The Reason

“Good morning,” Chaera greets the people in the kitchen. There are Haneul and the parents, Hareum follows  her behind and the boys are running late. It’s another day in college and their holiday is over. They’re back to their routine. Haneul is back on work and he wants to have a date with Yeonsoo afterwards. She takes her seat and Mrs. Kang already served her bowl of rice and she takes a look to the back because the boys haven’t showed up yet. “Should I call them?”

“They’ll come here by themselves,” Hareum says and takes her seat beside her. “Let’s just eat,” she suggests and Chaera just shrugs. They eat first without the boys. Five minutes later, the boys come to the kitchen because their greetings are clear and loud. “Ya!” Hareum is bothered and the boys take their seats. Chaera looks at them who still have those sleepy faces on them.

The morning is awkwardly quiet and Haneul leaves first because he doesn’t want to be in this atmosphere. If Chaera finds out about what happened to her, he just leaves it to both Chaera and Sungwoo. Let them solve it together.

“You don’t eat the cucumber, right?” Minhyun says to Sungwoo and he nods. Minhyun takes the cucumber and the girls are looking at it. Hareum just takes a glance, but Chaera secretly looks at it. She just knew that Sungwoo hates cucumber.

Then, Chaera finishes eating. “You’re done?” she asks Hareum and Hareum confusedly looks at her and nods. She sees Chaera already empties her bowl and the boys are looking at them. Chaera looks at them with a smile and says, “I’m going first.”

“Why are you so fast?” Hareum asks with food in .

“Don’t talk while eating, Hareum-a!” her mom nags. The boys are looking at Chaera. They usually go together to the campus.

“I have a project to do,” Chaera simply answers. “Thank you for the food,” she says and stands up. She puts her dishes away and she takes her bag she puts on the living room before she goes out. Minhyun looks at Hareum and give a sign about Chaera, but Hareum just shrugs because she has no idea about it.

Sungwoo looks at them and he’s nervous inside if Chaera actually took notice on what happened days ago.

…

Chaera wasn’t coming up on lunch. She couldn’t be contacted because she turned off her phone. After that holiday, she wants to spend some time alone because there are things on her mind. She just wants to calm herself for a several reason.

Minhyun and Sungwoo see her going to the gym. “It must be her basketball practice,” Sungwoo says as he’s staring at her. Minhyun looks at him and pushes him slightly. “What?” he turns and raises his eyebrows. He smirks and shakes his head. “Don’t get any strange ideas, Minhyun-a,” he warns him with a fake smile.

“Just go to her, then. You don’t have any band practice today, right?” he says and Sungwoo goes silent. Minhyun is right. Today is Dowoon’s band practice and well, Sungwoo has the intention of going there and watching how he plays. In some other way, he can learn new tricks from Dowoon. But he hasn’t seen Chaera properly from this morning.

“Maybe we need a distance for a while,” Sungwoo gives his excuse and Minhyun clicks his tongue. “Well, let’s go,” he says ignoring Minhyun whom is not satisfied with his reason.

But in the end, Sungwoo comes to the gym after Minhyun insisted him to go. Sungwoo comes to the gym that is quiet with just the basketball players there and he quietly and secretly enters the second-floor to watch the game. He takes a seat in the middle, not too far and not too close from the court. He just sees the women’s team. So they have a different schedule with the men’s. That senior who is also a coach is there. The other boy that is close to Chaera.

Seunghoon notices that they have a guest watching from above, he doesn’t know who Sungwoo is but it seems like he has seen him somewhere. He could care less, so he starts the practice by whistling the whistle. After watching Chaera’s practice many times, Sungwoo becomes familiar on how she plays on the court. The women’s team does a lot of warm-ups before they start the game.

Sungwoo decides to leave the court for a while.

…

“Hello,” Haneul says as he sees Yeonsoo whom is looking through the shelf on a convenience store. He hugs her from behind.

“Ah, why?” she reacts like she hates it but she’s not. He keeps hugging her. “We’re in the convenience store. Let it go before I step your foot,” she says firmly and he pouts. She turns to look at him and chuckles seeing his pouting. She puts her hand on his face and rubs it. “What do you want to eat?” she asks with a loving smile.

“Nothing,” he answers with a smile. “I’m still full from lunch earlier,” he says and links his arm on hers. Yeonsoo looks at this, raises her eyebrows why he suddenly behaves like this but she smirks anyway.

