Hae-Ri:

I woke up due to the continuous notifications that I saw receiving. I clumsy unlocked my phone, wondering if it was Omma, and if she had gotten any better. But instead, Hae-Jun's number had popped up on my screen, and I couldn't help but smile. I checked the time, 𝟨:𝟧𝟪 am, realising that my alarm hadn't rung. Nevertheless, I read his numerous texts one by one.

𝘈𝘯𝘯𝘺𝘦𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘏𝘢𝘦-𝘙𝘪 𝘠𝘢! 𝘐 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘪𝘵'𝘴 𝘴𝘶𝘱𝘦𝘳 𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘭𝘺, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘐'𝘮 𝘴𝘰𝘳𝘳𝘺 𝘪𝘧 𝘐 𝘸𝘰𝘬𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘶𝘱, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘐 𝘧𝘪𝘨𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘣𝘦 𝘶𝘱 𝘵𝘰 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘤𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘸𝘢𝘺.

𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘸𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶'𝘳𝘦 𝘧𝘳𝘦𝘦 𝘵𝘰𝘥𝘢𝘺, 𝘮𝘢𝘺𝘣𝘦 𝘸𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘨𝘰 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘯𝘦𝘳, 𝘢𝘴 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘥𝘢𝘵𝘦?

𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦, 𝘪𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦. 𝘑𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘺 𝘺𝘦𝘴, 𝘐'𝘷𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘸𝘢𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘰𝘰 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨!

I grinned, and screamed in delight, giving Jessica -who was still asleep- a terrible shock.

"Ya! Micheosseo?!" she yelled. (Hey! Are you crazy?!)

"Mianhe, mianhe. Shh shh, go back to sleep, now," I said, getting myself together. (Sorry, sorry.)

"Mweo? Neo Gwenchanayo? We're late! Why didn't your alarm ring?" she questioned, freaking out, because she was usually very punctual. (What? Are you okay?)

"Maja! Sorry, my mind was involved in something else. Go on then, you can use the bathroom first," I said, ushering her to get inside. (Right!)

"Jinja? Komawo!" she grinned, because I was normally very possessive over my turn. (Really? Thanks!).

"Mmm, now go before I change my mind!" I said, pretending to get annoyed.

"Algessimnida!" she said, jumping out of bed. (Yes, ma'am!)

I grabbed my white scrunchie from my bedside table and tied my hair back to prevent it from getting into my eyes. I picked up my phone, and texted Hae-Jun.

𝘈𝘯𝘯𝘺𝘦𝘰𝘯𝘨, 𝘏𝘢𝘦-𝘑𝘶𝘯 <3𝘈𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐'𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘮𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘮𝘺 𝘧𝘶𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘣𝘰𝘺𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘥, 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘣𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘒𝘰𝘳𝘦𝘢.

𝘐𝘵'𝘴 𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘥, "𝘓𝘢 𝘠𝘦𝘰𝘯". 𝘐𝘵'𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘮𝘺 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘸𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘥𝘢𝘵𝘦-

I caught my breath writing that sentence. I suddenly had a flashback of my parents on my sixth birthday, the birthday when they had told me the story about how they had met. My eyes brimmed with tears, but I determinedly shook them away. No matter how wrong it was of me to think this, but I wouldn't let their divorce ruin my first date with Hae-Jun. I continued typing the text...

𝘐𝘵'𝘴 𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘥, "𝘓𝘢 𝘠𝘦𝘰𝘯". 𝘐𝘵'𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘮𝘺 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘸𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘥𝘢𝘵𝘦, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘐'𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘧𝘦𝘭𝘵, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘥, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘫𝘰𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘦𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘥. 𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘰𝘧𝘤𝘳𝘴, 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴𝘯'𝘵 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘮𝘦, 𝘴𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘮𝘦 𝘪𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶'𝘳𝘦 𝘰𝘬𝘢𝘺 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘪𝘵, 𝘯𝘰 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦.

I clicked on, "send", and rummaged through my drawer, trying to find my rough book that I needed for the class. Almost instantly, Hae-Jun texted back.

