ABM CH23

Chapter 23: It’s Not a Date. I don’t think so. Right?

Even though the bell had rung and I should’ve hurried back to the classroom, I couldn’t move. Woo Yeonho had stepped back a bit, but his hand was still firmly on my waist.

Time ticked by, and the kids who’d been lingering in the hallways had all returned to their classrooms. Even the distant chatter had faded away, leaving the hallway so quiet that I could swear I could hear both Woo Yeonho’s breathing and my own racing heartbeat.

I’d tried to call out to Woo Yeonho a few times, parting my lips to say his name, but I couldn’t get past the first syllable. Instead, I found myself frozen, caught up in staring at an expression I’d never seen on his face before.

“Seungwoo, are you tired of looking at my face already?”

Woo Yeonho broke the silence, speaking in a wounded tone as he continued to look at me. I didn’t know whether I should be shocked by his words or by the expression he was making. 

For a moment, it felt like I was seeing those floppy puppy ears from the picture he’d once sent me.

‘Is that just my imagination? If I reached out to touch his head, would I find out whether it’s real or not?’

Lost in such ridiculous thoughts, I was jolted back to reality when Woo Yeonho suddenly took both of my hands in his. The unexpected touch made my shoulders jump.

“I’ve been taking good care of it because I know you like it.”

‘Woo Yeonho does skincare routines?’

Well, I suppose it makes sense. Sure, that face might be mostly thanks to good genes, but maintaining it probably still takes effort. Otherwise, wouldn’t that be kind of unfair? Even at home, my sisters’ and parents’ vanities are overflowing with skincare products.

But seriously, Woo Yeonho is really—

“Why aren’t you answering me, Seungwoo?”

“Um, so… y-you are orig-originally pr-pretty… no, handso… ah, um… th-that’s not what I mean…” 

I closed my mouth completely because it seemed like I kept making things worse every time I opened my mouth. It was simply a fact that Woo Yeonho was beautiful, but he had probably heard such things from others often. 

‘I didn’t want to say the same things everyone else says.’ 

This is all Yeonho’s fault. Yeonho had already returned to his usual smiling face. Those puppy ears from earlier were nowhere to be seen, and his face looked as perfect as ever, as if it had never been wounded. 

Returning to his normal self, Yeonho turned his face and kissed my palm, saying.

“Now you’re not thinking about other things.” 

“…” 

Yeonho, with his pretty eye-smile, whispered even though no one was listening.

“What do you want to do this weekend, Seungwoo?”

***

After making plans to meet Yeonho on the weekend, I lost track of how time was passing. Not satisfied with getting me to promise two or three times, Yeonho wrote the date and time of our appointment in the corner of my textbook during every class. 

Yeonho’s handwriting in the textbook resembled its owner—soft and pretty. It was such a stark contrast to my chicken scratch handwriting that I would sometimes erase what I had written near where Yeonho had doodled.

Yeonho, who was also good at drawing, had sketched a rabbit character at the bottom. He seemed to really like rabbits.

‘I wonder if he keeps rabbits at home? If I get to visit his house later, I might see not only Yeonho’s baby photos but also his rabbits. What would he have named them? Something like Tosun or Toto?’

When Yeonho briefly left his seat, I held my phone camera as close as possible to the rabbit character and took photos. I failed several times because I couldn’t focus properly, but I managed to save a few shots. I set the clearest one as the background for my chat window with Yeonho.

Today again, I waited to see if Yeonho would ask me to go with him, but he said he had something to do and left first. Seeing Kim Jungwoo follow him, it seemed they had made plans to go together. Kim Jungwoo didn’t say a word about me and Yeonho, as if his chattering this morning had been a lie.

‘Could it be because Yeonho keeps staying by my side?’ 

Although his mockingbird-like mouth wasn’t teasing me, his unpleasant expression remained the same, so I didn’t even glance in Kim Jungwoo’s direction. Yeonho stroked my head a few times, but I wasn’t sure why he suddenly did that.

Anyway, since they went together, Yeonho would probably explain well about us ki… no, about what we did, right? 

‘It should all be fine except for the part about dust getting in my eyes.’

Yeonho and I agreed to meet at the entrance of the park in front of the station on Sunday. That park has multiple entrances, so we might miss each other, which is why I checked so many times. 

Yeonho didn’t seem to mind my repeated questions; each time, he would confirm the location by telling me about nearby stores, information signs, or sculptures. 

‘My goodness, could there be anyone else this sweet?’

