NeoNara || TXT || taebin || yeonkai

2013: Saturday, Part Two

2013, DAY TWO
Saturday, August 17, 2013 2:52 PM

"Oh, my god," Yeonjun says, shaking his head at Soobin. "Soobinnie. No, sweetheart. You are not in love with Taehyun Rhodes."

Soobin feels his heart sink. He had been so sure, and now, he's wrong? "Oh."

"No, silly bean. You have a crush. That's all."

"...oh." Soobin imagines his huge hands squeezing Taehyun's until they hurt. "I don't want to crush anything about Taehyun."

"No, no, not that -- pabo -- " Yeonjun tries to think of a Korean word for it and fails miserably. Talking with his parents in Jersey hardly ever references a love life. "No, let me try to explain. You're not in love with Taehyun, but you're on the way to being in love with Taehyun."

"Oh, I am?"

"Yeah." Yeonjun stretches; there is hardly any room to move in Soobin's tent. It's the two of them alone; Taehyun; after meeting up with the others, went with Beomgyu and the rest of Waeng to set up for their show. Soobin had considered it a perfect time to talk to Yeonjun alone, and in traditional Yeonjun fashion, the sunbae wasn't making fun of Soobin or discriminating against him for suddenly liking a guy.

"So here's the scoop," Yeonjun says, rugged festival boots splayed on either side of the pillow Soobin brought with him. "You catch sight of a person, and you think to yourself something along the lines of, wow, they're really pretty. You just want to keep staring at them, like you never want to take your eyes off them. And when they open their mouth and start speaking, it's like the most lovely sound in the world, like music itself can't beat it."

Soobin grins. "Yeah!"

"But at the same time, you don't know how to react to these sudden feelings. So you're feeling a bit flustered and unsure of what to do next. You could also appear as a klutz, or spend so much time watching them that you run into something or someone because you're not paying attention. You're also blushing and stammering a lot."

Soobin pauses. "Yeah...I really can't take my eyes off of him."

"So that's what Americans and English culture call a crush. It's kind of like catching feelings for someone, that very first moment of the romantic comedy where the girl shows up and everything freezes, and everybody knows she's the one. But the story doesn't end there. You've got a massive crush on Taehyun, Soobinnie. And that's okay." Yeonjun reaches over and pinches Soobin's cheeks. "Look at my hoobae, finally liking someone! Aww, it's so cute!"

Soobin has nowhere to run, so he sticks his head inside his blue Waeng t-shirt. He makes the mistake of inhaling. Drat. He should have invested in more deodorant. "I mean...so what do I do next?"

"Well, if you don't want to suffer with this crush for eons, you talk to the person you have a crush on. And you try to figure out if maybe they have a crush on you, too. If the person you're crushing on doesn't like you back, then you have to accept the disappointment and go on with your life. However, you are talking to Daniel Choi, Gay Man of Romance, and I can give you a couple of hints just from what I'm seeing."

"Okay?"

"I am willing to bet twenty dollars and a bottle of that lemon American Soju I like so much on this. Taehyun totally likes you back."

"How do you know?"

"Dude, have you not seen him for the past twenty four hours? He's been following you around like a little lost puppy dog! Everywhere you've been, he's been there, too."

"I mean, I was the one who didn't know where I was going --"

"Pabo. You might have not known where to go physically, here, but Taehyun is set on following you mentally. I can see it when you don't. He looks at you the same way you've been glancing at him, I'm sure of it. So you've got a pretty good chance of being successful if you make a move."