Drifting Apart
I'd spent the morning looking into offices and apartments decent enough to live in alone, and ended up running late because of it.
By the time I walked into the classroom, I was cutting it dangerously close to the start of first period. I muddled my way through that first class, and then the ten-minute break arrived.
"Seojun, why were you late today?"
A beautiful girl with a fresh, clear face and long brown hair came to stand in front of my desk. Chaeeun.
"Just overslept a little this morning."
"Overslept?"
"Yeah."
When I answered with a nod, she murmured a quiet Overslept... and nodded back at me.
We had always come to school together, so it was hardly an exaggeration to say that one of us being late like this was a rare occurrence. And even on the rare occasions it happened, the lateness was almost always on Chaeeun's side, never mine. I had always been the one doing the waiting.
From the day we first met as children, all the way through the years after I'd fallen for her—every single morning of it.
So from her point of view, seeing me slip into the classroom just as the bell rang for first period had to be baffling.
"You oversleeping? That's so unlike you, Seojun. Did something happen?"
Normally, I would have told her everything—what happened, why it happened, all of it.
"Just ended up staying up late somehow."
"...I see?"
But not this time.
I had decided to put distance between us, and I had no intention of being any more accommodating in conversation than I had to be.
At my oddly stiff, oddly distant reply, she frowned a little. Something seemed off to her, but she couldn't quite put her finger on what.
Though that didn't last long either.
Deciding it probably wasn't worth the trouble of thinking about, she quickly flashed a smile and held out her hand.
"I'm hungry—want to come to the school store with me?"
I looked down at her slender outstretched hand.
Under normal circumstances, I would have grabbed it the moment she offered. I would have clung to it, dredging up every excuse in the book just to keep holding on a little longer.
Right now, I didn't want any of that.
"Sorry."
She clearly hadn't expected a refusal, and her face went wide with surprise.
"Huh? You're not coming with me?"
"No. My stomach's a little off, so I don't think I can."
"Your stomach? Why, what's wrong?"
"Probably from rushing here. I ran pretty hard to make it to school on time."
It was a lie, of course. A short sprint wasn't enough to give anyone a stomachache. It was nothing more than an excuse to turn down a trip to the school store alone with her.
"Then should I go with you to the nurse's office? You always went with me when I was sick, so today it's my turn to return the favor!"
"No, I'm fine. It'll pass if I just sit still for a bit, so there's no need for the nurse."
"Really? Are you sure you'll be okay?"
"Yeah. So don't worry about me—just go get something from the store."
"Mm... okay."
She nodded slowly, then scratched her head with a slightly embarrassed look. Then, suddenly, her gaze drifted toward somewhere across the room, and her expression brightened.
Wondering what on earth it was, I followed her line of sight—and there was Yang Jinhyeok, walking past in the corridor. The man she'd fallen for.
Chaeeun headed straight out into the hallway. She'd probably go to the school store with Jinhyeok in my place. Or not. Who knew.
...Watching her run off without a moment's hesitation made one corner of my heart ache.
Seeing it with my own eyes really did hurt more.
I let out a sigh and dropped my head, mindlessly letting the minutes bleed away—
Tap tap.
Someone was tapping me on the shoulder.
"...?"
Surprised, I turned to see who it was. A girl with gray hair in a bob that fell just past her shoulders—my desk neighbor—was looking right at me.
"Did you and Kim Chaeeun have a fight?"
"...Excuse me?"
Out of nowhere, she asks that?
We're not even close enough to be talking about this kind of thing, are we?
Ours was a relationship that amounted to nothing more than a few conversations by pure accident of assigned seating.
Ah, though I did know her name. Kim Hyewon. That was who she was.
Either way, the fact that someone I barely knew was suddenly interrogating me about this caught me completely off guard.
"I sit right next to you, Baek Seojun. So I've seen how close you two are—close enough that people might think you and Kim Chaeeun are a couple. But today something seemed off."
"People thought we looked like a couple?"
"Yeah? You didn't know?"
She tilted her head.
"..."
"I mean... you did look like one. You two were attached at the hip every single day. Walked to school together and everything. A few people in our class probably actually think you're dating."
"...I had no idea."
"You didn't?"
"No. We weren't."
Unfortunately.
We weren't a couple.
And we never would be, now.
"Oh. I see."
She gave a slow nod and turned her gaze back to the front.
The whole exchange reminded me of a cat losing interest in a toy.
...Seriously, why did she ask that out of nowhere?
She's a strange one.
Kim Hyewon. We'd spoken only a handful of times, but I remembered her as a girl who was probably popular among the boys thanks to her looks.
