Work Text:
Sunday, November 11, 2001
The steel handle to the library’s main entrance was cold to the touch. Haeun quickly swung the door open and slightly bowed at the sight of Ms. Seong, the librarian who sat dutifully behind the help desk. Rubbing her cold hands together, she approached the older woman with a pained smile.
“Room 305,” Haeun whispered, sticking her hands in the pockets of her varsity jacket as she waited for the woman to retrieve the key. Her eyes wandered until she found an analog clock, 10:58, she was two minutes early. She gazed at the crowd of students quietly gathered yet spread out among the various desks and seats. Their heads were either deep in their textbooks or whispering in another's ear. A large gray stone fireplace caught her eye as a few embers crackled in the air emitting a comforting sound. Engraved in the stone were the university’s crest and motto, a sight that Haeun had seen countless times along her many walks to the library.
“Here you are,” Ms. Seong muttered under her breath and delicately placed the key on the counter with a wrinkled hand.
“Thank you,” Haeun quickly said as she swiped the keys and pocketed them. Rounding the corner, she made her way toward the elevator. Covering her hands with her sleeves, she pressed the button with a clothed knuckle and waited for a few moments. The elevator let out a ding, and the doors gradually opened. Haeun hastily stepped aside to allow a pair of professors deep in their own conversation to exit. She recognized her International Family Law professor and offered a small wave as he began to pass the elevator’s threshold. He swiftly gave her an acknowledging nod in her direction before continuing on. Finally, she stepped onto the elevator, and she watched the button for the 3rd floor faintly glow among the panel of buttons as she pressed it.
As the doors began to close, a small voice began to call out in a whispered shout, “Wait, wait!” A mittened hand stuck itself between the almost closed elevator doors. The mechanical doors sputtered a bit before reopening and revealing a familiar face. Her closest friend, Dan Sook, stood out of breath and flushed before her.
“Sookie, come here,” Haeun uttered, and her friend swiftly obeyed. Haeun began to fix her flyaways and smoothed down her shoulder-length fringed hair. "Perfect," she said as she made a final adjustment and admired her work.
“What would I do without you?” Sook beamed brightly at Haeun as she cupped one of her rosy cheeks. The elevator upwardly accelerated, and Haeun pinched the chubby flesh on the side of her face. She swore it was as soft and warm as a freshly-baked loaf of bread, and it sprung back from her touch. Cute, Haeun thought to herself and clasped her hands together in an idle attempt to warm them. “I have something for you!” Sook remembered as she reached into her bag.
“Oh? But we promised not to get anything for each other today,” Haeun looked skeptically at Sook. After rummaging through the clutter of the large bag that hung at her hip, she finally withdrew a thin red box of Lotte’s Pepero.
“The originals were on sale today, so it was only ₩550.”
“But I haven’t gotten you anything,” Haeun began to trail off as she took the box and examined it thoughtfully.
“Ahh, no worries.” Sook waved her off, “My boyfriend gave me a whole bunch of boxes this morning. My father was mortified when he saw Jaehwa outside our front door with a teddy bear as tall as my little sister.” She indicated how tall the teddy bear was with her hand, placing it flush with her waist.
“That’s so sweet of him,” Haeun tried to act sincere, yet the twinges of jealousy began to gnaw at her. Despite being older than Sook, Haeun had never been in a relationship, yet she liked to think that it wasn’t for a lack of trying. There had simply been no time. Between studying for finals and the daunting, inevitable bar exam, the notion of a relationship seemed far-fetched at best to her, yet that never put an end to her yearning for a relationship. It seemed like everyone had coupled up and left Haeun to fend for herself as the perpetual third wheel.
Dejectedly, Haeun put away the box in her own bag, and Sook could tell that Haeun began to spiral into her own thoughts beside her and felt the urge to encourage her, “You’ll find someone someday. I just know it.” Before Haeun could protest her, the elevator slowed to a halt, and its doors slowly opened.
In between the many rows of bookshelves, a long aisle stretched to the far end of the opposite wall and was a straight shot to the study room she had reserved. Beside the door, Myungseok leaned against the wall in a long black puffer coat and a Black Watch tartan scarf, which was neatly wrapped around his neck.
