We Match So Well?
I was bored.
No matter how much I loved staying home, repeating the same daily routine always left me feeling restless.
Reading novels, writing, playing games, watching anime.
My life revolved around those four things. Of course I enjoyed it, but sometimes I craved something different.
“Maybe I should text Chae-yeon?”
Fortunately, we had made plans.
To meet up with Chae-yeon, I opened my closet and looked through the clothes I could wear. It wouldn’t make sense to dress the same way I did when meeting my guy friends.
“Son, are you heading out?” “I’m going to meet Chae-yeon. I’m bored.” “There are days when my son actually leaves the house.” “Do I really stay inside so much that you’d say it like that?” “Mom always tells you to go outside. Or rather, to come out of your room.”
I liked being in my own space, so aside from mealtimes I spent most of my time in my room.
Since I could handle everything from there, it had become my most comfortable place.
“Will you be home for dinner?” “Probably… not. We’re meeting in the afternoon, so we’ll just hang out and then I’ll come back.” “Okay. It’s nice seeing you keep in touch with Chae-yeon like this.” “Mom, I’m thinking of wearing this. What do you think?” “It looks neat. But won’t that knit vest be hot in this weather?” “I don’t really feel the heat, so it should be fine.” “Then go with that.”
Following my mom’s advice, I decided on a white oversized t-shirt paired with a black knit vest.
Black jeans would make the outfit perfect.
The outside scenery after so long felt incredibly awkward and unfamiliar.
The weather had changed drastically while I was cooped up, and the surrounding landscape had transformed in various ways.
Coming out after a while had its own fun in noticing those changes.
As I got closer to our meeting spot, I spotted Chae-yeon waiting for me.
I always treated punctuality as more important than anything, so I was usually the one waiting. Making someone wait for me felt like a first in a long time.
“Chae-yeon.”
At the sound of my voice she turned, her long straight hair fluttering in the summer breeze as a bright smile greeted me.
I thought I had gotten used to it, but her current appearance still felt awkward. It kept overlapping with her elementary-school self and clashing in my mind. In any case, the sense of unfamiliarity remained.
“Did you wait long?” “No, I just got here too.” “Want to grab a café first? I know a good one.” “Yeah, let’s do that!!”
We stepped into the café that had always been our hideout. It had been recently remodeled, so it was one of the few aesthetic spots stored in my memory.
“Wow, this place is really pretty. It’s so spacious.” “They have bread over there too. It’s run like a bakery-café.” “I want some bread. Are you getting any?” “No, I’m good. I’ll buy the drinks. I was the one who asked you out.” “You don’t have to.” “Let me buy them. It’s a long way from your house to downtown.” “Then… I’ll enjoy them, thanks.”
Chae-yeon ordered a café latte while I got a lemonade. We picked up our drinks and sat down at a table. She seemed to love the interior, because she kept glancing around the whole time.
“It’s seriously pretty. I didn’t even know a café like this existed.” “I like it a lot, so I come here often.” “Who do you usually come with?” “Huh?! W-with the writers’ group.” “You have a writers’ group?” “Yeah. I started it. Five of us including me!!” “That’s cool. It’d be nice to have something like that.”
Chae-yeon began eating the bread she had ordered along with her drink.
The way she pinned the bread down with a fork and sliced it with a knife was… well…
A squirrel? Yeah, exactly that.
Every time she took a bite, her face lit up with satisfaction. I watched her silently, taking in the sight.
“What? Why aren’t you saying anything?” “I was just thinking that you eat really well.” “Is that a compliment?” “It is. I like watching people who enjoy their food. It’s like vicarious satisfaction.” “That sounds kind of sad.” “Yeah, everyone says that.”
Come to think of it, even though we kept in touch often, we still didn’t know much about each other’s current lives.
Today could be the perfect chance to learn more about the present-day Chae-yeon.
“Chae-yeon, what do you usually do for fun?” “Drink?” “Uh… yeah. I figured you’d say that. There was no way you wouldn’t bring up alcohol.” “Drinking is so much fun.” “Are you some kind of alcohol ambassador?” “Besides drinking, I go to karaoke a lot.” “I go to karaoke often too. What kind of songs do you like?” “Hip-hop. I listen to a lot of foreign hip-hop.”
