Still With You [3/?] - A Call (or Calls)

Authosr's Notes: I included the “cyworld similarities” pointed out in this article: bumsso. wordpress. com/ trivia

This is a series of calls, with the last one seemingly a prequel to the first chapter. I'm really sorry if the chapters of this story do not happen chronologically. I'll probably make the events in order now, starting with the next chapter.

...

“I saw your cyworld today.”

“You always see my cyworld.”

“'Have fun in New York'?” he barked into the phone. “Really?”

“What?” she asked feigning innocence. “Jung Il Woo's flight to New York is this morning.”

“Kim So Eun, very sneaky,” he said with a tsk, trying to contain the fact that he was pleased. “So you didn't mean me?”

“No, of course not,” she said animatedly. “Where are you now, anyway?”

He decided two can play this game. “Oh, I thought you knew,” he said, faking surprise. “I'm in New York too.”

“Oh! You're in New York!” she exclaimed, slightly laughing. Her tone turned to being worried dramatically, much too dramatically. “But... Bum-ah, what will they say?”

He laughed. “You haven't thought about that?”

“No.”

“Well,” he scoffed. “I don't care what they say. Do you?”

The teasing was over, she realized. It was an honest question, so she gave him her honest answer.

“I meant what I put there, you know,” she spoke sincerely. “Have fun in New York, Bum-ah.”

“It would've been better if you were here, you know.”

She smiled. “I'll hang up now. Bye.”

“So Eun-ah, wait― ”

Beep. Beep. Beep.

…

“Why weren't you in school this afternoon?” he demanded.

“Oh, you're my boyfriend and you don't know?” she said, an attempt at banter with him. “What kind of boyfriend are you?”

He didn't find it funny at all.

“I should be asking you that question. You're my girlfriend and you didn't even tell me!” he bellowed. “But you actually had the time to text Go Ara, who is not your boyfriend, that you have to ditch your afternoon classes because you have dysmennorhea.”

“What is this all about?” she asked, lines of playful teasing draining from her mind. “Go Ara is a friend. Of course, she deserves to know.”

“And I don't?”

She took a deep breath. “I forgot ―”

“You forgot! Hah!” he was almost yelling. “How could you forget! Didn't you realize how worried I was, not knowing where you were or what happened to you?”

She sighed, sounding defeated. “This was what I was thinking about.”

“What? What were you thinking about?”

“That you'd be paranoid! It's just dysmennorhea. It's nothing. You're fussing too much about something so ― aw!”

It was like a sudden sharp stab to her abdomen. The pain came out of nowhere, and it took her offguard. She tried so hard to stifle the groan that came out of her afterwards.

“What was that?”

“It's just the cat, Hershey. He bit my toe. But it's okay, he does it all the time.”

A pause. “You're not a very good liar.”

“It's nothing, okay? Stop ―”

Beep. Beep. Beep. He hung up.

Less than twenty minutes later, he arrived at her apartment.

...

“Why didn't you tell me?”

“Tell you what?”

“You didn't tell me about the assignment,” she accused him.

“Oh, that.” His hand went up to scratch his hair. “It's due next week. You have plenty of time.”

“One week is definitely not plenty of time,” she said bitingly. “Especially for people who care about their studies, who care about their future, who care about themselves...”

“I know. I know,” he cut in. “You think I don't care —”

“You don't, apparently.”

“Hey!” he sounded a bit offended. “Believe me, I'd wanted to tell you sooner, but then you'll tire yourself again.”

She was taken aback by his unusual way of showing her that he cared. Still she can't not be mad at him. “In order to get good grades,” she pointed out, “you have to tire yourself.”

“No, no, no. Look,” he protested. “You need rest. You just had dysmennorhea. You can't overwork yourself.” He seemed to ponder on a thought. “Actually,” he paused, “I finished the problem set last weekend. If you want I can let you copy mine...”

The suggestion just made her furious. “I'M NEVER GOING TO COPY FROM YOU, KIM SANG BUM!”

Beep. Beep. Beep.

…

“I hate being gone for weeks at a time,” he whined.

She yawned. It was 3 A.M. in Seoul. “I know. Me too.”

“I miss you.”

“I know. Me too.”

“You're saying the same thing over again.”

“I know. Me too.”

“Kim So Eun...”

“Kim Sang Bum...”

“I really do miss you,” he said. “It's kind of annoying here sometimes―”

Beep. Beep. Beep.

He laughed. Maybe hearing her was enough to cheer him up.

…

“So Eun-ah, I have to cancel,” he practically murmured into the receiver.

“But it's The Avengers,” she said with a pout. “It's my favorite. You have to watch it with me.”

“I know, I know,” he sighed. “But I have a pictorial on that day, and I'll be busy doing stuff for my uncle on the next day...”

“It's okay,” she chirped. “I'll just have to watch it with Junho then! He asked me last week if I could go watch it with him, but I declined because we're supposed to watch it together ―”

“Wait, what?” he cut in.

“What?”

“Junho asked you to watch it with him?”

“Yes,” she answered. “It's okay, right?”

“Wait, let me think. Err ―” he mumbled, “will you be free next week?”

She paused. “I suppose so. Why?”

“I'm free by then. Let's watch it together.”

“But you just said ―”

“I'll be there next week. Can you wait for me? It's just a week, So Eun-ah,” he pleaded.

“O-okay.”

“I love you,” he said. “But I have to go now. I'll see you next week, okay?”

She nodded, forgetting he couldn't see her. “I love you too.”

Beep. Beep. Beep.