I Honestly Answered My Childhood Friend's Confession Practice
“Hey! Kang Suho! Why are you walking alone!”
“...You’re the one who’s always late. Hurry up.”
The girl panting and running a few steps behind me was Min Sihyeon.
That troublesome girl who always oversleeps and makes me wake her up every morning.
It was the same now.
If I didn’t run, she’d be late 100%, and she was complaining about how hard it was.
“Haa... haa... Hey... let’s take a break...”
“...I don’t care if you’re late...”
Eventually, she gave up on running and went into the nearby convenience store.
According to the girl next to me, it didn’t matter if she was five minutes late or thirty minutes late... she’d still be late. She had to live leisurely.
Yeah... I was late anyway.
“Hey! What ice cream are you getting? ...I’ll buy today. There’s something I want to ask you...”
The word “ask” made me think it was probably asking to see my homework again...
Without hesitation, I picked up Haagen-Dazs.
“Wow... Kang Suho is really heartless... Why do you eat such expensive stuff...”
“Cancel! Cancel! Get something else! I don’t have any money...”
Min Sihyeon grabbed my hand holding the Haagen-Dazs and stuffed it back into the freezer.
...In the end, I ended up grabbing the same strawberry soft-serve cone as Min Sihyeon.
We stepped out of the convenience store and sat facing each other on the bench right in front.
The weather outside was oppressively hot for May... my face was flushed.
“Eh, what’s that... Do you have a fever? Your face is really red...”
Just as I thought my face was red...
Min Sihyeon approached without hesitation and placed her hand on my forehead.
“It doesn’t seem like you have a fever...”
Then, seeing my reaction, Min Sihyeon started teasing me, as if she had figured something out.
“...Did it make you excited because your noona touched you? Right? That’s it, right?”
“I totally get it. You got excited from touching earlier too... Your face is turning red right away... How cute.”
I quickly pulled my body back.
“W-what... It’s not like that at all...”
...Though I said it wasn’t, it was true.
Waking her up every morning, being right next to her even though I knew she’d be late.
Secretly, I liked her. Sihyeon.
I didn’t know when it started.
Third grade of elementary... when I transferred to this neighborhood and first met her.
It had been quite a while.
...But I knew well.
That she was a girl who didn’t suit me.
Pretty, cheerful, honest...
Compared to me, ordinary, unappealing, quiet – a person from the opposite world.
So, quite some time ago... I had quietly given up on those feelings.
Still, sometimes when our bodies touched like this... the body couldn’t lie, and it honestly reacted.
Leaving aside my liking, right now she was a precious friend.
Thanks to her, I made many friends... I didn’t want to push my feelings and break this relationship.
While I was lost in that thought,
Min Sihyeon pulled me back to reality.
“Hey... What are you thinking? Stop thinking weird things alone. Aigoo...”
“...I wasn’t thinking anything weird. Let’s really go now. If we’re any later, we’ll enter after first period ends.”
Looking at the clock on my smartphone, it was already 9:27.
...Since the teachers guarding the school gate and the student council had gone in for class, the area in front of the school was deserted.
“Ah, damn... It’s the latest this year... But since we’ll enter before first period ends, it should be fine~”
“...”
This girl’s cheerfulness was truly... a subject of study.
Both of us would get demerits, but what could we do.
Opening the back door, we quietly entered Class 2-4 classroom... and got caught.
The sound of chalk squeaking on the blackboard stopped, and a harsh voice like a grim reaper came out.
“...Do you think school is funny? Huh?”
“Oh, it’s you two again? You’re just like students who go to school... or are you dating?”
Unfortunately... even if caught, it was math... probably first period was Korean, the class had changed.
Glancing at Min Sihyeon next to me, she looked devastated, as if she hadn’t expected to be caught by ‘math’.
“...Both of you, come to the teacher’s office after class.”
“...”
“...Yes...”
Both of our faces flushed red as we sat in our seats, with the background of classmates giggling.
