Paper Friendship Chapter 5

I was squatting there, but when I made eye contact with Choi Juoon, I stood up. Maybe because I stood up too suddenly, I got a cramp in my right leg and couldn’t move. Choi Juoon looked at me, called me an asshole, and walked past me while laughing.

“Ah…. Hey, hey Choi Juoon!! I got a cramp right now. Wait a second!!”

“Run here in 5 seconds. If you don’t come, I’m going ahead.”

Luckily, unlike yesterday, Choi Juoon seemed to be in a good mood. I moved my cramped leg slightly. Ah. A stinging pain rushed in. It hurt like crazy.

I had to endure the aftermath of moving even a little. I looked up to see what Choi Juoon was doing, and he was filming me with his phone. After finishing the recording, he came closer and tried to kick my leg.

“No, no. Ah, seriously, please.”

“You little shit, you need to get hit a bit.”

Fortunately, it seemed like Choi Juoon was just joking, as he didn’t actually kick me. Instead, he sat next to me and watched me squirm. Such a bad guy….

Once the cramp subsided, as we walked toward school, I carefully asked him where he had gone yesterday. Choi Juoon replied nonchalantly that he had played bowling with the hyungs. I also answered nonchalantly.

“I see.”

Now, I could start to see kids going to school. We were getting close to the school. I looked at Choi Juoon and said:

“Are you going to the study room today?”

“Yeah, you not going?”

“No, I have to go…. Hey, Choi Juoon. From now on… uh… I won’t talk about Joo Sunhye anymore….”

While I was talking, Choi Juoon was only looking at his phone. When the topic of Joo Sunhye came up, Choi Juoon’s fingers paused for a moment. Seeing that, I also turned my head to look ahead.

“Sorry. And thank you for telling me everything until now….”

My voice grew smaller toward the end as I felt embarrassed. A short silence flowed. Choi Juoon said as he put his phone in his pocket:

“No, just talk. Yesterday… I had some shitty stuff happen.”

“Why? What is it?”

“It’s resolved now.”

Choi Juoon draped his arm over my neck. Once he did, he asked me first if I had chatted well with Joo Sunhye yesterday.

…Should I tell him? Remembering how annoyed Choi Juoon was yesterday, even someone as clueless as me found it difficult to speak up readily.

I read Choi Juoon’s mood. Choi Juoon had his usual expression. After a moment of hesitation, I started talking about yesterday’s messages.

After talking for a while, I checked Choi Juoon’s mood again. Choi Juoon was looking into the distance. In other words, he looked bored. Eventually, I started talking about performance assessments instead of Joo Sunhye. Choi Juoon seemed to find this topic more interesting, if anything.

“I’m doing a presentation in history class….”

It was when we arrived at school after talking about the performance assessment, put our shoes in the shoe locker, and changed into slippers. Suddenly, Choi Juoon pushed me to the side.

“Ah, ah…!!”

I let out a silly sound as I was pushed away. Because of that, I bumped slightly into a kid standing nearby. I was about to say something to Choi Juoon, but I thought apologizing to the person I bumped into should come first, so I turned my head.

And Joo Sunhye was there. Joo Sunhye waved her hand at me cutely to say hello.

“Hi.”

“Oh? Oh? Oh, yeah…. Hi….”

I barely managed to greet her. I felt heat rushing to my face in an instant. Like a homing instinct, I stuck right back next to Choi Juoon. I could feel that Choi Juoon truly found me pathetic.

“You loser.”

Choi Juoon went into the classroom first, and I also went into my classroom without saying much else. When I entered the classroom, Park Yoonchul was there. I ran to Park Yoonchul and shouted:

“I just said hello to Joo Sunhye!”

I was so excited that I could feel my heart pounding, thump-thump. Before handing over my phone, I sent all sorts of messages to Choi Juoon saying I loved him. My heart pounded like crazy, literally all day long.

∞ ∞ ∞

A few days later, Joo Sunhye registered at the same study room I attend. And that day, she reached out to me first, asking to meet. Joo Sunhye waited at a nearby park first, and I went out later.

