Chapter 92
* * *
I tilted my head at Isol's words.
“Me?”
The request felt out of the blue. We weren't close enough for her to make plans with me.
Hadn't I only seen her exactly once before?
When I questioned Isol's request,
“It's just that my grades went up, you know. My mom wants to treat you to a meal because of that.”
“Ah.”
So that's what this was about.
I hadn't thought she'd have any reason to call me over. But there was a reason, at least of sorts.
Then again, Isol's grades had gone up quite a bit on the final exams.
“You don't have to go if it makes you uncomfortable.”
Isol adjusted her bag and quietly looked down at the dirt.
— “···If it's too much, you really don't have to come···.”
Her Minimi fidgeted its fingers.
It wasn't something she was saying just to be polite. She genuinely seemed fine with me skipping it if I was uncomfortable.
“···.”
Put that way, it did make me hesitate.
I was grateful for the invitation, but it was true that it felt like a burden too.
Isol and I were polar opposites, starting with our personalities.
— “···Hmm.”
The Minimi rolled its eyes around, gauging my reaction.
It seemed to secretly want me to come.
With her acting like that, it was hard to refuse.
I nodded.
“Sure. Tell her I'll come by sometime.”
“···Okay.”
Isol brushed back her hair and nodded impassively.
“When works for you? Should we do it after school starts?”
“Any day is fine except the days I work part-time.”
“Next week?”
“Next week··· Oh, Thursday works.”
“Thursday···.”
Isol tapped her phone screen repeatedly. It looked like she was marking it on her calendar app.
“If there's anything you want to eat, feel free to text me.”
Isol languidly blinked her eyes and started walking ahead.
“Okay.”
I nodded slightly and lowered my gaze.
Two figures walking side by side.
I could see the Minimi scurrying around Isol's feet.
It was hopping up and down, letting out silly little laughs.
“···.”
Seeing how happy it was, I felt that agreeing to go had been the right choice.
— “···.”
Shin Ayoung's Minimi propped its chin on one hand with a serious expression.
— “She said she met Nuri too··· and now Sol···.”
It folded down three fingers one at a time.
Only its index finger remained.
— “···Should I invite them to my house too?”
A small mutter slipped out.
“···.”
I felt my forehead grow damp.
Don't.
Your father doesn't like me.
* * *
A few days after returning from vacation.
I was busily moving around inside the fast-food restaurant.
Vacation was vacation, but my part-time job continued.
Still, my shift would be over soon.
Swish, swish—
I mopped the floor until it gleamed.
“That's all once we clean the dining area, right?”
“Yes.”
At my question, Ha Seorim nodded impassively as she tidied up around the register.
— “Hmm···.”
Ha Seorim's Minimi lifted its chin, sitting up straight.
It looked around like a meerkat.
— “Ah, there's some sauce over there.”
It really was.
I also spotted a faint smear of sauce on the table.
She was incredibly meticulous.
“···.”
Swish, swish—
I wiped the table where the sauce had spilled.
“Phew.”
With that, I'd almost finished wiping down the tables. Just a few more tables to tidy and I'd be off work.
As I moved my hands, humming about getting off work to myself,
“···Did you have a good vacation?”
I suddenly heard Ha Seorim ask that.
“···.”
I discreetly looked around.
There was no one in the dining area. Everyone was busy cleaning the kitchen.
Was she talking to me?
“School starts soon, after all.”
Ha Seorim's gaze was fixed directly on me. She had been asking me after all.
“Uh··· I spent it reasonably well, I guess? I went to Gimhae this time.”
Her sudden question caught me off guard. Flustered, I even told her where I had gone.
Why was she suddenly talking to me when she normally didn't?
“Ah, yes.”
She had asked me, but her reaction was rather underwhelming.
— “···.”
The skin beneath the Minimi's eyes was twitching.
Her wariness was still there.
In her own way, she was forcing herself to make conversation.
Seriously, what was this?
“···Where did you go during vacation?”
I asked in return, figuring I might as well play along.
“Me?”
“Yeah.”
“···.”
Her answer came oddly late, so
I raised my head from wiping the table.
“···.”
Ha Seorim's eyes were furtively darting from side to side.
She looked like she was having trouble answering.
— “It's kind of awkward to say Eulwang-ri···.”
Eulwang-ri? Was she talking about the beach?
She'd gone somewhere much closer than I expected. It seemed she hadn't taken any major trips during vacation.
Maybe she felt bad about that.
“···I just spent it somewhere nearby.”
Ha Seorim gave a vague answer.
“Really?”
I nodded lightly.
I had no intention of asking further. She didn't need to be so tense.
“Um···.”
Ha Seorim's lips fluttered.
Apparently, the small talk at the beginning had been an icebreaker.
“You know Senior Nuri.”
“Yeah.”
“···Do you know what she thinks about joining the band club?”
That was the real point.
No wonder she had started talking to me.
“She still hasn't said anything?”
“No.”
Ha Seorim nodded faintly.
— “I feel bad asking because it seems like I'm always pestering her···.”
