"I heard from Jae-in that it's unusual for you to go home at this hour, unnie. I remember him mentioning that it's either really early in the morning or close to midnight that you two practically never bump into each other. Did your schedule change?" Yujin's voice asked the moment that she and Yoon Jae-in's step-sister Irene exited the small staircase and soon treaded towards the path leading up to the apartment. Both of the two ladies held bags of food that were clearly for more than just two.
"It does feel weird going home at this time of the day. I forgot how annoying the sun felt especially when I forgot my sunglasses. Yeah, the unusual schedule was because of a shift I had to take as well as an unexpected shoot from my side-line. I'm sorry if I called you on such a short notice—I just wondered if you wanted to eat lunch with Jae-in as it has been a long time since we've been together and grabbed something to eat."
"No unnie, I actually like that you've invited me over like this. I just finished a lengthy report due next week and this is a good time to spend that free real estate on my schedule. I feel like I deserve it too. Is Jae-in at your apartment right now, unnie?"
"He should be, unless he went off to somewhere I'm not aware of again. It would not be the first time. You know how your best friend thinks. I haven't heard of him since last night and Mr Kwon from below was not sure if he saw Jae-in pass-by earlier. That pabo... he might be doing something that I don't know if. Yujin, could you tell your bestfriend off for me? Just because he got a good state in his midterm grades, I'm worried that he's starting to get cocky."
"I don't know about that, unnie. He seems to be holding up just fine, I think. He's probably still revelling on the ghost of his last encounter with the Mina girl, and maybe compensating on it by going out and being happy."
"If that's the case, then I hope he knows what he is doing. Oh, we're here."
Irene gesture for Yujin towards the door just as she was about to unlock it with her card; however, as Irene made her way to slide it in, the line already glowed green with the contact signalling that it was never locked in the first place.
"Huh...? That's weird. It's not locked. I remember locking this when I left yesterday."
"Maybe it's Jae-in, unnie. He might have gotten here already and forgot to lock your door."
"Aish, that idiot always does that. It's a good thing that he only forgets to lock it when he is IN the apartment, and not when he's leaving. Come, Yujinnah. Let's get inside so we can prepare the food—"
The moment that Irene and Yujin went in on the first couple of steps of the home, the former was already aware that something was significantly different with the vibe of the place she has been on. The first thing she noticed was the placing of the shoes on the small doorstep. Irene always knew Jae-in would place his shoes on the rack, but even if it was a mistake, the presence of another shoe that clearly was not her brother's intrigued Irene more than anything.
"What's this doing here?"
"Ah Jae-in, stop it! You're tickling me!"
And that was when she began hearing faint slapping noises that seemed to originate from couch, along with a female voice that never did Irene heard of ever. Startled, she immediately went off to check the commotion that was going on thinking there was another person that invaded her personal space with Jae-in. However, just before she could launch herself, Irene was quickly stopped by Yujin's touch on her forearm. The younger woman placed her index finger on her mouth and then went to point at her ear, implying that they should listen first.
SLAP
"Ouch, hey...! We didn't talk about slapping each other now did we? Come on, I just need to see it so stop moving! I need to be sure!"
SLAP
"Ningning, you're being too rough! Come on calm down! I'm going to put this under my shirt and let's see you take it that way!"
"You say that when you're—ah~ There it is again! You're tickling me again! Stop it Jae-in—ah~ I'm going to continue to slap you! Don't you dare put it in without me noticing~ I'm—ah~ I'm going to tear your shirt off of you!"
Irene and Yujin's respective eyes were wide in shock with everything they just had heard as it was utterly suspicious. Thankfully for them, Jae-in and the girl he called Ningning seemed to not have noticed their combined presence just yet. Nevertheless, with the rather interesting and admittedly sexual noises she has heard, Irene immediately gestured for Yujin to follow despite the younger's protests. Yoon Jae-in's older sister was sweating in combined attempt to control her from confronting the mature noises she has been hearing for the past minutes. With quiet steps, she finally made her way out of the entrance hallway, preparing herself for the worst, and the sight was more than enough to take her and even Yujin's breath away.
