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hyunjin isn't looking for love. she has none of those bucket list types of things and even if she did, love wouldn't be included.
unfortunately for her, her friends have her love life in theirs.
how great.
not.
it doesn't come as a surprise that they set her up on another date to what they like to say, "will hopefully ignite the sparks your wires have been missing".
trust her, hyunjin's wires are all good.
they have had themselves fixated on getting her a partner since they found out she didn't want one at all.
literally.
she got tired of their pestering questions every time they got together and told them upfront.
"i'm not looking for anyone and i don't think i ever will."
it comes as a shock to them since hyunjin is surrounded by love.
owning a small drive-in theater where all lovers do as they do.
yes those still exist.
it wasn't even hers. being left for her to run by her father who started it because her mother loved movies.
the never-ending story of how they met at a parking lot of a movie theater gets tiring when you hear it every time you try to cut through your steak during dinner.
they tell her not to make fun of it since that lead them to her.
she doesn't even want to think about her mother's words and it's possible implications.
"that drive-in got us here. it made you, you know? now- don't make that face hyunjin that's not what i meant."
oh how those words haunt her now every time she eats mashed potatoes.
her parents may have found their happily ever after, however the fruit of their love seems to want to stay away from such ending.
her friends seem to not just get that.
sometimes she thinks they just use it as a reason to get to watch free movies every saturday.
or maybe they were just born to annoy the life out of her.
"careful. you might hit the project-"
those were her last words before a chorus of boos from the crowd in their cars fills the whole open field.
"oops. my bad."
she sees haseul sweat bullets as her girlfriend, who happens to work for hyunjin, shoots daggers at her through her eyes.
and this is just another addition to the list of why she doesn't regret hiring vivi.
"i'd ban you from this place but you're dating a staff member. that would mean ripping out her heart, how will vivi ever work again?"
"oh don't worry i think i can manage."
and just from the tiny "hehe" the clumsy girl emits and the soft smile her employee displays, hyunjin knows vivi will never survive from such predicament.
"get out of here you two. i want to work in peace."
a few cheers and whistles can be heard when she accidentally plays another film at it's most intimate scene. she immediately switches back to the one previously playing and tries to mentally remove such a revolting sight from her mind.
"i would if i knew you could manage this place alone. obviously, you can't."
"now, that's why you're employee of the month."
"i'm the only employee."
hyunjin plops herself down on the worn-down couch. she remembers it being there before they even threw this whole business at her. the thought-
oh god.
no.
eww.
she stood up and sat at one of the chairs at the small dining area. better here than over ugh there.
"well only employee, please tell your girlfriend to get on with her objective so i can finally kick her out."
the couple sits and gets comfortable on the couch looking at each other with eyes full of adoration. hyunjin is beyond disgusted.
love is horrible.
"well there's this girl…"
"get out."
-
so much for asking haseul to get out 'cause now she' s welcoming that said girl into the screening room.
furnished with a newly bought couch of course.
hyunjin has no idea how haseul found her.
the girl is dressed in all black from head to toe. she's wearing a frown with her eyebrows knitted together. she's walking like she's got the whole world's problem on her shoulders.
seems like it wasn't just hyunjin who got forced into this whole ordeal.
"wow. you have successfully managed to sneak into my workplace without me having any knowledge about who you are."
"you told me to go in without asking who i was. what if i was a serial killer?"
touché.
"that would explain the whole emo aesthetic."
hyunjin gets a giggle.
and she smiles.
goths giggle after all.
that's when she first met son hyeju.
-
hyunjin isn't interested but she makes sure not to let her dates know that. she was raised with manners. if she was a jerk, she wouldn't hear the end of it from her mother.
which makes her think that she regrets agreeing to be friends with the older girl next door when she was eight years old. jo haseul you nosy witch.
"how did you know it was me?"
the question only comes up at their second meeting. it comes as a shock to vivi when she tells her she can't make it to work that day 'cause she had a second date.
honestly, it comes as a shock to her too.
hyunjin regrets not having much creativity at picking spots for hangouts. she really isn't that type who 'hangs out' at god knows where.
'cause now she wants to smash the bakery owner's face behind the counter who' s probably texting her mom about how things are going.
heejin has this stupid grin like all her other friends do. she wants to slap them all.
then the girl in front of her catches her attention once again by simply tilting her head to the side.
how adorable.
eww no.
hyunjin doesn't want to think about why she thinks it's cute.
"what do you mean?"
"at your theater. how'd you know i wasn't a spy sent to assassinate you but was your date instead?"
"well that's easy, you didn't have any sunglasses on. secret agents love their sunglasses."
she gets a giggle again.
hyunjin finds it strange that she likes hearing it.
but if she was completely honest, she didn't know how she knew.
other than hyeju fit the description haseul gave her, which she could assume have been any other emo chick there, she has no idea.
it was just that when hyunjin pulled up at her usual parking space. she saw her immediately.
and she wants to barf at the fact it reminds her about what her dad's own description of her mom was.
