Surprise; Yoochun/Sunye




My dearest cousin, Yeeun, had invited troubles to me more times than not.

Back when we were kids, our families moved to a new neighbourhood. I remember there was a girl being bullied when I went to the Joi Playgroud with Yeeun one day - in hopes of finding new playmates since I had always been a friendly girl. I just watched as they threw some sand at her, with quite a handful degree of guilt, and the poor little girl was crying so hard. She was bawling, crying for her mummy. I may be just ten, but I knew the wrong and right. As much as I wanted to stand up for her, I was rational enough to think that I would get in trouble by interfering. The bullies would haunt me too. Unfortunately, my cousin, Yeeun, was too outspoken for my liking, even back then when we were little kids. True to her character, she stood up for the girl. Picking up a rock, she threw it with full force onto the sweaty head of the big, chubby leader of the bully gang. She definitely suited the role, by the way. The way her eyes piercing holes into mine was downright scary and chilling. Yeeun should have told me her plan, if indeed it was, because she got me in deep shit. I remember her shouting at me "Run! Run!", but you see, I was too engrossed into the whole scene, and I was too slow to react. By the time I started to move my feet, the bullies were already surrounding me. Stupid Yeeun didn't even come back to help. Needless to say, I was harassed by these kids. Froggie, Yeeun and I used to call the leader, pulled my hair like she was participating in some kind of tug and war, and it was just a horrible nightmare. We never went to the playground again. But guess what? When Yeeun and I started schooling, we found out that all five bullies went to the same school.

I was thirteen when I had the most embarrassing moments in my life. At that time, girls my age had already began bursting into the dating scene. I was probably the only one still left behind in the phase of "Girls rule, boys drool". Even when my girl friends were busy gushing about their boyfriends and the oh-so-romantic dates, I was never interested in those, according to my dictionary, useless and childish stuff. I hated how immature most boys I knew were. They made me puke. Unfortunately for me, my sexist personality brought undesirable consequences. I was walking along the hallway one day when I heard murmurs by everyone, whispering to one another with their eyes looking at me with a mixture of amusement, shocked and horror. At first I thought there was something wrong with my attire, but really, there was nothing unusual with my outfit. What was even weirder was the fact that almost all the girls were avoiding me. I learnt the cause of all the weird behaviour when some random girl screamed when she saw me entering the loo. I initially thought she got possessed. She screamed, "AH! FREAK. GO AWAY!" Still believing her body was indeed taken over by some evil demon, I quickly made my way towards the door to get some emergency help. But I stopped in my tracks entirely when I heard her say, "Yah, you lesbian! Get away from me." It turned out, Yeeun was pissed at me when I stole her pink skirt and generously started telling everyone I was a lesbian. Words spread like wildfire, and the next thing we knew, everyone in the school heard about it and stupidly enough, believed in that rumour. I was It's a very homophobic country I live in, and just imagine the backlash I received. Just because I hated boys, they would think I was a lesbian? Stupid. I was never a patient person, and I knew waiting for the rumor to cease would take eternity. So I began dating some random guy, a nerd named Jin, just to get the absurd idea out of their heads and to once and for all, dispell the rumour. I chose him, because quite frankly, everyone else thought I was really homo. And I had to ask him out. Also, Yeeun had to treat me lunch the entire month.

My loatheness towards boys did however die down in the upcoming years when the boys hit puberty. They were still childish, but physically they had grown into such sex gods. Okay, not for the unfortunate ones, but let's focus on the good ones. The boys whom I had known to be so short started getting so tall, and their voice suddenly became manly. My first crush was Kim Jaejoong. Everyone liked him, and I wasn't an exception. He was our school's Kingka - you know, your typical perfect senior with such gorgeous face, and had extreme talent in everything he did. But when he graduated, Choi Seunghyun was up next to the throne, and I went head over heels for him. I just really had a thing for Kingkas. But my taste in guys changed after a certain someone pressed his lips against mine - no, more like raped my virgin, untouched lips.. Heck, a lot about me changed.

The good thing was my first kiss was owned by someone gorgeous, a sex god, I'd like to refer. I felt real grateful that he looked nothing like my first (regrettable) boyfriend, Jin. Oh thank lord for that! You may ask me, "So what? Good news. You kissed a hot sex god." The kiss was a bad, bad mistake. The lips rapist, Park Yoochun, was no one else. He happened to be Yeeun's very own boyfriend. Oh, boy. I put my finger to the slippery floor for the blame.

When Yeeun brought Yoochun to meet me, I was not the least bit impressed by the new boyfriend of hers. Not that I was by the previous ones, either. I had concluded by meeting her third boyfriend that she had terrible taste in guys. She obviously cared for the appearance more than anything; she did not care how arrogant and rude they could be. Yoochun was the 6th, but unlike those previous boys, I actually knew him. My classmate. Again, I was not surprised that she chose a guy with such snobby, selfish personality. He was precisely her type. God, why couldn't Yeeun see it through her thick head?

