“You did what?”

 

Choi Yeo-rin had her phone on speaker while her hand froze mid-action in applying mascara.

 

“I RSVP-ed for you,” the person on the other end spoke, “come on, every single year you find an excuse to not attend. It’s been 10 years. I think that’s long enough for what you’re running from.”

 

Yeo-rin sighed; it was never going to be “enough”.

 

“Besides, who’s to know? He might not even show up. You know I’ve been to every reunion since we started one, and he rarely attends.”

 

“I’ve to go to work. Bye.”

 

Yeo-rin ended the call before her friend could continue talking. Han Hye-jeong had been her first friend in high school. They lost contact when they went to different universities, but later reconnected on social media. So while Yeo-rin would consider Hye-jeong a good friend, she was a few steps shy from the “close friend” tag. Which also means Hye-jeong didn’t know Yeo-rin as well as she thought she did.

 

----

 

The high school reunion that Yeo-rin had been dreading for the past 3 weeks finally arrived. She did consider going AWOL on Hye-jeong, but it was as if her friend had expected that. She showed up at Yeo-rin’s apartment and announced she left her car at home so they’d have to go together.

 

When they stepped into the restaurant, Yeo-rin’s eyes automatically scanned the whole table. They were a bunch of somewhat familiar faces indeed, and at the absence of a particular someone had her relaxing almost instantly.

 

“See? I told you he probably won’t show up,” Hye-jeong said in a low voice.

 

Yeo-rin nodded and let her friend lead her to the table where their other acquaintances were waiting.

 

“Look who I brought!” Hye-jeong announced their arrival.

 

“Choi Yeo-rin! What a surprise!”

 

She remembered this guy. Cha Hakyeon. He used to be a student leader and topped every exam.

 

“Hi guys,” Yeo-rin greeted, “I’m going to be honest; I don’t really remember everyone so…”

 

Laughter erupted around the table.

 

“It’s okay, we all started out this way. Just sit back and have fun!”

 

True to Hakyeon’s words and with the aid of everyone’s stories, it didn’t take long for Yeo-rin to get acquainted with all her ex-schoolmates again.

 

“Today must really be special,” Hakyeon suddenly said while looking at his phone, “we’re having all the rare attendees.”

 

“Isn’t everyone already here? Who else—”

 

The figure walking towards their table was more than enough for everything around Yeo-rin to drown into nothingness. The very reason she avoided all these reunion sessions. And his eyes were locked onto hers the moment he entered the restaurant.

 

“Yah! Jung Taekwoon!”

 

He was welcomed with hugs and handshakes from everyone except Yeo-rin and Hye-jeong.

 

“You okay?” Hye-jeong whispered.

 

Yeo-rin didn’t have a chance to answer, because Taekwoon turned his attention to her.

 

“Hi, Yeo-rin. It’s been a long time,” he held out his hand.

 

She probably stared at him longer than she should have, judging by the small smirk playing on his lips.

 

“Hi, Taekwoon,” she forced a small smile, but didn’t take his hand.

 

He shrugged it off and took a seat beside Hakyeon after giving him a brotherly hug. Yeo-rin didn’t remember them being such good friends. Hakyeon was a model student, and Taekwoon was…quite the opposite.

 

“Who would’ve thought we would see Jung Taekwoon and Choi Yeo-rin together in the same setting again?”

 

“Oh! That’s right! They were the star couple!”

 

And that right there was exactly what Yeo-rin had been dreading since the day Hye-jeong informed her about the reunion. The reminder of their past status.

 

****

 

Yeo-rin met Taekwoon in their final year, when they were assigned to the same class. For the first half of the year, they were merely classmates who knew of each other’s existence and nothing more. They never talked at all. Things took a turn when the seating arrangement was switched up after the mid-term exams, and they became seatmates.

 

Taekwoon was a pretty popular kid back in school, with most of the girls harboring crushes on him. He would receive letters and gifts every single day. When the new seating arrangement was announced, Yeo-rin instantly became every girl’s enemy. Everywhere she went, most girls were always sending death glares her way. Yeo-rin ignored them, until some of the girls (who dared not talk to Taekwoon themselves) started approaching her to get her to relay messages or gifts to Taekwoon. She refused to, but those girls kept pestering her, so she finally confronted Taekwoon.

 

He was taking a nap at his desk when she kicked his chair to wake him.

 

“Yah, Jung Taekwoon. Do me a favor and go tell those silly fangirls of yours to stop pestering me for God’s sake!”

