Pandora's Box | kim mingyu & jeon wonwoo

05

I was sure he had simply gone home by himself, and when I finally decided to call it a day, that was when I found him.

I was making my way down the steps to the first floor. I was thinking about how I would greet him when I found him. He was probably sitting on our bench by the riverbank and had simply lost track of time. I smiled to myself; I loved when he did things like that. In the end, however, I discovered that I wouldn't be able to greet him at all.

As my feet landed on the floor, and I rose my head, my eyes landed on them.

There Wonwoo and Nayoung stood -together- in all of their glory. Wonwoo had lowered his head just to be able to talk to Nayoung properly, as she was much shorter. Their height difference, however, didn't seem to be a problem; they were obviously enjoying each other's company.

In fact, they were seemingly laughing at something Wonwoo had said (and that alone was enough to shock me) and the sting in my heart was only worsened by the way she smiled at him. I watched as his cheeks flushed, and he swayed from side to side nervously. At this point, I was beginning to consider interrupting them.  But I held back. I had to. I knew what this moment meant to him.

This was the moment he wouldn't stop talking about. I would not ruin this for him. I would never hurt him.

I tried to force myself to keep walking. After all, I was really holding up traffic, and my classmates were starting to walk around me. But I just could not stop myself from watching them. Or rather, I could not stop watching her.

I wondered what he saw in her.

Was it her skin? She sure was pale. I didn't really find it attractive. Instead, I wondered if she didn't go outside enough. She had small, pink lips. I wondered if he liked that. I compared her lips to mine for a second, and then I remembered that my lips had nothing to do with it. I looked at her from head to toe: once, twice, three times. I couldn't quite place it. My stomach turned.

I decided it was time to leave. I searched for another exit. I had never taken another path before, but Wonwoo and Nayoung were at the very front entrance, and I didn't want to risk interrupting them. I noticed a side door at the end of the hallway by the art room where a couple of other students were shuffling through.

I decided to follow suit.

The sun was starting to set. This didn't alarm me; it was autumn after all, and we were approaching the winter solstice. It was barely six o'clock. If anything, I welcomed the darkening sky, as it hinted at the end of my shift.

It was once again my turn to check out customers Business was slow, however, so I spent most of my time behind the counter doing homework, or scrolling through my phone. Naturally, when the wind chime by the door began to sing, my head snapped up, a smile already plastered on my face as I prepared to greet a customer.

My smile collapsed when I realized it was Wonwoo.

Normally, this would have caused me great joy. I would have jumped over the counter and pulled him to me. I would have put my arm around him and ruffled his hair. It would have all gone down different.

But what made my heart so bitter was the fact that he was not alone. He had brought Nayoung with him, and her presence alone was enough to make me sick. I could feel my face scrunch up in pain, and I tried desperately to regain my composure. By the time Wonwoo and Nayoung were right in front of me, I could only hope I was coming off as completely normal.

"Hey," I greeted him as I leaned forward; my stomach slowly pressed up against the counter to the point where it hurt.

"Hey," Wonwoo replied enthusiastically. And then before I could say anything else, he continued, "this is Lim Nayoung, I'm sure you've heard of her. She's the new transfer student in your year." I was caught off-guard by this weird introduction, considering we both knew that I knew who she was. Choosing to ignore this, I played along and greeted her warmly. I even went as far as to bow.