Chapter 30 - The sun also shines

The beautiful weather thankfully held on for the coming week. On that particular Saturday afternoon, I was therefore found sitting on a thin lilac cloth we had spread over the green grass. Chaerin sat next to me, the both of us watching Yejin who was peacefully playing by herself in the distance. Chaerin’s parents had both been busy that day; consequently, Chaerin was given the task of babysitting her little sister. She hadn’t mind it. In fact, with the weather as pleasant as it was that day, she had insisted on bringing her sister to the Olympic Park to play. Of course she had urged for me to come too. She tried the same with Jea, but since she couldn’t make it due to reasons she was rather vague about it was just the three of us. Us, and a lot of other fellow students of our school I had noted. We had encountered several familiar faces already. It only added to my theory of the park being the new ultimate hangout spot in case of good weather.

The sun pleasantly shone on our faces and Chaerin and I placidly came to talk about the happenings of the past week. That’s also when I accidently told her about how I had spent time with Jin last Sunday. Of course this statement immediately caught her interest. Her ears perked up at the mention of his name and I noticed her eyeing me with a look I knew incredibly well by now. ‘’Mhmm,’’ she hummed to herself, aimlessly pulling grass from the ground. ‘’It sounds very unlike you to do such a thing… randomly meeting with a guy, that is.’’  

I watched the way her fingers pulled on the grass and was about to scold her for harming nature, but bit my tongue in the end. It’s not like I truly cared a lot for nature anyway. Instead of commenting on her bad conduct, I shrugged carelessly. ‘’I guess you’re right.’’ I placed both of my hands behind me for support and lifted my head. My eyes closed automatically and I allowed the sun to tickle my face with its warmth.

‘’So why did you do it?’’

‘’Hmm I don’t know,’’ I hummed thoughtlessly. ‘’I thought that it would be okay for me to be spontaneous for once. You know, to just go along with something? Besides, the weather was pleasant that day and I thought: why not enjoy it for a change? It’s better than going home and do homework.’’ It was half of the truth; the tiny bit of guilt I had felt towards Jin probably had been one of the small but relevant reasons for me to hang out with him, but I figured it wasn’t worth mentioning this to Chaerin. It would only cause her to ask more unnecessary questions.

‘’So you enjoyed your time… with Jin?’’ I couldn’t see the expression on Chaerin’s face since I still had my eyes closed, but I had a general good idea of how she would be looking in that moment and I was proven right when I briefly opened my eyes to cast a glance over her.

‘’So what happened?’’ Chaerin probed further. By that time, she had stopped picking the grass.

‘’Nothing interesting really. Basically all I did was talk to him and some of his friends who happened to be there as well. I watched him play basketball and eventually left,’’ I shrugged nonchalantly, already done with the direction this topic was heading to. In an attempt to distract myself from Chaerin’s semi condemning eyes, I allowed my focus to wander all over the beautiful park. I spotted Yejin. She was apparently done playing, because she was now eagerly heading towards us. Her vibrant smile became more noticeable as the distance between us shortened. Yejin’s nearing presence fortunately stopped Chaerin from asking the questions she eagerly had wanted to ask. Or at the very least I was convinced it would.

But apparently I was wrong.

‘’So what?’’ Chaerin said to me, obviously unbothered by her little sister’s presence. ‘’Are you two-timing now? Is it Jin or Daehyun? Honestly, I can’t even keep track anymore. You better choose.’’

My head whipped in her direction upon hearing her stupid question and I shook my head dismissively before I shifted all of my attention to someone who I thought was at least worthy of it: Yejin. Yejin, who was now standing directly in front of me. I watched as she stuck out her hand in an attempt to show me something, urging me to take a closer look. ‘’I caught a Ladybird!’’ She beamed before she stepped even closer to me and almost shoved the said bug in my face.

‘’That’s lovely Yejin,’’ I smiled as I caught her tiny wrist and gently shoved her hand – and the tiny animal – out of my face. Yejin’s smile didn’t disappear, not even when Chaerin let out a shriek and forced her to immediately release the insect. Obediently, she bent down and gently placed it somewhere in the grass – far away from her drama-queen sister. Once Yejin was done I finally turned back to Chaerin, realizing that the Ladybird had made me forget about the ridiculous and obvious question Chaerin had raised earlier. ‘’Choose what?’’ I asked, getting right back on the topic I had initially wanted to dismiss. ‘’My friendship with Jin has absolutely nothing to do with Daehyun.’’

