I can’t quite remember how I spent Saturday night and Sunday.
Even though there was a thick wall, I was bothered by the room next door and didn’t sleep well; since it would be awkward to run into him at home, I met up with a friend early Sunday morning and came back late at night.
For someone who made a confession that wasn’t quite a confession, Hamin didn’t wait for me or look for me.
Anyway, after a weekend when we hardly saw each other at all, a busy Monday morning came, full of getting ready for school.
As soon as I opened my door, the door to the room next door opened at the same time too.
Hamin, in his new school uniform, looked slightly down at me and adjusted the loosely tied tie he’d been wearing.
“Why are you looking at me like that? You’re making me misunderstand.”
“I wasn’t looking.”
Why had this kid gotten so sly? I looked away first and headed for the living room.
Mom had already set out breakfast on the table. Just toast and strawberry jam. For some reason, I felt awkward and picked up the toast with my hand, and Mom snapped at me.
“You’ll drop crumbs! Sit down and eat.”
Sit down…? I glanced at Hamin, already sitting in a chair. Hamin was silently spreading jam on his toast.
Awkward, and I don’t want to go with him.
“Ah, I have to leave early today.”
“Why?”
“I’ve got something to do. I’m off!”
I hurried out of the house as if fleeing the situation. Whew, for the next two months I might end up getting up 30 minutes earlier just to go to school.
So awkward from first thing in the morning, seriously.
After leaving the front door and passing down the hall, I was pressing the elevator button when I heard the sound of a door closing behind me. When I turned around, suspecting as much, Hamin was walking over in his sneakers.
“You already finished eating?”
“Yeah.”
The elevator doors opened, and after I took a step in, Hamin naturally followed.
Inside the elevator, just the two of us, the numbers ticked down one by one. Hamin’s reflection in the mirror showed his tie properly tied and even the buttons of his school jacket neatly fastened.
The two of us didn’t say a word.
As soon as we reached the first floor, I went out first and spoke plainly to Hamin.
Hamin also got out of the elevator, stopped, and looked down at me.
“Let’s not go to school together.”
“We go to the same school.”
“I know that, but I said let’s go separately.”
“You said not to act like we know each other at school.”
“Exactly.”
“We’re not even at school yet.”
Hamin said that and walked past me.
I had nothing left to say.
I thought about turning back, but in the end we headed to school side by side. More precisely, Hamin walked in front, and I followed a few steps behind.
While I was scanning the area in case I ran into someone I knew, Hamin stopped in front of the crosswalk. He turned back after waiting for the light.
“If you’re just going to stay that far back, why not walk next to me?”
“What? No way.”
“That hurts my feelings.”
But this bastard was casually using informal speech, wasn’t he? I shot him a glare, and just then the signal changed. Hamin was the one who’d suggested we walk together, but the second it changed, he was the first to bolt ahead.
The closer we got to school, the more students in the same uniform there were. The number of people sneaking glances at Hamin also naturally increased. I guess he was tall, and his face was, well, pretty handsome too. Hamin looked like he didn’t care at all.
I kept walking as if nothing was wrong, but my attention was a little focused on Hamin. Then he called my name. It was a familiar voice.
“Yeoju.”
When I turned around, Yejun was walking up after taking one earbud out.
“Did you get home okay on Sunday?”
“Huh? Yejun. Yeah, you were such a pain from early in the morning.”
“No, it was fun.”
Seeing me awkwardly raise my arm and scratch the back of my head, Yejun burst out laughing. At his bright, refreshing laugh, I also laughed along awkwardly, hahaha. The friend I hung out with on Sunday was Yejun.
Hamin glanced once at me, where I had stopped walking, then turned his head away again.
I felt curious and looked over there once, and Yejun followed my gaze to where Hamin was. Then his eyes went wide.
“Yu Hamin?”
At that voice, Hamin immediately turned around. With a grin bright like a cheerful boy’s, he gave Yejun a small bow with his head.
“Long time no see, hyung.”
“Wow, it really is you. When did you come back?”
“I came on Saturday.”
“You came back to Korea for good?”
“Yes.”
“Then you transferred to our school?”
Hamin nodded.
Yejun looked Hamin up and down as if he found it amazing.
