Opposite Directions
“Haaam...”
“Tired?”
“Yeah...”
Not only had I slept awkwardly at the dining table, but I’d been up since before dawn. By the time it was time to head to school, Aju let out a big yawn.
“Want to skip school today?”
“Who skips school just because they’re tired?”
“You’re looking at one right now.”
“...Seriously?”
“Yep.”
It was true. There had been a time when Daeho and I stayed up all night at a PC bang, got exhausted, and I faked being sick to skip school. Even then, that guy Daeho still went to class like it was nothing. Pretty impressive, honestly.
“Haa, you can’t do that. Really...”
Aju sighed and approached me with a disapproving look. Then—
“You still have to do what you have to do.”
“Ugh?”
Suddenly, she grabbed my cheek and pulled. This was... something I used to do to her all the time.
“Hehe, now I kind of understand how Riha oppa feels. It really does feel good.”
“Nab a boy’s sheek an’ it’sh nothing speshal.” (Grabbing a guy’s cheek isn’t all that special.)
“I like it. Hehe, maybe I should do this more often.”
“...Hey!”
Having the tables turned like this sparked my competitive side. I wasn’t about to lose, so I reached out and started squishing her cheeks right back.
“Uwaa... I did it firsht...” (I did it first...)
“Order doesn’t matter.” (The order doesn’t matter.)
“That’sh sho cheaty. You’re an adult.” (That’s so cheaty. And you’re an adult.)
“Who’s the cheater here? You’re almost an adult yourself.” (Who’s the real cheater? You’re almost an adult too.)
Just what the hell kind of conversation are these two even having?
Daeho stared at us with an incredulous look as we grabbed each other’s cheeks and mumbled through distorted speech.
More importantly, get going to school already. You’re going to be late.
“...True.” (Yeah, I guess.)
I realized we’d taken longer than expected.
Once I noticed, I let go of Aju’s cheek. She grinned and released mine as well.
“Hehe, I win.”
“What were we even competing for?”
“Huh? Um... I’m not sure.”
Come to think of it, what kind of contest were we having? We really did look like idiots.
“Well, I should get going now.”
“Yeah. And don’t fall asleep in class.”
“Hearing that from the guy who used to skip school whenever he was tired feels pretty weird...”
“It’s not wrong for a thief to tell his kid that stealing is bad, is it?”
“That somehow makes sense, so I have nothing to say.”
Heh. Even back then, I was never good at Korean class, but I was pretty confident in arguments. Well, to be honest, there weren’t any subjects I was particularly good at.
The fact that I even got into university was a miracle.
“Have a good day. I’ll be waiting at five again today.”
“Okay. Thank you.”
With those words, Aju opened the front door, waved at me, and stepped outside. And then—
“You know what to do, right?”
Yeah.
Daeho and I exchanged a look and began our operation... though honestly, all I had to do was wait until five.
I’m off then.
“Alright. But are you sure you’ll be okay? We’re on the third floor.”
My instincts say it’s fine, so it should be.
With that, Daeho casually jumped out the window, landed smoothly on the tree next to the building, and dropped to the ground with ease.
Wow. What a talent.
Whether that was as a person or as a cat, I wasn’t sure...
“So then... what should I do now?”
Yesterday I at least had Daeho to chat with, but unfortunately I was alone today. So I figured I’d play some games on Daeho’s computer and casually look for part-time job openings.
That’s when it happened.
“Hm?”
The phone I’d set to silent after Hwayeon contacted me yesterday lit up. Someone was calling...
“Probably Mom...”
The only people who called me were Daeho, Aju, and my ex-girlfriend... but she was out of the picture now. That left only family.
“Bingo.”
Just as I expected, the person calling me was Mom. Come to think of it, I hadn’t been in touch since then.
“Hello?”
“Oh, Riha?”
“Yes. What’s up?”
“It’s nothing big. I made too many side dishes, so I thought you could come pick some up.”
Ah, there it was again—Mom’s classic “I’m just being a nice auntie” move. It seemed like she was trying to help Aju in some small way, but...
Your son here finds it pretty annoying to be the one who has to carry it all back, Mom.
“I’m kind of—”
“Don’t even try lying that you’re busy. I already heard from Aju that you still haven’t found a part-time job.”
“...”
For the record, Mom had been regularly keeping in touch with Aju from the start. It wasn’t just that she cared about Aju and Daeho—she’d also been the one Aju turned to for advice on cooking and household chores after they moved out on their own.
She must have contacted Aju again while I was gone.
“Fine. I’ll head over right now.”
“Good. Oh, right. Can you pick up some trash bags on the way?”
“...Yes.”
She really knew how to make the most of her son, whether I was going home or coming back. Everything was annoying, but if I tried to pull a full-on rebellious “my way or the highway” act here, the aftermath would be terrifying.
“Guess I have to go...”
In the end, I threw on some clothes and left the apartment, heading back to my family home.
...Saying “our house” for both places was getting confusing.
Hmm... Maybe I should start calling this place “our house” and the other one “Riha’s parents’ house.” It sounds a bit weird, but it’s not wrong~
---
It took about two hours to walk from our house to Riha’s parents’ house. The bus would only take twenty minutes, but I decided a walk would be good exercise and headed there at a leisurely pace.
“Haa... The weather’s gotten chilly.”