Chaerin only chuckled in response. She was in the midst of opening to say something, but got interrupted by her little sister. ‘’Daehyun! Is Daehyun here?’’ Yejin wondered happily. Her eyes had become big and sparkly, all of which took me by huge surprise. I looked down on the five-year-old, taken aback by the fact that she clearly hadn’t forgotten about Daehyun.

‘’Do you still remember Daehyun?’’ I asked her with a dumb look.

She nodded eagerly. ‘’Of course I do! Is Daehyun here?’’ she wondered again, cautiously looking around in an attempt to find him. Her head was turning every possible direction and a disappointed pout was spotted on her countenance once she couldn’t find him anywhere.

‘’No he is not here, but if you ask Aerin nicely perhaps she’ll invite him over for you,’’ Chaerin casted a quick glance over me and I glared at her, silently begging her to stop giving Yejin the wrong idea. Chaerin didn’t mind me at all though, she proceeded to act like she had no clue what I was trying to convey to her. ‘’You know… Aerin and Daehyun are best friends. He'll surely come if she asks him,’’ Chaerin shamelessly lied with a smirk and wiggling eyebrows. I looked at her in disbelieve, all the while hoping that Yejin hadn’t taken the meaning of Chaerin's words in. Or better yet; I hoped that she would come to shrug Daehyun off altogether.

‘’Are you really best friends with Daehyun, Aerin? Then will you ask him to come to the park for me?’’ Yejin questioned with pleading eyes. She looked so innocent; so unaware of how much pressure she was actually putting on me.

‘’Yes, will you?’’ Chaerin mimicked her little sister in much amusement. Her teasing was getting out of hand and I suppressed the urge to put my hands on her.

‘’W- what about Yongguk? You like Yongguk too right?’’ I nearly stuttered. It was a petty attempt to change the person of interest and for a second I was convinced that the method had worked; I took notice of Yejin’s eyes becoming even more sparkly than they managed to become before. Surely, the mention of Yongguk would make her forget about Daehyun. Or at least that’s what it was supposed to do.

‘’Yes! Yongguk too! Yongguk and Daehyun!’’ She clapped her hands in excitement of the idea I had unintendedly given her. A hopeless expression started to paint my face and Chaerin watched me with a huge grin. She was noticeably fond of this situation.

‘’I’ll ask Yongguk to come play with you and Aerin will ask Daehyun, how about that?’’ Chaerin offered, not able to contain her loud laugher. Yejin watched her big sister with knitted brows. I bet she couldn’t understand why Chaerin found all of this so funny. I couldn’t blame her; for her, all of this was serious. In no way had she an idea of the relationship she was meddling into. Yejin turned to me again. Her smile was bigger and even more adorable than before.

‘’I think Daehyun is busy though,’’ I subtly attempted to refuse Yejin’s request. The attempt was immediately shoved away by Chaerin though.

‘’You won’t know until you actually ask Aerin! Yejin, Aerin will ask him for you so just go play by yourself. If they can come you’ll surely notice them once they arrive, okay?’’ I watched Chaerin with narrowed eyes again. Yejin nodded obediently before she stood up, grabbed her plastic digging toy set and ran off towards the spot where she had caught the Ladybird earlier.

I waited until I was one hundred percent sure Yejin was out of ear shot before I turned to Chaerin again. ‘’Chaerin!’’ I shouted in desperation. ‘’Is this funny to you?! What are you trying to pull here exactly?’’ I pushed her in frustration and she lost her balance for a moment, but her laugh didn’t seize to exist. In fact, she had trouble keeping a straight face.

‘’What!’’ she defended innocently. ‘’I’m simply doing what my precious little sister wants! She wants to see Daehyun, so I’m trying to grant her wish,’’ she shrugged faux-innocently and then added: ‘’And yes. This is funny. Seeing you sweat and all.’’

