You're My Melody Chapter 5: Grateful

“What do you want to do right now Seohyun-ah?”  Jaejoong asked the absent minded Seohyun who was sitting on the passenger seat just beside him. She never spoke a word since they left the coffee shop. The lights outside the car caused shadows to form on her face and Jaejoong could see a feeling of sadness mirrored in her eyes.

“Huh?” Seohyun asked startled. “I… I don’t know.” She was so determined to make her birthday special but she never thought about the best way to do it.

Jaejoong knows he can’t take her to public places if he wants to avoid causing a scandal. Being in the car alone is dangerous enough. He considered cooking something for her. Not a bad idea, he thought.

“Let’s go buy groceries…” he finally decided and without waiting for Seohyun’s reply he turned the car around and headed to the nearest grocery store.

It was already late and there were only a few people at the grocery store doing their last day shopping. Some people glanced their way and it made her feel a little uncomfortable. Jaejoong, on the other hand, seemed to be oblivious to the stares pointed at them.

Jaejoong bought so many things and Seohyun have no idea what he’s planning to do. He seems to be in high spirits as he picks up a couple of canned goods, hot sauce, and other stuff while Seohyun was just tagging along. Although it was her birthday, Jaejoong seems to be more excited than she is. She looked at his face and she noticed dark circles around his eyes. He may not look like it but Seohyun could tell he’s really tired.

“Jaejoong-sshi is this really alright??” Seohyun asked feeling guilty that Jaejoong missed his chance to rest although it was obviously Jaejoong’s fault that they were doing shopping in the middle of the night instead of lying in bed sleeping.

“Call me oppa. And yes, it’s fine unless you would rather spend time alone than hang out with me.”

“No, I mean… I hope I’m not bothering you in some way.”

“Don’t be silly. Let’s just have fun, ok?” Jaejoong dismissed the topic and focused on the two canned tuna on his hands while trying to decide which of the two would taste better in a kimchi jiggae. After giving it a lot of thought he decided to purchase the two. He then continued looking for other things he needed to buy and making sure he didn’t forget anything. Seohyun however didn’t move from where she stood and just stared at Jaejoong like he was some kind of an angel sent from heaven to mend her heart.

“Oppa,” she called out to him which made Jaejoong look back at her. “Gomawoyo…” she said and she mean it.

Jaejoong came closer. He just couldn’t resist that shy smile she gave him. When he was close enough he bent a little so their faces were at the same level. He wanted to kiss her but he fought the urge to do so because if he did all hell will broke loose and he couldn’t let that happen. So instead he just smiled then said, “Think of this as payment for returning my phone.” He ruffled her hair and she protested, “Hey!” Jaejoong chuckled then went back on filling the cart with groceries as if nothing happened.

He decided to buy a cake without even asking Seohyun if she wants some. He probably knew she would protest. What he was doing was already too much and Seohyun feels like she doesn’t deserve any of it. But Seohyun couldn’t do anything about it because Jaejoong already ordered before Seohyun realized what he was doing. He did ask for her favorite flavor though. Instead of answering she said, “Oppa you shouldn’t have…”

“But I already did so just tell me what you like,” he said smiling

Seohyun returned the smiled. “All right. Anything as long it’s chocolate.”

Jaejoong bought the biggest chocolate-flavored cake available. When they went back to the car with 3 huge bags of groceries Jaejoong asked, “Where are you staying, Seohyun-ah?”

“In a hotel.”

“Our place is better then. Common~” Juggling three bags of groceries with one arm and holding Seohyun’s hand with the other Jaejoong started dragging Seohyun back to the car.

When they reached home they found Yoochun still sleeping on the couch. Jaejoong went straight to the kitchen. “Make yourself comfortable. This will only take a few minutes.”

“Let me help you, oppa…” It was out before she realized she shouldn’t have said that. She doesn’t know how to cook because she never tried even once. “Er… just tell me what to do.” She said without much confidence.

“You can start chopping the meat.” Jaejoong told her.

She took the knife lying on the table and started chopping the meat clumsily. Jaejoong was in the act of pouring oil on the pan when he suddenly stopped and looked at her. Seohyun sensed Jaejoong’s eyes are on her so she looked up at him, pouted and said, “Stop staring. I can’t concentrate.”

Jaejoong laughed. Her red pouty lips make him want to cover it with his own and again he fought the urge to kiss her. “I didn’t know chopping needs a lot of concentration,” he said instead.

“Of course it does… If you want to avoid injuries… And I definitely don’t want to see my own blood spilling all over the place. So stop bothering me, oppa.” She said as she continued to chop the meat clumsily while Jaejoong look at her worriedly. Then without a word Jaejoong took the knife from her hands and took over the job making Seohyun hate herself for being so useless.