Jae-in was there, lying with his back on the couch. One of his hands outstretched while the other grasped the waist of a woman straddling him. The woman, of which Jae-in called as 'Ningning', had her arms on the opposite side of Jae-in's face whilst she rested on him, rendering her body perfectly on top of him while she sat on his thighs. There was still a ghost of their combined giggle just as they lay paused staring at each other. It was either this Ningning girl was lost on a world with Yoon Jae-in or she utterly sensed the presence of a different set of people with them, and it was apparent which was clear amongst the two assumptions.
Ningning turned her face on the spot to confirm her suspicions and she was met with both Yujin and Irene's eyes staring at their interesting position. Jae-in followed suit, rendering his and Ningning's faces close to each other, connected by both their resting cheeks. There was a pause between them; a lingering tension up in the air that no one knew how to break. Even Jae-in and Ningning were not even minding the awkward position they were in, merely in equal manner of shock just as the two ladies held their mouths in surprise.
One...
Two...
Three...
Four...
Five...
And then it sunk in him.
Jae-in realized the entire situation in one drop and his first, immediate reaction was to throw Ningning off of him, unfortunately sending her tumbling towards the floor of the couch while they both struggled to get to their feet.
"YAH, WHAT ON EARTH IS GOING ON HERE, YOON JAE-IN?"
--
All supplies of adrenaline might as well have pumped themselves into Yoon Jae-in's system, along with the multiple layers of shame he began to sink himself into as the seconds went by. The more that he attempted to get up on his feet, the messier things became for him to even look as decent as he could possibly get. Add to that the realization that his sister as well as his bestfriend were standing and waiting for things to dial down, in addition to the fact that he literally threw Ningning off of his figure made the situation worse. He felt his blood vessels pumping hard as he might as well pop a vein in shame.
It was perhaps the longest five seconds of his life while he attempted to fix himself as well as the fallen figure of Ningning up; in turn taking care of the mess of their clothes that unintentionally went awkward because of the raucous. Jae-in's shirt was shortly hiked up his waist from the commotion while Ningning's displaced jacket exposed her bare shoulders, with her strap fallen along the the bare skin. It certainly felt like too much of a commotion just to get two people up in the middle of being caught red-handed.
"N-noona...! Yujin.... Hi!" he panted in clear attempt to hide what had just happened. In company to that awkward stance being next to a still-fixing Ningning, Jae-in realized he was still holding her phone. In a split second, he turned quickly, reached out for her, and shook the phone for her to get it back as quick as and as plain as he could.
The young woman was quick to get of the message, as after she finished running her fingers on her dark auburn locks she reached for her phone. Unfortunately, with all the rush that happened within that small window of time, even reaching for it was proven to be difficult and her phone fell down the floor with a loud clap. Ningning had to briskly reach down for the phone once again and stiffen her figure up afterwards. By the time that she has finished fixing herself up, there was no way to hide the blush that was obvious on her face.
Ningning and Jae-in exchanged awkward glances as if wondering who should speak first in behalf of what happened, as clearly Jae-in's previous attempt was proven to be unsuccessful. And there, Ningning gave him an awkward smile, first transitioning between her and Jae-in's worried gaze to Irene's questioning glare, and finally to Yujin's amused stare. Yoon Jae-in's best friend tried her best to not burst out laughing with the awkward air of his best friend. The four of them exchanged glances as if they were pointing guns to each other in a strange stand-off.
"Yah, you're just going to stand there?" Irene interfered, effectively breaking the silence and bringing the three younger people back on the room with her. "What is going on Jae-in? What is this all about?"
On the background, Yujin just could not keep it in. Her face was blushing red while she kept her hand over her uncontrollably smiling mouth. She was trying her best to not cackle out and only Jae-in could see her, as clearly she was teasing him by showing it.