My hands reached for my cheeks to see whether I was really sweating. Thankfully I wasn’t. ‘’I’m not going to ask Daehyun to join us! Forget it!’’

‘’Oh c’mon Aerin. Why not? You’re being way too passive in this so called romance between the two of you. You think you’ll be with him if you can’t even send him a simple text asking him if he wants to meet you? Or Yejin in this case. Get over yourself, it’s not even for you!’’

‘’Oh so this is for Yejin? Really Chaerin?’’ I asked her unimpressed.

‘’Yes it is.’’ She paused and reached out her hand. ‘’Now, give me your phone. I’ll invite him for you. I mean, obviously you’re too much of a wimp to do it yourself.’’

‘’No way!’’ I protested stubbornly. I made a grab for my phone before Chaerin could and clasped the device in my hand.

‘’Give me your phone,’’ Chaerin repeated with a laugh, her hands reaching for my hand that held the said device.

‘’No Chaerin I’m serious!’’

‘’Why not? Are you afraid that I’ll read your mushy conversations with him?’’ She took hold of my hand and forcefully snatched my phone away. Her fingernails accidently scratched the skin of my hand. It left a burning sensation I tried to ignore.

‘’Ouch! You scratched me,’’ I pretended to cry as I watched Chaerin swipe over my phone’s screen. She was too much and a part of me was really not pleased with that right now. ‘’Chaerin please don’t say anything funny!’’

‘’I appreciate the trust you put in me here,’’ she said with a roll of the eye. I watched as she eagerly started to type away on my phone and I groaned as I made up all the possible embarrassing things she could be saying to him right now. With a huge sigh I crossed my arms, definitely unamused by the situation at hand.

‘’Done,’’ Chaerin smiled in satisfaction only minutes later. She threw my phone in my direction and I got startled as I felt the device land in my lap. I was quick to unlock my phone and immediately opened the KakaoTalk application in search for the conversation Chaerin had started.

Aerin: DaeDae!

Aerin: What are you doing?

Daehyun: DaeDae, lol

Daehyun: Uh nothing really, hanging at home

Daehyun: You…?

Aerin: Guess who wants to see you?

Daehyun: You? :)

Aerin: Well yeah, me too

Aerin: But someone else too actually

Daehyun: What??? Who???

Aerin: Yejin!

Daehyun: Little Chaerin?

Aerin: Yes, I’m in Olympic Park with her right now. She asked about you.

Aerin: And Yongguk too. He is coming to see her. Will you come too? Yejin really insists for you to come!

Daehyun: Ahahaha aahw how cute

Daehyun: Sure I’ll come. Where in the park are you exactly?

Aerin: You know that one open field? That has one wooden rocking chair? There :)

Aerin: But just call me if you can’t find it/spot us

Daehyun: Alright. See you later

‘’Oh my god, Chaerin!’’ I cried in desperation. ‘’Why did you call him DaeDae!’’ I locked my phone, pinched the bridge of my nose and threw the device somewhere, not caring where it would land.

‘’What do you mean?’’ She looked at me with a baffled look on her face. ‘’DaeDae is totally cute, funny and affectionate! Seriously, you’re so stiff in your conversations with Daehyun. It’s as if you don’t even like the guy! Seriously Aerin, you need to flirt it up. He even invited you to come see him and you declined with a petty excuse!’’

‘’Have you read that far back?’’

‘’It wasn’t that far! Besides, that’s not even the main point! He practically asked you to hang out with him! You could finally spend some time with him, so why in the world didn’t you?’’

I sheepishly stared at the cloth underneath me, not entirely sure what to tell her. ‘’I don’t know… it was an invite to his actual house and honestly… I was anxious about it. I thought that he may have had other expectations from it than I did. I mean, I haven’t forgotten about him and Yuna. What if he wanted the exact same thing from me, he wanted from her? What if he aimed for me to be the next Yuna?’’ I pulled some of the grass in an attempt not to look at Chaerin; screw nature.

‘’This again? I thought we had gone over this already. I thought you would forget about this by now.’’

