and he couldn’t even move.
Junho fell unconscious.
Upon seeing this, Suzy’s anger was definitely boiling up. She went back to the guard and stood right in from of him. Suzy was just little beside such a tall, well-built man like the guard was. But it didn’t matter to her. She lifted her left hand and held her fist. Almost instantly, she punched the guard right in the face.
What people didn’t know was that she had a super left hand. The power it had was definitely incredible. For that, her punch was so strong it could literally send people flying. Her hand was definitely one of the biggest secret projects by the government. Initially, she didn’t like it. I’m not their lab rat. But later she realized that maybe, just maybe, her robotic hand might be useful.
The guard flew across the room and slammed right into a wall. He fell down on the floor, lying unconscious. The dealer stood up nervously as he tried to back away from the scene. But Suzy noticed him so she quickly went to his side, stopping him from any more movements.
“My stuff, hand it over.” She said and he quickly gave the iPhone to her. She gave him a smirk before punching him too. The dealer fell down as he held his throbbing stomach, unable to move due to the extreme pain.
Suzy slipped her old iPhone into her pocket and grabbed some of the money from the bag too. After all, she could use the money. She walked over to where Junho lied and crouched down to meet his face.
“Yah idiot, I’ve told you I can handle this myself,” she said as she sighed. Then, she looked around him and found something that caught her attention.
A cassette. A cassette that could play the melodies that couldn’t be played nowadays. And it definitely plays music, which Suzy really liked. She found herself smiling.
“You have so many surprises, Junho.”
Junho blinked his eyes a few times before he could be comfortable with the surroundings. He tried to register what happened to him before. He looked around and saw that he was on top of a car’s hood. He quickly stood up and looked behind. He saw Suzy fiddling around with wires of the car.
“What happened? I can’t remember a thing.” He asked Suzy worriedly as he went inside the car and sat right next to her.
Suzy looked at him for a moment before continuing her work. “The guard knocked you down with just a single blow,” she said in a mocking fashion. She still couldn’t believe that Junho was that easy to fall unconscious. She connected the wires of the car before the car could start. She ignited the engines and thankfully, the car began to work.
Instantly, she took out the cassette from her pocket and pushed it inside the cassette player of the car. In a few seconds, music started to play.
“Turn it down, we could be punished,” he whispered, warning her, as he looked around for anything suspicious. “Music is illegal.”
“We’re at an old car dumpster, no one will come here. The government won’t care.” She said as she leaned down her seat. She began to lie down. “Just enjoy the music. Try to relax for a bit.” She paused, enjoying the serene hum of the music. “There’s no need to rush in life.”
Suzy closed her eyes so that she could enjoy the music better. Junho looked at her before he copied what Suzy did. He leaned down on his seat and closed his eyes. To his surprise, he was actually enjoying the music.
Never in his whole life had he enjoyed listening to music, due to the fear of being caught. He feared of being wrong. Through that, he believed that music was always something bad and illegal. They corrupted his naïve mind.
But now, with the help from Suzy, music definitely brought a new meaning for him. Music opened up his mind. Junho fell in love with music.
It was a magical moment for Junho.
Junho was fiddling around with the iPhone while listening to Suzy’s story.
“It was when I was 5 years old when I got this iron hand.” She said as she held up her left hand, admiring it. “It was hard for me at first, since it was very heavy. Then, a doctor came to me while smiling. He gave me that thing. He said that it was from my parents. And that’s the only thing I remember. I wasn’t sure myself that I had parents before. Nothing came to my mind. It’s the only thing to remind me, the only clue.” She said sadly as she slowly walked over to where Junho was sitting.
Junho looked at her. “I think I can repair this thing. It will be a little hard, though. But I will try my best.” All of a sudden, Suzy grabbed the iPhone from him.
“I think I’d prefer it to be just a mirror.”
“Just let me repair it!” he insisted.
She then turned around, as if she just remembered something.
“You said you needed a power of 250 volts, right?”
He nodded slowly.
“I think I know where you could get that.”
“…I’m from Kirin University, majoring in Music Resistance.” Junho introduced himself to the bar owner. The bar owner, Mr. Lee, smiled at him and nodded slowly.
“Ah, I see,” Mr. Lee paused for a moment before continuing, “So, can you really fix it?”
Junho nodded his head, proving that he can. Then, he turned the wrench as he fixed the generator. After a few moments, he finally finished fixing the generator. He stood up to allow Mr. Lee to see it himself. He waited the cue from Mr. Lee before he pulled the string of the generator to start the machine.
At first, Junho failed to start the generator. Mr. Lee snickered before saying, “See? No wonder you aren’t strong. I blame the government for not making the youngsters go to serve, like back in the old days.” Suzy laughed quietly, making Junho embarrassed yet pissed off.
Junho tried again as he stood up with a better posture. With all of his might, he pulled the string.
First pull, second pull… and the generator started.
Junho could feel his cheeks hurt for smiling way too much. He could hear claps coming from Mr. Lee and Suzy. “Well done there, kid.” Mr. Lee joked.
Instantly, Suzy fished out her iPhone from her pocket before giving it to Junho. He gladly took it and pulled an adaptor he brought along before connecting them to the generator. All three of them huddled closer to look at the iPhone.
