Chapter 06

I wonder if Sooki is here today.. she said she was going to be here to walk with me to school Jae Joong thought to himself as he reached the sunflower field surveying the area to see if Sook Shin was there. As he was looking around he quickly took off his glasses and stuffed them into his book bag to not ruin his cold image though his uniform didn’t really help either. Jae Joong untucked his shirt, took off the tie and wrapped it around his right hand like bandage. He ran his hand through his hair back to mess up his perfectly styled hair done by his noonas.

This was all he could do to make him look more like the Jae Joong he wanted to show. He noticed that at the edge of the field where the fully bloomed sunflowers there was movement so he smirked She must be there and with a smile Jae Joong ran down towards the edge of the field yelling out , “Sooki!!! Why are you picking flowers!!! Hurry up we’re going to be late for school… If I’m late… my parents are gonna kill me… and if I die you have to die too, to keep me company…”

As he got closer, with his bad eyesight since he had taken off his glasses and not worn his contacts, he was only able to make out a blurred image of a girl, but he couldn’t tell if it was his Sooki or not especially since her back was turned towards him. When he reached the edge of the field, he took a glance and decided that it could not be Sook Shin dressed like that.

He apologized in an annoyed and slightly disappointed voice and began to walk away sulking. Sooki, you brat… just way till I get my hands on you … he began to think to himself as he walked. As he walked he began to realize that what he just did was not what he would have typically done to people who trespassed. “ Hey .. wait.. why did I apologize to that girl just now? Its my field!!” Pretty much pissed off,Jae Joong turns around and heads back towards the girl. But before he could start yelling, the girl turned around and Jae Joong froze like a statue.. his moth dropped open.

It was none other than Sook Shin, he had just not recognized her. Sook Shin, as always with a huge bunch of sunflowers looked at Jae Joong with a smile but also with slight confusion as to why Jae Joong froze and looked that way. She started to look around to see if anything was different that Jae Joong would react that way, but finally realized what was the cause. She smiled and skipped towards Jae Joong stopping a few steps infront of him. Jae Joong, still frozen in shock followed Sook Shin with his eyes and watched as she twirled around.

Sook Shin like Jae Joong was dressed for school as well. Along with glasses that Jae Joong had never seen her wear before, she for the first time since they met wore her hair down with two ponytails tied with red ribbon and a sunflower pin at the center of the bow. Sook Shin word the same white uniform shirt as Jae Joong but instead of a red tie, she wore a red bow. Her red pleated skirt flowed with the breeze as she continued to twirl around. Indeed this was the first time in the 2 years they had known each other that he had seen his Sunflower Girl as a girl. He had seen her as a fighter, tomboy, even as hamtaro, but never like this before. At this moment he didn’t see her as a tomboy friend but as a pretty girl.

Sook Shin stopped dancing and stared deeply into his eyes. Pearls of sweat began to run down Jae Joong’s face and he gazed back at her, his heart began to beat faster as Sook Shin began to inch her way closer towards him. Jae Joong’s eyes began to focus on her lips as she made her way closer. He could begin to smell the scent of sunflowers and jasmine, a scent that made his heart beat fast than before. Sook Shin loves Jasmine and Sunflowers that she would always have some around her so now wherever she goes, the scent of sunflowers and jasmine followed. Jae Joong began to reflect back at what he had seen the night before.. Noona #8 and her wimp boyfriend outside of the house. Bae and Min had stared into eachother’s eyes, then Min began to make his move in closer to Bae, her closing her eyes and finally the kiss.

Picturing this in his mind, Jae Joong’s heart pound faster as if it were going to leap out of his chest. Now he could hear her breathing, she had gotten so close and the scent of Jasmine and sunflowers enveloped him. In his mind he equated this situation to what had happened to his sister the night before so he braced himself and slowly leaned toward Sook Shin, ready to accept her kiss. Seeing this reaction, Sook Shin grinned at Jae Joong unknowingly leaving himself open for her games and softly whispered, “ Jae Joong oppa…”

Jae Joong either caught up in the moment or the visions running in his own mind, with his eyes still closed said, “…Sooki…”

Sook Shin holding in her laughter took a step to the side when Jae Joong leaned out as far as he could thinking his lips would meet hers but instead fell head first to the ground into the grass.

Sook Shin giggled and kneeled down to help Jae Joong up. As she helped him up and started brushing off the grass from his shirt, she placed her left hand on his shoulder and leaned towards his ear once again whispering to him, “Jae Joong oppa… do you know want suki means… in Japanese….”

“umm…. “ Jae Joong said as he continued to sweat.