"i almost hit the car in front of me while parking the old space wagon when i saw your mother. she looked lonely and that feeling didn't sit right with me as i was reversing to park."
she remembers her younger self asking him, "what did you do then dad?", every time the story came up.
"i got out and rushed to her side, learned that she got stood up by her date, and i never let her be alone ever again."
haseul always cries at that story. it's why hyunjin hates having the jos out their house for dinner. the sobs were just horrendous.
the similarity makes shivers run down her spine.
she couldn't tell hyeju that, this was just the second date after all. she didn't want to scare her off.
yet she did that with all the past ones.
made them run after the first.
but hyunjin just can't imagine the sight of hyeju walking away.
she knows she's doomed.
-
"what do you do?"
usually people get the basics down during the first date. but hyunjin and hyeju were too busy talking about nonsensical stuff to bother with those trivial things at all.
"i live."
hyunjin smacks her arm almost making hyeju's ice cream drop on the ground.
"answer properly this time. we keep discussing about whether cats have more than nine lives other than getting to know each other."
"so you want to know me more then kim hyunjin?"
this time hyunjin shoves her enough for a scoop to surely fall.
how annoying son hyeju.
you deserve it.
"i was eating that."
"not anymore."
"fine, fine." "you know, you can just say you were flustered instead of proceeding to show violence. there's children here in this place, you know?"
the girl adds.
"you want your whole cone on the ground then?"
hyeju put her hands up in surrender and gives hyunjin a silly face as a sign of defeat.
how cute.
ugh.
how annoying son hyeju.
she learns that hyeju is studying game development at a university nearby. near enough that hyeju always mentions that she sees the theater every once and awhile.
although she's vows to never have seen hyunjin once. it's what hyeju says next that irks her to her core.
"i'm sure i would never forget a pretty face like yours if i ever did."
the third date ends with a crushed ice cream cone painting one of the stone paths at the park.
the next ones end up with more violence committed against random objects under hyeju's possession.
-
lying on the new couch haseul nicknamed as the cloud nine, she still can’t get some shut eye. well, she should really be at her apartment if she wanted to sleep but she can’t.
not with all these thoughts bottled up in her head ever since hyeju told her she liked her earlier that day.
oh son hyeju…
you are horrible.
and hyunjin wants to curse so bad.
wants to curse her friends.
wants to curse the theater.
wants to curse the world.
wants to curse son hyeju.
'cause before her, hyunjin was never interested in the whole icky-yucky feeling you get when you're with someone.
the longing for the warmth they emit when they're near.
the constant thinking about their well-being.
the redness you get from their dumb pick-up lines.
and the safety you feel with them.
not until she felt all of that with hyeju.
ugh.
how annoying son hyeju.
she hates that matchmaking does work and she just wants to wipe that smirk of off haseul's face.
hyunjin hates that she doesn't have a lot of knowledge about this whole situation but she knows what it is.
'cause her mother always told her something about her father and watching movies.
"every movie i watch is a decision. only after will i know whether i've fallen in love or wasted my time. giving your father a shot that day at the theater was the best decision i've ever made. all these years, not a single millisecond wasted."
"he's the movie i'll never get tired of watching."
and hyunjin doesn't mind having a repeat of every single date she's had with hyeju.
she can put all it in a reel and binge-watch it every single day.
oh she just knows her favorite part would be the shot of that girl standing in front of the drive-in theater waiting. waiting just for her.
how annoying.
so like any other normal person, she dials hyeju's number at three in the morning.
ring.
ring.
ring.
ring.
ring…
now this girl should've picked up just from the first ring. she usually does.
hyeju said she likes her but she’s not answering her phone?!
how annoying son hyeju.
thoughts of her interrupting the other girl's hibernation start to make her feel a tinge of guilt. hyeju was usually tired because of college work but she always squeezed in time to meet up with her.
hyeju who deserves to rest after tagging along with her everywhere hyunjin wanted to go.
hyeju who needed some sleep after rushing to her apartment the other day when she had a nightmare.
hyeju who doesn’t even have to give all her attention to hyunjin but she still does.
ugh.
how stupid kim hyunjin.
she could've just waited it all out 'til it was finally reasonable hours to call but no she just had-
and a knock on the door startles her to the depths of her soul.
who the hell would knock on the screening room door and know someone was in here?! and at three am too?!
hyunjin takes cautious steps picking up the baseball bat they had for such emergency situations.
what greets her makes her forget about everything altogether.
it's son hyeju.
in a black hoodie, checkered pants, and fluffy wolf slippers looking like she has been deprived of sleep all her life.
how… very son hyeju.
hyunjin has a lot of questions.
how would she even have known she wasn't home? why is she here instead of sleeping off all the hours uni took from her?
why is she here when she could've just ignored hyunjin's call or even just answered it like a normal person?!
instead, here she is.
giving hyunjin the sweetest smile even at such an ungodly hour.
it annoys her more than anything.
that son hyeju gets her.
"hi."
how annoying son hyeju.