Suddenly, a light flashed from the screen and a picture of a bitten Apple could be seen. They glanced at each other. Then, a flickering sound was heard and Mr. Lee turned around. His lights decoration was lighting up. He walked over to where the lights decoration was and admired it.
Unexpectedly, Mr. Lee gave out soft sobs. Quickly, he connected a wire. The ‘Liquor and Beverage’ sign then surprisingly turned into an ‘L-O-V-E’ sign. He was remembering his late wife.
Mr. Lee spun around to face Junho and Suzy with tears in his eyes. “The drinks are on me!” he declared in excitement.
Suzy clapped her hands in excitement as Junho stared at her. Then, all of them made their way to the table and sat. Mr. Lee quickly filled three glasses with beer and served it to them. They held their glasses together and happily enjoyed the drinks.
Junho kept on staring at her. It was the first time he had seen her being genuinely happy. And she looked so beautiful.
Junho felt weird all of sudden.
Suzy was already asleep, resting her head on the table. Junho was still trying to be awake. He was trying to listen to what Mr. Lee was telling. Apparently, Mr. Lee was telling stories about him and his wife. In fact, he even repeated telling the same stories. Junho was actually annoyed.
All of a sudden, Suzy woke up, mumbling “Omma,” Then, she fell asleep again. Mr. Lee and Junho stopped talking and watched her. You little kid, Junho thought.
“You should send her home,” Mr. Lee advised Junho.
“Wh…what?”
Junho was unsure of whether he should hold onto Suzy’s thighs for support as he gave her a piggyback ride. It was an awkward situation. They just had barely known each other. He quickly walked to Suzy’s makeshift house at the old car dumpster and gently lied her down on her bed. “I’m exhausted,” he mumbled quietly so that Suzy wouldn’t hear it. He stared at Suzy, admiring her features.
Throughout the whole day, this was the first time he could closely look at her.
There’s something about her, and how she acts and her personality…
Junho began to question himself about what Mr. Lee had told him before.
“Have you ever been in love, Junho?” Mr. Lee asked him while being quite drunk.
Junho shook his head mindlessly. “Nope.”
Mr. Lee laughed. “Pity you, little kid.”
“Why?”
“Love is something rare nowadays. I pity your generation. Too much stuff had been banned that you guys can’t even do anything. What kind of world this is?” Mr. Lee whined.
“Then when should I do?”
“It’s easy. Find a girl that made you smile for no apparent reason.”
“Seems hard -”
“I’m not done yet. Sooner or later, you will have these unexplainable feelings for the girl,”
Simultaneously, Junho glanced at the sleeping Suzy beside him. Unknown feelings came rushing in. Is this what Mr. Lee had just told him?
“I like that girl. She’s a good girl. She suits you,” Mr. Lee suddenly declared to Junho.
“What do you mean?”
“I noticed the way you look at her. I know you have feelings for her. Besides, she’s obviously lonely right now. She needs someone that can always be with her.”
Junho gulped. “Just what are you trying to do, Mr. Lee?”
“I’m just trying to match make two completely different yet gifted people so that this world can return to its normal self, back to those happier days,” He paused before continuing, “I know both of you can do that.”
Junho’s eyebrows shot up. “Well, good luck.”
Junho turned to face Suzy who was still sleeping. Almost instantly, he took her blanket and covered her slowly. All of a sudden, Suzy turned around to face him with sleepy eyes.
“I can’t move my hand,” she told him quietly.
Junho helped her to get up and made their way to a better-lighted place. She instructed him to take a container of oil to fix her hand. While fixing her hand, Suzy asked him something.
“Is the iPhone used as a weapon?” she asked curiously.
“Well, no. It was used to talk to another person who was far away. It can also be used to listen to music.”
“So repair it for me then. You see, when I listen to music, I can’t listen to the bombing sounds. I’m afraid of them.” She mumbled the last few words quietly. True, she hated the wars and she’s afraid of the bombs. Tears were threatening to flow out of her eyes every time she listened to them, including now.
Junho stared at her. He didn’t know that she had this fragile and delicate side of her.
Awkward silence was surrounding them.
The very next day, Junho brought Suzy along to his lab. Junho was shuffling through the shelves while Suzy was admiring every piece of equipment there was in his lab. Then, Suzy’s attention was drawn onto a large machine.
“What’s this?”
“This?” Junho came to stand beside her. “It’s a sound-resistance machine. It can even kill people with just a small power of sound.”
“Killing people with sound? That’s evil.” she remarked as she looked straight at Junho’s eyes.
“Wait a minute, I didn’t build it. It’s my professor’s.” he explained. “He doesn’t have the permit to legally use this, so he kept it here…” he let his voice trail off when he realized something.
His professor was the one who researched about the iPhone years ago.
Junho and Professor Kang were in a soundproof booth. Upon learning that Junho found a real iPhone, he quickly took both of them to another room. Suzy stood outside the booth to look at them. She could see both of them bickering inside, and she couldn’t help but to laugh at them. Weirdos.
“So how do you open this device?”
“I don’t know. You’re the professor.”
“Shut up, Junho. Now come on help me with this.”
“But I don’t know anything!”
“Then just do everything!”
So both of them continued to bicker and bicker. (“Why did we get electrocuted?” “I don’t know. I’ve set it to 200 volts -” “It’s supposed to be 300 volts!”) Finally, the iPhone was miraculously opened. Junho quickly dragged Suzy inside so that all three of them could have a closer look of it. Suzy’s heartbeat began to beat faster and faster by the second, waiting for whatever what waiting for her. She found herself grabbing onto Junho’s hand, squeezing it. Unexpectedly, he didn’t react or even pulled away.
