I also took the white shopping bag Jung Yoonseo handed me. Inside was the laptop I’d been using, properly packed. Just as I was about to get out with the two laptops side by side, I hesitated and began:
“I’m really grateful for today.”
“If we’re being honest, you just went along with what I wanted to do. Get home safely.”
“Yes. You be careful getting home too, hyung.”
Jung Yoonseo made eye contact with me and gave a light smile. I also smiled awkwardly, then got out of the car. As I entered the alley, the car smoothly started moving.
The moment I entered the house and put down the laptops, I collapsed. For some reason, I felt more tired than when I’d worked all day.
I knew I should wash up, but it felt extremely difficult to get up to do so. I just lay still like that for a long time.
I got up almost an hour later.
***
For several days after that day, there was no contact from Jung Yoonseo, then on about the third day, I got a playful and light message from Jung Yoonseo asking about my daily life. I also replied playfully, but neither of us brought up meeting.
And there was still no contact from Eun Haejin. If I contacted him, Eun Haejin did reply intermittently, but I could feel that the frequency of him initiating contact had noticeably decreased. I could just think of it as a busy period and move on, but since I’d received clear flirting from Jung Yoonseo in a different way recently, an inexplicable anxiety kept washing over me when contact with Eun Haejin was cut off too.
Nevertheless, days still passed. I still went to school once a week to attend lectures, and had to somehow revise my thesis while receiving tremendous scolding from my professor. Since it was a thesis suddenly thrown at me without any specialized knowledge, I devoted most of my time except for part-time work hours to the thesis. When I read through five papers just to write this one, it wasn’t an exaggeration to say I almost cried.
“Hyun-ah, what are you thinking about?”
Cha Hyunwoo’s voice broke through my thoughts. It was a time period that suddenly became idle after just finishing peak time. I spoke with a deliberately serious expression:
“Boss, what if I really can’t graduate?”
“Why?”
“I’m really not making progress on my thesis. Marketing whatever… Why did my past self write such a thesis?”
I was at the point where I genuinely wanted to grab Lee Hyun and ask him. It was also ironic that I wasn’t questioning anything else but wanted to question a thesis that didn’t even appear in the original work.
Cha Hyunwoo looked at my tearful expression and burst into laughter. After the cheerful laughter passed, dimples appeared on Cha Hyunwoo’s cheeks. Cha Hyunwoo covered his mouth for a moment, then said:
“Ah, why are you so cute?”
“You don’t really think of me as like twelve years old, do you? We’re only two years apart.”
Of course, in actual age Cha Hyunwoo is a year younger than me. Cha Hyunwoo seemed to find me a bit excessively cute. I suddenly became curious:
“Do you have siblings, boss?”
“No. I’m an only child.”
“No wonder… You don’t think of me as a sibling with a ten-year age gap, do you?”
“No… You’re really mature.”
“Surprisingly, I’m an adult.”
And I’m even older than you, boss. Though you don’t know that.
“And thinking of you like a younger sibling… that’s not it.”
“It’s fine. It’s good if you think I’m cute.”
At my words, Cha Hyunwoo smiled faintly, then suddenly asked:
“In two days we’re both off, want to come hang out at my place?”
“Your place?”
“I mentioned it once before. That I’d cook for you.”
“In two days?”
“Do you have plans?”
“No. I don’t. I’ll come hang out.”
“Just relax comfortably while you’re there. You can bring your thesis stuff to work on too.”
“Oh…”
Cha Hyunwoo hesitated, then said with a slight smile:
“I majored in business administration.”
“Oh really?”
For a moment I almost screamed because Cha Hyunwoo was so welcome. A boss with experience passing a business administration thesis.
“Then boss, you really majored in business administration and are doing business. That’s really amazing…”
“Well… I was lucky, had support from my parents, and had some money saved up.”
“Still, running a shop like this isn’t easy. There are so many things to worry about.”
“Um… honestly it was really hard in the old days.”
