Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered

Six

Fast forward to two weeks later, Bin succeeded in avoiding Joongi. But one evening when Yejin dragged him to one of supermarkets in their neighborhood to have some sundae there, they ran into Joongi's mom. At first, Yejin wanted to avoid her and went straight to the exit.

Yejin was holding a yellow umbrella in one hand because the weather forecaster said that it will rain that evening, so Bin hold her other hand and said, 'It's okay. I won't let her say anything to you, trust me.'

Walking towards Mrs. Lee who was still looking for something in the laundry detergent aisle, Bin and Yejin carefully approached Joongi's mom. 'Eomonim, nice to meet you here.' Bin said to her.

'Oh Bin-ah, why I haven't seen you with Joongi recently? Come visit the house, I will cook your favorite japchae for you!' This time Mrs. Lee turned to Yejin with a wide smile that reach the ears, 'Yejin-ah, you're here too!'

'Ne, Eomonim. Yejin and I are in the same class.'

'Ah, I see. I've never heard from you again after our last encounter. Joongi told me you've been busy, so you couldn't visit our house. Come visit later, okay?'

It was apparent that Joongi's mom really liked Yejin. It was so far from what Joongi had said before. The two were looking at Mrs. Lee with blank looks before Yejin carefully said, 'Ah ne, we'll visit later.'

Later in the same previous outdoor playground, Bin almost lost his mind. 'Let's go to Joongi's house. He put all the blame on you where the truth is he's just a coward.' He grabbed her left arm and was ready to go to Joongi's house.

But Yejin stayed still, 'Go there and what? You'll either end up in the ER because you've never gotten into a fight before or in the police station.'

He responded with broken sentences as Bin grabbed the fabric of his shirt in the fist, 'So, what do you want me to do? I can't just sit here and do nothing after what he has done to you!'

'Just...stay here. With me.' She looked him in the eye and Bin took a seat next to her.

'You can cry if you want, you know. No one will judge you.'

'I bet I'll cry once I got home.'

'I know. But you can cry in front of me too.' In the last two weeks, Yejin didn't really show her feelings regarding the situation in front of Bin. As Bin was nearly losing his mind, Yejin had always like so calm about this.

'You know why I always went to the doctor alone when I got sick? Because I don't want others to see me in my weakest state. Usually, I would go there first and tell my mom later on about it. And it goes for crying too. It's hard to do it in front of someone else.'

'Make an exception for me, then.'

Looking down to hide a grin, Yejin chuckled at him, 'Are you sure? Your ears will absolutely bleed every time you hear me cry.'

'I'll just go to the ENT (ear, nose, throat surgeon). Besides, if it can make you feel better it will be worth trying.'

'Since when did you talk like this? Soooooo cheesy!' Yejin's hands were curling around while her chin dipped down, feeling the embarrassment.

'Hya, I'm within the top three amongst the most popular boys in school. Many girls envy you because you got to be my bench mate these past two semesters.'

'Ani ani, that's because there aren't so many handsome guys in our school. And you don't even have a girlfriend right now, so what's the point being one of the most popular guys in school?'

'It's not like that! I just...I already have someone that I like'

'Who?! Do I know her? Is she one of our classmates? Why you haven't told her about it? Did you got rejected? Or does she currently have a boyfriend?' Yejin was bombarding him with so many questions. She was so excited that she got up from the bench park.