Alas, nothing happened to the device.
“Oh.” Suzy mumbled quietly before taking it back and kept it inside her pocket. “It’s just not our day.” She said before walking out from the booth. Junho and his professor exchanged glances, obviously disappointed. Then, he quickly followed Suzy, accompanying her back to her makeshift house.
The sound of bombs filled the sky on the very next day. Junho had just walked out from his class when he felt the aftershocks of the bombs. He was startled, but suddenly he remembered something.
“Oh no, Suzy…” he said quietly before running to her as fast as possible.
“Suzy-yah, are you alright?” he asked worriedly as he caught his breath after running for a while.
Suzy looked up to see the sky, gulped, and nodded slightly. He smiled. She smiled. Then, he dragged Suzy to sit down as he asked her for the iPhone. Quickly, he pulled some connecting wires from his sling bag and connected the iPhone to the wires from her mechanical hand. After that, the iPhone was switched on.
Suzy grinned widely. “How did you -?
“I’ve spent the whole night thinking about how to open this up,”
“Thank you,” she said softly with tears in her eyes. Then, Junho opened a video.
“You know, I think this is what your mother wanted you to keep,” he said as he played the video. “It’s the song that you hummed all the time.”
Both of them huddled up closer to watch the video. The video was a family video of Suzy when she was just a little kid. She saw her mother playing around with her as her mother hummed a song for Suzy. Then, her father came into the video and played with Suzy and her mother as well. It was happy. It was real. And it was heartbreaking.
Suzy began to cry. “I even had normal arms back then.”
Junho stood up as he walked around her house, letting Suzy calm down, before settling his eyes onto something.
He found an old guitar. He grabbed it, admiring its shiny surface and still fine strings. His lips curved up into a smile. Quickly, he sat down next to Suzy while placing the guitar right next to him. He took her right hand, intertwining their fingers, and gave them a gentle squeeze.
“You do. We were all normal back then,” he told her quietly. He let her rest her head on his shoulder, letting his shirt soak up all the tears that flowed from her eyes. She needed companion, and he was there. It was perfect, she thought. I miss this.
“Thank you,” she whispered but it was loud enough for him to hear. He found himself smiled sincerely. He then grabbed the guitar and strummed the strings even though he knew nothing about it. But, he made a lovely melody for the ears. She smiled.
“Don’t worry, I’ll promise to you that I’ll help make this world go back to normal.” He promised her.
And he kept the promise.
A year had passed and Suzy was at Mr. Lee’s bar, as usual. She opted to drink just cola for today, because she wasn’t feeling sad and lonely anymore. Mr. Lee switched on the TV and miraculously, Junho was on it.
“This song is for my good friend out there. Thank you…” he paused before smiling right at her direction, as if he knew that she was watching. “… for inspiring me and for showing me the true happiness of life. Thank you.” Then, he started to pick up the guitar, the same one from her house, and played his own version of Suzy’s mother’s song. She closed her eyes and enjoyed his calming voice. Unexpectedly, she found herself smiling for no apparent reason.
“Do you like him?” Mr. Lee suddenly asked as he wiped the countertop.
“I don’t know,” she said simply. “But he did told me to wait for him after he finished serving and ‘changing the world’, so I’ll wait. Just for him.” She smiled at Mr. Lee.
He smiled upon hearing her explanation. “You’ll be lucky to have him, and he’s lucky to have you.”
“I know,” she nodded slowly. “I know how lucky I am to have him when I have no one else,”
“One great boy friend, is he?”
“Yes, he is.” She agreed and then continued to watch Junho on TV. Mr. Lee excused himself to finish up tidying the rest of the bar, letting her enjoy the moment.
“Thank you, weirdo.” She mumbled quietly at Junho with a sincere smile on her face.
He wasn’t empty anymore and she wasn’t lonely anymore.
pairing: junho/suzy
rating: pg
genre: war!au, slice of life, hints of romance
words: 5 810
a/n: based on this, part 3 of course. Sorry if this was a mess. OTP feels are everywhere.
The world is plain and dull,
The colours we could see are just the plain shades of gray and other dull colours.
Ah, what a boring world we are living in,
Where even a spark of happiness is hard to come across.
And the sounds we could hear were just hums and some clatter.
What kind of world is this?
Suzy drank a glass filled with mild beer in just one chug. She swallowed hard before setting the glass down on the bar slowly. She gave out a small burp before continuing to watch the old TV. She was busy watching an old, super old, performance by an unknown band. She knew that it was actually illegal for her to watch those kind if shows since it was prohibited. Any form of entertainment was prohibited. Suzy disliked the rules set up by the government ever since the war started. What a boring life, her thoughts echoed almost all the time.
To her, music can bring her happiness. But with such ban, happiness was something rare, extremely rare, for her. Something delicate and fragile. It’s been a while since she could smile like she meant it.
Even though the war was nearing an end, no sign of the ban being lift was heard.
All of a sudden, the TV broke down again and she couldn’t watch the TV anymore. “Ahjussi! The TV is broken again,” she groaned out loud again at the bar owner. She doesn’t mind since she’s the only customer there. Who would care, though?
