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I sat down on the bench in the metro, rubbing my bare foot trying to soothe the pain. I knew from the start that it had been a bad idea to wear heels that were too small for my feet. Today was the first time that I truly understood 'beauty is pain'. Even now, I wasn't sure if it had been completely worth it. Shin Woo silently knelt down beside me to examine my foot.
"Are you alright?" he asked. His jet black hair was swept to the side, his hair styled.
I did my best to put on a tough front. "I'm fine."
He didn't say anything else, but instead, slowly got up and left me, heading towards the opposite direction. "Hey, where are you going??" I yelled after him. He disappeared at the corner and I let out a long sigh. This day was just getting better and better.
I shoved my foot back into my detrimental shoe, sighed, and stood up, slightly limping towards the subway exit. As I rounded the corner, a familiar voice stopped me dead in my tracks.
"Kanyeon?"
It was a familiar and gruff voice that set my mouth in a grim line. Slowly, I turned to face my worst enemy. Short and spiky, messy hair. Same untrustworthy eyes. He donned a polo jacket that covered his khakis. He approached me as if nothing had happened and said, "Why didn't we keep contact? It's been too long." He broke into a mischievous grin. God, I hated this guy.
"What d'you mean why didn't we keep contact?" I barked back. "Was there a reason to?"
Vic came closer and I could practically smell the alcohol on his breath; I felt like I was drowning in his stench as the air slipped back and through into his mouth. "I thought we were something: you and I."
I shoved him away from me. "Speaking of which, how are you?" I asked, not able to control myself. "Are you dating your new girlfriend's best friend, too? Ruining anymore lives?"
He didn't answer me right away, but used his finger to point at me a few times with a grin on his face; clearly he was drunk. "And you?"
Ooh. That did it. If I could take this guy right now and beat his fat face in ....
But no matter how angry I was, I wasn't going to tell my ex that I had just sacrificed my feet for some other guy that...
"You ask me how I'm doing?" I started, not really sure how I was going to end this. "I'm doing..." my voice trailed off as soon I saw that Shin Woo was making his way back; He was coming up right behind Vic as well.
Fire started, I stepped behind Vic and linked arms with my unsuspecting friend. "...this is my boyfriend," I announced to both guys (the latter more surprised than the other). I ignored the stare I got from my "accomplice" and smugly smiled to Vic before dragging Shin Woo away.
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I stood next to him, our backs up against the wall. What had I been thinking??
Awkwardly, I turned to Shin Woo, embarrassed. "Sorry," I told him, red. "I didn't mean to do any of that, I swear." When he didn't say anything but continued to stare straight ahead, I felt the need to further justify my actions. "I just got really angry when I saw him and I couldn't help myself --"
"I get it," he interrupted me. He gave me a charming smile. "You wanted to show him how much better off you were," he cleared his throat and then his tone suddenly changed. "It's not a big deal. It was all pretend anyway, right?"
Pretend.
It took a second for me to realize what he had said and meant. "Oppa, I really am sorry," I apologized again. "If you're mad at me, I get it. I totally do." I turned back to face the front, awkward while chewing on my bottom lip. Today had been a really weird day. He cleared his throat again, clearly meaning that he was done talking about what we were talking about.
"I'm really pathetic, aren't I?" I asked aloud to myself. "I trusted the one person I had fallen for and the person who I thought was my friend. And all they did was betray me," I swallowed the lump in my throat. "I always think...that I must have done something terrible for to have this happen to me," I looked down at the ground before continuing. "That's why I don't trust people anymore and why I can't date. I've lost my sense of direction. Or...they're always going for someone else who is prettier or more fun or..."
Shin Woo finally spoke up. "Then they're fools," he smiled as our eyes met. "They don't know what they've missed out on, now do they?"
I didn't have a chance to reply because he suddenly brought out a baggie from behind and knelt down in front of me again. He took out a shoe box from the bag and removed the lid. A pair of heels were revealed to be in hiding. "Why would you want to wear shoes that are too small for you?" he asked, carefully taking off my former shoe and sliding the new one onto my right foot in its place.
"You bought me shoes?" I said quietly, a bit in disbelief.
He smiled. "Yes." he tied the strap in place and then repeated the same steps for my left foot. I couldn't help but smile a bit.
"And here I thought..."
He looked up at me, clearly amused. "You didn't really think that when I took off I would have left you here, did you?" When I failed to respond, he looked back down and said concisely, "Idiot."
"But Shin Woo Oppa...why?"
He put my old shoes into the new shoe box and then stood up. "At least in front of me, I want you to be yourself," he gestured to my former shoes in the box he held. "These shoes aren't even your style. Who were you kidding?"
"...Thank you," I finally managed to say to his face. "But..."
"What is it?"
"These shoes you gave me," I started with a laugh. "Are ugly."
That comment only seemed to make him happier. "Fine, let's see what your great eye picks out."
Cracking a smile, I followed Shin Woo out of the subway, finally feeling better after the longest time.
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