Nine
Ironic Bind“Guys, this afternoon’s class is postponed!” Soojung, Hyun Ae’s coursemate in Computing, announced. “Mrs Lee is having an appointment later. Keep yourself updated on the replacement class!”
The rest of the class rejoiced at the announcement; it meant that they would have a free afternoon. Most of them exited the lecture theatre happily with their own circles of friends, discussing what they should do to spend the free afternoon slots.
A few students invited Hyun Ae if she wanted to join their impromptu outing but she politely declined, saying that she had errands to do.
In truth, she did not have errands to do. In truth, she wanted some space to herself.
The lecture theatre was scheduled to be used by other course’s students, so she could not stay there for long. She decided to go to the university’s cafeteria. The cafeteria was noticeably more vacant than usual. A few stalls in the cafeteria were already closed for operations because most courses already had their semester break. Hyun Ae’s courses would follow suit in two weeks.
After finding herself a seat near a standing fan, she pulled out her blue notebook. She gazed at the book and landed her eyes on a binder clip that bound a few pages of the book. Those few pages were almost towards the fresh pages. Her fingers quickly flipped past the bound pages and onto a fresh new one. She pulled out her ballpoint pen and wrote the date. Tuesday, 15th July 2014.
The ballpoint pen made its way to the next line, Hyun Ae’s fingers were ready to write down anything that she could think of.
One minute.
Two minutes.
A few minutes had passed, but the tip of the ballpoint pen stayed hovering over the new page, never forming any writings on it.
Hyun Ae let out a huge sigh.
She pressed the power button on her smartphone to look at the time. 2:47 P.M.
Her right hand fiddled with her handphone, while her mind wandered aimlessly.
It was Tuesday. The day that Hyun Ae and Ricky saw each other every week.
Only this time, it would be the first time that Hyun Ae would see Ricky after the incident.
She sighed, again. ‘But I’m not ready to see him...’
Her mind wandered to a few nights prior. The night where she stomped angrily into her bedroom.
*****
Hyun Ae had woken up in the middle of the night. She had gone to sleep with only her towel, showing that she was not bothered to get changed into pyjamas. Even her wet hair was not dried, consequently dampening her pillow.
Though she felt that she was getting calmer, her head still felt painful with the previous evening’s mess.
She got up to get dressed into a light pair of pyjamas. She went out into the corridor of her apartment and picked up her bags. After she slung her totebag and the bag containing the mint-green cardigan on her shoulders, she placed her shoes properly on the shoe racks. She did not forget about the lid of the toothpaste tube in the bathroom. She picked it up, washed it lightly at the sink, before twisting the lid on the toothpaste tube.
Then, Hyun Ae headed back into her bedroom to place the bags. She noticed the popcorn tub that she brought home. She remembered that she wanted to have the popcorn as a late-night snack, but taking into account that it had stayed on the floor overnight, she decided to throw it away. Hyun Ae was aware that it was a waste of food. Hyun Ae never wasted food, but she did not feel like having any of them.
It felt like a constant reminder of what turned her to be like the previous night.
She then turned her body to the rack of clothes in the kitchen-living room area. She sighed slightly at the view, her mind still felt like it was a chore. But she forced herself to fold the clothes anyway. After a few minutes, Hyun Ae stepped into her bedroom again, this time with a mount of clothes in her hands. She placed them into her wardrobe compartments.
After lightly scanning that everything was in place, she reached for her smartphone. She purposely did not touch her phone right away after she got up; she felt like she needed to calm down first.
Hyun Ae took light breaths. Slowly, she the screen by pressing the power button, bracing herself for what she was about to see, or read.
No messages were received from a particular person.
No missed calls from the said person.
Nothing.
*****
Ricky had not apologized for what happened that night.
Somehow, Hyun Ae felt embarrassed.
‘Could it be that I was misinterpreting the notes? Was I overreacting?’
Back at the cafeteria, Hyun Ae thought long and hard about seeing Ricky when he picked her up later. Honestly, she was afraid that the meeting would be awkward. What if she really misunderstood the situation?
Despite being curious about the notes, Hyun Ae never contemplated to confronting Ricky about them. And also her phone call with his Mum.
She was also sure that neither of them wanted to go through such stifling silence once more. She was already bad at hiding her emotions. If she felt upset, she would stay quiet, but her facial expressions and body gestures would reflect her feelings.
“Hyun Ae-yah, hi!”
The addressed girl slightly jolted from the greeting, and from being snapped from her thoughts as well.
A lady, who always wore a scarf no matter which season it was, was standing at the side of Hyun Ae’s bench. Even that day, she looked especially sweet when she donned a floral pattern scarf, which she had styled loosely around her neck.