𝘐'𝘮 𝘴𝘰 𝘨𝘭𝘢𝘥! 𝘐'𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘷𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘵 𝘓𝘢 𝘠𝘦𝘰𝘯, 𝘴𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘰𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬𝘴! 𝘓𝘦𝘵'𝘴 𝘮𝘦𝘦𝘵 𝘰𝘶𝘵𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘤𝘬 𝘢𝘵 7? 𝘐'𝘭𝘭 𝘱𝘪𝘤𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶...

I was pleasantly surprised, and my quick fingers swiftly typed out a reply.

𝘈𝘣𝘴𝘰𝘭𝘶𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘺! 𝘐'𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘟𝘟𝘟

I smiled in a secretive way, and eyed the door of the bathroom, wondering about how much longer Jessica would take.

...

Upon reaching class, I caught a glimpse of Min-Jae slumping in his seat. 𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘨𝘰𝘥 𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘮𝘦, I thought, pondering about his awkward confession that had taken place the previous night. I mean, I felt rude and inconsiderate about not giving him a proper response and ghosting him, but it was a shock to me as this was the last thing that I had expected from him, of all people. Thankfully, our professor Moon hadn't realised that I was late; he was too busy in helping some other students with one of their dress designs.

Suddenly, a few things clicked into place in my mind. I recalled the evening when Hae-Jun had finally opened up to me, about his mother. How we had hugged, how Min-Jae walked into us hugging, and how his guitar had slipped from his grip. I finally understood why that happened. It's because he liked me. I imagined how I would feel if I saw Hae-Jun hugging another girl, and brushed that thought away, in a flash. I didn't need all this negative energy, especially not now.

 I let out a sigh, which -unintentionally- was very loud. Min-Jae turned around, and I limply waved. His eyes almost widened for a second; I could tell that he was embarrassed. He gave me a quick -but noticeable- smile, and turned back. Weirdly, I could feel his shoulders stiffen. I went back to doing my work; I needed an excuse to avoid him. I looked up at the grey ceiling, then at the green (fake) plants that were kept on professor Moon's table, then at the back of Min-Jae's head. What would I say to him? 𝘠𝘰𝘶'𝘳𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘫𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘥, 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘶. 𝘐'𝘮 𝘥𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘪𝘰𝘳, 𝘯𝘰𝘸. I felt queasy even thinking about it. Being too engrossed in my own thoughts - despite the ruckus at the other end of the class, due to some new design that looked fabulous - I didn't notice that Min-Jae was trying to get my attention.

He cleared his throat, "Hae-Ri? Can we talk, please? Are you free after class?" he asked nervously.

𝘚𝘩𝘪𝘵 𝘮𝘢𝘯! 𝘐 𝘨𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘐'𝘭𝘭 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘭 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘪𝘵 𝘴𝘰𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘳 𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘳, I thought, with a sullen look on my face. I scanned the room to see if anyone was staring. Thankfully, the only people other than us were involved in their own work. "Eoh. I'll be outside class, then."

"Mmm, komawo," he said, in a more natural manner, which made me feel a bit less uncomfortable. (Thanks)

...

"Mianhae," he said glumly, leaning on the off-white brick wall that had always given me vintage vibes. (I'm sorry)

"Don't be, I feel terrible for avoiding you," I admitted, looking down at my shoes, noticing that there was a hole near the sole.

"You were avoiding me? I thought I was the one avoiding you!" he let out a short laugh, but it sounded very forced.

I didn't answer; there was a knot in my throat.

"Well, I just wanna say that I hope we're cool. I want you to forget about yesterday, please. I was drunk, and a bit too honest if you might ask," he replied, clearly making it up as he went along with it.

He had definitely not been drunk. I had seen him drunk so many times in the past, and that would be a whole different story. I pretended to believe him.

"Alright, but there's something I need to-" I was cut off.

"I know about you and Hae-Jun, so don't bother. It won't affect our friendship, right?" he asked hopefully, but I saw the sob building up inside him.

"Mmm. Friends?" I asking, holding out my hand.

"Friends," he agreed, and we shook on it. It seemed like he hesitated to let go of my palm.

I flew out of the building and ran to the lunch hall, eagerly waiting for 7pm.