Paper Friendship Chapter 21

Kim Minjae

Isn’t this Maeyeong High??

01:46

It was a messenger sent by Kim Minjae. I entered the group chat. I went into the group chat room and checked all the notifications that had come to my phone without any expression. Choi Juoon’s face, wearing a hat, even though his face was half-hidden. And the girl smiling, sticking to his side.

A long while later, I turned off my phone and sat on the sofa. I felt dazed.

The suspect had proven a perfect alibi.

My first investigation ended as an unsolved case.

Choi Juoon is in a relationship.

The girl’s name is Jin Seyoung.

Last night, Jin Seyoung posted a photo taken together on her Instagram, tagging Choi Juoon with a red heart. It was a photo where Jin Seyoung’s face and Choi Juoon’s profile were very slightly visible.

Underneath the photo, comments like this were posted:

iwe****When are we really meeting,, ㅠㅠ

sese****Meet up after the Suneung (CSAT) exams, we have so many stories to tell,, ♥

1 day ago Like Reply

lob****Pretty ♥

sese****You’re even prettier ♥

1 day ago Like Reply

you****Is it public now??

sese****Yup..☞☜

myst**** Lovey-dovey

125nn****You two really look so good togetherㅜ

Looking at the comments, it seemed they had been dating for a while.

I, too, knew of Jin Seyoung. When I was in middle school, a post went up on a certain Facebook page calling her the beauty of our area. Jin Seyoung was also preparing to become a flight attendant and was what is commonly called an Instagram star.

I scrolled through Jin Seyoung’s Instagram. There were sponsorship or promotional posts, and there were even many comments from foreigners. Also, from the start, it looked like her family was very well-off.

Around me, several guys including Park Yoonchul already knew they were dating. But I didn’t know. Honestly, I felt so hurt.

But is this a hangover? My head is throbbing so much. When I was closing my eyes and holding my head, Choi Juoon entered the house along with the sound of a password being entered. He was holding a lot of things in his hands.

“Are you okay?”

“….”

Choi Juoon said this while placing a box of pizza and two cups of coffee on the desk. Choi Juoon headed straight to the bathroom, leaving me without an answer, but I called out to him from behind.

“Are you dating Jin Seyoung?”

“Yeah.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“It’s a bit of a long story. She said let’s keep it a secret, but she posted it suddenly yesterday. I’m going to the bathroom for a second.”

“Okay.”

I got up from the sofa and headed to the kitchen. I grabbed two appetizer plates and utensils and sat down in front of the desk. I didn’t feel like I was going to throw up, but a strange emotion kept rising from within. While waiting for Choi Juoon, I stared blankly at the pizza. A short time passed, and Choi Juoon came out.

“I’m eating.”

I said as I picked up a piece of pizza. Then, Choi Juoon said.

“Wait a second.”

“Why.”

“I have to take a picture.”

“What?”

Choi Juoon took several pictures of the food. It was behavior he didn’t usually do. After that, he drank his coffee and said this.

“Eat now.”

I, too, drank the coffee first and picked up the pizza. It was my favorite pepperoni pizza. Looking at the amount of cheese, it seemed like he had added extra cheese. However, even though it was a pizza I loved so much, strangely, I didn’t feel very happy.

“Thank you, I’ll eat well.”

Choi Juoon went back into the master bedroom without even answering. I ate first while watching TV. When I had eaten about two slices, Choi Juoon came out. Choi Juoon asked, sitting next to me.

“Is it delicious?”

“Very.”

Actually, that was a lie. I couldn’t really taste the pizza. Is it a new kind of hangover? I had never felt like this before. Choi Juoon texted for a long time even while sitting down, then closed his phone. Then, he sighed deeply and took a bite of the pizza.

“I’m getting tons of messages.”

“….”

“Sorry for not telling you.”

“….”

“You’re not mad, right?”

“….”

I stared at Choi Juoon while chewing the pizza. He looked very tired. I swallowed the pizza completely and said.

“Honestly, I was a bit pissed, but I feel better because of the pizza.”

“That’s why your hyung spent some money.”

