In Another World

            I mindlessly stirred my bowl of soup.  It was still full and was starting to get cold, but I was too distracted to notice.  I couldn’t tell you how long I’d been sitting in the cafeteria because I zoned out the moment I sat down.  Ever since spending the afternoon with Ryeosuni the day before, I’d been having this problem.

            “Hello!  Earth to Kyu!”

            I looked across the table.  Changmin and Yunho were sitting with me.  And from the look of it, they had been for a while.  Yunho was already half finished with his lunch.  Then again, he doesn’t mess around when it comes to eating.  He always finishes first, even if he’s the last person to sit down. 

            “When did you two get here?”

            “I told you he didn’t notice,” Yunho said, between bites of his sandwich.  “I’m starting to think the rumors going around school are right.  Nothing else makes a guy zone out like that.”

            That finally snapped me out of my thoughts.  “What rumors?”

            Changmin leaned forward.  “Everyone—and I mean everyone—is talking about your new girlfriend.”

            I felt my cheeks start to burn and ran my hand through my hair.  “They are?”

            “Did you mentally check out of every class this morning?” Changmin asked.  “People have been asking me all about her all day!  They all wanted to know what I think of your new girl, which I know nothing of, since you don’t have one!”

            “He hasn’t actually denied having a girlfriend yet,” Yunho pointed out. 

            “No one said anything to me,” I said, smiling to myself.  “Or I would have told them they were mistaken.  You know I don’t have a girlfriend.  Both of you know I’m not interested in women.”

            “Really?”  Changmin questioned, taking a bite of his rice and giving me a pointed look as he chewed it.  “Victoria and her friends were in the library for a couple hours yesterday.  They said you were there—the entire time they were—with a woman.  You never go anywhere alone with a woman!”

            “She’s different!  That’s Yesung’s girlfriend, Ryeosuni,” I said, laughing and looking down at my bowl of soup and stirring it some more.  “We just ran into each other and decided to study together.”

            “Victoria told me that she saw you watching her every time she wasn’t paying attention,” he threw back. 

            I didn’t know how to defend myself against this or if I should even bother.  There was nothing wrong with looking at someone.  Ryeosuni was beautiful.  Even if I’m gay, there’s nothing wrong with me finding a woman attractive.  I haven’t known her for very long, so I haven’t had much time to watch her.  I kind of found her fascinating—the way she held her pencil and her neat handwriting, how she bit down on her lip whenever she was stumped by something, the way she mindlessly played with her hair and twirled it around her finger—and I couldn’t stop myself from watching her while I had the opportunity.

            I shrugged my shoulders.  “There’s nothing strange about looking at someone.”

            Changmin set his chopsticks down and continued.  “She said that she’d never seen you stare at a woman like that before.  She claimed it was the same longing look you get in your eyes whenever she invites you over for dinner and starts bringing the main dishes out.  She wasn’t sure if she should leave Ryeosuni alone with you.  She was afraid you might devour her.”

            “Perhaps he did,” Yunho suggested.  “No one’s seen her today and he doesn’t appear to be very hungry.”

            “Enough,” I warned him.

            Yunho laughed at this.  “Next time, just take her back to your dorm room, Kyu, so you can study her in private.”

            I kicked him under the table, but he just laughed at me some more. 

            “She’s dating Yesung!  Remember?” I reminded him.  “He’s going to be pissed when he finds out that everyone in school thinks I’m dating his girlfriend!”

            “How the hell did he land a girl like her anyway?  Victoria told me that she’s super pretty,” Changmin asked. 

            “They’re in music together.  But I find it kind of strange that he’s never talked about her in the past and I’ve never heard of her before Yesung started dating her,” I confessed.  “She seems so outgoing with me.  You’d think she’d know half the school.”

            “That’s because she just transferred to our school,” Yunho informed me.

            “How did you find that out?” Changmin asked.

            “Jaejoong told me.”

            “How did he know that?  He’s not in music,” I questioned.

            Yunho thought this over a minute.  “I think Heechul told him.”

            I nodded.  Heechul was in music with Yesung, so he would certainly know much more about Ryeosuni than most people on campus.  But I was surprised that he didn’t tell Jaejoong that Ryeosuni was dating Yesung and not me, while he was verifying news about her.  Unless he didn’t know for some reason.

            “I remember meeting her once before, last year,” Yunho said, finishing off his lunch and taking a drink of his soda.

            “You do?” I asked, utterly confused.  “When?”

            “She came to one of Eunhyuk and Donghae’s parties,” he informed me.  “She was dressed as a cheerleader and she…looked…hot!”

            The image that came to my head at that moment was outrageously dirty, I silently chastised myself for it.  I pushed my soup to the side at that point.  I wasn’t hungry at all. 

            “I have to agree with Min, I don’t really get why she’s dating someone like Yesung.  She could get a guy much better than him.”  Yunho looked over at me and winked.

            “Even if I do have an interest in her, that doesn’t mean she’s interested in me.  She’s probably going to be upset when she hears the rumors about us.  Don’t you think?”

            Yunho smirked at me as he reached across the table for my untouched soup.  “Most rumors have a hint of truth hidden in them somewhere.  Are you sure she isn’t interested in you?”

            I looked over at them doubtfully.

            “For the record,” Changmin said, pausing in the middle of eating, “Victoria also said that she noticed Ryeosuni staring at you, just as often, whenever you weren’t paying attention…with a dreamy look in her eyes.”

            I jumped to my feet and rushed out of the cafeteria.  I didn’t even bother saying goodbye to them as I headed across campus at a jog.  I knew that Yesung’s music class got finished around the time I often returned from having lunch on Thursdays.  I didn’t know if he had that class with Ryeosuni, but it would likely be my best chance of running into her on campus and I didn’t want to miss it.  None of my classes were anywhere near there—it was probably the reason I’d never run into her or hadn’t remembered her before—but I wanted to.  I needed to see her.  I had to know if she was angry about the rumors spreading around the school about us.

            Or not.

            My voice was a little hoarse after so much singing and I drank half the water in my bottle the moment class finished.  Even Yesung groaned as he walked over to grab his backpack and picked up his own water, drinking the rest of it. 

            “That was brutal.”

            I nodded.  I pulled on my black hoodie and slung my purple backpack over my shoulder, ready to head back to my dorm for a short break and some lunch before my late afternoon class.  “When do you leave for your concert?”

            “Tomorrow morning.  Remember your promise,” Yesung said.

            “I remember, I remember,” I said, sighing heavily.

            “What promise is that?” Heechul asked, from beside us.

            “He promised not to meet up with Kyuhyun again as Ryeosuni.  Victoria ran into them yesterday at the library and told her friends that they were dating.”

            “Huh?” Heechul said, sounding interested.  “Really?”

            “Are you guys talking about Kyu’s new girlfriend?  That ’s all over school!  Everyone knows about it already,” he said, pulling out his cellphone and typing into i