✓LOVER BOY | hwang hyunjin

28. Out Of Place

Evening has befallen all around. Purple hugged in orange and red. The clouds were delicate strokes, and everything for once felt calm. Yeseul had noted roughly in her notebook the happenings of the day. It felt empty. Especially when there was no place to put Hyunjin's name on the white paper. She concealed a disappointed sigh in her throat, pushing the notepad and the pen in her bag. The hour of six had just struck. It was time to shut off the store. Yeseul gave the cold coffee in her hand a swig before emptying the last contents down.

[ +82 XX XXXX YYYY ]

can we talk?

Yeseul stared at her phone, confused. She looked up, eyes glancing over the street across the pane of glass. She looked back down, finger hovering over the text box. Before she could reply anything, the typing bubble popped up, seconds dragged along.

this is jihoon

"Oh." Yeseul already felt a hot repulsive emotion sprawl over her chest. She wanted to shove the phone in her pocket and disappear in thin air. That was until another message lit up, making the tense expressions over her face fall into softness. Her heart thumped a beat.

it's about Hyunjin. I need to talk to you. please

Yeseul couldn't believe what she was doing. Her fingers stayed clasped close in her lap. She watched the streetlights, night markets, and the sparkling lake. She couldn't believe she was in Jihoon's car, driving off to whatever place he had in mind. The regret almost made her feel sick.

"How have you been?"

Yeseul scoffed. "Come on, Jihoon."

"What?" He looked over her, waiting for a response. Nothing came back. He exhaled, fixating his eyes back on the road. "Okay, I understand. I gave you enough reasons to hate me."

"So you are aware. That's nice." Yeseul turned her screen over. 6:17PM. "What did you want to talk about?"

Jihoon slowly took his foot off of the accelerator, pulling to the sidewalk. A silence formed. He fidgeted with his rings. "Hyunjin and you..."

Yeseul glanced at him, eyes stubbornly burning over his face.

"Are you two dating?"

Yeseul hated the deep conflict this question raised inside her. She didn't know. No, no they weren't. Would they ever date? She shook off the question. What were they? It sometimes got suffocating to stand beside Hyunjin. She liked him. A lot. But she never liked how they kissed twice, and had no word about it afterwards. It felt as if it was a dream. Nothing tangible, just a picture she has created in head. Why? Would it be because Hyunjin perhaps didn't want anything more in their bond? Was he too...

"Yeseul?"

Yeseul breathed deeply, falling back in her seat. "I don't know why you suddenly showed up to ask this question after always aggravating shit."

"I had gotten into an accident a week ago. I was at the hospital, and I saw your boyfriend."

Yeseul was clueless. She felt sudden fear flinch her up. "What do you mean? Is he okay?"