Chapter 8: Tête-à-Tête

A few days after our lunch date, YunHee and her parents went out of town for a week, so they left their fuzzy white Pomeranian Yuki with me. Work had kept me so busy that I’d not had the time to just sit and process YunHee’s confession and how I felt about it.

I pulled the neatly groomed dog onto my lap and began to talk to him.

“Yuki? What would you do? Would you string MinHo along? I mean that’s what I’ve seen YunHee, EunMi, and all those other girls have done in the past, and I’m not going to lie, it might be kind of fun to have a casual flirtation. Or would you tell him you don’t like him as anything more than a friend before he’s entirely lost his heart?”

Ruff.

“I know Yuki! What would omma say if she heard me talking like this?”

I leaned back on the sofa and looked up at the mirror that hung above the fireplace mantel. In it I saw a pair of telltale brown eyes looking out from a tangle of light brown hair, cheeks that flushed and dimpled suddenly as the flesh around my mouth smiled with an expression that was half proud and half ashamed. For a minute visions of girlish romances danced in my head. Then I shook my hair over my face, picked Yuki up, and moved to the chair beside the sofa which was out of range of the mirror.

With a droll mixture of self-reproach and self-approval I declared, “Oh, Yuki, Yuki, I’m such an idiot!”

Yuki seemed to endorse the idea by a soft hum of contentment that vibrated through his vocal chords as I rubbed his belly.

“Just suppose what SeHun and YunHee hinted at was true. What if he does ask me to be his girlfriend? What if I say yes? What a stir it would make! The girls all think a great deal of him because he’s so hard to please, and almost any of them would feel immensely flattered if he liked them. I know Park EunMi tried for years to fascinate him, but he couldn’t stand her flirty personality and I’m so glad of that! Oh I know Yuki! I’m so spiteful! But I can’t help it! She just. . . aggravates me so much!”

In my angst I’d accidentally given the dog such a tweak in the ear that he shot off of my lap and curled up on his bed.

“I’m sorry Yuki! I know it won’t do to think of her, so I won’t!”

I climbed into bed and slid under the covers. I tried every position possible but could not fall asleep. My mind was still churning over the matter. Just how would I solve this delicately? The covers tangled around me as I tossed and turned. When my body finally began to become heavy with sleep an idea came to me. I shot straight up and let out a gasp of aha loud enough to wake Yuki who was curled in the corner sleeping on his bed.

“That’s it Yuki! It’s so simple! I won’t walk with him anymore! I’ll take round about ways of getting to my lessons that way we’ll never run into each other. I never really believed him when he said it was ‘mere coincidence’ that he was always going in the same direction I was whenever I was walking to give Mrs. Kim’s daughter her lessons.”

No more walks with MinHo; that should spare YunHee some pain and me the grief of more gossip.

Monday I began the delicate and dangerous task. Instead of going to my appointments by way of the park and the pleasant streets that surrounded it, I switched my route to the backstreets. I successfully avoided MinHo who met SeHun on the usual path, SeHun mentioned  me later, and the older of the two expressed his disappointment at not seeing me. I kept this up for a couple weeks, and by avoiding the Oh’s and the Lee’s apartments, I saw nothing of MinHo, who luckily didn’t come to visit me at my place.  

I freely admit that more than once, after the excitement of the dodging began to wear off, I was tempted to go back to my usual route. I missed seeing the familiar faces of shop owners, the children playing on the playground, and the beautiful flora of the park; it added a nice change of scenery to my dull, hardworking days.

But I resisted and never gave in to my desire. Day after day I trudged through the back streets, longing for the sunny park and also for a chance meeting with—well it certainly wasn’t Park EunMi. . .

When Saturday came I couldn’t resist stopping by the Oh’s to drop off a little treat for SooMin. As I stepped in I noticed there was an extra pair of men’s shoes sitting beside the door.

“Who’s here SooMin?”

“SeHun and MinHo oppa. Want to come say hi?”

“Not this morning SooMin. I’m in a bit of a hurry.” And away I went as if I suddenly realized I’d left the stove on and the front door unlocked.

I slowed my pace as soon as I stepped outside of the building.

Whew! Since I know he’s occupied at SeHun’s I can walk wherever I want. It’s such a lovely day out!

I to my normal route with a smile on my face. Mothers pushed their chubby babies in their prams. Couples walked down the street arm in arm. It seemed spring had brought out more than new blades of grass and the first buds of flowers. I sighed with contentment as I watched various stories unfold before me as I continued down the street.

As the god of mischief would have it, just at the moment a sigh escaped my lips, MinHo appeared at my side. How in the world did he get here? His cheeks were flushed and he was out of breath, but he looked happy to see me.

“Warm for a spring day, isn’t it?” he said as he continued to catch his breath, but managed to be in perfect step with me.

Just like old times. . .

“You seem to find it so,” I laughed. I really couldn’t help it; it was just so nice to see him again and just as I was beginning to feel lonely. I had planned on being stiff and cold towards him the next time we met, but having him right in front of me made me lose some of my nerve. Come on HyeYeong, keep it together!

“Do you not teach the Kims anymore?” MinHo asked changing the subject.

“No, I still teach them.”

“Did you change your teaching schedule? Do you still go at the same time?”

“No and yes.”

“Well, it’s certainly a mystery to me how you get there!”

“As much as it is to me how you got here so suddenly.”

“I heard your voice at the Oh’s and took the liberty of running after you via the back streets,” he said laughing.

“And that, sir, is how I’ve been getting to the Kim’s,” I answered. I didn’t mean to tell, but his honesty was so charming that I forgot myself.

“That’s not nearly as pleasant or as short of a walk as the park.”

“I know, but sometimes people get tired of the same routine and want to try something different.”

That did not come out as nat