“It means ‘like’ or ‘love’…. Jae Joong oppa … suki desu… I like you… do you like me?”

Hearing this Jae Joong’s heart beated faster than ever before as he nervously tried to reply, “ umm… like… ummm… you…I…”

But before he could form a complete sentence, Jae Joong received a blow to the head.
“Babo!!!! You pervert!!! Hahahaha!!!!” Sook Shin yelled after hitting her oppa over the head with the bunch of sunflowers she had picked.

Sook Shin fell to the ground laughing as Jae Joong glared at her with an annoyed and slightly angered look.
“Why you little…” he said as he raised his book bag up high to throw at her.

Noticing he was really mad and not just play mad, Sook Shin jumped up from the ground, grabbed his left arm tightly hugging it and with her sure fire “you can’t be mad at me “ teary puppy dog eye look she said, “Oppa… I’m sorry… please don’t be mad…I couldn’t help it…” then like an eagle scout she raised her right hand, “ I promise that I will never do that to oppa again…”

She turned to Jae Joong with teary eyes, “ Please… please.. don’t be mad…”

“…”

“Oppa.. how could you be mad at me when I look so darn cute!!!” she said pouting as she cuddled his arm.

Why does she seem so cute right now?!?!? Jae Joong thinks to himself as he tries to avoid looking at her in attempts to maintain his cold aura to no avail. As a last ditch effort to not lose his cool and fall into her cuteness, Jae Joong puts on an angry face and grabs her hand and forcefully removes it from his arm.
Sook Shin looked blankly at him not understanding his reaction… for the last 2 yrs they had playfully joked around with one another playing tricks, sharing stories, and never once did Jae Joong ever act like this.

“ Cute?!?!? Sure you are sooooooo cutttttttteeeee….. sooooo cutteeeeeee that I think I love you !!!.... Sure Sooki….. (laughs) don’t be so full of yourself!!! I don’t love you… I don’t even like you !!! The only reason why I come and see you here everyday and do things with you is because its better than sticking around and following orders from my mom and older sisters… you are just a toy I play with when I’m bored.. get it!!!” he said coldly to Sook Shin who seemed to be on the verge of tears.

After he said that, to not break his cover he quickly turned away and bit his lip… in honesty he really did mean what he said about him being in love with her, but he just couldn’t say it to her truthfully because he didn’t know how tell her without looking like a fool. Now he could only wonder if he had taken it too far with his words because usually after his reaction Sook Shin would jump in laughing and acting like nothing was wrong and begin one of her random adventures once again, but this time it wasn’t. Instead of hearing her laughter and receiving a hug from her, something hit him in the back.

He turned around to see that he had been hit with the sunflowers Sook Shin had picked, he looked up and saw tears streaming down Sook Shin’s face as she picked up her book bag, “ … those flowers… I picked them so we could give them to our new classmates… so we could make more friends… so everyone would get a chance to see the Jae Joong I know… but I guess… it was all a game for you….”

Jae Joong couldn’t believe that his words had hurt her so much, he took a step forward towards her with his hand reaching towards her but Sook Shin took a step back away from his grasp, “Oppa… for 2 years … these past two years… you may have not been genuine … honest with your feelings, but me… everything I said , did was from my heart… I really did believe that fate had sent me a special friend I could share everything with…. But I guess I was wrong…”

“Sooki…I…” Jae Joong said sadly, but before he could finish his sentence, Sook Shin still in tears took off running into the field.

“Sooki!!! Wait!! I didn’t…” he began to yell as he tried to catch up with her, but it was too late, she had cleared through the field and looked from the hill down at Jae Joong. With tears in her eyes she gave a final wave, turned and with her head down walked away.

“Sooki!!!.... Sooki!!!” Jae Joong yelled out, but Sook Shin did not respond.

“Sooki…I didn’t mean it…. I’m sorry….”he said faintly as he slowly dropped his head down and headed back to where he had ran to her earlier.

He looked at all the flowers that laid on the ground and pictured Sook Shin crying.. What have I done…My only friend… Sooki… I’m sorry he sadly thought to himself as he began to pick up the flowers on the ground remembering what she had said so long ago Little Girl… even flowers that cant be sold have a purpose… in their own way, they can make others days brighter

While gathering flowers he noticed a red stone… it was one of the stones that had brought the two of them together. Sook Shin always had hers with her at all times and though Jae Joong didn’t want to admit it .. he kept his with him too.

Now feeling worse than ever, Jae Joong put the stone in his pocket and with the sunflowers in hand slowly walked up the hill, looked towards the direction of their school and then headed home.
When he got home, his sisters and parents asked what was wrong but Jae Joong just ignored them and headed toward his room.