"N-noona... I... I really don't k-know how else I would explain what happened... I know it... it might have looked... weird, especially with what you've seen and heard—"
"Yeah, it certainly looked weird! This is why I'm asking you what's going on! What is with all the moaning and slapping? Why am I hearing sex noises in my own house, Yoon Jae-in?"
At that point, Ningning blushed tomato-red all over. She had no other choice but to bow so low that her hair covered her face from being shown to the rest of the room.
Fuck, what the hell. How am I supposed to begin this?
"Please, noona... umm... let me explain—it certainly is not what it looks, I swear. We're not doing anything bad, it's just that it was just a... a weird time. I promise. It's not... it's not sex..."
"Is it now? Why is this the second time I have seen you with a girl on a weirdly sexual position, Yoon Jae-in? Last time it was with the Soyeon girl and now with...?"
Once again, Jae-in gazed behind Irene and Yujin was fanning herself with her hand, breathing hard from trying to contain her laughter.
"Sorry, I guess it's better to introduce her first. Noona, Yujin, this is—"
He felt a tap on his shoulder. Ningning had her hand on his body and was effective on stopping him from continuing his talk. To Jae-in's surprise, she met his eyes and nodded in silence before moving a couple of steps forward for the two other girls to get her attention. She then smiled towards Irene and Yujin before bowing in courtesy, placing her hands on her back.
"Hello, my name is Ning Yizhuo and my friends call me Ningning. I am a friend of Jae-in and... and we were fighting a while ago because he took my phone and I was attempting to get it from him. I'm really sorry for earlier and please don't get any wrong ideas. I really was just taking my phone from him that's why we ended up like that..."
"Oh...?"
"Yes, unnie but I got it back already. I'm really sorry for sending out the wrong ideas. I did not mean to disrespect your house or anything. We really weren't doing anything dirty."
"Noona, she was also about to leave," added Jae-in.
Ningning glanced nervously back at him before turning back to Irene.
"Y-yes, unnie... Jae-in's right... I was actually about to leave..."
"Is that so...? With all the food you have on the table, I think that you two had plans for today. Why leave so early?"
"Unnie I—"
"Noona, Ningning here has something to do on her dorm, right Ning?" Jae-in interrupted once again in a nervous tone. Once again, Ningning looked back at him and bit her lip in anxiety, ultimately nodding back to Irene to make the act convincing. "The food there was really just for—"
"Ah, Yoon Jae-in shut it—I know that it's tempting but I don't want to hear your explanations now. Just sit there for a bit and be quiet; the girls are talking. At this point, I am more inclined to believe what Ningning here has to say rather than you, so please do us all a favour and let the girls talk. It's her word against yours."
"Y-yes, noona..."
Jae-in met his best friend's eyes behind Irene once again, and the young Korean woman displayed a slicing gesture on her neck, advising Jae-in to cut his attempts to explain before moving on to laugh silently once again.
"Unnie," Ningning continued. "I... yes, umm, Jae-in and I actually were... we were supposed to eat some snacks and maybe watch some TV while we stayed here on your house. He invited me here to... he invited me to pay me back for what I did last night, but it's all fine for now unnie. I see that you have things planned with Jae-in and I would not want to ruin that by my presence. It would be fine for me to head out now, unnie."
"Hmmm, you said that it's for a favour? I wonder what Jae-in made you do that he needs to repay it. I'm curious, so why don't we talk over lunch? I'm pretty sure we have brought food for more than three people, right Yujinnie?"
"We did over estimate for sure, unnie."
"There we go. So, Ningning-ssi, why don't you join us on lunch just so we can talk about whatever happened last night? If Jae-in here has something to repay to you, let me repay you instead. What do you think?"
Wait, is she serious?
Ningning waved her hand in protest.