Since we were sitting next to each other as usual... our faces stayed flushed for a while.
So, we listened to class half-heartedly... and suddenly the bell rang.
Right after class ended, ‘math’ appeared in front of us and gestured with his finger “follow me”.
A short while later, at a table in the corner of the teachers’ office... math, our homeroom teacher Choi, Min Sihyeon, and finally me. A four-way confrontation.
In the awkward silence, ‘math’ spoke first.
“Teacher Choi, you’re not too lenient with the kids, are you? The 4th class students are a mess, they say.”
Homeroom teacher smiled gently and responded.
“Well, sometimes students can be late while going to school. Don’t push them too hard, Seung-ah sunbae.”
“...It’s not pushing, I’m just stating the obvious.”
“No, look now. You two are just... happily dating and then late... Sigh. I wonder what they’ll become when they grow up.”
“Students don’t know what they’ll be like before they grow up, Seung-ah sunbae.”
“What do you mean you don’t know? It’s obvious. If they’re like that, they’ll probably end up working at some fat company when they grow up. Teacher Choi.”
...I felt bad for no reason.
It was my fault, but was it right to belittle my life like this just because I was a little late?
Min Sihyeon next to me seemed to think the same, showing a displeased expression.
Homeroom teacher, hearing that, shot ‘math’ a look as if it was unbelievable.
“...Seung-ah sunbae, your words are too harsh.”
“Because you keep belittling the kids like that, they don’t like you.”
“...What?”
Just as our tardiness was about to turn into a fierce teacher argument...
The dean of academic affairs came to wrap up the situation.
“Both of you stop. What are you doing in front of the kids. Teachers.”
“Sigh... How do you two always meet and...”
...Watching the situation, homeroom teacher winked at us while glancing,
‘math’ bit his lip with a frustrated expression. Next time he got caught, he’d really be done for...
In the end, the punishment was 5 demerits, plus writing a one-page reflection essay.
Looking at Min Sihyeon next to me... she wasn’t writing the reflection essay seriously but was focused on goofing off.
“...Write the reflection essay seriously. You were told to submit it by today.”
“Hey, this is me trying hard.”
The reflection essay that her seat partner proudly showed was utterly poor.
At best, it was written about sixty lines and stopped... with terrible handwriting.
“Why, what... You think you wrote it well. Damn...”
Min Sihyeon snatched the reflection essay I was writing and read it seriously.
“Hey, don’t write like this. It’ll be compared to mine. You should write it roughly too.”
“...You should write it well.”
While secretly writing reflection essays during class and bickering with each other... suddenly it became lunchtime.
Since the beginning of the semester, naturally eating lunch with Min Sihyeon’s friends... the lunch members were basically fixed.
Cha Eunha, Min Sihyeon’s friend, and Bang Arin. Including me, total 4.
After receiving trays in the cafeteria and sitting with the four, Cha Eunha smiled brightly and spoke first.
“You two were dating and late again this morning, weren’t you? You’re being so obvious...”
As soon as I heard the story, Min Sihyeon got angry and replied.
“Suho and I... It’s not what you think at all.”
“You’re such a liar~”
“That’s really...”
“Totally~”
Bang Arin, watching the two bicker, looked at Min Sihyeon with an expression that something didn’t sit right with her. Staring intensely.
...Was there something?
After eating and getting up, Bang Arin gave Min Sihyeon a signal with her eyes...
They seemed to go to a corner of the cafeteria to talk something.
What secret story was this...
At that moment, Cha Eunha’s voice came from right next to me.
“What are those two doing. Why are they talking secretly without us?”
“Well...”
“Hey, Kang Suho, let’s sneak and listen. I have to know what secret they’re talking about...”
Without any choice, pulled by Cha Eunha’s hand...
While pretending to leave the cafeteria, I hid behind a pillar and started eavesdropping on their conversation.
“Ah... damn... Nothing is coming through...”
Of course, the cafeteria during lunch was noisy.
It was impossible to hear properly. Their conversation came occasionally... faintly.