My eyes met Cha Hyunwoo’s. Cha Hyunwoo smiled and continued:
“But now I also think I did well.”
Of course. Because you became young and rich. Plus you’re someone who was born with handsome equipped.
“I’ll send you the address later.”
At Cha Hyunwoo’s words, I just nodded. After that we exchanged a bit more small talk, and then customers quickly began filling the shop again. When working part-time, there was no time for random thoughts.
***
There was still no contact from Eun Haejin. I wondered if this was how he was proceeding with revenge for cutting off contact. I tried calling about twice, but the calls went to missed calls. I even attempted stalker-like behavior like going to his house and knocking on the door, but I couldn’t meet Eun Haejin.
In the original work, he said he’d cut ties, but… this quickly? Besides, strictly speaking, hadn’t Eun Haejin not even met Jung Yoonseo yet? Honestly, I felt wronged. I think I’d inwardly considered Eun Haejin a real friend. …To be more honest, I really do think of him as a friend.
At some point, Eun Haejin, Cha Hyunwoo, and Jung Yoonseo no longer seemed like characters in a book. Even though I hadn’t known them for very long. When I tried to think about when that started, there was no part I could pinpoint exactly.
Was it from when I started to notice how Eun Haejin felt? Or maybe it was from when I witnessed Cha Hyunwoo’s dimples that weren’t in the original work. If not that, it might have been when Jung Yoonseo lowered his voice, begging for a kiss. …Or maybe all three.
It might have been from when I felt the outside scenery wasn’t foreign, or just from when I spent days without any particular thoughts.
I scrolled through reference papers meaninglessly on the laptop Jung Yoonseo bought me. Honestly, nothing was going into my head, but I forced myself to read the text.
Then my phone rang. I checked thinking it might be Eun Haejin, but it was Cha Hyunwoo.
Ah, is this about sending the address he mentioned?
When I checked the text, it was indeed Cha Hyunwoo sending his address. When I checked Cha Hyunwoo’s home address, it was a fairly spacious officetel.
Messages kept coming from Cha Hyunwoo.
“Come for lunch tomorrow. You can come earlier too.”
“Okay. Should I buy something to bring?”
“Just come. Don’t think about spending money.”
I replied that I understood, but honestly I didn’t really plan to come empty-handed. No matter what, I’d feel more comfortable at least buying some fruit to bring.
After replying to Cha Hyunwoo, I just closed the laptop. I felt like just worrying about whatever tomorrow.
I looked back and forth between the laptop Jung Yoonseo gave me and my silent phone, then just got under the covers. …I wasn’t particularly sleepy, but I closed my eyes and tried to force myself to sleep.
***
Before going to the address Cha Hyunwoo sent, I stopped by a mart and bought some fruit. I was seriously contemplating what to buy when they had figs on special, so I bought a box of figs. I’d never eaten figs before, but I thought I’d take this opportunity to try them.
I checked the address about three times and pressed the first-floor intercom. I knew Cha Hyunwoo’s officetel would be pretty nice, but the complex was bigger than I thought. Honestly, I was curious so I peeked around the complex, then pressed the bell at a slightly early lunch time. Actually, I planned to go early to help Cha Hyunwoo a little.
The main entrance opened immediately and I took the elevator. When I arrived at the floor where Cha Hyunwoo’s place was, I didn’t even need to ring the doorbell. Cha Hyunwoo was waiting for me with the door open, wearing comfortable but neat and tidy loungewear.
“You’re here?”
I looked at Cha Hyunwoo and grinned broadly, then showed him the figs I’d bought, swinging them around. Cha Hyunwoo made a surprised expression, then took the figs from my hands.
“You bought this?”
“Still, I couldn’t come empty-handed.”
At my answer, Cha Hyunwoo smiled in a way that truly suited the onomatopoeia “beaming.” Seeing Cha Hyunwoo in a good mood made me feel good too. Cha Hyunwoo looked at the figs like someone who’d received flowers from a lover. He seemed to really like figs, so I felt a bit proud of my choice.