"N-no, unnie... I don't think I can accept that! I really appreciate the offer but I don't think that it warrants me staying here for lunch when you already had something else planned. I really am thankful, but I think it's better for me to leave. I'm old-fashioned like that, unnie."
"Well, sorry to say but I'm not. It's fine by me. Besides, I have already decided—I want to know you more, Ningning-ssi. A little lunch won't do any harm, right? On top of that, I really don't trust Jae-in's words now because I'm sure he would omit a lot of details, so I'd rather hear it directly from you."
It was rare for Jae-in to see Irene's eyes void of any sort of intimidation just like what she was doing to Ningning at that moment. In fact, Irene seemed to be genuinely interested on Ningning for some strange reason, and more questions were raised on Jae-in's head as he witnessed his sister offer her hand for a shake.
"I'm Bae Joohyun, and you can call me Irene for short. I'm Yoon Jae-in's step-sister," she said while Ningning took her offered handshake. Irene then gestured behind her towards the figure of Yujin, who gave a wide and sincere smile amidst her restrained laughter. "This is Jae-in's high school best friend, Ahn Yujin."
Yujin waved in response to Ningning's nod, equally returned with a wide smile of her own.
"Now, Jae-in, why don't you arrange the table so us four can just eat as soon as we could? We don't want your visitor waiting now that you have to return a favour for her now, do you?"
"Y-yes, noona.... I'm on it. Please give me a minute..."
"I'll help him unnie, and make sure he doesn't embarrass himself any further," Yujin teased, but not before nodding towards Ningning on her way towards the table.
Whatever surprises that day holds for both Yoon Jae-in and Ning Yizhuo, it certainly was just beginning. The soft thuds of chairs being re-arranged along with the sound of the bags being opened by Irene and Ningning were evidence that things were about to get exciting for the rest of that lunch ahead.
---
I honestly don't know anymore.
On one hand I was happy that Joohyun-noona did not make so much of a big deal of what she saw and merely resorted to having lunch with Ningning and Yujin, but on the other I could not make up how much of everything happened all at once. It's hard to believe that only yesterday; we planned for a volleyball trip and ended up heading to Soyeon's house and in turn lead me to Ningning's. Now I am seated next to Ningning on a lunch date with my step-sister as well as my best friend in our own home. It's so crazy. This holiday and long weekend was sure as fire as it could get, if only I could get myself together for the better. I felt so anxious seated with these three women, even more so with what could transpire from the conversations between noona, Yujin and Ningning.
So far it's been just a couple of 'hi-hello' and minute introductions. It would just be a matter of time before things head to the... interesting part, I guess. I can't even bring myself to speak here because of how awkward I felt. Even if I do, noona was sure to stop me with the attempt.
I guess it does not matter if Ningning's comfortable with them, right?
"Okay, so Ningning-ssi," I heard noona introduce as soon as she filled her plate with side dishes. "Do you mind telling us where exactly you met Jae-in here? I'm quite curious how you ended up being friends as well. Jae-in doesn't normally go friending girls; well except for Yujin here."
"To be fair unnie, I forced him to choose me over Wonyoung-bestie so he'll get a better life. That's pretty much what happened," Yujin answered with a chuckle of which earned a similar reaction from the table.
Yeah, I guess that was pretty much accurate.
"Ah... I met Jae-in earlier in the semester on a lunch out," Ningning began to convey after giving a short laugh. "But it's not like we had a formal meeting there of sorts because it was just a couple of hours. It's when we went for... we went to Skylight for a night's drinking when we actually got to know each other better. It was me, unnie, along with other of Jae-in's highschool friends that are also acquainted to us."
"Oh, Jae-in, was that the night you came in late and I caught you when I was at the bathroom?"
"Y-yes noona..."
As expected, Yujin chuckled once again.
Oh my god she's making this more awkward for me.
"I see, now that was quite a long time ago now, was it? Do you have any other girls that drink on your circle, Ningning-ssi? I'm asking this because I already met one, and just so I could be prepared in case Jae-in came here again with someone he never introduced to me. At least then I would be prepared for it."