To put it simply: I didn't like Yoochun, in fact, his personality was one I really loathed. Okay, so, I did feel a little twitch of something when his sexy lips touched mine, but that was just it, okay?
That was just it...

But damn, my head had to mess with me.

I actually... kind of, sort of... fell for him.

Yeeun had no idea what happened. She had no idea her dearest cousin and boyfriend actually kissed. But she wasn't stupid enough to not notice the awkward phase Yoochun and I were having. You might be thinking, "Hey, that was just a little contact. It doesn't signal the end of the world."

Easier said than done.

I felt so bad and it just seemed that if Yeeun found out, it would signal the end of the world. Yoochun was nowhere near being helpful because very contrary from my expectation, coming from a supposedly cool guy like him, he actually avoided me like he would actually die from talking to me. I didn't plan on talking to him after the horrendous accident either, but couldn't he make it at least a wee bit less obvious?



Shock came to me when I least expected it.

Park Yeeun stormed into my room one day, crying her heart out. The wet, spoiled mascara ruined her usually gorgeous face, which was overwhelmed with her rivers of tears. It was a Sunday morning, and just waking up from bed, it didn't occur to me that I was the one who made her cry.

"Hey, what's wrong? Why are you upset?" Oblivious me asked her, as I hopped off from my bed.
I received a glare in return - a menacing one which sent shivers down my spine.

After the mentioned troubles she gave me growing up with her (among many others), you might think she would, at least, have thought this thoroughly enough before confronting me, and not use any violence to resolve the matter, wouldn't you? I mean, wouldn't it be crazy for your super tight cousin to scathe you just because you accidentally did something, albeit wrong, basically meaning nothing at all? It was just a one-time incident, damn it!

But, hey, we're bound to be greeted with a mega surprise at some point in our lives.

Yeeun, overflowing with emotions, slapped me across the face. Hard and cold.

For a moment, I just stood there, feeling dumbfounded by the event unfolding right before my eyes. The pint-drop silence was creeping in, and never in my life had I felt so tense. Yeeun was really mad at me; she could tear me apart just driven by her rage.

"What are you doing?!" I asked, although I had somewhat expected it to be about Yoochun.

"You cheated with my boyfriend!"

"I did not!!" And it was true.

However, she unfortunately landed so far away on delusional kingdom.

"I saw pictures of you two kissing. It's all over the school's website. Do you know how embarrassed I am? I've become the fool!"

At that point, it felt extremely surreal to me. Yeeun and I had never been in such situation, where things seemed beyond repairable between us.

"What pictures?"

"How could you do this to me?" she said, tears even more actively scrolling down her cheeks.

"That one time was an accident. I slipped and--"

"Gosh, you're still lying? Come clean, Sunye. The truth is right here, stop making lies. Stop making me the fool!" Yeeun practically shouted at me, not bothering to even listen to my explanation.

"I should have known, I should have known. How could I be so stupid? I should have known from the way you act, I should have known when I saw your pictures in his phone. I actually believed him when he said he felt very protective of you since you are like a sister to him and that he hated it when guys got near you... Gosh, I'm so stupid."

"But--" I stopped when her statements dawned on me.

Wait, what?

"Are you happy now?!"

Before I could even move my tongue, Yeeun had already slammed the door hard and left.


I was greeted by stares the next morning at school. They labelled me as the back-stabber, boyfriend stealer and ungrateful slut. I couldn't exactly blame them. If I were to see a picture of a girl kissing her cousin's boyfriend, I would have talked some trash about her - especially when her cousin is a popular girl in the school. Yes, everyone knew Yeeun. I must have been known as the ultimate villain.

I thought that I would become more comfortable entering class, escaping the smirks, stares and murmurs, but I forgot that I was in one class with Yoochun. It slipped from my mind that he was sitting right behind me.



"Yeeun found out."

Awkward conversations always start with an obvious statement.

"Yeah, she's mad."

I quickened my pace, hoping to lose track of him. Already, the fellow students were whispering into one another's ears. It was even fuelling things. Yoochun and I appeared as if we were walking home together and that was like adding oil to fire.

"So you're avoiding me now?"

I stopped in my tracks and turned around to face him. He was quite tall, hence I had to crane my neck just to get a clear view of his eyes and gorgeous face.

"Pe-people will start talking." For some reason, I stuttered. I somehow was taken aback by the anxiety building up in me.

He scoffed. "To hell with whatever they're saying."

"Look, you were avoiding me then, what's with the sudden approach?" I stated the obvious.

I sounded like a mean bitch, but everything was such a mess and I really didn’t feel the need to talk to anyone – especially not him. Yeeun avoiding me, everyone glaring at me; to sum it up: today was horrible.

“Why are you being a bitch?”

“Well, if you were put in my shoes, you would understand.”

He just looked at me and smirked annoyingly.

That. That was how he used to act around me. So we were over the awkward phase now?

“Why would anyone want to post those pictures up on the school website? I don’t remember making enemies,” I said, angered, after a while. “Yeeun’s avoiding me like I’m some sort of plague, my bet is, she’s done the same to you.”

