003. One Thing at a Time.
Clink.
The ice in her coffee had long since melted away, but Kim A-young sat alone at the table, staring blankly out the window.
Even after Han Jihun left, she had stayed in her seat, because their brief encounter had left her with a few things to think about.
Stirring the cup with his straw — the one he'd left behind, not hers — she eventually popped it between her lips and sank into thought.
So he actually said that to her.
Baek Seol-ah.
Before she was ever Han Jihun's girlfriend, she had been A-young's friend, going all the way back to middle school.
Come to think of it, it would be fair to say that Baek Seol-ah had become friends with her before Han Jihun did. He was, how should I put it, the kind of person you could get close to all at once once you crossed a certain line — but getting to that line in the first place took quite a while.
At any rate, back in those days Baek Seol-ah drew every eye — not just for her fresh, lovely looks, but for her kind and gentle nature as well.
Plenty of boys harbored feelings for her, and plenty of girls envied her for it.
But Baek Seol-ah could never manage her boundaries.
She couldn't draw a line when she needed to draw one, and she couldn't cross one when the moment came to cross it. That was simply who she was — someone who never wanted to hurt anyone, who wanted to get along with everybody.
And the one person who protected her all that time without her ever noticing was Han Jihun.
So when he — after fighting his own quiet little battles to keep her school years safe from behind the scenes — finally ended up dating her, Kim A-young genuinely thought it was a good match.
They made a striking couple, visually speaking, and more than anything, she could tell how much Han Jihun loved Baek Seol-ah. Unlike the stray hangers-on who'd always loitered around her, he was someone she felt she could trust Seol-ah with.
The problem was —
'Staying friends.'
Did she really think that was possible?
Of course, when Baek Seol-ah had brought it up with her, Kim A-young had already known full well that this was just how Seol-ah was. But saying it to the person's face was another matter entirely.
Slurp.
Sucking up the last of the water where the ice used to be through the straw, Kim A-young kept her eyes fixed outside the window.
Baek Seol-ah didn't realize it herself, but she had probably wounded more than just Han Jihun — deeply, and in ways that couldn't be washed away.
"Mm."
Well.
She'd figure it out soon enough. Where the seat used to be is hard to see, but you always notice when it's empty. Baek Seol-ah would come to understand it sooner or later.
"Excuse me…?"
"Yes?"
Someone approached and spoke to Kim A-young as she sat alone in the café, lost in thought. A tall, handsome man was looking down at her with a small smile.
"You're exactly my type, so — could I get your number?"
He had been sitting in the café ever since Kim A-young walked in with Han Jihun, watching her the whole time. At first he'd assumed Han Jihun was her boyfriend, but their manner together quickly told him otherwise, and the moment Jihun left, he'd made his move.
"I'm sorry."
"Oh — do you have a boyfriend, then? If not…"
"You're not my type."
Just a moment ago her eyes had been soft. Now, as they stared up at him cold and still, the man flinched, gave a small shudder, and bowed his head.
"Ah — right. Sorry about that."
"Mm."
Sending him off with an icy parting look, Kim A-young let out a small breath and pulled out her phone.
The pleasant mood of earlier had sunk away in an instant. She stood from her seat, dialing someone.
"Hey, Seol-ah. What are you up to?"
@
As I walked home, I slowly replayed my conversation with Kim A-young in my head.
Not bad.
Nothing out of the ordinary, really? Knowing her usual personality, I'd expected a bit of this and that, but it seemed she'd held back more than I thought. And for that matter, she didn't seem to know how Baek Seol-ah was doing these days — or maybe she simply chose not to say.
"No idea."
I scratched my head and let out a short breath. I was just about to pick my pace back up when —
"What don't you know?"
"GAH—!!"
At the familiar voice behind me, I cried out before I could stop myself and stumbled back a couple of steps. Woo-jin stood there with a candy stick in his mouth, looking at me like I was pathetic. I exhaled, heart pounding, and scowled at him.
"What the hell? Where were you?"
"Up there."
I followed where Woo-jin was pointing. A noraebang — a karaoke room — sat there, with wide-open windows built so you could see in from the street and out from inside.
"Saw you walking by, so I came down."
"What about the others?"
"Doesn't matter — I already told 'em I was heading out."
He waved a hand like it was nothing, and I could only snort and shake my head.
