None of Us Saw This Coming

May, 2020: Clarity

It was morning in May when Lisa woke up to a message from the least expected person; well, it was from an unknown number but then the owner of the particular unknown number introduced itself and Lisa could not help feeling a pang of unsettlement in her bones. It had been a little over three months after a virus spread like a wildfire creating a global pandemic, which affected South Korea as well, that forced people to lock themselves in their houses. So that was exactly what Lisa had been doing exactly—locking herself up in her apartment more and more. She did not know where the person got her number from or if it actually was him and Lisa did not know where she put her brain last or if she had always been just stupid because she agreed to meet with the person.

She was sitting quietly at the table at the corner of a little cafe across her company as instructed by the text sent by the unknown number that afternoon. The person she was expecting had yet to make an appearance because they had not been captured in sight. The place was quiet—if not dead from how silent it was; one of the outcomes of a global pandemic, she supposed. It was a good thing for her, it gave her more privacy but clearly, it was not the most prime situation for the business owner (well, more like most of the business owners), everyone had been struggling to make ends meet more than ever during that hard time.

"Hi."

Suho appeared out of nowhere with a baseball cap and a mask covering half of his face—at least the owner of the unknown number did not lie, it was him after all. Suho was wearing an oversized hoodie and seemingly trying to rock his incognito attire despite the current situation where people opted to just lock themselves in their houses. It was the quietest Mapogu had ever been ever since Lisa stepped her foot there for the first time.

Lisa who was taken aback abruptly stood and awkwardly bowed to the man who looked slightly different, she wondered what changed. It was only by the time he sat and took off his cap that she realised the absence of his beautiful locks of hair.

"I'll be enlisting tomorrow," Suho chuckled answering Lisa's wordless thoughts that were written all over her face. Well, that explained his buzz cut.

But what he was doing there with her, a practical nobody, instead of his family and friends had still yet to find its explanation.

"You must be wondering 'why on earth did this man ask me to meet him in the middle of a global pandemic, didn't he watch the news?'" Suho eyed Lisa teasingly as if reading her mind. He was not completely wrong though, Lisa did wonder about that amongst other things. Lisa kept her silence, however, since she did not know how to respond to that. But it somehow was clear to her that Suho was a charming lad, who easily befriended anyone he wished to. If that was the man Irene chose for herself then—

—Irene.

It had been months and the name had still yet left her mind. Irene had still tirelessly been running around in her mind non-stop. The thought of Irene still provided her with sentimental and melancholic feelings.

A regret on top of everything else.

"Thank you for agreeing to meet me though, Lisa," Suho said taking Lisa back to reality where she and Suho existed in the same space at the same moment, "The thing is I feel like I owe you an explanation."

That he did.

"I know there is no way I can leave for my enlistment being completely aware that I was part of the misunderstanding that happened between you and Joohyun."

But that was not the explanation she thought she was expecting.

Lisa then had all her attention on Suho. If there was an explanation for things she did not know she needed an explanation for then she was very much willing to stay and listened to what it was all about; in that case, an explanation for a misunderstanding she did not even know existed.