The bar owner got up from fixing a lights decoration and walked across the room. “Well, you should stop watching that. My license has just been renewed. I can’t risk another closing order from the government. You know the drill.” He said as he went to a generator. He pulled the generator so that the lights decoration and the TV could be working again. Fortunately, the generator started to grumble and produce power supply again. Thank God.
“They already made jets for people to fly to the moon, but they couldn’t provide us business owners a mere 250-volt of electricity,” the bar owner mumbled as Suzy continued to watch the TV. Cheapskate leaders, she thought
Junho grabbed the screwdriver and screwed the very last piece of screw onto the device he was making. Then, he was finally finished. He left it on the table for a while and made his way to the pantry as he wanted to eat some cup ramen. All that work really made him famished.
Once he finished making ramen, he went back to the lab. Suddenly, he found his friend messing around with his creation. He quickly went to his friend before grabbing the device away from him. “Yah Kyungsoo-ah! I’ve told you to not touch my stuff, at all.” He told at his friend.
“Look here, there’s a cassette inside of it. It can play music, you know?” Kyungsoo told Junho about his discovery before Junho grabbed it away from him.
He quickly shoved it inside of his pocket before telling him, “Don’t play around with music. You do know about what can happen, right?” he quickly reminded him.
“Well, you just don’t know music yet.” His friend laughed as he scratched the back of his head. Kyungsoo felt weird that Junho hated music, and he didn’t know why. “Junho-ah, Professor Kang called you just now. He wants to meet you in his office as soon as possible.” He quickly reminded Junho.
Junho let out a sigh before grabbing his sling bag and went off to the office. He kind of knew why though. The professor must be mad at him. After realizing that, he quickly made his way to the office from his dorm.
Once he had arrived at the office, he gulped as the professor turned around to face him. Professor Kang gave a stern face to him before asking, “Why are your grades so low?” he said as he shoved a stack of papers to Junho. “You should do well if you want to graduate. I’ve already recommended you to the government for the project. Don’t let me down.”
“Well, other subjects bore me.” He mumbled quietly but Professor Kang managed to listen to it anyway.
“Yah you little brat! Listen, I can cancel that recommendation at any time I want to. So, if you don’t want to lose that opportunity, you should be studying.” His professor reminded him angrily before dismissing Junho from his office.
Junho walked out from his office without feeling guilty. “Shesh. As if studying brings me any good.” He mumbled out loud.
Junho put on his baseball helmet and grabbed a bat as he made his way to the pitch. He positioned himself as he waited for the ball to be thrown. All of a sudden, a ball flew past him and was caught by the catcher. “Hey! Weren’t you paying any attention?” his classmates yelled at him. He kept his focus on the ball as he waited for the second throw.
The ball was thrown. When it was close enough, Junho swung his bat and the ball flew across the field. Junho didn’t expect that the ball could fly so far.
All of a sudden, the ball landed on a girl’s left hand and a loud thud could be heard. Everyone quickly made their way to the girl. Suddenly, the left hand was giving off voltage flickers. It was broken. The girl passed out and fell down.
“Junho! Look at what you have done!” his friends yelled at him.
The girl kept on holding onto her broken, mechanical hand which was giving her pain. “Ouch, my hand hurts.” She groaned out loud as Junho sat beside her. Junho could feel guilt overwhelming him. Well, Junho was the one who sent the ball flying at her.
“Are you okay?” he asked her worrying. “Does it hurt a lot?”
She turned around to face him with glaring eyes. She was mad at him for making her feel the pain she’s having. “Well, have you ever actually seen any healthy person acting this way?” she asked him sarcastically.
Junho was surprised at her reaction. “Well, you could have actually avoided it.” He mumbled loudly. “Besides, I was in class.” He said as he leaned back on the seat, ignoring the looks from her.
She glared at him before she heard name being called by the nurse. “Bae Suzy. Please come in.” she stood up nervously and made her way to the ward. She doesn’t like dealing with doctors. Plus, the smell of medicine was not her favorite scent.
Bae Suzy? What an interesting name, Junho thought to himself.
Right before Suzy went in the ward, she whipped around to face him. “Don’t try to run away. If my hand can’t work anymore, you need to pay for the new one.” She told him as she held her broken hand up, threatening him.
Junho smirked at her before saying, “I’m not promising anything.” She rolled her eyes at him and went inside to get her treatment.
Suzy looked at the bill she just has received. The treatment cost her 5000 dollars. She sighed quietly as she mumbled about the price being too expensive for her. Quickly, she fished out her wallet from her backpack and looked inside. Unfortunately, nothing was inside of her wallet. She sighed again as she looked at Junho with stern eyes.
“You will have to pay for it.” She said as she showed the bill right in front of his face. He gave her a look. Ignoring him, she took out her mirror and looked at it. She fixed her hair while Junho was looking at her. Suddenly, Junho stood up abruptly and pointed at her mirror.
“Wh… what’s that?” he asked her nervously. He was sure that the mirror was something really important back then.
“This?” she asked as she held up her mirror for him to look. “This is my mirror.”
Without any hesitation, Junho pulled her up from the seat and brought her away from the hospital.
The door of the elevator opened and Junho went inside, with Suzy trailing behind him. Junho pushed the buttons of the elevator so that they can go to the year of 2012 floor. They were at the Museum of Technology and Electronic Development. Being a big fan of gadgets, Junho always spends his time here to admire the technology of the old times. He can even memorize the names of gadgets available there.
