Chapter 61
Listening to Park Harin's words, a sudden wave of anxiety hit me, and I cut her off. Even I was only vaguely suspicious about it—nothing more than a hunch without solid proof—and if she brought it up first, the chances that I'd actually done something back then shot way up. Park Harin never forgets anything about people. She breezes past everyday info on others that most would ignore, but she can rattle off friends' birthdays on the spot, even their family members' birthdays or anniversaries. It's downright eerie sometimes. Once, when we were planning a trip, she casually said, "Isn't that your mom's birthday? You got time?" and it hit me like a brick.
Baek Sion was staring at me with wide, flustered eyes too, but I couldn't say anything since my own memory was still fuzzy. And to make it worse, I still had no clear recollection of what I'd even done. On top of that, Park Harin had a sneaky playful streak. If I had to name the top two people who'd teased me the most, it'd be Baek Sion and her.
...And of all the luck, they were together right now.
Curiosity clearly getting the better of him, Baek Sion went straight for the direct approach.
"But how did you know...?"
"We've been in the same schools forever, and back in middle school, we were on the table tennis team together."
"Ah..."
Park Harin was the one who'd dragged me into sports in the first place. She was way better than me, good enough to major in physical education.
"It was around our second year, I think. During a city tournament, she suddenly came up to me out of nowhere."
"What did she...?"
"She said she passed by and saw this guy from the boys' division who was totally her type..."
"Aaah!"
I yelled and cut her off again.
...Had I really said that?
Only after hearing Park Harin did a deeply buried memory start to surface, creeping up from the back of my mind.
I honestly couldn't remember a thing, but if even a friend recalled it that clearly, it must've really happened at some tournament.
Yoo Seol-ah was listening intently to Park Harin at first, furrowing her brow in thought, but then her face suddenly flushed red, and she desperately tried to shut it down. When I shot her another suspicious look, she started stammering.
"N-no, but I don't even know if that's true or not..."
"...So what is it?"
Probably, she'd spotted me alone and told her friend about it—that was likely the end of it. If I'd seen her too or we'd talked, it'd stick in my memory as well. She must've been a total beauty even back then.
Somehow more convinced than Yoo Seol-ah herself, Park Harin kept going.
"I remember it so well because she never talked about real guys before. When other kids gushed about idols, she was all about manga boys."
"Ugh..."
...As a middle schooler, yeah, I might've called some manga guy my "husband." Second year especially—you had to cut kids that age some slack no matter what they said.
"But after watching her for like ten years, that was the first time she ever mentioned a real boy."
"Ah, uh..."
Yoo Seol-ah's face was turning into one of those where you'd wanna kick a blanket if it were there. Black history's always fun when it's someone else's, so no mercy here. Especially since it seemed to be about me.
"What exactly did she say...? Hang on."
"No, stop it, Park Harin!"
"...Kinda curious, though. Keep going."
After a quick glance at me—opposite of Yoo Seol-ah—she seemed to clock our dynamic and ignored her, plowing ahead. Park Harin handled Yoo Seol-ah pretty effortlessly. Anyone who'd known her long enough treated her casually like that.
"She said some boy's face was super her type outta nowhere, so I asked who, and she said she didn't even know."
"...Stop..."
"I was like, 'Just go ask him then,' but she said that'd be scary."
...That shyness around strangers was consistent from way back. I couldn't even picture kid-Yoo Seol-ah calling me out in a crowd.
"But she was curious too, so she checked the uniform and figured out the school?"
"......Seriously, stop."
"Don't remember exactly, but something like Oseong Middle? Or whatever."
"...I went to Yuseong Middle School."
That was solid evidence right there. How good was this woman's memory? It was like pulling files from a computer database. Even Yoo Seol-ah looked like she'd forgotten her own middle school name.
"During a break, she dragged me up to the second floor to watch the boys' matches together."
"......"
"I saw your face then too, but middle school faces don't last, so I didn't recognize you just now. But the vibe stuck with me after staring a bit."
My middle school grad photo? Yeah, it's more "vibe" than anything—could pass for someone else if you tried.
I was hooked; Yoo Seol-ah looked like she was dying. Her lips were barely mumbling zombie noises now.
"Anyway, she even tracked down the boys' bracket, checked the schedule, and got your name..."
"......Park Harin!"
"It was Baek Sion, so yeah, that stuck."
...How obsessed must she have been...
To give ignored Yoo Seol-ah some attention, I just stared at her silently. She waved her hands frantically, making excuses.
"Ugh, no way I did something stalker-y like that...? No chance..."
"If you hadn't stalked my name, how would I even know now? Even I couldn't remember some distant face from middle school years later..."
"Yoo Seol-ah, you were a total stalker...?"
"Not a stalker, seriously!"
Of course, I wasn't serious. No creep factor—just cute. Teasing a sandbag-state Yoo Seol-ah like this was irresistible.
She huffed like a kettle boiling over. Leaving her to stew, I asked what I really wanted to know.
"...But what'd you plan to do with the name?"
"I asked the same—why not just talk to him? And her answer? I still remember it."
"What'd she say this time...?"
"If I talked to him, he'd go home thinking only of me, so no... Mmph!"
A bit late, but she clamped both hands over Park Harin's mouth, practically in tears.
"No... It's all lies. There's no way I'd say something like that for real!"
"......"
But damn, it rang true. Yoo Seol-ah was shy with strangers but super clingy with friends. Like at Lee Seo-yeon's place last time—she knew she was pretty and tossed flirty jokes around. If she'd half-jokingly said it 'cause approaching me scared her, it fit her personality perfectly. Add some middle-school edginess, and it was spot-on.
"Sounds like something you'd do."
"No, really not!"
Park Harin gently pushed away the hands over her mouth and slipped in.
"...Whatever you say."
"Not 'whatever'! It's not!"
"...Fine, whatever happened happened. But yeah, names and school match up."
Getting confirmation like this was wild. Even a fleeting brush-by meant we'd crossed paths before.
"We had our own match soon after, so we headed back. She probably forgot all about it eventually. I just have a knack for this stuff."
"...Didn't ring a bell till now. The table tennis tourney mention last time made me wonder, but no details came back..."
No real convo, just a distant glimpse—easy to fade. Still, knowing it was me in that memory felt inexplicably good.
"You two met without knowing any of that? That's crazy. Total match made in heaven..."
Exactly. No photo, no record—it could've vanished into the fog of memory forever. Bumping into her again by chance and ending up like this? Mind-blowing.
"They say first loves never work out, but you pulled it off..."
"Wh-what first love?! Just a quick glance, and I didn't even remember!"
"But you do now. And does first love need some epic story? Crushing on a face from afar counts."
She kept denying "first love" so hard—probably didn't wanna admit she liked me first. I'd proposed marriage first, after all. Classic competitive streak kicking in?
"...But you two said you're not dating? How's that make sense...?"
"We really aren't?"
"...She says really."
Hearing my vague agreement after hers, Park Harin gave me a pitying look. Then, like she got it completely, she said,
"...She's got this stubborn streak in weird ways..."
"Seriously... Glad someone gets it."
Definitely long-time friends. She'd seen Yoo Seol-ah's stubborn side enough to bond with me quick. Nothing bonds people faster than roasting a mutual friend.
"Why're you two making me out like some mule-headed jerk?!"
Yoo Seol-ah huffed harder, but she was stubborn. And with Park Harin smirking too, flustered Yoo Seol-ah just came off cute to everyone.