"Ah, on our group there are mostly three mainstays, unnie. That would be me, Soyeon, and Yeri. It was just that I was the one with Jae-in that I ended up being with him here, that's all."
"Oh, I actually thought there would be more. I didn't know there were just three of you."
"Unnie, that's because Jae-in here never invited me over. I could go for a drink," I heard Yujin joke and I immediately reacted.
"But I thought you were too busy, Yujin-ah..."
"Don't worry," Ningning chuckled amidst my response. "I'll do that if Jae-in doesn't want to. I'll invite you. Let's go drinking some time."
"OOHH~ I like that! Thank you! Let's go!"
And just with that short exchange, Ningning and Yujin suddenly became the best of friends with their combined giggling and hand-holding.
Wow. I just lost my best friend in a matter of minutes. Great
"Wait, now that we're talking about that... umm, Irene unnie... please let me tell you what happened yesterday, as well as last night's events that lead unto here. I want to tell of everything just so I can clear out any misunderstandings from earlier... please allow me to do that."
"Hmmm...? Ningning-ssi, you're fine telling that? I mean, personally I would not mind if I hear it out from Jae-in later, knowing it's probably embarrassing. I'm surprised that you're the one opening that up for you both. If you insist, then carry on. I want to listen to it as well."
"Y-yes, unnie... I just wanted to explain my side of the story. I'll also feel better if it came from me as well rather than you hearing it from someone else. Jae-in had... Jae-in had a bit too much yesterday and I doubt he would remember all of the details..."
I guess I am... she has a point.
Wait...
I didn't do something stupid last light and now Ningning's going to tell noona, did I?
Oh my god...
Holy shit I hope I knew what I was doing because this would be a lot awkward.
I realized that that had to work both ways. Fuck.
I admittedly shifted on my seat as Ningning positioned herself comfortably. From the other side of the table, Joohyun-noona and Yujin were quick to lean in and eagerly anticipate what was to come.
"Ummm... yesterday we were supposed to head off to a volleyball court but we were caught in the middle of the rain. We had to set refuge on our friend's house, Soyeon, nearby and decided to go for a drink because of the lack of anything to do. Our friends, particularly Shinwon and Kino, as you may be aware of Yujin—"
"They're pretty obnoxious, I know," Yujin answered with a laugh and a nod. "They asked to get something hard now, didn't they?"
"Y-yeah, that's exactly what happened. Of course, they were more experienced on that arena than Jae-in and so he was the first one who got caught of the kick and had to throw up and everything. Jae-in began to mumble about heading home so... so despite the weird circumstance of me taking him personally out of Soyeon's house, I just went on with it. She was against it given that we we're already on a house anyway and he could barely walk so there was no excuse for him to head out... but I told her that it was for the better because Jae-in was mumbling about it. It's just that when we already boarded a cab, Jae-in began to tell me that his sister, Irene-unnie, actually isn't home. It felt wrong to send him back to Soyeon's place on that state, and there was no way in good conscience that I would just head here and leave Jae-in like that for the rest of the night. So, I just elected to bring him home with me so that I can give him a better watch until he's sober."
Wait, I said that?
I told her to bring me home and then mention that Joohyun-noona isn't home?
I'm that dumb?
What the fuck... I cannot even remember a thing.
So that's why I ended up on her house.
Did she mention it a while ago?
Wait she did...
Did she?
I'm so messed up.
I feel so awkward and nervous that I'm mixing up what she said and what she did not say...
Damn...
My memory...
I'll never drink that hard again I promise...
What the fuck...
"I brought him home," Ningning continued. I did not even realize I was twirling the jjajangmyeon repeatedly because of how invested I was on her story. "I... I brought him home knowing I had my roommate Giselle there with me—at least it would not look... inappropriate and we won't be suspected of doing... mature things."
Is it just me or she was hesitating on those two words? I could have sworn she was blushing as well.
