Chapter 6: Crossing point.

Areum

“You know, that feeling when you thought it doesn’t matter if you make a fool out of yourself in front of a person who you might not meet ever again in your life?”

I woke up to one morning to the sound of pans and spatula clanking from the kitchen, getting off bed right away and was greeted by the smell of butter and cinnamons. The scene in the kitchen was completely chaotic and I found it a strange sight to see Yerim in the kitchen preparing breakfast. I’m the morning person in this house.

So, why was she up early today?

I was sat by the table right away when she saw me standing at the doorframe looking half awake and served me a plate of pancakes and she was almost cooing at me like I’m a baby when she said, “I know how it’s your favourite. I even added chocolate chips in it.”

As I was indulging the sweet breakfast, a cup of coffee at the side complete with two spoons of sugar just as I like my overly sweet coffee to be, I asked her, “Why are you doing this to me?”

And she said, “I’m leaving for Busan at noon so, I’m going to be away for a week in Busan and the rest I’ll spend it in Yongin with my family.”

“Because you’re leaving me alone.” I muttered in realization. “This is mean. You can’t feed me a delicious breakfast before leaving me for the rest of the break.” I frowned hard at her.

“Then, go home. Seungjun would be thrilled to have his sister home.” She playfully rubbed my chin like anyone would do to a cat before she settled down next to me.”

That was how we started chatting while eating, and the topic to the matter came up. I ended up telling the whole running away from a date incident and how it related to the person I accidentally involved with for my assistantship.

“But then, you actually met him again?”

“He thought I was a rebel running away from home.”

“Not like you’ve never done it.”

I groaned in annoyance at my dark past. “That was the saddest thing I’ve did in my whole life! My father didn’t even know that I tried to run away.”

Yerim laughed in response. “So, I guess you’re going to spend the rest of your break with the man who helped you run away from your date? The one who you’ve spend grocery shopping with,” she started laughing again with that creepy face. “I think you have just skipped a few steps before getting to know each other. Why didn’t you ask for his name on that day? At least you would’ve expected this coming.”

“Why should i? It’s not like I’m interested in him.”

“Asking for a name didn’t make you seem like you’re interested in him or I supposed you really are not, are you?”

“No.” I answered without any hesitation.

“I trust you on that.” She gave me a sceptical look.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked in return, my eyebrows almost met as I eyed her expression. “I can’t believe he could be Junmyeon’s friend.”

“He’s a lot closer than you think he is.”

“I know right.”

“So, does he get shock when he first sees you? Maybe like, trying to avoid you? I mean, if somebody has to do the avoiding for another encounter, it should be him because you’re the weird girl.”

I frowned at her remark but instead of snapping at her, I said something else. “That’s the thing. I didn’t see one. I mean, whenever I see his face, it always makes me wonder how he’d actually look if he smiles, or if he’s angry or sad. It intrigues me because he seems like he’s holding himself back. And I feel like I could see the emptiness in his eyes, maybe sad, I don’t know, it’s just that look that you would want to ask what’s wrong.”

“Areum,” Yerim gave a knowing smile.

I interrupted her thoughts. “No, no, seriously. You could’ve seen it if you look at him. He looks like he didn’t feel anything. He’s like, numb. I know because…,I just know it.”

Yerim let go of her fork down on her plate and pushed it to give it a space for her to cross her arms on the table. “You sure? Are you sure you’re not actually interested in him?”

I sighed at this incredulity. “Where do you get this idea from? Of course, not. I like Sehun, remember?”

“Speaking of Sehun – “

“I see that you must’ve found out about Joohyun now that you’re trying to talk about him and nope, we’re not going to talk about this topic.” I got up from my seat right after and brought my plate and mug to the sink to wash them.

“Okay,” she replied in understanding. “I’m just wondering if you’re just going to let it happen.”

I turned towards Yerim and leaned to the sink. “He doesn’t like me. Not in that way. So, what can I do?”

♦ ♦ ♦ 

A week had passed since I had the apartment all to myself, away from all the unnecessary dramas at home as the matter of fact for myself to call it a good week. I bumped into Sehun a few times, luckily all by himself at all times we saw each other because I don’t think it was easy enough for me to keep up a straight face if I saw him with Joohyun.

The assistantship has been a great experience so far, yet it could be a little pressurizing from the overwhelming knowledge at times. Baekhyun and I did had a few short conversation – completely professional – and the most personal topic we had come across was probably him suggesting a few know-hows when he heard of my plan for the final year project – still professional , yet it still felt personal to me.

It wasn’t as awkward as I thought it would be as he had different schedule because he needed to catch up with his classes and reports from his lectures, so in a week it was only a rare two or three times we would see each other.

Despite that, there were some common things that he did that caught my attention. Like how he skipped his lunch because he was nowhere in sight every time I was in the cafeteria – even on Tuesday’s Jajangmyeon special – and how he reek of smoke a lot stronger when he came back.

Sometimes, I would eat with my eyes fixing at the café’s entrance, expecting nothing.

“Areum-sshi?”

I slowly trailed my gaze up to him from my laptop screen, averting my eyes to the said man who was questioning the food in his hand.

“I went to eat my lunch just now,” I started hesitatingly, finding the right words to say to him. “but I didn’t see you there so, I thought you might not had your lunch yet. I thought you could have been hungry.” My words gradually turned more into a slur as I felt his eyes piercing into me, it was almost intimidating and made me flustered. “It was just a ham sandwich, but it tastes really good.” I continued and braved myself to bring my head up.

I paused for a little while before saying, “And, you don’t have to be so formal with me. Just call me Areum comfortably. It’s kind of a little bit uncomfortable for me, since I’m a lot younger than you are.”

“Thank you.” Baekhyun said with a small smile.

I smiled widely for the good response I received. “You’re welcome. I just thought it might give you trouble to focus because when my stomach is empty, working on this figures and data brings me a lot of troubles. That’s why I always keep my tummy filled. I don’t seem like I’m nosy, did I?” I was waiting for a response from him but when he seemed disinterest as ever and dismissed me naturally, I murmured, “so yeah…”

♦ ♦ ♦ 

I was searching for my hair tie all over my messy table when I found the small paper bag with unused antiseptics and bandages that I bought the other day. It was crazy how no matter how many hair ties I bought, I kept losing them all.

I ended up sitting in my chair, while thinking why have I never thought of asking him of his condition from the incident as I stared at the paper bag. But Baekhyun didn’t seem that interested to engage in a conversation with me, it was devastating, honestly. Then, another thing caught my sight. I sighed at the sight of the letter with Sehun’s name on it as I turned to the front and the back of it.

It was of no use now. But, it wasn’t like I wrote it for him to know, anyway.

My phone’s ringing tone snapped me out of my daze and I slipped both of the things inside the sling bad hanging on my chair before rushing out when I knew that was a sign that Sehun had arrived.

We went to the mall, doing as what Sehun had mentioned earlier in his text. He could have done it himself but I guess he just wanted a company to shop for a shirt with him.

Why didn’t he ask Joohyun to come instead? Why me? I knew I shouldn’t be this salty.

“This has a nice co