~ The Second Movement ~
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Chapter Six - Dal Niente

This week was completely bizarre – and hilarious.
I had two problems – or maybe it would be better calling them two strange things that make me go insane.

First problem: I had a new phone number saved in my mobile phone – and I still wasn’t sure why I actually had it.
Usually, you don’t give out your phone number to a stranger that you barely know – at least I would never do something like that.
But at the same time, it was me who actually accompanied a stranger for a walk – silly me.
Okay – to be honest it was completely my fault.
I had had the decision if I wanted to babble about half of my heart's contents, bothering someone who surely had other problems than my childish monologue or if I'd just say ‘Thank You’ and ‘Goodbye’.
Which would definitely be the most polite way to act towards a stranger.
And I picked the wrong decision.
I started to feel really bad right after Byunghee had left – I felt even more that way because it really seemed like I’d delayed his plans.
Giving someone their phone number could be a sign for ‘Hey, I have enough of your nonsense and I have something better to do – if you try to contact me I’ll think about if I will answer your call’ – at least this was a possibility.
The burden got even worse as time flew by.
I didn’t dare to even send him a text message with ‘Thank you’ – but at the same time it was probably completely impolite to not contact him.
A ‘Thank You’ wouldn’t kill me – but it was hard motivating myself to write a short message.
So I ended up not texting or calling him at all – even though it was almost one week now since I’ve met him.

My second problem: I had a male hoodie in my closet.
Besides that my closet was really small and I barely had any space in there I felt guilty for keeping it.
Okay – what options did I have anyway?
For giving him his hoodie back I definitely had to text him first – which hasn’t happen yet.
And honestly, I didn’t plan to either.
At the same time I was really grateful for having it – back that day when he gave it to me I really felt the warmth coming back to my body as I wore it.
The sleeves were way too long for my arms, completely covering my hands and the hoodie had  already been warmed up from his body.
It was the perfect protection for the cold weather.
There was something that destroyed the sweet scenario: because of me he had to leave with a T-Shirt.
What if he did catch a cold?
This would be my fault.
So what if he was really sick now? It would totally mess up his schedule – I would never forgive myself for that.
Right after I got home I put his hoodie in the laundry right away in order to give it back to him – even though I caught myself smelling it first.
Okay – forget my two problems; I had three.
That man had a really sweet scent – and somehow it made my heart flutter.
Stupid me.
This was probably the reason why I ended up washing it even though it wasn’t dirty.
I wanted to get rid of that sweet scent of him because I was afraid that it could spread in my apartment if I kept his hoodie longer.

I wanted to call Jinhee because of my problems – but what could I’ve said?
That I had the phone number of a guy and I’m too scared to call him? Nice idea.
She would only get curious and then I'd have trouble.
Sometimes she could be really stubborn and if I told her about Byunghee she would probably beat me half to death.
I really didn’t want to risk that.
So in the end it was my decision to call him or not – but from that what I knew my decisions never went well.

I sighed and played with my fingertips on the display of my mobile phone.
It couldn’t be like this forever.
If I didn’t contact him I would be really impolite and I would never have the chance to say ‘Thank You’.
So I had to do this – somehow.
A call was probably a terrible idea – he was probably really busy.
That was actually my perfect excuse for not calling him since a few days – but even though he was busy he could read text messages.
And this was something I didn’t have the courage to do until now.

I opened the contact list of my mobile phone, looking for his phone number.
It took me quite some time to open a text message – and even then I didn’t know what to write.
I’ve thought about that since days as well; but I was still unsure about it.
“I have your hoodie”, I finally wrote fast with my fingers before I changed my mind.
My fingers quickly pressed ‘send’ and I really hoped that he was too busy to answer that message for the next hours.
Writing only one was hard enough – how was I supposed to answer him when he was texting back?
Seriously, this was so stupid.
I acted really childish; but I couldn’t help it.
At least I could try to change my mind in the next hours – at least this was my plan.
But I should’ve known better.
Only around ten seconds later my mobile phone started blinking; showing that I had a new message.
Okay, this meant trouble.
I wanted to ignore it, but this wouldn’t change anything.
If I wouldn’t answer him now I would be inpolite again.
I opened the message on my mobile phone, inwardly sighing that he wasn’t busy.

