VEILED

We walked across the street, the morning light soft against the faint hum of cars passing by. The four of us made our way to the bus stop in silence, save for Sooyeong’s occasional chatter. His energy was as bright as ever, and it bounced off the rest of us like sunlight on a mirror. When we arrived, the familiar dull green of the bus stop sign stood tall above us, marking the boundary of our little group.

Sooyeong stopped short, leaning casually against the post. His bus would be the next one, not the one we were waiting for. The three of us—me, Yunjin, and Jeonhyun—were heading in the same direction, while Sooyeong would soon be left behind.

“Wish we were in the same college,” I said, patting Sooyeong on the back lightly. It was a friendly slap, just hard enough to make him laugh.

He smiled, nodding as he leaned toward Jeonhyun to say something I didn’t catch. The low rumble of our bus nearing the stop pulled my attention. It screeched to a halt, and I stepped onto it, hoping to the back where I usually sat. For once, the bus wasn’t packed. Maybe we’d left earlier than usual, or maybe it was just one of those rare days when everything aligned. Either way, it was a relief.

If the bus had been packed, Yunjin would’ve complained endlessly and begged us to wait for the next one—or worse, the third one. She always hated being crammed shoulder-to-shoulder with strangers.

Yunjin followed me in, sliding into the seat beside me almost immediately. Her bag landed in her lap with a soft thud, and I adjusted mine on the floor near my feet. But my focus wasn’t on her or the bus anymore. It was on Jeonhyun and Sooyeong, still standing outside.

I watched them through the window, the morning light casting long shadows behind them. They were talking, their heads close, the words between them inaudible but somehow weighty. Maybe it was just a simple goodbye, or maybe it was something more—something meaningful. Sooyeong’s smile was radiant, almost blinding, the kind of smile that could light up a room.

The bus driver announced a fifteen-minute wait, giving them plenty of time for their lingering exchange. A lovers’ goodbye, I thought bitterly, the words sour in my mind. My eyes lingered a second longer before I forced myself to look away.

“Song,” Yunjin’s voice broke through my thoughts as she tapped me on the shoulder.

I turned to her, trying to mask the irritation in my voice. “What?”

She sighed, leaning closer with a look of exasperation. “You still like him? You still like Jeonhyun?”

“What? What are you even saying all of a sudden?” I asked, frowning.

Her gaze was sharp, cutting through my attempt to deflect. “He’s a fool,” she said bluntly. “Anyone can tell he’s not happy with Sooyeong, yet here he is, pretending to date that man.”

Her words landed heavily, stirring something uneasy inside me. “He… he’s not happy?” I asked, the question slipping out before I could stop myself. My eyes darted back to Jeonhyun outside the window.

Yunjin leaned against my shoulder, following my gaze. “You love him, right? How do you not understand? That’s not happiness. That’s not dating.”

I swallowed hard, my throat dry as the realization began to settle. “You mean… Jeon doesn’t like Sooyeong?”

“Mm,” Yunjin mused, her tone almost dismissive, like she’d been trying to tell me this all along and had given up on me ever listening.

It hit me like a jolt. Yunjin had said this before, but I’d brushed her off, refusing to believe it. But now, looking at Jeonhyun’s tired posture, the way he avoided meeting Sooyeong’s eyes directly, I couldn’t deny it. It was there, written in his body language, plain as day. Jeonhyun wasn’t happy.

Still, what could I do about it? What could we do? I leaned back in my seat, letting the tension in my shoulders release, and Yunjin shifted back, no longer leaning on me.

“And what about it, Yun?” I said, my voice quieter now. “Jeon’s a grown boy. He can handle the situation himself. If he needs us, he’ll tell us.”

Yunjin’s silence was louder than words. I shut my eyes, willing myself to believe what I’d just said. But deep down, a question lingered, persistent and nagging.

Would he? Would Jeonhyun really tell us if he needed help? Or was he carrying this burden silently, pretending everything was fine because he didn’t know how to reach out?

The bus jolted as the engine roared to life, pulling us back into motion. I kept my eyes closed, but the weight of the unspoken questions stayed with me, heavier than I cared to admit.

Jeonhyun stepped onto the bus after finishing his conversation with Sooyeong. He moved with quiet purpose, his expression unreadable as he made his way down the aisle. Without a word, he settled into the seat directly in front of where Yunjin and I were sitting. My breath hitched for a moment, and then I closed my eyes, forcing myself to appear asleep.

What else could I do? Everything about the situation felt wrong—Yunjin suddenly sitting beside me instead of her usual spot in front, Jeonhyun now alone just a seat away. It was as though the universe was conspiring to make things more uncomfortable than they already were. My heart thudded heavily in my chest, but I kept my posture still, my breathing even, pretending to be entirely unaware of my surroundings.

Through the veil of my closed eyelids, I could feel Jeonhyun’s presence. Was he glancing back at me? Did he think I was ignoring him? Or worse—had he stopped caring altogether? My thoughts swirled into a messy knot of self-doubt and frustration. I couldn’t bring myself to peek, and so I stayed frozen in my façade of sleep.

The bus rumbled along the road, the faint hum of the engine and the occasional stop the only interruptions in the tense silence that hung around us. My mind raced with hypothetical scenarios—what Jeonhyun might say, how I would respond, and whether anything I did would ever fix the fragile thread between us.

A sudden tap on my shoulder pulled me sharply out of my thoughts. My eyes blinked open, and I turned to see Yunjin standing next to me, her bag slung over one shoulder.

"We reached," she said simply, her tone light but her gaze knowing.

I nodded, forcing my legs to move as I rose from the seat and followed her to the exit. Jeonhyun remained ahead of us, stepping off the bus without so much as a backward glance. The air outside was cool, and I inhaled deeply, trying to ground myself. Yunjin walked beside me, her silence heavier than words.

The bus pulled away behind us, and I couldn’t help but feel a pressure building guilt as we walked through the college gates seperately keeping in mind the little charade we had maintained in here.