stardust | park seonghwa - Chapter 10: Chapter 10

"WHAT were you doing at Woo's house anyway?"
I was too busy looking at the road ahead of us to notice the boy next to me had said something. We had just pulled out of Wooyoung's driveway, San shifting the reverse gear into first and the car rolls along the street in a steady speed.
"Huh, what?" I turn my attention on San now, looking at him through the corners of my eyes.
"What were you doing at Wooyoung's house?" he repeats his sentence.
I shrug. "Hyekyung."
"Welp, I should've guessed."
"What were you doing there?" It's now my turn to ask him and I watch as San leans forward on his seat to turn the radio on and it sings a random Katy Perry song from  five years ago. When he leans back, the boy rakes his hand through his hair and messes the locks before turning the vehicle to the right at an intersection.
"Woo's house is my second home, I crash there whenever I feel like it," he tells me, "so what do you want to get? KFC or McDonald's?"
I ponder on the two choices. "I've always been a KFC girl," I tell him then furrow my brows, "but there are no KFC's around this area, where are we going to get it?"
Unexpectedly, San's mouth stretches into a boyish grin, showing his dimples. "Great choice," he comments, "however we're going to take a little longer going back, you good with that?"
Honestly I don't even know but when I shrug my shoulders to answer him, San lets out a giddy giggle which I find was highly adorable. Without warning, he steps on the accelerator and I let out a quiet 'oof' when my body gets thrown back into the seat. The red-black haired boy just snickers, telling me to be careful, clearly not meaning it as I see amusement in his eyes and I flash him a glare.
I am stunned when San drives us on to the highway, looking at him with alarm. "We're seriously going out of the area?" I ask him whilst pulling the right side of San's hoodie string in annoyance, making him yelp amusingly.
"Well you did say you wanted KFC," he mumbles with a small pout and I could sense his disappointment when the car slows down a little. A small wave of guilt washes over me seeing the light in his eyes dim a little, they were still there but not as bright as when I mentioned the name of the restaurant.
I bite my bottom lip. "It's just... we wouldn't take that long right? I should be taking Kyung home soon," I voice out hesitantly, "mum said she needs to go to daycare tomorrow and she could be a real brat if she didn't sleep enough."
"We wont be long, don't worry," San says, his spirits lifting a little higher, "and besides, who said I was going to go slow?"
Honestly, I don't know how I'm still alive when I find myself stumbling off the car after San parked the car at an empty spot near the door of the fast food place. My eyes are wide — that boy dared to go almost 30 above the speed limit of the highway and the whole entire time, I've got my eyes locked on the rear mirror, paranoid a police car will chase us down. It would've been better if he did it with a flat face, but he was holding his laughter the whole way here and eventually cracks up when I demand him to slow down.
"What if we got a speeding ticket!?" I say, still dumbfounded at what happened and a little annoyed for almost making me have a heart attack at such a young age.
And San walks ahead of me with light steps, almost looking unbothered. "Eh, it's Woo's car anyways so it's fine," he simply tells me with a smirk and I let my jaw drop at how nonchalant he's being.
"How could you be so relaxed?" I ask him, tugging on his sleeve as the both of us enter the building and a whiff of warm air blows on our faces, making San scrunch his nose at the sudden change of temperature.
"Used to it, I guess," he shrugs, then leaning in close to my ear as we approach the front desk. "Do you know why I was so eager on coming here?" he asks me, cupping his hand to cover his mouth as he whispers to my ear.
"No, why?"
The boy straightens his posture and grins smugly. "Hongjoong hyung works here," he cheekily mentions in a giggly tone, hopping to the counter eagerly.
"Hongjoong as in...?"
"Cousin Seonghwa's best friend Hongjoong? Yep, he's the man," San says, "it's a bit surprising isn't it? This cool guy working at a KFC store?"
"Oh yeah we passed by him once," I tell him, remembering that one time Seonghwa and I had passed the older music student that one day. "Never thought he'd be the one to work at KFC though, I've always thought he'd be more like a club DJ or something."
When we get to the counter, San only laughs at my previous statement and leans on the top of it, giving the rest of the staff passing by on the other side of the desk a click of his tongue and the raise of his right eyebrow in acknowledgement. They seem to know who he's looking for and what he's doing here and it didn't take long for someone's voice to boom from the back of the kitchen in an almost scolding tone.
"UM!!? Beomgyu, what did I tell you about leaving costumers unattende— San!?" the figure of Kim Hongjoong appears from behind the heating machines and he stares at the both of us, open mouthed. He was wearing a red uniform just like the others, a bead of sweat rolling down the side of his forehead and he looks pretty much worn out. There's a small rectangular badge on the right side of his chest and I feel myself twist my face, impressed. 'Kim Hongjoong, Elite Team' it reads. Forget about DJing, this is way cooler.
Hongjoong rolls his eyes when San answers him with a sheepish laugh but steps up to the counter anyway, tapping the screen of the monitor in front of him. "What can I get you today?" he sugar-coats his smile when he looks at San, eyeing him longer than when he looks at me. "And you too?"
"A bucket of original chicken please," San order, displaying his dimpled grin then turns to me, "I don't mind sharing but I might end up eating all of it, so what do you want?"
"A whole bucket? To yourself?" I ask him, bewildered when he nods to say 'yes'. "You eat a lot..." I begin to say, "but I eat more. Can I have the same bucket as him?"
"Sure," Hongjoong says, tapping the screen and making us hear the clicks of his nails hitting the monitor. "Drinks?"
"Medium coke," San and I mention at the same time and the older behind the counter shakes his head. "Seonghwa was right with the two of you being the same species," he mutters but loud enough for me to hear. Hongjoong lifts his hand and I am confused for a moment before San places a card on his palm and he slides it on the eftpos machine.
