Chapter 22: She Expected the Explosive Reaction
Welcome to Touchstone
Digging through her things, Yiseul is relieved to find that she does indeed have a hat hidden somewhere. With a sigh, she slaps it a few times to rid it of any collected dust and picks off the few pieces of lint found on the red wool.
This should be enough for the cold for now.
At least until she could get her hands on a new scarf and pair of gloves.
***
"What in the world is this?"
Seunghoon leans forward towards the laptop screen to make sure he isn't making a mistake and is actually reading the e-mail right. Because there has to be a mistake somewhere.
Without looking away, he calls out, "Jinwoo." He waves his hand into the air to urge for the boy to come over to have his own viewing also.
"What is it?" Jinwoo asks while keeping his attention on his current task of wiping down his precious black and white telescope. He couldn't have the dust accumulating.
"Did you check your e-mail?"
"Not yet."
"Can you?"
"What's the rush?" Jinwoo finally sets his eyes on his roommate.
"I want to know if I'm losing my mind or not. The dorm head is announcing a-,"
"Study hall?!"
Their room's door bursts open with Junhoe's face spelling out the ridiculousness of the situation.
"She wants us to go to a study hall?" Junhoe's rowdiness continues as he directs his attention outside the room and down the hall. "Jennie! Did you see?"
"Uh- yeah?" her voice uncertainly answers.
"Where's dorm head?" Junhoe asks with urgency.
***
Sitting across from Mino in the food court, Yiseul decides this can't continue. He slides her food forward to subtly nudge her to begin eating. Seeing his behavior but not knowing what may be the cause of his behavior, she chooses not to force it out of him.
But, it wouldn't hurt to have him reveal it his own.
"Mino, is there something wrong? Do you want to talk about something?" she asks.
He takes a sip from his soda while noticing the food hasn't done its job to distract her. "Uh- what if someone trusts you with something and you break… that trust?"
"Own up to it," she responds and the immediate answer takes him by surprise.
"Huh?"
"It's always best to be responsible and to admit one's own fault. People will respect that."
Mino hesitates on saying his next words. "What if they think you're irresponsible? What if they don't trust you again?"
She hums in thought. "Trust is earned. It's not given. So, you can receive it again-,"
"I lost the key."
Yiseul falls silent. Mino's blurt renders her speechless as she didn't expect to hear that reveal at all. She actually expected the process to get an answer from him much harder than that.
"Is that why you have been so panicked?" she wonders. "Is that why you have been treating me all week-,"
Someone appearing at their table steals both Yiseul and Mino's attention. Yiseul looks up and finds Mina. Well, she definitely looks better and brighter. In a way, Yiseul accepted so since she didn't receive another phone call from her mom about it.
"Hi, I'm Yiseul's friend," Mina introduces herself to Mino with a small smile. "You must be another one of her residents. I've already met a few others."
Mino merely nods.
"Mina, can you give us a moment?" Yiseul gently asks of her.
"Huh?" Mina hesitates at the unanticipated request. It took a moment for her to overlook the strangeness of the situation but she recovers her smile. "Sure… I'll wait over here."
With Mina stepping away for the conversation's privacy, Yiseul says, "Well, the key has to be found."
"I know, I will-,"
"We'll look for it together." She offers him a smile. "For now, head back and I'll meet you in a bit."
"Sure, I'll do that," he says as he gathers his belongings. "Make sure you eat that," he says lastly.
Once Mino leaves, Yiseul looks in Mina's direction and beckons her back over. "Are you feeling better?"
Mina takes Mino's seat from before. "Yeah, I'm fine now." And, it appears that she is in a better mood also.
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