‘’I’m trying Chae. But I can’t help it. The thought comes up once in a while and even though I know I shouldn’t assume things about it, I still do.’’ Chaerin was about to interrupt me but I didn’t let her. ‘’You’re right though. Perhaps I should open up to him more. And I will. So can we talk about something else? Please?’’ I pleaded as I tried to pout cutely. Chaerin pretended to gag at my failing aegyo, but nodded nonetheless; purposely not touching upon the complexity of my character.

Approximately 45 minutes later Yongguk was running around, playing tag with Yejin. He immediately began entertaining Yejin upon his arrival. As I watched Yongguk I came to wonder what in the world was keeping Daehyun and as if the universe knew about my wonders, I noticed my phone light up. Daehyun, it read, causing my heart to jump with a weird sensation I still hadn’t gotten used to.

‘’Hello?’’ I answered, feeling somewhat nervous. I bit my lip and watched Chaerin between my lashes. She was watching her little sister in a way that others would define as envy. I couldn’t believe that she was actually envious of her baby sister. Kim Chaerin was a drama queen. Sometimes too much of a drama queen.

‘’Aerin?’’ The way he spoke my name made a weird lump form in my throat and I slowly swallowed before I finally brought myself to speak.

‘’Yes?’’

‘’I’m a bit lost here,’’ he chuckled cutely. I laughed too, even more as I imagined a grown guy aimlessly wandering in an enormous park. ‘’Hey, don’t laugh at me! Where were you again?’’

‘’I think the real question is: where are you now Jung Daehyun?’’ I had caught Chaerin’s attention once his name slipped of my tongue. She immediately whipped her head in my direction. Amusement danced in her eyes upon seeing me on the phone and she urged for me to come closer before she softly whispered that I should go pick him up. I suppose my countenance showed some reluctance of her suggestion, because she just threw me this condemning look in response.

''Come on! Suggest it!'' She brought out impatiently.

''Aerin? Hello? Are you still there?’’ Daehyun’s voice rang through my ear, snapping me out of my focus on Chaerin. It’s crazy how I had almost forgotten that I was originally speaking to him.

‘’Uh, yes… where are you? I can walk towards you?’’ I suggested as I watched Chaerin grin as if she had accomplished something out of the ordinary.

‘’Somewhere I think near… Olympic hall?’’

‘’Alright, stay where you are. I’ll be there in a bit,’’ I told him before we hang up on each other. I sighed and turned my head to Chaerin. She was still grinning. ‘’And are you done grinning?’’ I asked Chaerin unimpressed. I made a grab for my thin white knitted cardigan and put the piece of clothing on me as I stood to my feet.

Chaerin shrugged. ‘’Nope not really. But you go get him tiger!’’

It wasn’t crowded near the Olympic Hall. As a matter of fact, I noticed Daehyun almost immediately. He was entirely clothed in black, except for his white V-neck t-shirt. His hair was as charmingly messy as it always was; even when, this time, he had bothered to style it upward. It reminded me of Jin’s party; it was the same hairstyle. The one that showed his forehead. The one I really liked. I took firm steps in his direction and carefully watched him get bigger. He sat on a bench, deeply concentrated on the content of his phone before he looked up and noticed me too. A smile graced his beautiful face upon seeing me. It honestly did weird things to my heart. ‘’Aerin to the rescue!’’ he said once I stood in front of him.

I sat myself down next to him, a bit tired of the ten-minute walk combined with the merciless warmth of the sun. ‘’Hey,’’ I brought out with a pant.

Daehyun watched me from head to toe in silence before he opened his mouth. ‘’You seem in good shape,’’ he laughed sarcastically.

‘’Hey watch it!’’ I held up my fist and pretended to punch him. ‘’Be grateful for picking you up in the first place. It was a ten-minute walk and it’s so hot in here!’’ I brushed the sticky hair out of my face and fanned myself. It was insanely warm and I wondered what the hell Daehyun was thinking when he decided to clad himself in all almost all black.

Daehyun chuckled to himself. ‘’Who said I wasn’t grateful? And about being hot, that’s probably because I’m in your presence right now.’’ I rolled my eyes and he couldn’t refrain from commenting on that habit. After that we casually came to talk about how the both of us were doing. It was pointless small talk, but just being in his presence and just talking to him so freely felt really nice. Admittedly, I didn’t want to go back to Chaerin just yet and apparently he didn’t either, because instead of heading back we just continued to sit and talk.

