FOUR
Human Scent

A girl who knows how to enjoy her life rather than money
A possessor of a charm of unconventional beauty
You have the scent of a human, an untainted and natural person in this complex world
I like you so much because of your human scent

Just the way you are
Not made up in any way
I’m falling for that beauty
I like you so much because of your human scent
I’m even more attracted to your clumsy appearance
If I hesitate, I might lose you
So I’m going crazy

 

4 AM. Great. KyungSoo rolled his eyes as he locked the door. Thanks to that Julia person or whatever, he ended up with zero hours of sleep. She made it seem like he sinned or something for saying those things last night. What did he do? He just told her reality didn’t he? He even took his time to bring her at YoonJae-hyung’s restaurant. How ungrateful.

He was actually planning to go to the wet market at three but lost track of time because he was so busy trying to think of ways to say sorry. What has she done to him? Why does he have to say sorry? The hell, he doesn’t even know where that person is staying. He could only pray that he never gets to see her again.

He sighed before putting his hood on and checking his shoelace. Time for a jog to the market place. He actually rented a small bungalow house for himself. It has white wooden walls which keeps the inside warm despite the cold weather. His SeungSoo-hyung will love the place. Since it is situated near the temple which is at the upper part of the town where there are only a few houses, he could freely go and walk around, plus it was closer to the mountain trail they’re going to tomorrow.

The fog was still thick so the narrow alleys were a little blurry. There were only a few people he ran into and mostly were the elder residents of Haenam. They greeted him with warm smiles which made him stop on his tracks and bow before continuing. Tourists were probably still fast asleep while the residents were already out on the fields, or at the market. The seafood in Haenam is awesome. He swore he needed to get some of those famous abalones and practice his cooking back at his lodging.

I have the whole day for myself. He grinned, feeling so pleased.

The jog felt so nice, the cold burning his plump cheeks. He started sprinting down the road when one of the doors on his left suddenly burst open. The sound of the wooden doors scratching the cement and the loud bang startled him, making him step back in fright. “YAHH!You startled me!”

Aish.

Julia Do.

Do HweJi.

Just my luck.

The fog was still thick but he could see her standing on the doorway of a traditional house. Tch. Must be a rich girl to be able to rent that place alone. Or wait, is she alone?

She was wearing a beanie, a white blouse and purple skirt topped with a green duffle coat, and black leggings and sneakers. The woman knows she’s pretty and she knows how to accentuate it. KyungSoo thought she’d pass as a trainee in SM. She looked young, maybe 21 or 22? Her eyes met his but she didn’t seem to find it surprising or anything. Rather, she looked uninterested… or annoyed?

He snapped on his thoughts. I SWEAR, I WAS NOT CHECKING HER OUT! Did I ruin her morning? HA! No, she ruined my morning by appearing the moment I was enjoying my free time!

She cocked her head and snorted before leaving him standing in disbelief. “Ssan namja.” She said.

I cannot.

This woman.

“YAHH! YOU DID NOT JUST CALL ME THAT!” He yelled, sprinting towards her. She walks really fast, he observed once again.

However, HweJi continued to walk as she took random picture of the area, acting like she wasn’t hearing anything.

“YAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!” He yelled a bit louder as he took a few more large steps, almost reaching her back.

“WHAT?” she spun right when he was behind her, making him jump back. She was glaring at him. “So noisy. Do you get worked up that easily? Hm? Ssan- Nam – Ja”

“YAH! What did I do to you? I’m not the one getting worked up easily here. It’s you.” He stepped forward, trying to act manlier however he realized she was only shorter by an inch or two.  >_< Am I that short? He continued, “You’re the one being childish just because of what I told you.”

Her eyes widened. She tossed strands of her hair back before retorting, “Childish? Oho! That’s right childish. I’m childish, and you have the brain of a fetus you insensitive jerk!” She turned her heel and started walking swiftly once again.

