Chapter 7 - Serendipity

I hated waiting and right now I was waiting for a good fifteen minutes. It was a quite sunny Tuesday despite it being the beginning of December, which was pleasant. School had already ended some time ago and I was sitting on this random block of stone on the square nearby the coffee shop where I was supposed to meet with Soojin. I had already stalled my bike pretty far away to kill some time, but she still wasn’t here yet. I texted her, asking her where she was, but there was no reply yet. I sighed, how long is this girl going to make me wait?

I started to daydream and recap the week that had flown by rather quickly. Seokjin’s party would be in three days already. It had been a quiet week with a lot of focus on school instead of friends or boys. The latter was the most talked about topic around me nowadays. Chaerin kept talking about Yongguk. It was cute but rather annoying too. My meeting with Soojin would mean that the topic ‘boys’ wouldn’t be closed just yet.

My running thoughts were disturbed by the buzz of my phone. It was a message from Soojin.

Soojin: I’ll be there in five minutes, sorry! :|

At least now I knew that she would show up soon. I fiddled with the straw in the drink I bought on my way up here. It was stupid that I had bought it since I would be going to the coffee shop in minutes. I guess I do irresponsible things when I have to wait. Such as wasting money just to kill time.

I looked at the sign of the coffee shop. It was called Serendipity, a rather cute name I must admit. The shop was nearby the school which meant nearby Soojin’s house too, which is why Soojin wanted to grab coffee here. I promised her that some while ago anyway. I waited for around four minutes before I noticed Soojin’s figure in the distance. She waved excitedly. I waved back, relieved.

‘’Hi,’’ she greeted when she stood before me. ‘’Sorry for the wait,’’ she apologized.

‘’It’s fine, I wasn’t waiting for that long,’’ I lied. She only smiled.

‘’Have you been here before?’’ She asked when we entered the building.

I nodded. ‘’Yea, once with Chaerin.’’

‘’A lot of students from our year come here, did you know?’’ She asked, her signature smile still plastered on her face.

‘’Chaerin told me something like that, yea,’’ I replied absent-mindedly.

Soojin gave a small nervous nod. Maybe I should stop talking about Chaerin all the time whenever I was around her, it could be awkward for her. Soojin knew Chaerin, she didn’t quite have this good history with her however. Chaerin wasn’t fond of Soojin and Soojin knew that. I never understood what it was about, but I didn’t care anyway.

We settled down nearby the window. It gave a good view on the square outside, the one where I sat while waiting for Soojin just moments ago.

‘’What do you want, it's my treat?’’ Soojin asked. I wanted to protest but she had this look in her eye. It reminded me of the look Daehyun had given me awhile back, that moment suddenly seemed like ages while it was only a little two weeks ago.

‘’A latte macchiato and a cheesecake?’’ I asked carefully. I didn’t know if the cheesecake was included in her treat.

She nodded before walking towards the counter. She had to wait some time before our order would be ready so she stayed nearby the counter. I took the liberty to look around. Serendipity was a cozy shop. It was built in this wood style which gave the place an old feel. It wasn’t really crowded but it wasn’t really quiet either. I recognized some students from my year, we would exchange acknowledging nods. Nothing more.

Soojin came back, placing the order on our table. ‘’Here you go,’’ she smiled. I thanked her before sipping my Latte Macchiato.

‘’This is really sweet of you,’’ I said while trying to give her my most sincere smile. I was really thankful. Soojin could be annoying, but she could be very nice too. I tend to forget about that, because it’s rather easy to see the faults in people.

We talked about little things, such as the shoes she was planning to buy soon and which Girls’ Generation member was caught up in a dating scandal now. We made some light jokes and giggled away. It was actually relaxing.

‘’Are you going to Seokjin’s party Friday?’’ I asked to bring up a new topic.

‘’Of course I am! Are you?’’ She asked. I nodded.