It was as if the air had been sucked out of Haeun’s lungs from the mere sight of him. Even under the harsh fluorescents and distance, he appeared as the light at the end of a tunnel. Calmly engrossed in the textbook he held in his hand, Haeun squinted her eyes to read the cover and recognized it as she carefully inched out of the elevator. Design of Negotiations and Transactions, she read to herself as she examined the bold letters. She was frozen in disbelief and didn't expect he would actually show up.
“I didn’t know you invited him,” Sook whispered and waggled her eyebrows suggestively. “Don’t you have a cru—“ Haeun cut her off with a light nudge, yet her friend, who has always had a flare for dramatics, pretended to lose her footing. However, as Sook continued, she found herself starting to fall. Haeun immediately reached out to grab her arm and balance her, dragging her upright as she let out a squeak.
Amidst the commotion, Haeun’s eyes suddenly met with Myungseok’s. His eyes peered above his glasses, which sat low on the tip of his nose. As he caught sight of her, he instinctively shut the book and used his forefinger to push his glasses up along the bridge of his nose. There was a subtle hint of amusement that tugged at the corners of his lips, and she felt comforted by the sight. With her lack of interest in relationships, she couldn’t deny the strange feeling she felt each time she saw him. She had always admired him as her peer. Someone who was fiercely passionate about law, the top of his class, yet always seemed to avoid her whenever she tried to approach him.
Haeun had Kwon Chul to thank, she recalled how she had asked him to ask Myungseok to join their study group. Noticing that Chul and Myungseok had grown closer as the semester progressed, she figured it was better than trying to approach him herself. However, she didn’t expect him to show up at all let alone earlier than the time she scheduled.
Trying to dispel the memory and pressing forward, she ignored Sook's stifled giggles and averted Myungseok’s patient gaze. She soon faced the door to the study room. Taking a deep breath and retrieving the key from her pocket, her eyes suddenly widened. His cologne. She tried not to be noticeably surprised by his smooth, herbal yet smoky scent, yet she found herself confounded by the key not going into the lock.
“Just my luck,” Haeun muttered to herself as she tried to jam the key, and in her movements, it slipped out of her hands. Flustered, she began to apologize.
“Allow me,” Myungseok offered as he knelt down to pick up the key, yet simultaneously Haeun refused his help and attempted to grab it herself. Warmth. She found his hand was impossibly warm as she found her own hand on top of his. As she realized she had begun to linger, she abruptly took back her own hand. Separating themselves from each other, he rose to unlock the door.
With ease, he pushed open the door and entered, and soon after Sook rushed past Haeun to take a seat. Sighing, Haeun twisted the key loose from the lock and pocketed it, yet she was filled with a new sense of determination as she looked out at the floor-to-ceiling window that was behind where Myungseok decided to sit. She was comforted by the view of a small lake in the center of a neighboring park and the few surrounding trees that softly swayed against the wind.
There were three seats on each side of a long wooden table, and Haeun noticed that Sook took the seat furthest from Myungseok. She observed him as he draped his puffer coat and place his messenger bag in the seat beside him. Sook gave Haeun a knowing grin as she started to weigh her options. The idea of sitting across or diagonally from him made her feel uneasy, so she began to walk past Sook to take the seat across from her.
As she sat, Myungseok took the liberty of erasing the remaining scribbles on the chalkboard from the previous study group. Haeun began to unpack her notes and textbook from her bag, and from beneath the table, Sook tapped the tip of her shoe against Haeun’s leg and gestured her head towards Myungseok. Haeun had not bothered to glance in his direction since entering the room until now and couldn’t help but admire how he looked in his white long-sleeved collared shirt. And the way the dark blue neck of his tie matched the trousers he wore, which hugged his figure nicely. She had found herself momentarily hypnotized by the way the tip of his tie swayed to and fro with his smooth movements. Even from behind, Haeun found herself admiring him.
A smirk was soon plastered across Sook’s face and she began to tease her. Mimicking cupid, Sook drew her imaginary bow and aimed it toward Myungseok's back. Annoyed, Haeun forcefully tapped at Sook’s shin and caused Sook to burst into a wild fit of laughter. Clutching her leg and feigning injury, Myungseok turned in confusion.
“Are you okay?” He asked out of principle.
“Of course.” Sook continued to apply pressure to her leg. “It’s just cramps from the walk here.”
“What’s funny about that?” Myungseok’s brows furrowed.
“Oh, nothing,” Sook glanced at Haeun, “Right, Haeun?”
