White Day
Over the weekend, Yeoncheong—who would normally have been holed up at home—went out for the first time in a while. The refrigerator was down to bare shelves, and it needed restocking.
Since it was just a grocery run to the nearby mart, Yeoncheong's outfit was simple: a tracksuit with an untamed head of hair shoved under a baseball cap.
The hat was too big and hung loose, the track pants folded over several times at the waist. All of it was from back when she'd been a boy.
Her reasoning had been that a hat only needed to hold the hair, and the tracksuit was still fairly new—too new to let sit unworn. It was a rude ensemble that clashed with the glimpses of her face that showed beneath the brim. People shot her sidelong glances, wondering who dressed like that, but Yeoncheong was far too busy shopping to notice.
What's left in the fridge...
Recalling the ingredients remaining at home, Yeoncheong loaded items into her basket. Seen from a distance, she looked beyond natural—she looked positively practiced at it.
Still unfamiliar with the mart's layout, it took her a while to finish her shopping.
This should last a while.
Yeonocheong gave the basket one final once-over, then headed straight for the checkout. She was walking the shortest possible line to the register when something caught her eye.
She read the letters taped to a display stand.
White Day.
A commercial holiday dreamed up on the heels of Valentine's Day—the day when, traditionally, men gave gifts to women.
The display was lined not only with candy but with chocolates and other sweets in neat rows.
A gift... would that seem weird?
With her shopping all but wrapped up, the matter she'd shoved deep into a corner of her mind came creeping back out.
Her conversation with Suyeon had given Yeoncheong a chance to look back on the days since her transfer—and to realize she'd been unconsciously keeping everyone at arm's length.
She'd thought she was managing school life well enough. She hadn't been. It was an illusion born of Hasol and Suyeon reaching out to her first.
Excuses like having gone to all-boys middle and high school and finding girls difficult, or having been a man until recently—there was only so far those could carry her.
I can't stay passive forever.
For any number of reasons she'd chosen to transfer to Hwaryeong High School, and she had two more years to attend. For the sake of her future, if nothing else, things had to get better than this.
Having finished her soul-searching, Yeoncheong could admit it: the joke of a club activity Suyeon had proposed was exactly what she needed right now.
But recognizing a problem didn't mean it could be solved overnight. Everything had its proper order—and building closeness, exchanging contact info, especially so.
And then a rather useful pretext had appeared right before her eyes. It was a day for men to give gifts to women, true, but at its core, no one could be upset about receiving a present.
Having settled the matter, Yeoncheong swept the goods off the display into her basket, folding down her fingers one by one as she counted.
Suyeon had wondered what could have prompted such a thought, so Yeoncheong told her about the previous weekend.
Even in the curt summary, the serious deliberation behind it shone through. Watching her, Suyeon broke into a grin.
Every time I got close, she'd pull away, so I figured she was just timid. Guess that wasn't it at all.
Having shown Yeoncheong around the club, Suyeon had already revised her opinion of the girl somewhat.
Quiet personality, outgoing personality—if you divided every human being on earth into those two camps, Yeoncheong seemed to fall on the outgoing side.
Maybe it's just the adjustment that's hard for her...
Suyeon resolved to help Yeoncheong in her own clumsy way.
Yeoncheong, meanwhile, tilted her head as she watched Suyeon grin to herself and clench a fist in the air.
What's she doing? It's making me nervous.
Seoha, sitting beside them, apparently couldn't contain her curiosity about the whispered exchange.
"What's the big secret between you two?"
"Well, it's..."
Yeoncheong hesitated for a moment and started rummaging through her bag—but Suyeon cut her off.
"Yeoncheong, I'll help you."
"Uh, what? Help with what?"
"You'd be handing them out all day on your own anyway."
"That's... true."
Yeoncheong had already been mulling over the same thing. Her plan had been to hand out the gifts with Suyeon or Hasol at her side.
"With my help, it'll be way easier on you too."
There was no reason to refuse. When Yeoncheong gave a small nod, Suyeon seized her hand and pulled her along, bag and all.
Yeoncheong stretched out a hand in a desperate bid for help, but Seoha—apparently taking it as a farewell—simply waved her off with a safe travels gesture.
"Hasol!"
Suyeon went hunting for reinforcements and found Hasol.
"Your voice. Your voice!"
The shout was loud enough to rattle the classroom. Yeoncheong clamped a hand on Suyeon, begging her to keep it down.
Hasol, once she'd heard the story, reacted much the same way. Like Suyeon moments before, her eyes lit up.
"When do we start?"
"First period's coming up, so let's start from the next break."
"Yeah, sounds good."
The whole plan was decided without a word from the person it concerned. Classmates shot puzzled looks at Yeoncheong, who'd been dragged over still clutching her bag.
Maybe telling them wasn't such a good idea after all...
Yeoncheong began to regret it.
What happens when two suns shine down on a single person? Yeoncheong had learned the answer firsthand during the club tour—and the lesson was ongoing.
The two of them kept their word. The moment break arrived, they swept Yeoncheong up and marched her over to the friend group they'd assembled.
"Hey, everyone!"
"Yeah?"
"Yeoncheong has something to say."
The pair retreated behind her, shoving her forward by the back.
Well-meaning help wasn't a bad thing. But with a stage laid out for her, Yeoncheong only grew that much more embarrassed.
"It's a day late, but..."
With a word of thanks for everyone's patience with the new transfer student, she pulled the prepared gifts from her bag—candy, chocolates, jellies, all bundled together in a single wrapping.
Effort and sincerity.
