Translation of Love

17

"Hey Junwoo."

Koko's words immediately halt as she briefly watches this interaction before checking her phone.

"You have class?"

"Not anymore." I notice someone else from behind him and my eyebrows furrow in confusion when I recognize Minjun's styled hair.

"Why is Minjun hiding?" That's so unlike him—an overtly confident, sexy guy cowering behind his tall but meek friend?

Junwoo seems to finally notice and turns to look at the man trying to remain unnoticed behind him.

"Hyung?"

"Ah, hi," Minjun finally emerges with an awkward greeting. My confusion catapults as I fail to recognize this suddenly timid man.

"Wait a second—" Koko seems to finally wake up a bit, turning her focus away from her phone. I watch her as her eyes spark into an inferno like a flame to gasoline. "You!"

I swear I hear Minjun whimper as he holds onto Junwoo.

"This asshole!" Koko grabs onto his arm as he tries to spin Junwoo around. The younger boy, just as lost as I am, allows Minjun to spin him in circles like a shield.

"Koko? What's going on?"

She quickly turns to glare at me and I back up a bit. Even if the glare is not meant for me I can't help but feel threatened.

"You know this guy?"

"Yeah?" Was that the wrong answer?

"This—" I watch in horror as she pulls on Minjun's ear and successfully gets him to detach from Junwoo. "—dude spilt a whole drink on me at the club last night and insisted on making it up to me by cleaning my shirt for me. Right then and there."

Minjun's Adam's apple visibly bobs and his head is bowed so low that I can't see his eyes beneath his hair. Junwoo still looks lost after the influx of English information.

In Korean, Minjun shouts in defense, "I'm sorry! I was drunk, I didn't know what I was saying!"

It's simple enough for Koko to understand.

"Sure you didn't. That wasn't an accidental slip, you purposely spilt that on me." She tugs on the collar of his shirt aggressively. "You picked the wrong woman to mess with," she says through her teeth.

"이미 알아! [I already know!]" Minjun finally gets brave, coming out of his shell to show himself fully. What I see at first makes me gasp.

"Your eye!" I exclaim as I point to the purple, swollen left eye of Minjun.

Junwoo looks back and forth a bit and seems to catch on. He claps his hands together, an "ahh" escaping his mouth as if he just figured out the answer to a math problem. He looks to me, "your friend, hit," he makes a punching gesture to his own eye, "Minjun."

"Seems like it," I say. Once he gets confirmation, I notice Junwoo slowly move away from Minjun and closer to me. He nervously smiles at Koko who is glaring at him too now.