Because I Missed You
I wanted to see him. The days when I had class with Woohyuk oppa were practically made for me to be late. If you asked why, it was because on those days I had to pay extra attention to every single detail.
My outfit, my makeup, my overall look—everything.
“Do I really have to go this far…?”
I stood in front of the mirror and asked myself. Honestly, even I thought I was overdoing it. It wasn’t like we were going on a date, and doing this every week felt a bit much. But I couldn’t help worrying about how oppa would see me…
Having someone you like turned out to be way harder than I expected.
“Ugh. I’m going to be late again at this rate.”
I checked the time on my phone, then hurriedly grabbed my things and rushed off to school. I took the usual bus and practically sprinted into the lecture hall, only to find that there were less than three minutes left before class started.
The first thing I did upon entering the room was look for oppa.
The reason was obvious.
...I wanted to sit next to Woohyuk oppa.
But the moment I walked in late, I had to give up on the back seats. All the spots where the professor’s gaze wouldn’t reach had already been claimed by the early birds. Sure enough, the back was completely full.
With no choice, I slowly scanned the front rows and spotted Woohyuk oppa on the far right. Oh, and the seat next to him was even empty.
I silently thanked the heavens and plopped my bag down on the chair beside him.
“Oppa. Hi.”
“Hey.”
When I waved with one hand and greeted him, oppa welcomed me with a shy little smile. Just seeing him smile made my heart feel dangerously fluttery.
“Oppa, what’s up with you sitting in the front today?”
He was the type who always stuck to the back seats even during group projects. People like us just naturally fit better in the corner seats at the back.
“I woke up late and when I got here, only front seats were left…”
“You too?”
“Now that I think about it, you must’ve woken up late too.”
“Just a little?”
We couldn’t help but laugh as we listened to each other. Because the reason we’d both overslept was exactly the same.
My stream had ended really late last night. Oppa had probably stayed up watching it.
After exchanging a few words with him, the professor’s heels clicked as she walked up to the podium.
“Ahem. We’ll begin class now.”
She turned on the PPT and started her boring explanation. I began taking notes on the printed slides I’d brought, following along with the lecture.
> Today we’ll be talking about demand forecasting methods...
The professor’s voice flowed from the newly activated microphone. Why was it so hard to focus today?
For some reason, I just couldn’t concentrate. Was it because I hadn’t slept properly because of the stream? Normally I would’ve tried to follow along even if I was sleepy, but today nothing was sticking. I couldn’t even tell what she was talking about.
Naturally, my gaze drifted to the seat beside me.
“Hmm…”
Maybe the part the professor was explaining was a bit complicated. Oppa was frowning hard, staring at the screen like he was trying to burn a hole through it.
...Even his furrowed brow was kind of attractive?
He was always so kind, but what if he treated me roughly with that kind of expression? My brain was already spinning wild fantasies.
The neat, dense handwriting on the tablet oppa had brought. So he was the type to organize lecture notes on his PPT too. I felt an unexpected sense of kinship over something so trivial.
I think someone once said that a man looks sexiest when he’s focused on his work. Watching oppa completely absorbed in studying, I finally understood what that meant.
> Now, if we calculate demand using exponential smoothing...
How many minutes had I spent just staring at oppa without listening to a single thing? He was so focused on the class that he didn’t seem to notice my gaze at all.
But long tails always get stepped on eventually.
> The student in the light blue blouse?
At the professor’s voice, I instinctively turned my head toward the podium. Because I was the one wearing a light blue blouse. It was the outfit I’d agonized over all morning—I couldn’t possibly forget it.
> Yes. The student who’s been staring over there.
The professor pointed straight at me. A chill already ran down my spine. My bad premonitions were never wrong at times like this.
> So what’s the answer to this problem?
I just blinked at the screen, which was filled with strange words and formulas. ...I had no idea what any of it meant?
Of course I didn’t. I hadn’t been listening to the lecture at all. Why did I have to get called out at exactly this moment?
Just as I was about to swallow my embarrassment and admit I didn’t know—
“Yuna. Six hundred eighty-two. Six hundred eighty-two.”
Oppa whispered in a voice so quiet the professor couldn’t hear. The way he spoke without turning his head made it clear this wasn’t his first time doing this.
“S-six hundred eighty-two.”
