Chapter 18
The Chaser
Nothing has changed.
Nothing has changed.
I repeat to myself over and over again, as I stare at the blank screen of my laptop.
I look at the clock.
2:37 am.
I check my calendar.
June 22.
They’re supposed to be here.
I’m supposed to be looking at my grades right now.
Why aren’t they here?
I haven’t been able to fall asleep because of this.
Why are they doing this to me?
I hit refresh for the 52nd time.
Nothing. Has. Changed.
It’s not here.
Just before I went thermo-nuclear, my phone chimes.
I let out a big sigh before checking who texted me.
From: Sunggyu
Is it out yet? :3
That emoticon did it for me.
I let out a too-loud-for-the-wee-morning-grunt of frustration.
“GAH!” I shout as I slam my hand on the table.
My bedroom door burst open, “Yah! What is the problem at 2:38 in the morning?” Hoon drones at me.
I point to my pc, “They said the grades would be out today. They. Aren’t. Out.”
He looks to my laptop and me and then gives me a blank expression, “Just keep it down, will you? Hyejung just fell asleep. She hasn’t been sleeping well since the incident.”
Ah yes. The incident.
The staying-out-with-Himchan-waaaaay-past-curfew-and-totally-forgot-to-tell-anyone-because-I-got-into-a-fight-with-unnie incident, but I didn’t know Unnie wasn’t sleeping well since. The ball of frustration sitting in my throat immediately dissipated.
I feel Hoon walk closer to me and he ruffles my hair. On any other day I would be swatting his hand off or telling him to knock it off, but I need it today. I need one of his trademark brotherly signs of support.
“It’s not your fault. The baby’s just been kicking a lot lately. And don’t worry about your grades; I’m sure you did fine,” he tries to reassure me.
I give him a weak smile, but it doesn’t reach my eyes, “Thanks, Hoon.”
He walks back to his room, but leaves my door open.
Typical. He does the role of the supportive brother to the tee, and then leaves my door open to piss me off.
Some things never change.
I get up because it’s not like I can force my grades to suddenly appear on my screen by sheer power of will.
I take out a bottle of juice and sit in front of the apartment window that faces east.
Maybe I have to wait until 8 am. I mean, that’s the typical start of a working day, right? Maybe when they said that grades will be out on June 22, they didn’t mean the minute it was June 22.
My phone chimes again.
From: Sunggyu
You okay?
I totally forgot to reply to his last text.
To: Sunggyu
No grades yet.
I’m fine.
You should go to sleep.
Not even a minute passes by before I get his next text.
From: Sunggyu
The fact that there were no emoticons on your text means you’re not okay.
You can tell me about it, if you want.
Aaaand, I’m not sleeping until you go to sleep.
Damn, he knows me too well now.
To: Sunggyu
Apparently Unnie hasn’t been sleeping well since the incident.
Hoon says it’s because the baby was kicking too much, but I don’t think that’s the whole story…
I just feel guilty, I guess.
And plus, MY GRADES AREN’T OUT…
So I am definitely on edge. o_O
I stare at the night sky contemplating on what else has changed since the incident.
HimChan’s been MIA since that night. Or maybe AWOL would be a better word to describe it. He hasn’t been taking any of my calls, and when he did answer my 34th text message, it was only to say that he was “busy”. Safe to say, that did nil to calm my nerves.
This has never, in all the years of our friendship, happened. Even when we fought we’d usually be apologizing by the next day. It’s not like I’m oblivious to what may have caused this. It may have seemed that I preferred Sunggyu bringing me home that night, but I had my reasons.
One, I had to apologize to Sunggyu for ditching him, when I agreed to meet him after class. Two, I actually had to figure out how he actually found me. And three, Hoon and Unnie aren’t really the biggest fans of HimChan.
My eyes wander back to my blinking phone.
From: Sunggyu
So… I actually googled this:
“Women in their 6th to 7th month of their pregnancy experience a lack of sleep because the fetus tends to have a different biological clock.”
So there. Scientifically, your brother told you the truth.
As for the grades part, I’m willing to make a bet that you’re still on the honor roll. I hear you had an awesome Economics tutor.
I roll my eyes.
