The days went on as usual. Same routine, without much change. There was a competition coming up where we were going to compete against bands and groups like us. We were practicing hard for that along with our daily routine. We had participated in competitions before and won a few times. But this was bigger than the other competitions. We were nervous, but we always put in our best effort. We finished our practice for that day and went home. As soon as we reached, I went into my room and just jumped onto my bed and fell asleep. Just a short nap, though. When I woke up, I heard voices in the living room. I opened the door, and just peeped to see who it was. I could only see Hyung and JungShin. MinHyuk was probably sitting on the other chair. The guests’ backs were facing me. So I peeped more in an attempt to see who they were. JungShin caught me trying to see who the guests were.  “Ahh! Hyung! You’re up!” He said, in a tone higher than normal. I facepalmed. “Nugu?’” I asked Jungshin, crinkling my nose. “Uri  Ji-Hyuni!” JungShin said. Oh..Kang Ji Hyun. She was a close friend of Jung Shin’s. I had met her a few times. She was a nice girl. “Ji-Hyuni?!” I said, walking towards them with my bed hair and sleepy eyes. I didn’t care to even adjust my hair because she was a good friend anyway. “Anneyong! Orenmanida!” Ji-Hyun said. “Au. Jal Jinasseo?” I asked, rubbing my sleepy eyes. When I finally stood in front of her, I realized that there was another person near Ji-Hyun. I turned to look at her.And froze. I could not believe my eyes. It was HER. The person I thought I’d never see again. Wow, is it some kind of fate? Ever since I saw her in the café, all I could think about was how I was going  to look for her. And here she was, at my house. “Waahh! Daebakida!” I told myself. Our eyes met, and she smiled at me. “AnneyongHaseyo!” she said. “Ne.Anneyonghaseyo!” I greeted back. I started combing my hair with my fingers, suddenly becoming aware of my messy bed hair. I could feel her looking at me, and I caught her smiling to herself when she saw me trying to set my hair. Ji-Hyun-ie introduced us. “This is my best friend, Seung Yeon.” She said. “Ne. Gong Seung Yeon ibnida!” Seung Yeon said  to me. Well, now the initials G.S.Y made sense. It was her bag. “Seung Yeon-ie. This is Jong Hyun Sunbae!” Ji Hyun continued the introduction. “Lee Jong Hyun ibnida! Nice to meet you” I said, smiling at Seung Yeon. She looked very pretty in her patterned skirt and a pink top.  “Nice to meet you too!” she said. I wondered if she remembered me. No, she wouldn’t. Why would she?  “Keunde! Why did you call him Sunbae? We’re in different colleges !” Seung Yeon asked Ji Hyun. “Yea…But it’s become a habit. Jung Shin used to call him Sunbae a long time back, so when I first met JongHyun sunbae, I too had to call him that. Now it’s weird to call him something other than Sunbae.” Ji Hyun answered. “Ahh…keurae!” Seung Yeon-ie said, shaking her head. “Hyung! Please go set the table for dinner!” Min Hyuk said. “Wae??” I asked. I didn’t mind setting the table, but I wanted to talk to Seung Yeon and get to know her. “Because we cooked.” My three brothers said in unison. “Ahhh! Jeongmal!” I said. “Fine. I’ll set the table.” I proceeded towards the dining table. “Jong Hyun-ssi. I’ll help you out!” I heard her say. Wait…what? Did I hear right? I turned to see her walking towards me. “Ne?” I asked. “I’ll help you in setting the table. Let Ji-Hyun-ie talk to them. She said she has lots to tell Jung Shin-ssi and MinHyuk-ssi.” Seung Yeon said. “But you really don’t have to! You’re our guest.” I said, showing no expressions on my face but inside, I was bursting with joy. I had wanted to talk to her instead of doing other things, and my wish had come true. I had the chance to talk to her. I gave her the plates from the shelf while I carried the cutlery. “JongHyun-ssi. Do you, by chance, remember that we met sometime back? In the café?” she asked me. I couldn’t believe my ears. Was she really asking me that? That means, she remembers me. Yassssssss!!!!! I pretended to think for a while. “Ahhhh…yes! I do! The yellow bag!” I said, as if I remembered it only when she asked me. If she only knew! “Ne. Majayo!” she said. “ I remember. You said it was important to you.”  I said. “It is. It’s a polaroid camera. It was a present.” She said. Present? From who? Did she have a boyfriend? “From my sisters! For my eighteenth birthday!” she said, like she had read my mind. “Ohh..Thank God you didn’t lose it.” I said.  I asked her what she was majoring in. “I’m studying Computer Science Engineering. 2^nd Year.” She said. “Oh, that’s great. So you are in Seoul Women’s University too? With Ji-Hyun?” I asked. “Yes! I am.But she’s in a different department. As you know.” She said. I smiled.