----

Changmin woke up from the scent of food coming from the kitchen. When he checked the clock he realized it was still before midnight. He only slept for a few hours. He was torn between going back to sleep to ease his sleep-deprived body or go to the kitchen and satisfy his growling stomach. His stomach won just as it always does.

He heard laughter coming from the kitchen. He realized it was Jaejoong’s and someone else’s that he isn’t familiar with.

“Oppa… That’s too much. It’s just the two of us. How are we going to finish eating everything?” Changmin heard a girl say.

“Gwenchana. “ Jaejoong replied.

“Wait, oppa… I can’t handle spicy stuff. Don’t put in too much!”

When Changmin reached the kitchen he found Jaejoong with a girl and they look like little kids playing some kind of game with Jaejoong holding a bottle of hot sauce and the girl, who must have realized that Jaejoong was planning to pour everything, went jumping up and down trying to grab the bottle of hot sauce from Jaejoong’s hands.

Seohyun was the first one to notice Changmin’s presence. She stopped instantly the moment she saw Changmin standing at the doorway.

“Oh, Changmin-ah… you’re awake…” Jaejoong said when he noticed Changmin.

“I smelt something delicious…” His senses are always in its maximum when it comes to food… an ability that the others don’t possess. Changmin looked at Seohyun then back at Jaejoong then his eyes lingered on the assortment of food served on the table. From what he saw it appears that his hyung invited a girl over, a very pretty girl it seems, then took all the effort to cook all those stuff on the table. Changmin couldn’t even remember the last time Jaejoong cooked that much. He even had to beg Jaejoong so he would give him a bigger share than his Junsu hyung who always competes with him in everything including food.

“Ok, hyung. Spill,” Changmin said accusingly. Changmin is the maknae of the group but he rarely acts like one. Jaejoong hates it when Changmin acts like he’s the older one between the two of them when the truth is that Jaejoong is two years ahead.

“Spill what?” Jaejoong asked innocently though he knew perfectly well what Changmin really meant. He continued with his cooking as if nothing out of ordinary needs explanation and this annoyed Changmin even more. Changmin was not angry because his hyung brought a pretty girl at home. He doesn’t really care about other people’s love affair. And he knew there are a lot of girls who are willing to be his girlfriend in case he needed one. The truth was just that he hates the fact that his hyung never cooked this much food for him and yet he took all the effort to cook for this girl of whom Changmin doesn’t even know from where. How did his hyung met this girl anyway? Jaejoong never mentioned anything about a girl he likes. She’s not even a celebrity. At least that’s what he thinks. He never saw any celebrity who is as beautiful as this girl and he’s the type who never forgets pretty faces.

“You brought a girl in our house at…” he paused to check his watch. “….11 in the evening then took all the effort to cook all these,” he motioned his hands to emphasize the food on the table. “What’s going on, hyung?” He looked at Seohyun who averted her eyes the moment their gazes met. If it was because if guilt that she couldn’t meet his eyes, Changmin wasn’t sure. Besides Changmin couldn’t think of a reason for this girl to be guilty about unless she and his Jaejoong hyung are indeed having an affair when it’s definitely prohibited to all SME artists and Jaejoong isn’t an exception.

“We’re having a party for Seohyun’s birthday. Since you’re awake, help yourself.” Jaejoong told Changmin. So the girl’s name is Seohyun and it’s her birthday. Some of his questions were answered but not everything. Oh well, that can wait. All Changmin wanted to do at that moment was to sit and start eating. It’s as if the food on the table were calling him and asking him to eat them. He sat on the chair facing Seohyun then, while using his last ounce of patience, waited for his hyung to finish the last dish.

“You were having a party and you’re not telling me… That’s mean…” Changmin complained still not planning to drop the case. “You should have woken me up.”

Jaejoong chuckled. After years of living with Changmin he perfectly understand why he behaves the way he does right now. “Yunho will definitely kill me if you we’re not well rested for tomorrow’s recording.”

“So you can stay up late and I couldn’t? That’s not fair hyung. Oh, well, at least Junsu hyung was left out too. I would be really mad if all of you were having fun and I wasn’t aware.” He could already picture out Junsu’s laughing face and hear his ‘eu kyang kyang’ laugh while telling him names of food he ate all those times Changmin was sleeping.

“This will be ready in a minute,” Jaejoong said after pouring all the contents of the hot sauce bottle into the pan of ddeokbokki of which Seohyun couldn’t do anything about.