To: Sunggyu
Nice to see that you’re still your confident self :P
His reply is almost immediate.
From: Sunggyu
You wouldn’t have me any other way. :P
He sends me another text.
From: Sunggyu
Hey.
My shoulders slump, but I feel my lips breaking into a smile.
To: Sunggyu
What?
His next text comes in,
From: Sunggyu
Go out with me tonight/tomorrow.
I am grinning like an idiot right now.
To: Sunggyu
Depends on the grades.
You better pray to the gods that your tutoring was as great as you believe it to be.
The next text had me shaking my head.
From: Sunggyu
Heeeey.
You still owe me a date though.
We didn’t get to go out last week…
My response was immediate.
To: Sunggyu
Heeeey.
It wasn’t me who got scolded by his manager for sleeping in. :P
… okay.
The night sky slowly blends into a lighter shade in the far horizon. It’s been a while since I actually sat down to watch a sunrise.
My phone starts to vibrate, signaling an incoming call.
I immediately swipe to answer it before my ringtone wakes up the entire building.
“‘Okay’, what?” Is the first thing I hear.
I stifle my laughter, “What do you think I meant?”
“I think you meant, ‘okay, let’s go out later’,” he says hesitantly.
I wait for a beat, “Then that’s what I meant.”
“For real? You can’t take it back, okay?” He says immediately, almost stumbling on the words.
This time I laugh as I say, “Arasso.”
“Damn, I can’t believe you said yes,” he says, and I can actually imagine him smiling.
“I said yes the last time. Why would it be a surprise now?” I ask.
“I don’t know… Maybe I’m just really, really grateful,” he replies.
“Are you sure you’re going to wait for me to fall asleep? Because you gotta remember, I don’t have any morning radio recordings tomorrow like you. I can just wake up whenever because that, my friend, is the beauty of being a college student during summer vacation,” I tease.
“I’m sure. And didn’t Hyejung-noona tell you?”
I grunt, “What did you do now?”
The signature cheekiness of his voice is back, “You and Hyejung-noona are doing INFINITE’s make up tomorrow.”
“But it’s a radio show. Who cares about your faces during a radio show?” I ask hysterically.
“It’s a televised radio show. Plus we have a fan event in the afternoon,” he says matter-of-factly.
I want to curse at him, but I actually feel kind of excited to see him.
“Arasso, arasso. I’ll go to sleep now. I can maybe get a nap before I have to start working,” I say as I stand up and head to my room.
“Eunji-ah, I’m glad you said yes,” he says without his teasing tone.
“Sweet dreams, Eunji-ah,” he quickly says before hanging up.
I just breathe a sigh.
3 hours.
That’s how much sleep I’ll get if I go to bed right this second.
That’s how much time I have before I get to see him again.
I instinctively hit refresh on my pc as soon as I see it.
The page loads. This time with what I’ve been waiting for all night.
I suppress the urge to scream because I don’t want to wake Unnie up.
But I have to tell someone.
To: Himchan
I PASSED. I IN’ PASSED!
But as I type my text to HimChan, I remember he’s been AWOL. I remember he’s been busy.
To text him or not to text him?
Hell, it’s not like we stopped being friends.
I press send.
Ten minutes pass.
Then an hour.
And still no reply.
Finally, I hear Unnie and Hoon waking up in their room, and I know it’s time for me to get ready as well; but I can’t help but feel a little bit abandoned when my best friend didn’t even text me back to congratulate me or tease me for being such a nerd.
I’m sure there’s a perfectly logical explanation for this. We’ve withstood tears and bloodshed through the years; he wouldn’t just drop off the earth for a little misunderstanding like last week. I’m sure of it.
At least not without asking me for an explanation…
A/N: Guess who's baaaack? Sorry it took so long guys :( I never realized how hard it was to start writing again after an unexpected hiatus :( At least this gives me a reason to write on a schedule :))
Just in case you aren't sure of the two acronyms I used up there:
1. MIA - Missing in Action
2. AWOL - Absent Without Leave
sorry if this chapter seems so "off"... seriously, once the creative juices stop churning, it's hard to get them to start back up again. I'll edit it ASAP :3
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