‘Like an adult, like someone who can be trusted.’
Yoonjo, who repeated his goal to himself, shoved his phone into his bag. While putting it in, he sneakily took it out and placed it back on the desk. He was worried he might check Seonwoo’s contact late.
But after the lecture orientation ended, after eating lunch, and until he went to the next lecture, no reply came from Seonwoo.
Yoonjo couldn’t hide his gloomy mood and went around with his lips sticking out all day. Heewon and Seonghyeon teased him calling him a baby pufferfish, but he didn’t have the energy left to fight back.
After the short orientation ended, the three people who gathered at a nearby cafe shared opinions while looking at their respective timetables. That was because the three people’s timetables were each ruined in very colorful ways.
Except for Friday when he had no classes, all of Yoonjo’s classes were packed in the morning, and Heewon sacrificed Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday for Thursday and Friday with no classes. But the most ruined was clearly Seonghyeon by anyone’s standards.
It wasn’t like time traveling—how did he divide it so precisely into morning and afternoon like this? The free period wasn’t just one or two hours but a whopping five hours. He didn’t even have a single day off.
If he had to say, it was Friday morning, but that didn’t seem like it would be much consolation.
It was a serious timetable by anyone’s standards, but Seonghyeon himself acted as if there was no problem. Unable to watch anymore, Yoonjo asked seriously.
“…Can’t you cancel this?”
Seonghyeon shrugged and took a sip of coffee. Americano… The coffee Seonwoo likes most… To cover up thoughts of Seonwoo trying to climb up whenever there was a gap, Yoonjo squinted his eyes and turned his gaze.
“I decided to study together with my girlfriend during the free period. It’s a library date. Isn’t that really exciting?”
“Don’t tell me you’re an idiot?”
As if reading Yoonjo’s mind, Heewon bluntly asked. Then Seonghyeon jumped up and denied it.
“I’m not! Wow… I really seriously thought about it and ran through all the simulations. We’re going to date in the library and walk around campus here and there.”
“If it were me, in that time I’d make an efficient timetable and go out. Isn’t that a real date? How is studying in the library all the time a date? You really are an idiot.”
Come to think of it, when he hurt his leg, Seonwoo made time for Yoonjo. Even though he could have just stayed quietly at home, he went outside on purpose. Yoonjo picked out only the word “date” from Heewon’s words and chewed on it. No matter how you look at it, that was definitely a date… Why did he say it wasn’t?
Yoonjo snapped to attention. It wasn’t even a black hole, but he rolled back again to thoughts of Seonwoo. It was maddening. Unlike Yoonjo’s confused mind, Heewon and Seonghyeon continued their conversation.
“Does it have to be outside to be a date? Spending time together in the same place is also a date. Kang Heewon, you really don’t know what romance is.”
Watching the two bicker, Yoonjo muttered.
“Date… Does that have a separate definition?”
“Well. Holding hands together, eating? Well, sometimes going to the movie theater and throwing popcorn while watching a movie, that’s a date. Why would something like that need a definition?”
At Heewon’s answer, Yoonjo rested his chin and stared blankly into the distance. If that was a date, then Yoonjo and Seonwoo had essentially been enjoying dates all the time. He said it was hectic after coming to Seoul, but at least in Namhang, it was literally every day.
After thinking about this and that for a while, Yoonjo nodded.
“As expected… I need a definite knockout punch.”
“Knockout punch? Are you going to hit someone?”
At Seonghyeon’s out-of-the-blue words, Yoonjo joked around.
“Should I set up a tombstone for you today first?”
Seonghyeon pursed his lips and Heewon suddenly started laughing loudly.
After that, the three continued to talk about various things. It was mostly pointless chatter, and even that was briefly interrupted when Seonghyeon got up from his seat.
“Hey, my girlfriend said she’s done. I’m going to eat. Do we have any overlapping classes this afternoon?”
Toward Seonghyeon who asked urgently while gathering his things, Yoonjo lightly shook his head.
“One with this morning’s class and one we’ll have tomorrow. Uh… Heewon, you won’t have any except today, right? Ah, no. There’s one required major course.”
“Then Yoonjo, I’ll see you tomorrow, and Heewon, let’s meet next Monday!”
Before hearing a goodbye, Seonghyeon left the cafe. Yoonjo, who sucked up his coffee through the straw, fiddled with his phone.
“But Yoonjo-ya. When did he start dating?”
At Heewon’s question, Yoonjo barely tore his gaze from his phone. Turning it over, then turning the screen up again—it was chaos.
“Dating… As far as I know, it was right before course registration.”
“Really? Hmm… Surprising. I thought he couldn’t date.”
“You said that to me too.”
“You’re a bit different. I said to live alone, not to not date. If you date… hmm… anyway.”