"Wait, Seonghwa's talked about me?" I ask, too caught up in my mind to argue with San about not splitting the payment and let the receipt get printed.
The blonde haired shrugs, "sure. He's mentioned you a couple of times. You're the girl he was with some time ago right? When I came across the both of you, I actually thought you guys only just started dating." Hongjoong lets out a laugh, amused at himself while I feel my cheeks burn at his last sentence.
As we wait for Hongjoong to get our orders ready, my mind repeats what Hongjoong had said. If he, Seonghwa's best friend, thought of that then what did the others think? When my eyes find more interest on the tiled floor, I could tell my ears were now blushing in a reddish colour so I drag my hands down the sides of my face. The thought of it makes my heart race a little, and even though he was a little out of my league, the little voice at the back of my mind tells he to let my hopes rise a little.
"You and Seonghwa hyung hung out?" the voice whom I recognise belonged to San speaks, asking me with curiosity.
"Yeah, the Monday after we met."
San becomes quiet for a moment, as if really giving thought into something really pointless.
"Oh, so that was you!?" he exclaims suddenly, his finger pointing at me and drawing some attention in. Before I can let myself say something, San continues to babble and he leans on one leg while crossing his arms across his chest.
"I overheard Hwa hyung calling Joong hyung that afternoon, saying something about a 'her' and never have I thought he was with you!" San gasps. "Maybe —"
"— there are no maybes!" I cut him off, slapping my hand over his mouth and flash him a glare through the top of my lashes. "God, you're so loud the aliens on Mars can hear you!"
On our way back to Wooyoung's house, I was less bothered by how fast San was speeding through the highway just to catch my attention. My phone rang just as Hongjoong handed us our food and Wooyoung's voice came through, saying that Hyekyung is sleeping on his couch and completely worn out. So after saying my thank you to Hongjoong, I rushed to the car and sat immediately on the passenger's seat with the two buckets of chicken cradled in my arms. San probably knew I was kind of annoyed when I only replied to him with one or two words and honestly, he was not wrong. And plus, I was getting kind of tired so I guess that explains for the most part.
San offers to drive me back home after we arrive at Wooyoung's place. He places his own bucket of food on the coffee table while I go try to shake Hyekyung awake.
"No thanks," I tell him, "we're good."
"Why not? It's getting darker outside and Kyung's asleep already," Wooyoung tells me, "it'll be dangerous on the bus."
I wave him off. "We'll be fine," and when Hyekyung stirs in her sleep, I shake her shoulders a little more. "Kyungie... let's go home, okay? Mummy wants you home soon so we better get going, hmm?"
Hyekyung whines. "I want sweepowver wif Uyoung!" she mumbles before hugging a couch cushion tight in her arms.
"Kyungie, baby, you have school tomorrow."
"I no want school!"
Somewhere behind me, I can hear San scoffing, muttering "mood" under his breath and I was so ready to chuck the whole couch at him.
When I straighten my posture, Wooyoung looks at me knowingly. "See? If she wouldn't even get up how will she get to the bus?" he remarks before rolling his sleeves and crouches next to Hyekyung. "Come on, let's go to the car," he swiftly lifts my sister up in his arms and she quickly wraps her tiny arms around his neck.
"Are you going to drive?"
"No, since San offered and plus, I can feast on his food," Wooyoung chuckles after seeing my slight frown. "Come on, you can't be annoyed at him for this long."
"I'm allowed to be annoyed at him for as long as I'd like," I huff when the said boy gets to the car first.
"You're funny," the silver haired tells me before nudging me with his elbow, "I snuck a chicken drumstick from his bucket to yours, happy now?"
"Very," I grin.
"I don't have a car seat, sorry," Wooyoung apologises to me as he places Hyekyung down on the backseat and straps her seat belt for her. "Just hope that the cops won't hunt you down."
"Great," I say sarcastically but smiling nonetheless. "Thanks for playing with Kyung today."
"Hey, no problem," he answers. Wooyoung shivers from the cold wind blowing, rubbing his hands on the sides of his arms. "I'm going to hurry up inside now, it's cold."
And now we're back on the road — only that it's much quieter now. The only sounds I could hear are the distant beeping of other cars, the drizzling rain hitting the protective glass of the car and the soft tunes of a ballad song coming from the radio. Looking to the backseat, I could hear Hyekyung sleeping peacefully with the couch pillow somehow still with her and on my left side is San with his gaze focused on the road ahead of him. His eyes are sharp as he concentrates on the traffic, he bites his bottom lip when he turns at an intersection or when we get to tight spaces with other cars. His silence is kind of unsettling, in a way, so to make the air seem brighter, I switch the song into a more upbeat track and turn up the volume.
"Here, where's your phone?" I ask him when we pull up to my street.
"Why?"
"Just give me it."
San hands me his device, so with a small smile, I type in a row of numbers onto his keypad before slipping it in the pocket near the car gears. "We should go annoy Hongjoong again some other time," I giggle, watching San's expression soften at my words and I could see the corners of his lips twitching into a small smile. Well, that, before he snickers.
"You know what, maybe you and Seonghwa hyung can hang out together. I know it's your number on there," he teases, "I saw the red on your cheeks earlier, don't get me wrong."
"I-I—"
"See? Pssh, Choi San you are psychic."
"You are annoying," but I grin anyway.
I really thought he was joking when he said that Seonghwa and I should hang out together because that night, as I was getting ready to dive into bed, I swear I almost had a heart attack when an unknown number tells me that they'd love to annoy Hongjoong at KFC if that's what I want.
Almost, anyway.
As I find that the person behind that message was Choi San himself. For a second then, I feel somewhat relieved and disappointed at the same time — but why should I?
But not even a minute later, another message comes from a different number and that's when I drop my phone.