00_ Haeorabi Orchid
The man's nose was bright red, as if to signal the depths of winter. Wrapped in a coat and scarf, his arms crossed, he sat on a bench as if waiting for someone. My first impression of him was that he was incredibly handsome. With his long limbs and flamboyant features, his coat and patterned scarf were almost invisible. To exaggerate a bit, his features were so striking that it was almost jaw-dropping. Anyone else would have rushed to him, even if their girlfriend was right next to them. Just hoping. But Wooyeon was different from other women. Even though she hadn't seen his face directly, her gaze involuntarily drew her in, and perhaps because she was self-consciously convinced that he had a girlfriend, she didn't fall for him or feel her heart race.
'You're handsome... Are you waiting for your girlfriend?'
The station suddenly began to stir at the sight of a man blowing on his hands as if he were cold. Perhaps it was because of his dazzling features. The women, gossiping and squealing like girls in love, felt pitiful. Do you really think such a handsome man doesn't have a girlfriend? He must get her number dozens of times a day. Her girlfriend must be getting upset. Wooyeon, who watched the women getting their feelings hurt, thought calmly and left the station. After today, there would be no more meetings anyway.
☘
As he was nodding off, shaking his head from side to side, as if he were about to drool, someone bumped into Wooyeon's head as he passed by, and he was awoken from a dream he didn't want to wake from.
This stop is ★★, ★★. The exit door is on the right.
For a moment, I thought I had misheard, but when I checked, I realized it was the station I needed to get off at. The doors began to close, and I managed to escape dramatically. Or rather, I almost did. I was blocked by a boy from the next school who was blocking the door, but I set off for the next station.
'You open the cap to drink a cola, but it splashes all over your face. You drop the snack you were saving just as you're about to eat it.'
Secretly, Wooyeon cursed fiercely, got off at the next stop, and hopped into a taxi. As she stared out the window, resting her chin on her hand, contemplating the unexpected expense, Wooyeon was alone as she ascended the station stairs, her breath puffing. She wondered if he was waiting outside the station today, but no one who looked like her companion ever showed up. Just as she was thinking he might have already met his girlfriend, dropped her off, and was heading home, the light changed, and the taxi began to move again. Streetlights flashed by, and trees passed Wooyeon several times. Wooyeon, who had been staring in the same direction for a long time, finally managed to take his eyes off the road once he reached home.
☘
A few days passed, and every day, when I got off at the same station, I noticed a man sitting in the same seat. As he exited the station, only a few women approached him with flushed faces, and no one, presumed to be his girlfriend, appeared.
One day, I felt a pang of rage, so I hastily took a book out of my bag and watched the man. I meant "watching," but it was more like peeking. But this time, no one approached him, except for the women who approached with flushed faces and then turned away with a sullen expression. After some time, the train arrived, and the man rose from his seat.
"You finally showed up?"
I watched carefully as people got off the train, but once again, I didn't see anyone I assumed was my girlfriend. I sighed, stretched my neck as if it was stiff, and looked towards the man, but no one was there. While Wooyeon was watching the train, he had already left the station. He crumpled his books into his bag and left the station as well. The man who had been standing in front of the station, just like I saw from the taxi last time, had finally crossed the traffic lights and disappeared, as if he was going home. 'Maybe he doesn't have a girlfriend?' As the man disappeared, my heart, which I had tried hard to suppress, began to pound, and I felt my face heat up. Like other women, my love had begun a little late.