“It took you four days to realize that you have my hoodie? ㅋㅋ“

This was awkward.
Did he just teased me?
I stared at his message, trying to think about the meaning behind it.
Ah, it was alright when he teased me for it – it was indeed really pathetic.
I pressed my lips together and typed a new message.
“That’s not it- I wasn’t sure if you were busy.”
He didn’t need to know the whole truth – this would be way too embarrassing to admit.
I just send my text and then he instantly replied – he was really fast.
There was no time for taking a break and to think about my answers properly.

“I wasn’t busy. Well, I was but I still have time for my mobile phone~! But obviously you were busy!!!^^”

I wondered if he was a bit mad at me for not contacting him for days – but it didn’t seem like it.
Why should he be mad to begin with?
“I washed your hoodie by the way”, I simply replied to his message because I wasn’t sure what to write.

“You cleaned it for four days straight? ㅋㅋ“

He didn’t stop teasing me.
Probably he thought it was really amusing – but normally I didn’t react to something like that.
However, at this moment I felt really stupid because he teased me that much.
This was embarrassing.
I didn’t know what to write either – so I just ended up not replying to him at all.
My mobile phone rested on a pillow besides me, while I tried to focus on the TV that showed some comedy program.

But in the corner of my eye I could clearly see that my mobile phone started to blink like it had become completely insane.
I tried to ignore it first – and surprisingly it worked for a few minutes.
But then I just gave up.
I grabbed my mobile phone again, looking closely at the display.
It was pretty amazing how many messages you can get when you ignore someone.
I had to blink once or twice as I tried to read all the messages that he’d send me in the past few minutes.

“Are you still there?~~ ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ”

“Don’t ignore me ~~ㅋㅋㅋ“

“It was just fun~~!!!^^”

“Sangmi don’t ignore me~~!!! I won’t give up until you answer me!!! ㅋㅋ”

“Are you mad at me~?”

“Helloooooooo~~???”

“Don’t be mad at me…”

“Stop ignoring me…ㅠㅠ”

“I didn’t want to hurt you…”

Wow – okay he was obviously serious about it.
And he was really stubborn at the same time – and somehow impatient.
I only ignored him for eight minutes now – no need for sending me every minute a text message.
It seems like he misunderstood and I instantly felt very bad about it once again.
I wasn’t mad at him – but of course he had to think that after I ignored him.
“I’m not mad.... I just didn’t like it that you teased me.”
As soon as I’d sent my message I already got a reply from him.

“I’m sorry. I won’t tease you again if you don’t like it…”

This man didn’t make any sense at all.
What’s the point in teasing someone only to stop a few minutes later because the person didn’t like it?
Wasn’t that obvious? No one liked to be teased.
Besides that he was completely overreacting because I didn’t answer his text messages at first.
I would never react this way if Jinhee suddenly stopped texting me.
But at the same time it was really nice and somehow sweet of him.
It seemed almost that he cared for me even though we were still more likely strangers towards each other.
“I’m sorry. I’m just weird.”

“You aren’t weird!!! You are just shy and I think it’s cute ~ ㅋㅋ“

Was I really that transparent?
It was true that I was pretty shy – but I never showed it.
I was always reliable when I was with my friends and I actually always try to put up a strong face.
But probably he noticed it back at the day when we’ve met.
I told him half of my life's worries – this was embarrassing enough, wasn’t it?
I didn’t know – and I didn’t know what to reply to him either.
But then my mobile phone was starting to blink again and I was already worried that he thought that I was ignoring him again.
I was really surprised by its contents when I started reading it.

“I will be busy this week…But next week on Thursday I will have some hours to spare!!! Then you can give me my hoodie back~~ I guess you are working until evening again~~??? Let’s meet up at eight at the café then~~!!! I will tell you beforehand if I’m unable to come!!! Sometimes my schedule changes… But I think it will be alright ㅋㅋI won’t have that much time the rest of the week so please come and meet me~~!!!^^”

I was surprised that he remembered that I worked until evening at this day.
Well, it wasn’t that hard to remember I guessed.
After all my babbling about work how could he not remember it?
I understand that he lacked a lot time – and I really wanted to get rid of his hoodie.
So the only possibility was meeting up with him next week.
There was no other option left.
“Alright, I’m free that day. But don’t hesitate to cancel everything if you’re having trouble with your work. I don’t want to interfere with it.”

“That’s okay!!!!!! Until next week then ~~ㅋㅋㅋTake care!^^ And please give me a call next time so that I can hear your voice~!!!”

I stared at his message for quite some time.
Somehow his sweet, gentle words made me flutter.
And I really tried to get the feelings out of my head even though it was hard.
I had to correct myself: he wasn’t the only one who didn’t make any sense.
I was exactly the same.