“You got insanely tall. Weren’t you this tall before?”
As Yejun put his palm around the level of his own shoulder, Hamin laughed.
“Not that much.”
“Pretty close.”
When I jumped in, Yejun this time put his hand on top of my head.
“You didn’t grow at all.”
“Hey, my head’s getting squashed.”
I brushed off Yejun’s hand, which was covering the entire top of my head, with a grumble. Hamin was silently watching us.
Soon the warning bell rang.
“Let’s go in first. Hamin, you need to go to the teachers’ office first, right?”
“Yes.”
“Say hi if you see us at school.”
Yejun lightly patted Hamin’s shoulder, then tugged at my bag.
“You come quickly too. You’re really going to be late.”
“Yeah, I should go. Hamin, you know where the teachers’ office is, right?”
“I do.”
I pulled Yejun’s hand off my bag, then moved in close to Hamin.
“Don’t forget, we agreed to act like we don’t know each other at school.”
“We got found out already, though?”
“Just don’t say that we’re living together.”
Hamin made a hmph sound and nodded. Why did he look pleased? That was annoying.
At Yejun’s urging to hurry up, I said, “Then I’m off!” and quickly left the spot. And like that, a Monday morning that was pretty far from my usual routine was passing by.
-
And then, at school, we barely ran into each other. It seemed like that was because each grade used a different floor.
When we briefly crossed paths in the cafeteria at lunch, Hamin already had a bunch of kids who looked like they were in the same class hanging around him.
He sure adapts fast for a transfer student on the very first day.
Well, he’s good-looking too. He can be a little sly with me, but he’d always gotten along well with his friends. I think I had that thought for a moment.
Today, I had a career counseling session with my homeroom teacher scheduled for the afternoon. It was more ordinary than I expected, but it took longer than I expected. I only made it out to the school gate about an hour after dismissal time.
The teacher sure talks a lot more than I expected. I was just thinking that when it happened.
At the school gate was a man with a build I’d become familiar with only a few days ago.
It was Hamin.
“Why haven’t you left yet?”
Hamin put the phone he’d been holding into his pocket.
“I don’t know the way, so I was going to go with you.”
“You could just go the same way you came in this morning.”
“I’m bad with directions.”
That was new. Maybe he saw my dumbfounded expression, but Hamin didn’t even wait for my answer and started walking toward home.
I soon stood beside him and walked too. Well, everyone had already gone home by now, so there was nobody around.
For a while, the two of us walked without saying anything. It felt peaceful.
I glanced sideways and looked at him, and unlike in the morning, Hamin had loosened his tie. His expression was, as always, blank.
I told him not to act like he knew me, but if I ask him how school is going, would that be weird? No, more than that, would it sound like I’m some nosy old lady…? Just as I was thinking that, Hamin broke the silence first.
“Are you in the same class as Yejun hyung?”
“Huh? Yeah.”
“Have you stayed close all this time?”
“Yeah. We kept going to school together too. And now we’re in the same class.”
“So you really are close. You were together all weekend too.”
“…….”
An uncomfortable topic had come up. Ha-ha, I laughed it off quietly, and Hamin quickly went quiet too.
Even after we reached the crosswalk, Hamin kept looking only at the opposite side. The walk signal was on, but since he wasn’t moving, I crossed first.
Hamin followed a few steps behind.
“Noona.”
“Yeah?”
“Do you still like Yejun hyung?”
I stopped walking.
Hamin was standing one step behind me, watching me. The green signal was beeping down: 17, 16.
“Why are you asking that all of a sudden?”
Standing still, did I answer with how annoyed I felt? I think my tone was a little sharp.
Hamin didn’t say anything and took my arm, crossing the rest of the crosswalk. In just a few seconds, the light turned red again.
Did I sound a little rude? I brushed my hair back with my hand and opened my mouth. Until then, Hamin hadn’t said a word.
“I confessed to him two years ago and got rejected.”
“…….”
“It’s been over for a long time. We’re just friends now.”
Hamin looked at me for a moment.
Then, with an expression like nothing was wrong, he started walking again.
“Then that’s good news for me.”
Those words should have made me feel bad. But somehow, I don’t think I felt bad at all.