‘’That’s a first,’’ she joked. It wasn’t really a joke though, it was the truth. I was hardly seen at events like this, Soojin knew that too.

‘’What will you wear?’’ She asked excitedly. I thought about it for a while. Was there a dress code or something? I didn’t know.

‘’I don’t know. A T-shirt, jeans and sneakers probably. Why?’’ Soojin eyes widened immediately. Was it that bad?

‘’You can’t wear that to this kind of party. Normally you could, but not this one.’’ I furrowed my brows. It was a house party wasn’t it?

‘’It’s a house party but every girl wears a dress and heels, I don’t know why though but it’s like this unwritten rule,’’ She added. She sipped her drink and continued: ‘’I think it’s because it’s Seokjin’s party. You know he tends to act this cool guy act when it comes to things like these. Like he wants to prove his worth or something. He likes pretty girls with exposed legs. His party his rules I guess.’’ I snorted at this information, how arrogant of him. Seokjin seemed like the type to act in a way to impress people though, so I wasn’t really surprised.

‘’How about guys then?’’ I asked astonished. She shrugged.

‘’Guys can come casual, however they want to come I guess,’’ she answered. I found that ridiculous and ist even. I wasn’t really complaining though, I liked dressing up once in a while. I liked heels a lot, I just found them extremely inconvenient to wear for normal occasions such as school, especially if you had to walk through the whole school all day. But I definitely loved heels as much as I loved sneakers so it was nice to finally have an occasion where I could wear them.

‘’What will you wear?’’ I asked to show interest in her.

She instantly started to smile, like she wanted me to ask that question all along. She grabbed her phone that laid on the table and started to search for something. I assumed it was her outfit. She showed a dress that was powder pink. It had long sleeves and an open back. It was quite short, but apparently that was how it was supposed to be. Her heels were simple ones, pumps in the same color as her dress. It would look nice on her, I was sure of it.

‘’It’s really nice, you’ll look pretty!’’ I complimented.

She started to beam, ‘’really, you don’t think it’s too plain or something?’’ She asked worried.

I started to laugh at her worry, ‘’no it’s totally fine, who do you want to impress, huh?’’ I teased. She got quiet and looked intensely at something. I followed her gaze and noticed Daehyun - along with Himchan - entering the shop. I shifted my gaze back to Soojin. She seemed out of it.

 ‘’Soojin?’’ I called to get her attention. She seemed to realize that I was sitting in front of her with a confused expression, because she tried to answer me.

‘’I… just want to look pretty,’’ she answered slowly, her gaze still on Daehyun or Himchan. I frowned. She wasn’t even looking at me while she answered. I nodded and a silence fell upon us.

‘’He’s… like heaven,’’ Soojin suddenly remarked with her gaze still somewhere behind me. Her hands were under her head now, her palm supporting her cheek. She was probably talking about Daehyun or Himchan.

‘’Who is?’’ I asked without real interest.

‘’Jung Daehyun,’’ she whispered. He might hear us after all. ‘’I have this little crush on him,’’ she confessed. Why didn’t I find that surprising? Kwon Soojin was this girl who changed her crushes as quick as she changed her nail colors, which was often. I chuckled.

‘’A real crush or an usual crush?’’ I asked in a teasing tone.

She started to laugh nervously, ‘’not really a real crush, but somehow more than a usual crush,’’ she answered unsurely. She had this doubting look in her eye, like there was more to this, but I figured I was probably imaging things.

‘’He is just… so handsome… and styled well and hot, you know many girls like him… he’s so popular, it’s appealing,’’ she finished dreamily.

What was this thing with girls and sought after guys? For most girls a guy would suddenly become way more alluring when many girls would chase after him even when they had no interest in them before. I think I somehow understood though, it would be like you won this race with many competitors. I guess the chase would be more interesting because of the competition and the price would be more meaningful because it was harder to obtain? I didn’t know, I could only guess.

