Chapter 12

Despite the professor having held a full lecture during orientations week, that had been nothing but a small preview of what was to come. The actual literature class was going to be tough. Due to the rigorous amounts of reading needed to be done each week that would then lead to two very difficult essay exams, Minji didn’t think twice before dropping the course. Considering the challenges ahead, I did contemplate joining her, but it seemed better to get the class over with now instead of suffering in a later semester. This was a mandatory course for our major.

It wasn’t entirely bad though. Just when I thought I would be in for a torturous semester alone, Woojin decided to sit next to me this week.

“Here you go, seonbae,” Woojin said, handing me a canned coffee from the vending machine. He popped open his own and took a sip.

“Thanks.” Before taking my shot of caffeine, a yawn escaped me.

“Did you not get enough sleep?”

“Well, I fell asleep a little late…” No thanks to my self-inflicted dread regarding today.

The lack of any communication between Woojin and me on Sunday had built up too much unnecessary tension. My worries had been in vain. Woojin didn’t seem to have a single care about my late-night drunken antics on Saturday. Or perhaps Eun hadn’t told him about the phone call. In that case, I might as well be thankful and avoid the topic altogether. The only drawback would be that I couldn’t ask Woojin who Eun was. But it wasn’t a big deal. He was probably just a friend.

“Do you have work today?” Woojin asked.

“Yeah. Every weekday.”

“That must be hard.”

“I thought it would be too at first, but I’m getting used to it. What about you? Do you have a part-time job?”

“I’m not working yet. My parents told me just to focus on enjoying my first semester of university. Make a lot of friends. Go sightseeing around the city.” He laughed. “I sound like a total country kid, right?”

“No, not at all! To be honest, even though I’ve lived in Seoul all my life, I still haven’t gone on a proper tour around here.”

There was a moment of hesitation before Woojin’s next words. “Then, maybe we can go together.”

I looked at the sincerity on his face. I couldn’t say no to that. I nodded and gathered a bit of courage to ask, “How about this weekend?”

“That sounds great, seonbae. I’m completely free.”

. . .

“Your friend’s here,” my boss said, recognizing Woojin. “I hope he didn’t come back expecting free cake again.”

“No, ma’am! He said he came to see me,” I replied, only to instantly get embarrassed at how that might have sounded to her.

She already got the wrong idea. “Oh, I’m just teasing, Yura. Why don’t you give him some cookies today?”

“Um, are you sure that’s okay?”

“Of course, it is. He’s a friend of my worker and a regular at this point. It’s fine being a little biased with customers sometimes. Only on those rare occasions. Now, go on.”

My smiling boss nudged me forward with two giant wrapped cookies in my hand. I slowly marched in the direction of Woojin’s table. He had chosen a seat farther away from the counter this time by a forest of wooden shelves. Each step I took felt heavier and heavier.

It was just cookies, I told myself. Woojin treated me to coffee this morning. I was simply going to repay him for that.

Woojin raised his head from the book he was reading. It wasn’t a comic book but rather the novel for our class next week. I sent him a smile, but it went unnoticed as his eyes were focused on someplace behind me. I turned around and saw a tall tanner man with silver-blue dyed hair. Both of his ears were decorated with piercings along with a black ring on the left side of his lower lip. I had never seen someone with a lip piercing before. It looked cool and intimidating at the same time. Not to mention, there was a sharpness in his stare that looked to be placing judgement on everything—and everyone—he saw. If Woojin’s initial impression had been that of a cute puppy, this guy was indeed a fierce cat.

“Woojin!” the man called out rather enthusiastically, surprising a few nearby customers. He brushed past me as if I wasn’t even there.

Woojin wasn’t particularly glad to see him. “Eun, I told you to stay put at home.”

I should have guessed from the silvery hair. So, this was Eun.

“Bu’ it was so borin’ sittin’ around at home doin’ nothin’. Take it easy on the studyin’, will ya? Ya in university now! Learn to have a bi’ of fun.”

“Could you keep your voice down?” Woojin said, the embarrassment over his heavily accented friend apparent on his face.

In a somewhat lower voice, Eun replied, “Sure thin’. Ya city people really like ya quie’, huh? Bu’ I’m so bored, Woojin.”

“Go wait for me at home. I still have a lot of reading left to do.”

“Wha’ are ya readin’ anyway? Wutherin’ Heights? Never heard of it. And all tha’ English is makin’ me sick. Let’s ge’ ou’ of here and have some fun tonight.”

“You’re more than welcomed to have fun on your own, you know—” Woojin finally caught sight of me a few steps away.

Not wanting him to think I had been eavesdropping, I rushed over to his table. “Here, Woojin. Um, my boss told me to give it to you.”

His once rigid face softened into a smile. “Thank you, seonbae. But I do feel bad about getting free stuff every time I visit.”

I leaned in closer to him so no other customers could hear me as I said, “It’s completely fine. As long as you stay a regular, I think my boss won’t mind giving you things.”

“No need to worry about that, seonbae. This café is right by my place.”

I didn’t mind continuing this conversation with Woojin for a little bit longer if it wasn’t for Eun staring straight at me from a few breaths away. Going by the fascination in his eyes, I had a feeling he recognized my voice.

Noticing his friend’s curious expression, Woojin informed, “Eun, this is Yura Seonbae, a seonbae in my major. And, seonbae, this is my high school friend, Eun.”

“Boyfriend,” Eun corrected, putting his hand out to me for a shake.

I hesitated for a second before accepting the friendly gesture, unsure whose boyfriend Eun was referring to. Could it be that he was actually trying to flirt with me right now?!

Woojin quickly corrected, “Just friend.”

“Fine, whatever. Ex-boyfriend.”

Did I just unknowingly go through a breakup? I was very confused until I realized how grim Woojin’s face became. He went a little pale as well. I had been self-centered. This didn’t have anything to do with me at all…

“Eun, stop,” Woojin said in a low voice.

“Wha’?” Eun replied with an innocent smirk. “I’m jus’ tryin’ to make a proper introduction to your seonbae here.”

Woojin shoved the novel into his backpack and stood up. “I’m sorry about my friend, Yura Seonbae. I have to go.”

“No, it’s okay!” I quickly reassured. “I’ll see you in school, then.”

“Yes, goodbye.”

“Hey! Wai’ for me!” Eun rushed out after him.

The two cookies I had given Woojin were left abandoned on the table.