“...They say... confession...”
“...Yeah, today...”
...Confession?
Min Sihyeon? ...To whom.
Cha Eunha, having heard that part clearly, was excitedly telling me next to her.
“Hey, hey... It’s a confession! A confession! Who does Min Sihyeon like... who is it...”
“...No way you?”
Cha Eunha pointed at me as the target, I just smiled with a bewildered expression.
“...That can’t be. It’s not like we’ve known each other for just a day or two.”
“...Right? Then who could it really be...”
...Of course, I said that.
But in the deepest corner of my heart... there was a little bit of hope that the person would be me.
Very, a little bit.
By 5:30 in the afternoon, after classes ended and spending an hour more... the reflection essay was finally finished.
Most of the time was Min Sihyeon complaining about how hard writing the reflection essay was...
After submitting the reflection essay, the two of us went to the teachers’ office, where homeroom teacher was waiting.
“Good job. But... you can’t be late like this again? If you do it one more time, it’s ‘spanking’.”
“...What?”
Homeroom teacher smiled gently and showed a wrist snap motion slapping the butt.
“It’s not a joke?”
The hand movement seemed practiced, but that was it.
Next time I was late, I might really open my eyes to ‘strange tastes’.
...Next time, I’d go alone without Min Sihyeon.
Homeroom teacher gave us each an ice cream from the fridge in the teachers’ office as we were about to leave.
So, after leaving the teachers’ office amicably -
Min Sihyeon, who had been quiet since earlier, spoke up.
“Hey... Kang Suho, about what I said this morning. ...The part where I said I’d buy ice cream in exchange for a favor.”
“Huh? ...Um, um... Yeah. What, you weren’t asking to see my homework, were you?”
That morning’s thing.
I had thought it was nothing serious... but the atmosphere was strange.
“Wait a minute, let’s go to the empty classroom.”
Min Sihyeon took my hand and led me to the empty classroom.
Class 2-1, the empty room next to us... Min Sihyeon hesitated for a long time, then handed me a letter.
My heart was pounding hard.
Earlier... was this about the confession thing in the cafeteria.
...To me?
When I unfolded the letter and read it, it was a typical... love letter.
My heart was shaking too much... the content didn’t enter my head properly.
This, this... it’s a confession, right...?
Min Sihyeon stood there fidgeting her hands, as if waiting for my answer.
...Since she had the courage, I should also muster my courage.
For years,
That feeling buried deep in my heart.
That feeling I had given up on, thinking it didn’t suit me.
My voice trembled like a fool, but this was the sincerity I could show.
“I... I... like you too. You... y-yes... I’ve liked you since before...”
“Actually! I was trying to write this to Minhyun...”
It was the worst timing.
My confession and... Min Sihyeon’s answer overlapped.
Kim Minhyun, yeah... not the guy in our class, but the boy in class 1.
He was the starter on the soccer team... and supposedly played in the band too. Good at studies... a perfect umchinah type.
...It wasn’t me.
Min Sihyeon, having heard my answer... swallowed her words a few times with a complicated expression,
then continued in a small voice.
“...Sorry for the misunderstanding. You... if you were a guy, you’d probably understand a guy’s heart well. The one I showed first... was this. I thought what if I wrote it like this.”
Reading the letter again...
Yeah, when I read it properly, it wasn’t about me. There were things like how cool it was to play guitar...
Just... because she was excited about the confession, she didn’t read it properly and imagined what I wanted.
To me standing there silently,
Min Sihyeon... thinking she had to answer my confession or something, drove the nail in.
“...Sorry. I’ve never thought of you as more than a friend. Really... sorry.”
“It’s... fine. Today I’ll go first... or separately... I’ll go.”
Since I had no strength to speak...
I squeezed out the words with difficulty. I thought I heard Min Sihyeon calling something, but my head was buzzing and my stomach was churning... I couldn’t hear properly.
My one-sided love, which I had cherished for so long...
Ended in the most pathetic form.