Paper Friendship Chapter 27

Even so, instead of seeing each other’s faces, we talked on the phone often. The content of our calls was mainly my daily routine. Since Choi Juoon’s daily routine consisted entirely of things involving people I didn’t know, I just rambled on by myself. Beyond these stories, Choi Juoon talked about the house in Seoul where we would live together. Choi Juoon was becoming increasingly serious, and I worried about how long I would have to keep playing along with this joke.

∞ ∞ ∞

Saturday, December 16, 2:57 PM. I am currently sitting on the second floor of a franchise coffee shop. Surprisingly, I am meeting Jin Seyoung today. More accurately, Jin Seyoung, me, and Choi Juoon. The three of us are supposed to meet at 3 o’clock like this and have dinner together.

The reason I ended up meeting Jin Seyoung was, naturally, because Choi Juoon pushed for it. My Suneung exams were over, and I had broken up with Joo Sunhye. I didn’t have any particular excuses. When Jin Seyoung followed my Instagram, I thought, Is she waiting for me?

Because I had only been lurking and not following her until now, I followed her back and scanned Jin Seyoung’s Instagram again. The fact that she was accepted as the first choice for all six aviation programs stood out the most.

I was so nervous sitting in my seat. Should I tell her now that I can’t make it? Sweat kept forming on my hands, so I kept rubbing them against my pants.

I wanted to have tomato juice, but I didn’t order it because I thought Choi Juoon would have something to say about it. Instead, I sipped hot Americano while blowing on it, and I made up my mind to quietly slip away from the table when we ate dinner. I figured Choi Juoon probably thought, He’ll leave once it gets to this time anyway.

I heard the sound of heels coming up the stairs. I knew instinctively that this was Jin Seyoung. Jin Seyoung’s face appeared little by little over the stairs. Simply put, she looked like a celebrity. She was much prettier in person than in her photos.

Jin Seyoung had long, straight hair with no bangs. Her bright brown hair shimmered every time she moved. On top of that, she was wearing a beige long coat, a black turtleneck, and jeans. And she was wearing a white pearl necklace, a silver bracelet, and carrying a small bag.

Jin Seyoung arrived on the second floor and looked around. Then our eyes met, and she looked at me intently. She then approached me with quick steps. I stood up awkwardly. Jin Seyoung was tall, too, so there wasn’t much difference in our eye levels.

“Lee Juun!”

“Uh, uh…. Hello.”

I greeted her awkwardly and sat down. Jin Seyoung covered her mouth with one hand and laughed, saying, Ah, that’s right, that’s right. Once we were seated, the scent of her perfume hit me. Even after sitting down, Jin Seyoung stared straight at my face without saying a word. She really kept staring. At first, I looked back at her, but then I looked away first.

It wasn’t just lip service; she was so pretty that I couldn’t look at her. I realized why other guys, including Park Yoonchul, couldn’t bring themselves to ask Choi Juoon to introduce them to girls.

“….”

Jin Seyoung stared at me for about a minute without saying anything. It felt like 30 minutes had passed. Sweat formed in my hands again. At this point, I wondered if I had done something wrong. Just as I was about to say something first, Jin Seyoung smiled as she placed her hand over the back of mine.

“Sorry, were you surprised? Choi Juoon said you get tricked easily. He told me to try it once.”

“Ah, really? Ah…. So….”

“Huh? What’s with that reaction?”

Jin Seyoung laughed and hit my arm. If Choi Juoon had pulled a prank like this, I would have kept a straight face, but since Jin Seyoung did it, I just followed along and laughed. Surprisingly, I didn’t feel angry at all. Just in case you misunderstand, I definitely do not like Jin Seyoung romantically. It’s just that she’s so pretty…. Jin Seyoung continued to look at me and said.

“You’re not offended, are you? Sorry if I offended you.”

“No, I wasn’t offended at all.”

“Really? That’s a relief. Since it seems like we’ll be seeing each other for a long time, I wanted to be memorable.”

Jin Seyoung smiled cutely. I smiled back. And a brief silence fell.

“….”