And I met Joo Sunhye. Joo Sunhye was right in front of my eyes. I could hear my heart beating, loud enough for the person next to me to hear. It might sound strange, but Joo Sunhye smelled good. I couldn’t look at Joo Sunhye’s face. As I walked awkwardly looking only at the ground, Joo Sunhye suggested we sit on a bench first.

Hi. Why don’t you say hi at school. What have you been doing until now. What did you eat for dinner. It’s kind of awkward. You talk just fine on KakaoTalk. etc….

While Joo Sunhye kept talking, I was just answering like a fool.

Hi. Sorry. I just studied. I ate a triangle gimbap. I’m quite shy around new people…. etc.

I couldn’t speak, to the point of being frustrating. Joo Sunhye waited silently. It might be my misunderstanding, but I felt that Joo Sunhye was also nervous.

“How is Choi Juoon in class?”

That was the first thing I initiated.

“Choi Juoon? He is a bit stiff, but… he gets a bit better when I talk about you.”

“Oh, really?”

“Yeah. And he really studies hard in class.”

Once we talked about Choi Juoon, for some reason, my tension eased, and I talked about this and that. Before we met, Joo Sunhye had said since we are seniors, let’s talk for just one hour. I thought, since it’s our first time meeting, will we really have enough to talk about for an hour?

But when I checked my phone for a moment, the promised time had already passed. I tried to get up from the seat now, but honestly, I didn’t want to. The topics of conversation were broad. Somehow, we even talked about palm reading. Conversations that would have been boring with other kids were strangely fun when I had them with Joo Sunhye. Then Joo Sunhye said:

“Should I give you a hand massage? I’m good at it.”

“Oh? Ah, no. It’s okay. I have sweaty hands, so….”

I hurriedly rubbed my hands on my pants. The spring breeze was cool, but for some reason, sweat kept forming on my hands. I got nervous again when skinship was brought up. Like Choi Juoon said, I must really be a loser.

“No. You use your hands a lot when you study. Give me your hand, I’ll do it for you.”

Joo Sunhye even adjusted her posture. Then, tapping the bench lightly once or twice, she told me to give her my hand. I felt that it was cute, but I was even more nervous. I muttered, as if making an excuse:

“…I have sweaty hands, so, later, next time….”

Even though I refused repeatedly, Joo Sunhye just took my hand. Then, she fiddled with my right hand with both of hers. I watched her. Then Joo Sunhye looked up at me and said:

“Your hands are pretty. I don’t like my hands because they’re ugly.”

Then I hurriedly avoided her gaze. She was too close, and too pretty. Joo Sunhye seemed nervous at first, but now she looked very natural. However, instead of my tension easing, my heart felt itchy, yet I felt like I was going to explode.

Joo Sunhye’s hands were…. So, so soft.

∞ ∞ ∞

After the hand massage finished, we went to the study room together. After we returned to our respective seats, I messaged back and forth with Joo Sunhye. Joo Sunhye said she was going home with her friends. I wanted to go home too because I couldn’t focus, but because I hadn’t studied anything today, I sat there out of conscience.

Then, I got a message from Choi Juoon to go home early today. I replied that I would, and then I packed my bags. I was literally dying to tell someone what happened today.

I waited for Choi Juoon outside the study room. As soon as I saw Choi Juoon, I ran over and hugged him. Choi Juoon pressed the elevator button while ignoring me. I was really stuck to him, hugging Choi Juoon tightly. Choi Juoon had no reaction and no expression.

That’s how we went outside the building, and I made a sound like a puppy whining. Whimper. It was embarrassing even for me to hear, but that sound came out because I was forcibly holding back the urge to scream. Choi Juoon said in a dry voice:

“Did you meet Joo Sunhye?”

I nodded like a madman. And I let go of Choi Juoon.

“Joo Sunhye….”

I started talking quickly. I didn’t stop talking until we arrived in front of Choi Juoon’s house. I wanted to talk more, but it was just when I was about to wrap up the conversation regrettably. Choi Juoon thankfully told me to keep talking, and he took out a cigarette.

“No, Joo Sunhye massaged my hands….”