They get out from the convenience store and Yeonsoo has a practice after this, so he wants to watch it. “So, what about the boarders you told me about?” Yeonsoo asks and she takes a sip of her banana milk. “That Sungwoo guy…?” she tries to remember his name.

“Oh, that guy,” Haneul nods. “Well, he has a lot of to deal with in the future. I’m just giving him advice,” he says.

Yeonsoo nods. “So, what did you do to help him exactly?” she’s curious about this since the first day Haneul went on holiday. She was worried if there was anything wrong.

Hanel is flustered by the question but he tries to be honest. “I made him jealous to realize his feelings,” he says it slowly.

Yeonsoo raises her eyebrows. “Jealous?” she asks and sips the milk again. “What kind of things did you do to make him jealous?” Yeonsoo carefully asks as she goes curious. There’s nothing wrong with want to know your boyfriend’s story, right? Especially when Haneul told her so excitingly about the plan.

“Well, I provoked him,” he doesn’t want to tell the details, because he’s afraid to make her heart hurts. As he thinks about it, the thing he did back then can make her hate him.

“How did you do that?” she asks with a smile, but Haneul knows behind that question lies so much more than that.

Haneul glances at her and says, “Just talking to the girl he likes. Just talking.” Yeonsoo nods, but she starts to think otherwise on her mind.

“How could you just talk and it made him jealous?” Yeonsoo says more. “Is he that simple?”

“Yeah, he is that simple,” Haneul says, a bit lying. He chuckles behind his sentence and Yeonsoo just smiles responding to his smile. And he puts his hand around her shoulders. She looks at it and she thinks that maybe it’s one of his ways to assure her that nothing is happened.

And yeah, he wants to make sure that nothing is happened.

…

Sungwoo goes to Dowoon’s practice. He knocks the door and gets inside the studio, greets the familiar faces there. Dowoon is already behind the drums and has the drumsticks with him. Sungwoo sits to watch them and to watch Dowoon plays.

“Where were you?” Dowoon asks because it’s rare to see Sungwoo coming in the middle of practice. He usually comes earlier than Dowoon’s bandmates.

Sungwoo looks at him and simply says, “Just going around campus.” Dowoon just nods, takes it as Sungwoo’s logical reason. He hasn’t known about what happened after the game because he was too drunk and he went into a very deep sleep.

He got new tricks from Dowoon and he’s practicing it right now before the practice is over. Dowoon is watching near him and his hands are hitting the air drums. “No, no. You have to hit that first,” Dowoon teaches Sungwoo and the student nods, understands. “So, we’re going to Chaera after this, right?” Dowoon asks.

“Oh?” Sungwoo responds blankly because he’s too focusing on his play, but he indeed listens very well to what Dowoon says.

“We’re going to Chaera after this, right?” Dowoon raises his voice and Sungwoo just nods to that question, finishes his play with the final move like in Whiplash.

They finish the practice. “I have to go to the library after this,” Sungwoo suddenly says. Dowoon raises his eyebrows, confused.

“Library? At this hour?” Dowoon asks. “Why?”

“I want to buy a drink from the vending machine there,” Sungwoo simply says.

“Oh, okay,” and they go to the library. It’s 9pm but the library is still alive. These days the library is opened for 24 hours. The students like to study just to survive in the real world later. But Dowoon and Sungwoo aren’t the type who likes to visit the library too often. They go when they need.

They arrive at the vending machine there and Sungwoo buys one. Dowoon thinks it’s rare for him to go here just to buy a drink, plus he buys a bottle of water. Usually Sungwoo goes for a soda at night. Dowoon pays attention. But because Sungwoo has a quick notice that Dowoon might find him strange, he just says, “There are still people inside,” as he looks to the library by the window.

Dowoon replies without looking at the same thing as him. “Yeah,” and Sungwoo walks first. Dowoon matches his step and looks to the drink Sungwoo holds. He’s not opening the lid yet. “I thought you’re thirsty.”

“Well, I might,” Sungwoo simply says. “I might save it for later on the way home,” and Dowoon just nods, receives that reason once again.

They arrive at the gym. The women’s team has a briefing and they wait for Chaera outside. The gym’s door is always opened. There are some movements heard inside and Dowoon takes a peek. “Oh, they’re done,” he says and waits again for Chaera. They stand outside and the team starts going out from the gym one by one, find them there again. Some of the players are familiar with their faces, but they just knew that one is the popular student from Theatre and Film major and one from the campus’ band who always performs at campus’ event. They don’t know that they are Chaera’s friends because Chaera always tells them to wait far from the gym. It’s hard for her if the teammates notice, she doesn’t want to be interrogated.