If Yeonho had been my teacher, I would have been ranking first in class. The face of my unhelpful homeroom teacher suddenly came to mind. 

This morning, Yeonho and I didn’t attend the morning assembly, and since the teacher didn’t mention it during the closing assembly, it seemed like he didn’t even notice whether we were in the classroom or not. I really wonder how he became a teacher.

***

Only on Saturday morning did I fully realize that I had plans with Yeonho tomorrow. We were meeting just the two of us, personally. Not at school, but outside.

We would watch a movie, eat meals, go to cafés, walk together like normal friends, talk until evening, and then take the bus home together—I was going to spend such a day with Yeonho.

 ‘Could this really be happening? Is it a dream? From where did the dream start? Was it from yesterday in that hallway? Or from when Yeonho drew that rabbit picture? That can’t be a dream. It was really cute.’

I checked my phone after pinching my cheeks so much that they turned red in the mirror. The chat room with Yeonho’s name still had the background picture of his handwriting and the rabbit character, though it was a bit blurry. None of it was a dream.

The rabbit drawing was real, meeting Yeonho was real, and the fact that it was happening tomorrow was also real.

I frantically opened my clothes drawer. Though I couldn’t say I had many clothes, I had quite a variety because my mom and sisters occasionally bought them for me. 

I tried to pick out things with nice colors that looked normal, but everything seemed strange somehow. I spread clothes all over the bed and floor, comparing different options, but they all looked equally weird. 

Eventually, when nothing remained in the drawer, I reluctantly decided to ask my second older sister who was in the living room. It would have been better if my mom or first older sister were around, but I had no choice with my limited options.

“Noona, which one looks better?”

My second older sister, without even looking at me, remained lying on the sofa and simply replied.

“Hmm, the right one.” 

When I asked her to look more carefully before answering, she said they all suited me well—obviously just saying what she thought I wanted to hear.

Then, after a moment, she turned her head to look at me and asked “Huh?” with a clueless expression. Ignoring her state, I placed a hat I had brought from my room on top of the coat hanger.

“And would wearing this hat be okay? How does it look?”

“…”

“And for shoes… umm… I’m thinking of wearing white ones, would they match these clothes?”

“Huh?”

“Oh right, and a bag, I also need a bag…”

“Wait, wait a minute. Hey, Park Seungwoo.”

“What?”

“What’s going on with you? Do you have plans? Who are you meeting? Don’t tell me it’s a date?”

‘D-date! What is my sister saying… It’s not like Yeonho and I are dating or anything…’

It’s just watching a movie, having meals, going to a café, that’s all. How could that be a date? Yeonho probably just suddenly had some free time and didn’t want to watch a movie he was interested in alone, so he’s taking me along. It’s really just a random whim that he might or might not have acted on.

Right. So he’s grateful that I’m going with him, which is why he’s asking what I want to do and where I want to go… That’s all it is.

“N-no… it’s just…”

“Just what??”

I suppose I could call him a friend, right? No matter how much of a whim it is, he wouldn’t make separate weekend plans with someone who isn’t a friend. Besides, however I describe Yeonho to my sister, it’s not like he’ll ever know about it.

“They’re a f-friend. A classmate. We’re going to see a movie tomorrow…”

The word “friend” somehow came out awkwardly. It feels strange. Yeonho being a friend. Friend. One among dozens of friends Yeonho probably has.

Another strange feeling made my chest ache, when my second older sister suddenly jumped up and exclaimed:

“What?! So it is a date!”

“N-no, I told you. They’re just a friend.”

“Stop lying! It’s unusual enough that you made plans, but you’re going out on the weekend? And on top of that, you’re agonizing over what to wear? I’ve practically raised you since you were a tiny kid, but I’ve never seen anything like this~”

It’s true that my sisters looked after me when I was young because my parents both worked, but she didn’t “raise” me.

‘She just ordered me around on errands.’

My shameless second older sister didn’t answer which clothes suited me, but kept grabbing and shaking my arm while asking the same questions.

“Who is it? Are they pretty? What’s their name? Where are you meeting tomorrow?”

If my first older sister were here, she would have stopped the younger one, but at this rate, she might follow me tomorrow. She might even sit between Yeonho and me, asking him all sorts of questions.

If she said something to Yeonho like ‘I was making such a fuss because I thought you were going on a date with a girl,’ I might never be able to face Yeonho again.

I quickly shook off my second older sister who was clinging to my arm, went back to my room, and locked the door.