“You see, in the early of the 20th century, music was played differently and yet openly. Music was stored in hardware devices and can be played where ever they go. It’s quite interesting, actually.” He paused as he looked at the device in Suzy’s hand before continuing, “Unfortunately, when the wars started, all those devices were destroyed with no trace left behind.”
Suzy looked at him talking about the techy stuff. It actually bored her. Weirdo. She let out a small sigh before mumbling, “What a nerd.” Thankfully, Junho was busy explaining to her about the past that he couldn’t hear her. Upon realizing it, she chuckled quietly. Naïve.
All of a sudden, the door of the elevator opened and Junho pulled Suzy inside. He took her to a shelf where they showed a collection of devices that could play music and videos a long time ago. He scanned around the shelf awhile, searching for a particular something, before finally settling onto a display where there was only a picture.
It was named, ‘iPhone’.
Junho glanced at Suzy before explaining, “Look. There’s only a picture of the iPhone...” He paused before continuing, “…But you have the exact device in your hands. Well that shows how precious that device is.” He crossed his arms over his chest. She looked at him, who was puffing his cheeks. “What?”
Suzy looked at the information printed on the display and asked him, “But why should I contact the government if I have one?” She gave him a confused look as she fished out the iPhone from her pocket. She stared at it for a while before looking straight at Junho, waiting for an explanation.
He thought about it for a bit before nodding. “There’s a part inside of the iPhone. The name is SIM chip. It’s actually very important for the defense system right now. If it’s for sale, it could be worth of 100,000 dollars…”
Suzy’s eyes grew wider when she heard of the price. “100,000 dollars?” she exclaimed out loud. “Where should I sell it?” she asked him.
Junho blinked his eyes confusedly at her. For a girl, she sure does have a thing for money. “Well… I…” he was hesitant to tell her about it. It was supposed to be a secret. Top secret, even.
Suzy groaned as she held out her mended hand right in front of his face. “Tell me where I should sell it. You still have to pay for my hospital bills too, you know.” A small smirk quickly appeared on her face as she stared at Junho’s pair of small eyes. Junho stared at her too.
After fighting off glares from each other, Junho admitted his defeat. Like it or not, he must bring her to the place where she could sell her iPhone. He was surprised to meet such a hard-headed girl. He could feel that Suzy was celebrating her win quietly. He sighed again as he lead her way out from the museum. Weirdo.
They walked around the dark, gloomy hallways of an abandoned building. Orange lights were illuminated from the lights at the ceiling. It was a bit humid too. Suzy and Junho walked around the area until Junho stopped in front of a small opening.
“Suzy,” he called her out since Suzy was already far in front of him. Suzy went backwards and stood beside him. “So, here’s the place,” He said as he led the way inside the small opening to another hallway. At the end of the hallway, lies a room.
He pointed his finger at the room. “That’s where I usually go if I want to exchange something for money.” He paused before continuing, “Be careful though. The dealer can be dangerous if you can’t talk to him properly. He has a short temper,” he said the last sentence quietly, almost like a whisper. Suzy nodded gently after listening that.
All of a sudden, Junho grabbed the iPhone from Suzy before telling her, “I should go inside. You stay here. He’s too dangerous for you.” He said as he went inside the room slowly, with Suzy kept looking at him. He gave her an assuring smile before entering the room. Suzy rolled her eyes at Junho for making her feel like she’s a little kid.
“I’m not a kid.” She mumbled to herself. You don’t know what I can do, she thought to herself.
Once he entered, a guard came near him, grabbing him, and pulled him to the leader’s table. Behind the table, a large leather chair spun around and a middle-aged man faced Junho. “And what do you need?” he asked with a dangerous look on his face.
Junho gulped, calmly handled the situation. “I guess you needed this once?” he said as he held out Suzy’s iPhone from his pocket. By then, he was sure that he had the dealer’s attention in his hands. He put down the iPhone slowly on the table. Then, Junho backed away a few steps before the dealer picked up the iPhone. He examined it slowly before a satisfied smile was spread across his face. No, it was a grin. An evil grin.
“This is an interesting find you have here, little kid.” The dealer said as he stood up, instructing his guard to take something from a small room. “Is 5,000 dollars fine with you?” he asked Junho for confirmation.
Junho glanced outside the room to meet Suzy’s eyes. Suzy held her hand ups and making a 10 sign. She wanted 100,000 dollars. Junho gulped again. If that’s the price the dealer said, then that’s what you will get. No bargaining of whatsoever. He sighed under his breath before nodding his head slowly. He agreed to the price.
The guard came back from the room; it must be a store, with a large sling bag in his hands. He glanced at the dealer before he gave Junho the bag. It was heavy. Junho took the bag straightaway and looked inside. It was definitely money. Thank God. Junho thanked the dealer and went outside to meet Suzy.
He gave the bag to her and explained, “Well, here you go. It’s 5,000 dollars…”
“5,000 dollars? I thought you said it could be 100,000 dollars!”
“Well, err… I -,”
“That’s it, I’m coming in.” Suzy said as she stormed inside the room to meet the dealer. Junho followed her from behind, forcing her to stop whatever she was going to do.
Suzy stood in front of the dealer and his guard as she held her hand out. “I need that thing back, please.” She said as she motioned for the iPhone.
