It's You Chapter 18

ONE YEAR LATER.

'JaeHwa!' someone called. I turned, looking around. Funny. I swore someone had called me name. I turned back to my locker, pulling out "Japanese 101". 'Hey, JaeHwa!' I turned again. This time I found the person that the voice belonged to. Leanne made her way through the crowd, pushing people aside. She looked excited.

I've been in Japan for nearly a year now. On the plane and for the first few days of being here, I cried. I missed everyone terribly. It literally felt like there was a hole in my heart.

I've been out of contact with DongHae for nearly a year now. For the first few months I thought of him every single day, wondering how we was doing, whether he missed me. After a while it sunk in that he had probably moved on, was probably too busy with Super Junior's new album to think of me.

So I moved on too.

We lost contact altogether, and HyunJae stopped seeing EunHyuk and SiWon. It hurt for both of us, but maybe we were better off without them. It certainly got rid of some of our problems. Eventually EunHyuk and SiWon stopped calling her too. I didn't even buy their new album. I had a feeling that if I heard his voice I might snap.

JunSu became a prefect. The teachers thought that he certainly deserved it, ever since he managed to stop a gang fight between his former friends and some seniors. He was so different from the person he was when he started secondary school, and that was what I loved about him.

Everyday HyunJae and JunSu would sit under the tree during lunch. Our names are still there, still carved deep into the tree as if we made them yesterday. People think that JunSu's name is there because we were both his girlfriends, but he doesn't care. Rumours don't touch him.

I'm in an international school, Korean class. We learn English and some Japanese, and I've got no problem with them. I'm not entirely fluent in Japanese yet, just know enough to order food in a restaurant and buy stuff. But I'm getting there. And I still take Korean classes, but most classes are in English, which makes me grateful for the fact that I was top in English back in Korea.
---
"Hi Leanne," I said. It was easy communicating with Leanne because her parents were Korean and she knew how to speak Korean as well as Japanese and English. Sue Yin sauntered up behind her. She was Chinese, but she loved her Korean bands so much that she was learning Korean. She wasn't very fluent yet but she had improved alot since I met her a year ago.
"You're never going to believe this," she said, as Leanne brandished a newspaper cutout in my face.
"What is it?" I asked, trying to catch hold of it.
"Super Junior's coming to Japan!" squealed Leanne, jumping up and down. I abandoned my attempt at snatching the paper from her. I probably would have torn it. Instead, I let a look of shock cross my face.
"What?!" I said.
"Yeah!" said Sue Yin, grinning from ear to ear. "And it's during the holidays! They're gonna be meeting fans at the Nippon Budokan! It's so close to us!"
"Is it free..?" I asked. "When is it?"
"It's during the school holidays, 8th to 9th July. You need a ticket, but I'm so excited!" replied Leanne, stopping her jumping frenzy.
"If you need a ticket, why're you excited...?" I asked, feeling slightly bewildered. It wasn't like it was free, and I bet that tickets were already selling out as we spoke.
"Because my brother is on the ticket community and he managed to snag us tickets!" she said, almost pulling out her hair.
"Wait, what?! Are you kidding me?!" I said, grabbing her.
"Yeah! Oh my God, I can't wait...!"
"Neither can I," I murmured.
---
"You're kidding me? You're going to see him?" said HyunJae as we started another of our webcam calls.
"I don't have a choice, they're going to make me go with them," I said, sighing. Leanne and Sue Yin were nice, but they weren't HyunJae.
"Then say you're busy or something!" she said. At that moment, my cellphone rang.
"Hang on," I said to HyunJae as I picked it up. She nodded and went back to her homework, but I could see that she was listening.