She’s getting on my nerves now. Excuse me, Luhan and I have the highest IQ among my members. Now Do KyungSoo, be mature, unlike somebody else, and just say sorry, cut ties, and enjoy your day. Smile, KyungSoo.

Luckily, she was stopped by a few elders who started small talk. He soon caught up. “Yah! Do HweJ—

“Don’t call me that!” she snapped, sending a sharp look.

“Aigoo, young couples nowadays. Fighting early in the morning.” An old woman said, massaging her back.

“Ahjumma, we’re not a cou—“ He tried to explain but she cut him off.

“You shouldn’t do that. You must respect a woman and communicate properly to have a long lasting relationship.”

“Even when one refuses to speak with you, you should do everything to talk it out. Okay?” Added the old man with a cane and a basket of what smelled like fresh seafood.

“That’s right. You should respect a woman. Tss.” HweJi glared again, mouthing ‘Ssan namja’.

I give up. This woman is going to destroy my vacation. I wish hyung would hurry up and come.

 

---

 

 

“Okay Do HweJi, I’m sorry. Okay? I’m really sorry. Stop being like this now.” He followed her as she continued ignoring him. “Heyyyyy~ Can’t you just be mature about it and call it quits? You’ve called me cheap twice already. Jeez, it’s been an hour now!” Yes, it’s been an hour now and she was just walking and walking. KyungSoo found the situation worse than a 12-hour dance practice for a comeback. The seafood is waiting for me T_T They need me, I need them. I really want to cook now.

“Ssan namja,” He heard her mumble. “Oh. That’s wrong. Ssan yonja? I did my research, Do KyungSoo is apparently gay.”

Somebody.

Hold me.

I’ll kill this woman.

“YAHHHHHH! I TOLD YOU TO STOP!”

She took her phone out, “Do KyungSoo is really noisy like a woman”

“YAH! YAH! YAH! WHAT ARE YOU TYPING NOW?” He felt like his eyes were gonna pop out in irritation. Grabbing her phone, he scanned what appeared to be a forum where HweJi was typing something. “You did not.” His owl-eyes grew larger in disbelief.

“Yeah. I signed up at your anti-fancafe. I’m not surprised that you have that much haters. You’re annoying.”

“YAH! Delete it now!” He protested.

“I don’t want.” She snatched her phone back and started playing with it.

“Hey! I apologized already. What else do you want? Aren’t you being too much? You even signed up to something like that.” He was really tired. “Listen, for the last time, stop being like this. If right now I’m so pissed like this, can you imagine how B2ST members feel when they read hurtful comments on the internet as well? Stop being so selfish!” He seriously said as she stood facing her back on him. He was too stressed and found the whole situation hopeless. He said sorry, he’s done. He walked past her and headed to the market.

Why am I even fighting with her? Didn’t I just tell myself that I’ve done nothing wrong? Okay, maybe I did. But I apologized already! I did multiple times. Women are so annoying. I just can’t read them.

He reached the market soon, the busy skidding of buckets of fishes and squids distracting his thoughts. It was really noisy. He walked carefully on the slippery floor, scanning the place for the ingredients he wanted.

“OUCH!” The loud cry stopped most of the people working. Meanwhile KyungSoo kept moving on and looking for his abalones.

It’s funny how that cry was in English.

English.

No way.

Do HweJi.

He jerked his head to the direction of the commotion thinking they started fighting. This woman really. She just—

It wasn’t her.

“Hey mister, can’t you see I’m walking here? Why did you suddenly toss that bucket? I slipped because of you! What if I got fractured? Be grateful that my camera didn’t break of I’ll really make you pay for it! You messed up my clothes! These are designer! Are you gonna pay for it?” There stood a tall blonde woman, maybe the height of Sooyoung Foreigners really.

The man didn’t know what to do, and he sure didn’t understand what the woman just said. KyungSoo could understand pieces of it, and he really wanted to help but he has trouble constructing English. The heck, he only knew the basic! And the curses, of course.