Is she okay?
"And that's pretty much it. I had to lend some of my clothes to Jae-in because some of his clothing was caught on some residue when he threw up. We went out for a breakfast and ended up here for a supposed lunch, and that's where you found us... on the couch. Jae-in and I were teasing each other about taking the drunken photos, unnie, and he took my phone in response. I attempted to take it from him and we... we ended up like that."
The four of us ended up sitting in silence as we digested Ningning's side of the story. I don't know what was going on the other side of the table but I was utterly surprised with everything that she just told me, particularly from last night. If that were truly what happened, then I do have vague memories that were actually just a product of my dreaming and drunken state. I can't even distinguish which is reality and this story certainly helps some way.
"Yah Jae-in, you're such a baby monkey!" I heard Yujin voice out loud between the silence. Being the first to speak after a momentary silence, it was bound to earn some sort of startle from the rest of us. "Why would you drink more than you can manage?"
I was about to answer when I felt a slap that landed on the side of my thigh. It turns out it was from Joohyun-noona seated opposite me, coupled with a look of knitted eyebrows.
"Yah, you stupid little bean...! Why do you always go all-out whenever you drink? You always treat alcohol as if it is juice when it tastes good and then you get knocked out without even knowing it! You even let someone else take care of you, you stupid little bean! Oh my god, thank you so much Ningning-ssi for managing this pabo here. I wonder how he ended up if you weren't there for him last night. I doubt that he'd already be here by this time."
"T-thank you unnie," Ningning replied with a smile.
I just could not help but freeze on my chair with everything that was going on. I was digesting things one-by-one, trying to figure out the shit show I just pushed Ningning through until this morning, and now I felt so ashamed of my doings. It all just sank in me now. It was particularly because of that reason that my eyes wandered off in shame as Ningning and Irene exchanged further details about last night—details of which were dissolved into an incomprehensible noise on my end.
And on that wandering, I met Yujin's eyes.
In the silence, along with the noise of my sister and Ningning, Yujin gave me a smile before proceeding to angle her pupils towards Ningning, as if pointing her using her eyes.
What?
What's she doing?
And then, Yujin gave me one more smile after that before proceeding to wink and laugh to herself.
Huh...?
What the fuck was that?
Does that mean anything?
Holy shit, I'm all over the place.
---
It did not take much time for that small and unplanned encounter to come to an end. As much as it was much filled with spice and delicious food altogether, there was no denying that the new company of Ningning, Irene, Jae-in and Yujin were very much inclined to head for the better because of that one instance. Initial teasing turned into playful jabs into friendly remarks, and it was not long for Jae-in's worry dissolve into the fair comfort he found with these three women. An hour or so passed after that and the fun and laughter would eventually be changed with the evidence of empty plates, quite going unnoticed thanks to the fateful encounter.
Their four figures stood in front of the closed door, waiting for Ning Yizhuo to leave as well as Yoon Jae-in to escort her out of the premises. The young Chinese woman bowed in courtesy towards Irene and Yujin as she finally made her way towards opening the door.
"It was really nice to meet you, Irene-unnie, and you too Yujinnah. I had so much fun getting to know you both."
"Oh dear, you have no idea how fun this experience was," Irene replied. "I would say good-bye and thank you for coming here, but as optimistic as I am, I don't want to believe that this would be our last meeting, Ningning-ssi. So, let's just say that we'll see each other soon, shall we?"
Ningning nodded with utmost enthusiasm. Yujin then went next to her.
"We'll definitely see each other sometime at NLIU, right? You know, we can get some tea or something and talk behind Jae-in while we're at it."
"Yah, you know I can hear you, right?" the young man protested and was met with a collective laughter.
"Now, now, let's save the bickering for later. You can have all the time to do that once you get back from below. I think I have held out Ningning-ssi here long enough and I think it's time for you to finally head out. Please escort her down, Jae-in," Irene requested and Ningning made sure to nod once again.