Nervously looking between the two, Haeun forced a laugh, and the creases between Myungseok’s brows deepened. He turned his back to them and began to write out a list of the topics for the exam they would study for. Haeun rested her arms on the table and let her head fall onto them.
Sook noisily leaned over the table, causing her chair to creak unpleasantly. “I’ve never seen you like this,” she whispered, “It’s cute.”
Haeun began to feel pangs of regret. This was a mistake.
-
Their heads perked up at the sudden, loud knocking at the door. It was familiar, a pattern Haeun knew well. Miyoung and Chul fit their faces through the small glass window of the door and brightly smiled at the group. Sook was the first to stand up to open the door.
“Sorry for being late!” Miyoung had a sweet, naturally high-pitched voice, yet whenever she was apologetic, her voice somehow would go an octave higher. Reaching into her bag and checking over each of her shoulders, she pulled out a 6 pack of Binggrae’s banana milk. “Don’t tell, Ms. Seong!” Chul grabbed two of the banana milk drinks as Miyoung began to excitedly wave at Haeun. Sitting next to Sook, they were eager to catch up with each other.
“What did we miss?” Chul asked Myungseok as he slid into the seat in front of him and placed his and Myungseok’s drink on the table.
“We've been dividing topics,” Myungseok replied, flipping a page with his eyes trained on his textbook. “We’ll start with covering each type of renegotiation. Which one do you want to cover?”
“Well,” Chul paused and passively rubbed at the back of his neck in contemplation, “I should pick what I’m not best at, so I guess that means postdeal renegotiation?”
Haeun suddenly perked up at his words. “That means you’ll be working with me.”
“And… you?” Myungseok turned to Miyoung.
She giggled to herself and glanced over at Chul, exchanging a knowing look, “Definitely intradeal renegotiations.” Chul grinned at her response, and they continued to share wordless yet meaningful looks as they must have been reminiscing on a memory only privy between the two of them. Haeun watched curiously, wondering what it must feel like to share something that appeared meaningless to her yet so meaningful between them.
“You’re with me!” Sook exclaimed.
Miyoung and Haeun switched seats, and Haeun found herself sipping on her drink as she mindlessly chewed her straw. Scanning over her class notes and comparing them to the textbook, she tried to mentally rehearse how she would teach it to the others and felt a wave of anxiety wash over her. Overwhelmed, she looked at Myungseok and she felt her nerves subside. He had an indescribable calming aura to him, and it somehow grounded her in reality each time she could look at him.
Suddenly, Chul reached over to grab the drink from her. “That’s a bad habit, you know,” Chul observed in a low voice as he pointed at the chewed-up straw.
“I have worse habits,” Haeun retorted as she grabbed the drink back.
His eyes flickered over to Myungseok, “Oh, I know.” Haeun's face immediately felt hot. How?
“When Miyoung told me,” Chul whispered in Haeun’s ear, his breath felt uncomfortably warm against her ear, “I didn’t believe her at first, but now that I know, I can’t believe I never noticed it before. You’re so obvious.” Haeun shoved him back in his seat at this and he chuckled.
“I take it that you two are ready?” Myungseok said, yet there was an icy sternness in his expression, and it was directed toward Chul.
“Oh, um,” Haeun looked over at Chul, and he gave her a shrug, “We can be.”
-
Each pair presented for ten minutes, and Myungseok presented on extradeal renegotiations for twenty minutes. He spoke concisely. As if he was a real professor, explaining each of its implications, yet each time his eyes fell on Haeun, he would almost instantly look away and focus on his scribbles on the chalkboard.
“Wow, Myungseok, you’re almost as boring as Professor Son in his Roman Law class,” Chul said as he sipped on his 2nd banana milk drink.
“Honey, be nice,” Miyoung pleaded. “Myungseok, you did great.” Despite her best attempt at concealing it, she let out a yawn, “Very thorough.”
“I didn’t think it was boring at all,” Haeun added. All eyes turned to her, and she tried to ignore her friends' smirking faces. “We’ll all be attorneys someday, and it’s very important to be knowledgeable on these sorts of things and to be detail-oriented.”
Chul clasped his hands together. “So, what’s the next topic?”
Myungseok seemed as if he was in a daze and cleared his throat. “The agents in the next section I believe.” He turned to erase the board to hide his smile at Haeun’s praise, and the tips of his ears instantly turned a deep shade of red. Haeun had been too preoccupied with turning to that section of the chapter to notice.