But what she doesn’t want to happen is happening. She walks outside with one of her teammates and stops when a hand suddenly shows up in front of her face, with a bottle of water on his hand. “What the!” she’s surprised and her friend is surprised also. Seunghoon finds her voice and looks to the door that Chaera is standing still there. Chaera looks to the person who does that and finds both Dowoon and Sungwoo there. “What are you guys doing here?” she asks rather than receiving the drink.

“Waiting for you, of course,” Sungwoo answers coolly without caring the situation around Chaera. Her teammate is surprised with the boys sudden show up and she greets them. They greet her back.

“Are they your friends?” Chaera sighs and puts a disappointed face because of that question is out again. Dowoon and Sungwoo raise their eyebrows and look at Chaera. She widens her eyes at them, scolds them by her expression that she told them already she doesn’t want them to wait right here.

Chaera turns to see her friend and answers with a fake smile, “Yeah. They are my friends. Sungwoo and Dowoon,” with force, Chaera introduces both of them.

“I didn’t think that they’re your friends,” she whispers and Chaera just nods with a fake smile. “Tell me about it later, okay?” she says and waves goodbye to her. She just waves at her without accepting that offer. She doesn’t want to introduce them to her friends because it will give so many burdens to her.

“Why did you put a face like that?” Sungwoo asks with the bottle of water still on his hand. Dowoon noticed seconds earlier that the bottle was for Chaera and he just nodded, understood. Dowoon seems take a notice about what Chaera is to Sungwoo.

“I told you guys about it!” Chaera says once again. Yeah, Chaera told them the story about the girls’ conversation on the MT about boys. Their names were on the list, but Sungwoo’s name was the most talked on the entire conversation. He got himself some noona (older women than him) fans. She heaves a long sigh and walks away leaving them.

Sungwoo follows her fast and Dowoon is the same, because Sungwoo moves first. “Chaera-ya!” Sungwoo calls her and he matches his steps with hers. “Here,” he gives her the drink once again. Chaera stops and they stop. She looks at his hand points toward her and to the drink he has.

“For me?” she asks, raises her eyebrows and Sungwoo nods. “Thanks,” she receives it with a suspicion.

“There’s nothing wrong in it. Trust me,” Sungwoo says and Chaera drinks the water right away. He’s right, there’s nothing wrong in it and Chaera nods and starts walking. He follows, “Hey, where’s my thanks?” he says teasingly and smiles looking at her.

Chaera rolls her eyes and says, “Thanks,” soullessly. “Happy?” she says nonchalantly. She’s back to herself and Sungwoo just chuckles.

“Oh yeah,” Dowoon says and they glance at him. “Why were you so early this morning, Chaera-ya? We haven’t seen your face properly, unlike usual.”

“Oh, that,” Chaera is flustered by his sudden question. Living with them for almost 7 months make her realize that they’re bunch of kids with quick wits. It’s hard to pull a prank on them unless you really can outsmart them, even though they’re just average at their academics. “Just busy with project,” she gives her excuse and Dowoon just nods. But Sungwoo finds her excuse is strange, but it’s logical. He can’t debate with that. Sensing the strange gazes are coming to her, she changes her topic. “So, how’s the band practice today, Dowoon-a?"

…

Hareum is enjoying a slice of cheesecake. Junghyun is falling into watching her eat it with a smile. “Haneul oppa said that the Sungwoo plan was going well,” she says while eating. Hareum moves her face close to him and whispers, “Sungwoo kissed her,” and sits back again to enjoy.

“But the matter is, did he admit his feeling for her?” Junghyun asks while he’s still looking at her eating. Hareum is telling him about the whole Sungwoo plan she did with the boys.

Hareum simply shrugs and Junghyun raises his right eyebrow in confusion. “I don’t know,” she says. “Haneul oppa didn’t tell me about it either,” and from the way she speaks, she doesn’t bother to ask about it. Haneul told her to ask about it herself to Sungwoo.

“Yeonsoo might get hurt if she listens to the whole story,” he says. Hareum puts her fork to the plate and ponders about it as she slowly munches the cake inside . Hareum nods. She hates to agree with it but he’s right. Hareum told Junghyun about how Haneul made Sungwoo jealous with all of his actions toward Chaera. “Why not Dowoon and Minhyun to do it?” Junghyun asks.

“Dowoon is Chaera’s relative, that’s no no,” Hareum says and Junghyun nods as he just knows this new information. “And Minhyun… he doesn’t want to break his friendship with Sungwoo.”