"You doomed alpha-male social butterfly, you."
I didn't need to see it to know — he'd probably ducked out halfway through hanging with a bunch of girls.
At my muttering, Woo-jin shrugged and drifted naturally to my side, falling into step with me.
"So where are you headed?"
"Home. Where else would I go?"
It was kind of funny, actually — most of my daily routine had been built around Baek Seol-ah. Walking to school with her, spending my hours at school with her, walking home with her, making plans around her. The greater part of my seventeen short years had been filled with nothing but her.
Which meant that now — now that we'd broken up, now that we were strangers to each other — my days had come completely unmoored.
Put another way: I didn't particularly have anything to do.
"Then come somewhere with me."
"…Where, exactly?"
"Follow me and find out."
Ah.
This is a hassle.
I let out a short sigh and tried to twist my shoulder out of his grip, but he clamped down harder and muttered:
"It's not like you've got anything better to do anyway."
"That's a little too hard of a fact. That's basically violence."
Grumbling, I let him drag me along. It wasn't that Woo-jin was normally the meddlesome type. He was probably doing this on purpose today because leaving me alone didn't seem like it would do me any good.
"No, seriously, where are we going?"
"Ah-ah. Don't talk back to your hyung."
"What is wrong with you."
Our steps carried us back toward the busy district, and I exhaled as the two of us looked around.
"If you won't tell me, I'm not going."
"You're coming anyway… Let's get haircuts."
"…Haircuts?"
Now that he mentioned it, my hair had gotten pretty long. It did need a trim — my bangs were long enough to poke my eyes, and the sides and back had grown out enough to be annoying.
"That's out of nowhere."
"My hair's gotten long too, and I couldn't think of anyone to go with. And then — lo and behold — you walk by. That it?"
"Precisely."
Woo-jin broke into a grin, all teeth, and I let out a small breath and nodded. He had a point — my hair was long, and with high school starting soon, cutting it ahead of time wouldn't be a bad idea.
"You know a place?"
"I go to one fairly often."
"Fine. Let's go there, then."
"Knew you'd say that."
Woo-jin snickered like he'd seen it coming.
"Hey — you cutting it like usual?"
"…What do you mean?"
Like, should I do a half-shave or something? I wasn't planning on broadcasting the breakup to the world, and I had no particular reason to change my hairstyle either.
"That hairstyle of yours — you keep it because of Baek Seol-ah, don't you."
At that, my feet stopped on their own.
Come to think of it, that did seem to be the case. No — it definitely was. Seol-ah herself probably wouldn't remember it, but she'd mentioned it once in passing, I'd held onto it, and I'd stuck with this haircut ever since.
"How'd you know that?"
"Whenever you suddenly change something about yourself, it's almost always because of Baek Seol-ah."
That wasn't exactly wrong, either.
I stared at my reflection in the glass of the shop beside me, running my fingers through my hair. Then I steeled myself and turned to Woo-jin.
"Recommend me a hairstyle."
"…You're asking me? Just ask the barber."
"You're not gonna rip me off, are you?"
"That part's on you to figure out."
Fair enough.
"After the haircut, let's get you some new clothes too."
"Do I have to? I've got plenty of clothes at home."
"Do I really have to spell it out?"
His suggestion left me looking mildly sour for a moment, but there was an odd edge of irritation in his voice, and I couldn't help laughing it off. I'd have to be an idiot not to catch what he was really trying to say.
From my head to the tips of my toes, there wasn't a single thing about me that didn't carry Baek Seol-ah's taste.
And the truly ridiculous part was that after keeping up that style for so long, it had hardened into what I now thought of as my style. If Woo-jin hadn't brought it up, I probably never would have even thought to change it.
"Alright. Let's go."
My allowance was comfortable enough. It wasn't like I was buying clothes for all four seasons, and I wasn't going to restyle my hair like some idol. This much should be plenty.
"You eaten?"
"Earlier, yeah."
"Then we move until dinnertime, eat dinner, and split up after. Deal?"
Woo-jin laid it out like some Master Planner, and I gave a silent nod.
One thing at a time, like this.
That's how I would erase the traces of her that had seeped into my life.
Of course, I hadn't erased her from my heart yet — it was obvious even to me that would take a good long while. But that, too…
Probably wouldn't take much longer.
As I'd said before —
The start of the original story wasn't far off.