“What’s wrong Jae Joong?” his father asked as he placed his hand on Jae Joong’s head. They waited for a response, but Jae Joong didn’t give one, with his head still down he remained silent.

“Oh no…. is he sick?? He was fine before he left home..” his mother said as she ran up to him and touched his forehead to check if he had a fever. All his sisters minus Bae went up to him asking him if he was ok.. if he needed to go to the doctor… telling their parents that it was maybe best if he stayed home today..
Bae laughed, “ Can’t you tell that he’s faking it?? He’s just trying to get out of school…”

Bae made her way past her sisters, grabbed Jae Joong and pulled his face up and suddenly she went silent. Jae Joong was crying… he had never let anyone see him cry before… this shocked Bae.

But before she could say anything, Jae Joong took a deep breath, tried his best to sound normal said, “ I’m fine… I just wanted to pick some flowers before going to school, but when I was done I realized that I wouldn’t make it to school on time walking.. so I came home…”

Jae Joong began to walk to his room and without turning back towards his family continued to talk, “I’m going to go put these in my room… father can you drop me off at school afterwards…”

“Yes… Jae Joong… are you ok ?” his father said in a concerned voice.

“I’m fine father… please go start up the car and I’ll be out there in a minute… I don’t want to be any later to school” and with that Jae Joong disappeared into his room. In his room he could still hear his family talking amongst themselves about him. He walked up to his bed and gently placed the flowers on the mattress. He reached for a piece of paper under his pillow, pulled it out and began to stare at it.. It was a picture of him and Sook Shin, her arms around him, both in hamtaro costumes and smiling.

He turned the picture over and read what was written on the back:

ISee oppa the Jae Jae in this picture is the real you… why do you have to hide it from the world…why do you have to pretend to be so mean??? Is it to protect yourself?? From now on Sooki will protect you !! So let this oppa out ok?? If not… I might just have to beat him out !!! ^^v Love your little Sunflower Girl


Jae Joong wanted to cry more but knew that he had to go to school, so he wiped his tears from his face, placed the picture back underneath the pillow and walked out to the car. His father seeing that Jae Joong was not in the mood to talk left him allow and during the car ride could only wonder what was going on in his young son’s mind.

Jae Joong could only think about how he was to face Sook Shin…how to make up with Sook Shin and more importantly how to apologize for hurting her. When they arrived to the school Jae Joong got out of the car and walked into the school not saying a word to his father. This concerned his father, but his father knew that when Jae Joong wanted to tell him he would.. so he reluctantly drove away.

Jae Joong made his way to class, knocked on the door and went in. The teacher who was in the middle of writing down the school rules on the board stopped and looked at Jae Joong, “You must be Kim Jae Joong… since it’s the first day.. I wont punish you for being late but make sure this is the first and last time ok .”
“Yes teacher… I am sorry” he said as he bowed to the teacher.

“Well introduce yourself to the class…” the teacher turned towards the class, “Students please welcome another one of your classmates..”

Jae Joong bowed, “Hello, I am Kim Jae Joong”

The room went silent, “Kim Jae Joong… tell us something about yourself?” the teacher said, but Jae Joong just stood there with his head down, “ummm ok … Well class let’s begin going over the school rules shall we… which young Kim Jae Joong is in many violations of.”

The room broke out into laughter and the sudden silence when Jae Joong shot a cold glare at them.
“Ok ok … Kim Jae Joong please go take your seat next Han Sook Shin near the window please so we can start with today’s lesson” the teacher said as he pointed in the direction of Jae Joong’s seat.

Jae Joong slowly walked towards the desk and his and Sook Shin’s eyes met. Jae Joong could feel his heart pound hard and heavy. He began to open his mouth to apologize but Sook Shin looked away ignoring him. Jae Joong took his seat and continued to look at her. Sook Shin did not react and continued to stare forward attentively to the teacher’s instructions. Seeing this cold reaction to him from Sook Shin, Jae Joong looked down and even though the two were so close reality… they never seemed so distant as they did right now.



That day you showed me how much it hurt to have someone be cold towards you… Was this how I was…? Am I still like that... no... because you changed me.. showing me that letting out my emotions... being honest with mysef.. makes me who I am... I am sorry that I said those mean things to you that day… I didn’t know that it would hurt you so much… In that moment… I lost the only friend I ever had… the only person who seemed to understand me outside of my family…At that moment all I could think of was how to get you back and never let you go again…
Now seven years later.. the one that loves and cherishes you more than anything in the world will have to let go and lose you… his best friend… my best friend… my love...