I coughed lightly and thought, When is Choi Juoon coming? It was truly the first day in my life that I waited for Choi Juoon. At that moment, the vibrating pager Jin Seyoung had brought went off, and I stood up in her place. When I returned, Jin Seyoung had taken off her outer garment.

“Thank you.”

Jin Seyoung said as she received it. Then she drank her warm latte, and I checked my phone to see if there were any messages from Choi Juoon.

“Lee Juun, you really are a guy.”

“Huh?”

“I thought you were a girl.”

I lifted my head to look at Jin Seyoung. Jin Seyoung had a playful look of relief on her face. What does this mean? I put down my cup. Jin Seyoung also put down her cup and said.

“Is it because of your name? I just got that feeling. Of course, there is Choi Juoon, too, but….”

“Ah, really?”

“Lee Juun, Choi Juoon. You two have the same name, right?”

“Yes.”

“When did you two become close?”

“We’ve known each other since elementary school, but….”

I started telling the story. Every time my story was about to trail off, Jin Seyoung continued to ask questions. Weren’t you uncomfortable because you have the same name? What was Choi Juoon’s personality like in middle school? I heard it was weird; have you seen Choi Juoon’s younger sibling? And so on. It was almost all about Choi Juoon.

As we were talking like that, Jin Seyoung’s phone rang. Jin Seyoung looked at the phone that had been face down and smiled brightly. Then she picked up the phone and showed it to me.

The sender was ♥.

Jin Seyoung asked for my understanding and went to a place not far from our seats to answer the call. Even though there was some distance, watching Jin Seyoung’s voice, which I could hear occasionally, and her hands and body that kept moving, I could feel how much Jin Seyoung liked Choi Juoon. After the not-so-long call ended, Jin Seyoung returned to her seat.

“Lee Juun, what are we going to do?”

“Why?”

“Choi Juoon has an appointment, so he says he’ll come in the evening. He told us to be the two of us until then.”

“Really? Then since Choi Juoon is late, I should tell him to buy us dinner.”

“Hmm, hmm!”

Jin Seyoung stopped drinking her coffee and held out her right hand to me. It seemed like she wanted a high-five, so I lightly slapped her hand. Jin Seyoung swallowed her coffee in a hurry, as if she wanted to speak quickly. That appearance was truly cute.

“I was asking him on the phone earlier to buy us dinner, just like you said. Then Choi Juoon said okay.”

I held the warm coffee in my hands and laughed, and suddenly I thought of the coffee Jin Seyoung had bought me during vacation.

“That, thanks for the coffee you bought me during vacation.”

“No, I had a purpose.”

“What is it?”

“Tell me things Choi Juoon hates.”

“Things he hates?”

“Yes, you two are super close. You know him well, right?”

Things Choi Juoon hates…. I looked up and thought for a moment. There were too many things that came to mind. First of all, not keeping time, having the plans he made go awry, dirty things, noisy things…. As my thoughts continued, Jin Seyoung said.

“It doesn’t necessarily have to be something he hates. You don’t have to say it right now.”

“I will definitely tell you later, even if it’s later.”

“Yes, thank you so much…. I really think of you as a young master.”

“Huh? Ah, no, it’s not like that….”

“Really. In the future, if it’s something related to Choi Juoon, you have to tell me first.”

“I got it.”

Jin Seyoung said, looking straight at me. Those eyes seemed to trust me 100 percent. It was slightly burdensome, so I looked away and said.

“Uh…. Then what about things he likes?”

“I know that.”

Things Choi Juoon likes? I’m not even sure about that myself. When I looked at her a bit foolishly, Jin Seyoung pointed at herself with her finger. And then she laughed a little, as if embarrassed.

Watching that, I remembered what Choi Juoon had said in the past. That Jin Seyoung had a good personality. The corners of her eyes that went up when she laughed and the dimples that formed at the corners of her mouth were cute. Her smiling face was truly charming enough to stay in my memory for a long time.

∞ ∞ ∞

I ended up joining the dinner as well. The place was a Japanese restaurant. I told Jin Seyoung I was sorry for not telling her in advance, but that I had an appointment and had to go. Jin Seyoung expressed her disappointment just as it was.

And I called Choi Juoon. Although I didn’t express it at the time, I was a bit surprised by how disappointed she looked.