The dealer raised an eyebrow at her. “So you are the owner of this thing, eh?” he paused as he looked at Suzy. A smirk quickly grew on his face. “Sorry but once sold, you can’t get it back. It’s the rules. It’s the common etiquette.”
All of a sudden, Junho shoved Suzy away from the dealer. He faced the dealer before telling, “I’m really sorry. This friend of mine really cares - cared - about that thing. So she had a problem about selling it.” He said as he looked at Suzy with eyes that told her to back off. “We are going now.”
Junho pulled Suzy away from the dealer as they went out. But Suzy quickly pulled her hands away from Junho’s grasp and went back to the dealer. She wanted her iPhone back. It’s the only thing that contains the precious, limited memories of her parents. Without it, she couldn’t remember a thing about her parents.
Her plans didn’t work when the guard stood in front of her, blocking her way. The guard held her left hand with a strong grip. It hurt Suzy since it was just mended, and this angered Suzy as well as Junho. Junho quickly grabbed Suzy away from the guard and directly stared at the guard. He knew how powerless he was compared to the guard, so he knew that he might be beaten up.
All of a sudden, he could feel a hard punch landed right on his stomach and it sent him flying backwards. Unable to do anything since it was all in a flash, he fell down on his back. All he could feel was numbness and he couldn’t even move.
Junho fell unconscious.
Upon seeing this, Suzy’s anger was definitely boiling up. She went back to the guard and stood right in from of him. Suzy was just little beside such a tall, well-built man like the guard was. But it didn’t matter to her. She lifted her left hand and held her fist. Almost instantly, she punched the guard right in the face.
What people didn’t know was that she had a super left hand. The power it had was definitely incredible. For that, her punch was so strong it could literally send people flying. Her hand was definitely one of the biggest secret projects by the government. Initially, she didn’t like it. I’m not their lab rat. But later she realized that maybe, just maybe, her robotic hand might be useful.
The guard flew across the room and slammed right into a wall. He fell down on the floor, lying unconscious. The dealer stood up nervously as he tried to back away from the scene. But Suzy noticed him so she quickly went to his side, stopping him from any more movements.
“My stuff, hand it over.” She said and he quickly gave the iPhone to her. She gave him a smirk before punching him too. The dealer fell down as he held his throbbing stomach, unable to move due to the extreme pain.
Suzy slipped her old iPhone into her pocket and grabbed some of the money from the bag too. After all, she could use the money. She walked over to where Junho lied and crouched down to meet his face.
“Yah idiot, I’ve told you I can handle this myself,” she said as she sighed. Then, she looked around him and found something that caught her attention.
A cassette. A cassette that could play the melodies that couldn’t be played nowadays. And it definitely plays music, which Suzy really liked. She found herself smiling.
“You have so many surprises, Junho.”
Junho blinked his eyes a few times before he could be comfortable with the surroundings. He tried to register what happened to him before. He looked around and saw that he was on top of a car’s hood. He quickly stood up and looked behind. He saw Suzy fiddling around with wires of the car.
“What happened? I can’t remember a thing.” He asked Suzy worriedly as he went inside the car and sat right next to her.
Suzy looked at him for a moment before continuing her work. “The guard knocked you down with just a single blow,” she said in a mocking fashion. She still couldn’t believe that Junho was that easy to fall unconscious. She connected the wires of the car before the car could start. She ignited the engines and thankfully, the car began to work.
Instantly, she took out the cassette from her pocket and pushed it inside the cassette player of the car. In a few seconds, music started to play.
“Turn it down, we could be punished,” he whispered, warning her, as he looked around for anything suspicious. “Music is illegal.”
“We’re at an old car dumpster, no one will come here. The government won’t care.” She said as she leaned down her seat. She began to lie down. “Just enjoy the music. Try to relax for a bit.” She paused, enjoying the serene hum of the music. “There’s no need to rush in life.”
Suzy closed her eyes so that she could enjoy the music better. Junho looked at her before he copied what Suzy did. He leaned down on his seat and closed his eyes. To his surprise, he was actually enjoying the music.
Never in his whole life had he enjoyed listening to music, due to the fear of being caught. He feared of being wrong. Through that, he believed that music was always something bad and illegal. They corrupted his naïve mind.
But now, with the help from Suzy, music definitely brought a new meaning for him. Music opened up his mind. Junho fell in love with music.
It was a magical moment for Junho.
Junho was fiddling around with the iPhone while listening to Suzy’s story.
“It was when I was 5 years old when I got this iron hand.” She said as she held up her left hand, admiring it. “It was hard for me at first, since it was very heavy. Then, a doctor came to me while smiling. He gave me that thing. He said that it was from my parents. And that’s the only thing I remember. I wasn’t sure myself that I had parents before. Nothing came to my mind. It’s the only thing to remind me, the only clue.” She said sadly as she slowly walked over to where Junho was sitting.
Junho looked at her. “I think I can repair this thing. It will be a little hard, though. But I will try my best.” All of a sudden, Suzy grabbed the iPhone from him.
“I think I’d prefer it to be just a mirror.”
“Just let me repair it!” he insisted.
She then turned around, as if she just remembered something.
“You said you needed a power of 250 volts, right?”
He nodded slowly.
“I think I know where you could get that.”