I don’t know how long we had been sitting on that wooden bench, but at some point there fell a peaceful silence over us. I secretly studied Daehyun’s profile; the line of his jaw and the less smooth skin he had there, the beautiful shape of his ears and the mole under his left narrowed eye. The way he had narrowed his eyes made me briefly stop my staring session to see where he was so intently looking at. I casted a look over the glorious Olympic Hall in front of us and watched it before I turned my head to study his face again. I didn’t get his fascination for that Hall. To me, his face was way more interesting than that building could ever be.

‘’Aerin?’’ Daehyun suddenly spoke, catching me off guard. His brows were slightly furrowed as he turned his head and looked at me. I could feel my cheeks burn up as I calculated the chances of him catching me staring. If he noticed, he decided not to say anything about it though. Instead, he looked ahead of him again. There was this sudden serious expression on his countenance and it took me by surprise; we had talked so light-heartedly before. I ultimately brought myself to utter a meek sounding yes and felt my heart speed up twice its original rate in anticipation of what he was to ask me.

‘’What do you want to be in the future?’’ He asked without looking at me.

Oh. That’s all he wanted to know. I bit my lip, disappointed with the question. The seriousness in his tone almost made it seem as if he were to tell me something serious, something serious along the lines of a confession. Of course, deep down I knew that him confessing to me like this was a scenario that was too good to be true. Still I had hope. Silly hope. I cursed myself for bringing myself to expect something rather ridiculous.

‘’In the future?’’ I repeated unsurely. ‘’I don’t really know. I thought about studying Psychology maybe, or Law? I don’t have any big dreams or anything. Not yet,’’ I chuckled light-heartedly, turning my upper body a bit towards his direction. ‘’What about you?’’

His vision was on the ground and he aimlessly kicked an imaginary stone. ‘’Promise me you won’t think it’s stupid?’’ He asked as the end of his lips curled up faintly. His smile seemed empty however and I sat there helpless, trying to figure out why Daehyun was suddenly emitting a different aura than he did before.

‘’I can’t promise you that. But I will try,’’ I joked dryly. Daehyun didn’t laugh along. It was somewhat of an awful reminder of how much my attempt of bringing a source of light to this sudden gloomy atmosphere had failed. Or at least I thought it did, but then Daehyun finally looked up at me. There was a trace of what could be called a smile on his face as he raised his fist and playfully punched me in the shoulder. My heart leaped at the sudden contact and I was most definitely blushing by now. Thankfully Daehyun was staring ahead of him again; he hadn’t noticed a thing.

‘’I…’’ he started out hesitantly, ‘’…want to do music. I want to be a singer. Perform in the Olympic Hall one day.’’ He chose his words carefully and spoke slowly, his sight never leaving the building in front of us.

I furrowed my brows. ‘’Can you even sing?’’ I asked him without thinking. It was the first thing that popped up in my mind and I regretted the words the moment I thought to see a brief expression of offense on his face.

‘’Why do you sound so surprised?’’ Now it was his turn to raise his brows.

‘’I- I don’t know. It’s just unexpected that’s all,’’ I responded, not really sure how to properly explain myself. ‘’I didn’t really take you for a singer.’’

He seemed deep in thought about what I said and there emerged yet another silence. It wasn’t an all too long one though. Daehyun broke it almost immediately. With a heavy sigh he asked me: ‘’Honestly do you think it’s stupid to pursue a career as a singer?’’

‘’I—‘’

‘’Honestly, my parents are not fond of the idea. Not really. They keep telling me that it’s a business with too much risks. They think it’s better for me to follow in my brother’s footsteps. He is the perfect student kind of type, you know? He studies Finance and Accounting in Seoul University. A freaking SKY University! With his marks he is bound to find a well-paying job in the future. He is actually the star of our family,’’ he paused and let out a bitter sounding laugh, ‘’while I… while I just foolishly want to do music. I know my parents want me to be like him, but here’s the thing: I’m just not. I’m not that smart. I can’t do it.’’

