“……Is hyung-nim busy today?”
Even without a reply from hyung-nim, I didn’t easily get anxious.
I had an ominous feeling, but I shook my head to shake off the thought. What’s this about just a reply, so immature.
Hyung-nim is someone who always keeps his promises. Especially, he’s never once failed to keep a promise with me.
Since he’s someone who keeps promises even with a snotty little kid, hyung-nim would surely keep his promises with anyone.
Just the fact that I’m having dinner with hyung-nim makes me this happy. I’m really such a fool, seriously.
“Hajin-ah, do you have something urgent?”
Seeing me pack my things like lightning and head for the lecture hall door as soon as class ended, my classmates asked. When I hesitated for a moment, Choi Jihwan, who knew the reason, answered for me.
“Right, Hajin said he has something urgent.”
“Oh, could it be you have a date?”
Ah, at this rate everyone will find out.
“Bye everyone! See you next week!”
I hurriedly waved my hand and quickly left the lecture hall.
But when I actually arrived at the main gate, I couldn’t see hyung-nim’s car. That’s when my phone vibrated. I quickly checked the screen.
Fortunately, it was hyung-nim. I unconsciously let out a sigh of relief.
See, there’s no way hyung-nim would forget his promise with me. Smiling, I quickly answered the phone.
“Hyung-nim! I just finished class.”
– Hajin-ah, I’m on my way now, can you wait a bit?
“Yes, take your time.”
What should we eat? He probably won’t drink with me today either.
After waiting briefly, not much time passed before a familiar car arrived in front of me. I ran over and immediately opened the passenger door.
“……Huh?”
But, something was already placed in the passenger seat. A prettily packaged bag from a Japanese restaurant.
My heart sank. Hyung-nim moved the bag to the back seat with an ‘oops’ expression.
I sat in the passenger seat for now. Nevertheless, my attention was still directed to the back seat.
The food in the bag I glimpsed seemed to be sushi. It meant we wouldn’t eat out but would eat the packaged food at home. That part didn’t matter.
The problem was that the amount didn’t look like much. Not more, not less, just about one serving. I couldn’t help but instinctively realize.
It seemed like, in a bit, I would be eating that sushi alone.
I’d been waiting all day just for dinner time. Even during class, even when eating with friends, the promise with hyung-nim always occupied a corner of my heart.
“I said we’d have dinner together today, right? Something urgent came up and I forgot.”
My heart sank. So hyung-nim really did forget his promise with me.
Maybe because the memory of eating pork belly last time was too good, thinking back, I think I was really excited. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say I endured the day thinking about the time I’d spend with hyung-nim.
But to hyung-nim, today’s promise was something unimportant enough to easily forget.
“Instead, I got takeout from somewhere delicious. Hajin likes sushi originally.”
“Ah……”
I pretended to fasten my seatbelt and lowered my head. Even if I tried to act like nothing was wrong, the one-serving sushi placed in the back seat kept lingering in my mind. At the same time, I could vividly picture myself eating that alone and spending the evening in an empty house.
“Aren’t you eating with me, hyung-nim?”
When I asked casually, hyung-nim was silent for a moment.
“Sorry, it looks like the baby will have to eat dinner alone today.”
My anxious prediction hit the mark exactly. My mood instantly plummeted into the mud.
“……Why? Is something wrong?”
I looked at hyung-nim. Hyung-nim was dressed in a suit with a tie and even a dress vest, as if going somewhere important. A jacket was also placed in the back seat.
It wasn’t the outfit he often wore when going to work. It was an even more splendid outfit.
On a Friday evening before the weekend, it seemed like he was going somewhere special. His hair, slicked back more neatly than usual, suited him dazzlingly well.
“Yeah, something urgent came up. It’s an important work appointment, so it looks like Hajin will have to eat alone tonight.”
“……”
“It’s okay to eat alone at home, right?”
“Yes, of course, I’m not a child.”
I calmly nodded my head, but my lips dried up on their own from the unavoidable sense of loss.
“That’s a relief, I was nervous the baby might be disappointed.”
While starting the car, hyung-nim was relieved like that.
But I was picking at the skin next to my fingernails.
This was the first time I hated the ride home in hyung-nim’s car this much. No matter how much I tried to suppress it, the feeling of disappointment slowly swelled in my chest.
It’s not like hyung-nim being busy is new, so why am I so disappointed?
So, I brought up a meaningless remark.
“……Hyung-nim, please buy me a drink.”
I wanted to buy even a little time before going home.
Hyung-nim, who had been staring ahead all along, looked at me briefly. It was a face that seemed troubled.
Nevertheless, I said it once more. My fists on my knees were both tightly clenched.
“I want to have it with the sushi.”
“What kind of drink?”
“Anything. There’s nothing to drink at home except water……”
Hyung-nim looked around the street while checking his wristwatch. It seemed there wasn’t much time left until the important appointment.
After looking around briefly, hyung-nim asked me.
“I don’t have much time, is a convenience store okay?”
Normally, hyung-nim would ask this and that, and jokingly ask what I wanted to eat. But today’s hyung-nim was different. It really seemed like he didn’t have time.
“Yes, it’s okay. A convenience store is fine.”
“Then I’ll be right back. Just wait a moment.”
Hyung-nim, who parked the car in front of the convenience store, closed the car door and disappeared toward the convenience store.
The inside of the car, left with only me, was strangely cold.
Inside the car, only hyung-nim’s familiar scent lingered gently. A scent tinged with subtle pheromones that put my mind at ease.
I sat still in the passenger seat and looked at the packaged sushi bag.
Has hyung-nim ever been this rushed before?
Actually, I don’t really know why I’m being petulant. Hyung-nim has always been a busy person for a long time.
That’s when it happened. Hyung-nim opened the driver’s door and said.
“Hajin-ah, you know the jacket in the back seat behind the driver’s seat? Can you get my wallet from there?”
“Ah, just a moment.”
I turned around and picked up the jacket. Leaning diagonally against the seat back, I fumbled in the inner pocket to find the wallet.
Here it is. I felt the familiar leather texture in my hand.
And the moment I took out the wallet, my heart stopped.
“Uh, this……”
In the half-open wallet, I saw something other than bills. Small, flat packaging, silver trim.
Even though I thought I shouldn’t, I opened the wallet a bit more.
“……”
“Hajin-ah?”
I heard hyung-nim’s voice from behind. I hurriedly closed the wallet and handed it over.
“H-here.”
“……”
After handing over the wallet, I avoided hyung-nim’s gaze. He seemed puzzled by my appearance, but hyung-nim didn’t ask anything.
Hyung-nim, who received the wallet, turned around, and the passenger door closed again.
Even after hyung-nim headed to the convenience store, I stayed with my hands tightly clenched on my knees for a long while.
My chest tightened. A sharp pain spread from inside immediately.
It was because I instantly realized the reason for the anxiety and disappointment that had been bundled together.
It was because hyung-nim, who came to pick me up, was particularly handsome today.
I knew all too well that he was an infinitely kind person to me, while also being sufficiently attractive to everyone.
But I, who was so pathetic, couldn’t ask hyung-nim anything. Who exactly he was going to meet, why he dressed up this much.
At the same time, I also recalled the conversation we had then.
“Group dates or dating, I’m saying you don’t need to think about it too seriously. Especially at your age.”
Who the important person was that he had to meet, even breaking his promise with me. Whether that person was serious or not.
While always saying teacher-like things to me, and being called a scholar or a eunuch even by Jeongyeon……
Why does hyung-nim have a condom in his wallet?
I couldn’t actually ask even one of the many questions.
I just quietly stared down at the sushi bag.