She wasn't a heroine in the original romantic comedy novel either, but she'd had her own fanbase.
Beyond that, I honestly didn't know much. The only thing I could recall for certain was... that she was naturally a rather blunt person?
Granted, I'd been the one keeping my distance from the opposite sex out of devotion to Chaeeun, but even so—sitting right next to each other for this long and barely exchanging a few words pretty much said it all.
In any case, Kim Hyewon didn't speak to me again after that.
Which meant, in the end, that I sat desolately through the rest of my classes alone until it was finally time to go home.
As I was packing up my bag, my former unrequited love appeared in front of me, her own bag already slung over her shoulder.
Swish—
"Hey, Seojun. Want to go to a noraebang after school today? Sing some karaoke?"
There were days like this, every so often. Days when we'd head out with no plans at all the moment school ended, just the two of us.
No wonder the kids think Chaeeun and I are a couple.
We weren't, in reality.
Couldn't be, no matter how much I wanted it.
...
With effort, I managed a smile and looked at her.
"Sorry. I don't think I can hang out today. Would you be okay going by yourself?"
"...Huh? Why?"
"Something came up."
"Something... came up?"
She tilted her head, her eyes demanding an explanation.
Normally I would have gone into detail about exactly what had come up...
"I'm sorry, Chaeeun. I'm pressed for time—mind if I head out first?"
It wasn't as if I could honestly tell her the truth: that I didn't trust myself to stay close to her, and that I was going apartment hunting for a place to move into. I just wanted things to fade like this—slowly, gradually—until all that remained was the kind of distance where we occasionally traded a word or two.
So that someday, when we thought of each other, we'd remember: oh, right, I once had a friend of the opposite sex I was close with.
"Huh? O-oh. Okay. Got it. See you later, Seojun."
"Yeah. Thanks."
And so she sent me off without ever learning what had gotten into me.
***
The moment I got out of school, I called my parents right away.
"What is it, my son?"
"Mother. I'd like to move to a different place. Would you give me permission?"
"You want to move?"
"Yes."
A silence stretched across the line for a moment.
"Very well."
Astonishingly, my mother gave her blessing without a hint of hesitation.
"You're not going to ask why?"
"My one and only son wants to move, so of course we'll move him. Why would I need a reason?"
"...Thank you."
"Hehe. Thank me for what. So, where are you moving to? Do you have somewhere in mind?"
"There's one place I've been looking at. Should I send it over?"
"Go ahead."
I ended the call briefly and sent her the listing I'd had my eye on. My mother mulled it over for a moment before speaking up again.
"Are you sure about this one? It seems awfully small."
"It's fine. I'll be living alone anyway."
"Hmm... no. If my son is going to live somewhere, it should be a good place. Hold on just a moment."
"What?"
This time, it was my mother who put the call on hold. I waited, and soon my phone buzzed with a text from her. I opened it to find the address of some apartment.
"Mother, what's this address?"
"Son, how about moving here?"
"Sorry—here?"
"Yes. I sent you photos too. What do you think?"
"If you're asking what I think... it's great."
The apartment my mother had sent me was an extraordinarily good one. Granted, it was nothing compared to the family estate, but by the standards of my past life, it was spectacular.
"Really? You like it?"
"Yes. Honestly, it almost seems too good for living in alone?"
"Hehe. So my son approves."
I approve very much, Mother.
That was when it happened.
"Then could you move in today? Right now, in fact?"
"Sorry—today?"
Today?
"Wouldn't signing a contract and all that mean I can't move in until later?"
"No. You can move in right away. And that makes sense, because—"
that place is my house, my mother added.
"...?"
"You see, the truth is? It's a place I picked up on a whim back when your father and I had a huge fight and I couldn't stand the sight of him."
"...I'm sorry, what?"
"I—excuse me, what?"
"It's a property we never got around to disposing of after that, and if my son wants to live there, he can move in this very minute."
"Uh... I mean, I'm happy to, but does Father know about this place?"
"Hehe. Of course he knows."
What on earth.
My head was spinning.
But then again... if Father knows about it, I suppose it's not a problem.
If anything, wasn't this a win for me? I now had a place I could move into today, this very day.
Besides, I'd never had much luggage in the first place. All I'd need to bring was my computer, some dishes, my regular clothes, a blanket, and a pillow, and the move would be done.
"I'll text you the door lock code, so if you want to go today, go today."
"Yes. Thank you, Mother."
And with that, the call ended.
Riding the momentum, I rounded up some movers and started the move that very day—
"Waaaaaah!"
...only to discover a small gray-haired child, crying her eyes out near the apartment I'd just moved into.