I just chuckled. She did too. I took a bite of my cheesecake. My, it was delicious. I happily started to dig in. Soojin started laughing because of my greed.

‘’I don’t really know him though, so I guess it is a competition I would lose. I wish I was acquainted with him, it would make the chase so much easier.’’ 

I turned my head to look at him, right at that moment he was looking at me too so we made eye contact. He gave me his knowing smirk and a small acknowledging nod after that. Then I looked at Himchan and he waved, so I did too. When I turned my head towards Soojin again I met with widened eyes.

‘’You know him?’’ She asked surprised. ‘’Are you guys friends?’’ She added as a quick second question.

‘’Well… not really… kind of and no we’re not. I don’t even know him well,’’ I answered awkwardly. Her eyes were still wide. I guess she was really surprised that someone like me would know Jung Daehyun.

‘’He is friends with Himchan, Jea’s brother, as you might see,’’ I quickly added when she still seemed to recover from her shock. Was it really that weird that I knew people too?

‘’Is that how you met him, through Jea?’’ She asked, taking a sip of her drink. She had this weird look in her eyes.

‘’No, I actually met him through Choi Yuna,’’ I half whispered so the two on the other end of the shop wouldn’t hear. They couldn’t possibly hear, so actually I don’t know why I was whispering. Soojin brows furrowed, creating a crease between them. She was never amused by the mention of the name Choi Yuna.

‘’You know her too?’’ She scoffed. I smiled awkwardly while nodding, acting like I didn’t hear her scoff.

‘’I met her through Chaerin, they were assigned to do that duo assignment together.’’ Soojin gave me this look which told me to continue my story, so I did. I told her about how I met Choi Yuna two times before she, or actually Daehyun, requested me to give him a ride and how I waited with him for his bus when he missed it. I didn’t tell her about the slumber party and our trip to the convenience store for some reason. She didn’t ask me that anyway.

‘’That Choi Yuna is really something, requesting something when she doesn’t even properly know you! She thinks she can do anything to everyone,’’ Soojin scoffed again. I didn’t like the direction this conversation was going, it had this bad vibe.

‘’She is quite okay, actually,’’ I shrugged. I did agree, however, that it was rather strange of Yuna to request the ride given the ‘relationship’ state we were in, which was nonexistent. But I guessed that was just her personality. 

‘’So you know him,’’ Soojin stated in a matter of fact, she seemed a little jealous but I shrugged it off.

‘’No, not really,’’ I replied before eating the last bite of my delicious cheesecake. I still viewed him as this charming student from our year, I didn’t really know well. Soojin kept staring at me with this frown for a little while, before her attention went to her drink again. She finished it quickly.

We sat there for about an hour after Daehyun and Himchan had walked in. Sometimes I would quickly glance over them for no particular reason. I acted like I was scanning the shop so they, or Soojin, wouldn’t notice. Luckily they didn’t. Jung Daehyun had never occupied my mind and I had known his, popular, existence for over a year or maybe even more. Now that I’ve met him many things suddenly seemed to resolve around him. Or was it that I was taking notice of this only know?

‘’It’s time to go,’’ Soojin said, disturbing my thoughts. I nodded. She stood up and brought the plate to the counter to be polite. In the meantime I put on my jacket. She was back rather quickly. I noticed Daehyun looking at me, he gave me this charming goodbye smile when Soojin and I were about to exit the store.

The sun had disappeared and it was rather chilly now. I knew a little bit of sun would soon disappear in December, it was too good to be true after all.

‘’You saw the way he smiled at you, it was such a nice smile! He is so hot I would seriously melt! You guys are friends right?’’ Soojin cried when we were walking towards my bike, it was rather far away.

I got annoyed by her friend statement, I told her that we weren’t friends so I didn’t know why she was insisting this much. ‘’I tell you, we’re not.’’ I said while laughing this fake laugh.

She was right about his smile though, it was a nice smile.

And he was indeed hot in that moment.