The said lady was Soojung.
“Oops, sorry,” she apologized when she saw Hyun Ae jolting. After making sure that Hyun Ae was fine, she asked, “May I...?” letting her voice trail off while gesturing her hand towards the vacant seat in front of Hyun Ae, asking for permission to sit together.
“Sure, sure,” Hyun Ae responded, making some space on the table so that her coursemate could occupy the seat.
Soojung let out a chirpy ‘thanks’. As she made herself comfortable on the seat, she slightly peeked at Hyun Ae’s notebook. “Are you still searching for summer part-time jobs? That’s what you said last time.”
“Ah, yes. I haven’t decided on one yet.” Hyun Ae answered sheepishly. “What are you planning to do during the summer break, Soojung-ah?”
“My high school friends are bringing me along for a vacation. But I don’t think I’m joining. I’ve enrolled in a volunteering club outside the uni!”
Hyun Ae smiled in awe. It was a well-known fact that Soojung was an advocate for volunteering campaigns. Even as a fellow volunteer, Hyun Ae could not help but applaud Soojung’s dedication. It crossed Hyun Ae’s mind that she could also be at Soojung’s level, but she decided to tone it down during her first semester at the university, considering the transitions in her life.
Her relationship with Ricky was one of them.
“Hyun Ae-yah,” Soojung carefully spoke, to catch Hyun Ae’s attention. “I know I’ve been asking a lot of help from you. But I don’t think I can find anyone else.”
Hyun Ae had heard similar intros countlessly, and they usually led to requests for help. Hyun Ae usually accepted such requests, hence she was dubbed as the easygoing one among her coursemates.
“You’ve heard about the cleaning campaign that we’re organizing this Friday, right? It’s under Professor Oh’s supervision. One of our committee members had to opt out due to an emergency, and it’s going to stretch for long, might be until the summer break.
“I’m asking if you could join us...? We’ll give the lightest task to you; just the attendance part. But we would need you for the preparations until Friday.”
Hyun Ae could tell that Soojung genuinely felt guilty about asking for help, more so at such late notice.
But, unlike Soojung who felt guilty, Hyun Ae felt like she had seen a ray of light at the end of a dark tunnel. The burden that she had been shouldering since the night of the notes incident was lifted up.
Accepting Soojung’s offer would mean that Hyun Ae would not have to see Ricky, at least until after Friday.
Hyun Ae did not wait for a second to express her acceptance. “Yes, I can help.”
Soojung gasped in delight. “Thank you so much, Hyun Ae-yah!” Soojung was so grateful that she immediately grasped Hyun Ae’s hands. “I really can’t think of anyone else. You’re so efficient at working in this field, so you’re the only one I thought about.”
Hyun Ae managed a small smile. ‘Thank you too, Soojung-ah. At least I can escape from seeing my own boyfriend.’
“Let me know on what to do,” said Hyun Ae.
“Yes, of course. We’re having a meeting at half-past three. I’ll let you know where the venue will be. As for now, I can brief you on the general flow of the event. Let me get my notebook first.”
As Soojung got ready to brief Hyun Ae on the cleaning campaign, Hyun Ae took advantage of the pause to leave a text to Ricky.
‘Oppa, Professor Oh’s going to need me for some kind of event preparation later. So you don’t have to pick me up today. Have a safe trip back home.’
******
Friday had come. It was the day of the cleaning campaign.
As promised by Soojung, Hyun Ae’s task on that day was only to take attendance of the participants. The attendance-taking committee consisted of five people – Hyun Ae included. Each committee member sat with a table in front of them, also sitting under the shade of a huge tent. A list of pre-registered participants was already prepared. Each participant who came would be required to leave their signature at the provided column on the registration paper, confirming their attendance. After the attendance, participants would be ushered to the assembly area where they would be briefed on what to do during the whole event. Participants were among university students, particularly in the region. After the event, each participant will be given a certificate that could contribute to their co-curriculum assessment marks.
At the peak of the pre-event, the attendance-taking area was gradually swarmed by participants. Most of them came in groups or pairs, but there were also some who came alone. The area became noisy with chit-chats. Despite the growing noise, Hyun Ae kept her smile and politely guided the participants on what to do during and after confirming their attendance.
At a point, a group of four female students came forward to Hyun Ae’s table. They took turns to search for their names on the list before initialling their signature at the column provided. First, a lady in a high ponytail, followed by a short-haired lady, and lastly, the remaining two with small, sling bags. The first one was quick to find her name and left her signature. However, she was noticeably agitated; she kept looking at her phone and tsk-ed endlessly. From her appearance itself, despite wearing the same shirt as everyone else, anyone could tell that she was the leader of the group. She took charge.
