Eighteen.

SEUNGHYUN

By the time we arrived at Olympus Taste, thank God Bom was bubbly again. Not that I didn’t want to see her being miserable, but I couldn’t take it when she’s in that state. And I’ll do whatever I can in my power to see her happy. Because when she is, my own is twofold.

We settled for the table in the corner adjacent to the glass wall. I had just slid myself on the chair across her when a waiter suddenly approached us.

“Bom?” The waiter said, regarding the woman in front of me with a blend of wonder and disbelief. “Oh my God, is that you?”

Bom looked up, grinning wide when she recognized him. “Yunho? Yunho!!!”

She must have forgotten that she couldn’t use her feet, she tried to stand up in an attempt to hug him. But the second she lifted her from her seat, she fell back, losing a little balance.

I quickly rose to my feet in my effort to save her. Annoyingly, the Yunho guy already did it for me. He held Bom’s arm and blocked her from falling off.

“Are you okay?” I asked the same time Yunho did.

Bom smiled sheepishly, her attention flitting from me to the waiter. “I’m okay. I just had completely forgotten that I couldn’t stand up.” Then she fixed her gaze on this Yunho. “I must have been so excited to see you, Romeo!”

Romeo? Oh, hell.

I pursed my lips. Needless to say, I was peeved.

“You still remember that, huh?” Yunho flashed an embarrassing smile to which Bom nodded to enthusiastically. “What happened to you?” he asked, removing his hold from her when he must have ascertained that she’s already acquired a steady gait. Thank you.

“I got into an accident,” she supplied.

“I’m sorry to hear that. So how have you been? It’s been what since we saw each other? Six years?”

Bom nodded slowly. “Yeah, six years. What are you doing here in Namwon?”

Yunho crossed his arms over his chest, seemingly growing comfortable with the conversation he’s having with Bom. “Just trying out my luck here,” he said. “Didn’t really find that back at home in Jeonju.”

Not meaning to be rude, but I was really hungry.

Okay, I wasn’t that hungry. I just wanted to break their conversation.

I cleared my throat.

Bom and Yunho abruptly snapped their heads to me. And boy, was I glad to know that I still exist to them.

“I’m sorry,” Bom said at once, “Yunho, this is Seunghyun—a friend of mine. Seunghyun this is Yunho—a classmate from high school.”

“Classmate?” Yunho looked disbelieved as his brows shot up to his forehead. “Rehearsing our lines for Romeo and Juliet for hours after school, going to the fair at the neighboring town instead of the prom…you honestly thought we were just classmates? I’m hurt, Juliet.” He clutched his chest to complete the act. “I’m deeply hurt.”

Oh, give me a bucket so I could throw up!

But Bom’s cheek reddened for a reaction. Is she blushing? Seriously? At this guy’s poor and lame attempt at sweet talk? Give me a ing break!

Again, not trying to be rude, but I needed to cut in. As far as I was concerned, Yunho is still a waiter and it’s in his job description to take orders, regardless if the customer was someone he knew from his past.

And God, this isn’t high school anymore, dude. You are not her Romeo and she’s certainly not your Juliet!

“I’m ready to order,” I said, really trying not to show in my voice that I was irritated by this unexpected reunion between two people who obviously shared more than just a classroom six years ago.

Nevertheless, I think the irritation manifested either way because Bom darted me a dumbfounded and puzzled look. And I felt guilty, realizing shortly that I didn’t have the right to be paranoid, impolite, and most of all, jealous.

Ah, but then you have all the right to be threatened, Seunghyun.

Before I could redeem my unwarranted behavior by apologizing, Yunho grabbed the pencil clipped behind his right ear and fished out a little notepad from his pocket.

“Right, man, I’m sorry,” he said the moment he turned to me, briefly studying me from head to toe before raising his chin up to flash me a very wide sarcastic grin. “I understand. You sure do need food.”

The ? What the hell his last comment supposed to mean?

I swore I could have thrown Yunho a hard punch that would yield an ugly blight on his face. Maybe that would make him realize that I didn’t need food as what he thought.

Couldn’t believe that he just managed to insult me, I had this very strong urge to show off all my credit cards to him. Let’s see who can buy more food between the two of us.

Then again, that is immature. Though that act would be justifiable, it wasn’t in my personality to brag. But you know what I can do? I can most definitely exchange his little insult with another insult. A much bigger one at that.

“Yeah, and you sure need to do your job because, you know, if you don’t, you’d have another month in your bills you won’t be able to pay.”

I returned the wide sarcastic grin to him, and oh, the look on his face.

Victory was mine.

Okay, maybe not. Bom struck me a dismayed, what-is-wrong-with-you expression. And I wish I could remind her that her jerk of a high school classmate was the one who started it. But I wasn’t able to. Because just as I was about to, she quickly flung her attention back to Yunho, giving him her order nicely.

“And you?” Yunho asked me afterwards.

I took a sudden, nervous glimpse at the menu, feeling a little idiotic that I was rushing to have my order taken yet I didn’t even know what to get in the first place.

“Zeus Banquet,” I said, taking a meal name randomly from the menu. I didn’t even know what that was. All the dishes were named after Greek gods and goddesses. But it made sense since the diner was called Olympus Taste. I didn’t bother asking Yunho what consisted Zeus Banquet because I wasn’t really in the mood to talk to him any further. In any case, the meal was named after the greatest god so it must be an excellent choice.

Yunho listed my order in his notepad, assured to be back in a few minutes with our food, and then walked away.

Bom remained silent, fiddling with her phone that magically turned up in her hold. I wondered if she was mad at me from the way I insulted her Romeo. But surely she had heard that it was him who insulted me first.

Ah, but what will I not do for her?

“I’m sorry,” I said.

Her eyes immediately lifted from her phone to meet mine. She stared at me for a few seconds, presumably weighing something in her mind. About what? I have no idea.

“It’s okay, Seunghyun,” she finally replied. “It wasn’t your fault.”

“So are you two—”

“No,” Bom swiftly refuted, straightening up on her seat. “But, almost.”

“What happened?”

“Senior year…I thought he really liked me. Until I secretly found out he was flirting with another girl the same time he was trying to pursue me.”

“Bastard.” The word slipped out of my mouth in a murmur but there was a clear bitterness to my voice.

What’s up with Bom attracting this kind of men?

“He never found out I knew,” she added. “I just started avoiding him until high school graduation. And it seemed as if he didn’t care because he never bothered to talk to me about it.” Then she waved a dismissive hand. “But it’s okay now. I mean that was all in the past.”

But with the way Bom slightly tilted her head to the side and looked at the edge of the table absentmindedly, I could tell it wasn’t okay.

“I’m just wondering,” she said out of the blue, “all the people I loved left me…there must be something wrong with me, right?”

Love me Bom, and I promise I’ll never leave you.

The words were in my throat, emotions pushing them to come out of my mouth.

And they were this close.

Until fear decided to take over and hold everything in.

“There’s nothing wrong with you, Bom,” I assured her. “And don’t worry. Someday, you’ll find that one person who will only live to be with you.”

Me.

~*~