An hour had gone by, and they had almost covered the entirety of the chapter they were going to be quizzed on the following day. There was an hour left of their reservation. Returning to their original seats, Sook and Haeun were compiling their notes on ombuds.
“Sookie, do you want to cover the functions of ombudsman?” Haeun asked as she jotted down a few talking points, yet her friend across from her didn’t reply. With a hand on her stomach, Sook let out a little whine.
“I’m feeling a bit hungry, Haeun,” Sook whined. “I didn’t get a chance to eat breakfast this morning.” Haeun finally looked up at her, Sook’s eyes had been squeezed shut, yet one of her eyes opened to check if Haeun had been paying attention to her.
“We always meet at this time, every other Sunday, how could you have forgotten? You always have breakfast. You insisted it's your favorite meal of the day.”
“Ahhh, Haeunie,” Sook pouted, trying her hardest to act cute while rubbing her stomach. Haeun rolled her eyes, not from annoyance but from how horrible Sook was at lying, and she nodded slowly.
“Go,” Haeun instructed as she motioned for her to leave, “and say hi to Jaehwa for me.” Sook rose from her seat and began to thank her, going as far as bowing at a full 90 degrees.
“Fighting,” Sook muttered under her breath and hurriedly gathered her things. Haeun eyed her suspiciously as she noticed her tapping on Miyoung’s shoulder before leaving. She sensed a scheme brewing yet refocused her attention on compiling her notes.
Once Haeun finished explaining each of the four main functions of the ACRC, Miyoung nudged at Chul, and he immediately straightened his posture.
“Oh, Haeun, I just remembered,” Chul began to stutter as he turned to Miyoung. “I signed up Miyoung and me for this bouquet-making class today.” He looked at his girlfriend as if he was trying to get a confirmation for what he was saying, and she smiled encouragingly at him.
“Yes, of course,” Miyoung proudly insisted, looking between Myungseok’s neutral face to Haeun’s panicked eyes. “But please, continue studying without us.”
Even as they rushed out, Miyoung couldn’t stop herself from peering in the door’s small window, only to be dragged away by Chul.
Silently, Haeun returned to her seat. Playing with the corners of the pages of her notebook, she tried to take her mind off the fact that she was alone in a room with Myungseok. “Sorry about my friends. They don’t usually leave in the middle of our study groups.” She didn’t bother turning to look at him as she spoke out of embarrassment. “I don’t know what’s gotten into them lately,” she trailed off.
“We still have time, so…” Myungseok began to make a suggestion as he kept a watchful eye on the clock, “How about we try recalling everything from memory?” He stood and began to erase the board and scribbled ‘Advantages’ and ‘Disadvantages’ on each side.
Hesitantly, Haeun went to the board and stood beside him. Picking up a piece of chalk from the aluminum tray, she stood on the side for advantages. “What’s the topic?” She asked, averting her gaze from him.
“How about arbitration?” Myungseok proposed, and Haeun began to write down each advantage as they came to her. Beside her, he started to jot down the disadvantages in a neat bulleted list. After a few moments, he stepped back and covered his lips with his fingers in contemplation. Haeun peeked at his list and noticed he had one more disadvantage left. Racking her brain, she tried to recall the last disadvantage.
“Oh! I remember,” Haeun exclaimed and walked to his side of the board. “The decision-acceptance effect,” she said as she wrote each character under his list.
“Good,” He muttered, and she became acutely aware of his presence behind her. His once soft breathing had become uneven, and she turned to face him. Craning her neck a bit due to his height, she looked into his eyes. She could sense there was something troubled behind his gaze. “I want to,” He began to stutter, “I want to tell you something.”
She furrowed her brows, confused as to what he could possibly need to tell her, for someone who had fiercely avoided her since she first saw him. “About what?” She asked, playing with the short piece of chalk between her fingers.
He leaned in closer to her, “For a while now, my mind has been cluttered with many thoughts.” His scent filled her nose, and she could sense the subtle notes of lavender and amber amidst the smokiness.
“What thoughts have you been having?” She asked innocently. “Thoughts about law? You know if you wanted me to give you time and answer that last disadvantage, you could’ve told me.” Her nerves had begun to spike and she began to talk at a faster pace.
