Word count: 3746 words

The Absence

“So, how is it?” I was extremely giddy when Jongdae came out of the room. He grinned at me, “What do you think?” I immediately knew the answer, of course; he would not have showed a single smile if he failed the thesis defense. I squealed and immediately hugged him with my one free hand, “Congratulations Oppa!” He laughed at my enthusiasm, “Thank you, Seoyeon,” he hugged me back. “Congratulations Jongdae-ah,” someone said once we were done hugging. Not too far behind me, Professor Lee was standing with a dried flowers bouquet. “Thank you so much, Professor,” they shook hands and Professor Lee gave him the bouquet, “Not just for the thesis, but for everything,” he added with a smile. “You’re more than welcome, Jongdae,” she chuckled with a soft smile.

“These are for you too!” I produced two bouquets from my other hand. “This is from me,” I pointed at the bouquet of sunflowers, “And this is from Sooyoung-eonni,” I gestured at the roses. He chuckled, “What did she bribe you with for giving this flower to me?” he took both bouquets. “Ouch, you hurt my pride, Oppa,” I scrunched my face at him, and he laughed out loud, while Professor Lee chuckled at our banter, “Now now, kids, I’m sorry but I have to go first, I have a faculty meeting in a little bit,” she glanced at her watch. “Oh! Then let’s go to the library and take a picture now!” I exclaimed and helped Jongdae with his bouquets. We tidied up the small mess then immediately go to the library so that Professor Lee would not be late to the meeting. Thankfully, the building we were at was nearby the iconic library, and we even finished taking pictures within the next fifteen minutes.

“Well then, I’ll get going first,” our supervisor told us once the student we asked for help had returned Jongdae’s phone. “Okay, thank you again Professor!” we both bowed at her. “No worries, see you guys on Monday, and don’t forget to send me the photos too, Jongdae!” she waved us goodbye. “So,” Jongdae turned to me, “Where do you want to have dinner at?” I hummed as we started walking to the direction of his car. “It’s up to you, Oppa, it’s your day after all,” I shrugged. “Okay, I’ll ask Junmyeon-hyung first,” he took out his phone. “Shouldn’t you call your parents and Sooyoung-eonni first?” I raised a brow at him. His answer was a sheepish smile, “Right,” and I could only sigh at his forgetfulness. “I’ll call Junmyeon-oppa once we get in the car,” I told him and gestured at his bouquets in my hands- he definitely could not bring all three bouquets by himself, not to mention that he also had his own personal items too. He grinned, “Thanks Yeon,” and proceeded to call either one of the ones I told him to.

It was already well into May, and the weather was starting to get hotter bit by bit. Jongdae had finally finished his thesis for master’s degree, and he had just passed his thesis defense today- thus the flowers and dinner- it was his treat, as a token of thanks to me and Junmyeon. He did not tell a lot of people about the defense, only his family members- including Junmyeon, and his girlfriend aka my sister Sooyoung. Professor Lee and I also knew, of course, she was his supervisor after all, and I was literally in the same room as him five days a week. His parents were unfortunately unable to come as they were having a holiday somewhere in the world, as he said, and they chose to just come on the graduation day instead of today. While for my sister, unfortunately she also had an urgent business matter abroad with my brother, that was why my sister asked me to give the roses to Jongdae in her stead. But she told me that she would return later tonight though, so they could spend the weekend together to celebrate Jongdae’s graduation. As for Junmyeon, he was going to come, but he was suddenly called for a meeting with the board members, so he could only come to the dinner at the end. Poor guy- I called him earlier when Jongdae had started his defense, asking whether he had departed Seoul or not. Turned out he was already on his way, and had even entered the highway, when he was called back to the office- he grumbled about it to me all the way until he had to hung up the call. Due to the sudden cancellation, he promised to come to the dinner instead, even if he had to go back and forth to and from Seoul.

“Okay, bye, love you, I’ll pick you up at the airport tonight,” Jongdae hung up the call when we neared his car. “You’re picking Eonni up at Incheon Airport later?” I asked him as he put his phone back and pulled his car keys out. He nodded his head with a hum as his answer. “You can go back with Junmyeon-hyung if you’re too tired to drive back home tonight, then return here on Sunday night with me,” he opened the door of the backseat and put his things in, then took his bouquets that I was holding to put them in the car too. “I’m sure Junmyeon-hyung wouldn’t mind a company- you might as well keep him from falling asleep on the way back to Seoul,” he closed the door. “We’ll see,” I hummed, not exactly wanting to trouble Junmyeon, and pulled my phone out, giving a call to the male we were talking about. Junmyeon only picked up my call when Jongdae and I had settled in the car.

“Hey Oppa, are you done with the meeting? Where are you now?” I put the call on loudspeaker, so Jongdae could join in the conversation too. “Yeah, I’m already on the highway, and will probably arrive in Suwon in another twenty minutes or so,” he answered me. “How about you and Jongdae? Has he finished the defense?” Jongdae answered this time, “Of course Hyung! And I got an A too,” Jongdae was grinning widely, even though his cousin could not see it. “Well congratulations Dae,” the older male chuckled at his enthusiasm, “Now you can finally return to work full-time, and I can relax a bit.” Jongdae rolled his eyes at that, “Yeah, you’re going to have the time of your life as I will take your place temporarily too.” I widened my eyes, “Wait- what? You’re going to step in as the President temporarily?” I looked back and forth between Jongdae and my phone. “We’ll tell you about it later,” Junmyeon dismissed my shock.

“Anyway, have you guys decided on where to have dinner?” he asked. “No, that’s why we call you,” I answered, “Is there anything in particular that you want to eat?” Both of us could hear Junmyeon’s snort, “It’s Jongdae’s day and you’re asking what I want to eat?” I gave a stink eye at Jongdae and grumbled, “Exactly what I told him.” Jongdae rolled his eyes again at that, “Okay fine, I’ll look for it, and send you the location soon Hyung.” Junmyeon hummed and bade us a see you soon.

“Let’s start from the cuisine first,” I said as Jongdae took his phone out again, “I found some Japanese, American, Indian, Vietnamese, Italian...” I started to list down what I found. “And Korean, of course,” I added. “Let’s just go for galbi, Suwon is famous for it and the last time we ate galbi was like... one or two months ago, right?” Jongdae tilted his head, trying to remember the occasion. “It was two months ago, not too long after your launching party, you and Junmyeon-oppa sort of made it like a small celebration for the successful launching and dragged me along,” I clarified. “Ah, right! That time Sehun had a last-minute business lunch, didn’t he? You were sulking and whining to me and Hyung the entire lunch,” he snickered, to which I slapped his arm. “Do you remember the galbi restaurant we went to that time? Let’s try a different one,” he suggested after calming down from his laugh. “I think we went to Gabojeong last time? Or was it Bonsuwon?” I wondered. Jongdae answered me faster now that he heard the options, “Gabojeong; but we also went to Bonsuwon the first time you started your internship, with Sooyoung too,” he reminded me. “Right,” I nodded my head, “Then let’s go to Silla, we’ve never tried that one,” I suggested, to which he nodded and quickly call his cousin again. “I’ll send the location so he can immediately navigate instead of searching first,” I muttered. Once the call was done and Jongdae had put in the destination in his phone too, he started driving out of Kyunghee.

“Speaking of Sehun,” Jongdae started a new conversation, “Where is he? I thought he’s going to come today,” he glanced at me. “Wait- where was he, actually?” he emphasized on the past tense, not giving me a cha