ACT 2 — SCENE 11
SHE REASONS.
THIS IS the second time Seojung wakes up in the living room with no recollection of when she had fallen asleep. She's sitting on the floor of her living room with her cheek pressed against the coffee table when she comes to her senses. Other than the sound of the TV, there's no sign of life in the apartment, at least not until she hears a loud thump followed by a swear. Her first instinct is to panic because she would've never thought that she'd be getting robbed (or possibly killed) in the first year of living alone. The girl is ready to reach for the phone and dial the cops, but the figure that emerges from the kitchen makes her breathe a sigh of relief instead of causing a heart attack.
"How did you get in here?" Seojung questions her friend. As far as she knows, Arai hadn't been here when she got home from her classes and she hadn't been here when Seojung started some last minute studying––that she should've done nights ago instead of cramming last minute––before she passed out.
"I let myself in. You should really start reminding yourself to lock your door. I've locked it for you don't worry." Arai makes herself feel at home by plopping down on the couch, propping her feet up on the coffee table and on top of Seojung's papers. "So, how's everything going?"
Seojung answers that with an exasperated sigh. The past few days had been a whirlwind of trying to keep up with college and trying to stay on track with the search. Knows that she should slow down and focus on more important things like her education, but there's an itch inside her gut that keeps her from setting her priorities straight. What makes everything so hard is that a simple Google search is not going to tell her who her mother is. There are millions of Choi Jiwon's out there, and probably even thousands in the area, she would be lucky if she could narrow it down to just a hundred. Seojung didn't even remember that her real birth certificate told her that she was born in Seoul until she had the chance to take a good look at it again. Only recently that she noticed the hospital name listed on the document, one that's only a two-hour drive out of sheer luck but she hadn't bothered to ring the place up, doubting that the people would disclose any kind of personal information to a desperate girl.
But perhaps everything made more sense now. Her parents never talked about how things were like after she was born or what kind of food her mother craved when the woman still had her in the womb. It's because they hadn't been there to experience any of that, and it makes her feel more sad than disappointed. Had even called her mother a few days ago just to ask her about it and only got a made up story about how she was born in the hospital in their neighborhood instead. She had always believed that she was a Busan girl through and through. Another thing to add to her list of things she didn't know about herself.
It's possible that her parents adopted her in Seoul instead of Busan, but it's also possible that her mother came to Busan before she let them adopt her instead. Everything is suddenly a lot more confusing than it already was. Right now, the only hope she has is that hospital, holds on to the possibility that they still keep records over seventeen years of age.
"Jeongguk said I need to take it easy."
That had been a few days ago at lunch, the only time they're bound to see each other during the day. He had asked her how everything was going, so Seojung told him that it's what has been giving her headaches lately. Instead of saying everything will turn out okay and giving her the support she always expected from him, he said that she was devoting too much of her time for it when she could be focusing on college among other things. It completely threw her off. She had always known Jeongguk to always have her back, so hearing him say that and sounding so blunt about it was... new. Had her thinking that Jimin had completely brainwashed him into taking his side of things.
"Well, Jeongguk's right. You should listen to your boyfriend. You guys haven't been hanging out that much lately, right? Hoseok told me he's now a part of his dance crew."
"He is? Huh, Jeongguk never mentioned anything like that."
"Exactly."
So unlike her boyfriend to leave such an exciting thing out of their conversations, though they hadn't been really having a lot of those recently. Seojung always found it cute how he always rushes to her first whenever he has big news. Thinking about it, she's starting to feel like she's not a part of his life anymore. There's really nothing else to blame other than the fact that both are just too preoccupied with everything at the moment. But that shouldn't be a reason for them to start neglecting each other, right?
And yet, that's exactly the case right now.
"There's actually something else I wanted to talk to you about," Arai adds after a brief moment. The girl puts the bag of chips down on the coffee table.
"And that is?" There's a sudden shift in her tone that Seojung can't help but notice, one that makes her anxious. Her friend has always nothing but fun and games most of the time and Seojung loves that, so when she gets serious, it's something that she should worry about.
"Taehyung."
Seojung should've seen it coming. There's really no obstacle in their friendship except for the boy living right across the hall. Though Arai has her own disputes with Taehyung, she's considerate enough to not let it come between them.
"What about him?" The girl avoids looking at her best friend by busying herself with the papers, tidying and stacking them up in a pile.
"You guys have been getting close lately. Awfully close."
Seojung can't decipher what Arai is trying to do by bringing the subject of Taehyung up, but she can't say that her friend is wrong. Having seen Jeongguk less and Taehyung being just a doorbell away makes it hard for Seojung to avoid the latter, even if she wanted to. She did try the first few weeks, but no matter how much effort she put into pushing Taehyung out of her life, the boy would always find a way to be a part of it. Besides, she found no harm in hanging out with Taehyung. He was a great company from time to time.
"And?"
"And don't you think you're letting your guard down too much?" Arai moves from the couch to sit on the floor beside Seojung instead. "It's just that you and Jeongguk are slowly falling out and I don't think being all buddy-buddy with Taehyung is going to help anything."
Seojung feels a sudden need to be defensive—over herself or Taehyung she doesn't know—but she knows that she doesn't like hearing Arai make assumptions about the boy like this. It almost pisses her off how Arai thinks that because of the person Taehyung is known to be, it's automatically a bad idea for her to be friends with him when in fact they had already been close years before.
"How many times do I have to tell you that Taehyung and I are just friends? I've known him for years." Way longer than you have is what goes unsaid.
"Then you should know better than to trust that he won't fuck things up—"
"He won't."
"Fine," Arai sighs. "What about Jeongguk, then? What does he think about Taehyung? Don't you think he'd be uncomfortable knowing that his girlfriend is friends with someone who only keeps girls around to warm his bed, and just happens to be the guy she crushed on for all her high school years?"
Seojung doesn't know if Jeongguk's even aware that she and Taehyung are on talking terms, hasn't really brought it up for obvious reasons. Tells herself that this isn't lying, just her avoiding telling him the whole story and so she avoids her friend's gaze because she knows that Arai has a point.
"But he would've told me if he had a problem with it," Seojung reasons. She's lucky enough that Jeongguk's the most honest when it comes to her and their relationship. She knows that he's not one to express his opinions and feelings, but he does so for both of their sakes, and she appreciates that about him a lot.
"Look," Seojung feels a hand on her shoulder, "the last thing I want to do is argue about that pretentious asshole. You're a smart girl and I believe that you'll make the right choices, so just remember to hold on to the things you already have, okay? I'm just looking out for you."
The only response she gives her friend is a weak smile that she hopes masks everything else her heart screams.
—
seojung: [talks about taehyung]
me: [sighs] sweetie,,,
sorry for not updating for a while omg this was supposed to be a chapter with two scenes but im putting that for the next chapter so you guys won't have to wait too long! we're nearing the end of act 2 im so excited. tell me what you think of the chapter, i'd love to hear your thoughts as always! hope you enjoyed this short filler chapter as i try to get my shit together and finish act 2. sorry for any mistakes you know my ass is too lazy to proofread.
love and kisses,
mara