 

Taekwoon stretched lazily, accompanied with an obnoxious yawn, “what’s in it for me?”

 

“What?”

 

He stared at her, “if I “do you a favor”, what do I get in return?”

 

“What the hell?”

 

“No deal, then,” he rested his head on his arm again.

 

“Jerk,” she muttered under her breath and kicked his chair again, before stomping out of the classroom.

 

Except she was intercepted right at the door, by yet another one of Taekwoon’s admirers. Yeo-rin let out a frustrated sigh before the nervous looking girl could speak.

 

“He’s in there. Give it to him yourself.”

 

“B-But…”

 

“I am not your personal courier service!”

 

Yeo-rin felt a presence behind her, then an arm slung around her, then someone rested their chin on her shoulder. And then Taekwoon’s voice sounded right by her ear.

 

“Hey,” he spoke to the other girl, “if you have something for me, come find me yourself. Don’t bother our Rinnie anymore.”

 

Taken aback by his sudden action, it took Yeo-rin a moment before she came back to her senses and pushed the tall boy off her. His admirer stared at the both of them back and forth, until her eyes turned teary and she ran off without another word.

 

“Now you owe me one,” Taekwoon chuckled.

 

She spun around to face him, “what?”

 

“Well, I did you a favor,” he shrugged and sauntered out of the classroom, “and I get something in return. That was our deal, wasn’t it?”

 

“I didn’t even…Jung Taekwoon you idiot!” she yelled after him.

 

It was since that day that rumors about Taekwoon and Yeo-rin dating began circulating; that, and some more ridiculous ones. Yeo-rin was thankful for having Hye-jeong to fend off any nuisances, but there was just one person her friend couldn’t get rid of.

 

Not only did Taekwoon not bother to dispel the rumors, he even added fire to them by constantly being around her in and out of school. She ignored his presence to the best she could, but he never backed off. The final straw for Yeo-rin came when Taekwoon called out to her halfway across the field during lunch break, when most of the student body were out and about.

 

“Oi! Rinnie! Yeo-rin! Choi Yeo-rin!”

 

Like always, she ignored him.

 

“Choi Yeo-rin! Go on a date with me!”

 

Almost the entire field fell silent. Yeo-rin stopped dead in her tracks, turning to her friend with her eyes wide and mouth agape. Hye-jeong’s expression mirrored hers. When she recovered from the shock, she realized Taekwoon was heading towards her.

 

“Jung Taekwoon you crazy jerk,” she muttered and aimed a particularly hard kick to his shin when he came within range.

 

Yeo-rin sprinted away from the scene and headed towards the teachers’ room. Thankfully, their homeroom teacher was right where she hoped he would be.

 

“Mr. Park…”

 

“Oh, Yeo-rin? What’s up?”

 

“May I request to change seats please?”

 

“Why? Did something happen?”

 

She obviously couldn’t tell him the real reason.

 

“I…uh…I can’t see clearly from the back of the class, so…I’d like to move to the front…”

 

The teacher nodded, “okay, understood. Go pack your things first, I’ll come into class to do the switch once the bell rings.”

 

“Thank you, Mr. Park.”

 

Taekwoon wasn’t back in class even after the bell rang, but that was nothing unusual. Just as their teacher promised, she switched seats with a taller kid who was seated near the front. She had just settled in her new seat when Taekwoon returned.

 

“Ah, and Taekwoon is finally back,” their homeroom teacher acknowledged his presence, “as I was telling the class, there’s a minor change in seat assignment at the request of Choi Yeo-rin.”

 

Yeo-rin could feel the burn of his gaze, but she refused to look at him. The rest of the day went by rather peacefully. Then came the last bell that signaled school was over. Hye-jeong had a family appointment to go to, so she left without Yeo-rin.

 

“Choi Yeo-rin,” Taekwoon’s voice came from behind her.

 

Yeo-rin thought he sounded different from usual, but she wasn’t interested in finding out the reason. She zipped up her bag and moved to exit the room.

 

“Yah, Choi Yeo-rin!” Taekwoon grabbed her arm, his voice raised.

 

That made whoever was still in the classroom to turn their attention to the both of them. She sighed and turned to face him.

 

“What do you want, Taekwoon?”

 

He opened his mouth to say something, but hesitated. That was highly unusual, Yeo-rin thought. If she knew anything about Jung Taekwoon, it was that he never hesitated to say what he wanted to.