“But Haneul has a girlfriend, you know that,” Junghyun says and Hareum slowly nods her head. She feels guilty and sorry toward Yeonsoo. “Anyway, don’t you dare to do the same toward a guy, okay?” he warns her and pinches her nose.

“Aw!” she reacts and pushes his hand away. She frowns in pain. “Why do you like to torture my face?” she complains and Junghyun just chuckles happily after teasing her. He likes to do it so much.

…

“Oh, you guys,” Mrs. Kang says when she sees them entering the house after taking off their shoes. Chaera, Dowoon and Sungwoo bow to her slightly and go to their own rooms. Hareum is outside, sitting and talking with Junghyun. They commented on her before they got inside. Minhyun is already home after doing a part-time job.

They go inside their own rooms. Chaera settles all her things and lies on the bed for a while before taking a shower. The practice was as usual. Seunghoon oppa coached them as usual. But thinking about the basketball team reminds her of the teammates whom are almost every day talking about Sungwoo. She grunts remembering what happened back then. She sits straight and bends her body to pull her bag. She takes her phone and she’s curious about the group chat. There might be a talk about Sungwoo and her name will be included.

As she reads it, her guess is right. Most of them want to know what kind of person Sungwoo and Dowoon are, how she knew Sungwoo. The questions she doesn’t want to answer. She doesn’t tell them that Dowoon is her relative because it will be more annoying that they will ask about him. On the other side, she can’t just be quiet because there are seniors on the group chat.

She grunts once again, kicks her feet in the air. Ah, I should avoid them tomorrow. And she’s been thinking about that in mind. Let today’s concerns just happen today. She takes her basket full of her toiletries and she decides to take a shower.

She’s just done with the shower and she dries her head with the towel. She stands in front of the sink and opens the drawer to take her toothbrush. As she starts to brush her teeth, suddenly the bathroom door is opened and Chaera stops. She looks to the person on the mirror and finds Sungwoo there. “Oh, you are,” she says and continues her activity. Sungwoo walks to her and she’s flustered inside with him going toward her direction. She checks through the mirror and feels safe that the door is opened. She suddenly puts on guard when she’s sure that Sungwoo is not that kind of person, but things might happen, right?

She raises her eyebrows at him whom is stopping behind her. She turns her head to look at him and he just glances, but then his hand passes her face and opens the drawer. She stops and widens her eyes at him, looks at his hand that is beside her face. He takes a razor from there and stares at her. Why didn’t you say ‘excuse me’ at least? He leaves as he stares at her. She scoffs and continues brushing her teeth, without trying to care about what he did.

He goes to his room quickly, he closes the door and leans on it. He maintains his breath. Sungwoo was nervous to the fact that he bravely did that, suddenly coming from behind her, hitting the drawer and takes something from there. He remembered her surprised expression. She went speechless and that made him more nervous about it.

…

“See you guys later!” Chaera leaves right away after she had her breakfast. She takes her bag, greets the parents before she gets out from the house. The friends are finding it strange for her to leave early and this is the second time. They just believe that she has a project to do, but Sungwoo thinks otherwise. It’s because what I did yesterday? He thinks but he continues eating.

“What happened with her?” Minhyun asks to Hareum but she just shrugs. She doesn’t even know it. Chaera hasn’t told her anything. They wear their shoes and get out from the house. “Is there something we don’t know?”

“Let’s just think positive,” Hareum says. “She will say it later. Maybe,” she’s unsure of what she says and Minhyun just shrugs.

They walk to the bus station. Minhyun looks at Sungwoo whom is walking quietly. He elbows Hareum slightly and he points his head to Sungwoo. Hareum looks at Sungwoo and shrugs. She doesn’t know whether Chaera has a problem with him.

“Sungwoo-ya,” Minhyun calls him and Sungwoo looks at him. “You didn’t have any fight with Chaera, right?”

“No, not at all,” Sungwoo simply says. “We’re doing fine,” and he averts his eyes to the road in front of him. Minhyun just nods and he stares at Dowoon whom is walking on his left.

Dowoon notices him and says, “Me too. She doesn’t tell me anything.” Hareum and Minhyun just nod. But still, they are curious on situations around Chaera.

…

“Oh, Chaera-ya!” Sungwoo greets her as she gets out from the library. She’s surprised and stops suddenly, shruddering.

She rolls her eyes and grunts. “Why are you always surprising me?”

“Sorr