Edin groaned awake to a new day. Though he couldn’t remember most of it, he was sure he dreamed of a pretty boy who had his back to him and walked away. He remembered that much since it was the exact same scene he witnessed at the end of the school day yesterday.

“Meow!”

Edin’s orange tabby cat jumped onto his bed and bumped her head into his face as her usual morning greeting.

“Good morning, Hyunsoo.”

Edin stared blankly at his cat while giving her butt pats. He thought about the day ahead of him, more specifically about what to do regarding Yuel. Simply trying to strike up a conversation with him proved useless. Then, what else could he do to gain the boy’s trust?

“What do you think I should do, Hyunsoo?”

“Meow!”

Looking at his cat reminded Edin of the day he had found her. Hyunsoo used to be a stray in his neighborhood. While coming home from school one day, Edin noticed a small kitten digging through trash bags to look for food. And in the days that followed, he always found her at the exact same spot under the “No littering” banner, which was why he decided to call her “Hyunsoo.”

(*Hyunsoomak means banner in Korean)

But Hyunsoo didn’t open up to Edin immediately. In fact, the more he tried to chase after her, the more she ran away. It wasn’t until Edin took a different approach and waited for her from afar that she finally came close to him and accepted the cat treats he had brought for her.

That was when Edin realized it. Yuel was just like Hyunsoo.

Edin continued with the butt pats, getting Hyunsoo to fall on her side and purr with delight. He imagined Yuel warming up to him like this too, cat ears and all.

Edin blushed. It couldn’t have been good for his health to have his heart race this fast first thing in the morning. But what was important was that he was now sure about what he had to do.

“Alright, I can’t come off as too pushy.”

. . .

“Stop pushing me, asshole!” Euiheon shouted at Hamin who kept nudging his side.

“Aw, come on, Chewie!” Hamin pouted. “Go with me. I seriously can’t find someone to go in your place. Everyone’s saying no because we’re all third-years now.”

“Why don’t you take that as a sign to cancel the whole thing, then?”

“But this will be our last chance to have some fun as high schoolers. And who knows? Things might work out with one of the girls. There’s no better motivation for studying than love, you know!”

Euiheon scoffed. “Yeah, that sure is convincing coming from you.”

Hamin made no comment to that. He couldn’t, considering he had been in three relationships throughout high school and never failed to come in last or nearly last place on all his exams.

“Ah, I got it!” Hamin said. “Let’s leave it up to that fortune app Edin checks every morning.”

“Huh?” Edin said, only having heard his name being mentioned.

“How come you’re not checking the day’s moral on the way to school like always?”

“Oh, yeah…”

Edin totally forgot about his morning ritual. His mind was busy thinking about Yuel as a cat and how he was going to approach him at school later. Since he was stuck in a dilemma of his own, he decided to open up the app and confide in its wise words.

Today’s moral: Wait long enough and the world will turn right back to where you stand now.

Euiheon read the quote off Edin’s phone and said, “Well, that’s stupid. Obviously, the world will rotate right back to the same point after 24 hours. But who’d stay still for that long?”

“Tsk, tsk.” Hamin shook his head in disappointment. “You’re totally missing the point, Chewie. It’s saying that nothing will change if you stay exactly the same. Sometimes, you need to do things out of your comfort zone. Which is why you should agree to go on the three-on-three date with Edin and me this weekend.”

“Woah, wait,” Edin said. “I never agreed to go, either.”

Hamin’s jaw dropped. “Are you kidding me, man?! Why are you not going?”

“Because I have someone I like.”

“What? When? Who?”

“I only have eyes for Ye Yuel now,” Edin said in all seriousness.

Hamin laughed, assuming his friend was just joking. “Yeah, good one. You did seem to take a liking to him yesterday. Tell him to come too, then. It’ll be four-on-three.”

“No fucking way,” Edin snapped. “Why would Yuel go on a date with three girls?”

“Hey, it’s not like he’s going by himself. And it’s not even a real date.”

“Either way, it’s a no. Chu Euiheon, you should just go with him. I thought he was your baby. You need to keep him in check.”

“Ugh…” Euiheon frowned. “Even you’re leaning into that crap, Edin?”

Hamin’s eyes sparkled expectantly. “Please, baby?”

Euiheon turned his head away from him. “I really don’t want to puke out all the cereal I had for breakfast.”

To that, Hamin hugged Euiheon tight and leaned his head down on his shoulder. “Please, baby, I need you!”

Euiheon tried to pull himself free to no avail. He felt the cheek Hamin rubbed his head on getting hotter and hotter. Hamin’s hands around his waist tickled as well.

No longer able to bear it, Euiheon said, “Alright, fine! I’ll go, so get off me, asshole!”

Hamin immediately stepped away from him. “Sweet! You agreed, Chewie. This Saturday, you and me.”

Euiheon let out a deep sigh. “I’m only going in order to make sure you don’t do anything stupid…”

“Sure, sure. My baby’s so reliable.”

“Shut up. I’m seriously seconds away from barfing…”

. . .

Today’s moral: Wait long enough and the world will turn right back to where you stand now.

Edin interpreted that statement a bit differently from his friends. He took that as a sign to have patience. With enough time, things just might be able to go the way he wanted. Where he stood now was wanting Yuel to warm up to him bit by bit.

By the time Edin arrived at the classroom, Yuel was already seated at his desk and staring out the window. But his view soon got obstructed by the taller boy, who awkwardly looked down and waved.

“Hey,” Edin greeted shyly.

“…Hi.”

Yuel turned his head to face the front of the classroom. He worried about what sort of nonsense Yang Edin would start the day off with this time. But to his surprise, the boy didn’t say another word to him, instead taking out his books and starting to study.

Yuel peeked at Edin, who really was focused solely on his math problems. In that case, was he right to assume the boy was only overly friendly with him because it was the first day? Then again, who would waste time trying to make new friends during the third year?

Yuel sighed in relief and took out a textbook to study himself. It seemed today would go by much more quietly.