“What, how bland. Then since Seonghyeon ended up like that, should we match our timetables just between us?”
Yoonjo suggested while taking out a pen and notebook. In the process, a keychain also rolled and fell onto the table.
“You know how to drive too?”
Seeing the car smart key and small door lock key, Heewon asked casually. Yoonjo was about to put the keys in his bag but smiled brightly.
“I’ve been learning continuously since vacation. I’m pretty good at it now.”
Yoonjo, who giggled, hummed without realizing it. Since coming up to Seoul, Seonwoo occasionally induced Yoonjo to drive. As a result, he became able to go back and forth between school and home without difficulty. Still, giving him a key like this was a different matter.
“And this is… kind of proof of trust? You know? Giving house keys, car keys means giving everything.”
Heewon looked at Yoonjo like that and chuckled, then grabbed the straw and stirred the smoothie.
“Anyway, the timetable is fine. You said that in the first semester too and you’re asking again. We can see each other’s faces during required major courses, what more do you need? It’s enough for me to eat with you guys occasionally like this.”
“How is that enough? Seriously…”
He scolded, but Yoonjo couldn’t say anything more. Heewon was a department classmate he hadn’t known for long, but from the first meeting to the end, he was an individualistic person who chose to stay alone. He was also a friend he wouldn’t run into unless it was a required major course.
“Let’s match time with Seonghyeon and have a drink. Drinking at the general meeting is too much like chugging.”
“If I have time.”
It wasn’t just a day or two that he’d subtly slipped away like this. Forcing something on someone didn’t suit Yoonjo’s nature, so this time too it would end with just words, but still, what was disappointing was disappointing. Toward Heewon who was leisurely checking his phone, Yoonjo suggested again.
“If you can’t drink alcohol, there are other ways too. Like… going out to play?”
Heewon’s hand hesitated for a moment. Perhaps because his upturned eye corners made him look prim, when he stared silently like that, a somehow chilly impression stood out. Before long, Heewon smiled gently and answered.
“That’ll be difficult. My family is a bit strict.”
“Is that why you don’t drink either?”
“I’ll get in trouble if I drink. Probably… because they’re people who would know from 500 meters away.”
Are his parents that strict? Actually, Yoonjo’s grandparents didn’t impose much restriction on whatever Yoonjo did. They said things like come in quickly because it’s dangerous if you’re late, you should learn about alcohol from adults, etc., but there was nothing they forbade.
“They must really hate alcohol.”
“It’d be more accurate to say they can’t stand the smell of alcohol. Anyway, you have a call.”
At the word “call,” Yoonjo moved his hand quickly. However, after checking the screen, Yoonjo soon pursed his lips disappointedly. It wasn’t a call but a message. Because he hadn’t set preview, he seemed to have mistaken the screen turning on continuously as messages came for a call.
“Aren’t you answering?”
“It’s not a call. It’s a group chat. Uh… everyone’s only talking about the general meeting. They say it’s next Friday, are you going?”
“Isn’t your next class starting soon? Mine’s starting soon too, just in case.”
Heewon answered the question with a question and got up from his seat. He seemed to have already finished his drink as the glass cup was completely empty. Only then could Yoonjo think about the next class time. Exactly 20 minutes were left. It was the Arts Hall located far from the cafe. Yoonjo also hastily gulped down his drink and got up.
“I’ll return the cups! I’m going first!”
Running across the hill road, Yoonjo belatedly noticed that the earlier conversation was strange. Heewon responded to the question of whether he’d go to the general meeting with an irrelevant answer. He thought maybe he didn’t hear, but the timing of the returned question was too exquisite for that.
“I guess it was an awkward question, well…”
Yoonjo, who let out muttered words as if in passing, put strength into his legs.
This time too, because it was an orientation, class ended early. Yoonjo, who trudged out of the lecture hall, raised his head while making shade with his hand. The sky was clean, unlike summer. Because it was bright without a single cloud, the sunlight was just intense as if it would burn his skin. He couldn’t breathe from the heat rising from the ground, but Yoonjo’s insides had already turned to ash powder.
To conclude, there was no contact from Seonwoo. Yoonjo keenly realized only today that he was a person who was swayed like this by a single contact.
“Should I just close my eyes and call?”
Yoonjo, who stopped in place and thought very briefly, soon gripped his phone in his hand. Since when did Ji Yoonjo live gauging people’s reactions—this was it. If he liked it, he liked it, if he hated it, he hated it, if he missed someone, he just had to say he missed them. It was a clean conclusion different from hesitating gloomily all day.
It was Seonwoo’s number he could now recite with his eyes closed. Yoonjo, who was about to press the call button right away, hesitated. He was worried whether he might create an awkward situation by calling.
“Then I should text instead of calling.”