An entirely unexpected music genre had just come out of Chae-yeon’s mouth.
It wasn’t rare to see girls who liked hip-hop these days, especially with all the hip-hop survival shows that were popular. But foreign hip-hop instead of Korean?
What kind of unexpected side was this?
I liked hip-hop too, but I didn’t listen to foreign hip-hop often. Only once in a while when the mood struck.
“You’re the first person I’ve met who likes foreign hip-hop. I like hip-hop too.” “I like pop songs as well. I just prefer overseas music in general.” “Pop is great. The emotional vibe is totally different. What about movies? You like horror, right?” “Pfft!! No way. I like mindless hero movies.”
Excuse me. If that’s what you like, why did you suggest watching a horror movie? Especially one you’d watch with me of all people.
If we had watched a hero movie, I could have shown a much better side of myself.
Just bringing up movies made me remember how I had acted back then. Even now, the memory sometimes made me kick my blanket off in the middle of the night.
“You thought I liked horror movies?” “There’s no way someone who doesn’t like them would suggest going to see one.” “You look seriously betrayed right now.” “The back of my head is tingling. Wow, that one hit hard.” “Next time we’ll watch a movie I like. Do you like those kinds too?” “I do. Whenever a new one in a series comes out, I always go to the theater.” “But lately Marvel seems unreliable. It feels too strange.” “It does feel like it’s getting tainted by something. The old Marvel vibe is gone.”
Most of the new things I learned while talking with Chae-yeon turned out to be things we had in common.
We matched so well?
I hadn’t expected us to click like this. If I had known, I would have reached out much sooner.
“You like working out, right?” “Yeah, I like exercise. Though I’m not doing it right now.” “I still remember how you used to play baseball with all the boys when we were little.” “Ah, back then? It was fun. Everyone liked sports.” “I was always sitting on the sidelines watching.” “You hated exercising. You still don’t like it now, right?” “Exercise? Aside from the survival-level exercise I do these days, I’m still not interested.”
While we were talking, I noticed Chae-yeon staring intently at my lemonade.
It wasn’t like she had never seen lemonade before. Why was she looking at it like that?
“It looks like something you’d drink coffee with, but you’re having lemonade.” “Excuse me. What do you mean it looks like something for coffee?” “You just have that kind of face. You don’t drink coffee?” “I can’t. I like the smell but I hate the bitterness.” “Hmm, really?”
What was with that expression again? There was no need to look at me like that just because I couldn’t drink coffee.
Chae-yeon’s eyes had turned into those of a predator. She simply stared at me in silence.
It felt like I had accidentally revealed a weakness I should have kept hidden.
“A twenty-three-year-old college student who can’t drink coffee. Heh!!” “What?! Why are you laughing? It’s perfectly possible not to drink coffee!!” “Yeah, it’s possible. It’s not wrong or anything.” “No? The way you’re looking at me makes it seem like it is.” “It’s not… Pfft!! Okay, it is kind of funny.” “Is it okay to laugh like that right in front of the person? Should I tell my mom?” “Then I’ll tell my mom that you tattled to your aunt about this.” “Wow, fighting fire with fire. You say you like baseball but you just hit a home run off a pitch like that.”
Whenever I said I couldn’t drink coffee, everyone reacted the same way.
That was why I used to make the excuse that coffee kept me up at night, but telling the truth had been my mistake.
“You’re really enjoying this, huh? So happy to have new teasing material?” “Yep, I love it. It’s fun. If I tell Hae-yeon she’ll laugh too.” “Why would you tell her when you barely even talk to your sister normally!!” “She’d probably say ‘That’s just like Jung-woo oppa,’ right?” “Don’t… If a kid five years younger than me reacted like that, I’d want to run away.” “Okay. I’ll keep it to myself.”
I gave up on trying to stop Chae-yeon, who couldn’t stop laughing.
Her smile was different from the one she had back in elementary school.
That smile kept floating in front of my eyes.