He nodded in approval. “But it doesn’t matter anyway.

In response, I looked at him questioningly.

“We broke-up.”

... “Why?” Please let it not be true. Please please please.

I received a sweet smile in return. “Knowing Yeeun, she must have screamed it right into your face. So, Sunye, stop acting oblivious. It makes me laugh – in a bad way.”

If there was one thing about Yoochun I was aware of was how he always managed to make me at loss for words.

“I know it’s always your dream to have someone confessing his feelings like those in movies,--”

He took a moment as he looked at me seriously. I must have looked like a really healthy red tomato. For some reason, the sudden heat I felt all over my face overwhelmed my entire system. I was nervous. I didn’t know why, but I was damn nervous.

“--But I really have no choice. I wanted to make this special, knowing how very... picky... you are.”

“ARE YOU TELLING ME YOU LIKE ME?”

I seriously had no idea where the energy came from.

Just like that, I attracted even more attention. I had concluded that Yeeun would never ever talk to me again.


Everything felt so surreal to me. I felt like some goddamn overrated actress starring in an equally overrated and cliché romantic comedy.

Whether it was my pride or my guilt, I rejected him right at the spot. I must have my brain planted on my knees for not thinking of the consequences ensuing right after, having caused a scene in front of a lot of fellow students. For a whole week, ‘Sunye rejecting Yoochun’ was the topic of the school and teenagers in the town. I had become a celebrity. Okay, kidding. But for majority of the part, it did turn out for the best. Yeeun and I were back on terms again, and I was not being blamed as the, um, slut. However, Yoochun received the short ends of things and people now recognised him as the ultimate villain – the one who was causing the strains between Yeeun and I.

I felt bad. And the tiny bit of feeling I had for him grew like wildfire. I couldn’t stop thinking about him. Literally.

I did try to make amends and try to apologize, but he brushed me off every single time. He ignored me, he ignored my very existence. It hurt so much.


At one point, I actually lost control of my legs. Before I knew it, I had already run all the way from my house to the basketball arena around our neighbourhood where he played most afternoons.

I was in denial for the longest time, but reaching that point, I had succumbed to defeat. I had conceded the fact that I really had fallen head over heels over this boy. Just watching him play made me smile from ear to ear. And to think, I hated sports.

He looked surprised to see me standing there, staring right back at him, but he regained composure after that. Quickly averting his eyes away, yet again, like how I was no one he knew, he continued playing with his friends.

I was quicked to approach him when they finished the game.

“Yoochun...”

He wanted to ignore me, but his friends made him stay and talk to me.

“What do you want?”

“I’m sorry.”

Couldn’t he see that I missed him? That I hated the fact that he was not talking to me anymore?

I was going crazy, and he didn't notice that?

But there was no response from him, and the indifferent look on his face made my heart drop, in a bad way.

I lost it and cried uncontrollably. It was damn embarrassing, but I couldn’t care less. Park Yoochun was ignoring me, damnit!

... “Do you seriously hate me now?”

Suddenly, there was a pair of hands wrapping themselves around my body, and I was engulfed with warmth. Yoochun hugged me as tight as it could possibly get, and I felt a smile carved on my wet face.

“I really like you!” I couldn’t hold it in any longer. There, I said it!

“Damn, Sunye!”

Wait, his hands were no longer embracing me.

“Why?”

“If I could hold it in any longer, just a little longer damn it! But it just makes me weak to see you cry, and I give in so easily!”

“What are you saying?”


If I knew everything was planned, I would have went as far as going out of South Korea, just to ignore him back. It turned out that he was purposely not talking to me for a major reason: he was going to surprise me on my birthday, which was in a week’s time. He was going to ask me to be his girlfriend!


“So everything is fake?” I asked, fuming.

“Not everything, of course. Yeeun and I did date. Yeeun did find out about those pictures, and me liking you. And we did break-up. That all happened. And you also did reject me,” he explained.

I grinned at that.

He continued, “Yeeun approached me during the dreadful time when we weren’t talking, and told me about how so obviously in love her cousin is with yours truly. And believe it or not, she masterminded this whole plan with me.”

“What?!” I was in utter shock. Yeeun, out of people!

“But I just ruined the surprise. Bummer." Yoochun sounded extremely disappointed.

After successfully reaching for my hand, he intertwined his fingers with mine. I felt the butterflies at the pit of my stomach.

Upon the realisation that he actually planned something special for me, I had a broad smile on. I was smiling too much that it hurt. I was overwhelmed with delight, to say the least.

“Baby, take comfort in the fact that I had never ever cried for any other boy before. That just now was the first. Feel special.”

He rolled his eyes and let out a scoff. “Like you had a boyfriend before.”

"I did! Once!"

"Really?" There was concern written on his face.

"Yeap..." So what if it was Jin, it stiill counted.

His face turned very sour.

"Are you serious?! You dated a lot of people, my cousin, included!" I fired at him before he could complain.