Mapo-gu, 4:39 PM

Sehun walked down the stairs to his platform after farewelling Jongin. After a few hours at the arcade his friend had run off to another evening class at his cram school, leaving Sehun to make his way back to Jihye’s house with nothing left to do. As if on cue, Sehun’s train pulled to a stop just as he reached the bottom of the stairs, he jogged towards it before hopping on board behind the crowd of passengers in front of him. For a Saturday evening, the carriage was relatively empty, which was good for Sehun because a day of running around with Jongin had put him in need of a seat. So, with a comfortable sigh, he dropped himself onto a seat in the corner and prepared to nap for the remainder of the forty-minute ride.

However, his light slumber was interrupted when his phone buzzed in his pocket.

Sehun read the message with squinted eyes, struggling to see through the drowsiness that had just begun to set in. He lifted his thumbs to type back a quick reply in acknowledgement, but then stopped- if he went home now he’d have nothing to do but watch TV or do homework, neither of which seemed very appealing, especially homework. Sehun contemplated for a moment before resuming typing.

Sehun waited a few moments for a reply, but when a reply didn’t come back after a minute Sehun began to feel anxious. Was she hoping for him to just go home? Was he overstepping his boundaries? Did she not actually mean for him to stick around for so long-

Sehun let out a small breath that he didn’t realise he was holding, and ran over the messages again. Jihye’s texting style was surprisingly formal even though she was sending messages to a teenager, ‘must be a lawyer thing’, he thought. Although he supposed that Jihye seemed like a bit of a stiff, too, seeing as she didn’t seem to do anything but work, eat and sleep. It made him wonder if she had any hobbies aside from taking in runaway high schoolers.

While he snorted internally at his musings, a robotic voiceover announced that the train would soon be stopping. Sehun decided to save Jihye’s number to his contacts before he had to get off. His fingers paused next to the field titled ‘Name’ as he contemplated what to save her as. ‘Shin Jihye?’ He typed it out. ‘No, that’s a bit rude…’ He erased it and tried another. ‘Jihye noonim?’ Sehun scrunched up his nose and erased it again. ‘Attorney Shin- no, Lawyer noona?’ Shaking his head, he decided to leave it at ‘Noona’, before tapping the save button and tucking his phone back in his pocket.

The moment the train doors opened at Gireum station, Sehun hurried off and texted Jihye to let her know that he’d arrived while he walked up the stairs to the exit. Looking around the outside of the station he couldn’t immediately spot her, and assuming that she wasn’t wearing her work clothes, he’d probably have to look a bit harder to find her among the light crowd. Fortunately, he had noticed the mustard coat hanging by her door that morning, so when he spotted a small figure sitting on the barrier by the roadside in that same coat, he began to head towards her.

“Noona?” Jihye didn’t look up right away, seemingly taking a moment before she realised she was being spoken to. But when she did she greeted Sehun with a friendly smile.

“Ah, Sehun, you’re here!” Jihye stood up and fixed her coat. “Let’s get going, then. The market will close soon,” she said, leading the way to wherever it was they were going to shop. Sehun trailed a few steps behind her, unsure if it would be weird to walk next to her, after all they didn’t really know each other, and he didn’t really think she was interested in talking to him or anything either. Jihye, as if reading his thoughts, turned her head back and slowed her pace to match him before speaking again.

“How was your day? Did you have fun with your friend?” Sehun turned his head towards her sharply, still slightly surprised that she would want to speak to him casually.

“It was good. We went to the arcade after lunch,” he said with a small smile.

“That’s nice,” she replied. She didn’t say anything after that, however, and they walked in silence for the next few minutes. ‘Obviously she was just being polite- as if she’d actually be interested in your day’, he scoffed in his head. Soon, the pair fell under the warm tungsten lights of a street market, still simmering with activity despite the darkening sky.  

Jihye scanned the goods in the various stalls, occasionally inspecting a vegetable for its quality. Sehun hovered awkwardly behind her as she chatted with the men and women who ran each stall, haggling for lower prices. Over the course of a few minutes they had made their way through the short stretch of street market, and Sehun had watched Jihye’s hands become filled with bags of carrots and cabbages. As they walked towards the other end of the market Sehun leaned tentatively over her shoulder.

“Noona,” he started. Jihye responded with a quick turn of her head, seeming to have momentarily forgotten about her companion. “Shall I carry the bags for you?” he offered softly, seeing her surprise.

“Oh no, it’s fine, Sehun. I couldn’t make you do that.” Sehun reached for the bags anyway, Jihye too taken aback to resist as he tugged the bags into his hands.

“It’s okay, Noona. We still have to get milk and stuff, right?” Jihye gave a slow nod in response. “Then you can carry that,” he joked. Jihye stilled for a short moment before laughing and handing over the rest of the bags.

“I suppose you’re right.”

Less than an hour later the pair emerged from a supermarket and into the lobby of a still busy shopping centre. Sehun looked down at their hands, both his and Jihye’s laden with bags full of produce.