Those were the two things that mattered most in a gift. Store-bought, yes—but wrapped by hand with care, and handed over by someone fidgeting anxiously for a reaction. The sincerity came through in every fidget.
In that sense, there was nothing lacking about Yeoncheong's gifts.
A transfer student who'd kept her distance, now stepping forward to hand out presents. The reception was warm—with two people at her side cheering her on and hyping up the mood, the atmosphere stayed bright.
Once one classmate started boasting about receiving something from the transfer student, others came up on their own. Nothing beats repetition for getting used to something new, after all. And Yeoncheong's own manner with her classmates grew comfortable at remarkable speed.
Each short ten-minute break, her class came alive.
Even her homeroom teacher, who'd been looking out for her in every way, was no exception. Having received her gift during math class, Teacher Jisu remarked:
"So the transfer student who just got here is handing out gifts, and the rest of you who've known me for over a year can't manage a single one?"
"Teacher!"
"What?"
Hasol shot her hand up, then formed a heart with both arms. Teacher Jisu deliberately hardened her expression.
"I don't accept gifts like that."
"Aw, why not!"
Laughter bloomed across the classroom. It was an age where a small gift and a single silly incident were all it took to have a good time.
By the time the final period ended, the gifts that had filled her bag to bursting were nearly gone. Yeoncheong called over Hasol and Suyeon, who'd helped her to the very end.
"Thanks for helping."
"I merely did my duty as a friend and fellow club member."
Suyeon struck a theatrical pose, and Hasol nodded along in solemn agreement.
Yeoncheong glanced around. Then, in the brief window when no one else was looking, she slipped them each a gift.
Presents wrapped differently from all the rest. Both girls' eyes fixed on her. Dodging their gazes, Yeoncheong murmured in a small voice.
"I owe you two so much... so don't tell the others."
She pressed an index finger to her lips, sealing the promise. What caught her eye then was the flush creeping across her own cheeks—or rather, the flush that caught their eyes. Suyeon, apparently unable to hold back any longer, threw her arms around the seated Yeoncheong.
"What? What's this all of a sudden?"
Yeoncheong held both arms up, at a complete loss.
"What do you mean, why? You're the one who seduced me first."
"Exactly. You mustn't do that to a man."
At Hasol's offhand joke, Yeoncheong froze. Her eyes darted about, unable to stay still, and she forced an awkward smile as she tried desperately to manage her expression.
"I—I'm gonna go find Seoha."
Unable to hold her face together a second longer, she shook off Suyeon's arms and bolted from the classroom.
The two who remained sat there, abandoned in her wake.
In a quiet corner of the school, as students streamed past on their way to club activities, Yeoncheong inhaled and exhaled, over and over.
Only barely calmed, she let out one last long breath.
Ha... there's still one left.
Yeoncheong opened her bag and grabbed the last remaining package. It was Seoha's. They sat right next to each other, so Yeoncheong had kept putting it off—I can give it to her anytime—and so it had ended up last.
"Should I check the club room, like before? Or she said something about the student council—maybe Seoyun-sunbae would know where she is."
"Who are you looking for?"
"Seoha, actually—?"
At the familiar voice, Yeoncheong's head snapped up and she shot to her feet.
Silky black hair cascading past her shoulders. Crimson eyes that seemed like they'd hold their light even in the dead of night—now reflecting a pair of blue ones.
The bag thumped to the floor, and the gift in her hand revealed itself before its intended owner.
"Is that... my present?"
"Y-yeah."
Yeoncheong thrust it forward, and Seoha accepted it.
"I was about to get sulky, thinking I'd been left out."
"I figured I could give it to you anytime, so... but honestly, I put the most care into yours."
"Really?"
"You've helped me in so many ways since my very first day here."
Seoha turned the gift over in her hands, examining the contents. It almost felt like her first time receiving something like this.
"...Thank you. This is a gift I never saw coming."
Seoha smiled softly. Eyes that had been like a red harvest moon curved along with her lips, becoming a slender crescent.
"You're heading to club activities, right? Shall we go together?"
Yeoncheong was about to nod when she caught herself. It was the shopping bag lying on the floor next to her bag.
"I have to stop by the tennis club. I need to return the clothes Seoyun-sunbae lent me."
"Mm-hmm. I see?"
The hum at the end of the sentence climbed upward, a knowing lilt. Seoha said she'd understand and went on ahead.
Having texted Suyeon an explanation, Yeoncheong went to find Seoyun-sunbae.
"You gave them out to your whole class? That must've cost you a fair bit."
"It's not like I had anywhere else to spend it."
Yeoncheong answered the surprised senior with a shrug. With the conversation seemingly wrapped up, she edged a careful distance away.
"I think that covers everything, so I'll be going now?"
Seoyun had pestered her with questions about everything that had happened lately, so Yeoncheong had given her only a brief account. Now that her errand was done, she meant to head back—but Seoyun wouldn't let her go.
"A junior cute enough to hand out gifts should've joined our club."
"I didn't buy them for you—they were leftovers because I miscalculated how many I needed."
"And I even wrapped yours up for you? Fine, if that's your story, we'll go with that."
Yeoncheong corrected the mischaracterization, but Seoyun stubbornly kept interpreting things however suited her best.
"Well then... Suyeon would be bored in the club without you, so I'll graciously give up my claim."
"Then I really will be going now."
Seoyun semi-forcefully confiscated Yeoncheong's smartphone, registered her own contact, and handed it back. Yeoncheong was about to lodge a complaint when the torrent of texts from Suyeon urging her to hurry sent her scurrying off to the club room instead.