It might have felt colder because my hair was still short after being discharged, but the autumn wind blowing around me was sharper than I expected. I wondered if Aju would be okay.
I should’ve given her a coat.
“A coat, huh. Now that I think about it, most of the coats Aju had were pretty old.”
Aju never cared much about clothes and lived modestly, so even when she bought something, she tended to wear it for a really long time compared to most girls. On top of that, she’d been so focused on studying lately that she probably hadn’t even thought about buying new clothes.
“...I should go buy her some clothes today.”
Of course, I didn’t mean my own clothes—I was talking about Aju’s. It was going to get even colder soon, and I didn’t want her catching a cold from wearing old coats.
But was there anywhere nearby to buy clothes? I didn’t come to this area often except to drink or visit home, so I wasn’t sure.
Well, if there wasn’t anything nearby, I could always go into the city.
As I was thinking about what kind of clothes to get for Aju—
“...” / “Uh...”
By some twist of fate, we ran into each other again.
It was my ex-girlfriend, Hwayeon.
“...Why do we keep running into each other?”
After what happened yesterday, meeting my ex twice by coincidence wasn’t exactly a pleasant experience.
Hwayeon responded to my muttered complaint in a indifferent tone.
“I live around here.”
“Ah, right. You did.”
“...Haa.”
Now that she mentioned it, I remembered—Hwayeon’s house was nearby. I’d walked her home a few times. Come to think of it, after dropping her off I would usually head straight to our house to hang out with Daeho.
“Anyway, yesterday was probably awkward for you too. Let’s just quietly move on without making it weird from now on.”
“...”
I’d tried to be considerate, but Hwayeon just closed her mouth with the same expression she’d had when she grabbed my arm yesterday.
...This time, silence wasn’t the answer. I had no idea what she wanted to say.
“Then I’ll be going.”
“...Wait.”
I didn’t have to stop just because she told me to. But... it was probably better to talk a little rather than set her off like I had yesterday.
“What?”
“I got too worked up yesterday... I’m sorry.”
I already knew that. Hwayeon wasn’t a bad person. She could be a bit emotional, but at heart she was gentle and considerate of others.
Of course she knew how to apologize when she did something wrong.
“I’m fine. Just apologize to Aju later for hitting her.”
“...I already did that.”
“Then we’re good.”
“...”
Since we’d said everything that needed to be said, I figured it was time to leave. I started to walk away, but—
“Are you... dating Aju?”
Hwayeon stopped me in my tracks once again. And why was she asking something like that...?
“I told you we’re not. I was clear about it yesterday too.”
“...Yeah, I heard you. But yesterday... it was hard to believe. Maybe I just wanted to misunderstand.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Haha, right? I... don’t really know either. So... how’s Daeho doing?”
Was she trying to keep the conversation going somehow? But Hwayeon... that topic was a hard no. Well, she didn’t know, so I guess it couldn’t be helped.
...Haa. Since it wasn’t like she was a stranger, I decided to just tell her the truth.
“He’s dead.”
“...Huh?”
“Daeho’s dead.”
“Ah... did you two fight?”
“No, I’m not joking. He really died. The day I was discharged... they found him at the company in cardiac arrest.”
“!”
Realizing I wasn’t kidding, Hwayeon covered her mouth with both hands, eyes wide. Since we’d dated from the end of our first year of university until I was discharged, she and Daeho had known each other pretty well.
If I had to put it into words, she probably thought of him as a close guy friend she occasionally hung out with. As for Aju... she’d treated her almost like a real little sister.
“...I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”
“There was no way you could have.”
“What am I supposed to do? Yesterday... I said such awful things to Aju when she was already struggling.”
I’d already settled that matter with some beef, but this wasn’t the time to bring that up.
So instead...
“If you see her later, talk to her. You two were close, weren’t you?”
“How could I face her after...”
“Just meet up and talk. I don’t know about me, but I think Aju would want to talk to you.”
“...Really?”
I didn’t know for sure.
But at the very least, the Aju I knew had really liked Hwayeon and would probably want to keep that connection.
“If you’re that curious, ask her yourself.”
“...Okay.”
“Oh, and... just so you know in advance. I’m living with Aju right now.”
“What...?”
She was getting surprised a lot today. We were already broken up—were there still things that could shock her...?
“Is there... some reason for that?”
At least she wasn’t flying off the handle immediately this time. Maybe yesterday really had been “that day” for her...
“...Well, don’t tell anyone else. I heard from Daeho that Aju has a stalker lately. So I got worried.”
“A stalker!?”
She really startled easily... that was the third time. Anyway, how long was I supposed to keep talking to her?
“I’ll contact Aju today. No matter what... I’m worried too.”
“Do that.”
The timing and atmosphere were finally saying it was okay to leave. This was my chance. I started to move away from Hwayeon when—
“...Riha, could you come with me when I meet her?”
Hwayeon asked, looking at me with a pleading expression.
...Did she really have to?
“Why should I?”
“Because of what happened yesterday... and we still haven’t completely cleared the air between us.”
“...Haa.”
To be honest, it was annoying. But... when I remembered the look on Aju’s face when I mentioned Hwayeon yesterday...
“Fine.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. But you handle the arranging yourself.”
“...Okay.”
“Then I’m really going now.”
This time I even gave a proper goodbye before walking away from Hwayeon. She looked like she still had something to say, but eventually she turned and started walking her original path.
In the opposite direction from me.