"I'll be heading off Irene-unnie, Yujin. See you around."
"See you, Ningning-ssi."
"See you, Ning!"
One sound of a closing door later and it was just the figures of Bae Joohyun and Ahn Yujin left on the four corners of the living room. There was a slow pause that lasted seconds before the two beautiful women exchanged glances as if they just pulled off a crazy stunt they had in mind since the very beginning. It was only when they were both absolutely sure that Ningning and Jae-in's figures were quite out of earshot and way off from the front of their apartment that they finally went off and pulled each other's hands in excitement.
"So, unnie, now that you've heard all of that? What do you think of them? Do we have the same thing in mind?"
"I never saw that good of chemistry with Jae-in since she was with you, I'll say that for sure. I didn't expect to get along with her as well, granted that first encounter was rather interesting, don't you think?"
"Really, unnie...? You never saw Jae-in like that with anyone else? I thought I was the only one who noticed. At least then, I have something to look forward to. I'll sure watch where this heads, you know."
"I'll hold back on assuming anything for now because it's still too early in my opinion. I would say though, that I love how open and relentless she is once she got comfortable. The fact that she saved Jae-in from that Soyeon girl, whether intentionally or not, was already a plus in my book. I never had that sort of comfortable feeling when it was the Soyeon girl who brought Jae-in here when he was equally drunk like that.
"I'm cautiously optimistic, though. I'm not putting my guard down."
"I see. There's still so much to know, am I right unnie?"
"One thing was for sure; I certainly feel better knowing that Jae-in has Ningning with him whenever they drink. That's already a good start. Anyway, shall we attend to the dishes now, Yujinnah?"
--- IN FRONT OF THE BUILDING---
"Thanks for walking me down, Jae-in. I really appreciate it, but I don't think you need to wait for me to board a cab. I'm pretty sure Irene-unnie and Yujin is waiting for you upstairs. I would have stayed and helped you wash but your sister was insisting against it."
"Yeah... when she has already made up her mind it's next to impossible to change it. I'll wait for a cab though. You've done so much for me that it's almost hard to pay you back evenly. It's a small thing so let me do it."
"Y-yah, I already told you that you don't have to. Besides, having lunch with you all is already too much for me. I cannot even express how thankful and happy I am now. Thank you for everything today, Yoon Jae-in."
Jae-in grinned.
"I wanted to thank you back but I think if I do that then it would just be never-ending. We would be thanking each other until we would have no real reasons to do so, and it's kind of funny. Let's just put it that we've done things for each other, and maybe we can call it even after this?"
Ningning nodded. She was about to give a short reply when she noticed that a cab got hold of their waiting figures and flashed, with Jae-in hailing it as it slowly moved to pull over in front of them.
"Oh I have thought of something... I hope you don't mind one last favour," she said as she turned on the spot, the frame of the cab perfectly halting behind her. "It's just one thing, and I promise we can call it quits right after."
"Easy. What is it?"
"Help me get through finals. I'm not talking about studies, but I have a feeling that UK would not be as active like before. We can talk about it soon in detail, but for now I just want to get it out there. I just want to hang out with you more often, Jae-in. Are you fine with that?"
"I... I don't see anything wrong with it. Sure, I'll help you out just—"
He did not even finish his sentence and he was quickly met with a hug from Ningning's end. It was short, lasting about a couple of seconds and broken before he could even register what was going on. The moment he realized that Ningning even hugged him, the young woman was already on her way towards the back of seat of the cab, waving goodbye to him and smiling.
"Goodbye Jae-in. See you at school!"
He was speechless. Jae-in merely waved there in silence as he watched the cab accelerate from the apartment front and zoom off with Ningning in tow. If there was anything he noticed with himself, there was a faint blush on his cheeks as he silently watched the corner where she disappeared even if it had been seconds that passed. There was just that comforting feeling with Ning Yizhuo—that feeling that made him sure he can do anything as long as he has her by his side.