What to Call You

            Ryeowook decided it was too nice to continue correcting papers inside and took the last stack to a café, ordered himself an iced coffee and a sandwich, and began grading the rest outside at one of the tables.  He’d eaten and gotten through most of the papers when his cell phone began to ring.  He quickly dug it out of his pocket and looked at the screen.  The number didn’t look familiar, but there were so many numbers that were associated with the school that he didn’t have saved in his phone, he didn’t dare not answer it. 

            “Hello?”

            “Hello, Ryeowook.  How are you this afternoon?”

            Although the voice sounded familiar, he couldn’t immediately place who it was and thought for a second.  “I’m doing well.  Who is this?”

            The man on the line laughed.  “Have you forgotten me so soon?”

            Ryeowook’s heart skipped a beat.  Could it be?  “Are you Yesung’s friend?  Kyuhyun?”  It had been three days since that day on the phone.

            “I am.”

            Ryeowook was glad he was alone at that moment because he knew he suddenly started grinning in the cheesiest fashion.  “Did Yesung give you my number?”

            “No!” he complained.  “I asked and the bastard said that he’d have to ask you first, but he was taking his sweet time doing it.  So then I thought I’d just steal it off his phone when he wasn’t looking, but he took the damn thing everywhere with him.  Like he needs it in the shower!”

            Ryeowook laughed at this.  “How’d you get it then?”

            “Sungmin stopped by the apartment and I asked him for your number.  He gave it to me right away,” he claimed.  “I’m just surprised that I remembered he knew you.  I sometimes forget details like that.”

            “Sungmin was my friend first.  He’s my best friend,” Ryeowook explained.

            “Which is a good thing because otherwise he probably wouldn’t have given it to me,” Kyuhyun said.  “And I feel certain that Yesung had no intention of asking you for permission to give your number to me.”

            “You don’t?” Ryeowook asked.

            “I think he’s worried about what would happen if two of his friends started hitting it off,” Kyuhyun said.

            Ryeowook laughed at this, but he wouldn’t put it past Yesung to avoid putting himself in awkward situations. 

            “So what are you doing to fill up your days during your break?” Kyuhyun asked.

            “I’m currently at a café grading papers,” Ryeowook admitted.

            “That doesn’t sound very exciting,” Kyuhyun teased.

            “It isn’t, but you have to make sure your students are learning what you want them to somehow.”

            “You teach English, don’t you?”

            “I do,” Ryeowook confirmed.

            “Have you been to any English speaking countries?”

            “I went to college in Canada, where my cousin Henry is from.  My aunt and uncle still live there and I stayed with them when I went to school,” he explained.  “Then I returned home afterwards.  You were in Japan after college, Yesung told me, was that to further your education?”

            “No,” Kyuhyun said, laughing.  “I followed a guy I was dating there, but it didn’t work out.  I stayed there after we broke up because I liked where I was living at the time, but I’ve begun to miss my old friends and want to be closer to my family, so I asked Yesung if he’d let me stay here until I decided if I wanted to get my own place in Seoul or look a little further out of the city.”

            “And what do you think of it so far?”

            “I think that I haven’t had much of a chance to explore yet because I have a looming deadline for my next novel.  I’ve grounded myself until it’s finished,” Kyuhyun admitted.

            “But you’re allowed to call strangers on the phone?”

            “Well, you have to take a break every now and then or you’ll go crazy.  Besides, you hardly seem like a stranger to me.  Yesung talks about you all the time.”

            “True,” Ryeowook said, taking a sip of his coffee.  “He’s told me many stories of the two of you over the years.  I guess you don’t completely qualify as a stranger…but we’ve never met.  So what does that make us then?  We certainly haven’t talked to each other long enough to be considered friends.”

            “No,” Kyuhyun admitted.

            “Acquaintances, I suppose then,” Ryeowook suggested.

            “I don’t like that word either.”

            “What would you call me then?” Ryeowook asked, suddenly feeling nervous.

            There was a slight pause, as if he was debating what to say, and then he finally said, “If someone pressed me for a title, I’d probably call you my love interest.”

            Ryeowook nearly dropped his phone, fumbling with it for a moment, and then carefully gripped it with two hands after that. 

            “Ryeowook, when I finally get this book finished—which is going to be a good two or three weeks out yet—would you have dinner with me?” Kyuhyun asked.

            “Yes,” Ryeowook said, without hesitation, surprising even himself.  He didn’t even know this man!  And yet, Yesung had talked about Kyuhyun so many times over the years, Ryeowook kind of felt like he did know him already.  Everything that Yesung had ever said about him seemed interesting and positive, so there was no reason to say no.  Deep down, he’d always wanted to meet this man.  Perhaps he’d even grown a slight crush on the idea of him over the years from some of the stories Yesung had told him of their escapades in college.

            Ryeowook heard Kyuhyun let out a breath on the other end.  “Good…although I think I’d better tell Yesung nothing about it or he’ll flip out.  Unless you want to.”