"Hello?" I said.
"Hey JaeHwa, it's Leanne. I'm really sorry, but my brother only managed to get us two tickets, and... well..."
"Sue Yin wants to go right? That's okay, I think I've got stuff to do on that day... you know, with my friend coming from Korea and all."
"Really? Okay... that's good, but I still feel bad... are you sure you're okay with it?"
"Absolutely," I said firmly. I meant it. I didn't feel up to meeting with DongHae again, though I doubt he remembered me anymore.
"Alright, you said it. See you in school on Monday yea? So happy there's only 2 weeks left til holidays, I'm so tired of school."
I laughed with her. "Aren't we all? Alright, see you." I hung up and turned back to HyunJae. She had one eyebrow raised but she still looked amused.

"Geez, you're be the luckiest girl in the world, you know that?" she remarked.
"Yeah, thank God for that," I said. "Now we can have the whole two weeks to ourselves! And no Super Juniors to mess it up for us." I smiled.
"I can't believe I'm going to visit you in Japan for two weeks," she said. "It seems so unreal. You shouldn't even be there, you should be here in Korea with us!"
"I know. God, you don't know how much I want to be there." I paused. "But on the other hand, no angry staring fangirls. Or notes on the door. You know? I'm just a normal kid now."
HyunJae sighed. "Yeah, I guess so. At least the whole thing's blown over now, especially with their new album and all, everyone's choosing to forget what happened with DongHae."
"That's good," I said. "Hey... you didn't buy their album did you?"
HyunJae looked up and I knew she was looking at the one and only Super Junior picture above her computer. "No... I didn't," she said quietly. "I didn't want to." She looked back at me. "Some fans we are huh? Didn't even get their brand new album and don't want to meet them live." She laughed.
"We were more than fans, that was the problem."
"Sad. I'll never loiter around the SM building again. Who knows, I might get involved with DBSK or SHINee or something. In fact, I still remember the day you tripped over DongHae's foot."
"Like it was yesterday."
"I've got to stop reliving that. By the way, JunSu really misses you."
"I've heard. It's the first thing he says when we talk. That and 'When are you coming back?' It's pretty funny."
"Well, he's happy he's prefect now, I think he really deserves it."
"Me too." We settled into a comfortable silence, thinking. I was reminiscing. The very first day I met DongHae. When I ran away. When I stayed overnight. All the times I went to the hospital. I smiled at that. Might have broken a record for being there too often, even though it wasn't always for myself. My smile disappeared when I remembered EunHyuk. When Donghae kissed me.

When we said goodbye.
---
"There's HyunJaeeee....!" I screamed as I spotted her walking out of the gates. I launched myself out of the car and ran towards her, shrieking all the way. She looked around for moment, then dropped her bags and screamed too. Everyone looked at us, but I was past caring.
HyunJae and I wrapped our arms around each other. "JaeHwa JaeHwa JaeHwa!" she kept saying happily. We released each other and she took a good look at me. "You're smile is so big it's running around your face!" she said as my parents finally caught up with me and greeted her.

We all walked back to the car, HyunJae and I chattering the whole way. We didn't even stop when my mum asked where we wanted to go for lunch.

I saw my parents smile at each other in the rear view window.
---
"Wow, Tokyo has SO many people!" remarked HyunJae as we drove back.
"Yeah, and during peak office hours, I wake up and see all the people walking across the road from my window, it's like little black dots all over the place," I replied as we reached our apartment.
"Do they even have houses here?"
"Do they have houses in the Gangnam district?"
"Oh yeah... but still...!"
"There are some around, but it's mostly flats."
"Do I get my own room?"
"Nope, you're rooming with yours truly."
"Fun...!"
We pushed her suitcase into the lift with my parents, then the two of us made our way up the stairs.
"And what floor do you live on?"
I shot an evil grin at her. "11th. After a while you'll get used to it. I always walk."
"What?! Damn, I shouldn't have come to visit you if you're going to make me walk up 11 storeys everyday."
"Yeah well, you're here now, muahahahaha. Maybe I should call SiWon so he can carry you up the stairs!"
"Hey!"
She chased me up the first few storeys, laughing the whole way.

Yes, life was finally back to normal.