I pressed my lips in a thin line. I had mixed feelings about the topic we were touching upon. Daehyun definitely seemed distressed about this. The fact that he was opening up to me about something personally bothering him was touching, because it felt like he was entrusting me a piece of himself. On the other hand, I had no idea how to make him feel better. I didn’t quite know what to say. I was not a star at consoling people, I never had been to begin with. It was certainly harder to console someone like Jung Daehyun. I could tell him the usual. I could tell him that he was smart. I could tell him that he could do anything he wanted to achieve. Perhaps it wouldn’t even be a lie. Perhaps he could do it if he put his mind to it. But somehow that pep-talk felt improper. Like I was telling him something I wasn’t completely convinced by. After all, what did I actually know?

‘’Well– ’’ I tried to start out.

‘’They are probably right about a singing career though,’’ Daehyun continued, not even minding me. ‘’It is a dream only a few people accomplish.’’ At that point it seemed like there was no stop to his rambling. It was as if he were in trance, more talking to himself than he was talking to me.

I opened my mouth to speak again. ‘’I mean, yea–‘’

‘’Perhaps I should just give up on it entirely. Perhaps I shouldn’t even consider it anymore. It’s just… I don’t know, it’s—‘’

‘’Daehyun!’’ I interrupted for a change. He snapped out of his trance and looked at me with big eyes, almost as if he was recalling that I was for a fact there next to him. Almost as if he started realizing that this whole ramble started because he asked me a question. With his full attention now on me I said: ‘’Honestly… it is understandable that your parents want you to pursue something that will surely provide you with a well-paying job. And if your brother is doing well, isn’t it only natural for them to want you to go down on the same path? I mean, don’t all parents want what’s safe and secure for their child?’’ I took a breath and tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. ‘’You should try to get their point of view too. At least for a little.’’ Perhaps I sounded harsh. Perhaps I sounded like I didn’t care for his feelings. I really did though. Only, I had no intention in sugarcoating him. I had no intention in the overused pep-talks he was probably expecting. Daehyun seemed taken aback by my straightforward answer that seemed more in favor of his parents than him. He opened his mouth to defend himself, but I wasn’t done yet and therefore I didn’t let him.

‘’However…’’ I began with more of a genuine smile, ‘’…if that’s really what you want. If that’s the only thing you can picture yourself doing in the future and if it’s the closest thing to making you happy then… perhaps you should go for it. As cliché as that probably sounds.’’ He looked at me in surprise and I chuckled, not being able to refrain myself from cracking a joke, even in this situation: ‘’but that’s of course, only if you’re any good. God, if you I wouldn’t recommend to go along with what I said just now.’’

He started laughing and I could feel the muscles in my body relax. If he could manage to laugh, at least it meant that I hadn’t done an entirely ty job at making him feel better. I was making progress.

''Aerin?'' His serious tone urged me to look up to him.

''Hmm?''

‘’Thanks.’’

‘’For what?’’

‘’For listening to my unintentional emotional whining. I almost feel like a girl – no offense.’’ He laughed at his own joke and it was an adorable sight. I suppose he was back to his normal self.

‘’None taken,’’ I laughed along. ‘’But… it is going to cost you an ice-cream cone…’’ I playfully pointed towards an ice cream truck. A lot of people had lined up already, ‘’…and a stroll in the park.’’

He nodded, stood up and brushed the imaginary dust off his black jeans. He reached out his hand and gestured for me to take it. I hesitated for a quick second, but eventually grabbed his hand and allowed him to drag me from the bench. His hands felt surprisingly soft against mine; soft yet strong. There were butterflies in my stomach and they were spiraling out of control until he decided to let go of me when I stood securely to my own two feet. I mourned the loss of our physical contact, but made sure not to show him anything.

The next minutes consisted of us peacefully strolling through the park. Our ice-creams were in our hands and we were having a blast eating them. Daehyun had chosen a mix of pistachio and cookie & cream flavor while I went safe with two vanilla scoops. He couldn’t refrain from pointing out how awfully ordinary my choice was and I in turn mocked him for his poor flavor combination skills.