“Not that, it’s-” He started to say, yet a knock at the door interrupted him. Immediately, he distanced himself from her and turned her attention toward the small group of people huddled outside the door. She scoffed, he can’t even stand the idea of being near me. Quickly, they gathered their things, and Haeun handed over the keys to the next group.
In silence, they walked side by side towards the elevator and waited for its doors to open.
“There was something you wanted to tell me?” She asked as she stepped onto the elevator, and he quietly followed behind her. Pressing the button for the 1st floor, she glimpsed at him expectantly. Before he could reply, her stomach growled noisily.
“Are you hungry?”
“Is that really all you wanted to ask me?”
“For now,” He considered his next words carefully, “Yes, and I’m a bit hungry too. Do you want to eat together?"
Baffled, she watched him as his eyes were trained on the floor counter. A meal? With Myungseok? Her thoughts began to race. Despite the suddenness, his face had remained completely neutral. “I work at a place nearby, so I can get you an employee discount if you want to have a late lunch together,” she suggested.
He nodded and faced away from her as he felt his ears begin to burn.
-
Taking long strides ahead of her, Myungseok opened the door for Haeun.
“Hi, Jiwoo!” Haeun greeted her co-worker who had been half-asleep at the register. With a jolt, he returned her greeting and began to fix his hair until he realized who it was.
“Ahh, Haeun, it’s just you. Oh? And…?” He began to trail off as he squinted his eyes as he tried to figure out who had darted inside beside her, concealing his face. Instantly, she went to grab her favorite meal, dakgangjeong. Her mouth began to water at the sight of the pieces of glazed chicken that were lightly covered with her favorite tangy sauce in its container.
Looking over her shoulder, Myungseok had been deciding between the different types of kimbap. Torn between tuna and bulgogi, Haeun smiled at his indecisiveness.
“Why not grab them both?” Haeun suggested from behind him, and he was startled at the suddenness of her voice.
“I don’t think I can afford to get both.” He continued to consider his options. Without another thought, she went to grab each package of kimbap. Grabbing her arm, he was shocked by his own action yet looked into her eyes to wordlessly tell her to not.
“It’s no big deal,” She explained. “Don’t worry about it.” She placed the kimbap on top of her container of dakgangjeong.
He scoffed at her, “I don’t want you to pay for my food.” He tried to take them from her, yet she quickly turned away.
“Well,” She began to move away from him and pick up two cans of sikye. “That’s too bad.” Moving towards the register, she carefully placed everything on the counter. As Jiwoo scanned everything, she began to finally notice the Pepero Day decorations that covered almost every square inch of the Ministop. She forked over a few thousand won and could feel herself start to flush from embarrassment.
“Hey, it’s you!” Jiwoo shouted, pointing at Myungseok who had tried to keep his eyes on the floor. “Jung Myungseok, you don’t usually come on the weekend.” Raising a brow, Haeun looked inquisitively at her classmate. How was it possible that he had avoided me if someone as aloof as Jiwoo recognized him as a regular? Unless it was on purpose. Agitated, she grabbed her food and walked towards the seating at the window.
Roughly popping open the container, she ripped the paper wrapper from her chopsticks. She separated each chopstick and quickly began to rub them together between her hands. Holding the utensils carefully between her fingers, she plucked at a fairly large piece of chicken and shoved it into her mouth. Deeply, she exhaled through her nostrils and slumped in her chair as Myungseok took the seat beside her. Draping his puffer coat on the table, he rolled up his sleeves and cracked open a can of sikye. Taking a swig, Haeun couldn’t help but watch him.
“I must bother you so much…” Haeun lamented.
Almost choking on the rice drink, he set down the can and faced her. “Pardon?”
“You avoid me. During class, when we study, and even here. Is that what you wanted to tell me earlier? That you hate me?” She opened her own can of sikye, yet the can suddenly burst. Liquid dribbled along her knuckles, and Myungseok hurriedly fetched a few napkins. Wiping down her hands, he made sure to scrub the sikye from her hands, and she found herself entranced by his efforts to help clean her.
"You misunderstand me," he said with a sense of panic thick in his voice. “I actually want to get to know you better.” He crumbled up the napkins and threw them into a nearby bin. “I have a tendency to avoid people like you.”
“People like me?” She tried not to take offense, yet it was clear that she was bothered by his poor choice of words. “I’m the only person you avoid.”