“…I’m from Kirin University, majoring in Music Resistance.” Junho introduced himself to the bar owner. The bar owner, Mr. Lee, smiled at him and nodded slowly.
“Ah, I see,” Mr. Lee paused for a moment before continuing, “So, can you really fix it?”
Junho nodded his head, proving that he can. Then, he turned the wrench as he fixed the generator. After a few moments, he finally finished fixing the generator. He stood up to allow Mr. Lee to see it himself. He waited the cue from Mr. Lee before he pulled the string of the generator to start the machine.
At first, Junho failed to start the generator. Mr. Lee snickered before saying, “See? No wonder you aren’t strong. I blame the government for not making the youngsters go to serve, like back in the old days.” Suzy laughed quietly, making Junho embarrassed yet pissed off.
Junho tried again as he stood up with a better posture. With all of his might, he pulled the string.
First pull, second pull… and the generator started.
Junho could feel his cheeks hurt for smiling way too much. He could hear claps coming from Mr. Lee and Suzy. “Well done there, kid.” Mr. Lee joked.
Instantly, Suzy fished out her iPhone from her pocket before giving it to Junho. He gladly took it and pulled an adaptor he brought along before connecting them to the generator. All three of them huddled closer to look at the iPhone.
Suddenly, a light flashed from the screen and a picture of a bitten Apple could be seen. They glanced at each other. Then, a flickering sound was heard and Mr. Lee turned around. His lights decoration was lighting up. He walked over to where the lights decoration was and admired it.
Unexpectedly, Mr. Lee gave out soft sobs. Quickly, he connected a wire. The ‘Liquor and Beverage’ sign then surprisingly turned into an ‘L-O-V-E’ sign. He was remembering his late wife.
Mr. Lee spun around to face Junho and Suzy with tears in his eyes. “The drinks are on me!” he declared in excitement.
Suzy clapped her hands in excitement as Junho stared at her. Then, all of them made their way to the table and sat. Mr. Lee quickly filled three glasses with beer and served it to them. They held their glasses together and happily enjoyed the drinks.
Junho kept on staring at her. It was the first time he had seen her being genuinely happy. And she looked so beautiful.
Junho felt weird all of sudden.
Suzy was already asleep, resting her head on the table. Junho was still trying to be awake. He was trying to listen to what Mr. Lee was telling. Apparently, Mr. Lee was telling stories about him and his wife. In fact, he even repeated telling the same stories. Junho was actually annoyed.
All of a sudden, Suzy woke up, mumbling “Omma,” Then, she fell asleep again. Mr. Lee and Junho stopped talking and watched her. You little kid, Junho thought.
“You should send her home,” Mr. Lee advised Junho.
“Wh…what?”
Junho was unsure of whether he should hold onto Suzy’s thighs for support as he gave her a piggyback ride. It was an awkward situation. They just had barely known each other. He quickly walked to Suzy’s makeshift house at the old car dumpster and gently lied her down on her bed. “I’m exhausted,” he mumbled quietly so that Suzy wouldn’t hear it. He stared at Suzy, admiring her features.
Throughout the whole day, this was the first time he could closely look at her.
There’s something about her, and how she acts and her personality…
Junho began to question himself about what Mr. Lee had told him before.
“Have you ever been in love, Junho?” Mr. Lee asked him while being quite drunk.
Junho shook his head mindlessly. “Nope.”
Mr. Lee laughed. “Pity you, little kid.”
“Why?”
“Love is something rare nowadays. I pity your generation. Too much stuff had been banned that you guys can’t even do anything. What kind of world this is?” Mr. Lee whined.
“Then when should I do?”
“It’s easy. Find a girl that made you smile for no apparent reason.”
“Seems hard -”
“I’m not done yet. Sooner or later, you will have these unexplainable feelings for the girl,”
Simultaneously, Junho glanced at the sleeping Suzy beside him. Unknown feelings came rushing in. Is this what Mr. Lee had just told him?
“I like that girl. She’s a good girl. She suits you,” Mr. Lee suddenly declared to Junho.
“What do you mean?”
“I noticed the way you look at her. I know you have feelings for her. Besides, she’s obviously lonely right now. She needs someone that can always be with her.”
Junho gulped. “Just what are you trying to do, Mr. Lee?”
“I’m just trying to match make two completely different yet gifted people so that this world can return to its normal self, back to those happier days,” He paused before continuing, “I know both of you can do that.”
Junho’s eyebrows shot up. “Well, good luck.”
Junho turned to face Suzy who was still sleeping. Almost instantly, he took her blanket and covered her slowly. All of a sudden, Suzy turned around to face him with sleepy eyes.
“I can’t move my hand,” she told him quietly.
Junho helped her to get up and made their way to a better-lighted place. She instructed him to take a container of oil to fix her hand. While fixing her hand, Suzy asked him something.
“Is the iPhone used as a weapon?” she asked curiously.
“Well, no. It was used to talk to another person who was far away. It can also be used to listen to music.”
“So repair it for me then. You see, when I listen to music, I can’t listen to the bombing sounds. I’m afraid of them.” She mumbled the last few words quietly. True, she hated the wars and she’s afraid of the bombs. Tears were threatening to flow out of her eyes every time she listened to them, including now.
Junho stared at her. He didn’t know that she had this fragile and delicate side of her.
Awkward silence was surrounding them.
