Woong and the girl are seated near the entrance, and I observe them through the glass of a huge cabinet that stands between the front and this area. He won’t realize I’m here. Jongin comes back from the bathroom, and he notices my focused eyes.

               “What are you looking at?”

               “Just a guy who claimed they were going to another city, yet he’s here with a girl right now.” I say, trying to sound as neutral as possible.

               “Huh? Who? Your boyfriend? Someone’s boyfriend?” Jongin is about to turn around to see, but I stop him.

               “Sssh, don’t look at them, we’ll get caught. I’ll tell you later. Let’s just go, I’ll make a quick stop at their table.”

               After preparing to leave, I march straight to their seats in light steps and stop next to the table.

               “Hello, Senior.” I say with the most cheerful tone I have. “This must be Incheon.”

               Woong looks up, and oh, how I want to frame that expression. All colors drain from his face, and his lips tremble. I’ve done what I wanted to do, now it’s time to go.

               “Then, I’m leaving. Have a good meal.”

               I bow to Woong, and turn to nod at the girl. She doesn’t look as perplexed or confused as I predicted.

               "Hello. We've met again.”

               I blink. The girl smiles, then turns her head a bit to my side, to Jongin. She scans him from head to toe coldly, and looks at me again. I didn’t expect her to say anything to me, so I’m very taken aback right now.

               "Joo Dana, let's go." Jongin drags my shoulders to the door, and I’m thinking hard about who the girl is. I don’t think I’ve met her before. Who is she? Where did I ever encounter her?

               Once we’re at the main street, I turn to Jongin. He has a dark, unreadable expression. “Do you know who the girl is?”

               “That’s my ex.”

               My jaw drops. “No freaking way.”

               I start to digest her words, and remember last winter in his apartment. I cover my face with my hands. That's why I didn't recognize her, I remembered her by her black wavy hair. It's shorter and brownish now. "Oh my God… Oh wow."

               Jongin and I are standing in the middle of the sidewalk, and we both are too blanked out to continue walking. A pedestrian is approaching and Jongin slowly pulls my sleeve to get me out of the way. “Anyway, let’s get going.”

               The bus ride back to school was quiet, and we separated in the middle of school with a short ‘bye then’ to each other.

               During my next class, my mind is elsewhere. I remember Sehee’s words about her bad impression of Woong, and one by one his actions that should have been a warning but I ignored came to mind. Why was I blinded that much?

               A call from Woong comes, and I leave the class to pick it up.

               “Dana, the girl was - “

               “I don’t care about the girl.” I cut him. “You lied to me. Why did you have to lie?”

               “I saw you were with another guy as well.”

               “What does it have to do with it? I messaged you that I was going to lunch with Professor Han and a friend. You hadn’t replied, you were probably too occupied - “ a sinister laugh escaped my lips. “Professor Han had to leave first. That’s it.”

               “I was going to my aunt’s. I just wanted to catch a quick lunch with - “

               “You sounded in a hurry in your message though.” I comment. “So basically, she replied faster than me, didn’t she?”

               I bit my tongue, realizing I start to sound bitter.

               “Let’s talk later, Senior. I’m having a class.”

               As a cherry on top, in the end of class the assignment that I painstakingly did by pulling an all nighter got a mediocre grade. The main gate seems so far from the class, and I need to practically drag my feet to go home.

               Before I reach the gate, near the front parking gate I spot Jongin walking alone. He takes a closer look at my face, and lets out a muffled laugh.

               “I can practically see dark clouds above your head. Is it about that senior?”

               I heave a deep breath. “This day is just particularly bad. I need a drink.”

               “Need a drinking buddy?”

               I turn to see him, and tilt my head. “If you want.”

*

               “...and he had the audacity to say ‘I saw you were with another guy as well’.”  I screech as I stare hatefully at the shot glass for no reason. “It’s not about the girl. He lied, that was the problem.”

               Jongin and I are at a modest bar a bit away from school, and there are not many people inside. He sits in front of me, and pours me another.

               “What about you?” I ask Jongin.

               “What?”

               “Seeing your ex with someone else.”

               “We’re practically strangers now.”

               “She had this icy look to you though.”

               Jongin shrugs. “Maybe she had the same feeling you got when you saw that senior with another girl.”

               “I said, who he was with wasn’t the problem - wait, did you think I was jealous? Do you want her to feel jealous?”

               “No.” Jongin quickly answers. I squint my eyes, suspicious. “No.” he repeats, and dunks a glass down.

               “Well, anyway.” I pour him another glass. “Why did you break up?”

               “To put it simply… Terrible communication.” 

               “Ah.” I press my lips. “She still remembered my face. That time, did something happen after she saw me? When you were sick?”

               Jongin looks away somewhere. So something did happen.

               “When we were volunteering, you told me you met her… I was surprised. She didn’t tell me that she did. During that time, she was having extreme trust issues and I had a hard time figuring out why. ”

               I raise my eyebrows. “That was because of me?”

               “We were already having problems back then though. We were on and off, many times. Breaks, long and short. The volunteering was an attempt to spend more time together but she called off at the last minute and said we were done.”

               “Wow.”

               “She wouldn’t say what was on her mind, but always expected me to tell her everything. Our talks always met a dead end. We were both tired.”

               I shake my head. “I think you need this drink more than me.”

               A dramatic arguing noise is heard from the TV, and we both look at the screen. It’s a soap opera, and after a few seconds of watching it’s apparently about a family who’s debating about their daughter’s arranged marriage plan. Jongin is vacantly staring at the screen, and I immediately grab a glass shot and flush the drink down my throat.