“It’s hard to explain. Perhaps you will understand my lack of manners someday.”
“Meaning that you normally have manners?” She laughed as she shoved another piece of chicken into her mouth.
“Sometimes,” He smiled and was glad that the atmosphere had become lighter.
Pointing the red-stained chopsticks in his direction, she asked with her mouth full, “So what does the Jung Myungseok want to do? Already have a firm in mind?”
He covered his mouth as he swallowed a piece of tuna kimbap, “Hanbada. I’ve had my eyes set on it for a while. How about you?”
“Taesan actually, so that means we’ll be rivals,” she joked. “I hope to see you in court someday.”
“Whenever the time comes, just know that I won’t go easy on you.”
“Nor will I, yet I wouldn’t have expected you to,” she retorted. “So are you going straight to work once you're through with college?” He nodded. “I think I want to go to Jeju for a bit.” When looking outside the window, she spotted a couple walking by. Their arms linked and enthusiastically talked to each other, and a deep sense of longing returned within Haeun.
“Why Jeju?” He asked her and snapped her out of the trance she found herself in. “It seems like there’s a specific reason behind it.”
“Haengbok Noodles.” She smiled to herself. “It’s where my parents fell in love. Over two bowls of their signature meat noodles. I feel like maybe if I go there too…” She paused as she realized what she was about to say and stopped herself.
“If you go there… what? You’ll fall in love too?” He finished her sentence, and she stared, wide-eyed at him.
“It sounds so stupid, but yeah.” Her eyes fell on his hand, which had a lazy grip on the bright yellow can of sikye. His long fingers mindlessly tapped the side of the can, and she gazed at the pale blue veins that traveled up the back of his hand and decorated his forearm. He wore a sleek silver watch on his wrist and a black leather armband with a simple roman face. Before long, the time began to slip away. An hour, two, and then four. The sun had set and Haeun and Myungseok sat by the Ministop window taking turns asking each other questions and sharing the stories of their lives.
A short line of couples began to form outside, and Haeun tried to investigate what they were waiting for. An older man had set up a stall selling baked sweet potatoes. Myungseok followed her eyes and noticed the stall too. “A sweet potato would be perfect right now,” he said, looking at Haeun.
Getting up from her seat, she stretched her limbs in preparation for facing the cold once again. Rubbing her arms, she turned to where Myungseok had once sat, yet he had already been standing and was beside her. Unraveling his scarf, he began to lift it over her head and wrap it around her neck.
“It’s cold out there. I’ll meet you outside,” he said and turned to walk away without another word. Stunned, she watched him search through the aisles and could vaguely smell his cologne on the lambswool. Collecting herself, she didn’t waste another moment and rushed to the end of the line. There had been many couples waiting in front of her, and her longing returned. She had been surrounded by a sea of her deepest desire, and she couldn’t help but feel a sense of hopelessness. She watched as each couple stepped up to the old man and flashed their acknowledging smiles as he complimented them, handing them large, steaming sweet potatoes. It wasn’t long until Haeun was next in line.
“How many?” The old man smiled.
“Two please,” Haeun nervously replied, playing with the fringes of Myungseok’s scarf.
“One for you and one for…” He looked around, presumably for a boyfriend. Hauen scanned the Ministop storefront window and caught a glimpse of Myungseok. He was at the register, a plastic bag hung at his wrist and the store's landline was pressed to his ear. “Ahh! And one for your lover.” Myungseok suddenly looked in Haeun’s direction and scrambled to hang up the phone, and the old man pointed at Myungseok.
“Oh, sorry, you misunderstand. We aren’t together,” Haeun waved her hands as she rushed to explain, and from the corner of her eye, Myungseok was pushing the Ministop door open to leave. “We’re just friends.” She smiled to herself. Friend. This was the first time she had been able to call him anything more than a classmate. A sense of thrill ran through her. The old man handed the baked sweet potatoes to Haeun as Myungseok began to approach.
The cold air had made Myungseok’s ragged breathing visible as he began to apologize for letting Haeun stand out in the cold without him for so long. He was pleased when he saw her with a sweet potato in each of her hands. Bending down, he took a bite from one and threw his head back to let billowing clouds of steam escape his mouth.
“Delicious,” Myungseok groaned as he began to take out his wallet. The old man suddenly stretched out his hand and covered Myungseok’s hand as it reached into his wallet.