“He’s really mean you know.” Changmin whispered to Seohyun but loud enough for Jaejoong to hear. “He puts ‘sudden death’ sauce in everything he cooks and we can never complain because he would stop cooking for us once we did.” Seohyun found the name of the sauce funny but she couldn’t find the need to ask why the hot sauce was called ‘sudden death’ and besides Jaejoong already threw a remark at what Changmin just said before she could even open her mouth.

 “Yah~ Chamin-ah. Stop telling Seohyun bad things about me.”

“We’re just getting to know each other, you know. Just hurry up already so we can start eating. I’m hungry.”

“When are you not hungry?” Changmin pretended he didn’t hear that last remark and instead turned to Seohyun. “Since Jaejoong hyung is too busy to introduce us…” he stretched his arm towards Seohyun and offered a handshake. “I’m Shim Changmin.”

 Seohyun was amazed at how different Changmin is on TV and up close. She used to think of Changmin as a silent and reserved person because he never talks a lot during interviews but now she realized she was wrong. “I’m Lee Seohyun,” she said taking his hand.

“Are you and Jaejoong hyung dating?” Changmin asked.

“Ehhh?? No! We’ve just met today at SME. He left his phone in the music room and I came to return it back.” Seohyun explained without realizing that she sounded so defensive.

“Eh? So you mean you came all this way to Tokyo just to return Jaejoong hyung’s phone?” Of course Changmin was right but she knew she would look stupid if she admits it so she decided to tell the same lie she told Jaejoong a while back.

“I decided to have a vacation here in Tokyo and since you were also here I decided to drop by.”

“What did you see?”

“Eh?” Seohyun asked not sure what he meant.

“On Jaejoong’s phone. What did you see?”

She blushed again. She had been blushing a lot lately and she hates it. “Nothing worth looking at.” She said though that’s not exactly what she wanted to say. That’s what came out of her mouth and it was already too late for her to take back assuming it’s possible.

If what she meant by ‘nothing worth looking at’ are their nude pictures, then her remark was definitely insulting for Changmin. Jaejoong who had been listening to their conversation the whole time laughed really hard. “If you’re wondering whether she had seen your pictures or not, the answer’s yes. She definitely did.”

“Oh, damn. Should I expect my nude pictures on the internet by now?”

“Don’t worry Changmin. She said those pictures are ‘nothing worth looking at’ so I guess she didn’t find the need to post it on the internet.”

Changmin doesn’t know whether to be relieved because his pictures are safe or be insulted because this strange girl found his picture to be ‘nothing worth looking at’. He glared at his hyung who still didn’t stop from laughing. “Next time you pee I’ll make sure to catch it on cam.” Changmin warned.

“Remind me to always lock the door.”

Seohyun found herself laughing really hard. She couldn’t remember the last time she laughed so hard. She realized this is definitely the best birthday ever.

“Oh, shit. It’s almost midnight.” Jaejoong said when he noticed the time. He took the huge chocolate cake out of the refrigerator then put two candles that form ‘16’ on top of the cake where the words ‘Sengil Chukahae, Seohyun-ah’ were also written. Her two oppas sang the “Sengil Chukahae” song and it sounds so beautiful just like the accapella songs she heard them sing on tv. Jaejoong lit the candles, grabbed his Polaroid camera then told Seohyun to blow the candles. He took a shot and when the picture came out he gave it to Seohyun.

In the picture she saw a smiling image of herself… no pretenses… only real happiness mirrored in her eyes. “Gamsahamnida Jaejoong oppa… Changmin oppa…” she told them because she wanted them both to know how grateful she truly is although a simple ‘gamsahamnida’ doesn’t seem like enough. Changmin grinned and Jaejoong ruffled her hair again just like how an oppa teases his dongsaeng and instead of getting annoyed Seohyun was beginning to like it.

“Let’s eat. I’m starving.” Changmin said while avoiding Jaejoong’s eyes knowing he will just receive another ‘you’re-always-hungry’ look.

Jaejoong’s cooking was also exceptional. He’s even better than the cook they had back home. When she told Jaejoong that he beamed at her and he looked so happy just like how he looked when she saw him on tv thanking the fans after winning Best Album of the Year.

 “I wonder if I should’ve made a lot more,” Jaejoong said with a sigh. It earned a shocked look from Seohyun.

“Are you serious oppa? This is enough for 10 people… “

“Apparently it’s only enough for Changmin…” To Seohyun’s surprise she learned that Changmin usually eat 8 meals a day and if he went a little less than that they have to worry because that means there’s something wrong with him.

“Yah~ hyung. Stop talking before she starts thinking I’m a monster.” Changmin complained and Seohyun started laughing once again. She never laughed in her entire life as much as she did today. It’s all thanks to this two dork oppas beside her.