Perhaps she was afraid Ji Nuri would refuse because of that, so she couldn't bring herself to ask Nuri directly.
Nuri wasn't the kind of person to care about things like that.
But Ha Seorim and the others didn't know that. It was only natural she would feel that way.
“I did tell her to take her time answering back then, but···.”
“She still hasn't answered?”
“···Yes.”
Ha Seorim nodded quickly.
— “Still, this person is close to Senior Nuri, so···.”
She seemed uncomfortable simply because she had no choice but to ask me.
Ha Seorim's gaze was lowered.
‘If she still hasn't answered···.’
I slowly narrowed my eyes.
The reasonable conclusion that came to mind made my expression harden despite myself.
She probably just forgot.
“···She’s probably thinking it over carefully? She tends to think a lot.”
I covered for Ji Nuri.
“Ask her one more time after school starts, and she'll answer.”
“Ah···.”
I moved away, leaving Ha Seorim behind as she nodded as though she understood.
“···Hmm.”
I'll have to ask Ji Nuri about it later.
Whether she was thinking it over.
Or whether there was some other reason.
···It really did seem like she'd forgotten.
* * *
Summer vacation ended.
Vacation was over, but the heat showed no sign of ending, and the second semester of our sophomore year began amid that heat.
Rattle—
Shin Ayoung opened the back door and walked into the classroom.
“···.”
Plop. She sank lightly into her seat.
Though she didn't say so, Shin Ayoung was extremely tired.
She'd been busy since early morning.
‘There are strangely a lot of them today···.’
There had been an unusually large number of people coming to confess their feelings.
Almost as many as at the start of a new semester.
Just when things had seemed to quiet down, this happened again all of a sudden.
“···.”
Shin Ayoung's eyes slowly closed.
The boy she wished would confess his feelings remained silent, while these other boys kept doing it.
“?”
As she looked around, she realized things were different from usual.
Lee Seungho and Isol were nowhere to be seen.
“Where are those two?”
They had definitely been sitting in their seats until right before she was called away.
But they had vanished in the meantime.
“Don't know? Seungho called her, and they went somewhere.”
Ji Nuri shrugged.
“Seungho did?”
“Yeah. Maybe they went to the school store or something.”
Watching Ji Nuri nod so nonchalantly, Shin Ayoung slowly narrowed her eyes.
It wasn't Isol who had called Seungho away—Lee Seungho had called Isol away instead. An inexplicable, strange anxiety began creeping up inside her.
“···.”
Since she didn't even know where they'd gone, she sat still, figuring they'd come back if she waited.
Tap, tap. She quietly drummed her fingers on the desk.
Just then, the back door slid open with a rattle.
Lee Seungho and Isol were there.
“Oh, wel—”
Shin Ayoung looked over and started to continue, but—
“Huh? Huh??”
She couldn't help raising her voice at the sight of them.
For good reason: their pose was extremely strange.
Step, step—
Lee Seungho was walking into the classroom with Isol's arm linked through his.
“···!?”
Rattle—!
Shin Ayoung's chair slid backward. She sprang up from her seat.
“W-what are you two doing?”
“···What?”
Isol tilted her head, looking as though she didn't understand what the problem was.
“No, I mean, why are you standing like that?”
“What?”
“You two, right now—”
“Hmm. Is it strange for me to cling to my boyfriend—?”
Isol pressed her cheek firmly against Lee Seungho's arm and let out a small laugh.
Shin Ayoung's expression went blank.
“···You’re dating?”
“Yeah, for a little while now.”
“···.”
“I told my mom too. She was really happy.”
Isol arched her brows with a triumphant expression.
“Uh··· You’re joking, right?”
Shin Ayoung asked with a laugh, trying to brush it off.
“···I’m not joking.”
Isol's expression turned serious.
“Want me to show you···?”
What was she going to show her?
Shin Ayoung felt that her brain wasn't functioning properly in this situation.
For some reason, both her arms and legs felt heavy, as if they had been bound.
“···.”
Isol tugged on Lee Seungho's tie.
Their faces gradually drew closer.
“···Ah.”
Only her lips moved, letting out a sigh.
Their faces.
Slowly···
Very slowly, they drew closer···.
The moment the two shadows completely overlapped.
“Hng!”
Shin Ayoung's eyes flew open.
Chirp— chirp-chirp— chirp—
The morning birds' chirping drifted in through the gap in the window.
“···.”
Shin Ayoung blinked blankly, then soon realized what was happening.
“Ah.”
It was a dream.
“···.”
Shin Ayoung raised her trembling hand and rubbed it over her face.
The skin beneath her eyes twitched.
She was furious. What kind of dream was that?
She let the string of curses rising to the back of her throat play out in her head, then
“Hng···.”
She rolled over and buried her face in the pillow. Tears welled up in her eyes.
The morning of the first day of second semester had already begun with an ominous dream.
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(!Sign!)
(There’s an AI illustration if you scroll down!)
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Shin Ayoung in a summer uniform