13
Love Is...
Chapter Thirteen
"It won't start!" I grumbled as I pressed the start button with my finger.
We decided to play Grand Prix right after playing some boring arcade game.
Well, it wasn't really boring, it was boring because I lost.
The only good thing about it was it gave out lots of tickets.
"You need to insert two tokens Minah," Kai said proficiently.
"Oh," I whispered under my breath.
It really says 'Please insert 2 tokens' right beside the gear stick.
"But I only have one token left." I said, looking at him.
He handed me one and I inserted it inside the machine.
We started choosing cars, what colors, whether to use Automatic or Manual, and what track we're going to use.
"Ready?" He asked.
"You're gonna lose," I stuck my tongue out at him and then waited for the race to start.
3...2...1... Start!
"Tch! You know how to drive, of course you're going to win." I rolled my eyes and looked around Game Zone for another "fun" game to play.
My eyes landed on two basketball stations beside the karaoke room.
I tilted my head to the side and gave Kai a challenging look.
"Basketball?" He asked me, a quaint look on his face.
"Yup!" I smiled confidently.
Back when I was still studying in high school, I always got good grades in our PE class, especially when it comes to sports like these.
I'm not a basketball player, though.
I'm saying, I can play.
And that is why I am confident about this.
One more thing,
Kim Jongin hates basketball.
He shrugged, then headed towards the basketball station. PLAY NBA, it says.
"Let's make a bet," I said as we arrived in front of the station.
He looked at me, waiting for me to continue,
"If I win, you're going to buy Pepperoni Pizza and Starbucks Frapp."
He thought about it for a minute then nodded. "Okay,"
I looked at him.
"If I win," he paused for awhile, "you are going to dance F(x)'s Nu Abo in the neighborhood."
"You know I can't dance," I immediately said.
"Well, that's the bet. If you are really confident that you are going to win, then you should not worry about it. Right?"
Right.
I am really sure that I am going to win it this time.
One hundred percent sure.
"Arasso, let's start to shoot some hoops, shall we?" I asked.
And then the both of us inserted two tokens in the machine.
Ten seconds left to shoot and I am four points away from him.
It didn't help that a lot of people who were inside Game Zone were watching us play. Some were even cheering for Kai.
Psh.
The time ended and our scores were 38-35.
It still did not help even if he scored a point in the last 3 seconds of the game.
"I'm starting to smell pepperoni pizza and frappuccino," I teased as I waited for the tickets to come out of the machine.
I got fifty tickets from the Play NBA station and Kai got forty-seven. All in all we had one hundred eighty-eight tickets. Not enough to buy that pink stuffed toy I saw at the prize store.
Kai took my tickets and wandered around Game Zone.
He seemed to be looking for something.
He stopped in front of a claw machine which had lots of different stuffed toys inside. "Wait here," he said as he handed me the tickets and went to the token station.
I didn't know this guy liked stuffed toys.
Kai came back holding four tokens with him.
"Are you good at that?" I asked him.
"I don't know, let's see." He answered as he wrapped his right hand around the joystick and the other on the drop button.
First trial: Failed.
"Is that for Sungjae?" I asked again.
"Shh..." He just said.
"You can just buy him doughnuts." I suggested, but he was ignoring me and really trying to concentrate.
I watched him.
Second Trial: Failed.
This guy is torturing himself, gosh.
I decided to just zip my mouth and observe him. I peeked inside the glass and saw the same stuffed toy that was in the prize store, only a smaller version of it.
Kai moved the joystick a little to the left, then forward, then pressed the drop button.
The pink teddy bear was now inside the claw crane. And I heard Kai whisper to himself, "Yes!"
He took the bear from the 'Get your prize here' part of the machine.
"Here," he said, handing me the bear he got.
I looked at him, then at the bear, then back at him.
"I got the right one, didn't I?" He asked, sifting the toy.
Call me over acting, but I got teary eyed with what he did.
I mean, this was the very first time he did this kind of thing, for me.
"How did you-" I stopped talking, not wanting to cry in public.
"Hey, you okay?" Kai asked, stepping forward.
"Um yeah, yeah, I am." I looked to the side and giggled.
He handed it to me again and I took it. "Thanks," I smiled.
All I wanna do know was to leave this place and go home.
I guess he was thinking the same. "Let's go?" He asked me.
I nodded and walked ahead of him, clutching the stuffed toy in my hands.
...
"I'll be back by seven or eight." Kai said as he pulled up in front of my house.
"I'll be expecting my pizza and-"
"Yeah, yeah," he chuckled.
"Okay, bye and thank you, for this." I said as I shook the stuffed toy in my hand.
I got out of the car.
"Bye!" I said once again as I waved him goodbye.
I reached for my keys and opened the gate.
Kai's POV
"Where's noona?" I asked as the maid opened the door.
"Um, she's in her room." She smiled at me.
I headed upstairs and knocked thrice on her room door.
Chaerin immediately opened the door. "You ready?" She asked me while busy looking at her reflection in her vanity.
"I just got home, for God's sake." I grumbled, throwing myself on the couch beside her bed.
"But we have to go, now!" She looked at me. One eye with eyeliner, the other eye none.
"Can I at least bathe? Or eat first?"
She walked towards me and bent down, smelling my neck. "It's okay, you don't smell bad."
I shut my eyes.
"Do I really have to go with you?"
"Yes,"
"Why?" I slowly opened my eyes.
"Because Doctor Choi wants to see you! And he's going to be there in the shop." She explained as she batted her eyelashes for the hundredth time. "Gaja!" She took her purse and went downstairs.
I took some apple from the fridge and got out of the house.
Chaerin noona was already inside her car.
"Where's Hyunseong and Jungah?" I asked as I locked the car door.
"They went to the Hospital for a check up." She said as we got out of the house.
...
We got inside Frock Emporium --- Chaerin's shop --- and she started talking to some of her clients.
One thing I hate about Frock Emporium, it was all Pink.
Striped pink walls, pink carpet, pink fitting rooms, even the attire of Chaerin's employees, All Pink. But I have to start appreciating the color Pink.
Why?
Because Minah's oh-so favorite color is Pink.
I'm starting to picture our house with pink furnitures, pink walls, pink floors, pink everything!
My thoughts about the color pink was ruined when Doctor Choi entered Frock Emporium.
Chaerin, who was talking to one of her favorite client excused herself and went towards Doctor Choi.
I know I should stand up and bow to him as a sign of respect, but I'm sure he would notice me at once, so there is no need to be polite and everything.
And I was right.
After some short conversation with Chaerin, his eyes landed on me and smiled. "Jongin!" He said, rather loudly.
I wanted to remain seated, but it felt as if someone was pulling me up so I stood up and said, "Hey, how are you Doctor Choi?" I asked.
Chaerin went back to her client and they started to converse once again.
"I'm fine, I'm always fine, how about you? How are you? I haven't seen you for like how many years?" He asked, but I was too lazy to count so I just answered, "Good, I'm good." And then smiled.
We sat down and started to talk about random things.
Boring stuff.
Doctor Choi was my Doctor since I was a baby.
Hyunseong and Jungah were both carriers of a disease called, Acute Leukemia which led to the offspring/s having it.
They said that when Chaerin was born they automatically knew that she had it. They brought her to the States and was immediately cured.
They did the same thing to me, except for the States part.
Doctor Choi was the one who took care of me until I was completely Leukemia-free. And because of that, I feel like I owe him a lot for curing my disease and for saving my life.
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