The Sound of a Season Ending
People form relationships with one another.
Friends, lovers, parents — it didn't matter which.
There was always at least one person out there who filled in the parts of you that were missing.
A person who completes you. I had one of those too.
She was right here, in fact — the girl sprawled asleep, face-down in a bucket of wet noodles.*
"Mmmph… ten more minutes."
"It'll be a close call even if we leave right now. You want to be late on the first day of class?"
"…Then just five more minuuutes."
Wrapping her arms tight around her pillow and pulling the covers over her head, this girl's name was Lee Seoyeon.
Simply put, she was my childhood friend. To be a bit more precise, my fiancée — though telling that story would mean starting all the way back with our grandfathers—
No. There was no time for leisurely reminiscing right now.
This was the very first day of high school classes. I didn't want the teacher gunning for me from day one.
I swallowed the sigh rising up my throat and yanked Seoyeon's blanket off her.
"Hyaah…! C-cold. It's cold."
"Cold, my ass. The sun's blazing right there."
"Uuu… winter barely ended, though…."
Curled up into a ball like a pill bug, Seoyeon let out a whimper and shut her eyes again.
This was how our mornings always went.
I would wake Seoyeon, and Seoyeon would fuss and wheedle for every extra minute of sleep she could squeeze out of me.
And then I would somehow drag her along behind me.
The moment we made it to the bathroom, Seoyeon would open her mouth without being told.
Then I'd squeeze strawberry toothpaste onto her brush and shoot it straight into her mouth.
Seeing as I couldn't very well brush a grown girl's teeth for her, I'd step out of the bathroom — and by the time I did, Seoyeon would be done washing her face, blinking up at me with bright, wide-awake eyes.
And then Seoyeon would puff out her chest and say it.
"What time is it?"
"7:50."
"…WHAT?! Are you insane!"
Seoyeon clutched her head in her hands.
"Why'd you wake me so late!"
"Do you have no conscience?"
"Th-that was… ahem! Anyway, let's hurry! If we're late on the very first day of school, the homeroom teacher's going to mark us!"
While I stared at her in disbelief, Seoyeon snatched my wrist.
Skillful as ever. Practiced, even.
Well, we'd been doing this for over seven years now. No wonder it came naturally.
And with that, we stepped outside.
With the roles reversed, this time.
Now I was the one wheezing as Seoyeon dragged me down the street, and Seoyeon was the one grinning back at me as she sprinted at full speed.
Whenever this happened, my face would go hot.
Because the morning sun was always, always blindingly bright.
"W-wait, slow down."
"I always told you to exercise more and you never listened, Siwoo — this is your own fault!"
"That's a total non sequitur… I'm going to art school."
"Stamina matters even when you're sitting for hours at a time, you know? Remember when you passed out in your studio last week? Do you have any idea how scared I was, Assistant?"
"I'm about to pass out right now, actually. I'm dying, for real…."
I wasn't exaggerating. I genuinely felt like my lungs were going to tear open.
My expression must have looked bad enough, because Seoyeon finally stopped.
Only then did I feel like I might survive.
I dropped to my knees, hands braced on them, gulping down air.
That was when a cheeky voice drifted over from behind me.
"You know, I'd like it if the person I married could at least go for a run with me."
The person I married.
The moment those words left her mouth, I snorted.
"Yeah? Well, I'd like someone who doesn't oversleep."
Seoyeon was no different.
She gave a light laugh and poked me in the shoulder with her index finger.
"Honestly, Assistant, if you have a fiancée as pretty as me, you should be thanking your lucky stars. There's even a saying that pretty girls sleep a lot, you know."
"Pfft."
"Hehe."
The two of us burst out laughing at the same time.
How could we not? Her words were just that ridiculous.
A betrothal, in this day and age.
Anyone would call it an antiquated idea — and to be fair, it was something people from an antiquated era had cooked up, so it made sense.
From what I'd heard, Seoyeon's grandfather and mine had sworn themselves as sworn brothers, and then promised to marry their grandchildren to each other so their families wouldn't just be brothers in name, but real family.
That promise was the reason we were engaged.
Needless to say, we didn't exactly take it lying down.
Seoyeon especially.
We did grow close because of the engagement, but even so, Seoyeon had declared, bold as brass, that she was going to choose the person she fell in love with herself.
She was ten years old when she said that.
I was ten, too.
Back then, I didn't know what love was. I was at an age where I didn't even understand what the word "marriage" really meant.
And so I went along with Seoyeon's opinion.
We never officially dissolved the engagement, though.
Seoyeon had her own reasons for wanting to stay in her grandfather's good graces, and I had my own things I wanted from mine.
And so the Fake Engagement Alliance was born.
We would pretend to be engaged — act it out, down to the last detail — and deceive our grandfathers.
…Maybe I'd come to regret that choice. A little. Or maybe a lot.
Seoyeon held out her hand.
"Okay — think you can run again?"
I looked up at her beaming face and took her hand.
It was March, barely a month since winter had ended.
My clothes were thick, sure, but to me, the weather felt sweltering.
Because ever since I'd met her, my seasons had never left summer behind.
And with that, we hurried off toward school.
Screech!
I slid open the back door of the classroom.
Morning assembly was in full swing, apparently — every student's head swiveled from the teacher toward the back door in unison.
The teacher's clearly irritated expression was a bonus.
"Late on your very first day of school, are we?"
"We're sorry."
Still catching her breath, Seoyeon bowed her head in my place.
"Come see me for a moment when assembly's over, both of you."
"Yeees…."
"Siwoo? Nothing to say?"