I hadn’t calculated it myself, but I just repeated exactly what oppa said. The professor looked surprised when I answered.
> Yes. The answer is indeed six hundred eighty-two.
The professor turned back to the screen. Oppa. Thank you.
The moment I let out a sigh of relief—
The professor’s follow-up attack landed perfectly.
> The answer was correct, but… no matter how much you like your boyfriend, you still need to pay attention in class. How can you keep staring at him like that?
Laughter erupted all over the lecture hall at the professor’s joke. Every student’s eyes instantly locked onto me.
Professor. You’re actually evil.
How am I supposed to take this class from now on? For real!
“...Ahaha.”
My face turned bright red in an instant. When I gave oppa an awkward smile, his face was just as flushed as mine. Neither of us could lift our heads for the rest of the class.
After class ended, Yuna trailed after me like a little puppy. The other students’ stares had been so intense the entire way out of the lecture hall. Some of them even gave us this “die, couple” kind of look that was honestly scary.
I just wanted to escape the classroom as fast as possible.
“Oppa. I’m sorry about earlier.”
“Yeah. It’s fine. Don’t worry about it.”
Yuna walked beside me with her ears still burning red and apologized. Honestly, I wasn’t really upset. I was just embarrassed. If anything, I was more curious.
“Hey, Yuna.”
“Yes?”
“Did you have something you wanted to say to me earlier?”
“Something I wanted to say?”
“You kept staring at me. Wasn’t that why?”
This was actually the first time something like this had happened. Yuna was usually extremely focused in class. From what I’d heard before, she couldn’t study separately after class because she had to stream, so she listened really intensely during lectures to keep her grades up.
But today she’d just been blankly staring at me.
...Maybe she was sleepy and zoning out while looking in my direction? That wasn’t impossible. I did the same thing sometimes—when I couldn’t focus, I’d just stare out the window and space out.
“...Oppa. Do you really need me to say it out loud?”
Yuna looked at me like she couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Her expression said, how can you not know?
When I still looked confused, she let out a small, frustrated sigh and whispered so only I could hear.
“...It’s just because I missed you.”
That whisper somehow sounded so sweet that it made my heart tickle.
“...Ah… I see. Sorry.”
Yuna spoke in an embarrassed voice and subtly stepped away from me. I ended up apologizing without thinking.
...I really was clueless.
But still, did people usually say something like that so directly? I felt so awkward that I couldn’t even look at Yuna anymore. If our eyes met right now… I’d die.
I’d thought Yuna was just shy, but apparently that wasn’t all there was to it.
“Oppa. Do you have class right after this?”
“No. I’ve got some time before the next one. I was going to eat lunch first.”
“Then do you want to eat at the cafeteria with me?”
“Sure. Let’s do that.”
A small smile crept across my lips. It felt like Yuna was slowly becoming part of my university life. A few months ago, I never would’ve imagined living like this.
Was this what youth felt like? It was a fluttering feeling I’d never experienced on campus before.
“We’re going to the business school cafeteria, right?”
“Yeah. It’s the closest.”
The business school cafeteria was just outside our building, across a small plaza. We matched our pace as we walked out of the building, and that’s when I heard a sweet sound coming from the plaza that was different from usual.
“Whoa. Looks like there’s a performance.”
“It’s been quiet lately. Guess they’re starting up again.”
The business school plaza was big and had a lot of foot traffic, so it was a popular spot for all kinds of club busking events. Sometimes when you walked by, you’d hear singing like this.
I sing this song,
with all my heart for you.
Just the intro was enough to pull you in. Her voice was captivating. Maybe because summer was getting closer, she was wearing a light, breezy outfit and singing an emotional song. Before I knew it, my eyes naturally drifted in her direction.
Yuni had sung that song before. It was one of the tracks on my favorite playlist.
“That song’s hard to capture the vibe of. She’s doing a good job.”
It wasn’t a particularly high song. But anyone who’d listened to a lot of music would know how hard it was to recreate that same feeling in karaoke. As I stared blankly in that direction for a while, I felt something cool touch my cheek.
A small, soft hand that smelled sweet and fragrant.
Yuna grabbed my head and turned it completely toward her. Suddenly, I was face-to-face with a very pouty Yuna.
“...When you’re with me, can you please not look at other girls?”