As the two females with sling bags were crouching down to search for their names in the registration list, the leader of the group kept having her phone on her ear.
“I cannot reach her!” Her voice could be heard by Hyun Ae over the noise. “Has she answered your call? How about your text to her?” the lady with the high ponytail asked her short-haired friend as she impatiently tapped the latter on her shoulder.
The addressed friend promptly checked her phone and shook her head. The leader of the group sighed again. Her phone seemed to be glued to her ear, ringing the same number over and over again.
Despite the speed of the high-ponytailed lady when she initialled her name on the attendance paper earlier, Hyun Ae could still see her name and it had left Hyun Ae in awe. The girl had a rare family name. Not only was it rare, but it also had two syllables. The said girl was from a family of Jaegar. Her name was Jaegar Yeojin.
Noticing Yeojin’s agitated state, Hyun Ae also realized that the two girls with sling bags took their time to search for their names. As if they were stalling some time to wait for something.
Or, for someone, to be exact.
Hyun Ae looked at the line behind the four ladies. It was getting longer, but thankfully, the rest of the line were ushered to other lines that were less crowded than hers. Nonetheless, when Hyun Ae felt that it was necessary to urge the two ladies to quicken their search, a feminine figure rushed towards the group, while panting heavily.
Yeojin noticed her.
“Hey, what took you so long?” The leader of the group frowned, clearly displeased by the tardiness of the lady who just appeared. As Yeojin put her phone inside her bag, she tapped her two friends’ shoulders, signalling that they should stop their acts of stalling the time. Yeojin then lightly pushed their newly-appeared friend forward. “Look for your name and sign at the column beside it.”
The addressed lady grabbed the pen that was provided and hurriedly searched for her name on every page of the attendance sheet.
Hyun Ae – having fondness on hands – naturally looked at the hands of the lady who was crouched in front of her. ‘Wow, she has pretty hands,’ she complimented. She could tell that the lady took great care of her hands and fingers.
However, she spotted an odd thing on the girl’s hands. Only the nail of her right index finger was painted, and there was also an attempt to scrape the paint off.
When the girl was busy searching for her name, Yeojin placed herself beside her and spoke to the latter in a low, but stern voice. “You know, we’ve waited for you for thirty minutes. Thirty freaking minutes. Where were you, Ri? I’ve told you to come much earlier. When are you going to change? We’re not in high school anymore. Grow up.”
The lady called Ri twitched her lips in annoyance. Then she took a quick glance at Hyun Ae. Even though her other friends did not hear what the group’s leader said, Ri knew that Hyun Ae was in the hearing range and could hear everything. It was obvious that Ri was not amused at being scolded in front of Hyun Ae, who was a stranger to her.
Yeojin was about to step away when she noticed something on Ri’s nail – the same thing that Hyun Ae spotted. Yeojin’s fingers were quick to pinch Ri’s index finger. “Were you late because you were painting your nails!?” she angrily asked. Her voice was kept low still, although it sounded sterner than before. The group’s leader did not wait for Ri’s answer, however. She breathed hard and let out a long sigh. “Urgh, forget it.”
Fortunately, the scolding stopped there. Yeojin left Ri’s side to join the other three friends.
After making sure that the high-ponytailed lady was out of hearing range, Ri let out a quiet, annoyed ‘tsk’. Then she murmured in a low voice, “As if I want to join this thing in the first place.”
Despite the noise in the attendance area, Hyun Ae could catch the quiet complaint. But she paid no heed to the matter, seeing that it was a common drama within a group of friends.
Realizing that Ri took a long time to search for her name, which was majorly caused by the scolding, Hyun Ae decided to help her.
“You might have missed it. I can help look for it. What’s your name?”
The girl sharply sighed, clearly giving up on looking her own name. Handing the registration papers back to Hyun Ae to accept the latter’s help, she muttered her name.
“Park Aeri.”
[A / N]:
Hey guys, I'm back! I miss writing and I'm deeply sorry for underestimating my workload in November. Nevertheless, the 9th chapter is up! And I never thought it would be up on the first day of 2022 lol, but then again, here it is, whee!
A little backstory for the 'Jaegar' family name, I came across the name in a Running Man episode, and I figure that I should use it for it to be memorable and easier for Hyun Ae to pick up.
Kindly look forward to the next chapters! Pst, there will be more appearances.
01 January 2022, 18:00 GMT+8
[29.10.2021]
I just finished looking at the previous chapters and made a few additions and changes. I'm having a brief hiatus soon, but I'll try my best to post at least a chapter before November ends.
I just finished looking at the previous chapters and made a few additions and changes. I'm having a brief hiatus soon, but I'll try my best to post at least a chapter before November ends.
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