"Ju-just a second. Give me a second. I think I'm actually, dying. My, stamina, is, terrible."
"…Good grief. Sit down."
I staggered to my desk and somehow sank into my seat.
The moment I did, pain shot through my elbow — Seoyeon had pinched the flesh there, hard.
"What do we do. She's a hundred percent pissed…!"
"I need a minute before I can talk, so don't say anything."
"Hm? Still?"
"Yeah. I'll handle the teacher, so don't worry. Honestly, if we get caught whispering like this, we'll catch it even worse."
"Okay, got it. Although… you seem plenty capable of talking for someone who's 'dying'…?"
The truth is your face is too close and my heart's about to explode.
Rolling the words around in my mouth without letting a single one escape, I shrugged my shoulders as if to tease her, for no particular reason.
Seoyeon pinched my elbow even harder.
"Lee Seoyeon, Baek Siwoo. Do you two plan on talking the whole time?"
Seoyeon jolted like she'd seen a ghost.
See? Now you've really caught it.
The teacher let out a soft sigh and picked up where she'd left off.
"As you all know, our school allows club enrollment at any time."
"So even those of you who've only just enrolled, I want you to think carefully and choose a club that suits you — it all goes on your student record. That concludes morning assembly."
The moment the teacher finished, the class president stood up.
"Attention. Bow."
And so morning assembly came to an end.
Then the two of us got hauled out to the teachers' office and thoroughly chewed out.
At least we managed to come up with a half-decent excuse and avert the disaster of it landing on our student records.
Walking out of the office together, Seoyeon breathed a sigh of relief.
"Whew — I owe you my life, Siwoo. That's my assistant, Watson-kun, for you."
"Honestly, I didn't expect that excuse to work either."
"So what club are you joining, Siwoo? Art club, obviously?"
"Nope. I'm not joining anything."
Seoyeon frowned.
"Way to have zero ambition. Sherlock Holmes here is so worried about her assistant having no friends. Boo hoo."
"I've got my studio anyway, so a club is pointless. More importantly, you're… actually, never mind. Volleyball club, obviously."
"How did you know?! Don't tell me you're a stalker? Was Watson-kun not my assistant but my stalker all along?"
"I'm serious."
"…Is what I would say. Hehe."
Seoyeon was a bona fide athlete. From what I'd heard, she'd started volleyball even before she met me — around age seven.
So failing to guess would have been the strange thing.
We were still trading pointless small talk like that when someone came running toward us from down the hall, waving.
"Seoyeon~!"
"Oh, Jihye!"
The two of them giggled and clasped hands.
"Middle school, and now you're late on the first day of high school too?"
"Our Jihye, you little vixen. My heart's still pounding just thinking about that teacher's face."
"Isn't that because your fiancé was right there with you?"
"…Jihye? What if someone hears you say that? You're giving me a heart attack here."
"This girl, in front of Baek Siwoo…! Now I'm the one who's embarrassed."
Jihye's face flushed bright red.
Jihye had been in our class back in first year of middle school, and she and Seoyeon were best friends.
"Morning, Baek Siwoo."
"Hey."
We weren't particularly close.
Then again, I'd never had a friend besides Seoyeon in the first place.
What people would call a loner, I suppose.
When I returned her brief greeting, Jihye went quiet.
Her eyes flickered away from mine — she seemed a little uneasy around me.
When that happened, the smart move was to clear out.
"Lee Seoyeon, class is about to start, so I'm heading in ahead of you."
"'Kay~"
Even as I walked back to the classroom, I couldn't take my eyes off her.
Because the sight of her clowning around and chatting with Jihye was, to me, blindingly bright.
Morning classes came and went, and by the time lunch hour ended, fifth period had arrived.
Fifth and sixth periods were set aside for club introductions for the new students — which meant that, thanks to that, the rest of us got to sit comfortably in the spacious multipurpose auditorium instead of our stuffy classroom.
A row of upperclassmen stood on the stage.
From the cooking club to the music club. After a full hour of introductions, it was finally the volleyball club's turn.
Seoyeon, sitting beside me, lit up like a sparkler.
It was such a nice sight that a smile crept onto my face before I could help it.
Of course, I wiped it off immediately. My grinning face was no doubt hideous to look at.
The volleyball club upperclassmen filed out onto the stage one after another.
The most striking of them was the pair leading the line — a couple of upperclassmen who looked like they'd walked straight out of a romance poster.
"Hey there, underclassmen! Yah-hoo!"
The female upperclassman was all energy. She opened with a goofy greeting and kept the mood light, drawing laughter from the crowd every few lines.
The male upperclassman, on the other hand, was calm and composed.
"Wouldn't you like to make the most of your youth? The roar of a cheering crowd, the satisfying rush of sweat, the crisp smack of a well-hit volleyball. Underclassmen who join our volleyball club — I, your club president, will personally take responsibility for teaching you the joy of the game."
Sighs of admiration rippled through the audience, mostly from the girls.
It wasn't hard to see why. Even I had to admit the guy was genuinely good-looking.
He was tall, broad-shouldered, with a voice that was measured but quick-witted — something about it felt mature, like a glimpse of what "adult" was supposed to look like.
"Whoa…."
A soft gasp drifted over from beside me.
It was Seoyeon.
At some point, her cheeks had gone pink.
"That upperclassman is seriously cool, isn't he?"
she whispered to me.
"I think I fell for him at first sight."
At her giggling whisper, I held my breath for a moment.
"Yeah. He's cool."
I said it quietly.
I hoped I was wrong.
But I could have sworn I heard it — the sound of a season coming to an end.