Choi Juoon smiled slightly now and stroked my hair. He said the coffee was bought by Jin Seyoung. As Choi Juoon stroked my hair, my head throbbed just like before. I pulled Choi Juoon’s hand away and asked.

“Did you just come from meeting Jin Seyoung?”

“Yeah, for a bit.”

“Ah….”

“She said she wants to get close to you.”

I nodded while drinking my coffee. I didn’t touch the pizza anymore. Choi Juoon picked up the pizza and said.

“You’re not eating more?”

“Yeah. My head hurts.”

“Is it a hangover? But you usually cure your hangovers with pizza.”

“I guess I went past my limit.”

“That’s severe.”

I pressed firmly on the area around my solar plexus, and Choi Juoon ate all the remaining pizza. We drank coffee while watching TV. The channel we were watching yesterday was still on. I stared at the screen and asked quietly.

“Since when have you been dating?”

“About two months.”

Two months, two months…. I chewed the words over in my mouth. And then I asked next.

“Did you meet at a flight attendant academy?”

“No, just at a place where people preparing for it gather.”

“Hmm….”

“….”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

Looking at Choi Juoon, I asked the same question as before again. Then, Choi Juoon chuckled while slightly frowning and messed up my hair.

“I told you I was sorry.”

“….”

“Don’t you have any other questions?”

Slurp. I shook the coffee which had nothing left but ice.

“No.”

At those words, Choi Juoon checked his watch and started tidying up the desk. Like that, he cleared away what we had eaten, and we studied exactly the same as yesterday.

At seven o’clock, I ate the rice noodles that Choi Juoon had bought for dinner. He went to buy them at six, and arrived at seven. It doesn’t even take 20 minutes round trip…. Then, seeing Choi Juoon’s hand, I realized he had come from meeting Jin Seyoung. It was because he was holding the two cups of coffee I saw in the morning.

Choi Juoon took a picture this time, too. I said cautiously while taking a spoonful of the broth.

“You… you don’t have to buy coffee.”

“She said she wants to look good to you.”

Choi Juoon said calmly while changing the channel. And just like at lunch, we ate and cleared the desk. We focused on studying again.

No, Choi Juoon was focused. Lee Juun was not focused. My heart had been beating strangely since the morning. I looked at the coffee that was half left. I felt strange. Honestly, there were many things I wanted to ask Choi Juoon. But I didn’t ask any more because I was afraid my strange, peculiar feelings would be found out. Because Choi Juoon is very quick-witted.

When Choi Juoon dated in middle school, it didn’t bother me at all. Is it because it’s been so long since I’ve seen him date? In terms of frequency, it had been almost 1~2 years.

I lifted my head and looked at Choi Juoon in front of my eyes. Choi Juoon was spinning a pen with his hand, focusing on his book. Then, as if he felt my gaze, he asked without even lifting his head.

“Why.”

The low voice I always hear. I shook my head quickly and bowed my head again. This is also strange. Was Choi Juoon’s voice always this nice?

I concluded that my feelings were just a sense of futility coming from the fact that my deduction was completely wrong. Plus, a hangover was added on top of that, and he even hid his girlfriend from me.

Yeah, this is it. That’s why I’m so hurt…. Right, right. This is the answer. But is this hurt feeling right now… an anomaly? Or an excess? It was when I was agonizing by myself.

“Uh….”

Choi Juoon’s large hand entered my field of vision, and that hand lightly lifted my chin. Just like before, Choi Juoon was in my view. Choi Juoon’s deep, black pupils. We made eye contact.

“Focus.”

Choi Juoon’s finger slowly brushed my chin and slowly returned to its place. Choi Juoon lowered his head again and focused on studying.

However, I couldn’t focus on that evening’s study at all. My heart was racing like crazy, my lower abdomen was ticklish, and my chin, where Choi Juoon’s finger had brushed, kept on burning.

Truly, it was a very severe hangover.

∞ ∞ ∞

When it was time to sleep, Choi Juoon told me to sleep in his room like yesterday.

“What about you….”

“Wait a second.”