The humiliated man kept bowing as he said sorry. People started crowding the area as some other blondes stood beside the woman. They were mumbling things nobody understood. The people here are really peaceful and that situation was so rare.

He was trying to come up with a coherent sentence when he heard someone else speak.

“Hey, he already said sorry. What do you get for shaming this man, huh? Know what, he’s not the one getting degraded here, it’s you and your country.” Someone spoke among the crowd. He raised his heel, trying to peek.

“And who are you? Crazy bunch of Koreans ganging up on me. This goes into my blog.” The blonde woman replied.

HweJi?

He poked his head and saw her trying her best to stand tall despite the height difference.

“Ohhh~ A blogger.” HweJi mocked, taking her camera out and snapping a picture of the blond woman. “Put in a bad word and you get a bad word too. Let’s bet who takes more damage.”

“YOU CRAZY BI—

“HEYYY!” For a moment, KyungSoo felt so cool. He had just stepped in between the two English speaking women. “Stop it. You’ll lose your VISA if I report this. Mind you. ” He said, trying to put in as much confidence and manliness as he could.

The blonde woman scoffed, “ING DICKHEADS.” She said before turning to leave.

Okay, that sounded so familiar. That’s an English curse.

HweJi on the other had appeared to be unsatisfied. “OH REALLY? WELL GUESS WHAT, YOU! YOUR FACE ING LOOKS LIKE A !” HweJi gritted her teeth, ready to pounce on the other party.

“YAHH! Stop it!” KyungSoo held HweJi on her shoulders before she could even brawl with the leaving figure.

She huffed, “That stupid . She better be ready if she crosses my path again.”

“YAHHH!” He called out again.

“What?” she flailed her arms, shaking his hands off her. She didn’t wait for his reply and instead turns to the man who was still standing there shocked. “Ahjussi, are you okay?” she said, trying to raise the man’s head. “It’s fine now. You didn’t do anything wrong. Okay?” she patted his back.

The man nodded in relief, mumbling continuous words of gratitude, quite teary eyed.

HweJi just laughed it off. “It’s okay.” She reassures.

“Aigoo, what a strong girl. You’re parents raised you well.” A few old ladies started crowding HweJi. “Take this, as our thanks.” A lot of them handed her bags of their goods.

“Young man, you were brave. You protected her well.” Some vendor told him as he was handed with gifts as well.

Are they mistaking us again for a couple? He sighed. He didn’t even do anything.

“But then, aren’t you a celebrity?” KyungSoo froze when he heard someone say.

“I’m not!” HweJi laughed, making KyungSoo breathe in relief. They were talking to her not him. Somehow, it felt good and bad at the same time. He’s popular and she’s a nobody and yet everyone was praising her. But it’s good because nobody actually  recognized him.

“Your skin is really good!” the ahjummas started petting her head and looking at her lovingly. Oh, look who’s popular here. Ha. If only they knew the she was cursing in English a while ago.

He checked his bags and left quietly. Ha! Have a taste of popularity Do HweJi! It’s dreadful when everyone adores you!

He felt like he wasted so much time with the commotion. It was quarter to six already. He hastened his pace when someone yelled his name.

“YAHH! DO KYUNGSOO! DO KYUNGSOO! OWL KYUNGSOO! YAHHH!”

He turned to the one calling in horror. Do HweJi again.

“Can you stop calling my name like that? Someone might hear you!”

“Sorry.” She shut her lips and looked at him with her round eyes.

“What?” He spat.

“You left me there! I was scared!” she pouted. I hate to say this but she looks like a puppy. I have that title among the EXO members too.

“That’s for being such a hero.” He replied.

“Hey, aren’t the shops going to open soon? I want to eat something delicious quickly!” she looked around, hands in her coat’s pocket.

KyungSoo raised an eyebrow, “Follow me.”

---

 

A/N: Guuuuuys! Kang Gary's new song is daebakk!!! ^_^ listen to Your Scent - Gary ft. Jung In <3 Oh, 'Ssan Namja' is 'Cheap man' Watch EXO Showtime! :3