After that we talked about other things that shone another rather unexpected light on Daehyun. He told me more about himself and I was surprised with how little I actually knew of him. I found out that Daehyun had been troubled by the fact that his brother seemed to be his family’s favorite. His tone held a certain envy as he talked about how his family had been willing to move to Seoul, solely because of his brother’s education and although he didn’t say it, I could tell that he found it unfair that they disregarded his feelings on the moving matter at that time. I figured that he probably never wanted to leave his friends and life in Busan behind. Not once had he spoken malicious about his family however. He said that he understood why they had wanted to move and that everything had been fine for him once he had adjusted to Seoul. After that the topic was shifted to other irrelevant yet lovely things, such as how it was to live in Busan. I briefly eyed my watch when he wouldn’t shut up about Busan and all the restaurants he knew with great food. I thought I heard him say that he would bring me to his favorite place one day, but I might’ve heard it wrong.

‘’We should head over to Yejin,’’ I reminded him. At that point we had been away from Chaerin for over an hour. It wasn’t like I wanted to go back to Chaerin, because honestly I didn’t. I wanted to stay with Daehyun. Get to know him more. Tell him more. I had to be reasonable though; I planned this day with Chaerin and Yejin. I was supposed to finish it with them too.

‘’Wait, that wasn’t actually an excuse?’’ He asked me surprised.

‘’No?'' I laughed. ''You think I would be lying about that?’’

‘’Yes?’’

‘’Unbelievable,’’ I continued to laugh. I turned my head to focus on the road ahead of us again, still laughing at Daehyun’s cluelessness, when a certain group of girls settled ahead of us managed to draw my attention instead. I immediately recognized them. Most of them were my homeroom classmates. In the middle sat Lee Suji together with other girls she had labeled her friends. For some reason seeing them made me feel uneasy. Perhaps it was because I was with the Jung Daehyun. Perhaps it was because it was them; the biggest gossipers of my class. Whatever it was, it didn’t change the fact that a feeling of panic rushed over me once Daehyun and I were surely but slowly nearing them. Lee Suji spotted us almost immediately. Her eyes narrowed in amusement and in that moment I knew that she thought that she discovered another juicy story; I could see it in the way her eyes were shimmering with mischief. She unsubtly urged the rest of the group of girls, who hadn’t even taken notice of us, to look our way before she lifted her hand and waved at me. It was an ambiguous gesture given that it was coming from her. It was like she was telling me something along the lines of: I’ve seen you Park Aerin, I’ve seen you hanging out with Jung Daehyun. In her experience I knew that her gesture meant exactly that. I wasn’t quite sure what to make of her actions, but in the end I waved back, even when I did so reluctantly.

Daehyun hadn’t notice the short interaction between me and Lee Suji. He kept talking about something funny he had encountered on the internet. As I listened to what he was saying, I mentally insisted myself to disregard the girls' surprised and amused expressions. Instead I only concentrated on Daehyun now. I hoped that the group wouldn’t assume, or worse spread, things about the two of us, but I knew that that was mostly wishful thinking. If I were to point out the one girl with the biggest running mouth in our school, it would’ve been Lee Suji. Also, the way she had been looking at us told me that she found this way too interesting to not bring up to others. I couldn’t exactly blame her, because in a way this was interesting gossip. One wouldn’t have thought to spot Park Aerin and Jung Daehyun together in the park on a sunny Saturday. Heck, people probably wouldn’t even suspect that Daehyun and I knew each other. These girls probably didn’t either.

I sighed out in relief once we passed them without much of a commotion. I felt even more relieved when we finally arrived at the spot I was supposed to be much earlier. Chaerin surprisingly didn’t comment on us staying away for more than an hour, but instead simply welcomed Daehyun with a smile. As expected, Yejin had been very excited with the arrival of Daehyun. She even disregarded Yongguk once she caught sight of him. She pulled on his arm and pleaded him to come play with her. He casted a quick glance over me, almost as if he was silently asking me whether it was okay for him to part from me. I simply smiled in return, encouraging him to play with the girl who had wanted him here the most.

Although on second thought, I wasn’t entirely sure whether it was Yejin who was the happiest with his presence. On second thought, perhaps that was me.

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