Soon, everybody sat down for dinner. The boys had done a good job cooking. It was tastier than usual. All of us talked about how we were doing, because we were meeting Ji-Hyun after a long time. And we got to know Seung Yeonie’s hobbies. She loved dancing,she said. Ji- Hyun had brought sweets for dessert so we ate a lot of candy too. “ayeesshhhh! I wish I could stay longer. But I just got a message about an assignment that has to be submitted tomorrow! God, these people don’t even give a day’s time.” Ji-Hyun said. “Seung Yeon-ah. I’ll drop you at the bus stop. I can’t drop you home today! Mian!” she said. “Eyy! Gwenchana! You don’t have to drop me at the bus stop. I’ll go by myself. The bus stop’s at a 10 minute walking distance anyway. Go quickly.” Seung-Yeon said. “Aani! It’s late. JungShin, can you drop her?” Ji-Hyun asked. “Yea, sure! We’re all friends now. “ Jung Shin said. “Gwenchanayo! I’ll go by myself.” She said. “Seung-Yeon-ssi. I’ll drop you.” I said. She opened to say no, but I cut her off. “Please don’t say no. It’s not really safe at this time of the night. I’ll drop you.” I said. She tried refusing but I was firm about dropping her.

That’s how we ended up in my car, her sitting in the passenger seat. I had never imagined that such a situation would come where she would be sitting with me in my car. “Please feel comfortable!” I said. “Ne. But you really didn’t have to go through this trouble to drop me.” She said. “Trust me, it’s no trouble at all. I’m happy to drop you.” I said. She just smiled. We drove a distance. . It had started raining outside. Thankgod I didn’t let her stand at the bus stop in the rain. “JongHyun-ssi. Please talk informally with me.” She said. “I know we haven’t known each other for long. Still.” “I would love to. But on one condition, both of us should drop the formal speech!” I said. I really wanted to talk to her casually. “Hmmmm….arasso.” she said informally. “That’s good, SeungYeon-ah.” I said. “It’s much better when you call me that way. I really didn’t like it much when you called me SeungYeon-ssi.” She said. “Keurae? Gokchonghajima! It won’t be like that from now!” I said. “Keundae! What are you going to call me? I , too don’t want to hear you calling me JongHyun-ssi.” I said, wondering what she’d call me. I really didn’t want to be called Sunbae by her, just because Ji-Hyun calls me that way. It’s best if she just calls me Jong Hyun.“What shall I call you?.....Ummm…I’m going to call you….Jong Hyun Oppa?” she asked. My heart skipped a beat. Oppa? Oppa?? I know I’m older than her, but I wasn’t expecting her to call me Oppa. But, I really really liked it. I never liked it if somebody called me Oppa, but when I heard her call me that, I couldn’t stop smiling. “Okayy!” I said. “Waah..Oppa!” I nodded my head. She smiled to herself. “Oppa, please drop me over there.” She said. My heart skipped a beat again. I really liked it when she called me that. “Yes…!” I said, as I stopped the car and got down to open the door on the passenger side. “Gomawo!” she said. I walked her till her doorstep. “Jal ga!” she said. Since we were talking informally, it felt nicer. “Au. Jal isseo! Keurigo! Jal ja!” I said. “Oppa do!” she said, waving to me and going inside. I ran to my car and drove back  home.

When  I went into the apartment, my three brothers were still in the living room. “Hyung! What was that? You never offer to drop people!” Jung Shin said. “Au. Why the sudden change?” Yong Hyung asked. “Guys, because it’s Her. The girl I told you about. The one that I met in the café. SeungYeon-ida!” I said. “mwo?” they asked, with shocked expressions on their ulguls. “Yeaa! It is her.” I said. The three of them pounced on me, making me fall to the ground. Another round of teasing began, this time asking about what we talked about and teasing me about how I acted in front of her. “Yea, I can’t help it. I really like her. And guess what! She remembered me!” I said, happily. “You areee my destiny……” they sang together. “Gosh, did you guys plan this singing?” I asked. They didn’t stop. They kept singing. “You are my destiny……Geudae! You are my….everything…..” I finally broke free from them and went into my room. I could still hear them tease me. I looked in the mirror. My face was red. MY GOSH!!! These guys had to tease me like that! But I really believed it was destiny.

I went to instagram, went to Ji-Hyun’s followers and scrolled to find SeungYeon’s profile. “Ah! Found it!” I said, as I clicked on it. It was in private mode. I clicked the follow button, hoping she’ll accept it.

I was texting my friends from college, when I got a notification.

0seungyeon has accepted your follow request.

0seungyeon has requested to follow you.

I immediately clicked accept. In the notifications bar, It said:

0seungyeon started following you.

I don’t know why, but that made me so happy. I wanted to browse through her pictures, but my phone had very low battery , so I had no other option, but to keep my phone aside.

But I was happy… I could talk to her now. Slowly become friends…. J