In front of the school dormitory, Lee Seok-min changed into comfortable clothes and decided to meet in front of the school gate.
"What about Myeongho? Didn't we decide to go together?"
"Ah, okay! Let's change into comfortable clothes and meet up. Let's meet at 6 o'clock."
***
Around 6 o'clock, Lee Seok-min and a friend I'd never seen before approached me. They were wearing matching sweatshirts, perhaps a matching outfit. (I was wearing a similar design but in a different color.)
"Hi. Are you Mirji? I'm Seo Myeong-ho."
"Hey, Myeongho, hello."
"Why did you transfer to this school?"
"There are a lot of weird people here."
I can't say it was a mistake. I simply smiled faintly and decided to follow Lee Seok-min to Karen Hospital. Because it was a bit far, I decided to take a taxi instead of the bus or subway.
"But why is Soonyoung in the hospital? Where is she hurt?"
"It wasn't Soonyoung, but Soonyoung's grandmother who was hurt."Seokmin
"Let's just listen to Kwon Soon-young and go quietly."Myungho
"But I have a question. Can I ask you something?"
"What is it? Feel free to ask."Seokmin
"Why are we going alone?"
"And I've only been friends with Soonyoung for two days, so can I just go?"
"Soonyoung said I could bring her. And we're going to go again tomorrow by ourselves."Seokmin
"It seems like a very serious situation..."
***
"Thank you for coming."
"I don't think I can go in because my grandmother is sleeping."
"Ah, are you okay?"
"I'm fine... but are you adjusting well?"
"Yeah, it's going well."
"When are you coming back to school?"
"Next Monday? My parents aren't home so I have to take care of my grandmother."
"Let's laugh instead of talking about such sad things, like this."
"Myungho laughs, Sunyoung laughs, and Mir laughs."
Thanks to Lee Seok-min's actions, Kwon Soon-young, Seo Myeong-ho, and I, who had been caught up in a serious atmosphere, were finally able to laugh.
Due to time constraints, around 8 o'clock, Lee Seok-min, Seo Myeong-ho, and I took a taxi home. Before we parted ways, Kwon Soon-young cautiously told her that her grandmother was in the final stages of cancer. Lee Seok-min and Seo Myeong-ho, who were close friends with Kwon Soon-young, offered their condolences. I, still in the early stages of becoming close, simply bowed my head beside her.
***
"I heard you went to the hospital to see Kwon Soon-young yesterday."
"Oh, uh. You said you were going today."
"Yeah. Did he look okay?"
"Maybe..? It looked pretty good to me."
"I guess he was just pretending everything was okay."
***
A week passed quickly after that. During that week, Kwon Soon-young became less talkative and less smiling than when I first met her. And Jeon Won-woo looked at his phone with the screen off even less often. Throughout the week, Kim Min-gyu, seemingly untiring, continued to come to our classroom during every break to see me, staring intently at my face as he left.
Nothing special happened or anything. And today is a golden weekend. Saturday morning (well, lunch.) When I woke up, I checked my phone and saw about 50 messages from Kim Min-gyu. (I turned it off without reading it.) When I looked at my phone, I remembered Jeon Won-woo's number from back then, so I turned on my brother's phone, saved the number, and went into KakaoTalk.
1 is not erased. I thought she must be busy, so I turned off my phone and ate the meal my mom prepared.
After eating, I turned on my phone and there was a text message from Jeon Won-woo.
When I was asked my name and school, I was momentarily flustered. But then a name suddenly came to mind, so I answered with that. I couldn't recall a school, so I said "girls' high school." And when he asked me to meet up later and hang out, I said yes. (I'll have to make up an excuse every time.)
The Jeon Won-woo I saw at school, with his emoticons and question marks attached to his face, was different. I could have easily believed he was a completely different person. On KakaoTalk, Jeon Won-woo seemed very outgoing and affable, but at school... he wasn't like that at all.
I was so glad you didn't recognize me.
I was a bit busy today so I came late... Oh, isn't it today..? I'm sorryㅠㅠ😭😭
I'm sorry I couldn't adjust the length because I wrote it in a hurry...😥
And there's one more thing I have to apologize for...😱
I don't think I'll be able to write anything until next Wednesday because I have to go to my relatives' house.
Still, I'll write and upload it little by little whenever I have timeㅠ😭😭