“These are on me,” the old man said, “Seeing a handsome young couple like you two remind me of when I first started dating my wife.” He let out a sigh, “Hold on tight to each other. You won’t be young forever, but I promise the love is everlasting.” Haeun began to shake her head, yet Myungseok immediately thanked the old man.
They began to walk together, and Haeun curiously peered over at Myungseok. “Who did you call?” Haeun asked as she took a bite from her sweet potato and reveled in its warm honey-like sweetness.
“Back at the Ministop?” He asked rhetorically. “No one really. I just needed to tell someone that they were right about something.”
“Hmm…” She stared inquisitively at the man that walked beside her, and she sensed a strange aura of confidence around him. “Was it Chul?”
“How did you know?” He was stunned, and she chuckled at his reaction.
“Who would want to admit Chul is right about something?” He laughed with her in agreeance.
They walked aimlessly and found themselves approaching a small park and had finished their sweet potatoes. Haeun frowned at the lack of warmth her hands had grown accustomed to. Her fingertips were red and swollen, and so she blew on them in an effort to warm them. When she looked up, she was startled at the sight of many young and elderly couples everywhere. A few couples sat on park benches and were playing the pepero game. Giggling, love was ripe in the air, and a knot began to form in Haeun’s stomach.
“Are you okay?” Myungseok asked, noticing her trying to hide her pout.
“I want to go home,” Haeun spoke in a quiet voice.
Reaching into his coat pockets, he took out the hand warmers he had since the morning. “Too bad these have gone cold now.” He squeezed the pink pouches that were in the shape of a kitten’s paw. Her face twisted with amusement at the sight. “My mom gave them to me,” he tried to explain, yet Haeun began to heartily laugh. He found himself slightly mesmerized by how his hand warmer managed to suddenly lift her spirits.
“Cute,” she managed to say in between laughs.
-
The street lamp outside Haeun’s home flickered as they approached. “Thank you for escorting me home,” Haeun muttered, bowing her head.
“You’re welcome,” Myungseok replied instantly. There was an awkward silence that filled the air between them as they stood before each other. Haeun craned her neck to look over at him and admire his features as he averted his gaze from her. He seemed nervous, and the sound of a rumbling engine filled the silence as a motorcycle sped past. Without hesitation Myungseok stretched out his arms to shield her and guided her towards the sidewalk, closing the gap between them. “Aish, you know it’s illegal to not wear a helmet on a motorcycle!” He yelled at the motorcyclist, yet he had already driven away.
“It’s okay,” Haeun placed a hand on his arm to calm him, and he softened at her touch. Letting out a sigh of frustration, he tried to center himself. After a few moments, they both tried to speak at the same time. “Agh, sorry, you go first,” she insisted.
“I wanted to give you something before you go.” He turned to her and opened the front flap of his messenger bag and pulled out a small plastic bag. “Close your eyes,” he instructed and was met with immediate skepticism from her, yet she obliged. “Hold out your hands.” Hesitantly, she lifted her arms with her palms facing up. She listened to the rustling of a plastic bag and felt a small weight in her hands. “You can open your eyes.”
She gasped as he saw a small orange box of Jeju Tangerine pepero in her hands. She began to thank him, yet he couldn’t help but notice the frown on her face. “I don’t have anything to give to you in return,” she began to say until her face lit up. “This time, you can close your eyes.” Rummaging through her bag, she found the box of pepero Sook had given her. Carefully placing them across Myungseok’s hands, she couldn’t help but be shocked by how small the box had looked in his hands. “I’m not usually one to regift things, but open your eyes.”
“Regift?” He opened his eyes and inspected the red pepero box. “Did your boyfriend give this to you?”
“Boyfriend?” She looked mortified at the mention of the word. “I don’t have a boyfriend. Dan Sook gave it to me.”
“Oh, really?” He tried to say nonchalantly as he opened the box of pepero. Ripping open the plastic inside, he grabbed a pepero stick and bit at the chocolate end first.
“You don’t start with the biscuit end?” She asked as she opened the Jeju Tangerine pepero and started to eat the biscuit end first. “The last bite is the most important. Sometimes you’ll get lucky and with the way the chocolate sets, there’s a little drop of chocolate at the end. It’s the best part.”
Finishing the first stick, he grabbed another and noticed a drop at the end that Haeun had just mentioned. He thought to himself for a moment. “Do you want to play the pepero game?”