The very next day, Junho brought Suzy along to his lab. Junho was shuffling through the shelves while Suzy was admiring every piece of equipment there was in his lab. Then, Suzy’s attention was drawn onto a large machine.
“What’s this?”
“This?” Junho came to stand beside her. “It’s a sound-resistance machine. It can even kill people with just a small power of sound.”
“Killing people with sound? That’s evil.” she remarked as she looked straight at Junho’s eyes.
“Wait a minute, I didn’t build it. It’s my professor’s.” he explained. “He doesn’t have the permit to legally use this, so he kept it here…” he let his voice trail off when he realized something.
His professor was the one who researched about the iPhone years ago.
Junho and Professor Kang were in a soundproof booth. Upon learning that Junho found a real iPhone, he quickly took both of them to another room. Suzy stood outside the booth to look at them. She could see both of them bickering inside, and she couldn’t help but to laugh at them. Weirdos.
“So how do you open this device?”
“I don’t know. You’re the professor.”
“Shut up, Junho. Now come on help me with this.”
“But I don’t know anything!”
“Then just do everything!”
So both of them continued to bicker and bicker. (“Why did we get electrocuted?” “I don’t know. I’ve set it to 200 volts -” “It’s supposed to be 300 volts!”) Finally, the iPhone was miraculously opened. Junho quickly dragged Suzy inside so that all three of them could have a closer look of it. Suzy’s heartbeat began to beat faster and faster by the second, waiting for whatever what waiting for her. She found herself grabbing onto Junho’s hand, squeezing it. Unexpectedly, he didn’t react or even pulled away.
Alas, nothing happened to the device.
“Oh.” Suzy mumbled quietly before taking it back and kept it inside her pocket. “It’s just not our day.” She said before walking out from the booth. Junho and his professor exchanged glances, obviously disappointed. Then, he quickly followed Suzy, accompanying her back to her makeshift house.
The sound of bombs filled the sky on the very next day. Junho had just walked out from his class when he felt the aftershocks of the bombs. He was startled, but suddenly he remembered something.
“Oh no, Suzy…” he said quietly before running to her as fast as possible.
“Suzy-yah, are you alright?” he asked worriedly as he caught his breath after running for a while.
Suzy looked up to see the sky, gulped, and nodded slightly. He smiled. She smiled. Then, he dragged Suzy to sit down as he asked her for the iPhone. Quickly, he pulled some connecting wires from his sling bag and connected the iPhone to the wires from her mechanical hand. After that, the iPhone was switched on.
Suzy grinned widely. “How did you -?
“I’ve spent the whole night thinking about how to open this up,”
“Thank you,” she said softly with tears in her eyes. Then, Junho opened a video.
“You know, I think this is what your mother wanted you to keep,” he said as he played the video. “It’s the song that you hummed all the time.”
Both of them huddled up closer to watch the video. The video was a family video of Suzy when she was just a little kid. She saw her mother playing around with her as her mother hummed a song for Suzy. Then, her father came into the video and played with Suzy and her mother as well. It was happy. It was real. And it was heartbreaking.
Suzy began to cry. “I even had normal arms back then.”
Junho stood up as he walked around her house, letting Suzy calm down, before settling his eyes onto something.
He found an old guitar. He grabbed it, admiring its shiny surface and still fine strings. His lips curved up into a smile. Quickly, he sat down next to Suzy while placing the guitar right next to him. He took her right hand, intertwining their fingers, and gave them a gentle squeeze.
“You do. We were all normal back then,” he told her quietly. He let her rest her head on his shoulder, letting his shirt soak up all the tears that flowed from her eyes. She needed companion, and he was there. It was perfect, she thought. I miss this.
“Thank you,” she whispered but it was loud enough for him to hear. He found himself smiled sincerely. He then grabbed the guitar and strummed the strings even though he knew nothing about it. But, he made a lovely melody for the ears. She smiled.
“Don’t worry, I’ll promise to you that I’ll help make this world go back to normal.” He promised her.
And he kept the promise.
A year had passed and Suzy was at Mr. Lee’s bar, as usual. She opted to drink just cola for today, because she wasn’t feeling sad and lonely anymore. Mr. Lee switched on the TV and miraculously, Junho was on it.
“This song is for my good friend out there. Thank you…” he paused before smiling right at her direction, as if he knew that she was watching. “… for inspiring me and for showing me the true happiness of life. Thank you.” Then, he started to pick up the guitar, the same one from her house, and played his own version of Suzy’s mother’s song. She closed her eyes and enjoyed his calming voice. Unexpectedly, she found herself smiling for no apparent reason.
“Do you like him?” Mr. Lee suddenly asked as he wiped the countertop.
“I don’t know,” she said simply. “But he did told me to wait for him after he finished serving and ‘changing the world’, so I’ll wait. Just for him.” She smiled at Mr. Lee.
He smiled upon hearing her explanation. “You’ll be lucky to have him, and he’s lucky to have you.”
“I know,” she nodded slowly. “I know how lucky I am to have him when I have no one else,”
“One great boy friend, is he?”
“Yes, he is.” She agreed and then continued to watch Junho on TV. Mr. Lee excused himself to finish up tidying the rest of the bar, letting her enjoy the moment.
“Thank you, weirdo.” She mumbled quietly at Junho with a sincere smile on her face.
He wasn’t empty anymore and she wasn’t lonely anymore.