“All of a sudden?” She couldn’t bring herself to look at him.
“I saw the way you looked at those couples playing… Have you ever played before?” He asked shyly.
“I haven’t. Have you?” She glanced over at him and noticed a sparkle in his eye, and he shook his head.
Crouching down, he placed the biscuit end of the pepero in his mouth. She felt a swarm of butterflies in her stomach as she looked at him inviting her to get closer. The way the street lamp lit his face, she could barely see the tint of redness in his cheeks. Feeling a bit lightheaded, she placed her hands on his shoulders to balance herself from possibly fainting.
Parting her lips, she bit at the chocolate drop at the end and took a deep breath. I can’t believe this is happening, she thought. With small bursts of courage, she found herself inching closer and closer to his face. Her heart thumped wildly in her chest, and she was nervous at the thought that he could hear its erratic rhythm. There had only been one more bite between them and she was frozen. Why isn’t he pulling away? Why am I not pulling away either?
She repositioned herself and tilted her head sideways, hoping that she could avoid his lips and use her teeth. Slowly, she took another bite, yet she felt her lips accidentally graze his. They both jerked their heads away from each other.
“Sorry,” he began to say as he watched her start to cower away from him. “I’m so sorry.”
Her face had been colored a deep shade of red. “You’re sorry for kissing me?” Her voice sounded muffled as she hid her face in her hands.
“No, I’m sorry because I didn’t mean to embarrass you,” he said, taking her wrists in his hands and continuing, “But I’m also sorry because I didn’t want to stop.” Pulling away her hands from her face, he smiled at her bewildered expression.
“What do you mean?”
"I've been wanting to tell you something for a while now." He paused for a moment and adjusted his glasses, looking up at the night sky before looking deeply into her eyes. “I saw you freshman year, working at that Ministop. It was finals season, and there was this little boy who started crying in the middle of the store. I turned around, and I watched as you dropped everything to help him as he explained how he couldn’t find his parents. When I went back the next day, I asked Jiwoo about what happened and he told me how you had waited with that kid for hours until the police found his parents. It made me realize that that’s the type of attorney I want to be someday.” He cupped her face and slowly dragged the pad of his thumb along the apples of her cheek. “The more time had passed, the shyer I felt around you. I couldn’t even look at you because I like you so much.”
She stared at him in disbelief. “I like you too,” she muttered. “All this time I’ve had a crush on you, and I thought you hated me.”
“I could never hate you,” he interjected, and he watched her as her eyes flickered down to his lips. “I’ve always wanted you, to date you, to talk to you every day. Just like today, just like couples do.” He took a moment to admire her blissfully dazed expression. “It’s so surreal to see you like this, wearing my scarf and looking at me like that. On a night like this, with stars like these." A warmth spread through her as he looked up at the sky again and admired the stars. She could hardly contain herself and gripped the lapels of his coat and lightly tugged him towards her to press a gentle kiss to his lips. Chaste, they parted almost as soon as it began, she was surprised to see a different look in his eyes—a hunger.
His hands found her waist, and he drew her flush to his body. Letting out a small yelp, she instinctively wrapped her arms around his neck. As she parted her lips, he began to tenderly explore her mouth and swirled his tongue against hers. He tasted vaguely of chocolate and honey. Moaning into her mouth, she began to feel lightheaded. Her heart tingled.
With her chest heaving, their lips parted, and she rested her forehead against his. “I never would’ve expected you to be so…” She couldn’t finish her thought as he began to nibble at her bottom lip.
“Neither did I,” he said in between kisses, “I’ve never felt like this before.” He pressed a kiss to her cheek, then against her jaw, until he found her neck. “God, you even smell like summer.” He inhaled her scent before pressing a wet kiss against the pulse point on her neck, which evoked a whimper.
“I think I could faint.” She placed her hands flat against his chest.
“I suppose that means I should let you go then,” he mumbled reluctantly. Placing his hands over hers, he took them and brought them close to his mouth, and blew on them. “Stay warm, Haeun.”
She giggled at his words, almost in disbelief that it was truly him saying them. “I’ll see you tomorrow, maybe we can grab lunch together?” She began to turn to walk up the steps of her house but spun around when she remembered she was still wearing his scarf.
As soon as he realized she had begun to take the scarf off, he began to object, “Keep it. It looks better on you.”